The servants in the room were running themselves ragged—fetching herbs, boiling medicine, and pouring out basin after basin of bloody water. The physician remained by the bedside without taking a single step away.
Although Shen Xiabai’s bleeding had stopped, the physician said that the wound was dangerously close to his heart, and he was still not completely out of danger. If the blade had gone even an inch deeper, not even the gods themselves could have saved him today.
Dowager Shen was so frightened that her hands and feet had gone cold. Cui Yunchu, meanwhile, felt as though she had narrowly escaped death.
“Yu Feng, come outside with me.” Cui Yunchu was the first to leave the room and head for the reception hall.
Dowager Shen frowned and followed them out.
“Yunchu, don’t be anxious,” Dowager Shen consoled her. “It’s common for Xiabai to be targeted for assassination. If I hadn’t been traveling with him this time, he wouldn’t have suffered such a serious injury while trying to protect me.”
“Mother, I understand.” Cui Yunchu gave a slight nod, then fixed her gaze on Yu Feng. “Have you found out who the assassin was? Was it one of those two?”
Yu Feng shook his head.
He lowered his head, looking extremely troubled, but refused to say a word.
“Speak!” Cui Yunchu’s voice sharpened. “If it wasn’t Prince An or the Crown Prince, then who was it?”
“Your subordinate isn’t certain either.”
“Then tell me what you did find out.”
She sat in the seat of honor, her presence fierce and commanding. Even Dowager Shen stood at her side.
Yu Feng said, “Master ordered your subordinate not to say anything. Madam, please don’t ask.”
Cui Yunchu slammed her palm against the table. “He’s unconscious now. I’m the one in charge!”
The blow made Yu Feng jolt. Only then did he begin to speak hesitantly. “The young master and the brothers from the Judicial Office captured two assassins. After questioning them, they confirmed that these men belonged to an assassination organization from the martial world. They were the same group that… killed Master and Eldest Master back then.”
Cui Yunchu froze.
“Cui Qingyuan?”
Yu Feng immediately shook his head. “We can’t be certain. Assassins have always obeyed whoever pays them.”
Cui Yunchu’s fingernails dug hard into her palm, and her expression turned grim.
After her initial shock, Dowager Shen immediately frowned. “Impossible. That group of assassins would never appear in the capital.”
Yu Feng and Cui Yunchu both turned to look at her.
Dowager Shen’s face paled as she hurriedly explained, “I mean, after committing such a terrible crime back then, they certainly wouldn’t dare return to the capital. What if this is merely someone’s attempt to mislead us, causing us to overlook the real culprit? Wouldn’t that leave Xiabai in even greater danger?”
Yu Feng said, “But if they truly are… Prime Minister Cui’s men, then with such a powerful backer, they may act without restraint.”
“Madam, my suspicions aren’t without reason. You met the woman Master investigated some time ago. She was one of the assassins involved in the attack on Master and Eldest Master back then.”
“Master had her captured and tortured severely. Afterward, he went to see Prime Minister Cui. But they dismissed everyone else during their conversation, so I don’t know what they discussed.”
“Still, aside from that, there hasn’t been anything unusual lately.”
Cui Yunchu felt a chill run through her to the bone. “So you’re saying Cui Qingyuan was afraid the matter would be exposed and used the same trick again?”
Because Shen Xiabai had discovered the truth, he had wanted to eliminate him once and for all—or perhaps the two of them had failed to reach an agreement over certain terms.
Yu Feng remained silent.
Cui Yunchu let out a cold laugh and turned to leave.
“Yunchu.”
“Madam.”
Dowager Shen hurried forward and grabbed Cui Yunchu by the arm. “What are you going to do?”
Cui Yunchu’s eyes were bloodshot. “I’m going to find Cui Qingyuan. If he really did this, then today it’s either him or me.”
She would fight him to the death.
She didn’t care whom he loved. She didn’t care that he had used her, or that he looked down on her mother and despised her.
But if he dared to harm the person who loved her most in the entire world—the person who had always treated her with the greatest kindness—then he would become her enemy.
