Chapter Text
"Shizun... Did you know?"
Drip. Drop.
"Qiu Haitang... She knew you were suffering all those years when you were with her. Her memories were fresh as ever when I plucked them from her head."
Drip. Drop. Drip.
"She wasn't worthy of your compassion. You should have burnt her alongside everyone else in that cursed house. You must have wished she were dead when she showed up to accuse you in front of all these people."
"I felt elated to have found her, thought: finally, here is another person who has been just as wronged by my shizun as I have been."
A breath and a sigh.
"But shizun you saved your real cruelty only for me. Like a tender gift I was too stupid to be grateful for."
"And Ning Yingying... You always spoiled her so much... Well guess what? My dear shijie only took half an hour of convincing to slander you in that trial. Didn't you regret then, taking her in, trusting her?"
Drip. Drip.
"Shizun I never would have betrayed your trust."
"If it were me you had picked... If you had given me only a sliver of that love you gave to my shijie...."
Drip. Drop.
"How could women have been your saving grace when it only took a chest of gold to convince one of your prostitute friends to spill all your secrets!"
Something metallic collides with the floor with a clang.
"When Qi Qingqi heard you'd been tortured you know what she said? Good, he deserved it."
Drip. Drip.
"I would have defended you with my life. What good was it trying to save Liu Qingge's life?"
"When his sister then decided to kill you and slander you? Shouldn't you have ran her through with a sword for the insolence? Why would you let her mistreat you, is it because she was a woman?"
Heavy breathing. Drip. Drop. Drip.
"Shizun, you let them fool you."
"But that's alright. Shizun, this time it will be different. Just give all your gentleness to me instead. I promise I won't disappoint you."
The sound of the acid dripping in the water prison mixed with the sound of tears dripping from a man's face as he faced a mangled body.
What had once been his teacher now resembled more a putrid monster, hideous and gory. Dirty and starved, the cold body didn't answer any of those questions. The man in red and black robes gathered up the mutilated body gently, as if carrying a child.
"I will fix this, shizun"