Chapter 75

Xie Que Shan couldn’t quite grasp the meaning of those words, but he noticed that Zhang Yuehui wasn’t looking at him. His gaze was fixed on Nan Yi.

The alarm bells went off in his mind. “What have you done to her?”

Outside, the sound of hurried footsteps began to grow louder.

Zhang Yuehui furrowed his brows and impatiently said, “Do you want to die? Hurry up and leave before I regret it.”

If the situation weren’t so urgent, Xie Que Shan would have killed him on the spot. How dare this person issue orders to him!

But Xie Que Shan knew that for Nan Yi’s safety, he had no better choice than to trust Zhang Yuehui. Even if there were traps ahead, he had to get through this first.

Xie Que Shan suppressed his anger, threw his sword to Zhang Yuehui, and turned to move down the tunnel.

Zhang Yuehui took the sword and immediately understood Xie Que Shan’s intentions. He looked at the door slowly closing, knowing he now had to figure out how to clean up the mess he had made.

Zhang Yuehui stepped outside, hearing the hurried footsteps now entering the tunnel—likely the Qiyi Sect’s ambush following them in. He twisted the candle holder on the wall, triggering a mechanism in the dungeon.

This would hopefully buy them a little more time.

He moved to the body of the guard who had just died, threw Xie Que Shan’s sword aside, and smeared the blood from the guard’s body onto his own clothes. After a moment’s thought, he furrowed his brows and lay down next to the body.

This was truly self-inflicted. Zhang Yuehui closed his eyes, letting out a deep sigh.

The tunnel indeed led to an inconspicuous exit. Xie Que Shan found the journey surprisingly smooth and couldn’t quite believe that Zhang Yuehui hadn’t done anything else.

He looked back at the Flower Morning Pavilion, still billowing smoke in the distance, now far from here.

Not daring to delay, he hurriedly carried Nan Yi back to the estate.

Previously, Xie Xiao Liu and Song Muchuan had claimed that the eldest daughter-in-law of the Xie family had contracted a fatal illness and had been moved to the estate outside. Through this strange turn of events, Nan Yi had actually ended up here.

This place was the least likely to raise suspicion at present.

There weren’t many people in the estate, just a few elderly servant women. They weren’t Xie Que Shan’s own people but had been arranged by Xie Xiao Liu. They were honest and loyal, not daring to speak out of turn.

Lady Gan Tang had prepared the doctors, who were already waiting in the hall. As soon as Xie Que Shan entered, the doctors immediately came forward to treat Nan Yi.

Buckets of blood were carried out for cleaning, and the room was filled with the strong scent of blood and medicine. Nan Yi remained unconscious, but after a strong dose of medicine, her life was no longer in danger.

Behind a gauze curtain, the candles burned through the night. Xie Que Shan waited in the outer room, enduring the night until it turned to dawn.

“Master…”

A faint light from the morning sky filtered in through the window, and the sound of birds chirping could be heard. At that moment, an old servant stepped out from behind the curtain and approached hesitantly.

“What is it?” This was the first time Xie Que Shan spoke after the whole night, his throat dry, his voice hoarse.

“Madam refuses to let us apply the medicine…”

Xie Que Shan entered the curtained room to find Nan Yi tightly clutching the blanket, unwilling to let go. Wrapped in the quilt, she couldn’t have the medicine applied.

The old servant explained apologetically, “Perhaps I was too heavy-handed. Whenever I touched her wounds, she would grab the blanket and try to hide…”

The medicine would be the most painful, with the ointment stinging like thousands of ants crawling over the skin, burning all the way into the bones. Even in her unconscious state, she still feared the pain.

After a moment’s silence, Xie Que Shan said, “It’s not your fault. Leave us.”

The old servants glanced at Xie Queshan in astonishment... Could it be that…? But he and she…?

However, the injuries the young mistress had sustained were already suspicious enough, especially since the family head had brought her back personally. There had been far too many strange events tonight. The two old servants, being prudent individuals, dared not question further. Bowing their heads, they retreated.

Xie Queshan carefully cleaned his hands and sat down by her bedside.

The old servants, afraid of hurting her, didn’t dare apply much force and didn’t know what to do. But Xie Queshan had always believed in decisive action to survive. She needed to have medicine applied; otherwise, the wounds would become infected, leading to yet another agonizing ordeal.

No matter how stubborn she was, her strength could not possibly surpass his.

He pried her fingers open, one by one, pulled the quilt off, and set it aside. Then, he propped her up, letting her lean against his shoulder.

His arms slipped under hers, encircling her body to hold her firmly in place and prevent her from moving.

Even though he had mentally prepared himself, seeing the crisscrossing whip marks on her back still made Xie Queshan’s eyes sting. The young girl’s body leaned against him, bare and vulnerable, yet the only feeling that surged in his heart was a strange, mutual sense of shared pain—as if these wounds were somehow intimately connected to him.

In that moment, a new wave of anger rose within him—once she was taken care of, he would deal with that bastard Zhang Yuehui.

He scooped some ointment with his fingers, warming it in his palms before gently spreading it over her wounds, slow and painstakingly careful.

