Chapter 73 Miscarriage
The prisoner couldn't lift his head. Cui Junji looked at the knife, then at his grandfather and the two guards behind him who looked like door gods. Deep in his grandfather's seemingly concerned eyes, he saw unquestionable control and cold calculation.
At that moment, the last thought in his mind about becoming the head of the family immediately disappeared.
He didn't take the knife.
"Grandfather," he said, his voice low but resonating clearly through the dungeon, "you often say that knowing yourself and your enemy is the simplest truth, yet the hardest to achieve. People are always self-righteous, judging the whole picture through a limited lens, and generalizing from a single instance. I've always remembered this. So, how do you think you understand me?"
Seeing the shock and doubt in Cui Hong's eyes, Cui Junji said slowly: "My grandson not only checked the direction of the court, but also checked... at home."
Sure enough, Cui Hong's eyes suddenly froze.
Cui Junji continued, his tone as calm as if he were recounting a trivial matter that had nothing to do with him. "For example, three years ago, the manager who handled the Jiangnan salt permit case for my grandfather later reportedly fell ill and died suddenly. Also, Mr. Liu, who was in charge of the trade with Northern Xinjiang last year and suffered a deficit of 30,000 taels of silver on the books, is now missing. How come you don't know about this?"
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the two household guards behind Cui Hong, who had their heads bowed. Finally, he fixed his gaze on the serene, seemingly elderly butler on his left. "Grandson, I'm curious. Grandfather, you're so calculating, yet why do you seem... completely unaware of the fact that your trusted confidant, his only son, ran up a massive debt at a gambling house last year and nearly had his legs broken?"
The butler was shocked almost imperceptibly, and suddenly raised his head and looked at Cui Junji, his eyes full of shock and disbelief.
Cui Hong's expression finally changed. He slowly turned around and looked at the butler he had trusted for decades, who had actually done such a shameful thing as taking advantage of the power of others and enriching himself!
When the butler met his gaze, his face turned pale, and he subconsciously took a half step back, then fell to his knees. His lips moved, but he couldn't utter a word.
Everything is self-evident.
Cui Junji glanced at the two family generals. Although his eyes did not have any meaning, they made the two family generals shudder. They looked at each other, afraid that the young master would say something else, and walked behind Cui Junji.
He had incited his grandfather's closest guard to rebel. Perhaps, he had only seen the three people in the prison.
The air in the dungeon seemed frozen. The wrinkles on Cui Hong's face deepened in the flickering firelight. For the first time, his eyes, always in control of everything, revealed a look of unprepared anger and a hint of the hard-to-conceal desolation of being betrayed by the person closest to him.
The absolute authority he relied on to control the family was torn open by the heir he personally trained at this moment in the way he was most familiar with.
Cui Junji no longer looked at his grandfather, nor did he need anyone's permission. He walked straight to Wen Youqing, who was lying in the corner, and took out a clean handkerchief from his bosom. He leaned over and, being extremely careful not to touch her wound, wiped the stains and blood from her cheek.
The two retainers had already unlocked the room with their keys and let the person down.
Without the support of her chains, Wen Youqing's body went limp and she fell forward. Without hesitation, Cui Junji reached out and lifted her up sideways. She was light, as light as a feather, as if her life could slip away from her broken body at any moment.
Cui Junji's movements were light, with a gentleness that was out of place in this bloody dungeon.
Wen Youqing seemed to sense something and lifted her head with all her might. Between her disheveled hair, she revealed a pair of tired yet clear eyes. In those eyes was a stagnant calm, like stagnant water, and a quiet hatred.
Cui Junji met her gaze and whispered, "Don't be afraid, I'll take you away."
He no longer paid attention to the dead silence behind him and his grandfather's cold gaze that was enough to penetrate him.
He held her in his arms and walked out of the dark cell, past his grandfather who stood frozen in place and the housekeeper who knelt and trembled, and through the long corridor filled with the smell of decay. The torchlight stretched his shadow very long, casting it on the damp and cold stone wall like a silent declaration.
Every step breaks the shackles of the past and steps into the vortex of the unknown.
