Chapter 39

Chapter 39

A sour ache spread through Chi Zheng’s chest. He staggered forward, and at first glance, he almost failed to recognize that this was his own son.

Ever since Chi Yu had pried open the window and tried to escape last time, only to be caught and brought back, Chi Zheng had invoked the family discipline again to make sure he learned his lesson. He had broken several rattan canes across Chi Yu’s body, then, in a fit of anger, sealed every door and window completely and forbade anyone from visiting him for half a month.

Naturally, Madam Xu and Chi Wan would never simply leave him be. From time to time, they came over in secret to look in on him, and they also quietly sent clothes, bedding, and food.

Chi Zheng knew all of this, of course.

But this was also his most valued legitimate eldest son, the child he had doted on most since childhood. How could he truly bear to see him mistreated? He could only pretend not to know.

He had thought that although Chi Yu was confined here, he still had warm clothes and plenty to eat, with no lack of food or drink. How had he tormented himself into this state?

Perhaps seeing what Chi Zheng was thinking, the young servant who had run to the main hall to report the news wiped away his tears and choked out, “General, Madam, ever since the Young General was locked up, he has been despondent. He could barely eat anything day after day, and his body grew thinner by the day. These past two days, his illness became even worse. He hasn’t eaten for many days now.”

“Why did you not report this sooner?” Madam Xu demanded, her eyes red.

The young servant trembled, then dropped to his knees and kowtowed. “The Young General was afraid Madam would worry, so he forbade us from saying anything.”

At that, Madam Xu’s heart ached even more. “Silly child. What do you mean, afraid I would worry? You have reduced yourself to this state-you are trying to take your mother’s life!”

Tears rolled down Chi Wan’s cheeks. She stamped her foot in hatred. “It’s all that woman’s fault!”

Chi Zheng’s heart lurched at those words, and he shot her a fierce glare. “Silence!”

How could such words be said in front of others?

Chi Wan stiffened her neck and was just about to retort, but when she met Chi Zheng’s eyes, burning with rage, her defiance faltered.

Wronged and worried, Chi Wan cried even harder.

No matter how she thought about it, she could not understand what was so good about Sheng Zhaoning. She was nothing but a lowly maid of humble birth, with who knew how many lives on her hands, her reputation so rotten it made people recoil.

How had her brother become so bewitched that he threw his whole heart and mind onto her?

Gloom hung heavy over the room. Chi Yu lay with his eyes tightly shut, showing no sign of waking.

After half a ke, roughly seven or eight minutes, the army physician arrived in a hurry.

The moment he saw the scene inside the room, he was startled. He had no time to stand on ceremony and rushed to the bedside at once. He took Chi Yu’s pulse, lifted his eyelids, then carefully checked his pulse and condition. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief and say,

“General, please rest assured. The young master is merely suffering from stagnant liver qi and obstructed qi and blood. On top of that, he has gone too long without eating, leaving his spleen and stomach weak and his strength depleted. That is why he fainted.”

Madam Xu stared at the army physician. “Then when will my son wake up?”

The army physician looked at Chi Yu’s sickly complexion and considered for a moment. “This old man will perform acupuncture on the Young General shortly. At best, he will wake in one or two hours. At worst… it is difficult to say.”

Madam Xu gripped Chi Yu’s hand tightly, her face full of grief.

The army physician could not very well ask her to leave, so he braced himself and moved to the side. He reached out to remove Chi Yu’s upper garment, opened his medicine case, and took out silver needles. Following several acupuncture points, he inserted them swiftly and precisely.

Madam Xu could not bear to watch and quickly turned her head away.

Chi Zheng’s expression was grave. He watched the silver needles pierce Chi Yu’s body one after another, his thoughts unreadable.

“It is done.”

After a while, the army physician withdrew his hands and removed the needles, placing them back into the case one by one.

“This old man will write a prescription shortly. Madam, please have a maid decoct the medicine and feed it to the Young General.”

