Broken Jade - Chapter 126

Chapter 126

“Wait here. I’ll go find us something to eat.”

Unless something unexpected happened, they would be spending the night here. Both of them were injured, and neither had eaten much all day. They needed food and a fire to regain their strength.

Her gaze swept over the hunting bow hanging on the wall. The instant her eyes landed on it, she quickly looked away.

She’d better see if she could find some wild fruit.

Sheng Zhaoning was just about to turn around. Before she could take a step, a voice laced with mockery suddenly came from behind her.

“In your condition, what do you think you’ll be able to find?”

Wei Yi had not missed the brief flicker of dejection in her eyes when she looked at the hunting bow.

To give up the martial arts tempered through countless hardships for someone who had nothing to do with her-how utterly foolish.

“If I can’t, can you?” she shot back coldly, her gaze falling to his leg. The meaning in her eyes was obvious.

A man who couldn’t even stand had the nerve to make fun of her?

Wei Yi’s expression darkened, and his fists clenched with a series of crackling sounds.

She was looking down on him now?

The wound on his leg had stopped bleeding and was tightly bandaged. An injury this minor was nowhere near enough to rob him of his ability to move.

But he had just pretended that he couldn’t stand in front of Sheng Zhaoning. No matter what, he couldn’t expose himself now and make a fool of himself. All he could do was sit on the bed and glare.

Wei Yi didn’t want Sheng Zhaoning to disappear from his sight.

She was so weak now that she couldn’t even catch a chicken. Any random creature could knock her down, and she wouldn’t even have the strength to struggle. If she encountered danger, she had no way to protect herself.

Why was she trying to act so tough?

Then again, if Sheng Zhaoning didn’t care about him, why would she risk going out alone?

He was now “seriously injured” and unable to move, so she had no choice but to drag her frail body out alone to find food for him.

Only after thinking of this did the irritation between Wei Yi’s brows finally fade. His mood lifted, and the corners of his eyes curved faintly.

Sheng Zhaoning really still couldn’t let him go.

“Then go ahead.”

Wei Yi thoroughly enjoyed Sheng Zhaoning’s devotion to him. It made him feel as if they had returned to the way things used to be-she would only treat him well, care about him, and worry about him.

Rather than constantly pushing him away.

Wei Yi deliberately ignored Wei Heng’s existence, as though no rift had ever formed between the two of them.

Sheng Zhaoning rolled her eyes at him and disappeared through the doorway.

With one hand resting on his knee, Wei Yi tapped it twice without thinking. He watched her thin, bony shoulders and back. It looked as though a strong enough gust of wind could carry her away.

“Send a few men after her. Keep an eye on her, and don’t let anything happen to her.”

He raised one brow slightly and issued the order toward the darkness.

Several black shadows darted silently from around the wooden cabin like ghosts.

Only then did Wei Yi curve his lips into a smile and quietly wait for Sheng Zhaoning to return.

A cool breeze swept past the window.

The sun had completely disappeared, leaving only the last trace of gray-white afterglow on the horizon.

Sheng Zhaoning didn’t go far.

There wasn’t much fruit to be found in spring, and it took her a long time to barely find two kinds that were edible.

A few distant wolf howls drifted through the woods, along with the cries of unknown wild beasts.

Picking fruit with one hand was difficult. It took her a long while to gather a few handfuls, but she didn’t dare linger. After collecting some firewood as well, she hurried back along the path she had come.

After her internal energy had dissipated, all her senses had returned to normal.

Naturally, Sheng Zhaoning failed to notice the men who had been following her all along. Only after she returned safely to the wooden cabin did they slip back to their original positions and await further orders.

Wei Yi had been waiting for her for a long time.

The anxiety that had been building in his heart instantly faded when he saw that familiar figure.

He immediately put his weak, listless expression back on. Only after seeing Sheng Zhaoning push open the door did he slowly lift his eyelids. “You’re back.”

She glanced at Wei Yi without replying. She tossed the fruit to him, then walked over to the wall and threw the firewood into the stove, setting it alight.

Wei Yi could see the weariness between her brows, and a faint stir passed through his heart.

She had been rushing around and working all day. With her body in its current condition, she was probably gritting her teeth and forcing herself to hold on.

“Come over and drink some water.”

Wei Yi did not know that the faint stir in his heart was called heartache. He only felt a little regret. Perhaps he should not have schemed to put on this act and forcibly dragged Sheng Zhaoning into these remote mountains.

Before she admitted that she loved Wei Heng, he had always clung to the lucky belief that Sheng Zhaoning could not truly let him go.

But it was only when she defied a kill order for that man, crippled her own martial arts, abandoned everything, and left the Wei Clan as a traitor that he finally understood how determined she was to leave him.

Wei Yi did not understand. She had loved him for so many years. How could she simply stop loving him?

Later, he thought of the assassination in Jizhou.

Could it be that after sharing hardships and depending on each other through life and death, she had fallen so passionately in love with someone else?

Wei Yi did not know what it meant to love someone.

So he began to learn. Like Wei Heng, he would experience everything they had experienced and try to make her understand that he could save and protect her too.

He would be the one to ascend the throne in the future, and he alone could grant her all the glory under heaven.

He was learning how to love.

Sheng Zhaoning glanced at the waterskin in his hand, reached out to take it, and drank several large gulps.

It was only after returning to a place that was relatively safe that the nerves she had kept taut finally relaxed. In their place came a weakness that spread from within her body to the outside.

Sheng Zhaoning felt an abnormal heaviness and dizziness in her head. The area from her forehead down to her cheeks radiated intense heat, while her hands and feet were utterly cold.

It seemed her fever was returning.

“You sleep on the table.” Sheng Zhaoning did her best to steady her voice and spoke to him normally.

There was only one small bed in the room, large enough for one person. With two people, it would be cramped.

There was no way she would share a bed with Wei Yi.

Wei Yi’s expression shifted, but he said nothing. He obediently gave up the bed.

This time, Sheng Zhaoning was the one who felt surprised.

Was he really being this agreeable?

But she had no time to think about it. The waves of cold in her hands and feet, combined with the abnormal burning heat in her face, made her feel dizzy.

She had already reached her limit just by holding on this long.

Sheng Zhaoning lay down facing the wall, her back to Wei Yi. Her hands and feet curled up involuntarily as she let the fogginess swallow her consciousness.

In the end, she could resist no longer and fell into a deep sleep.

Her consciousness sank into darkness.

The fire in the stove slowly rose, bringing light as it continuously spread warmth through the room.

The chill gradually faded.

Wei Yi sat on the chair, staring at Sheng Zhaoning’s back. When he saw that she had quickly fallen silent, he remained quiet for a moment before suddenly calling out, “Sheng Zhaoning?”

Had she fallen asleep so quickly?

Or did she simply not want to answer him?

The only response was the surrounding silence.

He waited a little longer, but she still did not move. Frowning, he rose and walked over to her.

“Sheng…”

The word died in his throat.

His gaze fell on the conspicuous flush spread across her face, and his breathing tightened in an instant.