Puppet

Bai Shuixian had originally wanted to taunt and scare the fellows of the clan, but seeing their weak will, he gave up. Might as well be straightforward. He did not want to be responsible for any deaths from vomiting blood.

"Old man, remember the times when you would go to your tent?" Bai Shuixian slowly asked with a happy face.

Hearing those words, Bai Deming completely shattered. His will to strengthen himself broke and his sight went blurry. All around, he felt dizzy, as though the world had started spinning around him.

Seeing the condition of his father, Bai Huang shouted, "Father! Father!"

Though only a small voice was heard, Bai Deming recovered a bit, "I'm fine. Ah Huang, I'm fine."

Heaving a sigh of relief, Bai Huang reprimanded, "How can you speak in such a way to your grandfather? He shares your blood!"

Completely ignoring Bai Huang, Bai Shuixian continued, "Do you remember the night of the full moon when you had stated that you were locked in your study room?"

Once again, Bai Deming's vision flickered. The darkness grew around him as he struggled to maintain consciousness. The only helpful thing left was his little bit of will that refused to lose.

"Father, what happened? Are you okay?" Bai Huang asked in a hurried and anxious tone.

Sighing, Bai Deming comforted, "I'm fine. Your father is fine."

Bai Huang dropped his shoulders in relief. He then gave a hateful glare at Bai Shuixian.

With a resentful voice, he asked, "Why do you torture your grandfather? What wrongs has he done to you?"

"What wrongs?" Bai Shuixian slowly repeated as though tasting the words.

Closing his eyes, as though to think about it, Bai Shuixian said, "Hmm… The times he beat me could be considered as discipline. But… the times he chained me and whipped me at the base, could be considered as one of the wrongs, is it not?"

Resentfully and grievously, Bai Huang angrily stated, ��That's just another form of discipline! How can that be wrong?"

Lifting his brow in curiosity, Bai Shuixian asked, "That would mean that you've been tied to a horse on the backend and dragged around the perimeter of the camp?"

Bai Huang's face went pale. Naturally, he had not. He was spoiled at a young age by his father, ate the best foods, and received the best training while at the same time, having the most chances to relax.

Bai Shuixian already knew the answer, but he continued, "That would mean that you've been tied to a pole to withstand the slashes of a hundred men?"

Seeing Bai Huang close his eyes, Bai Shuixian said, "You have not. In which way, are you allowed to question my thinking and my words? Because you were kind enough to donate your seeds of life to someone I should call mother?"

As Bai Shuixian's statements grew too strong to go against, Bai Huang shut his mouth. No longer daring to speak up anymore for his father.

Bai Deming already knew that this would be the conclusion, so he tiredly asked, "Because of all those things, you wanted me dead, am I right?"

Giving a chilling chuckle, Bai Shuixian answered, "No. I wanted to torture you. Cut off your skin slice by slice and feed your meat to wolves."

Bai Deming did not know that Bai Shuixian was so gruesome, but it did not matter anymore.

In the end, he only asked one more question, "When did you get the chance to give all the evidence to the warrens?"

Like the others, Bai Deming also thought that Bai Shuixian had gone to the warrens instead. None of them were able to think or form the idea that he had talked to the magistrate first.

Well, he had not specifically gone for the magistrate first. Bai Shuixian had no strong connections to any outsiders of the Bai family aside from Teacher Chang. The only person he could ask to help him was in the end, Teacher Chang.

At first, Bai Shuixian thought that Teacher Chang would report the case to the emperor and it would take days or even weeks before the Bai family was arrested. However, it went against his expectations when Teacher Chang told him to go to the Aqua Cuisine and enter a carriage with a wyvern symbol to explain the situation even further to Chen Shi. He also did not expect that the case would end so quickly.

Though, there was a plausible reason why they all thought he had talked to the warrens instead of the magistrate. Chen Shi was not an easy person to talk with, nor was he an easy person to find. He was as slippery as snakes.

"I did not talk to the warrens," Bai Shuixian replied, monotonously. "I gave a document with the evidence to Teacher Chang and told him to send a letter to a trustworthy friend. I had no idea at all that the person would be Magistrate Chen until Teacher Chang told me."

A simple three sentences, but they were enough for Bai Deming to understand the full story. Though there were missing details that he did not know about, it was not important. He was going to die.

The person who had brought him his downfall was none other than the person they had planned to make a puppet out of. Bai Deming deliriously laughed at himself. Decades of planning and decades of orders to only come to this.

His tears flowed from his eyes and Bai Huang stared at him weirdly. He had never seen his father like this. From his memories, his father was a tough and strong man with a heart of steel.

Bai Huang never thought for once that his own child would cause his father to cry in a craze. The young men of the clan also thought alike. Bai Deming had set out a good and tough image in the young clansmen, so his behavior came as a shock to them.

This was no surprise for Bai Shuixian though. The reaction of Bai Deming was what he wanted. He was even saying that the old man had gotten off easy.

Honestly, there were lots more that Bai Shuixian wanted to do, but he knew that if he spoke more, the old man could die from a heart attack. He did not want mysteries and theories going around, so he only coldly glanced at the clansmen one last time before turning around and walking away from the cell.

The prison had been cleared by Chen Shi, so when Bai Shuixian went out, he saw no one. That was what he thought until he saw the same carriage from the previous day. The carriage that had the wyvern symbol engraved to it.

Bai Shuixian knew that this carriage was for no one else but him, so he changed his direction and headed towards it.

Lifting the curtain, Bai Shuixian saw someone he did not expect.

"Grandma," Bai Shuixian softly and sweetly called out.