Chapter 95:
She was dying? Lu Ziyan stared blankly at the young lady on the chair, who was so thin she could no longer support her plain clothes, unable to believe how things had reached this point.
How could the lively and cute little young lady reach the point of no medicine available just from a cold?
What internal stagnation, what spiritual injury leading to short life…
He didn’t believe it!
Just as Lu Ziyan was panicking to the extreme, Liu Manrou came in holding her child who had just turned one year old today.
Everything that happened afterward felt like the whole world was joking with him, absurd to the extreme.
Liu Manrou’s mockery, Er Qing’s retort, his Wanwan being knocked down by the servants…
Er Qing offended her superior to protect her master, the child in Liu Manrou’s arms fell to the ground, and then another version of himself appeared.
Everything happened too fast.
So much so that when this world’s version of himself ordered Er Qing to be beaten to death, Lu Ziyan actually didn’t hear it; his eyes were filled with Xie Wanning being restrained by the servants.
“No! Let her go!” He shouted in collapse, wanting to kill those who bullied her.
But it was no use; he could only watch wide-eyed as a servant woman covered her mouth, bright red bloodstains flowing out through the cracks of that old hand’s fingers, his heart filled with utter panic and helplessness.
She spit blood?
She was dying?
Did he force her to death?
It was as if he had fallen into a nightmare from which he could not escape, the entire world collapsing.
He saw her finally break free from the servant woman’s grip, not caring to wipe the bloodstains from her face, and rush straight to Er Qing’s corpse.
He saw her pain and regret, her deep remorse, her complete realization.
He saw another version of himself finally turn around, finally see her blood-covered face, and finally change his expression.
“Wanwan, Wanwan!” In the instant Xie Wanning collapsed to the ground, Lu Ziyan rushed over and held her in his arms, only then realizing how much weight this young lady had lost.
The fragrant and soft little young lady was now skin and bones, light as a feather with no weight at all, yet when he scooped her up by the waist, he nearly stumbled and fell with her.
Shao Guang Courtyard was in chaos.
Ming Jian flew off to summon the estate doctor.
The doctor Er Qing had invited from outside the estate hadn’t left yet and was dragged by Yuan Zhu and Yuan Yue to take the pulse.
But everything was too late.
The old doctor tremblingly withdrew his hand and shook his head shakily.
Suffocation from anger, pulse already gone, the person was no more.
Human life is the most tenacious, yet also the most fragile.
No one could have predicted that the young lady raised in luxury from childhood, grown up in a honey pot, with a strong and healthy body, would suddenly die two years after marriage.
Lu Ziyan seemed dumbfounded; he tightly held the young lady in his arms, his expression dazed as he reached out to feel her pulse at the side of her neck.
After a long time, he hastily withdrew his hand and shook his head repeatedly, “No no no, this is fake…”
Wanwan was angry and deliberately joking with him to scare him.
He already knew fear; he had never been so afraid, he was scared to death.
Lu Ziyan stroked the thin back of the young lady in his arms, his throat choked and unable to speak, “Please, wake up.”
But the body temperature of the young lady in his arms was slowly cooling.
When several Madams of the Lu Family arrived, Lu Ziyan was covered in blood, his arms tightly holding Xie Wanning as if holding his own life; no one could get near him.
That scene was tragic to the extreme.
Even Old Madam Lu’s attempt to approach failed.
Meanwhile, Lu Ziyan hovered in the air, his eyes bloodshot, his consciousness on the verge of collapse from pain; he could deeply experience all the emotions of the other version of himself.
His soul seemed split in two, but that wasn’t enough.
He wished he could hack the person below into a thousand pieces to atone to his Wanwan.
Why exactly!
Why do this!
Why force her to death!
Unable to endure such pain any longer, Lu Ziyan knelt on the ground and cried out in anguish.
The scene froze there, like a lens struck, shattering into scattered fine lights surging toward him.
That was the memory of this world, his own memory.
His own memory!
Lu Ziyan shuddered all over and suddenly opened his eyes.
“The Young Lord is awake!” The doctor in charge of his care shouted loudly.
The outer hall fell silent, then a crowd surged in.
Leading at the front was actually His Majesty the Emperor in casual clothes.
He strode forward, and seeing the person really awake, his expression slightly relaxed as he said slowly, “You’ve finally woken up.”
The Emperor personally visiting to check on his fainted beloved general, with such close and gentle attitude, was an honor others begged for but couldn’t get.
But Lu Ziyan just quietly looked at him, without getting up to bow or even verbally greeting him.
The Imperial Doctor stepped forward to take the pulse but was waved away.
He propped himself up with his arms to sit up, his gaze falling on Ming Jian, “How long was I unconscious?”
Ming Jian hesitated for a moment, then said, “Three days and three nights.”