Madam Xu nodded repeatedly. “All right.”

After a moment of hesitation, the army physician still spoke with some reluctance. “Given the Young General’s current condition, the General and Madam should refrain from reprimanding him too harshly. His illness this time is not too serious, but his inner vitality is already depleted. It is only thanks to the Young General’s robust constitution that this did not become a grave disaster. But if this continues, I fear he will suffer a dual deficiency of qi and blood, and it may harm his internal organs.”

Chi Zheng’s heart tightened, while Madam Xu felt as if the sky itself were about to collapse.

Chi Yu turning Liangzhou upside down in search of someone was hardly a secret.

The army physician clearly knew a little of the inside story as well. Taking Chi Yu’s injuries together with his current condition, he could piece together most of the truth.

Chi Wan saw the army physician out.

Madam Xu dismissed the servants. Once only she and Chi Zheng remained in the room, she glared at him with bloodshot eyes and said, “From today on, don’t even think about laying another finger on my son. If you keep locking him up and beating him like this, don’t blame me for fighting you with my life!”

Chi Zheng’s brows knotted tightly. “You know perfectly well what fine deeds your son has been up to these days. His whole mind is set on finding that woman. Am I supposed to just stand by and do nothing?”

“Then let him find her!” Madam Xu growled. “She is only a woman. If my son wants her, then give her to him. What, are you afraid of Wei Chengjun?”

By now, she had truly come to terms with it. No matter how much she resisted and disliked that woman in her heart, none of it mattered in the face of her son’s life.

Chi Zheng was so choked with anger that it lodged in his chest. It took him a long while to catch his breath. “Do you think the Wei Clan’s Shadow Guard is something you can demand and receive just because you say so?”

Madam Xu automatically ignored that. She lifted her eyes and stared fixedly at Chi Zheng. “I only want to ask you one thing. Do you know where that woman is now?”

Her voice carried clearly through the crack in the door.

Outside, Chi Wan, who had just returned, froze mid-step. Hearing this, she held her breath and stood before the door, her heart pounding like a drum as she listened intently to the movement inside.

Faced with Madam Xu’s stare, Chi Zheng’s expression stiffened. Under her knife-sharp gaze, he clenched his fists and nodded. “I do.”

The sudden shattering of her hopes made Chi Wan feel as if her heart had been seized by countless hands and squeezed viciously, leaving her unable to breathe.

“Where?” Madam Xu pressed.

Chi Zheng sighed and had no choice but to tell her everything. “I don’t know the exact location. I only know that Wei Chengjun hid her in an estate. It’s in a remote area, filled with mechanisms, and no one can approach it easily.”

Madam Xu lowered her head, her mind racing.

Outside the door, Chi Wan covered her mouth in shock.

Mechanisms, an estate, a remote area, no one able to approach…

She abruptly remembered the man she had sent guards to follow two months ago.

She still remembered his name was… Zhou Lingsheng!

That was it. Now everything made sense!

No wonder that Divine Doctor named Zhou Lingsheng had appeared at Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion. No wonder that garden was covered in mechanisms, so much so that even the guards from the General’s Mansion did not dare approach it lightly.

At first, she had wondered who exactly lived inside, but she had had no time to investigate. As time passed, she had gradually forgotten about it.

Now, after hearing Chi Zheng’s words, she could be absolutely certain that the person living there was Sheng Zhaoning!

Jealousy and hatred swept away Chi Wan’s reason. She clenched her fists, her nails digging fiercely into her palms.

Why did this woman have to haunt them like a lingering ghost?

Everyone in the entire Northern Border was saying Shadow Ten was dead, yet she just had to be alive!

Sheng Zhaoning, Sheng Zhaoning…

A malice more vicious than ever before seeped into Chi Wan’s eyes.

She had to kill her. She would think of every possible way, use every means, regardless of the consequences.

In short, she would kill her!