But as soon as the ointment touched her wounds, Nan Yi began to struggle violently.

She had been in a muddled state, her eyelids heavy and impossible to open. At times, her consciousness surfaced enough to hear the sounds outside; other times, she drifted into boundless dreams, her soul wandering through different scenes.

In her haze, she sensed someone feeding her medicine—the bitter, scalding liquid slid down her throat. She knew it was meant to save her life, so she cooperated fully. But when someone started manipulating her body, sharp, bone-deep pain suddenly flared in every corner of her awareness, filling her with terror.

Clutching tightly at whatever was in her hands, she instinctively sought some sense of security. She heard someone calling the family head and then heard Xie Queshan’s voice… How could that be? She thought it was a dream, but some sensations felt all too real.

She could feel his dominant strength as he took away what she was holding. Slowly, her senses returned to clarity. Her various perceptions began to align, and she realized this was no dream—it was real. His warm palm was moving over her back, yet every touch brought unbearable pain.

She whimpered involuntarily, her hands flailing against his back, desperate to break free. But he, like a mountain, remained immovable before her.

There was no escape… She felt like she was about to break. Stripped of all the tools forged by others, she was utterly powerless, like a wild beast caught in a hunter’s net. The pain was too much. Instinctively and primitively, she bit down on his shoulder, hard... If she was going to suffer, she would drag him down to hell with her.

She bit with such force that Xie Queshan’s features immediately twisted in pain, but his hands maintained their gentle rhythm. Enduring the pain on his shoulder, his breathing grew heavier despite himself.

Gradually, she lost strength, releasing her bite and letting her head droop onto his shoulder. Silent tears streamed down her face, quickly soaking through his clothing.

Finally, the medicine was applied. Xie Queshan let out a sigh of relief and lowered his gaze to her face, only to see that at some point, she had woken up.

“Aren’t you going to kill me…?” she murmured lowly, despair thick in her voice, her eyes red as though about to burst.

Only now, at this very moment, did their true reunion begin.

Her limited strength could only allow her to focus on simple thoughts. This situation was far too complex for her to comprehend. She had no idea what Xie Queshan truly wanted.

He was the one who tried to kill her. He was the one who abandoned her. Now, he was the one who saved her and was applying medicine to her.

She felt like a leaf blown this way and that by the wind, never able to land.

Life and death no longer mattered. All she wanted was an end to this torment. But Xie Queshan excelled at slow, drawn-out suffering.

She was so tired, so very tired, that she could no longer muster the energy to hate. If she was destined never to escape Xie Queshan, then she wanted to cut open his heart and see what he truly wanted.

Confusion, like hatred, was an emotion that could leave one restless and unable to find peace.

Nan Yi stared straight at him, but he said nothing.

Xie Queshan was at a loss for words. He didn’t know where to begin. He understood how bewildering this scene must appear. He had resolved to let her go, yet after all the twists and turns, she had ended up back by his side.

Perhaps he was skilled at using eloquent words, but he was not adept at confronting his own emotions. He was accustomed to wearing masks, hiding his true feelings beneath a façade of deception. She wanted an answer, but he couldn’t give her one.

This was no time for matters of the heart. Even if he had sacrificed everything to save her, it wasn’t for her forgiveness or gratitude. He was merely fulfilling his promise: to protect her, teach her how to survive, and then send her away.

In his world, he had never considered anything like a lifetime of companionship. Moreover, mutual affection required the other party’s willingness.

He saw himself as a ferry, merely carrying her across the river. That was the greatest love he could offer.

What else could there be?

Xie Queshan silently pulled the quilt over her, wrapping her up and laying her back on the bed.

He ought to have gotten up and left, yet for some reason, he remained rooted in place, feeling the need to say something. After some thought, he decided to ask her since she was awake.

He was worried that letting Zhang Yuehui go was akin to releasing a tiger back into the mountains, a long-term trap yet to be sprung.

“What did you and Zhang Yuehui talk about?” he asked aloud.

Nan Yi’s eyes widened abruptly, her breathing growing rapid.

“Zhang Yuehui?”

Xie Queshan hadn’t expected such a strong reaction. His eyes darkened. He assumed they must have met, that something unexpected had happened, prompting Zhang Yuehui to change his mind and release her.

But now it seemed she was unaware of his existence. So why had Zhang Yuehui relented? Xie Queshan recalled the way Zhang Yuehui had looked at Nan Yi… Doubt began to creep into his thoughts.

Xie Queshan’s prolonged silence made Nan Yi realize something… Her encounter with Zhang Yuehui—it wasn’t a dream.

“The master’s orders—Huachao Pavilion is on fire…”

That sentence, which she had heard faintly at the time, suddenly became crystal clear.

Impossible… How could this be?

Nan Yi tried to speak, but a surge of blood and energy rose violently in her chest. She suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Before she could even wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth, she grabbed Xie Queshan’s sleeve and urgently asked, “The jade bangle… the broken jade bangle, where is it?”

In that instant, Xie Queshan understood. A complex mix of emotions swirled in his heart. He felt relief at this stroke of fate, yet was also exasperated by the relentless entanglement of their bond.

So that unreliable “fiancé” was Zhang Yuehui all along.