Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Chi Yu did not wake until the next day.

Madam Xu had kept vigil by his bed all night. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, her hair at her temples was disheveled, and her face was haggard. She forced herself to stay alert, a taut string stretched tight in her heart, and had not closed her eyes once the entire night.

Chi Yu opened his eyes. His blurred vision slowly came into focus, and it took him a long while to return to himself. But the moment he turned his head, Madam Xu noticed the movement at once and hurriedly looked up.

“Yu’er, you’re finally awake!”

Startled and overjoyed, Madam Xu quickly ordered a maid to fetch the physician.

Chi Yu was truly far too weak. At that moment, he did not even have the strength to speak. Only with Madam Xu and the servants supporting him did he barely manage to sit up.

“Mother…” he called faintly.

Madam Xu’s nose stung, and she answered through a choked sob, “Yes, Mother is here.”

But Chi Yu suddenly did not know what to say.

So many words were lodged in his chest, yet he had no idea where to begin.

He thought that perhaps he really had gone mad.

His mind was still foggy. He did not even have the strength to speak. His mother had clearly stayed awake all night worrying over his safety. And yet, the moment he woke, his head was filled with nothing but Sheng Zhaoning.

He did not know how he had become so obsessed.

To the point that he could not eat or drink, could not sleep at night.

So it turned out that fearing whether someone was alive or dead was far more painful than knowing that person did not love him.

He did not care who Sheng Zhaoning truly liked. He only wanted her alive, safe and sound, to live a long life.

Not like this, with her life or death unknown.

A coppery sweetness surged up his throat. Chi Yu clenched his teeth, trying to force it back down, but his stomach suddenly churned violently. A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out, scattering bright red drops across the floor.

“Ah!” Madam Xu screamed in terror.

She was thrown into a panic. Her vision went dark, and she was so frightened her heart nearly stopped. Tears immediately spilled from her eyes.

She did not know why her son had suddenly become like this. A powerful sense of fear spread rapidly through her heart without limit.

“Hurry and bring the physician here!”

Madam Xu only barely kept herself from fainting. Sitting at the bedside, she clutched Chi Yu tightly and refused to let go.

Chi Yu looked at Madam Xu’s terrified, helpless expression, and his heart ached. Guilt appeared on his pale face.

He called again, “Mother…”

Madam Xu wept as she answered over and over, “Yes, yes.”

Chi Yu’s consciousness began to drift once more. Madam Xu watched the light in her son’s eyes fade bit by bit, and nearly went mad.

“You are not allowed to sleep! If you sleep, you can forget ever seeing that woman again!” Madam Xu cried out almost desperately.

Chi Yu’s hand suddenly tightened around Madam Xu’s. His eyes widened, and he stared straight at her.

Madam Xu had never imagined that woman would have such a hold over her son. She could no longer care about anything else. No matter what Chi Yu wanted, as long as he could live, she would give it to him.

“If you still want to see her, then live properly for me. Recover your health. As for that woman, Mother will personally go to Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion and ask for her on your behalf!”

She did not know Sheng Zhaoning’s name. She only knew that everyone called her “Shadow Ten.”

In truth, the names of all Shadow Guards were absolute secrets. No one knew where they came from, and no one knew what they looked like.

They could be anyone around you.

Except Han Xu and Sheng Zhaoning.

One represented the dignity of Zhenbei Prince’s Mansion.

The other embodied the danger of the Shadow Guard.

Mention Sheng Zhaoning, and no one would know who she was. But mention “Shadow Ten,” and anywhere in the Northern Border, anyone who heard the name would turn pale with fear.

If Chi Yu had not been willing to die for her, Madam Xu would never have allowed such a dangerous and ruthless person to set foot in her home.

The physician arrived quickly.

Clinging to the three words “Sheng Zhaoning,” Chi Yu forced himself to hold on to the last shred of clarity. Only after the army physician set several silver needles into place did his fading consciousness slowly begin to return.

