Chapter 48: The Former Crown Princess Ends Up on the Streets
Lately, Liu Min had been in a state of constant rage, smashing things in the mansion every single day.
After hearing the rumors released by Chu Ziqian, she became even more irritable.
A woman who had divorced the Crown Prince would already find it difficult to find a new husband, let alone one rumored to be unable to bear children.
Moreover, Liu Min was arrogant and proud; she was unwilling to marry a poor scholar like her elder sister had.
However, since the other party was the Crown Prince, the Liu family dared not completely tear up their relationship with him by publicly refuting the claim.
Thus, Liu Min could only vent her frustrations by smashing objects.
“My little ancestor, can you please stop smashing things!” Liu Hanyue finally couldn’t take it anymore. He rushed forward and grabbed the vase she was about to throw. “These are all antiques; they are very valuable!”
“Money, money, money! You only know about money! Do you know your daughter has no way to live?” Liu Min cried and cursed. “I told you not to make the Crown Prince divorce me! I’m in this state all because of you, you old fool!”
Liu Hanyue also grew angry. “You’ve seen what kind of person the Crown Prince is now! If you didn’t divorce him, were you waiting for him to kill you?”
“…”
Seeing she couldn’t win the argument against her father, Liu Min ran crying to her mother to complain.
Lady Liu complained resentfully, “It’s all because of that Ji Hua! Ever since your father found out about that bastard’s existence, he’s been completely bewitched. If that boy says go east, your father won’t go west! His attitude towards us mother and daughter is far worse than before!”
“Right, it’s all that bastard’s fault!”
Liu Min needed an outlet for her emotions, so she readily pushed all the blame onto Ji Hua.
“Mother, what if I find someone to get rid of him?”
“This…?” Lady Liu was startled upon hearing this. She hesitated for a moment. “Won’t something go wrong?”
“It won’t. The people I find are absolutely reliable and do clean work. Besides, he’s just a powerless commoner in Chu. If he dies, he dies; who would insist on investigating it to the end?”
Although Liu Min was unruly, she wasn’t entirely brainless. Having followed Chu Ziqian for so many years, she knew a thing or two about his secrets.
For instance, she knew he had contacts with an assassin organization.
So, following the pattern, Liu Min contacted the people of the Ling Ying Pavilion and paid them to carry out a mission.
That day, Ji Hua went into the mountains to search for medicinal herbs. As he was returning to his residence at dusk, he passed through a secluded alley.
Suddenly, three masked men in black jumped down from the rooftops in different directions, surrounding Ji Hua completely.
“Who are you?” Ji Hua looked at the gleaming weapons in their hands. Although his face remained impassive, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of shock in his heart.
Lately, he had almost stopped refusing to treat patients and would treat emergency cases promptly. Who could have such deep hatred for him?
The men in black didn’t answer. Instead, they raised their swords in unison and stabbed toward Ji Hua.
With a swish, Ji Hua quickly flicked a silver needle from his fingers toward the chest of one of the men.
The man in black, whom the needle was aimed at, hurriedly dodged to the side, but the needle still pricked his arm. Black blood immediately began to seep out.
Ji Hua said coldly, “Don’t move if you don’t want to die. Otherwise, the blood will flow faster, and the poison will spread throughout your body more quickly.”
The other two men in black realized the needle was poisonous.
They increased their guard against Ji Hua’s hand movements but paid no attention to their companion’s life or death, nor did they ask Ji Hua for the antidote. For assassins, completing the mission was the only thing that mattered.
Ji Hua thought to himself that this was bad—his silver needles relied on the element of surprise. If the enemy was prepared, it would be hard to succeed again, and he didn’t know any other martial arts.
Just at this critical moment, a flash of sword light appeared. A figure descended from the sky, landing in front of Ji Hua. “Who dares to hurt him!”
It turned out the arrival was Zuo Fei.
Zuo Fei deftly executed two beautiful sword flourishes and engaged the two men in black in a fierce battle.
As the eldest disciple of the Xishan Sect, Zuo Fei’s martial arts were naturally strong. However, the two men in black were no pushovers; they seemed to be top-tier experts.
The three fought for a long time before Zuo Fei finally gained the upper hand, though he had suffered several sword wounds on his body.
In the end, the two men in black leaped over the wall and fled.
Only the poisoned one remained frozen in place, daring not to move.
Zuo Fei turned his sword around, pointing it at the man’s throat. “Speak. Who sent you?”
The man in black didn’t speak. He seemed to bite down on something in his mouth.
Zuo Fei quickly pinched his jaw to prevent him from swallowing the poison sac. “Why bother? Look at your companions who didn’t care about you at all. And think about your former colleague, Ying Dong. Isn’t he living the good life in Rui Wangfu right now, eating and drinking well?”
