Li Wei Sheng watched as the men carried out Guo Li Wei’s emaciated body; the man looked close to death, but somehow, he had lived. The doctors should be able to save his life. Han shi had struggled to fight off the men who had come to rescue her, and judging by her wounds and her appearance, Li Wei Sheng could guess at what terrible things she had to endure. Luckily, he had a few women in his hidden guard who had escorted her out. The only thing left was to find Su Jing Fei and her sister.
“Young master, we found a servant who has knowledge about Su xiaojie’s possible whereabouts.” Shan Yu respectfully kneeled before Li Wei Sheng as he relayed the news.
“Where is she?” Li Wei Sheng asked in a low voice.
“The girl is detained with some of the other servants near the-”
Li Wei Sheng interrupted Shan Yu with a firm voice. “Not her. Where is Su Jing Fei?”
“On the second lower level of the underground dungeons. Mu Tan has gone ahead, and-”
“Enough, take me there!” Li Wei Sheng’s voice was quite demanding.
Shan Yu was a bit surprised at his young master’s impatience, but he merely shook his head and followed his young master’s orders. He was getting used to his young master acting quite peculiarly in regards to the Su xiaojie now anyway. Moving past the men who continued clearing out rooms, Shan Yu led his young master to the supposed corridor where they spotted Mu Tan standing in the entrance to the room at the very end of the hallway.
Li Wei Sheng pushed past Shan Yu as he quickly made his way to the end of the hallway. He stopped at Mu Tan’s side, noticing the yatou’s strange expression. He felt his heart beat just a little quicker as he turned to look inside the room. There were two two distinct shapes visible in the slight haze of burning incense. He had recognized the aphrodisiac’s burning scent, and he found feeling strange at the implications of what the room’s conditions meant. Moving past Mu Tan’s frozen figure, Li Wei Sheng entered the room and headed towards the bed. He paused just as he reached the foot of the bed. His eyes gazed down at the mutilated body of Feng Ruo Qian that was on the floor. He moved his gaze back to the silhouette on the bed, recognizing Su Jing Fei’s familiar figure. The young woman was seated carefully at the edge of the bed, and the unmoving body of another familiar face laid in her arms. Li Wei Sheng recognized the girl to be the sister that Su Jing Fei had rescued from Xia-Wu. “Su xiaojie.” Li Wei Sheng addressed her quietly, speaking in a low voice as he watched her face for any signs of recognition or any reaction.
But the young woman’s face was expressionless, and her eyes stared off into the distance. She looked deathly pale against the blood that had splattered on her face. Her black ink eyes seemed clouded in a haze. Li Wei Sheng furrowed his brows at her frightening appearance and demeanor. It had been enough to scare Mu Tan, and Li Wei Sheng found himself feeling strangely upset at her weak and cold appearance. “Su Jing Fei,” He addressed her again a second time; speaking in a firmer voice. “It’s over.”
Even at those words, Su Jing Fei was silent and unmoving; it was as though Li Wei Sheng was not even visible in her eyes. As he observed her, he noticed the blood that soaked her dress. He was unsure if she was injured or not under all that blood, but he wouldn’t let her die here if she was. He stretched a hand out to place on Su Jing Fei’s shoulder, hopefully to bring her back from the daze she was in, but Li Wei Sheng suddenly found himself being attacked.
Su Jing Fei’s arm swung in his direction; her hand clutched tightly to a blade disguised as a hairpin. Luckily, Li Wei Sheng was quite skilled in martial arts and he dodged her attack, grabbing ahold of her arm as he shouted angrily at her. “Su Jing Fei, wake up!”
The young woman blinked once, then twice, and her black eyes flickered in Li Wei Sheng’s direction. “Li Wei Sheng?” Su Jing Fei’s voice was as quiet as a whisper, and she still looked quite out of it as she gazed at him. She looked like she had just awoken from a dream.
“Are you awake now?” He said in a low voice, still keeping a grip on her arm as she seemed to be returning to reality.
“I…” Su Jing Fei’s voice broke as she turned to look down at Da Chun’s lifeless body resting in her lap. “I was too late. I prayed and I prayed, and I begged, but no one listened. They wouldn’t bring her back to me. They wouldn’t!” Su Jing Fei’s grip on the dagger loosened until it fell from her hand and clattered onto the floor as she continued to ramble incoherently between sobs. “Then I cursed them for bringing me here! Making me suffer like this! Why did they bring me here if I couldn’t save her! I just-” And it was like everything had exploded inside of Su Jing Fei at once, making her grow tired of it all. Her eyes fluttered slightly as she looked up at Li Wei Sheng one last time before the darkness consumed her. “Why?”
