Chapter 61 Chapter 61 Coaxing a man is as easy as breathing
"Yes!" The subordinate responded and left.
Ji Yang looked down at the crumpled prescription, feeling deeply anxious and uneasy. If she really fell into Shen Ting'an's hands, it would be a difficult situation. In comparison, he would rather Jiang Ci was tied up and ran away by Xie Guijing.
At least Xie Guijing wouldn't hurt her.
The next morning, the fog in the mountains had not yet dissipated, but a faint medicinal fragrance wafted into the house.
Jiang Ci sat in front of the couch, taking Shen Ting'an's pulse. Her fingertips gently touched the pulse point, her brows slightly furrowed, her expression as calm as water.
After a moment, she withdrew her hand and said, "The young general has been taking medicine for the past two days, and his breathing has improved. He is breathing more smoothly than yesterday. This is a good sign."
Shen Ting'an raised his eyes slightly, his tone slightly softened, "Indeed... This is the first time in recent days that I feel a little better. As you said, when can it be cured completely?"
Jiang Ci picked up a pen and paper beside him and wrote as he answered, "This is a turning point. If the medicine's effects stabilize, continue taking this prescription for another three days, then we can switch to another prescription to treat the underlying condition. If all goes well, the existing condition will be completely alleviated."
Shen Ting'an took the prescription, glanced at it, and ordered someone to go to Fengdu to fetch the medicine. Jiang Ci took advantage of the situation and spoke softly, "Young General, now that you're feeling a little better, I wonder if you could keep your promise yesterday and release Ji Qiu? I know that a gentleman's word is as good as gold."
Her tone was steady, her eyes were clear, and her words were neither hurried nor slow, but each step was logical.
Shen Tingan stared at her for a moment, only to find that she looked calm and measured, as if she was certain that he would agree. He replied in a deep voice, "Okay, I promised, and I won't regret it."
Not long after, someone escorted Ji Qiu in. She looked disheveled, covered in wounds, but her eyes remained stubborn.
When Jiang Ci saw her, his expression changed slightly. He stood up and said, "Can I treat her wound?"
Shen Tingan glanced at her coldly, his tone slightly cold: "Forget it. Don't even think about it, don't even think about having any contact with her again."
He turned around and ordered his attendants, "Take her away and put her in a secluded place. Don't make any noise and don't look back."
The two guards took orders and escorted Ji Qiu out of the courtyard.
Before leaving, Ji Qiu looked back at Jiang Ci, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes. She opened her mouth, but in the end, she said nothing.
Jiang Ci stood in the courtyard, watching her leave quietly. She didn't ask any questions, and she didn't say anything. She was just gambling in her heart, betting on whether the woman still remembered her feelings and whether she could bring her the only hope of survival.
Ji Qiu was escorted by the guards to the official road and thrown heavily to the ground.
Dust rose up and her body shook. Then she gritted her teeth and propped herself up. She staggered to her feet and ran towards Fengdu City without hesitation.
She knew that Jiang Ci was still in the mountains. If no one knew her whereabouts, she would probably be killed by Shen this time.
But she had not run far when she suddenly heard a sound of breaking air behind her.
"call out--"
The arrow pierced the sky and mercilessly pierced her back. She paused, looking down to see the crossbow bolt piercing her chest, blood dripping, staining her clothes red.
Ji Qiu spat out a mouthful of blood, his vision went black, and he fell heavily to his knees on the ground.
She heard the person behind her indifferently put away his crossbow, and when he saw her fall to the ground, he turned and left, treating her like an ant.
But she didn't die.
She gritted her teeth, scratching the ground with her fingers, blood dripping into the earth. She knelt on the ground, inching forward inch by inch. With every movement, blood flowed from her mouth, but she never stopped.
I don’t know how long I climbed, but I saw a truck heading into the city slowly approaching from behind.
She raised her head, her eyes barely able to see the scene before her, waved her hands with all her might, and then fell down powerlessly.
The driver was shocked when he saw this and quickly jumped out of the car to turn her over. Ji Qiu's chest was covered in blood and she was barely breathing, but she still struggled to raise her hand and tightly grasped the driver's sleeve.
