Broken Jade - Chapter 145
Chapter 145
He had not been exaggerating.
Zhou Lingsheng had snatched Sheng Zhaoning back from the gates of death. She was hanging on by a single breath and could not endure any more suffering.
Even now, the chain remained fastened around her wrist.
Once the sharpest blade in all of Liangzhou, she was now frail and sickly, a little bird kept by the emperor in a cage.
Zhou Lingsheng looked back at her. He walked to her bedside, his expression more solemn than ever.
“Remember what I said. Stay alive.”
Only by staying alive would she have a chance to break free of this cage.
Beyond Capital City lay a far wider world.
And the person she had been so determined to find that she had risked her life for it.
She must not spend her entire life trapped within these confining palace walls, wasting away in misery.
Sheng Zhaoning clutched his sleeve as though it were her last lifeline.
Her eyes red, she stared at him for a long time but found no trace of a lie in his gaze.
At last, the suffocating weight lodged in her chest dissipated.
Her fingers slowly loosened their grip on his sleeve, and a faint glimmer of life gradually returned to her eyes.
Zhou Lingsheng gave her one last, searching look before turning to leave.
The door closed once more, and silence settled over the room again.
A thick bed of charcoal burned in the four-legged, two-handled bronze brazier on the floor, continuously radiating heat.
The New Year festivities had already passed, but the cold outside remained bitter and dry.
Wei Yi stood in silence for a moment, then took the medicine Zhao Quan was holding by the door and slowly approached her.
“Drink your medicine.” He had tried to make his voice as gentle as possible.
It only made him sound stiffer.
Wei Yi had truly been frightened this time.
He dared not recall the terror and panic that had consumed him each time Sheng Zhaoning slipped into unconsciousness, barely clinging to life.
He would rather she remain as stubborn as ever, constantly opposing him and treating him as her enemy, than see her lying there lifelessly, never knowing when she might die.
The bitter scent of medicine spread faintly through the room.
Sheng Zhaoning lay weakly on the bed. Her eyelids slowly lifted, and she turned her head slightly to look at him. She stared at him for a long time.
He truly looked very much like Wei Heng. They had the same phoenix eyes and similar features.
Perhaps Wei Yi still did not know of his connection to Wei Heng.
There was no need for him to know.
After all, the Late Emperor had been the one at fault. He had taken Wei Yi’s mother and fathered Wei Heng with her.
Bringing up such an old grievance would only breed new hatred. Sheng Zhaoning did not want to tell him.
“Wei Yi, let’s make a life together,” she said suddenly.
The medicine bowl trembled. Dark brown liquid spilled onto the floor, spreading into a small stain.
He looked up at her in disbelief, thinking for an instant that he must have misheard.
His body went rigid, unable to react. Her words echoed endlessly through his mind.
“What did you say?” he finally managed to ask.
His voice was unbearably hoarse, trembling almost imperceptibly.
Sheng Zhaoning sighed. Raising the wrist shackled by the iron chain, she repeated herself. “Let’s make a life together. Stop tormenting me.”
Wei Yi’s breathing grew ragged. He could not speak. “You…”
He searched her face for any hint of what she was feeling, instinctively trying to guess her true purpose.
Sheng Zhaoning had yielded to him like this many times before. Every time, she had done so with a smile, only to plunge the knife into him where it would hurt the most.
When he had first ascended the throne, she had tried to kill him more times than he could count.
The dagger she had openly thrust at him. The assassination attempt by the surviving soldiers of the Imperial Guard Camp. The fingers that had closed around his throat when he stayed overnight at Changhua Hall…
She had tried to kill him many times. The time she had come closest to succeeding had been just like this: pretending to have forgotten the past, smiling as she offered him a cup of poisoned wine.
He had believed her. He had drunk that wine and nearly died.
But Sheng Zhaoning had forgotten that members of the Shadow Guard were not the only ones who had to undergo training to become immune to a hundred poisons. He did too.
And his training had been far more extensive.
Ordinary poisons could not harm him at all. But Sheng Zhaoning had genuinely intended to kill him. The poison had been so potent that it had very nearly claimed his life.
From then on, Wei Yi had only become more wary of her. He hated her even more.
He refused to believe anything she said so easily again.
Sheng Zhaoning’s expression remained detached as she looked at him and calmly stated a fact. “Do you remember? Back at Mingyue Pavilion, when you said you wanted to take me away, I had already agreed to go with you.”
At the time, if Wei Yi had been willing to leave the capital behind forever, she truly would have followed him back to Liangzhou.
Even if it meant spending the rest of her life trapped at his side, never to see Wei Heng again.
She still would have done it.
“You were the one who refused to believe me,” Sheng Zhaoning said.
Wei Yi’s heart gave a violent lurch.
His grip tightened around the rim of the bowl, and his breathing abruptly grew ragged.
“Don’t try to deceive me with your honeyed words.”
She was clever. She knew exactly what to say to drown him in guilt and regret.
Sheng Zhaoning had too many schemes, making it impossible to tell which of her words were true and which were lies.
She was only saying this to unsettle him.
Wei Yi’s reason told him that he must not believe her so easily.
Yet the moment she spoke of making a life together, those few simple words brought his reason to the verge of collapse.
He could not resist the temptation they offered.
If she was truly willing to remain peacefully by his side, no longer plotting against him or thinking of escape, then he… would not treat her this way again.
Sheng Zhaoning saw the resolve in his expression begin to waver. With great effort, she pushed herself upright and leaned against the headboard, her breathing unsteady.
“Wei Yi, look at me. What could I possibly do in this state?”
Her gaze softened as she said, “Treat me a little better, and I’ll treat you a little better too.”
“Let’s try to put everything behind us, all right?”
Wei Yi stared at her for a long time. His piercing gaze seemed to bore straight into her eyes, as though he meant to see through her entirely.
He did not agree right away.
It was too easy to be deceived by her when he stood at her side and looked at her.
He needed time to think it over carefully and thoroughly. He would not allow her to fool him so easily again.
He set down the bowl, and Tao Rui watched as Sheng Zhaoning drank the medicine.
Wei Yi left for parts unknown and did not return for several days.
During his absence, Sheng Zhaoning was indeed perfectly well-behaved.
She began taking her medicine and eating her meals in earnest. Although she ate very little each day, her health gradually began to improve.
Wei Yi could not calm himself.
It had been far too long since he had felt Sheng Zhaoning’s love. Even his memories of it had grown faint and hazy.
He began to wonder: even if it was a trap, even if it was all a lie, what did it matter?
What did Sheng Zhaoning have left?
Everything she had was already destroyed. Now, he was the only person she could rely on.
Perhaps he really could try to believe her.
He would trust Sheng Zhaoning one last time.
Just this once.