Li Wei Sheng caught Su Jing Fei in his arms as she passed out, probably from exhaustion and the effects of the aphrodisiac. “Get in here and help me!” He shouted in a hurried voice as Shan Yu appeared at his side. “Take the younger girl out of here.”
“Young master, she’s already-” Shan Yu was a bit confused, but Li Wei Sheng seemed angry at Shan Yu’s hesitance.
“Just do it!”
But before Shan Yu could do anything, Mu Tan appeared at the bedside, staring down at the young girl. “I’ll do it.” Tears ran down her cheeks as she carefully picked up her xiaojie’s lifeless body, cradling it delicately.
Once the weight was lifted off of Su Jing Fei, Li Wei Sheng picked the young woman up in his arms, carrying her out. The aphrodisiac burned his skin, but his mind was clear as he made his way out of that dark place.
---
After a few weeks of tying up loose ends in Fuo Lan, Li Wei Sheng finally had a bit of free time. He stopped by the Guo family residence, receiving a warm welcome by Guo Li Xiang and Guo Li Wang. They sat comfortably in an open room, looking out at the small garden and pond in the middle of the residence.
“I apologize for not being able to visit sooner.” Li Wei Sheng started, sighing slightly as he thought of all the headaches he had to deal with in the past weeks.
“It’s no trouble at all. The imperial prince must be busy taking care of things in Fuo Lan after the Feng family’s arrest, so this lowly one thanks the imperial prince for making time to visit our humble residence.” Guo Li Xiang spoke with a smile.
“This one has indeed been quite busy with matters,” Li Wei Sheng confirmed with a nod of his head. “However, one has not been able to drop by to inquire about the third young master’s condition and his wife.”
“My younger brother is doing well,” Guo Li Wang spoke up, looking genuinely happy as he relayed the news to Li Wei Sheng. “His strength and vitality has recovered a bit with the help of medicine and food. Han shi has also physically recovered, and she’s been doing very well recently.”
“Has he awoken yet?” Li Wei Sheng asked, knowing that the third Guo son had fallen into a coma during his imprisonment in the Feng family’s residence.
“Unfortunately not yet,” Guo Li Xiang said with a small smile. “But his body is recovering well, so we hope he will awaken soon.”
Li Wei Sheng nodded his head in understanding. Once the body recovered, the mind should return; that was the hope anyway. The three men chatted a bit more about a few matters in Fuo Lan before Li Wei Sheng stood up to leave. As they were heading to the entrance, something small came barrelling out of nowhere, knocking into Li Wei Sheng’s legs and falling to the ground at his feet.
“Ming’er!” cried a woman’s voice. A familiar-looking woman came into view, stopping just right before the men. Li Wei Sheng recognized her as Han shi. She looked vastly better than when they had first met; her pale face had gained more color, and the fear in her eyes had disappeared. However, she did look quite a bit frightened as she noticed Li Wei Sheng. “Your Highness, please forgive my son’s rudeness!”
Li Wei Sheng chuckled, leaning down to scoop up the young dazed boy in his arms. “You have to be a bit more careful where you’re running or you might hurt someone.” He lightly reprimanded the boy but kept a smile on his face.
The young boy was quite heavier than Li Wei Sheng had anticipated, and his big round cheeks puffed up in a small pout. But then his shoulders sagged slightly as he seemed to reflect on his actions. “Okay… Ming Ming is sorry.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Good boy.” Li Wei Sheng replied with a laugh.
Mingyu stared at Li Wei Sheng for a bit, squinting his eyes and observing him in an exaggerated fashion that was quite endearing for a young child. “Are you prince?”
Guo Li Xiang and Guo Li Wang were about to speak up to apologize for the young boy’s rudeness, but Li Wei Sheng held up a hand to silence them. He didn’t mind children. They often spoke their minds and were quite easy to please. He preferred their honest chatter to the veiled words of adults.
“Wow, you are sharp, little one.” Li Wei Sheng smiled. “Yes, I am a prince.”
“You saved my mama n’ papa?” Mingyu tilted his head slightly, furrowing his brows.
“I might’ve.”
“Here,” Mingyu held out a candy in the palm of his hands, clearly offering it to Li Wei Sheng. “You can have. It is my favorite, but you can have it.”
“That’s quite generous of you,” Li Wei Sheng replied, but he shook his head. “Thank you for the offer, but I can’t take away your favorite candy. This candy is better for you.”
Mingyu seemed to think about it for a moment and then he nodded. “Okay…” He put the candy back in his pocket. “You can have this.” He pulled out another piece of candy and held it out to Li Wei Sheng. “It’s not my favorite, but jie jie like it. Prince save mama n’ papa like jie jie save me so you can have jie jie candy.”
“Jie jie?” Li Wei Sheng inquired curiously.
