Becoming the Cannon Fodder Wife of Crazy and Powerful Official - Chapter 17

“Ah! Get away from me!” A piercing shriek erupted from the kitchen, followed by Xin Yueying storming out into the yard. She pointed accusingly at Huo Qi inside, yelling, “Who asked you to ‘enlighten’ me about this?! I—”

Her words were cut short by a soft “plop.”

She reached up to touch her forehead, then looked at the moisture on her fingertips. “It’s raining.”

“Oh no!” Huo Qi’s face instantly paled.

He burst out of the kitchen and dashed into the house. Xin Yueying hurried after him, only to see the curtain to the bedroom violently swaying.

“Second Master! I’ll go find Meng Ruxin!”

“Unnecessary.”

The two words seemed to be forced through clenched teeth by Shen Qingqi.

Xin Yueying rushed into the room and found Shen Qingqi seated in his wheelchair, gripping his knees tightly. His head was thrown back, veins bulging prominently on his neck. His pallid face was drenched in cold sweat.

The damp rainy season exacerbated the pain in his knees.

“I’ll go find Que Ma,” Xin Yueying said, turning to leave abruptly.

Her wrist was suddenly seized by Shen Qingqi. His hand was as cold as ice, “I don’t trust strangers,” he uttered, word by word.

Xin Yueying met his gaze calmly, “Do you trust me?”

Shen Qingqi’s eyes were bloodshot. He held her gaze for a moment, his deep, abyss-like eyes pulling her in with an inexplicable force.

Slowly, he released her hand.

“Guard him well!” Xin Yueying instructed Huo Qi.

Shen Qingqi gasped, “Go… go with her! The mountains are dangerous!”

“Second Master! That girl is clever and resourceful; she’ll be fine!” Huo Qi insisted firmly.

“Go with her!” Shen Qingqi groaned as excruciating pain shot through his knees, dragging him into a cold, hellish torment. A flash of lightning illuminated his face, and he cried out hoarsely, “Go with her! Are you deaf?!”

Tears streamed down Huo Qi’s face, “Second Master! If anything happens to her, I’ll pay with my life!”

Xin Yueying ran desperately through the forest, heedless of the danger.

Torrential rain poured down in sheets.

Thunder rumbled, and lightning crisscrossed the sky.

The dark, deep forest flickered between black and white under the lightning’s glare.

Drenched by the pelting rain, Xin Yueying, who had always been afraid of the dark, didn’t know where she found the strength. Her only thought was to find Que Ma.

She sprinted wildly and kicked open Que Ma’s door.

Que Ma wasn’t asleep. A pile of fine white powder lay on the table as he studied the process of making poison. Thinking the constables had arrived, he jolted up in alarm and shouted, “Who is it?! What do you want?!”

“Come with me to save someone! I’ll pay you!” Xin Yueying, soaked and dripping, pleaded, “I’m Xin Shi! I came during the day! Please, save my husband!”

The sudden rain had disrupted all order.

Que Ma hadn’t expected work to come so quickly. He nodded urgently, grabbed an umbrella, picked up his medicine chest, locked the door, and followed Xin Yueying under the umbrella.

Xin Yueying ran extremely fast, “Hurry up and keep up!”

Que Ma, with only one good leg, struggled on the muddy path with his umbrella: “Slow down! Use the umbrella! Use the umbrella!”

“Hurry up and keep up!”

“Slow down! I only have one leg!”

“Hurry up and keep up!”

“……”

By the time Que Ma reached the remote Shen household, his one good leg was nearly spent.

Shen Qingqi had already passed out from the pain, lying unconscious on the kang.

Que Ma lifted the curtain and entered the room. Seeing two men lying on the kang, he instinctively looked at the drenched Xin Yueying, “Which one am I treating?”

“Him!” Xin Yueying pulled back Shen Qingqi’s quilt and tried to roll up his pant leg.

“Ah!” Her hands trembled. “His legs are so swollen! I can’t roll them up!”

“I’ll get scissors!” Huo Qi fetched the scissors.

Que Ma took one look, turned to his medicine chest, and pulled out an acupuncture kit.

With a flick of his wrist, he laid the kit over his arm. He picked up a silver needle not much thinner than a chopstick and glanced at Huo Qi, “Fetch fire.”

“What are you going to do?!” Huo Qi and Xin Yueying asked in unison.

“Bloodletting,” Que Ma replied, straightening his spine, his voice firm and resolute. “To release the poisoned blood!”

Huo Qi stared intently at the silver needle, seemingly uncertain. He looked at Xin Yueying, “What should we do?”

“Listen to him,” Xin Yueying clenched her hands.

Huo Qi turned to fetch a lamp. Que Ma held the silver needle over the flame, then glanced at Huo Qi, “Hold his leg down!”

Huo Qi complied.

With a focused gaze, Que Ma swiftly inserted the needle, piercing Shen Qingqi’s red and swollen knee.

Xin Yueying gasped, covering her mouth as she stumbled backward.

Black, viscous blood mixed with yellow pus gushed out. Terrified, Xin Yueying pressed her back against the wall.

Shen Qingqi groaned and woke up. Despite his extreme weakness, he struggled to lift his head and spoke to Xin Yueying, word by word, “You… go out.”

“What?!” Xin Yueying instinctively turned toward Shen Qingqi, not quite catching his words.

Que Ma said gravely, “Your husband is worried you’ll be frightened. He wants you to leave!”

“I’m fine. I’ll stay here and watch. I can help,” she tried to approach, her trembling hands betraying her fear.

“I’m alright,” he said firmly. “Go out. Don’t watch this.”

It was strange—despite his agony, he was comforting her.

Xin Yueying pretended to be calm as she left the room, but remained standing behind the door curtain.

She held her breath, listening intently to Shen Qingqi’s muffled groans. These faint sounds, to her ears, even drowned out the deafening thunder outside.

By the latter part of the night, it grew quiet inside. Shen Qingqi had likely fallen asleep.

Huo Qi lifted the curtain and stepped out. His face was pale, and he looked utterly exhausted as he slumped down against the wall. He rubbed his rough hands over his face and said hoarsely, “Our Second Master never feared pain in the past.” He raised his hand vaguely, gesturing, “An arrow this long pierced through his shoulder, and he pulled it out with his bare hands without making a sound.”

He looked up, staring straight at Xin Yueying, “Now he’s trembling all over from the pain. Just how much must it hurt?”

Xin Yueying silently met Huo Qi’s gaze.

Que Ma called Huo Qi to prepare medicine for a hot compress. Huo Qi pushed himself up against the wall and went back inside to help.

They set up a small stove inside, and soon the scent of medicine filled the air around Xin Yueying. She heard Que Ma’s voice, filled with pity, “How did it get this bad? All the bones in his legs were shattered.”

Xin Yueying’s heart clenched violently.

Shattered bones.

She admitted that she had only read descriptions of Shen Qingqi’s ordeal in the cold prison cells.

Those extensive, flowing words were far less shocking than witnessing even a fraction of it firsthand.

Those four short words, accompanied by Que Ma’s sigh, felt utterly horrifying.

Shen Qingqi, you must have been in so much pain back then…