Chi Zheng stood at the side, watching as his son pulled one foot back from the gates of hell. All his stubborn pride drained away.

“I’ll go demand her release,” Chi Zheng said, his expression resolute.

By the time Zhou Lingsheng returned, seven days had passed.

Travel-worn and covered in dust, he had ridden day and night, hurrying back as fast as he could.

His swift horse stopped at the gate.

Two bulging cloth sacks were tied to either side of the saddle.

Both sacks were packed with medicine, most of it his master’s private collection. Seeing Zhou Lingsheng ransacking the place like a bandit, his master had nearly died of anger and chased after him with a stick. Even as Zhou Lingsheng fled, quick-eyed and quick-handed, he still managed to stuff a thousand-year spirit ginseng into his robes.

His master had cursed at the top of his lungs, “You little brat, don’t even think about coming back in this lifetime!”

Zhou Lingsheng had not dared look back. He simply mounted up and ran.

He swung down from the horse, untied the two cloth sacks, then patted the horse on the back and let it graze off to the side.

Zhou Lingsheng had been in fairly good spirits the whole way back. But now, standing before the gate, an inexplicable nervousness suddenly rose in him.

He hesitated for a long while before taking a deep breath and pushing the door open into the courtyard.

Pear blossoms filled his vision, white as snow, while peach and apricot blossoms competed in fragrance. The March weather had already begun to warm. Beneath a brilliant blue sky, the sun shone bright and hot, and the unmelted snow in the corner of the wall had soaked into the ground, leaving only a thin layer of ice crystals behind.

The scent of damp earth mingled with the fragrance of flowers in the air, forming a unique breath of spring.

Zhou Lingsheng looked up. The warm breeze stirred, lifting half of his sleeve.

Golden light fell across the window lattice, slanting in from one side and landing on the shoulder of the woman by the window. Daylight poured toward her, like splendor from the highest heavens descending upon her, wrapping her in shifting brilliance.

Through the window, she and he gazed at each other from afar.

Zhou Lingsheng’s heart softened all at once.

Sheng Zhaoning propped her chin in one hand and leaned lazily by the window.

Strands of hair occasionally brushed the tip of her nose and the corner of her lips. She lifted a hand to tuck them behind her ear, looked at Zhou Lingsheng standing in the courtyard, and said calmly, “You’re back?”

A thin sheen of sweat rose in Zhou Lingsheng’s palm. He nodded and said, “Mm.”

Zhou Lingsheng prepared several new prescriptions.

The previous formulas had mainly been for mending bone and treating injuries. Now that she had recovered about seventy to eighty percent, aside from her unhealed bone injuries, there was nothing seriously wrong with her.

Wei Chengjun had specifically instructed him that not a single scar was to be left on her body.

Zhou Lingsheng’s gaze shifted to her face.

Ao Chun had subjected her to such merciless torture, yet only her face had been left untouched. That, too, must have been Wei Chengjun’s order.

He still remembered the countless scars covering Sheng Zhaoning’s body, large and small, almost from head to toe.

In her condition, ordinary methods would not be enough.

He prepared a medicinal bath formula for her.

Sheng Zhaoning did not know why Wei Chengjun wanted the scars on her body removed, but since His Highness had given the order, she could only obey.

After Zhou Lingsheng scattered the medicinal powder into the water, he glanced at Sheng Zhaoning and warned her, “You must soak in this medicinal water continuously for three days. During that time, the pain may become unbearable, but remember this: you absolutely cannot come out halfway, and you cannot be exposed to light. If the pain truly becomes too severe to endure, call me at once.”

He had seen plenty of patients who, from the very start, had leapt out and given up while screaming and crying from the pain.

That kind of agony, like being sliced apart by a thousand cuts, was indeed difficult to withstand.

But he knew Sheng Zhaoning could do it.

The pain of shedding a layer of skin was not much less than that of bone reconstruction, though it was still a little inferior. She had endured the pain of bone reconstruction without uttering a sound. This would be no different.