Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Amid his frustration, Zhou Lingsheng’s unusually circuitous mind landed on another possibility.

Sheng Zhaoning looked cold and indifferent on the outside, but in truth, she was stubborn and cared about saving face. Maybe the medicated cuisine he made was delicious in itself, and she was simply too embarrassed to show that she liked it. That was why she finished it in one go every time, yet never said so outright.

The more Zhou Lingsheng thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. The light that had just dimmed in his eyes brightened again.

So determined to save face that she’d suffer for it.

He cursed her inwardly, then happily picked up his spoon, lifted the bowl, and blew on each small bite before eating it.

Sheng Zhaoning sat at the table, silently watching him eat the medicated cuisine spoonful by spoonful.

She had to admit, sometimes she really did admire him.

Something that disgusting, and he could still eat it so calmly and unhurriedly, as if he were savoring it.

Under her gaze, Zhou Lingsheng finished the entire bowl. Only after he looked up did he belatedly realize that Sheng Zhaoning had been staring at him for quite some time.

He frowned. “Why are you looking at me?”

Sheng Zhaoning asked with great sincerity, “Do you really like this flavor?”

It was bitter and spicy, faintly sour with a hint of fishiness. The most terrifying part was that after swallowing, a trace of sweetness would rise from the root of the tongue. Mixed into that chaotic jumble of flavors, it became a horrifying kind of sweetness.

Zhou Lingsheng froze for a moment. “It’s fine.”

Sheng Zhaoning looked at him and listened as he added another sentence.

“Though I don’t have a sense of taste.”

Sheng Zhaoning: “…”

Countless overlooked details pieced themselves together, and she finally understood why Zhou Lingsheng could eat that horrific flavor with such relish every time, without the slightest psychological burden.

He actually had no sense of taste!

Sheng Zhaoning considered herself someone whose emotions rarely fluctuated visibly, yet at this moment, her teeth began to itch despite herself.

Her face shifted from green to white and back again, the colors changing spectacularly. Zhou Lingsheng had never seen so many expressions on her face before.

“So all this time, you thought I found it delicious?”

Zhou Lingsheng paused. “Didn’t you?”

Sheng Zhaoning laughed from sheer anger.

No wonder all three meals a day had recently been replaced with this stuff. So he thought she liked eating it!

At first, when Sheng Zhaoning encountered that flavor, she had assumed Zhou Lingsheng had changed to a new medicine. Gritting her teeth, she had downed it in one gulp and endured for most of the day before barely managing not to throw up.

But as this “medicine” appeared more and more frequently, though she did not understand it, she respected it. Each time, she dared not savor it at all. She could only swallow it boldly in one gulp straight down her throat, avoiding any contact with the root of her tongue.

She never expected that in Zhou Lingsheng’s eyes, all those actions had somehow turned into: she loved it, she ate more, and she wanted more!

The hostility in Sheng Zhaoning’s eyes grew so thick it nearly spilled over.

Only then did Zhou Lingsheng sense danger.

His heart skipped two beats. A cold, numbing chill slowly crawled up his spine. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sheng Zhaoning’s fist gradually clench, and before she could make a move, he jumped up and shouted, “My master taught me this! The flavor is absolutely authentic!”

This guy had a master?

Sheng Zhaoning sneered. “What is your master’s name?”

She was genuinely curious. What kind of extraordinary person could teach such a fine disciple?

This time, it was Zhou Lingsheng’s turn to be confused. “You don’t know my master? Then how do you have his special secret medicine?”

Sheng Zhaoning lifted a brow slightly. “What secret medicine?”

Seeing that he had successfully changed the subject, Zhou Lingsheng secretly let out a breath of relief and answered, “When you were gravely injured and unconscious, I found a medicine bottle in your clothes. What was inside was precisely my master’s medicine.”

Sheng Zhaoning instinctively felt at her waist and took out the medicine bottle.

She opened it. Sure enough, it was empty.

“That’s the one.” Zhou Lingsheng looked at the bottle in her hand and said, “I wouldn’t dare claim this medicine can raise the dead or regrow flesh over bare bone, but it can certainly snatch a life back from the King of Hell. If not for its help, with the injuries you had at the time, whether you would have survived was truly hard to say.”

Sheng Zhaoning’s fingers slowly tightened around the bottle.

She had not forgotten. This bottle of medicine was something Chi Yu had personally traveled all the way to Mobei to obtain for her.

At the time, her internal injuries had also been severe, but she had never used it. She had only kept it on her out of habit.

She had never wanted to owe Chi Yu anything. Yet in the end, he had still been the one to save her.

Sheng Zhaoning held the bottle in silence for a long while. It was only when Zhou Lingsheng waved a hand in front of her eyes that she came back to herself.

She capped the bottle again and put it back at her waist.

“How much longer until my injuries heal?”

Seeing how carefully she treasured an empty bottle, Zhou Lingsheng vaguely sensed something unusual. His gaze went unfocused for a moment, and he seemed lost in thought, not hearing her question.

By the time he snapped out of it, Sheng Zhaoning was staring at him, waiting for his answer.

Zhou Lingsheng gave her a guilty glance. “Huh?”

With a darkened expression, Sheng Zhaoning repeated what she had just said.

Hearing this, Zhou Lingsheng looked her over from head to toe. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Your tendons and bones were too badly damaged. The Bone Shaping Technique did piece your bones back together, but some places were too severely injured to heal completely. You won’t fully recover to how you were before. Your knees, in particular, suffered the worst. From now on, they’ll ache whenever it’s damp and cold, and they’ll be more fragile than before. You must take extra care.”

He gave a conservative answer. “If we’re talking about a full recovery, you’ll need at least another half a year.”

Sheng Zhaoning frowned in thought.

Half a year was neither long nor short. What she could not understand was why Prince Zhenbei, knowing full well that she had defied his orders, had still gone to such lengths to find Zhou Lingsheng and save her.

And in the two months since she had awakened, he had never once appeared.

She could not guess what Wei Chengjun’s purpose was. She had tested the waters several times, but she had not managed to draw even the slightest clue from Zhou Lingsheng.

Now she was trapped in this valley, knowing nothing of the outside world.

The area was riddled with mechanisms, and she did not have the energy to break through them.

All she could do now was stay here and quietly recover while waiting for the people of Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion to come find her.

“Your external wounds are more or less healed. Starting tomorrow, I’ll prepare medicinal baths for you to remove the scars on your body.”

Zhou Lingsheng took away the bowl and spoon in front of her, preparing to wash them later.

Sheng Zhaoning thought of the hideous scars on her skin. They had spread over almost every inch of her body, each one different in shape, horrifying to behold.

Aside from the old wounds accumulated over the years, all the rest had been left in the dungeon.

Those hellish memories flashed through her mind one by one. Inevitably, Sheng Zhaoning thought of Ao Chun. Her gaze turned cold in an instant, and surging killing intent spread endlessly through her heart.

One day, she would strip him of everything he cherished and kill him with her own hands.

“No need.”

The more scars she had, the harder it would be to forget her hatred.

Besides, to her, whether this shell of flesh bore scars or not was of no importance.

“Those are the prince’s orders,” Zhou Lingsheng said.