Just a Wet Nurse, Just a Plaything? Everyone Wept After My Death - Chapter 74
Chapter 74
That night, the candle in the study at Tingfeng Courtyard burned down to nothing, its final wisp of smoke dissolving into the morning light.
Huo Xiao sat motionless in the grand armchair for the entire night. The wine jar at his feet was empty, and the mess strewn across the floor mirrored the desolation in his heart.
He had considered entering the palace to defy the imperial decree. He had considered taking Shen Yingyue and fleeing far away.
But every time the thought arose, he saw the unflinching look in his mother’s eyes as she threw herself against the pillar. He heard Liu Ruyan sobbing about “the honor and disgrace of the entire Huo Family.” And the decree’s weighty final words, “All shall obey,” pressed down on him like mountain after mountain, bending his back beneath their crushing weight.
He was the Grand General. Hundreds of lives in the Huo Family depended on him, as did the foundation he had worked so hard to build in Yanzhou.
Was one woman worth risking all of that?
At daybreak, he had his answer.
Or rather, he had never truly had another choice.
…
Creak-
The door to the inner chamber opened.
Shen Yingyue was leaning against the headboard. She heard the sound but did not turn around. Her hand remained clenched around the charred scrap of her undergarment, as though it were her only remaining connection to this world.
The mingled scent of stale wine and cold morning frost drew closer.
Huo Xiao stopped beside the bed.
He looked haggard. Dark stubble shadowed his chin, and the eyes usually as sharp as a hawk’s were now bloodshot, filled with profound exhaustion and guilt.
“Yingyue.”
His voice was terribly hoarse.
Shen Yingyue gave no response. Not even her eyelashes stirred.
Her cold indifference sent a stab of pain through Huo Xiao’s heart. Slowly, he drew an exquisite white jade bottle from his robes and held it out to her.
“This is the palace’s secret formula, the Jade Dew Skin-Regenerating Ointment.”
He spoke softly, his tone almost ingratiating in its humility.
“It’s better than anything the manor physician has. It works wonders on scars. Take it with you… and once you’re there, remember to apply it regularly. Don’t let the injuries cause lasting damage.”
At last, Shen Yingyue slowly turned her head. Her gaze fell on the white jade bottle, then traveled to Huo Xiao’s face, so full of “devotion” and “helplessness.”
She did not take it. Instead, the corner of her pale mouth curled into a mocking smile.
“There?
“Do you mean the imperial palace they call the Hall of the King of Hell, General?”
Huo Xiao’s fingers stiffened. Avoiding the eyes that seemed capable of seeing straight through him, he closed his own in pain.
“I know you resent me.
“But there’s nothing I can do… The imperial decree has already been issued. Defying it would mean the execution of my entire family. Mother threatened to take her own life last night… I can’t abandon the Huo Family.”
“So you sacrifice me instead.”
Shen Yingyue’s voice was soft, yet the words struck him like a vicious slap across the face.
“This isn’t a sacrifice!”
Huo Xiao hurried to defend himself. Crouching down, he tried to take Shen Yingyue’s hand, only for her to recoil in disgust. He could only withdraw awkwardly, his gaze shifting as he searched for a reasonable excuse for his own cowardice.
“Yingyue, think about it. As long as you remain in this manor, Mother and Ruyan will both see you as a thorn in their side.
“I spend most of the year at the military camp. I may be able to protect you for a time, but I can’t protect you forever.
“Wasn’t the fire in the woodshed proof enough?”
By the time he reached this point, Huo Xiao seemed to have convinced even himself. His gaze grew a little firmer as he continued:
“The palace may be dangerous, but it is the Emperor’s domain. You are entering the palace by imperial decree to serve as a wet nurse. As long as you can pacify the Ninth Prince, no matter how far Mother’s reach extends, she cannot harm you inside the palace.
“So… perhaps the palace is safer than the General’s Manor.”
The sheer absurdity of his words left Shen Yingyue speechless.
He was sending her to nurse a “Lone Star of Doom” who had already brought about countless deaths, casting her into the depths of a palace that devoured people whole, yet he still had the nerve to claim it was “safer than the manor”?
Just how hypocritical and shameless did one have to be to make abandonment sound so noble?
“Ha… safer?”
Shen Yingyue looked at him, the last trace of warmth in her eyes dying out completely.
“You’re right, General.
“Once I’m away from the General’s Manor, away from you, Huo Xiao, and away from your vicious mother and cousin…
“Anywhere would indeed be safer than here.”
Huo Xiao’s heart clenched so violently that the pain nearly stole his breath. He knew she hated him to the bone.
“Yingyue, trust me one last time.”
His eyes red, he forced the bottle of medicine into her hand and made a trembling promise.
“Go to the palace and lie low for now.
“Once a year or so has passed and the storm has blown over, or once I’ve earned enough military merit to ask the Emperor for a favor…
“I’ll find a way to bring you out!
“When the time comes, I’ll buy you a house outside the manor, and we can-”
“Enough.”
Shen Yingyue coldly cut off the empty promises he seemed so moved by.
She tightened her grip on the medicine bottle.
Not because she was touched, but because she needed the medicine. She had to heal. She had to survive. If she was going into that deadly den called the imperial palace, she would need a healthy body.
“General Huo, save those lies for Cousin Liu. Perhaps she’ll be naive enough to believe them.”
Bracing herself against the edge of the bed, Shen Yingyue struggled to her feet. Her plain white underrobe hung loosely from her body, making her look even more gaunt and frail.
She looked down at Huo Xiao, who was still crouched on the floor, her gaze cold as ice.
“You don’t need to find a way to bring me back.
“The moment I walk through the gates of the General’s Manor, all ties between me, Shen Yingyue, and the Huo Family will be severed forever.
“If I die in the palace, then I can only blame my ill fortune.
“But if I somehow survive…”
She paused, her lips curving into a bleak, anguished smile.
“It will only be so I can return and watch the Huo Family receive its just deserts.”
“Yingyue…” Huo Xiao opened his mouth, only to discover that beneath the weight of her lifeless, hate-filled gaze, he could not utter another word.
The steward’s urging came from outside the door.
“General, the palace carriage has arrived. Eunuch Li is pressing us to hurry…”
Huo Xiao shuddered.
He gave Shen Yingyue one final, lingering look before slowly rising to his feet, burying all his weakness and guilt beneath his hardened armor once more.
“Take care.”
With those two words, he turned and strode away without looking back.
Because he did not dare.
He was afraid that if he looked back, he would see his own conscience, rotten and festering beyond redemption.
Shen Yingyue remained where she was, watching until his figure disappeared.
Then she turned, pulled the charred black bellyband from beneath her pillow, and pressed it to her heart.
Nuannuan, Mother has to go now.
To another battlefield.
You must stay alive and wait for Mother to return.
