Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Wei Chengjun tapped the table, his gaze fixed on Wei Yi.

Everyone’s eyes followed Prince Zhenbei and fell on Wei Yi.

Everyone was waiting for his answer.

Wei Yi raised his eyes, exchanged a glance with Wei Chengjun, and smiled. “Wan’er is refined and proper, with a virtuous heart. I have admired her since childhood. Now, with the blessing of Father King and Uncle Chi, I am deeply grateful and willing to take Wan’er as my wife.”

With those words, the matter was irrevocably settled.

Wei Chengjun smiled with satisfaction. “In that case, this marriage is settled.”

Chi Wan could not suppress the smile at the corner of her mouth; she lowered her head to hide the excitement in her eyes.

Congratulations gradually sounded from all around.

Wei Yi picked up his wine cup, his fingertip tracing the rim.

He had long known that he would marry Chi Wan.

The union of the Wei Clan and the Chi Family was beneficial to both sides.

The Wei Clan needed the Chi Family’s assistance, and the Chi Family needed the Wei Clan’s power.

He did not reject such an outcome.

To him, as long as he gained enough benefits, he did not care whom he married.

Thinking this, yet for some reason, Wei Yi’s gaze involuntarily flicked toward the door.

Under the moonlight, a figure knelt in the wind and snow, thin and lonely.

Through the hazy night, that person’s gaze seemed to look back from afar; but the distance was too great, and surrounded by the noise and splendor of Wujin Hall, everything felt like an illusion.

Outside the hall, Sheng Zhaoning’s lips curved into a bitter smile.

For the first time, she felt that relying on profound inner power to hear so far was not entirely a good thing.

Inside, a pair of childhood sweethearts, a well-matched couple, had just been confirmed.

Even though she had long known this outcome, her heart ached uncontrollably.

Sheng Zhaoning liked Wei Yi, secretly keeping him in the deepest part of her heart. Even though that person was covered in sharp blades that gouged her heart until it was riddled with holes, she still could not let him go.

To her, Wei Yi was like a great tree that had taken root, entwined in her flesh and blood; to remove him would be to tear him out inch by inch, with blood streaming.

…

She could not remember clearly how she knelt all that night, under the contemptuous, disdainful, and mocking gazes of everyone, repeating over and over “Greetings to Second Miss Chi,” until daybreak, when she dragged her stiff, swollen, and aching legs back.

In a daze, for some reason, she suddenly dreamed of many years ago, the first time she saw Wei Yi.

Sheng Zhaoning had not originally been called Sheng Zhaoning.

She had no name; she was just an abandoned infant that Prince Zhenbei had casually picked up on the road during his triumphant return.

When she was seven, Wei Yi needed a maid of similar age. The Senior Steward at the time noticed her calm nature and early maturity, deemed her the most suitable, and transferred her to Wei Yi’s courtyard.

That was the first time she saw Wei Yi.

In the third month of apricot blossoms, the young master in brocade robes jumped down from a tree, his expression proud, his gaze scrutinizing and assessing her from head to toe. Just as she was feeling anxious, he suddenly extended his hand and offered her a freshly broken branch of apricot blossoms.

“For you.”

She froze in place, staring fixedly at that branch of spring.

She raised her head and met his gaze. Unknowingly, a dizzy little deer had gotten drunk and crashed heavily into her heart.

For many years after that, she always followed behind Wei Yi, taking beatings with him, enduring punishment for him, watching him grow from a tender young master into a graceful youth.

He would also stand up for her when she was bullied, and shield her behind him when the nanny scolded her. He would secretly save her favorite pastries and personally carve crude wooden figurines for her.

Wei Yi quietly took root in her life like that.

When did it change?

Probably, when Wei Yi first saw her kill someone.

Prince Zhenbei’s original intention in training Shadow Guards was, first, to serve the Wei Clan, and second, to protect Wei Yi and build up his power.

At that time, she didn’t know what a “Shadow Guard” was; she only remembered someone telling her that becoming a Shadow Guard would allow her to stay by Wei Yi’s side forever, to accompany and protect him.

So, on the most ordinary of nights, she voluntarily joined the Shadow Guard selection, locked away with a thousand other children, training and killing day after day.

She didn’t know how Wei Yi had searched for her like crazy, or how, upon learning she had joined the Shadow Guard selection, he had flown into a rage and smashed everything in the courtyard.

For half a year, she lived almost entirely in darkness.

One Thousand Survive Ten.

Out of a thousand, only ten could survive to the end.

She fought with everything she had, climbed out of the pile of corpses covered in blood, and became the last survivor.

At her feet, a dying little boy used his last ounce of strength to grab the hem of her clothes, his eyes filled with the desperate desire to live.

She remembered him: at the beginning, when she was too short to grab food, he was the one who gave her half a steamed bun.

Struggling, the little boy looked up at her and said, “I don’t want to die…”

But a sharp blade, she did not know whose, was lodged in his abdomen, buried to the hilt.

He wouldn’t make it.

Perhaps realizing this belatedly, the light in his eyes slowly dimmed, and his grip on her hand loosened little by little.

“What’s your name?” She crouched down and asked this very calmly.

He lifted his eyes and with difficulty spat out a few words, “Sheng… Zhaoning.”

She had not forgotten that when she first arrived here, in the dark and helpless, he had given her half a steamed bun, so she wouldn’t have to endure the first cold night hungry.

So, as his life neared its end, she crouched beside him and said, “I will live on for you.”

Unfulfilled last wishes, she would fulfill them.

From then on, she had a name.

She was called Sheng Zhaoning.

In the years that followed, she wore a hideously ugly mask, sealed herself away, and became the Shadow Guard who struck fear throughout the Northern Border-Shadow Ten.

At first, Wei Yi didn’t know who she was.

She moved in the darkness, guarding him like a shadow.

Until a premeditated assassination attempt. She neatly disposed of everyone who posed a threat to Wei Yi, pursued the mastermind beyond the city walls, and killed him with exceedingly cruel, torturous methods.

She didn’t notice at all that behind her, Wei Yi stood not far away, his gaze dark and cold as he looked at her.

And her mask had already been split in two during the fierce battle earlier.

Wei Yi had witnessed the cruelty of her methods.

Such a person, how different from a demon?

From then on, the way he looked at her held nothing but loathing.

Sheng Zhaoning still followed him as always, killing anyone who obstructed his path.

She didn’t expect Wei Yi to love her; she only wished to remain by his side forever. Even if her sincerity was trampled into the mud, she was willing to love him in this humble way, willingly.