"Please..." Her voice was hoarse, like a candle in the wind. "Dongyang Marquis's Mansion... tell... the governor that his wife... is at the end of the official road west of the city, through the Nanling woods... go north... two miles halfway up the mountain... save her..."
Before she finished speaking, she felt a sweet taste in her throat and spat out another mouthful of blood. The light in her eyes quickly faded and her hands slowly dropped.
Her eyelids were still open, as if some unresolved obsession still lingered in the world.
In her last moments of consciousness, many figures flashed through her mind.
"Jiang Ci... this time, we're even." She murmured in her heart, blood trickling from the corner of her lips. "I only blame myself for being stupid back then. If I wasn't so weak, how could I have ended up like this... Mother, brother... I can't be with you anymore in this life..."
The driver was moved and quickly lifted her onto the cart and covered her with a rag. Even though she was dead, he still couldn't bear to abandon her in the wilderness.
"Don't worry, young lady. I'm going to Fengdu City right now and will definitely pass on your message."
Elsewhere, inside the Governor's Office, Ji Yang had been pacing for two solid hours, his brow thick with anxiety and irritation. As he walked, his gaze suddenly fell on the sand table—Zichuan City was still pinned by an arrow, stuck there coldly, as if in a mockery.
With a sullen face, he reached out and pulled out the arrow. He instructed his subordinates, "Fix the Zichuan section on the sand table." His tone was low.
At this moment, a secret guard came from the pharmacy to report: "We haven't seen anyone from Shen Ting'an come to get the medicine yet." Before he finished speaking, another person hurried in to report: "Commander-in-Chief, a peddler said he has news about the lady and wants to see you. He is waiting outside the Dongyang Marquis's mansion."
Ji Yang was stunned. Without time to think, he immediately jumped on his horse and galloped back home.
He hadn't slept well for two nights. He appeared calm and composed, but his inner anxiety was raging like wildfire.
Ever since she married into Fengdu, she had never asked him for anything, and always stood there at a distance. Even if he had done something bad, she had never blamed him. Thinking of this, Ji Yang squeezed the horse's belly again, and just wanted to go back quickly.
The clatter of horse hooves on the street was like the beating of drums, and his heartbeat became disordered. He had thought of the worst-case scenario, but when he really faced it, he found himself so afraid.
If something really happened to her... he didn't know what he would do.
In front of the mansion, a truck was parked quietly. Under the rags, a pair of skinny ankles were revealed, pale and weak, stained with dried blood.
Ji Yang suddenly reined in his horse and stopped, his gaze fixed on those feet. His heart felt as if it had been ripped out, his chest suddenly tightened, and even his breathing became disordered. He dismounted, took a few steps forward, and asked in a low but urgent voice, "Who... is she?"
The peddler stepped forward and was about to speak when Ji Yang had already pulled away the cloth covering the female corpse.
When the oilcloth was lifted, his body even trembled slightly.
But when he saw the familiar face, yet it wasn't the one he'd imagined, he felt like he was suddenly pulled back from the edge of a cliff. It was Ji Qiu, not Jiang Ci.
He let out a long breath, his back slightly bent, as if all his strength had been drained away. The fear in that moment had already made him sweat profusely.
"Tell me." He looked up at the peddler, his voice still tense, "What's wrong with her?"
The peddler then recounted in detail everything he had seen and heard along the way, including how Ji Qiu clutched his sleeve tightly before her death, and the last words she left for the Dongyang Marquisate.
After hearing this, Ji Yang was silent for a long time. He asked Yue Bai for a token from the Dongyang Marquisate and solemnly handed it to the driver, saying, "I will remember today's kindness. This token is a token of trust. If you need anything in the future, I will not refuse as long as I can."
After that, he whispered, "Carry her away and choose a place with good feng shui for a proper burial."
At this time, Yin Shuang hurried over. After hearing the news, her eyes turned red and she said firmly, "I'll go too."
Ji Yang glanced at her, his tone cold but not as distant as usual: "Okay, but don't hold me back."
After saying this, he jumped on his horse, gave an order, and led his men and horses out at a gallop.
On the other side, in the side hall of the Military Governor's Office, Xie Guijing remained. He sat slumped, his eyes empty, his lips pale, and he remained silent all day.
Lu Linchuan passed by and was slightly surprised to see that he hadn't left yet. He smiled and said, "Master Xie, didn't the governor let you go back to Zichuan? Why are you still here?"