As they walked out of the dungeon, the afternoon sun was a bit dazzling. Cui Junji subconsciously squinted his eyes, and Wen Youqing in his arms seemed to flinch at the sudden brightness.
With a "bang", a huge muffled sound was heard in the prison.
The people waiting outside were his loyal followers, whom he had secretly arranged since childhood. If they hadn't reached an agreement just now, they would have to resort to force today.
No matter how powerful the household generals were, they were no match for these dozens of personal followers. The two household generals secretly congratulated themselves on their wise choice, but they also began to fear. What if...
The leader immediately stepped forward and handed over a thick cloak.
Cui Junji carefully wrapped Wen Youqing in his cloak and ordered in a deep voice, "Prepare the carriage and return to the courtyard. Have the doctor wait."
"Yes, sir."
He held her in his arms and stepped onto the shaft of the carriage. Before getting into the carriage, he looked back at the dungeon entrance, which was as deep as the mouth of a giant beast.
In the shadows, the figure of Old Master Cui, Cui Hong, slowly appeared. He stood at the junction of darkness and light, leaning on a wooden stick, motionless.
The eyes of the grandfather and grandson met in the air at a distance that was neither too close nor too far.
There was no angry rebuke, no helpless sigh, only a cold and completely broken silence.
"Grandfather, you're old now, don't go out and about so often." Cui Junji retracted his gaze and bent down to enter the carriage. He didn't need anyone to give up the seat of the head of the family. If he didn't sit down now, no one would dare to sit down.
The curtains fell, separating the two worlds inside and outside.
The carriage started slowly and drove away from the ancestral hall dungeon that symbolized the supreme authority of the Cui family.
The wheels rolled over the bluestone road, making a rumbling sound, carrying a thrilling game and an uncertain future, and disappeared at the end of the compound.
In the shadows of the exit, Cui Hong remained motionless for a long time. The agarwood stick in his hand tapped the ground lightly, making a dull sound.
Just as Cui Junji's attendant was about to help him, Cui Hong shouted, "Get out! I'm not at the point where I can't walk!"
Under the "escort" of personal attendants, the Cui family welcomed its new owner.
The carriage bumped along the bluestone road, and every shake made the weight in Cui Junji's arms heavier.
Wen Youqing was wrapped in a thick cloak, silent and motionless. Only when the bumps of the carriage occasionally moved his wound would a faint, almost inaudible gasp escape from his throat.
This sound pierced Cui Junji's heart more than any scream. The wound on his chest ached faintly, the mark left by Wen Youqing, and now it strangely resonated with her pain, tightening in waves, reminding him of the sins he had committed over the years.
As soon as the carriage stopped in the garden, the personal attendant came to greet them with the doctor who had been waiting for a long time.
Cui Junji carefully carried Wen Youqing out of the car and quickly carried her into the inner room, his movements as gentle as if he were handling a fragile treasure. He didn't even notice Li Wenqin and Wang Ruoti, who were waiting nearby.
He placed her on the soft bed and when he took off the blood-stained cloak, his fingertips trembled at the sticky, cold, and bony flesh he touched.
The doctor came forward to take Wen Youqing's pulse. The room was so quiet that only the suppressed breathing of a few people could be heard. Cui Junji stood at the foot of the bed, his eyes fixed on Wen Youqing's pale face, as if she would disappear like smoke if he glanced away.
He looked at her tightly closed eyelashes, thinking of the clarity in her eyes when they first met and the feigned gentleness when he deliberately approached her later. His heart felt like it was being crushed by a huge rock.
He had hated her, a hatred so intense when he was seriously injured and dying that he even considered dying with her when the dagger pierced his chest. But when the cell door opened and he saw her chained to the wall like a rag doll, that hatred shattered into dust, leaving only endless regret and pain.
It was his Cui family, it was Cui Junji, who forced her to this point.
Time flowed slowly in the silence, each breath stretching as long as a year. The doctor finally withdrew his hand, frowning, and turned to Cui Junji with a serious expression.
"Master Cui," the doctor lowered his voice, his tone heavy, "Although this lady's injuries are serious, they are mostly flesh wounds. With careful care, she can recover. However..."
Cui Junji's heart skipped a beat, his voice hoarse from nervousness: "Just what?"
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