Chapter 94

Chapter 94: Just a Beast

Qi Shu Xian’s voice grew colder with every word. “You could order a living person to be beaten without blinking. Now you suddenly cared about a beast.”

Qi Shu Xian had not wanted Meng Yang to know about it. With her soft and kind nature, if Meng Yang learned the truth, she would definitely drag the blame onto herself.

But what did it have to do with Meng Yang?

If anyone was at fault, it was Sheng Zhi Wan. She was the cruel one. Cause and effect came full circle. Retribution never missed.

Sheng Zhi Wan lowered her eyes and let out a soft laugh. “So that was what you called ‘died as it should.’”

Then Sheng Zhi Wan looked up again, her face blank. “Who told you about Dog-Blood Warding?”

Meng Yang looked at Qi Shu Xian with tears trembling in her lashes. “Heir Apparent…”

Her voice broke as she looked toward Sheng Zhi Wan. “So the Heir Apparent did all of this for me. Princess, if you wanted to hate someone, then hate me. I wronged you. Please don’t drag other people into this.”

Sheng Zhi Wan did not spare Meng Yang a glance. She stared straight at Qi Shu Xian and barked, “Answer me!”

Qi Shu Xian lowered his eyes. “Everyone knew.”

Sheng Zhi Wan’s gaze sharpened as she repeated, “Everyone knew.”

Her eyes swept around. She did not see Qing Liu from yesterday.

Sheng Zhi Wan looked at Meng Yang in a way that was hard to read. “Concubine Meng, I would remember what happened today.”

Meng Yang bit her lip, trying to look pitiful and innocent. “Yes… this was all my fault. I shouldn’t have had a high fever and been unconscious…”

“What did it have to do with you!” Qi Shu Xian cut her off.

Then Qi Shu Xian glared at Sheng Zhi Wan. “Sheng Zhi Wan, it was only a beast. Why were you putting on an act!”

An Zhi and Ting Lan were so angry their eyes turned red.

Sheng Zhi Wan curled her lips. “Yes. It was only a beast. But to me, the Heir Apparent’s arm was worth less than this beast’s life.”

Sheng Zhi Wan turned and walked away.

Qi Shu Xian’s face darkened as he stared at her back.

Meng Yang tried to speak again. “Princess-”

Qi Shu Xian grabbed her. Meng Yang looked flustered. “Why were you stopping me? Did the Princess really ruin the Heir Apparent’s arm?”

Qi Shu Xian’s jaw tightened. “It didn’t matter. Don’t beg her. Without her, did you think I couldn’t find someone else?”

Qi Shu Xian had never known Sheng Zhi Wan understood acupoints. He assumed she picked up a little after marrying into the Duke Manor these past two years, massaging Mother every day.

How serious could a little knowledge like that be?

Qi Shu Xian did not delay. He left the manor immediately.

Sheng Zhi Wan returned to Ping Lan Residence and had Ting Lan dig a deep pit under the osmanthus tree in the courtyard.

Everyone in Ping Lan Residence saw Lai Fu’s small body, already cold. Many could not help wiping away tears in secret.

Ting Lan covered her mouth, afraid of sobbing out loud.

When An Zhi set Lai Fu into the pit and was about to fill it in, Sheng Zhi Wan stopped her.

“Bury its little blankets, bib, and yarn balls with it,” Sheng Zhi Wan said quietly. “Bury them all.”

Those had been the things Lai Fu loved most when it was alive. Sheng Zhi Wan hoped that even underground, Lai Fu could still have them close.

“Yes,” An Zhi answered.

An Zhi gathered everything up. Only then did she realize how many things the little one had, even though it was so small. An Zhi dug the pit wider and buried them all together.

Sheng Zhi Wan watched in silence until the pit was filled and leveled. Then Sheng Zhi Wan turned and went back inside without a word.

That night, Sheng Zhi Wan’s Cold Poison flared again. The next day, Sheng Zhi Wan slept until noon.

When Sheng Zhi Wan opened her eyes, the courtyard felt quieter than usual.

[Right… it was Lai Fu.]

[Lai Fu was gone.]

Sheng Zhi Wan sat there for a while, then got up, dressed, and ate. No one in Ping Lan Residence dared speak loudly. Everyone’s mood was heavy and suffocating.

Sheng Zhi Wan looked at them and suddenly stood, clapping her hands. “Alright. Since it already happened, no matter how sad we were, Lai Fu wouldn’t come back. If Lai Fu could see us, Lai Fu wouldn’t want everyone like this. We still had to live. We should do what we needed to do.”

The maids and nannies answered one after another, “Yes.”

“Yes…”

The atmosphere was still low, but it was better than before.

Sheng Zhi Wan turned away, her face already hard with frost. She went to the hidden compartment in her bedchamber and took out two bottles of medicine that had been stored there for two years.

Sheng Zhi Wan said, “An Zhi, Ting Lan, come with me to see Huan Zhu.”

Huan Zhu’s courtyard was beside Wei Yang Courtyard, a place called Ning Xiang Garden. The courtyard was small, nowhere near as grand as Ping Lan Residence or Wei Yang Courtyard. The decorations were plain, and even the weeds had not been cleared.

When Sheng Zhi Wan entered, only an older nanny with narrow, upturned eyes hurried forward to greet her.

The nanny announced loudly, “The Heir’s Wife was here!”

Then the nanny shot a sideways look toward the room. “Was the concubine deaf, or were her legs broken? She still wasn’t coming out. Did she really think being a concubine made her the master?”

Only then did a thin figure come out, eyes red. “Princess…”

Sheng Zhi Wan looked at Huan Zhu.

In just half a month, Huan Zhu looked like a completely different person. When Huan Zhu followed Sheng Zhi Wan before, she was a maid in name, but everything she ate, wore, and used was like a well-off young lady’s. Her hands never touched cold water, and her skin had always been carefully cared for.

Now Sheng Zhi Wan’s gaze swept over Huan Zhu’s cracked, red, swollen hands and her hollow, worn cheeks. Sheng Zhi Wan smiled and said to the nanny, “I had something to say to Huan Zhu. An Zhi, take Nanny out for a walk.”

An Zhi stepped forward at once. The nanny looked like she wanted to argue, but her eyes landed on the gold melon-seed ingot peeking out from An Zhi’s hand.

The nanny’s narrow eyes immediately curved into a smile. “Then this old servant wouldn’t stay here and get in the Heir’s Wife’s way.”

After the nanny left, Huan Zhu finally dared to look up at Sheng Zhi Wan. “Princess came to watch me suffer?”