Chapter 13 — He Thought I Was Still Waiting For His Palanquin, But The Divine Order Has Come To My Palace

Later, someone recounted that, while still in Tan Chau, Du Tu Tam secretly had an affair with someone else, was beaten and had a miscarriage, and was humiliated, so he rushed to the capital. The fact that she grasped Tham Trac Nien's weakness and became the main wife, could Father and Mother Tham not see it? However, when the Lam family declined, they could only pretend to be dead, and no longer had any sincerity like before. So they were silent. But for the weak, silence is the beginning of destruction. Because of that choice, a hundred-year-old family line collapsed overnight. Banished to the old ancestral home, living in a windy, ramshackle landscape. Du Tu Tam was the biggest humiliation the Tham family had ever suffered. He was imprisoned in the firewood room every day, cursed at, beaten, and whipped on his legs and back. Even when he cried, he didn't dare to cry out loud. She screamed in despair

"Who in this world doesn't want to climb high? I only want to make a fortune, what's wrong?"

At that time, Tham Trac Nien saw everything clearly. Holding the whip in his hand, he lashed the weak body with blows, his mouth hissing:

"When you pretended to be sick and had a broken heart, causing Lam Nhiem to be misunderstood, weren't you wrong?"

"When you had an evil mind and pushed Trieu Minh Nguyet into the lake, trying to take someone's life, weren't you wrong?"

"When you seduced me and forced Lam Nhiem to take the blame for me, weren't you wrong?"

"When you quit smoking, used your body to tie me down, and then demanded your life to force Lam Nhiem to give up your position as the main family, weren't you wrong?"

"When you took advantage of your efforts to trick the king, pretended to save the price, and caused me to lose my palace, title, and inheritance... were you still not wrong?"

Every whip, every word - a beating until the skin is torn apart. Du Tu Tam was bleeding profusely and moaning pitifully. At the end of the fight, Tham Trac Nien himself sat down on the ground, his face full of tears.

"It's just... her temper is too high. If she's a little humble, what's the point? You have to argue with me, you have to stubbornly go into the palace..."

"That Pho Du guy... he's not good at all! He's just a scheming person who coerces and usurps her..."

Somehow, those words - fell straight into Pho Du's ears. When Pho Du heard the defamatory words, he did not say a single word. Just bow your head and leisurely read the chapter in silence. Half a moment later, he put down his pen, his voice cold as night dew:

"Forgive your sins first, give them the opportunity to make merit by suppressing bandits."

When he was alive, Tham Trac Nien never understood - the royal grace was not to atone for his sins, but to give him another chance to prove his own guilt. The last time I heard about him was half a year later. The news that came back to the capital was just a few lines: two legs were disabled, one eye was blinded by an arrow. From then on, his life was filled with only darkness and regret. He still doesn't understand where he went wrong. In his heart, he only saw injustice in the world, everyone wanted to push him down the cliff. He poured out all his grievances, resentment, and indignation on Du Tu Tam. Two people with the same unclean life, day after day immersed in cursing and beating, eventually turned into a pair of wild beasts and went to hell together. One night, Du Tu Tam went crazy. She broke free from him, locked the door, hugged the torch, and laughed amid the fire:

“If we can't live with you, then let's die together!”

The sky was red with fire, the old house exploded, wanting to drag the entire Tham family down to hell with him. But God has not yet given them satisfaction. The fire burned the whole palace, but there was no one die. The Tham family's whole body was burned, their bodies were ravaged, some had broken arms, some had broken legs, no longer human. As for the two ringleaders - Du Tu Tam and Tham Trac Nien, one had his back hit by a beam, breaking his spine, the other had his legs crushed by a beam, his skin was scorched, maggots crawled on his skin, he could never stand up. From then on, in that low cottage in the middle of the suburbs, people still hear a soft moan every night - it is the voice of Tham Trac Nien, both crazy, unwilling, and tormented, asking the same question over and over again until death without anyone answering:

“You… why should you choose him?”