Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Given Sheng Zhaoning’s current injuries, if those arriving were enemies, she certainly couldn’t return alive.

Fortunately, the group riding over from afar were none other than the Shadow Guards of the Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion.

Sheng Zhaoning breathed a slight sigh of relief and leaned weakly against a tree trunk.

She knew clearly that this group, in black clothes with silver patterns, were personal attendants of His Highness the Heir. And the leader was precisely the Shadow Guard Leader, Han Xu.

Probably this time, she had truly angered Wei Yi, for him to dispatch Han Xu himself to capture her.

Sheng Zhaoning was restrained by several people, her hands firmly secured behind her back.

Han Xu dismounted. He looked at her wretched and miserable appearance and said nothing more, but walked over to Chen Shao’s body, bent down to check his pulse, and after confirming there was no breath, turned back, slightly frowned, and turned his head to say, “Take her back.”

Sheng Zhaoning was almost forcefully tied up.

She was pressed onto the horse, the wound on her shoulder tearing open again, her limbs hanging limply from the saddle, eyes tightly shut, consciousness intermittently fading, her whole body cold, her left hand completely numb, large patches of dried blood on her body, looking extremely weak.

Seeing her looking like she might breathe her last at any moment, Han Xu was ultimately afraid she would really die.

He dismounted with a cold face, walked up to her, casually tore open her slapdash bandaging, but froze when he saw the wound, his expression instantly stiffening.

She was actually this badly injured?

Sheng Zhaoning’s left shoulder was nearly sliced off, fragments of bone mixed with frothy blood, simply sprinkled with a layer of medicinal powder just to stop the bleeding. Such a wound, for anyone else, would have probably made them faint dead away.

Only she, cold-hearted by nature and stubborn in temperament, never willing to interact with others, could endure it silently, and even try to walk down the mountain, refusing to send out a distress signal.

Han Xu stared at the wound in silence for a long while, then took a porcelain bottle from his chest, sprinkled on analgesic powder, re-bandaged the wound properly, made sure it no longer bled, and then took her back.

The terrain of Liangzhou was steep; the group took an unfrequented small path back, so they didn’t attract much attention.

The corpses in the forest had long been cleared away. Han Xu furrowed his brows and glanced back; Sheng Zhaoning had finally fainted.

His Highness the Heir had instructed that she was not to touch any Chen Family relatives. Yet, although the Heir had given the order, he still didn’t trust her, which was why he sent him to Yanzhou to protect the lives of Chen Shao’s wife and children.

But Han Xu was still one step behind her. When he rushed to Yanzhou, the secluded path was already covered in blood, with no survivors.

Entering the mansion through a side door, Han Xu dismissed the Secret Guards, grabbed Sheng Zhaoning by the back, and hauled her onto his own horse.

He lowered his head and gave her a deep look, then withdrew his gaze and took her to the Northern Garden.

Sheng Zhaoning was awakened by a cup of cold tea splashed on her.

When she opened her eyes, the room had been quiet for a long time.

Since it was deep autumn, a small amount of silver charcoal had been added to the floor furnace, and the room was filled with a faint warmth.

With a crisp “bang,” a porcelain cup shattered into pieces right beside her ear.

Sheng Zhaoning came fully awake.

She curled her fingers and looked up, meeting those cold, dark eyes.

“Your Highness the Heir.” Sheng Zhaoning knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily.

Wei Yi did not respond.

He watched coldly as Sheng Zhaoning’s body trembled slightly from struggling to kneel steadily. Her black clothes could cover the bloodstains but not the smell of blood. On this trip, she had killed dozens of people of the Chen Family, not even sparing the servant girls and attendants.

Wei Yi sneered, his oppressive gaze falling on her thin shoulders.

“Sheng Zhaoning, you have some nerve.”

His tone was calm as he spoke, but she still felt a tremor in her heart.

“This subordinate knows her mistake,” she said in a low voice.

Wei Yi sneered. “You admit your mistake quickly enough.”

He paced a couple of steps with his hands behind his back, his eyes dark and unreadable. Suddenly, he crouched down, and his calloused fingers ruthlessly grabbed her throat, a wave of intense suffocation crashing over her.

“What did you promise me? Only to take Chen Shao’s life, and not harm his family.” Wei Yi snatched a secret letter and flung it in her face. “Look at this!”

The letter struck the corner of Sheng Zhaoning’s eye, causing sharp pain.

Her gaze slowly moved down, scanning word by word, finally stopping on the last line.

“The Chen family members were traveling lightly to Yanzhou. Shadow Ten arrived. None were left alive.”

Sheng Zhaoning hung her head, pressing her lips together without speaking.

Chen Shao was a general under Prince Zhenbei. In earlier years, he had saved Wei Yi’s life on the battlefield, and Wei Yi had personally promised that he would repay the life-saving debt one day.

However, for his crimes this time, Chen Shao deserved death. Wei Yi would not be soft-hearted and plead on his behalf. The only thing he promised was to spare Chen Shao’s wife and children, so that the whole family would not be wiped out.

When Prince Zhenbei issued the kill order, Wei Yi sought her out and personally gave her this task.

Sheng Zhaoning never disobeyed his orders.

She had personally promised Wei Yi that she would not harm Chen Shao’s family.

Yet, she still went to Yanzhou and intercepted and killed Chen Shao’s wife and children.

“I’m sorry. This subordinate broke her word.”

The fingers around her throat tightened further. The air in Sheng Zhaoning’s chest leaked away bit by bit. Her face turned an unnatural red, and she struggled to breathe.

Wei Yi kicked her away. The force, laced with fury, slammed into her left shoulder. He didn’t notice at all that the moment his foot landed, Sheng Zhaoning’s expression twisted in near-distortion from pain.

“Get out and receive your punishment!” Wei Zhao flung his sleeve and left.

Sheng Zhaoning collapsed on the ground, her mind a sharp blank, a roaring noise filling her ears. The wound on her shoulder had completely torn open, even worse than the initial cut.

She struggled to get up, but everything went dark. She couldn’t see her surroundings and could only grope her way to sit on the ground, clutching her left shoulder tightly. Blood flowed through her fingers and pooled on the floor.

A maid who had come to clean was carrying a water bucket and, upon seeing this, screamed in fright.

“Ah-”

Han Xu had been standing guard not far outside the door. Hearing that short, sharp cry, he rushed over with his blade in hand.

He stood at the doorway and, seeing the blood all over the floor, froze in his tracks.

Sheng Zhaoning swayed, trying to stand up several times but each time collapsing heavily. Most of her face was hidden by a mask; the one eye exposed showed her lashes trembling nonstop. It seemed she was in terrible pain.

The wound on her left shoulder was hidden under her black clothes, and even the blood wasn’t obvious. If he hadn’t applied medicine to it on the way back to the city, he probably wouldn’t have imagined she was so badly injured.

Wei Yi probably wasn’t aware of her injury, and in his fury, he had once again severely wounded her left shoulder.

Disobeying orders was no light crime either.

This time, Sheng Zhaoning was likely truly going to suffer.

“You, leave first,” Han Xu told the maid.

After the young maid fled as if running for her life, Han Xu strode over to Sheng Zhaoning, crouched down, grabbed her arm, and quickly pressed two acupoints on her shoulder.

He glanced around, leaned a bit closer to Sheng Zhaoning, and lowered his voice. “Where did you hide the people?”