Сhаpter 48: Тhе Firе Моth Party
Тhе room fеll silent onсе mоrе. Аftеr standing quietlу for a long while, Zhu Yan sat bу thе bedsidе, gentlу strоking Shеn Du’s fаcе with hеr hаnd, tеаrs welling in hеr eyes.
Shеn Du wаs the mоst vigilant persоn in the world. Нaving voluntееrеd fоr bоrdеr dutу after lеаving the imреriаl pаlaсе to eаrn mеrit, he hаd faced lifе and death соuntlеss times, сultivating the habit оf slееping with his swоrd аnd wеароns by his рillоw at night.
Оncе, he had nеarlу strаnglеd her whеn shе suddеnlу apprоached him during his light sleeр. Yet now, Shen Du lаy on thе bed, соmplеtely unconscious.
Tears fell like pearls into a silver tray, plop, plop, dropping onto the embroidered quilt and seeping into its patterns.
“Shen Du, if you don’t wake up, I’ll remarry. I’ll live in your house, take in seventy or eighty male consorts, and feast every night.”
“And I’ll never help the Shen family clear their name again.”
No matter what she said, Shen Du showed no reaction. His lips, once pale and tightly pressed, were now purplish-black as if he had drunk poison, making his skin appear even paler and more lifeless.
“I really am a burden.”
Useless, and only good at putting on a brave front.
The tears kept coming, and wiping them away did nothing. Zhu Yan wiped her eyes, her gaze hardening:
“I will definitely find a way to save you.”
Zhu Yan rushed to search through the local coroner’s records, carefully inspected the sealed Guangchun Hall, and even dissected the human remains brought back from Guangchun Hall, but found nothing.
Unless Lai Luofu was found, there was still no solution.
This woman was truly unavoidable.
Although Shen Du was kept alive daily with antidotes, his decline was visibly worsening. This poison was not as terrifying as the silk-webbing of “Cocoon to Butterfly,” but it was genuinely insidious. Its onset was faster than “Cocoon to Butterfly,” and its effects were more severe.
Zhu Yan guessed that this must be Lai Luofu’s most potent poison, reserved specifically for Shen Du. Moreover, the plan was flawlessly executed—shooting Shen Du with an arrow without delivering a fatal blow, and not pursuing him when he escaped. What else could it be if not absolute confidence?
Did Lai Luofu truly believe in her Illusion Art? Zhu Yan didn’t think so.
But who in Yingzhou City could now infiltrate the enemy camp to find Lai Luofu and obtain the antidote?
The more Zhu Yan thought about it, the more despair she felt.
“Will we truly never fulfill our destined bond in this lifetime?” she whispered, suppressing her sobs. “If I had persuaded you to decline the assignment in Gannan Circuit, at worst, you would have been punished by the emperor but not lost your life. If I hadn’t insisted on so-called justice, how could I have plunged you into such danger?”
Resting her head on Shen Du’s arm, Zhu Yan almost lost track of time. It was only when a thrush perched on the windowsill, chirping softly, that she was roused from her daze.
Her eyes gradually focused on the hopping thrush, and Zhu Yan suddenly sprang up.
Now was not the time for despair.
She splashed cold water on her face, wiped away the droplets and tear stains, and straightened her collar in front of the bronze mirror.
Zhu Yan left the room and headed toward the study. The most urgent task now was to inform the imperial court of the situation here and expedite the dispatch of reinforcements.
She ground the ink, smoothed out the letter paper, and picked up the brush Shen Du usually used. Suppressing her gloom, she wrote the letter and prepared to send it to the capital by express courier.
But she was jolted awake by a voice.
“I’m afraid it won’t reach the capital,” Jing Lin said, having come over upon hearing the call. He had just returned from patrol outside. “Yingzhou City is now completely surrounded.”The letter in her hand was crumpled, and Jing Lin continued:
"The scouts can't get out or in, so now we don't even know where the reinforcements are."
The situation couldn't be worse.
"I have already made arrangements. Tonight, we will launch a surprise attack on the Fire Moth Party's stronghold to obtain the antidote and save the Great Pavilion Commander."
Zhu Yan suddenly looked up. Jing Lin's face was full of exhaustion, but his eyes were bright and determined, speaking of the night raid on the Fire Moth Party's stronghold with unwavering resolve.
Nodding hastily, Zhu Yan stumbled away, only to be intercepted by someone at the second corridor.
Zhu Yan raised her head, her face streaked with tears.