“Jie jie is jie jie.” Mingyu said firmly with a smile.
“Excuse this lowly one’s rudeness,” spoke Han shi as she stepped forward, kneeling before Li Wei Sheng respectfully. “The ‘jie jie’ that Ming’er is speaking about is Su Jing Fei. She had saved him once before and now he’s quite crazy about her.”
Li Wei Sheng nodded in understanding, smiling down at the boy. “Then I’ll take this candy then. Thank you.” Li Wei Sheng plucked the candy from the young boy’s open palm and tucked the candy into his pocket. He set down the young child, but Mingyu did not budge from his side. Instead, the young boy tugged gently at Li Wei Sheng’s pants. “Prince know jie jie?”
“Yes, I know Su Jing Fei.” Li Wei Sheng replied with a nod of his head.
“Is jie jie okay?” Mingyu asked, looking a little bit sad as he gazed up at Li Wei Sheng. “Ming ming miss jie jie.”
Li Wei Sheng was a little surprised at Mingyu’s question. He felt strange at the thought of Su Jing Fei, recalling the last time he had seen her. He had a few people visit Mudan-Yu to get updates on her, but…
“Ming’er, you promised to wait for jie jie, remember? Just like mama and papa, jie jie will come back and visit you soon.” Han shi spoke calmly, coaxing the child to return to her side.
Mingyu hung his head, running back to his mother and into her arms. She was still kneeling, and Li Wei Sheng quickly motioned for her to stand. As she held tightly to the child in her arms, Han shi gazed at Li Wei Sheng. Her light brown eyes shone bright unlike the woman he remembered. “This lowly one was able to live because of Su xiaojie. She saved my Mingyu, but she was unable to save her sister. This lowly one hopes the imperial prince can relay to Su xiaojie that we’ll be waiting for her whenever she needs us. The Guo family is in her debt.”
Li Wei Sheng felt the hopes of the Guo family around him. He gave a small sigh before replying. “You can tell her yourself when she recovers.”
Han shi smiled. “Of course.”
He bid farewell to the family, getting into his carriage. It seemed like the Guo family held Su Jing Fei in quite the high regard, probably even higher than him. The carriage rolled forward as Li Wei Sheng watched the passing crowd outside. It was a few minutes before they reached his next destination. The carriage came to a stop, and Li Wei Sheng stepped out, staring at the residence. He’d never really taken a good look at it in the light of day before.
“This lowly one greets his imperial Highness,” An older woman bowed respectfully before Li Wei Sheng. He recognized her as the woman named Dongfan.
“You may rise,” He spoke respectfully as the old woman did so. “How is she?”
Dongfan gave a small smile. “She has her good and her bad days, just like anybody else.”
“Today is a good day?” Li Wei Sheng asked.
Dongfan nodded, turning to lead Li Wei Sheng inside Mudan-Yu. “Yes, today is a good day.” They made their way through the residence, and Li Wei Sheng noticed the distinct lack of servants. “It is quite quiet in here.” He noted observingly.
Dongfan smiled. “After the incident, we couldn’t trust any of the servants that were hired by the head attendant Zihuan, so naturally, we had to let go a lot of people. There’s only a handful of us now, but the few of us left are enough for now.”
Li Wei Sheng recalled the face of Mudan-Yu’s previous head attendant Zihuan. He had only seen him once before when he had visited Mudan-Yu in the dark of night. But Li Wei Sheng was well aware of the betrayal that the man had committed against Su Jing Fei. “We didn’t find him at the Feng residence.”
“He’s probably long gone by now,” Dongfan replied simply. “He’s not an intelligent man, but he’s not stupid either.” They finally made it to the small courtyard that was Su Jing Fei’s personal place of residence. Upon entering the initial receiving room, Li Wei Sheng noticed a small shrine set up near the entryway.
“What is this?” Li Wei Sheng asked, noticing the peculiar setup of flowers and fruit. A candle burned at the center of the small shrine with a few items placed atop a small table. There were knitting needles, a few hairpins, and a few other items. At the very center of the table was a small delicately designed piece of pottery that Li Wei Sheng surprisingly recognized as an urn. Most noble families were usually buried, but it was not uncommon to see cremated remains in urns nowadays. He was just a bit surprised to find a small shrine at the entrance to Su Jing Fei’s house of residence.
“There was no place for Da Chun in the familial burial ground, so da xiaojie had her remains cremated,” explained Dongfan as she gave a small sad smile. “Da xiaojie then had a peculiar dream and requested us to setup a shrine in the home like so.”
Li Wei Sheng nodded his head in understanding. If this was a way for Su Jing Fei to process her sister’s death, then there was nothing he could say about it. He was quiet as Dongfan led him further inside. The old woman knelt outside a door, announcing his arrival. There were a few seconds of silence before a voice replied.
