Chapter 624: Chapter 215 The Heartbroken Lover_4
The person in bed heard the noise and abruptly turned her head. Seeing him, a flicker of life sparked in her reddened eyes as she called out, "My lord——"
Her call snapped Qi Qing back to reality.
Shu Hui!
He hastened forward, taking the hand of the woman on the couch, whose delicate and infinitely pitiable face no longer held its former beauty, now sallow and thin.
"My lord——"
She called out again, her voice filled with despair.
This cry tightened Qi Qing’s heart.
"I’m here," he said upon hearing her voice.
Shu Hui—his second wife, gasping for breath, looked at him: "I, I’m afraid it’s the end for me. If I don’t survive the night, you must, you must raise Yu Tai well."
"That won’t happen," he replied soothingly, wiping away the beads of sweat on his wife’s forehead, "The child will be born soon and both mother and daughter will be safe."
As soon as he spoke, Qi Qing himself was startled.
The child hadn’t yet been born; how did he know it would be a daughter?
"I don’t believe you, make a promise," she clung tightly to his hand, like a relentless ghostly shadow, "Swear that you will take care of Yu Tai, he’s your son, be good to him!"
Feeling inexplicably irritable, Qi Qing tried to remain patient: "I swear."
Women worry too much, Qi Qing thought with impatience. Yu Tai was his only son, upon whom the future glory of the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion rested. He would raise him carefully, like a sapling, wanting his son to become the envy of all in Shengjing.
What else was she fretting about?
Lost in thought, he heard the woman’s faint voice.
"Really? Will you really take good care of him even if he’s nothing but a madman?"
A madman?
Qi Qing abruptly looked down, a shiver running down his spine.
That beautiful face had, without him noticing, come close to his, her normally bright and tender eyes now bloodshot, her appearance madly erratic, exactly how she looked when ill.
Ill?
How could she be ill?
A voice calling softly brought Qi Qing abruptly awake from the dream.
The Steward stood before him, calling him with a worried expression.
Qi Qing clutched his chest, where his heart was beating rapidly, feeling as if he had just been hauled out of the water, drenched from head to toe.
"Are you unwell, my lord?" the Steward asked, "I will immediately call for a Medical Officer."
"No need."
Qi Qing raised his hand to stop the man, still unable to shake the lingering terror, and after a moment said, "I dreamed of Shu Hui."
"Madam?"
Qi Qing did not speak.
His first wife had been chosen by his family, with whom he had no emotional ties, and it had been many years with no heirs. After she passed away, he quickly remarried.
Admittedly, the identity of his new bride had been advantageous to him at the time, but aside from that, he truly cherished his young wife.
Lively, beautiful, and understanding, with occasional petulant but harmless quirks, Qi Qing had even embraced. He had once thanked the heavens for bringing him such a fine match until he discovered the truth.
His wife was a madwoman.
It was never a match made in heaven.
The Zhong Family knew everything yet still married their daughter to him, even later giving birth to a sickly Yu Tai. He bore it all until he gained enough power to ensure the Zhong Family was punished.
Karma.
Shu Hui died, entreating him to take care of Yu Tai with her dying breath. Because of her words, he momentarily softened, unsure whether it was a blessing or a curse.
And yet she appeared in his dreams this very night.
"My lord?" someone called from beside him.
Qi Qing returned to his senses: "Go and check on the young master."
"Yes."
The night was desolate as Qi Qing look upward, as if once again he saw Shu Hui in her final moment, her hair disheveled, gazing at him with a hauntingly beautiful smile.
Qi Qing suddenly closed his eyes, clenching the Buddha Beads in his hand.
Rumors abounded that on the eve of the great exorcism ceremony, ghosts and deities roamed free, and rituals were required to drive out the evil spirits.
Shu Hui was dead.
It was just a dream.
Only a dream.