Punishing Mother
Inside the main residence of the Song family, in the Liu family's house
Song Guansui exuded a chilling aura, as if the air itself had frozen.
The only sounds in the room were the crackling of burning candles and Liu's heavy, terrified breathing.
Song Guansui's face was expressionless.
He gripped Liu's struggling hands tightly with one hand like an iron clamp, while with the other hand he forcibly guided her hand to hold a jewel-encrusted dagger—a gift from Liu to him for self-defense when he was a child.
However, it was also during his childhood that Liu forced him to use this knife to kill his first and only pet.
—His studies were delayed simply because he was playing with his pet.
At this moment, the tip of the knife was pointed directly at Song Guansui's own heart.
"Sui'er! Are you crazy?! Let go! I'm your mother!"
Liu's voice was shrill and distorted, all traces of her former nobility and dignity gone.
All that remained was primal fear and disbelief. She desperately tried to pull back, her fingernails digging into Song Guansui's hand until they bled, but she couldn't budge him an inch.
"Mother, oh..."
Song Guansui's voice was terribly low and hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing against dry wood, with a hollow echo.
"What you taught me... is that if you want something, you must get it by any means necessary... and if you lose something, you must make those involved pay the price..."
He pulled Liu's hand and suddenly pushed her forward.
"Pfft—"
The sharp blade pierced through the brocade robe, and the muffled sound of it sinking into flesh was so clear it sent chills down one's spine.
The excruciating pain caused Song Guansui's body to tremble violently, his face instantly turning deathly pale, and fine beads of cold sweat seeping from his forehead.
But as he held Liu's hand, his grip remained as firm as a rock, even with an almost pious cruelty, as he continued to slowly push inward.
Warm blood immediately gushed out, meandering down the luxurious fabric and quickly spreading into a large, glaring crimson patch.
No—! No!
Liu let out a heart-wrenching scream as she watched helplessly as the blade inch by inch entered her son's body. The visual and tactile impact completely broke her down.
"Stop... Sui'er... Mother was wrong! Mother really knows she was wrong, I'll never touch him again! I'll never interfere in your affairs again... Please stop! Ah...!"
She cried and pleaded, tears streaming down her well-maintained face, her hair disheveled, looking like a madwoman.
But Song Guansui seemed not to hear. His eyes stared blankly at his mother’s terrified and distorted face, as if he could see something else through her.
This blow was a punishment for his mother, a punishment for her repeated challenges to his bottom line, a punishment for her almost completely robbing him of the only light he clung to in the darkness.
He used her hands to inflict punishment upon himself, making her watch and personally "cause" her son's serious injury.
This is more devastating than directly harming her; it would break a mother who has spent her entire life planning for her son, yet also brought him endless pain.
This act of self-punishment was also a punishment for himself.
He punished himself for failing to protect Jiang Manyan perfectly, and for allowing his mother to have another chance to hurt him.
The complex and unspeakable feelings he harbored for his mother almost shook his absolute possessiveness.
The excruciating physical pain ironically provided an outlet for the panic, anger, and despair that had been building up inside him.
Endless sorrow and despair enveloped the mother and child.
One breaks down and begs for mercy under the dual torment of physical and psychological pain, while the other seeks a twisted balance and relief in self-destructive punishment.
"Sui'er...my son...please don't do this...I beg you, Mother..."
Liu's voice was already hoarse and weak, with only weak sobs and desperate repetitions remaining.
She watched her son's face grow paler and paler, and felt his hand holding her begin to tremble slightly, yet he still did not stop his slow, torture-like penetration.
The blade finally sank almost completely in, leaving only the ornate hilt pressed against the blood-stained brocade robe.
Song Guansui groaned, his body swaying, almost unable to stand. He slowly, extremely slowly, released the hand that was guiding Liu's hand.
Liu jerked her hand back as if she had been burned, looked at the blood all over her hand, let out a hysterical, incoherent wail, and collapsed, her mind seemingly on the verge of complete collapse.
