Chapter 10 Fifteen Years of Incomplete and Dark Waste

Living in a law-controlled society, this was the first time Zhu Qing had ever witnessed such a real-life scene of violence. Innocent lives were being lost in blood before her eyes. She tried to tell herself to calm down, but she couldn't stop trembling.

She stretched out her trembling hand and gripped the soldier's sword hilt tightly. Before the soldier could refuse, she said, "You may not believe me and will try to kill me after dealing with my colleagues, but even if you kill the entire shogunate but don't find the person or the envelope, Eunuch Tian will surely not let you go."

Hearing her words, the soldier hesitated slightly, then looked at his other comrade, who was much more resolute, holding his knife and snorting coldly: "Stop talking nonsense, you say you know who the spy is, so hurry up and tell me!"

He then drew his knife, threatening Zhu Qing: "Otherwise, I'll show you the power of the Shence Army!"

The sharp blade flashed a cold light before Zhu Qing's eyes, and Zhu Qing was so frightened that his legs trembled. He hurriedly opened his mouth and made up a story: "No, no, no, I finally gained the trust of that spy. If I expose him now, and he gets away, I will lose more than I gain!"

"Trust me this once, give me a chance. I can bring that letter and the person who leaked it to you two. Compared to killing the entire shogunate and getting nothing in return, why don't you take the things and give them to Eunuch Tian for a reward!"

That makes a lot of sense. The two soldiers exchanged a glance, and one of them turned to Zhu Qing and said, "Eunuch Tian only gave us three days, and now there are only two days left. We'll let you try. If you dare to play any tricks after two days, I'll make sure your head rolls!"

Zhu Qing immediately recalled the official whose neck had just been chopped off, and a chill ran down his spine. He hurriedly nodded, "I wouldn't dare!"

The two men then sheathed their knives and swaggered out of the house. Zhu Qing's tense nerves finally relaxed a little. She let out a heavy breath to calm herself down and quickly lay down on the ground to look under the bed.

The lighting below was dim. Hua Ning huddled in a corner, hugging her legs and trembling. She let out very weak sobs through her nose. When she noticed Zhu Qing looking at her, she quickly looked over.

"Qingqing..." Hua Ning sobbed. Zhu Qing's heart finally settled when she saw that she was still alive. However, there was a strong smell of blood under the bed. Zhu Qing frowned and reached in to her: "Where are you hurt? They're gone. I'll pull you out."

Hua Ning raised her sleeve, wiped away her tears heavily, and choked out, "My leg, they slashed my leg, I can't move..."

"The Secretary is here," Tian Jiuzhu, who had been standing calmly to the side, suddenly said.

Zhu Qing hurriedly said to Hua Ning, "Don't worry, wait for me, I'll help you."

Zhu Qing got up, turned around and looked outside the door. He saw Feng Huaihe lift his robe and step up the steps. Behind him was a familiar figure. Zhu Qing stared intently and saw the light from the stone niche shining on the person's face. It was his second brother, Zhu Yubo.

The two of them entered one after the other. Zhu Qing hurriedly went to greet them and, following the custom of the ancients, first called out "Second Brother" before urgently saying to Feng Huaihe, "Could you help me lift this bed board to rescue Hua Ning?"

She had considered lifting the bed herself, but she was extremely cold, her steps were unsteady, and even her head was spinning. Zhu Qing hadn't forgotten that she was in very poor health, and she wouldn't disregard her own well-being just to save someone.

Zhu Qing's anxious appearance caught Feng Huaihe's eye. He saw that she was covered in cold sweat, her face was abnormally pale, and her legs were trembling slightly.

Feng Huaihe recalled her illness in her previous life when she hadn't taken the medicine.

He took out a clean, pure white handkerchief from his sleeve and handed it to Zhu Qing: "Wipe your sweat first."

Zhu Qing took the handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her forehead and temples. She then saw Feng Huaihe walk to the bedside, grab the bed board with both hands, lift it up heavily, and lean it against the wall.

Seeing this, Tian Jiuzhu, who had been watching from the sidelines, stepped forward, took Hua Ning's arm, and lifted her up so that she could lie down on Zhu Qing's bed.

After Hua Ning lay down, Zhu Qingcai saw how badly her leg was injured.

Flesh and blood were torn open, the cut so deep that the white bone was visible. The gushing blood quickly soaked most of Zhu Qing's bedding.

Hua Ning was in so much pain that she couldn't move or cry out; she could only keep crying.

Seeing the injury on Hua Ning, Zhu Qing felt a chill run down his spine, as if his own leg was also aching.

She wasn't familiar with Hua Ning yet, and there wasn't any deep emotional connection between them; she simply felt an overwhelming sense of empathy.

Like Hua Ning, she was just a lowly person who had suffered greatly at the hands of the world, but Zhu Qing seemed to be even more unlucky. In her previous life, she drowned and no one came to save her.

Zhu Qing's thoughts were buzzing and in a jumble. Before he knew it, Zhu Yubo was already sitting by the bed, examining Hua Ning's wounds. Before he began, he whispered a word of apology.

Zhu Yubo used scissors to cut open the fabric of Hua Ning's skirt over her wound, and the scissors were quickly stained red.

"Let's go out first," Tian Jiuzhu said calmly.

Zhu Qing glanced at her and saw that although her gaze towards Hua Ning showed reluctance, it was mostly indifferent, and her tone was frighteningly calm.

Zhu Qing lowered her head and remained silent. She wouldn't force Tian Jiuzhu to sympathize with or empathize with anyone, but she knew that she and someone like Tian Jiuzhu were not on the same path.

