Chapter 160

Chapter 160

Chi Yu paid him no further attention. Turning toward the bed, he scooped Sheng Zhaoning into his arms and strode out of the hall.

The woman in his arms felt weightless. She simply lay there, quiet and still, letting him carry her.

The doors stood wide open. The summer breeze was warm, and the slanting rays of the setting sun gilded the threshold.

Just one step away from the light, Chi Yu heard the weary, despairing voice behind him once more.

“Put her down.”

Chi Yu stopped. His body stiffened as he slowly turned around.

Wei Yi staggered to his feet. He swayed where he stood, dried tear tracks staining his face. His bloodshot eyes held a deathly stillness as fathomless as an abyss.

He gazed at the woman in Chi Yu’s arms with a sickening tenderness mingled with obsessive possessiveness.

His steps were slow but unwavering. Only when he stood before them did Wei Yi raise his eyes to Chi Yu and enunciate each word.

“Give her back to me.”

A madman.

That was the first word that came to Chi Yu’s mind.

He had never imagined that even now, Wei Yi would still refuse to let go.

How could anyone love someone this way?

Chi Yu did not dare imagine it.

He tightened his arms around Sheng Zhaoning and shouted at Wei Yi, “Move!”

Eyes bloodred, Wei Yi grabbed his arm and stubbornly blocked his path. “Let go!”

Chi Yu wrenched his arm free and turned to leave.

More than a dozen black-clad figures leaped down from the roof and formed a line across the entrance to Changhua Hall.

Han Xu raised his eyes coldly. His gaze settled on Chi Yu’s face before shifting to the woman in his arms. His hand tightened slightly around the hilt of his saber.

“General Chi, please hand her over.”

Chi Yu’s gaze swept over each of their faces. Many were old acquaintances, while the rest were newcomers recruited and trained later.

But regardless of which group they belonged to, Chi Yu could not take them all on by himself.

A crushing sense of helplessness suddenly rose from the depths of his heart.

Even he could not escape such an encirclement.

How could she have managed it after losing her martial arts?

In the end, Sheng Zhaoning was taken back.

Chi Yu fought with all his might, but he was ultimately outmatched. He could only watch helplessly as Wei Yi tore her from his arms once again.

Yet Chi Yu’s arrival and departure seemed to have no effect on Sheng Zhaoning at all. She remained indifferent to everything, immersed in her own blank, empty world.

After Chi Yu left, Wei Yi began searching for another solution.

Following Wei Chengjun’s death, Dai Rong had fallen gravely ill. Afterward, she remained in Liangzhou, secluding herself in the former Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion and refusing to take a single step outside.

Wei Yi dismissed the idea of summoning her.

The Imperial Medical Institute could devise no better course of treatment. Anyone could see that Sheng Zhaoning’s illness stemmed from her heart.

As long as the knot in her heart remained, no medicine could cure her.

And so, Wei Yi had no choice but to seek out Zhou Lingsheng once again.

Zhou Lingsheng had been held in secret ever since he was caught trying to escape. Now that he had finally been released, the first thing he did upon seeing Sheng Zhaoning was press trembling fingers to her pulse.

He did not even have the energy to curse Wei Yi.

Sheng Zhaoning truly looked dreadful.

Beneath his fingertips, her pulse was faint, each beat weak and feeble.

Her pulse had always been unusual. It had once been affected by her inner force, making it difficult for most physicians to interpret. After she severed her own meridians, it became even more inscrutable.

Even the physicians of the Imperial Medical Institute could only make a rough assessment of her condition. None dared prescribe medicine recklessly.

Yet despite the chaos of her pulse, Zhou Lingsheng still detected a truth within those faint beats that made his heart lurch.

His heart trembling violently, Zhou Lingsheng withdrew his fingers. He lifted his gaze and stared at Sheng Zhaoning with reddened eyes, his expression filled with disbelief.

She… was pregnant?

He could not believe his own diagnosis. He checked her pulse again and again, only for reality to crush his hopes each time.

Zhou Lingsheng could not begin to describe what he felt in that moment. The revelation struck him like a bolt from the blue, yet he had to force himself to remain composed so Wei Yi would not detect the slightest hint of anything unusual on his face.

