Broken Jade - Chapter 110

Chapter 110

The grip around her throat tightened relentlessly.

This was far from the first time Wei Yi had wanted to strangle her to death.

But this time, he truly meant to kill her.

Blood from the dagger wound in her neck trickled over his wrist and dripped down. An inky black haze clouded his vision as he watched Sheng Zhaoning’s life drain away beneath his hand. Her jade-pale face took on a bruised, ashen hue, and even her breathing began to fade.

Little by little, Sheng Zhaoning was dying.

All he had to do was keep cutting off her air. Then everything in this world capable of throwing him into turmoil would cease to exist.

But when she finally lost consciousness from lack of air, her eyes falling shut as her head drooped, boundless panic abruptly flooded his heart.

The large hand clamped around her throat jerked away.

Wei Yi pulled Sheng Zhaoning into his arms. Feeling her breath so faint it might vanish at any moment, he was seized by terror.

“Han Xu!” he shouted, eyes bloodshot and expression fierce.

The roof of the carriage dipped slightly.

Han Xu flew down and landed atop it. Using the roof as leverage, he flipped over the edge and slipped smoothly into the carriage.

The carriage continued on its way.

Their own man had replaced the coachman as soon as they left the imperial palace.

The moment Han Xu entered, he saw Sheng Zhaoning held tightly in Wei Yi’s arms.

Acutely sensitive to the sight of blood, Han Xu immediately spotted the crimson liquid still seeping from the wound above her throat. Yet such a shallow wound would not have killed her.

It was the purple finger marks around her neck that starkly revealed how much force her assailant had used.

Had Sheng Zhaoning not been a Shadow Guard, tempered through countless brushes with death, she never would have survived.

“Give me the medicine!” Wei Yi ordered, a slight tremor in his voice.

A pure white pill was poured into his palm and placed in her mouth, where it dissolved instantly.

Wisps of cool medicinal mist traveled down her throat, nourishing her heart meridians like a vast spring rain before gradually forming an impenetrable barrier around them.

Her heartbeat, once so weak it had nearly stopped, began beating again. The stagnant pressure lodged in her chest was violently dispersed.

Sheng Zhaoning slowly began to breathe once more.

Han Xu stared at the sole remaining pill in the bottle, his thoughts complicated.

Zhou Lingsheng had made this medicine using the rarest treasures in the world. No matter how desperate the situation, as long as a single breath remained, it could preserve the heart meridians and keep its user alive.

General Chi had used one years ago. Now Sheng Zhaoning had used another. Only the final pill in the bottle remained in the entire world.

Han Xu could not understand Wei Yi.

He had clearly steeled his heart to kill her. Why had he suddenly regretted it at the very last moment?

This medicine was Wei Yi’s lifeline, the second life he had saved for himself in case he was ever driven into a hopeless situation.

Yet he had squandered it so casually.

Why put himself through this?

The snow fell even harder that night.

The Capital’s first snowfall of the winter swept down in a vast, majestic torrent.

Golden paving stones and glazed roof tiles disappeared beneath the blanket of white. It could not conceal the prosperity of Capital City, only lend it a touch of solemn tranquility.

After the New Year, Sheng Zhaoning claimed to be ill and did not appear in public for several days.

Wei Heng came to see her several times, but she refused to let him through the door.

Ever since New Year’s Eve, Wei Yi’s men had kept the Sheng Mansion under constant watch. She did not dare meet Wei Heng rashly again. There was no telling what that man might do if she did.

Sheng Zhaoning had never understood why Wei Yi had suddenly flown into a mad rage over her feelings for Wei Heng. Later, she finally realized the reason.

A dog that spent every day wagging its tail and begging its master for affection had suddenly burrowed into someone else’s arms. Even if the master did not like the dog, he would never allow its tail to wag for another man.

It was an absolute need to control what he considered his own.

He treated her as a servant, a tool, a dog.

He believed she belonged to him completely.

Yet he had forgotten that she had a heart of her own.

Falling in love with him had been beyond her control. Naturally, the same was true of falling in love with someone else.

The Sheng Family had finally settled down in Capital City.

Sheng Yuanzhong had been transferred back to the capital and given a sixth-rank post at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. The position held little authority, but it was at least undemanding.

The bruises around Sheng Zhaoning’s throat had almost completely faded, and the knife wound had healed long ago. Aside from the lingering rasp in her voice from the damage done to her vocal cords under such violent pressure, there was no longer any sign of the mortal danger she had faced in the carriage that day.

When Zhou Wei pushed open the door, Sheng Zhaoning was sitting by the window.

In her hand was a small, square piece of white jade. Sunlight happened to spill through the window, shifting with the passing day. She stared at the jade seal, lost in thought.

“What treasure could possibly be worth staring at every day? Keep it up and you’ll burn a hole through it,” Zhou Wei said with a disdainful curl of his lip.

He had seen that jade seal many times before. Sheng Zhaoning carried it with her every day and would gaze at it whenever she had a moment to spare.

Zhou Wei might not have been much of a connoisseur, but even he could tell it was no priceless, peerless jade. Its quality was merely a little better than average. Was it really worth cherishing so much?

Sheng Zhaoning looked up and shot him a cold glare before carefully tucking the jade seal back into the hidden pouch at her waist.

“What is it?” she asked bluntly.

Zhou Wei snorted and sauntered over, casually pulling out a chair and sitting down.

“That Crown Prince of yours has been trying to see you for days, but you keep refusing to receive him. After running back and forth these past two days, he’s come down with a chill and can’t visit in person, so he sent someone with a message for you.”

Zhou Wei’s expression remained indifferent as he spoke, but once he finished, he secretly glanced at Sheng Zhaoning from the corner of his eye. Sure enough, her face had changed dramatically.

“He’s ill?” Sheng Zhaoning raised her head, fixing him with a sharp gaze.

Zhou Wei did not conceal anything. “That’s what the people from the Eastern Palace said. They didn’t want to tell me at first, but they may have felt indignant on their master’s behalf. After making a few sarcastic remarks, they accidentally let it slip.”

Sheng Zhaoning’s breath caught. “Is it serious?”

Zhou Wei spread his hands. “I don’t know.”

The people from the Eastern Palace had left as soon as they delivered the message, refusing to say anything more.

Sheng Zhaoning sat in her chair, her gaze falling as she lapsed into a long silence.

Wei Heng had come to see her many times over the past few days, but each time, Sheng Zhaoning had claimed to be ill and refused to receive him.

Capital City had only grown colder since the snowfall. The bitter north wind cut like a knife.

Every time, he had left the palace and come to Sheng Mansion filled with hope, only to return alone and dejected.

After making the journey again and again without respite, how could he possibly be well?

A dense throb of pain spread through Sheng Zhaoning’s heart, sharp as countless needles.

They had only been apart for a few days, yet she, too, had suffered every day.

He was not the only one consumed by longing.

“What… did he say?” Sheng Zhaoning looked at Zhou Wei and asked earnestly, listening with care so she would not miss a single word.

Zhou Wei had long suspected there was something unusual about their relationship. As he recalled the message from the Eastern Palace, he became even more certain of his guess.

“He said, ‘At the Shangyuan Festival, at Queqiao in the south of the city. I hope we may meet.'”

Zhou Wei relayed every word to Sheng Zhaoning without omission.