Nan Shiying glanced at him. "You've guessed it."
Qin Qianyu answered with silence. Even if he had guessed it, what of it? The Qin family's current glory was all due to the Empress Dowager's favor. Even if they were blood relatives, how could someone in a lower position refuse the requests of someone in a higher position? Moreover, Rong'er's birth was dubious, and to this day, no one knew whose child it truly was. Who cared about the life and death of an illegitimate child?
It was likely that Zou Yunming also did not wish to keep that disgrace.
What was wrong with using one disgrace to exchange for the Qin family's future prosperity?
Nan Shiying's gaze made Qin Qianyu feel somewhat ashamed and angry. His face flushed red, his features contorted as if reflecting in shattered glass. "So what if I guessed it? It's just an illegitimate child!"
Nan Shiying found it amusing.
"So the beautiful lie you just fabricated was to deceive me?"
Qin Qianyu was momentarily speechless, feeling as if something was stuck in his chest. It tugged at the wound in his chest, and a true, piercing pain spread into his skull, making him feel dizzy.
Nan Shiying did not intend to hear Qin Qianyu's explanation. She took a few steps back, crossed her arms, and looked at him. "You have two paths to choose from now. The first: die here; the second, go and do what the Empress Dowager assigned you."
Qin Qianyu thought she was so compassionate, but wasn't she also someone who would stop at nothing to achieve her goals? What right did she have to mock him just now?
Qin Qianyu forced a cold smile, his breath barely clinging to life, laced with a sense of vengeful pleasure. "So you want me to send that child to his death?"
He wanted to see how Feng Luan, with her face torn off, would answer this question!
Nan Shiying adjusted her cloud sleeves. Under Qin Qianyu's gaze, she spoke dismissively, "You can also choose the first path."
This was not a choice at all, but a mandatory assignment.
She was the butcher's cleaver, high above, controlling his life, while he was the fish scooped out of the water and placed on the chopping block.
His sarcasm and his questions were nothing more than water droplets splashed by the struggling fish on the chopping block to her. She either paid no attention or, in annoyance, hastened the speed of her blade.
That was all.
Between life and death, Qin Qianyu chose life.
"Very good!"
Nan Shiying stopped Qin Qianyu's bleeding. The wound, which looked quite gruesome, was not actually that severe. After a simple treatment, Nan Shiying slipped a poison pill into Qin Qianyu's mouth and said to him, "This is a poison I refined. It's not a swift-acting poison that seals death upon contact with blood, but there is no complete antidote, only a relieving medicine to temporarily suppress its effects."
"The poison will act up every fifteenth of the month. When it attacks, it will feel like ten thousand ants are gnawing at your flesh, causing both pain and itching. Rest assured, as long as you obediently do my bidding, I will give you the antidote. Of course, if you don't believe me, you can try it, or you can ask the Empress Dowager to invite someone from Medicine King Valley to take a look at you and see if anyone there can cure my poison."
Qin Qianyu's expression was very unsightly, but he dared not say another word.
Seeing his obedience, Nan Shiying said to Xuan Yi, "Take him away and tidy him up properly so that no one can tell anything."
"Yes!" Xuan Yi acknowledged the order.
...
Blood stained the entire square, and the sounds of fighting echoed in the night sky, like continuous thunderclaps.
Nan Chaoyin, leading the imperial guards and the patrol battalion, had surrounded the mansions of all the military officials in the capital. No one was allowed in or out. The capital today was brightly lit, and a fierce clash occurred between the besieged military officials and the imperial guards and patrol battalion, filling the usually silent late night with all sorts of noises.
The common people kept their doors and windows shut. Those living on Yunlan Street could even smell the faint scent of blood in the air, causing them to be even more terrified and uneasy.
The Black Armored Army shielded Ji Hong from behind. In the relatively narrow battlefield, both sides only deployed their vanguard. Weapons clashed, and the battle was fierce.
The long saber scraped against armor, sparking and drawing blood.
Ji Hong's scale armor gleamed under the moonlight, making him like a walking torch in the crowd. Assassins hidden in the shadows seized the opportune moment and struck suddenly.
Dozens of figures emerged from behind the Black Armored Army, wielding sharp swords. In an instant, they reached Ji Hong. A cold glint flashed, and the deputy general of the Black Armored Army grabbed Ji Hong's arm, pulling him backward. The edge of the sword grazed Ji Hong's neck, and the residual energy from the blade drifted into Ji Hong's nostrils with the cold wind. Ji Hong's face contorted in terror, and he hastily covered his nose and mouth, holding his breath.
"Protect His Majesty!"
The deputy general roared, raising his sharp blade to meet the enemy head-on.
At the same time, several figures also quietly appeared behind the Demon Hunt Army.
Both armies ceased their engagement and began to fight the assassins.
...
Zou Manor.
The Zou Manor was draped in white mourning cloth, and a mourning banner stood in the main hall. Outside, chaos reigned, yet the Zou Manor was as silent as a tomb. Zou Yun'er did not yet know of Zou Cheng Yi's death. The Emperor intended to keep it a secret, fearing the noble consort would be too overcome with grief, but it could not be hidden for long. When Zou Cheng Yi was buried, how could Zou Yun'er not be present?
The Zou Manor was now in a state of panic. Without Zou Cheng Yi, even Zou Yun'er's status in the palace had become precarious, let alone theirs! Having lost the head of the family, the uncles of the same generation as Zou Cheng Yi were also not promising, and the younger generation below was even more unruly. How spoiled had Zou Yunming become?
At this moment, the Zou family suddenly regretted letting Zou Yunming divorce Qin Xiaorong. If Zou Yunming and Qin Xiaorong had not divorced, with the Empress Dowager as their in-law, no matter how much the Zou Manor declined, how much could it really fall?
Fortunately, however, the child of Qin Xiaorong and Yunming was being raised by the Zou family.
A while ago, Qin Xiaorong had given birth prematurely to a son. The Qin family had wanted to take him back, but Zou Cheng Yi had refused, keeping the child. This was considered a small lifeline for the current Zou family.
Since his birth, the child had been breastfed by a wet nurse. As Zou Yunming did not wish to see the child, Madam Zou had raised the baby in her own courtyard.
It was nearing the time for feeding, but the infant was not crying for milk.
The wet nurse got up during the night, unfastening her clothes as she walked towards the infant's crib, praising the child for being good. When she reached the crib, the bedding was piled messily, but the child was nowhere to be seen.
The wet nurse let out a cry of alarm: "Help! The child, the child is gone!!!"
...
Qin Qianyu, wrapped in a quilt, hurried out of the back door of the Zou Manor with the child, not heading towards the palace, but towards the outskirts of the city.