Tangning’s fever came and went, leaving her delirious for two days.
Xiao Yan had briefly returned to the palace to handle matters in the capital before rushing back to the manor, staying by Tangning’s bedside ever since.
He softly soothed her whenever she mumbled in the grip of nightmares, wiped the cold sweat that kept beading on her skin, fed her medicine, and gently restrained her limbs when they spasmed from night terrors.
Holding her, Xiao Yan whispered “Brother is here” over and over in her ear, comforting the unconscious girl who was restless and trapped in nightmares.
When Rong Yue and Gu Helian arrived, they were accompanied by Xue Ru and Qian Qiyue, both full of worry.
Through the window, they saw Xiao Yan sitting by the bed. The figure on the bed was barely visible, but Xiao Yan’s lowered gaze was unusually gentle. His typically stern features softened with warmth, though the tender expression sent a jolt through Rong Yue’s heart.
That look was not one a brother should have.
Qian Qiyue, standing nearby, also paled slightly.
Supervisor Xiao and Tangning, they…
She abruptly turned to Xue Ru, but saw no change in her expression. Sensing her gaze, Xue Ru looked back, squeezed her hand, and shook her head.
Rong Yue’s heart raced, and she instinctively stepped toward the inner room.
Hearing footsteps, Xiao Yan turned and saw Rong Yue staring at him, about to speak. His voice was low and hoarse. “Tangning just fell into a stable sleep. If you have something to say, let’s talk outside.”
He lowered his head, placing the hand he’d been holding back under the blanket, tucking in the corners around Tangning and brushing aside the damp strands of hair clinging to her face.
The unreserved intimacy of his large hand grazing her cheek made Rong Yue’s eyelids twitch.
Gu Helian noticed Rong Yue’s quickened breathing and saw Xiao Yan’s actions. His gaze darkened, but he was more composed than Rong Yue.
Noticing the dark circles under Xiao Yan’s eyes and Tangning’s even worse complexion on the bed, Gu Helian reached out and tugged Rong Yue. “Let’s talk outside first.”
Xiao Yan glanced at Gu Helian before saying to Hua Wu, “Take care of Tangning.”
Hua Wu, her eyes red, replied, “Yes.”
…
Rong Yue, suppressing a torrent of words, was led by Xiao Yan to the side room. Before she could question his unusually intimate behavior toward Tangning, he handed her a thick stack of papers.
Xiao Yan, who hadn’t rested properly in two days, spoke with a raspy voice. “Tangning has been unconscious for two days.”
Rong Yue was shocked. “What happened? How could she suddenly fall unconscious?”
Xiao Yan’s face was pale. “She learned about some past events and was overwhelmed.”
Before Rong Yue could ask further, Xiao Yan continued, “Before the fire in the Cold Palace, I had Empress Lu abducted. Earlier, Song Jin Xiu had brought back the Song family members who were supposed to be exiled and settled them in the suburbs. This time, I gathered them all together. These are their confessions.”
He paused. “They’re all related to Tangning and the cause of Lady Rong’s death.”
The thick stack of papers was freshly inked, the writing uneven from being recorded under duress, stained with traces of blood.
Hearing it involved her sister’s death, Rong Yue suddenly recalled the night Gu Helian took her to her sister’s grave and the words he’d said.
He’d told her that her sister and the others didn’t rest in peace, that her sister’s death might not have been an accident.
Rong Yue didn’t bother asking questions and immediately began reading the papers. Before finishing even the first page, her face turned ashen, and she staggered half a step.
“Rong Yue!”
Gu Helian quickly steadied her, glancing down at the paper in her hand.
[Lady Rong was confined in a coffin by the Song family and died of suffocation…]
His expression twisted with grief, and he reached for the remaining papers, but Rong Yue forcibly stopped him.
“I…” Rong Yue, eyes red with tears, said, “I’ll read them myself!”
She gripped the confessions, reading about the Song family’s collusion with Empress Lu, how Old Madam Song accidentally killed her sister and, fearing the Rong family’s wrath yet unwilling to lose their support, imprisoned Tangning, who had witnessed her mother’s death, in the Song family’s manor to silence her.
Each word on the paper seemed stained with blood, cutting into Rong Yue like the sharpest blade, leaving her heart bleeding.
She bit her lip until it bled, oblivious to the pain, her eyes fixed on the accounts of the Song family’s torture of Tangning.
By the time she finished, her face was translucent with pallor, her body trembling as tears fell in heavy drops. Her throat tasted of blood.
“It’s my fault… it’s all my fault…”
“I didn’t protect Tangning. I shouldn’t have trusted the Song family. My sister could have lived. And Tangning, I should have kept her by my side. How could I have entrusted her to those wolves…”
Rong Yue sobbed without care for appearances. She should have checked her sister’s “remains.” She should have kept Tangning close. She had caused her sister’s death and Tangning’s suffering.
Gu Helian was equally furious. He never imagined the outwardly respectable Song family could be so vile to Tangning.
Seeing Rong Yue cry uncontrollably, her face pale as if she might faint, he pulled her into his arms. “It’s not your fault. This has nothing to do with you.”
Gu Helian gripped her hand tightly. “When your sister died, Grand Tutor Rong was so devastated he nearly didn’t survive. You were at his bedside, unable to leave. The Song family and Prince Cheng conspired to deceive you. How could you have known they’d treat Song Xi’s own flesh and blood like that?”
She was the Song family’s granddaughter, their blood kin.
Even a tiger doesn’t eat its cubs. Who could have imagined the Song family’s cruelty?
Gu Helian said gravely, “It’s the Song family. They’re the ones who are vicious. It’s Empress Lu’s greed.”
Rong Yue’s mind slowly cleared, but her eyes grew redder. “The Song family! I’ll kill them!!”
Qian Qiyue and Xue Ru stood nearby, initially confused by Rong Yue and Gu Helian’s agitation. But when they picked up a fallen paper and read it, even Qian Qiyue, known for her fiery temper and hatred of evil, trembled with rage, while Xue Ru clenched her teeth tightly.
Xiao Yan looked at the group’s intense emotions and took a deep breath. “The Song family and Empress Lu are already locked up. They can never atone for their sins. But Tangning was triggered by these revelations, leading to her fever and coma.”
“Over the past two days, she’s been muttering fragments of the past in her delirium. If she wakes and recalls her childhood, I fear…”
His heart trembled, and words became difficult.
For the first time, he was truly afraid.
Afraid Tangning would recall the past and be unable to move forward.
Afraid the fear she had buried through forgetting, and the memories that nearly drove her mad, would destroy her.
Hearing Xiao Yan’s words, Rong Yue and the others grew tense.
The Song family’s old hag had tormented Tangning with the intent to break her. Every act was vicious, designed to crush a person’s spirit and mold them through pain.
For a child like Tangning, even an adult might not have endured such suffering.
Tangning had forgotten those memories, allowing her to live peacefully until now. But if she remembered…
Xiao Yan clenched his fingers. “The Song family deserves death, but Tangning shouldn’t have to pay for their sins. You’re the people she cares about most. If… I hope you can stay with her.”
Rong Yue’s face was pale, Qian Qiyue gripped her whip tightly, and Gu Helian said coldly, “Don’t let the Song family die easily.”
“Of course…”
“Ah!”
Before Xiao Yan could finish, a sudden scream from the next room made everyone’s faces change.================
You can read ahead to chapterr 470 (100+ extra chapters) here
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