Yet the stiffness in his movements betrayed him.

Wei Yi said nothing. He merely watched him in silence.

Zhou Lingsheng offered no explanation either. Without a word, he added herbs to stabilize the pregnancy to the prescription.

He knew Sheng Zhaoning would never want this child.

But in her current condition, even contraceptive medicine would leave her burning with an unrelenting fever, let alone an abortifacient.

He could not allow her to risk her life. His only choice was to conceal the matter completely.

From both Wei Yi and Sheng Zhaoning.

“I will say this only once. If you touch her again, she really will die,” Zhou Lingsheng warned, staring into his eyes.

Wei Yi’s gaze shifted, then slowly sharpened. He looked toward Sheng Zhaoning without responding to the warning and merely asked, “Will she still remember me?”

Zhou Lingsheng studied him for a long moment. Suddenly, even Wei Yi seemed like a stranger to him.

“How could she possibly forget?” he said with a meaningful sigh.

The man who had caused her endless pain. The mortal enemy she would fight until one of them was dead. How could she ever forget such deep, all-consuming hatred?

Zhou Lingsheng picked up his medicine chest and fixed Sheng Zhaoning with one last lingering look. His hand tightened into a fist, but he said nothing more before turning to leave.

Perhaps he had understood Sheng Zhaoning once again.

Once autumn arrived, the summer heat gradually began to fade from the air.

Sheng Zhaoning’s condition neither improved nor worsened.

Wei Yi began making preparations to install an Empress.

He was going to marry Sheng Zhaoning with all the pomp and ceremony she deserved, openly and honorably, so that everyone under heaven would know she was his wife.

The imperial court erupted into bitter debate over her once more.

Her unusual identity aside, her reputation throughout the court and the realm alone made her unfit to become the mother of the nation.

Everyone directed their attacks at Sheng Zhaoning. Only He Sui slowly stepped out from behind the civil officials, looked directly at Wei Yi on the throne, and asked, “Your Majesty wishes to make her Empress, but is that what she truly wants?”

He Sui had never forgotten the day she saw Sheng Zhaoning on Imperial Avenue all those years ago. Mounted on a magnificent horse, she had been radiant and high-spirited, receiving every word of praise as the newly crowned Zhuangyuan.

Everyone knew she had once been destined to become the Crown Princess. Even the Former Emperor had tacitly approved their marriage.

They had been a perfect pair, elegant and noble, standing side by side. No two people could have been better matched.

How could Sheng Zhaoning possibly have killed the Crown Prince?

He Sui had never been willing to believe it.

Later, when word spread that Wei Yi had imprisoned her deep within the Imperial Palace, He Sui finally understood how little choice Sheng Zhaoning had ever been given.

Wei Yi was the emperor now, and the whole realm rested in his hands.

Stripped of her power, without allies, family, or friends, how could she possibly resist while trapped deep within the Imperial City?

Ignoring the shocked stares around her, He Sui refused to let the entire court’s condemnation fall solely upon Sheng Zhaoning. With unwavering eyes, she asked, “Does Sheng Zhaoning want to become Your Majesty’s Empress?”

Wei Yi’s icy gaze fell directly upon her.

His lips tightened as he held He Sui’s frank, fearless stare. After a long while, he suddenly smiled.

“There are very few people left who are willing to speak for her.”

Sheng Zhaoning had already endured far too much condemnation.

She had been branded a traitor who sold out her master for glory, a sycophant who clung to power, a vicious and ruthless woman without the slightest sense of shame…

With so many accusations heaped upon her, who would still be willing to say a single word in her defense?

Far from becoming angry, Wei Yi rose to his feet. Looking down upon the assembled officials in the golden throne hall, he spoke with a smile that sent chills through them all.

“Listen carefully. I am the one who insists on keeping her by my side.”

“And I am the one determined to make her Empress.”

“She does not like Capital City. She does not like the Imperial Palace. But I will keep her here. I will force her to stay, and I will marry no one but her.”

“She cannot escape, and there is nowhere she can hide.”

“So, my ministers, do you understand now?”

Taihe Hall fell utterly silent.