Chapter 432: Chapter 431: Then I Want a Hug
As night fell, the stars and moon shone together in the sky.
Lights within the house blazed brightly, with Maids busily coming and going.
The girl on the couch had a small face burning red-hot. Her eyes tightly shut, she seemed to be trapped in an endless abyss, surrounded by pain.
Yicui was clearly anxious; even so, she ended up spilling most of the medicine she tried to feed.
At this moment, the girl, utterly unconscious, had also put up the most formidable walls of defense.
She clenched her teeth tightly, refusing to relax them.
Yicui’s gentle coaxing in her ear seemed unheard. The girl was stranded in the loneliest and most helpless segment of her memories.
In fact... the girl was far from being so open-minded.
The harm she had suffered was too deep. How could she just forget it all?
"I’m asking you to take your medicine, why can’t you just be good?"
"Yangyang, don’t always make me angry; you should know I really don’t want to punish you."
She kept retreating backward.
"This is not the medicine I usually take."
"It’s newly prescribed by the doctor."
Shen Qu smiled, "You will serve the Lord State Judge; although he’s old, I’m still worried and don’t want you to suffer having a bastard child. Be obedient, this medicine will ruin your body completely so that you’ll never conceive. For you, it’s a good medicine."
"Drinking it will cause abdominal pain, but just bear with it and it’ll be over."
Shen Hua was terrified of him.
Yet, the Shen Family estate had become a cage, completely clipping her wings.
She had become a caged bird.
Shen Qu took steps closer.
"Once I get what I want, I’ll bring you back. If you behave, I’ll divorce Ms. Shen Chi and elevate you to her position."
"As for the issue of children, there’s even less to worry about."
"Ms. Shen Chi is already pregnant; later on, the child will be registered under your name."
He brought the bowl to Shen Hua’s lips, his smile gentle. But how could the girl yield? She turned her head, biting down hard on Shen Qu’s thumb, wishing she could tear off his flesh.
Shen Qu winced in pain.
The medicine bowl slipped from his hands, smashing to the ground. The bitter liquid splashed in all directions. He, however, had no time for that, seeing Shen Hua still biting down hard in resistance. Anger surged, and he struck her delicate, weak face harshly.
The earring mercilessly cut through the skin, and was savagely pulled off.
The severe pain caused Shen Hua’s pupils to dilate. She bit her lower lip tightly, blood flowing down her neck from her earlobe, dampening a swath with wet red.
She was pale as paper, even her wrists were thin and bony.
Her frailty unabated.
The weaker she seemed, the more she invited cruelty.
"Beast."
Yet she smiled.
"Aside from such despicable tricks, what other splendid tactics do you have?"
"Day in and day out you imitate my brother; he is a gentleman as gentle as jade, what are you in comparison?"
She spat out a mouthful of blood in disgust, her limpid eyes filled with chill and desolation.
"I only hate that Heavenly Dao is unjust, good people don’t last, a curse left for a thousand years. In the end, good and evil will be recompensed; the Divine watches from three feet above, a vile wretch like you, so deeply steeped in sin, will have no good end in your next life!"
Shen Qu was unmoved, he casually tossed the earring away: "Are you cursing me?"
"If you didn’t hear clearly, I could inscribe it onto your tombstone."
The blood continued to flow, as if it couldn’t be stopped.
It seemed to mock her for still being stubborn in such a hopeless situation, truly ignorant of what was good for her.
— Mama, the medicine is so bitter.
— I have prepared sugar for you, sugar is always sweet.
But last night, she numbly stuffed piece after piece of sugar into her mouth, consuming an entire jar, yet why, oh why, does it still taste so bitter.
If she cannot endure, then why keep up the pretense?
Yangyang has never left Fengzhou, has never seen the beautiful mountains and rivers that brother described.
The night watch bells rang through the night.
"The weather is dry, be careful with candles and fire."
The sound of horse hooves, growing louder as they approached.
"Has the Lady’s medicine been properly decocted again?"
Ningzhu ran to the kitchen.
"Alright, let’s pour it out."
Nanny Cheng moved quickly, bypassing Ningzhu’s hands, and headed briskly towards Shen Hua’s courtyard.
"Miss Shen has only just begun to recover from a serious illness, I thought once she got better we could all rest easy. But when she came back today, she seemed to have lost her soul, it’s truly abnormal, Yingwu is very anxious, but doesn’t know anything."
"As soon as she returned, she locked herself in her room, did not eat dinner, and refused to see anyone. Fortunately, Yicui was worried and checked on her in the middle of the night, only then discovering something terrible had happened; her body was burning hot like an iron furnace, and she was talking nonsense."
"Doctor Ni is not here, and for some reason, I just don’t trust the medical staff in Fengzhou."
I just hope that Lady Shen recovers soon.
They were still frightened, scared that this collapse would revert her back to her previous sickly state.
The two of them had a solemn expression on their faces, and as soon as they entered the courtyard, they sensed something was wrong. The maids who should have been attending inside were all waiting outside.
The medicine was quickly sent in.
The girl fell into a nightmare, tears rolling down the corners of her eyes, clear and glistening.
The sound of suona and drums, loud and bustling.
"Being able to enter the family as the principal wife is indeed very special. Lady Shen from the Shen Family is truly different. There is already a distant kinship, not to mention she’s so beautiful, it’s unfair for her to be a concubine."
"It’s really sinful. Such a fine girl treated so harshly."
"Shen Hua, this kind of girl, was never good. Disrespectful to her elder brother, not honoring her mother, always creating chaos, she deserves what’s come her way. Why bother worrying about her?"
She was wearing a wedding dress, sitting in the flower sedan chair.
Although the scar on her earlobe had healed, it left an ugly mark.
Listening to those harsh words outside, the blood at the corner of the girl’s mouth just couldn’t be wiped away.
Her time was up.
Consciousness fading, breathing growing lighter, and the pain in her organs was heart-wrenching.
"How could you take care of her like this!"
Suddenly, a voice echoed as if from the sky, yet as if close at hand.
It sounded familiar.
Quite fierce.
Seemingly worried.
Cool fingertips touched her wrist checking her pulse.
She looked down. Slender hands, clearly covering a torn chest. In the confined flower sedan chair, there was only her.
Was it an illusion?
She began to vomit large amounts of black blood, and yet she heard that voice coldly dictate.
"Take the medicine away, I’ll rewrite the prescription."
Who was speaking?
"Send a message to Ni Kang, and have him come to Fengzhou quickly."
"Everyone leave."
Shen Hua looked around, but her vision blurred.
Someone was holding her hand, gently wiping it with a damp cloth.
The next moment, a familiar breath came close, and a cool touch pressed against her forehead.
Who else could it be?
It was the person who in front of others, was always self-composed, nobly indifferent like Jiao Jianyue, but had once promised her.
——You have enjoyed more than a decade of wealth. Now you deserve this even more. So I must ask Miss Shen to live a few more years.
It was Cui Yun.
Then... this must be a dream.
Realizing this brought a long-missed breath of air, making her breathing easier.
The girl’s eyelids struggled hard, just to break free from this complete imprisonment.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she looked at her side. The girl’s gaze was fixated on him, disheveled from his hurried journey.
Feeling unbearably hot all over, with a pounding headache to boot.
"Are you fake?"
He put the girl’s hand back under the covers.
"A living person can’t be more real."
The girl pursed her lips.
Her already swollen eyes couldn’t help but shed big, fat tears, rolling down along her cheeks.
With her tear-stained face, she reached out her hand again: "Then can I have a hug?"