“…” The man’s expression seemed to waver, and he spat out the poison.
Zuo Fei sealed his acupoints and looked at Ji Hua with a smile. “What should we do? Hand him over to your formidable friend? Although I know how to interrogate people, I’m afraid of scaring you, so I dare not use those methods.”
“…I’m not that timid. And we can talk about that later.”
Ji Hua’s attention was entirely on the sword wounds on Zuo Fei’s body. He took out the medicine bottle he always carried and applied medicine to each wound one by one. Then, he tore strips of cloth from the man in black’s clothes to bandage and stop the bleeding, his movements incredibly gentle.
“Oh my, it’s rare to see Beauty Ji being so gentle to me!” Zuo Fei grinned with satisfaction. “Even if I were injured a few times worse, it would be worth it.”
Ji Hua glared at him, but rarely for him, he didn’t utter any sarcastic remarks. He simply continued to dress the wounds and asked, “How did you happen to be here?”
“Hehe, fortunately, I look for where you are ten times a day. See? Didn’t I come in handy? Beauty Ji, how do you propose to repay my life-saving grace? How about devoting yourself to me?”
“Haven’t I already given you everything?” Ji Hua muttered grumpily in a low voice.
“That’s not enough!” Zuo Fei’s expression suddenly became serious. “Ah Hua, what I want is your heart.”
“…You think…” A hint of red flashed across Ji Hua’s usually cold face. He lowered his head to stare at Zuo Fei’s wounds, afraid to meet his earnest gaze. “I would really give my body to someone casually just because I was drunk?”
In fact, Ji Hua had long been moved by Zuo Fei.
From the moment they met, Zuo Fei had stuck to Ji Hua like glue.
At the time, Ji Hua found him annoying. “What exactly do you want? are you sick in the head?”
Zuo Fei would reply with a grin, “Beauty Ji, I just want to be friends with you.”
“I only treat illnesses; I don’t make friends,” Ji Hua refused coldly. “If you’re sick, get treated. If not, get lost. If you don’t get lost, I can help create some illness for you.”
“Great,” Zuo Fei extended his arm toward him. “I know your poison needles are the most potent, Beauty Ji. Shall I try one? As the saying goes, ‘To die under a peony flower, one is romantic even as a ghost’~”
“…” His shameless style left Ji Hua somewhat helpless. After all, the other party was a disciple of a righteous sect and hadn’t done anything terribly evil, so he couldn’t rashly poison him.
“Beauty Ji, seriously,” Zuo Fei’s expression grew a bit more solemn. “I think you are very lonely, just like me. Shouldn’t lonely people like us keep each other company?”
“…You, lonely? Isn’t that Flower-something girl from the east alley sending you gifts every other day? Doesn’t that little girl near the west city gate confess to you frequently?”
While Zuo Fei chased after Ji Hua every day, there were also people chasing after Zuo Fei. Ji Hua saw all of this clearly.
Zuo Fei laughed again. “So you do pay attention to my affairs. I don’t care about any of them; I’m only serious about you. I wouldn’t feel a thing even if they died in front of me. I knew at a glance that only the two of us are the same kind who can understand each other.”
“Who is the same kind as you!”
Although Ji Hua denied it verbally, his heart trembled.
Even though he was a doctor, he lacked the benevolence of a healer; he truly felt nothing even if a patient died in front of him. But Zuo Fei was a disciple of a righteous sect; how could he have such thoughts?
Later, Ji Hua gradually learned that Zuo Fei seemed to have experienced many traumatic events at home. He lost his mother at a young age, and his father was strict with him. On the surface, he was the approachable eldest disciple of the Xishan Sect, but in reality, he was tired of the feeling of having to smile at everyone.
That was why Zuo Fei envied Ji Hua, who wore his indifference to the world directly on his face.
At the same time, Ji Hua couldn’t help but be attracted to Zuo Fei, who had also been hurt but could still retain a sense of warmth.
It was just that Ji Hua never showed his feelings on the surface. So, when Zuo Fei heard the sentence, “You think I would really give my body to someone casually just because I was drunk,” he realized this for the first time.
“Ah Hua, do you mean you’ve liked me for a long time?!” Zuo Fei was overjoyed and hugged Ji Hua tightly in excitement.
“What are you doing in broad daylight! Let go of me!”
Zuo Fei obediently let go of Ji Hua, smiling teasingly. “Are you saying it’s okay in private?”
“…Enough! Let’s deal with that guy’s matter first.”
Ji Hua stuffed a pill into the mouth of the man in black. “If we ignore him, he’ll die from the poison.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll take him to Rui Wangfu to meet his senior.”
