Chapter 46 Digging Three Feet Deep

Zhu Youyi paused slightly: "The 'Fragrance Planting' nourishes the beloved with the blood of one's own heart. If a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth, she can quench her thirst for love. But I see that you are different. Although your pregnancy and childbirth can quench your thirst for love, I sense that you have been 'Fragrance Planted' twice. Therefore, apart from him, you will never be able to fall in love with anyone else in this life."

Zhu Youyi thought to herself, "That Governor Fu of Fujian and Guangdong is truly a ruthless man. It is beyond the reach of ordinary people to draw blood from their heart once, but this man can draw blood from his heart twice. It is truly chilling. With such madness, it is no wonder that Miss Meng avoids him like the plague."

When Meng Qingci thought of Fu Heng's repeated mentions that she had fallen for him, her eyes showed disdain. She thought to herself: The old man has been scheming to deceive me all along.

In Qingyun Temple, the raging fire in the alchemy room was finally extinguished. Only ruins remained, charred wood and broken tiles, with black dust swirling everywhere. Xia Guang staggered, searching every corner of the ruins. Black ash stained her clothes and cheeks, and blood seeped from her fingertips, but she felt no pain.

Finally, she collapsed in despair onto the ruins, her eyes blankly staring at the broken beams and tiles ravaged by the fire. She wept uncontrollably, almost fainting, unable to believe that someone as good as Meng Qingci could be gone like this.

Master Xuanming frowned, his face grave. His sharp eyes reflected the half-moon and the flickering torches in the courtyard. He sensed something was amiss. He had just cast a divination for his lord, and the lord's benefactor should not have met such an untimely end.

But when Master Xuanming looked up, although the moon was in the sky, the stars were nowhere to be seen, and the heavens were silent. He focused his mind and tried to probe again, but all he felt was chaos, and he could not see the secrets of the heavens. Although he knew that the hope was slim, he still hoped that there might be a glimmer of hope on Mosong's side.

Qingxuzi, frustrated, scratched his head and paced back and forth around the ruins, muttering to himself, "That's not right. There was no thunder, so how could there be an explosion?" He kept shaking his head, looking left and right, "No, no, nothing's right. Why? Why? Why did it catch fire?"

A wisp of ash drifted gently to his nose on the breeze. He took a deep breath, savoring the scent, then bent down and plunged into the ruins, sometimes bringing his nose close to the charred wood to sniff carefully, sometimes parting the rubble to discern its contents. After a while, he frowned, muttering to himself, "What is this smell? I've never used such an ingredient in alchemy. What is it?"

Qingxuzi was already obsessed with alchemy, and now he was even more determined. He traversed the ruins, determined to turn them upside down before he would stop.

Master Xuanming stood to the side, listening to Qingxuzi's fragmented murmurs, his heart filled with doubt. He also slowly stepped into the ruins and saw that the alchemy furnace, which was once as tall as a person, was now shattered into pieces, with broken fragments scattered everywhere. It was clear that the power of that thunderous explosion was immense; if the lord's wife had truly been in the alchemy room at that time, she would likely have been in grave danger.

Master Xuanming's gaze followed Qingxuzi's busy figure, wondering: What could possibly unleash such terrifying power? And what is the connection between that thing and the Lord's wife? Was this done intentionally, or was it an accident?

Mo Song rode swiftly into the city, immediately instructing the government to seal off all city gates and dispatching his guards to the docks for a thorough search. He himself led the way, heading straight for Song Bojian's clothing store, where he and his men surrounded Song Bojian's shop and residence. At his command, the guards surged in like a tidal wave, ransacking the place and digging deep.

Mo Song's face was filled with murderous intent, his gaze sharp as a blade as he stared intently at Song Bojian, who stood silently in the shop: "You must understand that if anything is found during the search, it will be a crime punishable by the extermination of your entire family."

Song Bojian, dressed in a plain white robe, stood tall and straight like a bamboo. His face was calm and composed as he met Mo Song's cold and stern gaze. He said indifferently, "This humble subject does not know what has happened. However, this humble subject has always been law-abiding. Your Excellency may search as you see fit."

Seeing that Song Bojian looked calm and showed no sign of guilt, Mo Song felt increasingly anxious and uneasy. Mo Song's mount seemed to sense something and trotted around a few times, while Mo Song unconsciously tightened his grip on the reins.

Mo Song couldn't help but think to himself: Madam was just a weak woman with no strength to even kill a chicken. Without someone secretly helping her, there was absolutely no way she could escape from their tight guard. If she couldn't be found again, she would only be buried in the ruins of the alchemy room at Qingyun Temple. How would he explain that to his master then?

After Mo Song and his party rode away, the shopkeeper peeked out from behind Song Bojian, his body still trembling beneath his robes. He said with heartache, "Master, look, they've damaged so much merchandise with all this trouble!"

Song Bojian let out a long sigh, a barely perceptible hint of satisfaction appearing in his eyes. He patted the shopkeeper's shoulder and said calmly, "It's alright, they're all just possessions. Just clean them up." What did these losses matter as long as he could help her?

In the residence of the Marquis of Anyi in the capital region, Fu Hongxuan lay on the bed, covered with a dark blue brocade quilt, revealing only his thin face with stubble on his chin and occasional drool from the corner of his mouth.

His deep-set eyes were fixed on the old lady, Madam Wang, by the bedside, a strange light flashing in them. He struggled to move his throat, making eerie hoarse sounds. His lips moved as if he were trying with all his might to utter a few words, but in the end, only saliva dripped down the corner of his mouth.

The room was filled with the smell of decay, a mixture of the stench of excrement and the strong, bitter smell of medicine. The various odors intertwined, faint and elusive.

