Chapter 158: "You Dared to Do It, but You’re Afraid of What People Will Say?
Chapter 158: Chapter 158: "You Dared to Do It, but You’re Afraid of What People Will Say?
Cui Lingyao heard those words the moment she entered. Her mind went blank, her expression changed drastically, and she roared, "Zhao Shijie! You goddamn bastard!"
The system had repaired her body so well that her voice was bursting with vigor. The sudden shout rang out in the deathly silent room, loud enough to blow the top of one’s head off.
Everyone in the room turned to look at her in unison.
Only the target of her tirade didn’t turn around. In his arms, the eyelashes of the woman who had been unconscious for days began to tremble.
"Quick! Quick!"
Zhao Shijie’s expression was agitated as he said to the several Imperial Physicians, "She’s reacting! She’s still reacting! Quick, use acupuncture, give her medicine!"
"..."
The Imperial Physicians looked troubled. They had already used every method available. There was really...
In the span of a few breaths, Cui Lingyao rushed to the bedside. She pushed aside an Imperial Physician who was steeling himself to continue the treatment and, without a single wasted word, pulled a Jade Bottle from her sleeve. But just as she was about to give Chen Minrou the medicine, a hand gripped her shoulder tightly.
She was flung to the side.
"Get out!" Zhao Shijie’s face twisted as he snarled, "Drag her away! If anyone else dares to stop the Imperial Physicians from saving her, I’ll have their life!"
The situation was too urgent. Cui Lingyao staggered and barely managed to steady herself. Hearing his words, she didn’t even have time to be angry and rushed to the bedside again. "I have a way to save her, Zhao Shijie! Look who I am! I would never joke about Minmin’s life."
Just moments ago, Zhao Shijie hadn’t even lifted his head, his heart and mind completely submerged in the terror that the woman in his arms would not survive the day.
Now, hearing the grating voice by his ear still hadn’t been dragged away, he suddenly raised his fierce gaze. When he saw clearly who it was, his whole body shook.
Cui Lingyao said, "We can talk later. Saving her is what’s important right now. Don’t push me again. If you make me drop this pill, I’ll be the one taking your life!"
As she spoke, she unstoppered the bottle and poured the pill into her palm.
As soon as the round pill emerged, a faint, refreshing fragrance wafted into everyone’s nostrils.
It cleared their minds and sharpened their senses.
The eyes of the Imperial Physicians lit up. Having dealt with medicinal herbs for half their lives, they could tell just by the scent that this was a rare treasure of a medicine, hard to find in this age.
The person rumored to have been dead for three years had appeared before them, alive and well.
She insisted she had a way to save her friend who was on the brink of death.
And, she had actually produced a treasure of a pill of the highest quality.
Zhao Shijie no longer tried to stop her. After seeing who it was, he was filled with boundless hope.
Others might not have known, but he knew for a fact that Cui Lingyao had been dead for three solid years.
Now, she was somehow alive.
She was alive!
No matter what bizarre item she produced, Zhao Shijie believed her.
"I’m here, Minmin. Minmin, I have a way to save you," Cui Lingyao said, picking up the pill and bringing it to Chen Minrou’s lips. "Eat this, and all your sickness will disappear."
When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go.
Let alone someone who wasn’t dead yet.
Chen Minrou’s eyelashes trembled. She could hear every sound around her.
She knew her friend had arrived, but she couldn’t open her eyes, nor did she have the strength to open her mouth.
Zhao Shijie looked at the large pill and said, "Dissolve it in warm water. She won’t be able to swallow it."
Without lifting her head, Cui Lingyao said, "This medicine dissolves the moment it enters the mouth. As long as it gets inside, it’ll be fine."
Hearing this, Zhao Shijie believed her without hesitation. Without a second thought, he pinched his wife’s chin, his long, slender fingers applying sudden force to pry her mouth open.
Quick as a flash, Cui Lingyao slipped the pill inside.