Three days and three nights…
Three days and three nights had passed since she got married…
Lu Ziyan felt a sweetness in his throat, his face changing repeatedly, and finally, amid the screams of several Madams of the Lu Family, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
The Emperor was also startled and called the Imperial Doctor to diagnose.
“No need,” Lu Ziyan lowered his eyes, ignoring the approaching several Madams of the Lu Family, and calmly instructed, “All of you leave; I have matters to discuss with His Majesty.”
Though his temperament was cold and arrogant, he was always patient with family; this was the first time he let his grandmother and mother worry for so long without immediately reassuring them upon waking.
Very unusual.
First Madam Lu, who had never received a cold face from her son before, had a slight change in expression.
Old Madam Lu had experienced the pain of losing husband and son in her lifetime and cherished this only grandson more than her own eyeballs; how could she bear to blame him.
The several madams sighed lightly and were about to walk out.
But Lu Xiyao, who was supporting her grandmother at the side, strode forward anxiously, “Elder Brother, what’s wrong with you? Just one fickle woman, is she worth you being so dejected!”
“Xiyao!” First Madam Lu sharply stopped her.
“None of you dare say it, so let me say it!”
Ignoring everything, Lu Xiyao rushed to the bedside: “Xie Wanning played you in the palm of her hand; you should rise up and make her regret abandoning you, not take it out on family and chill the hearts of grandmother and mother; you… umm…”
Halfway through her words, her neck was tightly gripped by Lu Ziyan and pressed down onto the bed edge; the rest of her words were stuck in her throat, completely unable to come out.
“Stop it!” First Madam Lu rushed up, “Yan’er! This is your younger sister; do you want to kill her!”
Lu Ziyan’s eyes were deep and inscrutable, showing no emotion at all; after tightening his grip for an instant, he suddenly flung the person in his hand away.
Lu Xiyao was thrown to the ground, clutching her neck and gasping rapidly, her feet scrambling backward on the floor, not daring to say another word.
She could clearly sense that her brother, who had always doted on her, had truly harbored killing intent toward her just now.
He wanted to kill her!
For a moment, the room fell into an eerie silence.
Lu Ziyan leaned crookedly against the bed edge, turning his head to look at these ‘family members’ who were either accusing or heartbroken toward him, his eyes calm and emotionless.
After a long time, he said flatly, “All of you leave.”
This time no one objected, and they all quickly withdrew.
Besides the Emperor and Lu Ziyan, only the inner palace chief eunuch Yuan Shu remained.
The Emperor, who had been silently observing, had a complex expression; he hadn’t expected that losing just one woman would cause such a drastic change in temperament for this child he valued so highly.
“No outsiders here; speak freely, my minister.” The Emperor said.
Lu Ziyan was silent for a moment, then slowly raised his head to look at him, “Can you make them divorce?”
“Absurd!” The Emperor flared up in anger, but facing his gaze, the following reprimands wouldn’t come out.
“…What did you find out?”
Lu Ziyan ignored his question and repeated, “Can you make them divorce?”
“……The ruler does not go back on his word; this is a marriage I personally granted,” the Emperor composed himself and said gravely, “Don’t make things difficult for me.”
The ruler does not go back on his word.
Lu Ziyan tugged at his lips and smiled coolly.
“Xie Wanning is the only attachment in my life; as long as I live one more day, I cannot accept her marrying another man.”
“Whoever dares touch her is touching my life.”
His voice was flat, without a trace of killing intent or anger, yet it made one’s spine chill.
The Emperor’s expression changed slightly, “Don’t act rashly; Changqing holds the Qing Tian Guard and controls all the Great Khan’s secret documents; without his covert arrangements, the Great Khan would likely have bandits rampant, each occupying land and calling themselves king long ago.”
No matter how high the martial power, one still needs to know whom to fight, right?
Discerning right from wrong, loyal from treacherous, requires knowing more secret intelligence.
The Qing Tian Guard’s spies are active in every state and county of the empire; whenever those regional governors harbor disloyal thoughts, His Majesty the Emperor gets the news first.
Crushing crises in the cradle.
Before Pei Changqing took over, the Qing Tian Guard had long lost such capabilities; it was he who revived it bit by bit.
His abilities are so outstanding that the Emperor currently can’t find a replacement.
“There are so many beauties in the world; as long as you want, I can let you have your pick,” the Emperor said earnestly, “The Xie Family young lady is already another man’s wife; just let it go.”
Another man’s wife!
“She is my wife,” A mournful sound came from Lu Ziyan’s throat, blood seeping from between his teeth, his tone ruthless, “If Pei Yuqing doesn’t return her to me, I’ll go rob her back.”
In any case, in this lifetime, he wouldn’t let her go again.
Regardless of right or wrong, as long as he lives one day, they must entangle for one day.