Xie Guijing looked up, his face a dazed and broken expression. He murmured, as if blaming himself, as if accusing her: "If I had stayed a little longer that day, had spoken to her a few more words, if she had waited a little longer for Yin Shuang... nothing would have happened."
Lu Linchuan stared at him for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Then why did you want to become a monk?"
Xie Guijing chuckled softly upon hearing this, a smile bitter and bitter. He lowered his eyelashes and whispered, "You've disgraced our family... I have no face to return." He didn't mention Chu Yao's situation, simply finding it difficult to bring it out, a pain worse than killing him.
The air fell silent at this moment.
In the evening, the lights in the mountain villa gradually lit up, and the shadows of the lanterns in the corridor swayed gently on the ground.
Jiang Ci stood by the well in the courtyard, pulling the bucket, his thin wrists showing a slight strain. Just as he had lifted the bucket to the wellhead, two low voices of discussion came from behind him.
"It's a shame that the young general didn't do anything to such a beautiful woman."
"Don't forget, she was the one who killed the Major General's sister. The Major General wants her life only because she still has some use for him right now."
"So what you're saying is that when she's no longer useful, she'll have to die?"
"Of course I need to say that. But... you say, if someone like her lets the brothers have a taste of her before she dies..."
Jiang Ci listened to every word, and her hands, which were holding the rope, began to tremble. She couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach. She could die standing up, and she wasn't afraid of death.
But if I were to be defiled in this way, I would rather throw myself directly into the well.
Shen Tingan stood in front of the second-floor window, tapping the window frame with his knuckles, his eyes fixed on the slender figure in the courtyard.
The night was already deep, and she was still drawing water from the well. The night wind blew, ruffling her hair slightly, casting a fragile shadow on the ground. He frowned, and for some reason, he couldn't bear to watch.
She did not cry and beg for mercy like those spineless people in the past.
He had originally thought she was just a woman sent from Liangzhou as a marriage partner, a pawn pretending to be tough, perhaps even better at acting than other women from aristocratic families. But over the past few days, she had been doing things silently, and he gradually couldn't tell what she was thinking.
Shen Ting'an's eyes darkened slightly, his gaze falling on her wrist that trembled slightly when she pulled water, and an inexplicable irritation rose from the bottom of his heart.
At this moment, Jiang Ci took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She glanced at the corridor and saw the familiar tall figure quietly stopping by the window.
Her heart moved.
Despite being quiet during their few days together, she had already discerned Shen Ting'an's character. Though tough and unkind, he wasn't cold-blooded or heartless. That night, when he ordered her to stay by his bed, it was simply out of caution, not overstepping his bounds. She brewed medicine for him, and despite his tough words, he tacitly allowed her to get closer.
If you want to save your life, you can't fight with force, you can only conquer the heart with gentleness.
Jiang Ci suddenly lost her grip, causing the bucket to tilt violently, spilling the entire bucket of water over the edge. She stumbled and fell to the ground, her clothes soaked and covered in dust, looking utterly miserable. Her slender hands rested on the sand, her hair drooping. Under the moonlight, her drenched figure looked even more fragile.
The two people sitting not far away heard the noise and were about to get up to check when suddenly a sound of wind passed by.
Shen Tingan had already rolled down from the window.
He walked over quickly, and in a few steps he reached the well. He pulled her up, frowning: "You can't even draw a bucket of water?"
Jiang Ci lowered his eyes, the corners of his lips trembling slightly, his eyes slightly red under the moonlight, as if he was extremely aggrieved but dared not to defend himself. That glance was like a sudden stab to the softest part of Shen Tingan's heart.
His throat tightened, his eyes flickered, and his tone relaxed: "If you need water to boil the medicine, just tell them."
Jiang Ci nodded gently, his voice soft and gentle: "Thank you for your concern, Young General."
Shen Tingan didn't say anything else. He walked around her, picked up the bucket skillfully, filled it with well water again, and personally carried it to the medicine furnace and put it down.
Jiang Ci stepped forward and bowed to him: "Thank you, General."
At this moment, a guard came running in from outside the courtyard, his face full of panic. He clasped his fists and said, "Young General, this is bad! The governor is leading his men this way!"
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