Song Guansui looked down at the dagger stuck in his chest, then looked up at his distraught mother. His pale lips moved slightly, but he ultimately said nothing.
He staggered back a step, leaning against the cold stone wall, breathing heavily. Each breath aggravated the fatal wound in his chest, bringing excruciating pain. Blood continued to gush out, and his consciousness began to blur.
But in those unfathomable eyes, madness and pain intertwined, yet carried a chilling sense of "perfection."
He used the most extreme method to punish both his mother and himself, defending the absoluteness of his distorted "love".
"Someone come here..."
Song Guansui finally couldn't hold on any longer and slid down the wall to the ground. His voice was weak, but it still carried a commanding tone.
"...Guard this place...Don't allow anyone...to come near..."
"master!"
Fu Cong rushed in almost the instant Song Guansui opened his mouth.
When his gaze fell upon the dagger protruding from Song Guansui's chest, his pupils contracted sharply. Without thinking, he rushed forward and supported Song Guansui's body.
With his left arm tightly wrapped around his master's waist and abdomen to stabilize his center of gravity, his right index and middle fingers moved like lightning, first pressing the Tanzhong acupoint on the chest to block the rush of qi and blood, then pressing the Zhongfu acupoint below the collarbone to temporarily relieve the sluggish breathing, and finally quickly pressing several acupoints on the side of the waist to seal the bleeding vessels.
The touch was hot and sticky, and Fu Cong felt tightness in his throat, his knuckles turning white from the force.
"Master is foolish! Even if we had avoided vital organs, such an injury would have resulted in blood loss even a moment later!"
He tried to lower his voice, but couldn't hide his trembling—the body in his arms was trembling more and more obviously, his face had lost all color, only his eyes still held the lingering ferocity, like embers that had burned to the end but refused to be extinguished.
With the help of Fu Cong, Song Guansui, relying on his strong willpower, forcibly used his internal energy and medicine to seal his heart meridian, stopping the bleeding and relieving the pain.
His obsession with Jiang Manyan and his determination to keep her alive kept him from collapsing.
He immediately issued a bounty: a top-level bounty in the name of the Song family—not for himself, but for "a nobleman who is poisoned, has purplish lips, and is in a coma" to seek an antidote.
The promised reward included not only a fortune, but also the Song family's connections and influence.
This move caused a huge sensation in the central area.
Despite his eagerness to seek medical help, Song Guansui's paranoia did not diminish. He ordered all applicants to undergo extremely rigorous background checks and body searches, and anyone suspected of being suspicious would be killed without exception.
At the same time, he moved Jiang Manyan to a more secluded and heavily guarded secret room, where no one could get close except for a very few trusted confidants and the physician he ultimately chose.
Qin Lingfeng learned through his undercover agents that "the Song family urgently needs an expert to cure the poison."
He immediately realized that this was a golden opportunity. Qin Lingfeng used his resources to find a truly capable detoxification expert—Mr. Xue.
This person was highly skilled and quickly passed the Song family's initial test. He was also a very shrewd person. If it weren't for the fact that he had been saved by Qin Lingfeng's mother, Shen Qingyuan, he would never have gotten involved in this mess.
Qin Lingfeng sent Mr. Xue with two "servants" to apply for the position. He himself used his subordinates' superb disguise skills to impersonate one of them and successfully infiltrate the Song residence.
This is a risky move. If it is exposed, not only will it fail to save Jiang Manyan, but Qin Lingfeng himself may also be trapped in a desperate situation.
But his concern for Jiang Manyan and his determination to win her back outweighed his consideration of the risks.
Song Family Secret Chamber
With his genuine talent and knowledge, Mr. Xue quickly and accurately determined that the unconscious young man in front of him was not poisoned by the "Peacock Spell" mentioned in the intelligence, but by the "Dream Silk" that was little known in the Southeast District. He was suspicious in his heart, but he did not hesitate to speak out.