To make him watch with open eyes as she becomes another man’s wife…
Impossible!
……….
Today was the day Xie Wanning returned to her parental home for the third morning after marriage with her husband.
The main gate of Xuanping Marquis’s Estate was wide open, with Xie Yanyu and two younger male cousins waiting at the door.
As soon as Xie Wanning got off the carriage, she saw her elder brother’s cold and sternly handsome face.
She let go of Pei Yuqing who had helped her down and trotted over with her skirt lifted, smiling brightly at her elder brother, “Not seeing me for a few days, did Elder Brother miss me?”
Pei Yuqing, following behind her, heard this and his smile stiffened slightly as he silently watched the brother and sister ahead.
Xie Yanyu lowered his eyes to look at his lively and carefree youngest sister, helpless: “You’re already married; why act like a little young lady still.”
“Just because I’m married, am I no longer your younger sister?” Xie Wanning huffed somewhat dissatisfied.
“You’re my younger sister,” Xie Yanyu tapped her brow with a bent finger, his gaze turning to the person behind her, and said warmly, “Come in; Father and Mother have been waiting a long time.”
Jinxiu Hall.
Xie Wanning and Pei Yuqing properly kowtowed to Xie Shu and Madam Zheng at the head seat.
Before their foreheads touched the ground, Madam Zheng beckoned, “Wanwan, come here quickly.”
The pampered youngest daughter, held in the palm of the hand, had gone out upon marriage; the home felt emptier and quieter without her, and one can imagine Xie Shu and Madam Zheng’s reluctance.
They had waited three days and finally their daughter was back; how could they hold back.
Xie Wanning stood up and sidled smilingly to her mother’s side, “I missed Mother too.”
Xie Shu at the side gave a light hum.
Xie Wanning immediately understood and went to his side, lifting a teacup to offer him, solicitously saying, “Father, have some tea quickly.”
Xie Shu had deep affection with his wife; after the eldest son was born, it took four years for another daughter, after which Madam Zheng had no more children.
For this daughter, he truly wished to raise her in a honey pot, personally enlightening her, holding her on his lap to teach her writing, guiding her hand to hold the brush, never even raising his voice.
In her childhood, Xie Wanning was even closer to Father than to Mother.
But as a girl grows, she avoids her father; after ten, all her maiden’s thoughts were shared only with Mother; she was still close to Father, of course, but no longer intimately so.
Today was clear, with excellent light in the room; Xie Wanning could clearly see the white hairs at her father’s temples, and a sourness suddenly came to her nose tip.
She was thinking, if those dreams were really her previous life.
Then after her death, how her father and mother would react to the news…
Xie Shu took the teacup offered by his daughter, drank contentedly, and when he looked up again, he was somewhat panicked, “What’s wrong? Did you suffer grievance at the Pei Family?”
Pei Yuqing, who was at the side chatting with the uncle and several younger male cousins, changed expression slightly upon hearing this.
“No,” Xie Wanning shook her head hurriedly, guiltily saying, “Daughter just feels unfilial for not being able to stay by you two elders’ knees all the time to delight you.”
“Enough; our family’s Wanwan has been obedient and sensible since childhood; where is the unfilial part,” Xie Shu patted her arm gently, “As long as you’re doing well, worrying your father and mother less is fine.”
Xie Wanning sniffed and nodded lightly.
After seeing the family elders, Pei Yuqing was called by the Xie Family men to the front hall to talk, while Xie Wanning stayed in Jinxiu Hall.
With only a few female relatives left in the hall, the aunt sat for a bit, chatted and laughed a few words, then said she needed to oversee today’s banquet welcoming the new son-in-law, and left pulling her daughter.
Leaving space for mother and daughter to talk.
With no one else in the room, Madam Zheng looked at her beloved daughter’s naive and delicate face, pityingly asking, “On the wedding night, that madman burst into the bridal chamber; were you scared?”
Xie Wanning was stunned for an instant, her fingers grasping the sachet at her waist, hesitating before saying, “I made it clear to him; if he can listen to reason, he shouldn’t entangle with me anymore.”
She still didn’t say that it was Pei Yuqing who deliberately let the person in.
Pei Yuqing’s action somewhat disregarded her reputation; if they knew the truth, they might get angry again.
She didn’t want to worry her parents anymore.
Madam Zheng sneered upon hearing this, “If he could listen to reason, he wouldn’t have broken into the bridal chamber at night; if it were the previous dynasty’s customs, my daughter…”
She didn’t finish.
But Xie Wanning knew that if it were the previous dynasty where etiquette was strict and a woman’s purity was paramount.
She probably would have had to hang herself with a white silk that very night to preserve her purity.
But Lu Ziyan was originally that kind of person; he only cared about whether he liked it or not, without regard for others’ feelings.