“Yunchu, the truth hasn’t been uncovered yet. This may not have anything to do with your father.”
Cui Yunchu’s brows were flushed red with anger. “But right now, he’s the prime suspect. Mother, don’t you hate him?”
Back then, he had killed the father and son of the Shen family. Now, as Shen Xiabai investigated the old case, he had struck again to eliminate any future threat. Both the motive and the circumstances fit perfectly. Who could possibly be more suspicious than him?
Dowager Shen gradually loosened her grip on Cui Yunchu’s arm. Her lips trembled several times, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to say a single word.
Cui Yunchu strode out of the reception hall, with Yu Feng close behind her.
Dowager Shen stood there in a daze for a long while. After some time, she abruptly turned and returned to the room.
The physician rose to his feet. “Dowager Shen, Lord Shen’s wound has been treated, and he’s taken his medicine. Someone should remain by his side tonight, and he must rest properly for some time. If all goes well, there should be no further complications.”
Dowager Shen let out a heavy sigh of relief and instructed one of the elderly maids beside her to see the physician out.
Once the physician had left, only mother and son remained in the room.
Shen Xiabai’s eyes were half open. He gave Dowager Shen a reassuring smile. “Mother, don’t be anxious. Your son is all right now.”
Tears immediately streamed down Dowager Shen’s face, and she couldn’t stop them. She sat beside the bed, stroking Shen Xiabai’s cheek again and again.
“Things like this have happened every year all these years. You’ve nearly frightened me to death.”
“Strife in the officialdom is unavoidable.”
“Do you truly suspect that this has something to do with the Cui family?”
Shen Xiabai looked at Dowager Shen. “In theory, Cui Qingyuan has the greatest motive.”
“But he is your father-in-law. For Yunchu’s sake, he should never treat you like this.”
“No. You don’t understand.” Shen Xiabai’s gaze turned cold and dark. “There has never been a place for Yunchu in his heart.”
“But he is still Yunchu’s father. Xiabai, you still have a life to live with her. If you kill him, it will leave a rift between you and your wife.”
Shen Xiabai lowered his eyes slightly. “Are you telling me to let him go?”
“You know how ruthless the official world can be. Aren’t you afraid that one day I’ll die by his hand?”
The word “die” made Dowager Shen’s body tremble.
“This may not have been the Cui family’s doing. Since it was an assassination organization, presumably they simply obey whoever pays them.”
“Xiabai, if the Cui family wasn’t responsible and someone deliberately tried to mislead you, wouldn’t you be placing yourself in even greater danger?”
“You think the Cui family wouldn’t do such a thing.”
Shen Xiabai said, “But I believe no one else could have done it.”
“You foolish child!” Dowager Shen grew anxious.
What she feared most was that he would direct all his suspicion toward the Cui family and overlook the real mastermind, thereby putting himself in even greater danger.
“You’ve spent so many years navigating the official world. Have you thrown all your wits into a dog’s belly? How can you conclude that it was that group of assassins based on a single mark?”
Shen Xiabai fell silent. After a long while, he suddenly asked, “How do you know that group of assassins had a mark on their bodies?”
He had never mentioned it to Dowager Shen, and Yu Feng certainly wouldn’t have told her.
Shen Xiabai fixed her with a sharp, unwavering gaze.
Dowager Shen choked. She hastily looked away.
“In any case, the culprit could never have been the Cui family. Don’t let this drive a wedge between you and Yunchu. And pay closer attention to the people around you, so you don’t fall into another trap.”
With that, Dowager Shen rose to leave.
“Mother.” Shen Xiabai suddenly spoke, stopping her. His voice was rough with difficulty. “I have always known that you and Father were not on good terms, but from beginning to end, I have never doubted you.”
Or perhaps it was that he had never dared to.
He knew that his father’s death had brought his mother joy—relief, even. Though he had been young, he still remembered the look on her face when she learned of his father’s and elder brother’s deaths: the way she had let out a breath, as if a burden had finally been lifted.
He had simply assumed it was because the two of them had never loved each other.
Though he found it difficult to understand what kind of hatred could make a young married couple remain unmoved even by the other’s death.