"Young Master Song, this patient was indeed poisoned by the 'Peacock Spell,' but because he has a small appetite and is blessed with good fortune, he did not die immediately."
"I happen to have a unique skill that can stabilize this young master's condition. I can use acupuncture to slow down the toxicity and then use a medicinal bath to evaporate the toxins from his body."
Mr. Xue truly deserves his reputation as a master of detoxification; he spoke with great confidence and composure.
Meanwhile, Qin Lingfeng, disguised, was deeply shocked when he saw Jiang Manyan, who was unconscious and had purplish lips.
Anger, heartache, and murderous intent surged within him, but he had to suppress them fiercely and play the role of a lowly servant.
Every movement had to be made with utmost care, lest it be noticed by the perceptive Song Guansui.
Despite his serious injuries, Song Guansui was in a state of high tension.
He forced himself to stay at the treatment site, his sharp eyes constantly monitoring Mr. Xue and his "servant's" every move.
"Try acupuncture first."
Compared to other doctors who shook their heads or couldn't figure out what "Peacock Dance" meant, the confidence of the person in front of him aroused his expectations.
But the look in that "servant's" eyes—the look of someone eyeing his "possessions"—even if he tried to hide it, he understood that look all too well... Damn it.
Song Guansui suppressed his anger.
The priority is to treat chronic smoking.
"yes.""
After Mr. Xue finished speaking, he skillfully and professionally began acupuncture, his movements flowing smoothly and gracefully, even incorporating a touch of internal strength.
However, Mr. Xue was also nervously sweating, as acupuncture was one of the detoxification methods for "Chenmengsi".
The toxicity of "Dream Silk" is highly unpredictable, causing people to fall into a coma for three days to a month. If left untreated, the longer the coma lasts, the more severe the aftereffects will be, ranging from mild physical weakness to lifelong disability.
This young man is really gambling with his life!
Half an hour after the acupuncture was administered, Jiang Manyan's lips finally regained some color, and her fingers trembled slightly.
Song Guansui and Qin Lingfeng both showed expressions of joy.
Song Guansui immediately stepped forward and embraced Jiang Manyan, oblivious to the fact that her body was pressing against his wound. The joy of finding her again brought tears to his eyes.
"Why isn't he awake yet!"
Song Guansui looked at Mr. Xue, his tone urgent.
"Young Master Song, acupuncture can only delay the onset of the poisoning. It needs to be combined with three days of medicinal baths to surely wake the young master up."
"Good! Very good!"
Having received Mr. Xue's promise, Song Guansui allowed Fu Cong to reapply the medicine and bandage the wound.
He also needs to recover as soon as possible; he doesn't want Man Yan to wake up and see him in such a disheveled state.
Qin Lingfeng, standing to one side, stretched his hand slightly forward, as if wanting to touch the person on the bed who was dying, but he restrained himself and clenched his fist.
Even with the utmost care from Fusang, the intense pain still caused cold sweat to bead on Song Guansui's forehead as he treated the horrific wound on his chest, and his lips were even paler than Jiang Manyan's, who had just regained a little color.
But Song Guansui seemed oblivious, his gaze still fixed on the bed, watching Mr. Xue direct the "servants" to prepare the utensils and medicinal herbs needed for the medicinal bath.
Disguised, Qin Lingfeng kept his head down and carried out Mr. Xue's every instruction efficiently.
He moved the bath tub nimbly, poured in hot water, and sorted the medicinal herbs, performing each step impeccably, just like a well-trained servant.
However, only Qin Lingfeng himself knew that every time he approached that bed, he needed to use all his strength to restrain the urge to take Jiang Manyan back.
However, he knew that the timing was wrong; the most important thing now was to wake Jiang Manyan up.
He was so vibrant when we parted, but now he is so weak.
That damned Song Guansui!
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