Since the news of her son Fu Jizong's death arrived, the old lady Wang's hair had turned completely white. Her former vigorous spirit seemed to have been drained overnight, leaving only a shell hollowed out by grief.

She was in the Buddhist hall, her tears almost dried up, her old eyes cloudy, looking at the grandson she had once loved most on the bed.

She didn't have the courage to lift the brocade quilt, but instead tremblingly reached her hand into the bedding and carefully felt for the wound.

Fu Hongxuan, who had been eager to express something, suddenly realized his grandmother's intention, and his face froze. He let out a hoarse "Ah ah" sound, his eyes full of resistance and shame, but it was all in vain.

His body had long since been rendered unconscious by a bowl of medicine, leaving him completely at the mercy of others. Now, even the servants who used to fawn over him can now ride roughshod over him.

A moment later, the old lady, Madam Wang, withdrew her trembling hand, and a putrid stench filled the air. Her fingers and palms were covered in a brownish-yellow, filthy liquid. She stared at her hands in disbelief, and her long-dry eyes instantly filled with tears.

The old lady, Madam Wang, seemed completely unaware of the filth on her hands. Her trembling hands slowly covered her face, and suppressed sobs and cries escaped intermittently.

As Fu Hongxuan gazed at his grandmother's hunched figure and listened to her heartbroken cries, his eyes suddenly welled up with tears. The tears silently slid down his cheeks.

After crying for an unknown amount of time, the old lady, Madam Wang, raised her head with sobs, her face streaked with tears, and said in a sorrowful choked voice, "Don't be afraid, Xuan-ge'er, Grandmother will always be with you."

These past few days had felt like living in hell, a living hell. His decaying and mutilated body was subjected to the trampling of dignity by lowly servants. Every moment was a torment of unbearable agony, a desire to live but also a desire to die. Finally, his beloved grandmother came to see him. Her gentle whispers were like a spring breeze, soothing his festering soul. Fu Hongxuan's heart finally found a place to belong.

In the blink of an eye, before Fu Hongxuan could react, a sharp dagger was swiftly plunged into his throat, blood gushing out. He opened his eyes wide and saw his grandmother looking at him with gentle yet sorrowful eyes, still saying, "Don't be afraid, Xuan-ge'er, Grandmother will always be with you."

Before losing consciousness, Fu Hongxuan saw his grandmother pull out a dagger and plunge it into her own heart without hesitation, ending everything.

Five days later, a secret letter was delivered to Fu Heng by fast horse. Fu Heng unfolded it and read it. His face turned pale. Every word was like a knife in his hand. Before he could put the letter down, he suddenly bent over and gushed out a mouthful of blood, which splattered on the paper.

The candlelight on the table flickered violently, and he felt dizzy and his heart was being torn apart. Even breathing was painful.

Thinking back to that night of parting, when Meng Qingci was reluctant to leave him and her words "I'll wait for you to come back" still echoed in his ears, Fu Heng felt his heart churn violently, a metallic taste rose in his throat, and he spat out another mouthful of blood.

"Master, you must take care of yourself." Mo Jian's expression changed drastically upon seeing this. He hurriedly stepped forward to seal the two large acupoints on Fu Heng's chest and turned to call for a doctor.

"You mustn't go. If the commander-in-chief is acting strangely, how can we stabilize the morale of the troops?" But Fu Heng grabbed him and said without room for argument, "Send an order to Yao Ruhai: within three days, he must finish the battle quickly, or else he'll have to answer to me with his head."

Mo Jian had no choice but to accept the order and leave. He hurried to Yao Ruhai, the prefect of Zhejiang, and conveyed his master's command in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, Yao Ruhai, the prefect of Zhejiang, was taken aback. This band of bandits was clearly a feint attack, intended to probe the strength of Zhejiang's coastal defenses. The original plan was to preserve their strength and spread false information to deal with them. Why did his master change his mind at the last minute?

Yao Ruhai was secretly puzzled and wanted to probe indirectly, so he tentatively said, "I don't know why the teacher suddenly changed his mind. I would appreciate it if Brother Jian could enlighten me."

Mo Jian's face was solemn, and his tone was icy: "You and I each have our own duties. Lord Yao only needs to follow orders. We cannot presume to know what our master is thinking."

Startled by these words, Yao Ruhai dared not act rashly any further, and could only lower his voice in agreement before hastily accepting the order and retreating.

After Fu Heng quelled the bandits, he rushed back to Minzhou day and night. When he opened the door, the two of them were in the same room as before he left. A jade hairpin that Meng Qingci often wore was casually placed next to her dressing table. Nothing was missing from the room, as if she had only gone out for a short while and would return when dusk fell.

Fu Heng felt as if a hole had been ripped out of his heart, and a cold wind blew through him, chilling him to the bone in an instant.

At sea, a merchant ship flying the Cen family's flag is cutting through the waves, heading south from Minzhou to Guangzhou.

On the boat was a young couple. The woman, whose hair was styled in a bun, asked, "Are you really going to Guangzhou? Even if you change your appearance, even if you dress up as a man, aren't you afraid of being discovered?"

A young man in a long, dark robe stood tall and elegant, as graceful as a bamboo shoot. The sea breeze ruffled his robes, accentuating his refined bearing. He stood with his hands behind his back on the ship's railing, a smug smile playing on his lips: "The most dangerous place is the safest. Besides, I bet he won't be back in Guangzhou anytime soon."

Suddenly, he turned his head and added, "Please don't worry, Madam."

-----------------------

Author's Note: Meng Qingci: Don't miss me after you're gone.

Fu Heng: You're ruthless.