The “senior” Zuo Fei referred to was Ying Dong.
Although Ying Dong wasn’t old, in terms of seniority, he could indeed be called a senior to these young assassins because he used to be one of the four great assassins of the Ling Ying Pavilion.
Few people knew Ying Dong’s true identity now, but because his years as an assassin left him with some ailments, Qi Xiaojun had previously asked Ji Hua to treat him, so the matter was mentioned. Qi Xiaojun had always absolutely trusted Ji Hua and hid nothing from him.
When this young assassin, named Ying Xiangyang, saw Ying Dong—who seemed to have gained a visible amount of weight—he could see with his own eyes that Ying Dong was living a very nourished life.
Ying Dong then reasoned with him and moved him with emotion.
Thinking about how miserable the life of an assassin was, and how wonderful the life of a guard at Rui Wangfu was, Ying Xiangyang finally confessed that it was Liu Min who ordered him.
Chu Lianmo had just started to build a good relationship with the Liu family, so it wasn’t appropriate to offend them at this time. Qi Xiaojun suggested to Ji Hua that they should tell Liu Hanyue about this and let him deal with Liu Min. Qi Xiaojun could see that Liu Hanyue still cared very much about his son, Ji Hua, and probably wouldn’t shield Liu Min.
Ji Hua didn’t object. He hadn’t wanted to get involved in the troubles of these Chu dignitaries in the first place, so he let Qi Xiaojun handle it.
Sure enough, Liu Hanyue was furious after hearing the truth.
“So what if I did it?” Liu Min’s mind was vicious, but her badness was straightforward; she couldn’t be bothered to deny her crime. “He’s just a bastard. If I kill him, I kill him.”
“You scoundrel!” Liu Hanyue slapped Liu Min fiercely across the face, something he had never done before. “Fortunately, Hua’er is fine. Otherwise, I would have made you pay with your life!”
“You actually hit me?!” Liu Min touched her face, shocked and angry.
“So what if I hit you? Today I’m going to teach you a harsh lesson! Men, drag this unfilial daughter out and give her twenty heavy lashes!”
“Husband!” At this moment, Lady Liu rushed over in a panic, acting uncharacteristically submissive to her husband. “This is all my fault for not teaching my daughter well and not stopping Min’er in time. I beg you to spare her this time…”
“What? You knew about this too?!” Hearing this, Liu Hanyue became even more furious and slapped Lady Liu as well. “Let me tell you, I really want to drag you down and have you beaten too! If you don’t want me to divorce you on the spot, shut your mouth immediately!”
“…” Lady Liu shut her mouth instantly and obediently.
Ever since he single-handedly facilitated the divorce between Liu Min and Chu Ziqian, Liu Hanyue had found the pleasure of being the head of the household and no longer handed over his full monthly salary to his wife.
Moreover, Lady Liu’s maternal family had actually declined, and she was relying on Liu Hanyue for her livelihood. She was a person who bullied the weak but feared the strong; once Liu Hanyue became tough with her, she didn’t dare to resist at all.
After that, Lady Liu could only watch as Liu Min received the twenty lashes amidst screams and cries, then lay on the bench wailing loudly.
“I’m letting her off lightly because she is a woman. However, my Liu family can absolutely no longer tolerate her. Men, throw Liu Min out of the Liu residence!”
Thus, two male servants stepped forward, grabbed Liu Min by her arms on the left and right, and threw her out of the Liu residence.
Liu Min’s elder sister wasn’t home today, and her two brothers were just eating melon seeds and watching the show. Because the Liu family rule was that boys must yield to girls, they had suffered greatly from Liu Min, this unruly young mistress, in the past, so they were eager to see her suffer bad luck.
Although Lady Liu watched her daughter with concern the whole time, she dared not say another word to protect herself.
Just like that, the dying Liu Min was thrown onto the street.
She was a weak woman who didn’t know martial arts; how could she withstand those heavy wooden planks? Even just twenty strikes were enough to take half her life.
Liu Min lay on the cold street, completely without the strength to get up. She hadn’t eaten dinner yet; she was in pain, hungry, and thirsty. She felt she might not survive until tomorrow morning.
She only hoped that a kind-hearted person would suddenly descend from the sky, appear in front of her, and save her life.
As it turned out, someone really did take her back.
But this person wasn’t necessarily kind-hearted.
The person who took Liu Min back was Jiang Yingnan, who had gone out for a stroll late at night because he was agitated and couldn’t sleep.
When he saw Liu Min, he couldn’t help but sigh in his heart that perhaps this was the will of heaven—
It was the will of heaven that this vicious woman would fall into his hands one day.
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