At this moment, Feng Huaihe said in a low voice, "I know you ran out of medicine tonight and went out of the shogunate to find your family to get more. I'm sorry I came back late."

Zhu Qing took it as a sense of guilt for not being able to help her in time, and she tried to relax her tone, saying, "This is not your fault, you don't need to apologize to me."

"A doctor needs to calm his mind to practice medicine. You should go now." Feng Huaihe said softly, "I'll get the medicine and go to the head of the secretariat to heat it up for you. You should also change your clothes."

Zhu Qing noticed that her clothes were somewhat dirty from lying on the ground.

Knowing that medical skills were backward in ancient times, she dared not disturb Zhu Yubo. She glanced at Hua Ning with concern before slowly following Feng Huaihe away.

Tian Jiuzhu was left alone. Seeing their departing figures and then looking at Hua Ning, who was in so much pain that she almost fainted, she felt a numb emptiness in her heart. She slowly walked out of the room alone.

-

Head of the Secretariat.

Zhu Qing was led by Feng Huaihe to a side room next to the secretary's room. The room was spacious, with a medium-sized long table in front of the round window, and a white porcelain vase with a few red flowers inserted diagonally on it.

On the couch in front of the long table, there was a misty blue dress.

Zhu Qing picked up the skirt and went around to the back of the lattice screen.

Feng Huaihe said from outside, "I'll go to the small kitchen to heat up the medicine. Change your clothes and come over."

Zhu Qing gave a listless "hmm".

A wooden lamp behind the screen emitted a warm light, casting Zhu Qing's shadow onto the folding screen.

Her shadow had a slender neck and a tall, thin figure. Her hair was tied up in a high bun like a man's. The night wind blew in through the wide-open round moon window, making her hair ribbons flutter in the air.

Feng Huaihe tiptoed and slowly approached the folding screen, but dared not cross it. He stopped in front of the screen, gazing at the slender figure on it, and couldn't help but reach out to take her hand.

The screen gauze, however, felt cold to the touch.

The last time he bandaged the wound on her palm, it was the first time Feng Huaihe had looked at her hand so carefully.

Her fingers were long and slender, fair and beautiful, with clean, delicate pink nails, and a few ink stains on her cuffs that couldn't be washed off.

He longed to know what it felt like to hold her hand, but she was injured at the time, and Feng Huaihe dared not.

Whether in his past life or this life, Feng Huaihe has never been in close proximity to anyone. He has never held hands, hugged, or even sat close together with ordinary people.

Zhu Qing was the only person who was closest to him, yet also seemed not so close.

What about his mother? Although his mother lived under the same roof as him, she never looked at him properly.

Feng Huaihe thought that, like Zhu Qing, she was not alone, but had sisters.

He was not originally from Qingxi Village, but was the only son of the Feng family, a century-old merchant family in Chang'an. His family had been merchants for a long time, and their greatest obsession in life was to have an official relative by marriage.

However, Feng Huaihe was not an only child.

He had many older sisters, but Feng Huaihe didn't know exactly how many. He only knew that before his adoptive mother in Qingxi Village died, she told him that the family desperately wanted a son, because only a son could have the opportunity to become an official. In order to get a son, she had killed countless of his older sisters.

His so-called adoptive mother was not his mother at all, but an older sister who had escaped from danger.

Before her death, her sickly face was filled with a fierce and malevolent look. Her withered fingers pointed at him as she coughed and roared, "How many sisters of mine died because I wanted to give birth to you! I escaped to safety, disguised myself all the way, and finally seized the opportunity to kidnap you and bring you to my side. I pretended to be your birth mother, but I didn't love you, I didn't cherish you, I beat and scolded you every day, and I belittled you. Sure enough, I raised you into a crippled, dark, and useless person."

Feng Huaihe was struck dumb, crying as she questioned why. She retorted sharply, "Only inadequate parental love can completely ruin a person. My purpose in ruining you is to avenge my dead sisters. Feng Huaihe, don't think you're so great just because you were born with a son or daughter. I've ruined your character, and you'll never have a good ending in this life!"

Her last words before she died were, "Just wait and see."

Feng Huaihe buried her and knelt before her grave all night without crying. He felt weak all over, unable to lift his limbs, and his heart felt numb and lifeless.

It wasn't until he left Qingxi Village, gazing at the green mountains and small bridge receding into the distance, and the two thatched huts where he had lived with his sister for fifteen years, that Feng Huaihe suddenly realized that he would never return to this place in his life.

He numbly came to his senses, sat on the oxcart, and burst into tears under the scorching sun.

Before he died, he didn't ask his sister what her real name was, nor did he ask her birth order in the family.

But Feng Huaihe later calculated that the only person who could impersonate his biological mother must be the eldest sister in the family.

-

"What is this?" Zhu Qing suddenly muttered to himself, interrupting Feng Huaihe's thoughts.

He pulled himself out of his reverie and saw the shadow on the screen had changed its clothes and was quickly leaving quietly.

Behind the screen, Zhu Qing changed her clothes and looked up, only to find a painting of a lady hanging on the wall in front of her.

The painting depicts a girl wearing a blue and pink short-sleeved dress, standing under a tender yellow forsythia bush.

But the painter didn't paint the girl's face, so Zhu Qing couldn't tell who she was.

A note from the author:

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Occupation: Belongs to the Judge's Department, and the strategist's rank is the same as the female protagonist's secretary, both being the lowest level. However, the department is different; the strategist is mainly responsible for recording military supplies and provisions, and is in charge of military affairs.

This is the first time I've received so much nutrient solution, thank you so much everyone! [Please!]

Also, don't be scared by my plot, okay? The male and female leads will definitely have a happy ending!