Chapter 73 It was Miss Shen who asked me to do it.

The commotion at the door made both of them look up. When Yunxi saw Gu Nanxiao's gloomy face, a hint of weariness flashed across her expression. She knew this scoundrel was incredibly jealous, and now that he'd come looking for her, he was bound to go crazy again.

Gu Nanxiao had clearly seen that when Yunxi was with Qi Jinxiu, she was at least friendly and pleasant, if not all smiles. But when she saw him, she immediately turned into this cold and aloof expression.

But he also knew that it was because of his negligence that Yunxi had suffered serious harm. So now, his guilt overcame everything else.

Gu Nanxiao walked slowly to Yunxi's side, bent down and took her hand, and said in a very good-natured manner, "Yunxi, can you come back to the manor with me earlier today? There is someone we need to deal with together."

Yunxi was surprised by his attitude today. He seemed about to explode just now, but the storm subsided in the blink of an eye. Could it be that something really important happened?

Without further hesitation, she immediately closed the scroll of documents, stood up, and said to Qi Jinxiu, "Let's continue our discussion another day."

Then, Gu Nanxiao led her away.

Qi Jinxiu looked at Yunxi and obediently let Gu Nanxiao lead her away. The light in his eyes dimmed a little. Perhaps Yunxi herself did not realize that she only showed a girlish and weak appearance in front of Gu Nanxiao.

He didn't believe that Yunxi stayed in the Yongwang Mansion only for revenge, or that she was forced to submit to Gu Nanxiao because of her status.

What alarmed him even more was that Gu Nanxiao's attitude towards Yunxi had undergone a complete transformation. He not only doted on Yunxi but also learned to respect her.

It's likely that the two of them will soon be at odds, and by then, he will truly have no more chances.

After Gu Nanxiao and Yunxi boarded the carriage, he remained silent, but he pulled her onto his lap and held her tightly in his arms. He would gently stroke her cheeks one moment and then take her small hands and knead them the next.

Yunxi noticed that his state was strange. He looked as if he had done something to wrong her, and there was a hint of heartache in his eyes.

But Yunxi had no intention of paying attention to Gu Nanxiao's inexplicable behavior at this moment. In her eyes, their fate was over, and once she finished what she was doing, they would never see each other again.

Gu Nanxiao didn't mean he didn't want to talk to Yunxi; he had a thousand words in his heart, but when he finally opened his mouth, all that remained was bitterness.

It was his own stupidity; he allowed someone to exploit the loophole; he failed to protect the little girl, and as a result, Yunxi's foundation was destroyed right under his nose. He couldn't find a single word to defend himself.

He recalled that day when Yunxi cried so bitterly after learning that the contraceptive soup was arranged by him. It must be because she had already developed some feelings for him.

Otherwise, how could someone who doesn't care truly hurt you with their actions? If this incident hadn't stood between them, perhaps after some time, Yunxi would have genuinely reciprocated his feelings.

Unfortunately, the nature of this matter was too egregious, and their relationship was so fragile. He didn't know if he could win back Yunxi's heart, but one thing was certain: no matter what, he would not let go.

The carriage soon arrived at the Prince Yong's residence. When Gu Nanxiao brought Yunxi back to the study, the physician was already kneeling on the ground, bound hand and foot, waiting for them to interrogate him.

The moment Gu Nanxiao saw the physician, a violent aura surged forth. He released Yunxi's hand, walked up to the physician, and kicked him.

The physician was kicked a long way by him, collapsing to the ground and vomiting two large mouthfuls of blood, nearly fainting. Gu Nanxiao naturally wouldn't kill him; he hadn't asked the questions he needed to ask yet.

Mo Yu understood his master's meaning and dragged the physician from a distance over, placing him back in front of Gu Nanxiao. If his master hadn't said he would interrogate him personally, Mo Yu would have beaten the physician half to death for what he had done.

Gu Nanxiao looked down at the physician lying on the ground, took out a dagger, and approached him step by step. Under the physician's terrified gaze, he plunged the dagger into his thigh.

Ignoring the physician's agonizing screams, she twirled the dagger in her hand, making three bloody holes in the physician's thigh. Only then, in a voice as cold as ice, did she ask, "Speak, who told you to give Yunxi a potent contraceptive?"

The physician was trembling with fear, staring at Gu Nanxiao with terrified eyes, but his words were firm: "Didn't you, Lord Marquis, tell me to deliver contraceptive soup to Miss Zhao?"

Seeing that he still dared to deny it to the death at this point, Gu Nanxiao was so angry that his chest heaved, but a cruel smile appeared on his lips.

He didn't continue questioning him. Instead, he used a dagger to cut the ropes binding the physician. The moment the physician was freed, he grabbed one of his arms and twisted it inside out.

With a crisp cracking sound, the doctor's forearm bone pierced through the flesh.

The physician screamed and fainted. Mo Yu immediately revived him by splashing water on him. Gu Nanxiao saw that he only showed pain but showed no intention of explaining. He then took the physician's other arm and, using the same method, broke the bone.

Within moments, both of the physician's arms were severed, and he writhed and screamed in agony on the ground. But he refused to reveal who had instructed him to do so.

Seeing that torture was ineffective, Gu Nanxiao pretended to instruct Mo Yu, saying, "This monkey remembers that the physician in the manor has a nine-year-old child born late in life."

"Go and tie him up. I want to break his son's fingers one by one in front of him, to see if that will make the imperial physician remember anything."

Gu Nanxiao's threat finally broke down the last line of defense of the physician. Ignoring the excruciating pain in his arm, he crawled toward Gu Nanxiao and said urgently:

"My lord, I beg you, my child knows nothing. I will tell you everything, please spare my son."

Hearing that he was willing to explain, Gu Nanxiao raised his hand, signaling Mo Yu to step aside first.

Seeing that Gu Nanxiao was willing to spare his son, the physician breathed a long sigh of relief, closed his eyes resignedly, and said, "It was Miss Shen Yujiao who heard that the Princess Consort had Miss Zhao drink a fertility-enhancing medicine every day, so she came to me and asked me to replace the fertility-enhancing medicine with a fertility-inhibiting medicine."

At first, the young girl didn't dare to do it, so she said it was the Empress Dowager's order. Then she gave the young girl ten thousand taels of silver.

I have been poor since childhood, and my medical skills are mediocre. Now that I am nearly fifty, I have not saved any money. I thought that if I could get this 10,000 taels of silver, it would be enough for my youngest son to live on for the rest of his life.

Just then, Your Excellency summoned me and asked me to replace the fertility-enhancing medicine with a contraceptive decoction, so I complied.

After explaining everything, the physician crawled forward two more steps, banging his head on the ground repeatedly, and pleaded with Gu Nanxiao, "I was blinded by greed, I lost all conscience and became an accomplice to harming others. I beg you, Lord Marquis, to spare my son in consideration of my confession."

Hearing his words, Gu Nanxiao was already on the verge of losing his mind in a fit of rage. He wanted to skin this greedy bastard alive, but he managed to restrain himself.

Gu Nanxiao slowly squatted down, grabbed the physician by the throat with his large hand, and lifted him up. He stared at the physician's face, which had turned a deep purplish-red, and demanded sharply, "You cut off my lineage, and you expect me to spare your son?"