Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Did You Still Want to Live?

Sheng Zhi Wan did not say another word. She stepped outside, and the entire stronghold was already in chaos.

Besides An Zhi and Ting Lan, the bandits who had been sent out to ambush Zhang Da and the others had quietly been replaced by infiltrators. With only the three of them, facing more than two hundred men was obviously not enough.

But what if those two hundred bandits had been drugged?

They must have hit a fat prize today. The mountain bandits had drunk and made merry until they were smug and careless, their eyes hazy with pleasure. They looked like fat sheep on a rack, already skinned and waiting to be roasted.

Sheng Zhi Wan glanced at them from afar and thought, [A few spoiled young masters should be able to handle this, especially with Shang Xing Yu among them.]

She stopped paying attention to the bandits and looked back at Zhang Da Hu. She asked softly, “Where is the mother and child you kidnapped yesterday?”

Zhang Da Hu’s eyes flickered. “W-What mother and child?”

The moment the words left his mouth, a sharp pain stabbed his neck.

In the next breath, Zhang Da Hu felt torment worse than having an arm chopped off. His muscles spasmed uncontrollably. The whites of his eyes bulged, and it looked like his eyeballs were about to pop out.

Only when a slender finger pulled the silver needle from his neck did he jerk back to life like a dead fish.

Even then, the twitching in his body reminded him of what he had just suffered.

An Zhi and Ting Lan stared at Sheng Zhi Wan. An Zhi’s lips moved, shock written all over her face, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she swallowed it back down.

Sheng Zhi Wan acted as if she noticed nothing. She asked again in the same gentle voice, “Where is the mother and child you kidnapped yesterday?”

“I-I don’t-” Zhang Da Hu managed only a few words before Sheng Zhi Wan lifted the silver needle with a faint smile that was not quite a smile.

Zhang Da Hu shuddered hard and pointed. “O-Over there…”

Following his directions, Sheng Zhi Wan found a hidden cellar.

The moment it opened, a rancid, bloody stench rolled out.

It was pitch-black inside, impossible to see. Sheng Zhi Wan had An Zhi take a torch down first. When the light finally revealed the cellar, Sheng Zhi Wan stopped cold.

In the damp, dark space, more than twenty gaunt girls lay packed together. The oldest looked barely over twenty. The youngest seemed not even ten.

Among those yellow-faced, starving figures, Sheng Zhi Wan recognized two familiar faces at once.

A woman clutched a child tightly to her chest. Her hair was a mess, and her clothing hung half-open. The plain, elegant robes she once wore had been torn into rags. Her eyes were empty as she stared at a spot on the ground, and for a moment it was impossible to tell whether she was alive or dead.

Sheng Zhi Wan pressed her lips together. She told An Zhi to bring the others outside first.

Very quickly, only Sheng Zhi Wan and the mother and child remained in the cellar.

“Madam Han.” Sheng Zhi Wan walked closer, one slow step at a time.

At the words “Madam Han,” the woman finally reacted. She lowered her head, burying her face, too afraid to meet Sheng Zhi Wan’s eyes.

Sheng Zhi Wan reached toward the child in Madam Han’s arms.

The instant Sheng Zhi Wan’s hand moved, Madam Han suddenly slammed herself toward the wall. Ting Lan reacted fast and caught her.

Even restrained, Madam Han still struggled, knocking her head down against the floor again and again.

Sheng Zhi Wan fell silent for a moment. Then she pulled her hand back and lifted the burning-hot child from Madam Han’s arms, setting him down on the filthy ground.

Sheng Zhi Wan said, “He has a high fever. If you want to die, then take him with you.”

Sheng Zhi Wan looked down at Madam Han. “He is the only grandson of the Grand Defender General. He is the only blood General Han left behind. If you do not pull yourself together, he will have no father and no mother in this world. What would he stay alive for?”

Sheng Zhi Wan’s voice was calm and cold. “You might as well reunite as a family underground.”

With that, Sheng Zhi Wan turned and walked toward the steps.

Sheng Zhi Wan had just put her foot on the stone stair when Madam Han suddenly rushed in front of her. Madam Han said nothing. Her dead, ash-gray eyes locked onto Sheng Zhi Wan’s face.

Sheng Zhi Wan did not move. “If you die, he dies. If you live, he lives.”

Sheng Zhi Wan’s gaze stayed steady. “Do you still want to live?”

Madam Han’s lips trembled.

Madam Han did not want to live. Everything that happened last night felt like a nightmare. Everything she had protected had turned to nothing, and she wanted nothing more than to die right now.

Sheng Zhi Wan said, “I understand. Then go die.”

Sheng Zhi Wan tore her hand free. “Your son can stay here and keep you company. Let him be filial.”

Sheng Zhi Wan walked away.

One step. Two steps. Three.

Just as Sheng Zhi Wan was about to leave the cellar, a hoarse voice finally broke behind her. “I-I will live! Please… save him…”

Sheng Zhi Wan stopped.

At the same time, in the dark forest, several furtive figures hid among the trees.

“Are we… really going?” Zhou Yu Zheng gripped the reins so hard his knuckles went white.

He truly had not expected any of this. It started as a few spoiled young masters making trouble and looking for someone. Running into Princess Qing Ning was one thing. Running into mountain bandits was another.

Meeting mountain bandits had still been bearable. Those men were terrifying, but at least they let them go.

But sneaking after them to the mountain bandits’ lair – what was that supposed to be? And it was a whole gang drinking and celebrating, too.

If this were any normal night, Zhou Yu Zheng would have been sprawled comfortably on a soft bed, or soaking in a bath filled with flower petals, enjoying Mu Xiang’s gentle feeding.

He should not have been here.

Zhou Yu Zheng swallowed hard. “How about we leave first and go back to tell my father and the others…”