"Yes!" Zhang Da sent soone to inform Manager Wang.
After Xie Xun broke out of the Marquis Mansion, the guests scattered everywhere, fleeing to their own hos. When Fengyu arrived at the mansion, the place was littered with corpses, with blood staining the crimson gates and courtyard. The air reeked of blood. She and Lady Thirteen led people into the mansion and retrieved the bodies of the Marquis, the Noble Consort, and the three madams. They left the Capital City through the West City Gate while Xie Jue attacked the North City Gate. The guards from the West and East gates had all gone to reinforce the defenses. Amid the upheaval in the city, households locked their doors and windows tightly, yet those anticipating escape were already poised to act.
The West City Gate was guarded by only a dozen n, unable to hold back the desperate citizens trying to flee. Fengyu carried the bodies of the mansion’s family mbers out of the West City Gate, accompanied by Zhang Da, Qiuxiang, and Chunlu.
Fengyu instructed Lady Thirteen to return and assist the rchant caravans in the city with urgent preparations for a strategic retreat. After one or two days of turmoil, Yuwen Jing would begin settling scores with the aristocratic families and officials, leaving no ti to address the rchants. Those who could leave should depart as soon as possible, and the families of the rchants should evacuate to Jinzhou that very night.
Lady Thirteen and Mudan Building were not under Fengyu’s na, so they didn’t need to leave with her. However, Baofeng Bank absolutely had to relocate. Fengyu had already transferred part of her assets, and that night six carts of gold and silver, along with over ten carts of grain, followed her out through the West City Gate. Manager Wang sent his family ahead while staying behind at the bank. The six carts of gold and silver were rely a drop in the ocean; many assets still had to be evacuated from the Capital City. Manager Wang intended to remain at the bank to oversee the operation and prevent complications, striving to move as much of Fengyu’s wealth out of the city as possible.
After Fengyu and her group passed through the West City Gate, they changed course toward Lian City. They arrived there an hour earlier than Xie Jue and Xie Xun. The troops guarding Lian City were the Northern Iron Cavalry. Upon seeing the signal tower ablaze from the direction of the Capital City, the soldiers realized Second Young Master’s premonition had co true. They stood on high alert, only to receive the Marquis’s lifeless body.
Marquis Zhenbei’s remains beca Fengyu’s Passage Order.
Fengyu waited anxiously in Lian City for over an hour before finally seeing Xie Jue and Xie Xun lead their forces into the city.
Xie Xun regained consciousness after two days of delirium, finding Fengyu keeping vigil by his sickbed.
"Ayu..."
For the past two days, Xie Xun’s condition had repeatedly worsened, his fever refusing to break, putting him in grave danger. Fengyu feared he might not survive his injuries; she had been on the verge of taking the Soul Suppressing Pearl and using it in his stead. But Xie Jue had stayed by Xie Xun’s side, never leaving even for a step. The brilliant Second Young Master was exceptionally astute, making Fengyu reluctant to risk drawing his suspicion. She rembered Xie Xun saying that Xie Jue was emotionally detached and had never been the kind to dote on his siblings. Yet when Xie Xun’s life hung by a thread, Xie Jue refused to abandon him.
Fengyu’s heart ached as she thought about how Xie Xun and Xie Jue were each other’s only blood relatives left in this world. If Xie Xun were to die, how could Second Young Master possibly endure such loss?
After Xie Xun woke, Xie Jue left as soon as the doctor assured him that the young marquis’s condition had stabilized and was no longer life-threatening. He departed without looking back, leaving Fengyu to care for Xie Xun alone.
Xie Xun seed as though he had lived through a nightmare he might never wake from.
If not for the hatred sustaining him, he might have long followed his family into death.
He had lost his father, his mother, his concubine mother, his elder brother, and his eldest sister!
He had seen the bloody wound left by a curved blade on Marquis Zhenbei’s body. He had watched helplessly as his mother and the concubine mothers slit their own throats before his eyes. He had been powerless to save his elder brother, witnessing him pierced by a storm of arrows.
These images replayed endlessly in his mind, becoming a nightmare that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
"Ayu... Ayu..." He called Fengyu’s na in a hoarse and pained voice. He did not want to wake; he longed to drown himself in darkness. For the first ti, he wished to escape the agonizing reality.
"I’m here!"
"Ayu..."
"I’m here!"
Fengyu, her eyes brimming with tears, kissed the back of his hand. Her heart broke for Xie Xun. The young marquis had always been strong since childhood, his joys and sorrows worn openly. His vibrant and spirited deanor inspired admiration from all. Even when Dugu Jing had crippled his left leg, and his father and elder brother had sent him back to the Capital City, he hadn’t shed a single tear. But now, resting in Fengyu’s arms, he wept silently, his tears soaking her shoulder.
His body trembled uncontrollably.
"Ayu, it hurts so much!"
Fengyu held him tightly, kissing his ear and hair. Unable to find any other way to comfort him, she could only give him her embrace and kiss. The pain of losing one’s family and ho was unimaginable, a kind of anguish no one could truly empathize with.
"It hurts so much..."
Reviews
All reviews (0)