“Come in.”
Li Wei Sheng recognized it as Mu Tan’s voice. The door was pushed aside, and Li Wei Sheng was brought inside Su Jing Fei’s room. His eyes flickered across the scene before him. The windows were open slightly, letting in fresh air with the cool breeze. Mu Tan was seated at the side of the bed, but she got up and properly greeted Li Wei Sheng. He held up a hand and motioned for her to be at ease, and she returned to her seat. His eyes fixated on the unmoving figure seated upright in the bed. The young woman was dressed in white, a mourning color. Her long black hair was made up in a simple style, framing her delicate features plainly. She looked quite better than the last time he’d seen her, and there was not so much the stench of death as before. Her previously pale skin had regained a bit of its original color, and she looked much healthier. No more dark sunken eyes and pale chapped lips. However, she was still quite thin and frail looking, and he couldn’t fathom how such a figure could’ve overpowered and killed Feng Ruo Qian in such a gruesome manner.
“This lowly one thanks the imperial prince for stopping by.” Mu Tan said with a small smile.
“I should’ve came by long ago,” Li Wei Sheng smiled in return, settling into a chair that was brought for him. “There were quite a few things that needed to be taken care of before I could come.” His gaze remained on Su Jing Fei’s figure though; the young woman’s face was turned slightly as she stared out the window, not speaking a word. There was a calm expression on her face, and she was relaxed with her hands placed neatly on her lap. But there was no doubt that Su Jing Fei’s mind seemed a million miles away from the here and now. “Can she hear me?” He asked carefully.
Mu Tan gave a small laugh. “Yes, she can hear you.”
“En, good,” Li Wei Sheng nodded. Then he could say what he wanted to say. “Su Jing Fei, you are looking much healthier nowadays.” He started out a simple observation, feeling a little bit awkward speaking to her though she seemed so distant at the moment. Li Wei Sheng cleared his throat and began speaking about the matters he had taken care of in the past couple of weeks. “The Feng family were arrested and sent for judgment in the imperial city. For their crimes, the Imperial Emperor deemed them guilty based on the evidence provided. Feng Ruo Zhang and most of the inner family were sentenced to death. The only one left alive is Feng Eu Mei, for she no longer bears the name of Feng; she’s Hou Furen now.” Li Wei Sheng watched for any reactions from Su Jing Fei, but the young woman was as still and serene as when he first walked into the room. So he continued speaking, unfazed by her quietness. “The matters of eradicating the Xinyi black market from Fuo Lan was difficult. Most of the noble families involved were also sentenced to death for their crimes and involvement. It took me a long while to settle the matter of the noble families in Fuo Lan. Sun Rong Shu was also granted the position of city lord official. He was originally offered a position in the imperial court, but unsurprisingly, he declined, wishing to serve his family’s city of Fuo Lan well. The Emperor was quite understanding in having a reliable and honorable man in the position. A new city justice official was appointed as well. The family is known for being quite strict, but it will do Fuo Lan good.”
The cool breeze grew colder as the day began to set. The leaves were changing color afterall, and it wouldn’t be long before snow was upon them. The summer had gone and past by so quickly. Li Wei Sheng continued speaking as Mu Tan moved to close the windows and light some candles. “I visited the Guo family before coming here. Guo Li Wei has not yet awaken, but his wife Han shi is doing better. Today, I met Mingyu, and he spoke about missing you. He gave me this,” Li Wei Sheng stood up from his seat, taking the small candy from his pocket and stepping forward to place it on the bedside table. Su Jing Fei still was silent and unmoving, causing Li Wei Sheng to grow a bit frustrated. “He wants to see you. Don’t you want to go visit them?” Still nothing; not a twitch, look, or any sort of response from the young woman. Li Wei Sheng had never seen the woman seem so defeated; she had always struggled and fought in the worst against adversaries, but that woman seemed to have disappeared. She seemed nowhere to be found, so Li Wei Sheng tried something different. Hopefully something that would wake her up. “Su Jing Fei, do you know why the Feng family were so against you? Do you know why they killed your brother, mother, and now your sister?”
Su Jing Fei’s hands twitched slightly, the fingers curling just a bit. Li Wei Sheng’s eyes flickered from the movement to Su Jing Fei’s face. “It took me awhile to figure it out, but when returning to the imperial city for the Feng family’s trial, it finally came to me. The connection was quite obvious if you think about it. Who in the world would benefit the most from your mother and brother dying years ago?” Li Wei Sheng paused slightly, watching as Su Jing Fei’s hands clutched the bed sheets tightly. “You must’ve thought of it before. You must know who I’m talking about.”
“Liu shi.” Su Jing Fei whispered the woman’s name.