Pan Chi's heart skipped a beat, startled by Zhu Yan's appearance.
In his memory, Zhu Yan was playful, adorable, and exceptionally clever, with rosy cheeks still carrying a hint of baby fat, and eyes as bright as stars. But the Zhu Yan before him now had sunken cheeks, dark circles under her eyes, disheveled hair, and a gaunt frame—so fragile she seemed to collapse into his arms.
Pan Chi forced a smile: "Anyone who didn't know better would think you were the one who was sick."
But Zhu Yan ignored him, pushing past him to continue forward.
A sense of foreboding gripped Pan Chi, and he hurried after her: "When I woke up this morning, I heard that Shen Du was poisoned and unconscious. What exactly happened?"
Zhu Yan glanced at him and brushed past without a word.
Alarmed by her reaction, Pan Chi quickly caught up: "I know Shen Du was poisoned while searching for the antidote for me. How is he now?"
The reason Pan Chi had come to find Zhu Yan as soon as he woke up was because none of the Inner Guards would tell him anything.
Zhu Yan stopped, covering her face with her hands. After a long moment, she looked up at the sky, forcing back her tears before turning to face Pan Chi.
"Shen Du," she choked out, "the poison Shen Du was exposed to isn't from the Central Plains. It's from the Western Regions, and it's even more potent than the poison you were afflicted with before."
Pan Chi, still recovering from his illness these past few days, was already breaking into a light sweat under the sun. Yet he had been holding up his sleeve to shield Zhu Yan from the sunlight. Upon hearing this, he abruptly lowered his sleeve and asked urgently, "Poison from the Western Regions?"
"Yes," Zhu Yan nodded, glancing at Pan Chi. "Lai Luofu applied the poison to the outside of the antidote vial. The poison only takes effect if there's an open wound, and Shen Du had just been wounded by an arrow during the Half-Faced Ghosts' ambush."
Pan Chi understood all too well, gritting his teeth in frustration: "That Lai Luofu did it on purpose."
Zhu Yan closed her eyes briefly: "Shen Du had seen the antidote for 'Cocoon to Butterfly' before—even my third sister and I had taken it. Any tampering would have been impossible to hide from Shen Du's eyes."
"So he tampered with the porcelain vial instead, lulling Shen Du into a false sense of security," Pan Chi concluded.
There was nothing left to misunderstand. Shen Du had obtained the genuine "Cocoon to Butterfly" antidote but had also been poisoned in the process.
Enemy camp, surprise attack, antidote.
These words swirled in Pan Chi's mind. In other words, Shen Du had raided the Fire Moth Party's stronghold at night to save him, only to be poisoned by Lai Luofu and Mo Qianzhi's scheme. Now he lay unconscious, causing Zhu Yan's haggard appearance.
I did not kill the man, yet the man died because of me.
A wave of guilt washed over Pan Chi. When he followed Zhu Yan and saw Shen Du lying unconscious on the bed, feelings of guilt and admiration intertwined, stirring uneasily within him.
Shen Du had always been jealous of his closeness to Zhu Yan, yet he had risked infiltrating the enemy camp alone to retrieve the antidote for him, all to bring a smile to Zhu Yan's face.
He was undoubtedly a true man.
Leading Zhu Yan to the study, Pan Chi paced back and forth, watching her lifeless demeanor with growing anxiety and helplessness.
"At least eat something."Zhu Yan showed no reaction, as if she were a walking corpse.
Pan Chi gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, wiping his face with his hand to hide the sorrowful emotions from moments before, deliberately saying:
"If he really is dead, you’ll be free."
"When the time comes, I’ll take you far away, and no one will stop us."
Zhu Yan glanced at the crumpled letter.
Receiving no response, Pan Chi forced a smile. "What? Aren’t you happy to be free?"
Zhu Yan lifted her eyelids slightly but gave no reply.
Silence filled the space between them. He noticed Zhu Yan pouting at the letter, as if she were about to cry again.
"Don’t... don’t cry."
He had seen countless women cry—those who wept bitterly, those who shed tears like pear blossoms in the rain, those who cried softly, and those who wept with lingering sorrow, all because they were infatuated with him and couldn’t bear to see him leave. But he had never seen a woman like Zhu Yan, so heartbroken and despairing that she seemed numb, crying silently and without a sound.
Pan Chi flustered and panicked, wanting to reach out and wipe her tears as he had done for other women in the past, to tell her that years would pass and they might never meet again.
But he couldn’t do it.
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