When it came to saving a life, they worked together perfectly.
The pill was finally in her mouth, but the two of them still didn’t dare to relax, their gazes fixed on Chen Minrou.
Behind them, the Imperial Physicians exchanged a glance, incredibly curious about the effects of this treasure of a pill.
Doctor Ma was the first to step forward, volunteering, "Why don’t you let this old man take the lady’s pulse?"
Zhao Shijie didn’t lift his head. He held the woman in his arms, his grip tightening and tightening, completely deaf to the sounds around him.
The room, which had been briefly bustling, fell silent once more.
Cui Lingyao stared at her unconscious friend, her heart in her throat.
Previously, she had only witnessed the effects of the Hundred Diseases Pill on her brother.
It had been powerful enough to completely restore a severed limb—an injury deemed hopeless by modern medicine.
Chen Minrou’s illness was even more severe than her brother’s had been.
She could only hope that the Hundred Diseases Pill, so highly praised by the system, wouldn’t fail her this time.
"Wake up, Minmin. You still have two children. How can you be at ease with dying? Did that bastard promise you something? How can you believe in a man’s lasting affection?"
She held Chen Minrou’s hand and said through a sob, "Didn’t you hear what he said just now? You’re not even dead yet, and he’s already thinking about remarrying. Are you really going to abandon your two young children and let them live under the thumb of a stepmother?"
Zhao Shijie: "..."
He pressed his lips together and didn’t interrupt.
Cui Lingyao continued, "With a stepmother comes a stepfather. Then your husband will belong to someone else, and your son and daughter will call another woman ’Mother.’ They’ll have a string of younger half-siblings who will compete with your children for affection, property, and resources... In the end, your children will live out a mediocre life..."
The cold fingers in her palm twitched.
Cui Lingyao was overjoyed. She understood her friend’s thoughts and quickly said, "Of course I’ll take care of the two children you leave behind as if they were my own. But I don’t live in the Zhao Family estate, after all. If they are truly wronged, my reach is too short to help. Who can compare to the protection of a birth mother? Not even their own father can compare. Have you forgotten? Your husband isn’t that reliable..."
"..." The corner of Zhao Shijie’s mouth twitched twice. He gritted his teeth, tightened his arms around the woman in his embrace, and pretended he hadn’t heard a thing.
Chen Minrou’s fingers twitched again.
This time, it was two of them.
"You’re furious too, aren’t you! If you’re furious, then hurry up and wake up! As long as you wake up, I’ll support you in whatever you want to do..."
Cui Lingyao gripped her hand tightly as tears fell. "You fool. If you were unhappy in the Zhao Family, if Zhao Shijie treated you poorly, you could have just chosen to divorce him! Making yourself sick with worry like this—what good does it do, besides harming your own body and making those who love you grieve while your enemies rejoice? Once you’re divorced, I..."
"Cui Lingyao!" Hearing her mention "divorce" over and over, a vein throbbed on Zhao Shijie’s forehead. He could no longer hold back and snapped, "Say one more word of nonsense and get out."
Cui Lingyao snorted coldly. "If you’re willing to do it, why be afraid of people talking?"
Remembering the words she had heard upon entering, rage surged from the bottom of her heart. "I must have been blind to ever think you were deeply devoted to Minmin and would never be unfaithful!"
She was about to jab him with a few more words when she suddenly felt a squeeze in her palm.
It was no longer one or two fingers twitching; her entire hand, all five fingers, gripped hers forcefully.
Cui Lingyao’s head snapped up to meet a pair of slightly opened eyes.
She trembled all over. "Minmin, you’re finally awake!"
Bedridden for many years, Chen Minrou was so thin she was almost unrecognizable. Her cheeks were gaunt, her face a sickly pale, and she looked weak and haggard.
But as if new life had been injected into her, her eyes were surprisingly bright.
They no longer held the aura of death.