SGEIRS -Chapter 460 A Final Farewell to Wei Heng

Wei Heng was not angered. In a calm tone, he said, “You’ve seen me now. You should go back.”

His composure made Mei Qingyun feel uncomfortable. She stared at him steadily and curled her lips into a faint smile.

“I haven’t had enough of admiring how miserable you look.”

With that, she bent down and placed the food box on the ground. Unhurriedly, she opened it and took out two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, a bowl of white rice, a flask of wine, a cup, and a pair of chopsticks.

She handed the chopsticks to Wei Heng and said in a condescending tone, “Eat. This is the last time you’ll get to have such good food. The wine is your favorite plum wine too. Enjoy it properly.”

Wei Heng said nothing. He quietly took the chopsticks, sat down on the ground, picked up the bowl, and began eating.

Seeing this, Mei Qingyun felt as if she had punched cotton—completely ineffective. In the past, whenever she said something unpleasant, Wei Heng would always retort. Now, he ignored her entirely.

Watching him eat with appetite, she frowned.

“Wei Heng, aren’t you afraid I poisoned the food?”

Wei Heng paused, lifted his head, and looked at her calmly.

“If you poisoned me, I’d have to thank you. Dying from poison before going to the execution ground would at least leave me with an intact body. But you’re smart. You wouldn’t do something so foolish and drag yourself into it.”

Mei Qingyun was left speechless. He was right—she wouldn’t do such a stupid thing.

She sneered. “Wei Heng, you’re going to the chopping block tomorrow. Aren’t you afraid?”

Wei Heng looked completely indifferent, as if living only for the moment.

“Since it’s already a fact, what’s the use of being afraid? I might as well live today well.”

His answer angered her immediately. Lowering her voice, she snapped, “You’re leaving so easily—just dying and being done with it. Have you ever thought about me?”

Wei Heng looked puzzled.

“As far as I remember, according to the law, an official’s crimes don’t implicate his former wife.”

Thinking of her recent hardships, Mei Qingyun felt deeply aggrieved.

“You bastard! Why did you have to become a corrupt official in the first place?”

Wei Heng hadn’t expected such a question. He fell silent.

Some things only needed to happen once—after that, they would happen countless times.

When someone first offered him a hundred taels in bribes, he had scornfully refused.

Five hundred taels—he refused.

One thousand—he refused.

Even two or three thousand—still refused.

But when someone offered five thousand taels, his heart wavered.

Temptations came again and again. At first, he could resist, but later, he couldn’t.

How many truly upright officials were there in this world?

From low-ranking clerks to high-ranking ministers, countless officials accepted bribes. What difference did one more make?

Unfortunately, among all the corrupt officials, he was the unlucky one.

He had escaped time and time again, only to finally fall into Gu Jingxi’s hands.

Seeing him remain silent, Mei Qingyun grew even angrier.

“Why couldn’t you just be a good official who stood up for the people? Why did you have to be corrupt? Because of you, at my age, I still have to worry about marriage. After the New Year, I’ll be thirty. At this age, how am I supposed to find a satisfactory husband?”

Wei Heng never imagined she would complain about this.

He looked up at her flushed, aggrieved face and suddenly smiled.

“Miss Mei, you’re mistaken. You’re beautiful and talented, with many admirers. Why worry about marriage? Wasn’t leaving me your greatest wish? Now that you’ve gotten what you wanted, why are you angry instead?”

Mei Qingyun’s eyes reddened.

“You made me a discarded woman at this age! Even if I remarry, I’ll be a second wife. How can I not be angry? You promised to treat me well, but you betrayed me. You took concubines one after another and became corrupt. You ruined the whole family. You destroyed half my life—you’re a scoundrel!”

Wei Heng found it laughable.

“You never cleared your own heart. You were half-hearted and indecisive. What right do you have to demand my loyalty? You thought Gu Jingxi was good—so why did you break off the engagement? Why didn’t you marry him and instead chose me?”

No man could tolerate his wife comparing him to another man—especially when that man was her former fiancé.

Gu Jingxi was Wei Heng’s lifelong shadow.

He could never be as outstanding as him.

When Gu Jingxi was favored by the emperor, Wei Heng had only just passed the imperial exam and was sent to a poor county as a minor magistrate.

Later, with help from his brother-in-law Han Jin, he became a fourth-rank prefect.

But Gu Jingxi had already become a third-rank official in the capital, head of the Court of Judicial Review, and a trusted imperial favorite.

His future promotion was almost guaranteed.

Except for being unable to function as a normal man, Gu Jingxi was superior to him in every way.

And now, even that weakness was gone.

From prison gossip, Wei Heng learned that Gu Jingxi’s condition had been cured and that Madam Gu was pregnant.

He had nothing left that surpassed Gu Jingxi.

Instead, he had become a prisoner awaiting execution.

Mei Qingyun was left speechless.

Back then, it was precisely because Gu Jingxi couldn’t function normally as a man that she hadn’t insisted on marrying him.

She liked him, but not enough to sacrifice her whole life.

How many women were willing to marry such a man and live as a widow in all but name?

Seeing her glare at him with mixed hatred and resentment, Wei Heng no longer felt like arguing.

He said calmly, “Since you’ve hated me for so many years, just keep hating me. If one day you stopped, I’d probably feel uncomfortable.”

With that, he continued eating.

Born into an official family, he had received strict training in table manners since childhood. Even as a prisoner, he maintained the refinement of a noble household—eating gracefully and slowly.

Watching him, Mei Qingyun felt at a loss.

She had come to mock him, yet she hadn’t really succeeded.

Facing death, he showed not a trace of fear.

This was the first time she had seen such a Wei Heng.

In her memory, he was always hysterical when arguing with her, furious enough to want to kill her, yet too cowardly to do so.

She opened her mouth, unsure what to say, and lost the urge to vent her anger.

After a long silence, Mei Qingyun took a deep breath and said in a patronizing tone, “For the sake of that divorce letter, if you have any unfulfilled wishes, as long as they’re not excessive and I’m able to do them, I’ll help you. But only one.”

Wei Heng paused.

After a moment of silence, he said, “After I die, find someone to collect my body and bury me on the hillside at the crossroads on the way to Lingyun Temple. Let my grave face east.”

Mei Qingyun stared at him in shock.

She hadn’t expected such a simple request.

“That’s your only wish?”

Wei Heng looked at her and nodded softly.

“Yes. That’s my only wish.”