Chapter 83
Chapter 83
West of the city.
In a secluded residence called Wenlu, the sound of coughing drifted from inside every so often.
A young servant pushed open the door and asked timidly, “My lord, you’ve been coughing ever since you came back last night. Should I go fetch a physician?”
“It’s only a bit of chill. A few more bowls of ginger soup will do.”
Mu Zheng leaned weakly against the bed, his complexion ghastly.
But compared to his own health, he cared far more about what was happening outside.
“Has the man who delivered the items to Renxuan Marquis Manor returned yet?”
The servant replied, “They were sent over first thing this morning. He should be on his way back by now. Please wait a little longer, my lord.”
Mu Zheng was so anxious that he could not rest properly at all. He could only pick up the ginger soup on the table and force down another sip.
Just then, the faint sound of hoofbeats came from outside the courtyard gate.
His hand trembled, and the bowl slipped from his grasp, shattering on the floor.
The servant was about to clean it up, but Mu Zheng stopped him.
“Go see if he’s back. If it is him, bring him to me at once.”
“Yes.”
Though confused, the servant did as he was told.
But just as he reached the doorway, his steps halted. “Who are you?”
No one answered.
The servant had no choice but to call out loudly, “My lord is ill and is not receiving visitors!”
Mu Zheng was startled.
Then he saw a thin, familiar silhouette cast across the lattice window.
“Uncle won’t even see me?”
At the sound of that icy voice, Mu Zheng was so frightened his soul nearly left his body. “You… you…”
The figure slowly walked to the door, finally revealing her entire face.
“You… weren’t you already dead? Are you human or ghost?”
In his agitation, Mu Zheng actually rolled off the bed. His hands and feet struck the broken shards of the soup bowl, slicing open cuts, but he felt no pain.
Compared to pain, what he felt more of was terror.
Xia Ximo stood by the door. With the light behind her, her face looked half-lit and half-shadowed.
To Mu Zheng, she was practically a vengeful ghost come to claim his life.
In his panic, he tried to retreat, only for his back to hit the edge of the bed. There was nowhere left to go behind him.
“Don’t come any closer!”
“Someone! Throw her out!”
He shouted at the top of his lungs, but even the servant outside had fallen silent.
Despair washed over Mu Zheng.
Xia Ximo still stood by the door, staring at him coldly. “Last night, Uncle went to Fu Tower and bought my life?”
Her voice was frigid, each word slow and deliberate, without the slightest trace of emotion. Even her eyes gleamed with a chilling light.
No matter how hard Mu Zheng tried, he could not connect her to the Xia Ximo in his memory.
In truth, they had not seen each other for many years.
The last time had been on Lunar New Year’s Eve two years ago.
In his memory, she had been timid and weak, huddled in a corner, not even daring to meet his eyes.
But now…
It was as though she had been remade. She had changed completely.
The way she looked at him carried an overwhelming, condescending presence.
As if she regarded him as nothing more than an ant.
“I’m very curious. What did you use to buy my life?”
Mu Zheng shuddered.
Even so, he would not answer her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
Xia Ximo did not care at all about his stubborn denial. “Then I’ll help you remember.”
The moment her words fell, Mu Zheng felt an eerie force seize his limbs.
As if possessed, his hands began moving beyond his control to pick up the shards on the floor.
He was terrified, but he could only watch helplessly as his left hand gripped a piece of the broken bowl in his palm. Sharp pain shot through him, and blood spilled out.
“No!” Mu Zheng screamed in agony.
The person before him asked, “Have you remembered yet?”
Mu Zheng shouted, “You’re not Xia Ximo! Are you human or ghost? Who the hell are you?!”
Xia Ximo’s expression remained unchanged; her fingers moved slightly again. “It seems it’s still not clear enough.”
“No!”
Under her control, Mu Zheng began to reach out with his right hand to grasp the shard.
As a civil official, he had used that right hand to transcribe documents his entire career.
His handwriting, which he took pride in, even drew praises from the emperor himself.
The Mu Family produced skilled painters for generations, but he had no talent.
In his youth, he studied painting for a few years, dutifully copying masterworks, yet remained mediocre, falling short of even his younger sister’s casual strokes that captured the spirit.
His father did not value him, and he gradually grew disheartened, abandoning painting altogether.
But having held a brush since childhood and lacking other strengths, he simply delved into calligraphy.
And he practiced for nearly thirty years.
After entering the court, from a lowly eighth-rank Clerk of Records, he rose to his current Senior Third Rank.
It was all thanks to this hand!
“I’ll tell you…”
Mu Zheng trembled like a sieve, his forehead covered in dense beads of sweat from overwhelming terror.
“Manager Bai said if I offered a drop of my own blood essence, she could help me eliminate the thorn in my side…”
Hearing “thorn in my side,” Xia Ximo couldn’t help but sneer.
Mu Zheng also knew that once he spoke these words, there would be no turning back.
But he wanted to live, and he was even more reluctant to lose everything he had now.
“Ximo, don’t blame your uncle for being ruthless. This whole matter, it was all your aunt… she orchestrated it from the start.”
“When I found out, it was already too late, and I could only go along with the mistake. I truly had no choice!”
“We’re family after all, so how about this…”
Mu Zheng’s mind spun, and he forced a hypocritical smile: “Is there anything you desire in the capital? Uncle will do everything within his power and give it all to you!”
“Just you be obedient and listen to me…”
Before he could finish, his face suddenly contorted, and he cried out in pain.
Looking down, he saw the shard deeply embedded in the palm of his right hand, a shocking wound that nearly pierced through his entire hand.
Blood pooled on the floor.
Xia Ximo showed no trace of pity or emotion on her face; she merely asked coldly, “You fool, do you even know what ‘blood essence’ is?”
Mu Zheng was in too much pain to speak, but he sensed a deeper meaning in her words and hastily asked, “What do you mean?!”
Xia Ximo did not reply, but two figures appeared on the window lattice.
One said, “Offering a drop of ‘blood essence’ is equivalent to exchanging your life for another’s. Do you know why you suddenly fell ill after returning last night? It’s because those wandering spirits and wild ghosts attached themselves to you, seizing the opportunity to take your life.”
Hearing this voice, a chill ran down Mu Zheng’s spine. He angrily questioned, “Who are you? Spreading such nonsense here?”
That person simply pushed up the half-closed casement window, leaned against the windowsill, and glanced at him: “Believe it or not, I’m not the one dying.”
Mu Zheng recognized him-it was the person who, along with Ren Fengjue, had broken into Fu Tower last night.
So…
The other figure below the window revealed only a half profile, but that calm and steady aura, along with a dignified and extraordinary bearing.
With just one glance, his heart trembled.
Ren Fengjue.
He had come too!
Only then did Mu Zheng understand what true despair felt like.
Ren Fengjue stood by the window, a smile seemingly on his face, but his eyes were cold and distant: “When I last visited, the attendants said Vice Minister Mu was ill and had gone to seek medical treatment. Now that I see you today, you truly are gravely ill.”
Mu Zheng turned ashen-faced.
Everything was over.