Zhou Yi was startled, took a step back, and asked with a trembling voice, "What… what did you discover?"
Ning Wei didn't speak, and directly grabbed Zhou Yi's clothes and lifted them to see. Apart from the whip marks, there were no traces of sharp objects. This meant the blood used to water the flowers was not Zhou Yi's.
"Whose blood are you using to water the flowers?"
Zhou Yi refused to say.
Ning Wei sneered, "You've appeared before me time and again. Do you dare say this isn't all intentional? Since you've led me here, why not seize the opportunity and tell the truth? If you miss this chance, I might not be able to help you."
She wasn't stupid either. The first time she saw Zhou Wei, he hadn't called anyone else and had instead warned her. Ning Wei had already guessed he had ulterior motives. Later, she deliberately visited the Zhou family, and Zhou Yi appeared every time, further solidifying her judgment.
Zhou Yi tentatively asked her, "Can you really help me?"
"If you want to escape the Zhou family, I dare say I can!" Ning Wei boldly guessed the reason Zhou Yi had approached her.
Zhou Wei's expression changed, and Ning Wei knew she had guessed right again.
Next was Zhou Wei's turn to tell his story.
He didn't know who his parents were. He had been brought back to the village from the woods by the village chief, who gave him his name and told him, "Your surname is Zhou, and from now on, you are a servant of the Zhou family."
As a child, Zhou Wei didn't know what a servant was. However, he started working with the village chief from the age of five, from planting vegetables to feeding chickens and ducks. As he grew older, the village chief also grew old, and all the household affairs were handled by him alone. Even the village chief waited for him to serve. It was then that Zhou Wei vaguely understood what a servant meant.
The village chief trusted him deeply and told him about the Zhou family's past. Their Zhou family was once incredibly wealthy, but they had fled to this small village to escape war. When the opportunity arose, they would leave the village and go to more prosperous places. As long as he served the Zhou family diligently, they would take their most loyal servants with them when they left.
Zhou Wei had never seen the outside world and longed for it. Therefore, he worked hard every day just to be able to leave with the main family, even if he was hungry and cold, and the village chief was ill-tempered and prone to hitting people.
Until one night, Zhou Yi was so hungry that he stealthily tried to find something to eat in the kitchen. He accidentally overheard the village chief talking.
The village chief said, "Young master, please rest assured. I have already identified a suitable candidate, and you will always have a servant to attend to you."
The young master's voice replied, "Remember to make him contract consumption too. Use the blood coughed up to water the Soul Returning Flower. Only then can he meet me."
The village chief replied, "Yes."
Zhou Wei was terrified. He had learned from other villagers what consumption was – a coughing sickness, incurable, only leading to death. In his nervousness, he slipped, and the sound alerted the people talking. Although the village chief was old, his movements were agile. The door that had been blocking his view suddenly opened, and the village chief's face appeared before Zhou Wei. Shivering, he was directly pulled in by the village chief.
It was a small garden. In the depths of the garden was a stool, on which sat a person in a long robe. Zhou Wei didn't have a chance to get a good look. The village chief pressed his head down forcefully into the soil. The soil not only smelled earthy but also bloody. Because he had eavesdropped, he was severely whipped by the village chief.
"Enough," the person sitting on the stool said slowly.
The village chief knelt beside Zhou Wei, "Young master, please forgive me. It is my fault for not disciplining him properly!"
"It's alright, he was going to know eventually anyway." The person floated to Zhou Wei's front. Zhou Wei saw that his feet were not touching the ground. He was terrified and could only obediently bury his head in the soil.
"Since you know now, it's not too early. Since you've entered the Zhou family's gate, you are a subordinate of the Zhou family. The Zhou family provides you with food and drink, and you must repay this kindness with your life."
"Remember, you are the next village chief, my representative in Qiuyin Village. If you dare to resist, you will die a terrible death."
The speaker was the young master of the Zhou family. After speaking, he placed a hand on Zhou Wei's neck and, lifting him, threw him into the flower bush. In the flower bush lay a skeleton. This was the young master's way of giving Zhou Wei a warning.
Zhou Wei knelt on the ground and kowtowed continuously, "Young master, please rest assured. I will serve the Zhou family with loyalty!"
Zhou Wei's head was broken, and his blood seeped into the soil, making the Soul Returning Flowers bloom even more vibrantly.
"That's enough. The young master has already left," the village chief said, coughing. Since Zhou Wei had met the young master, he was considered a true member of the Zhou family. The village chief took him into the house and explained his future duties. After he died, Zhou Wei would be the next village chief. He had to protect the young master's grave. The Soul Returning Flower had to be placed by his bedside, as it was a medium for meeting the young master. Not only that, but he also needed to contract consumption. Only by willingly reaching this point could he gain the young master's trust. The coughed-up blood used to water the flowers would enhance their efficacy.
This meant that Zhou Wei's life had reached its end, mirroring the life of the current village chief. However, he was unwilling. Several groups of people had come to the village, and he had spoken to them secretly. He yearned for the outside world but lacked the ability to break free from the Zhou family's young master, so he had been waiting. Seeing that the village chief's time was running out, he was about to prepare to contract consumption and could no longer wait! At this moment, Ning Wei appeared, a beacon of light, Zhou Wei's last hope!
"So, you plan to work with me from the inside to overthrow the Zhou family's young master's rule?" Ning Wei summarized for Zhou Wei after listening.
Zhou Wei nodded, "To escape the Zhou family, I will do anything."
Ning Wei nodded, then asked a few more questions about the Zhou family. It was then she learned that after the young master died, the Zhou family had no descendants. To prevent their wealth from falling into the hands of others, Old Master Zhou had chosen a child among the servants to train. Training, in reality, was brainwashing. If the brainwashing was successful, the child would become the next patriarch of the Zhou family, but every word and deed had to follow the arrangements of the young master. As for why Old Master Zhou was so certain that his son, even after death, could continue to oversee the Zhou family, it had to do with why the Zhou family had fled there in the first place.
The Zhou family possessed a treasure that could preserve a person's soul, which was why the Zhou family had endured for generations. During the war, a warlord had coveted the treasure, and to escape, they had come here. Old Master Zhou, doting on his son, had used the treasure to preserve his soul after his death, which led to the young master's dream of marriage. However, servants might not be obedient, so the young master would make every servant contract consumption and control them with the Soul Returning Flower.