Prime Minister

Chapter 228, Section 227: [Severing ties with the past]

The moonlight outlined Xu Zhiwei's slender face, casting shadows from her long, thick eyelashes.

Those eyes, once brimming with warmth and compassion, and also soaked with despair and coldness, now reflected no ripples or emotions, empty and vast like a snow-covered wasteland.

Liu Ying stared intently at Xu Zhiwei, a deep sense of guilt appearing on her face, and slowly said, "Zhiwei, I've come to save you."

"help me?"

Xu Zhiwei's lips moved slightly, her voice like a sigh in the night wind, "Aunt, have you forgotten? It was you who sent that food box with the Returning Dust pattern, it was you who wanted me to end my own life."

Her tone was calm, yet it was like an ice pick piercing straight into Liu Ying's heart.

Liu Ying shuddered violently, as if struck by an invisible hammer.

Looking at the completely unfamiliar Xu Zhiwei, she couldn't help but recall that cold winter day eighteen years ago, when she personally killed Ling Ying, but then took away the infant Xu Zhiwei, and thereafter cared for her like a mother until she raised Xu Zhiwei to adulthood.

When Liu Ying heard the news of Xu Zhiwei's death, her grief was genuine. After all, Xu Zhiwei was the "daughter" she had raised. How could a person be without feelings?

Later, upon learning that Xu Zhiwei had only faked her death and was staging a play to cooperate with Xue Huai, Liu Ying's complex emotions were indescribable. She was happy that Xu Zhiwei was still alive, but also furious because of Xu Zhiwei's betrayal. All of this prompted her to come to Shen Garden in person, just to ask her what was going on.

Just as she told Hu Jiaoniang, Xu Zhiwei should die at her hands.

At this moment, she suppressed her anxiety and softened her tone, saying, "Zhiwei, that food box was not sent by me. It was...it was someone else who wanted you to end your life, and I have been thinking about how to save you. You are a smart child, and I believe you would never commit suicide so easily, so I did not believe the news of your death. Heaven rewards those who persevere, and I finally found out your whereabouts, so I personally brought people to rescue you."

Xu Zhiwei looked at Liu Ying quietly, her face still expressionless, but a trace of extremely cold mockery seemed to flash across the depths of her empty eyes, so fast it was like an illusion.

"Zhiwei, don't you believe me?"

Liu Ying looked incredulous and raised her voice, saying, "We suffered heavy casualties tonight, all because of you!"

"Yes, for me."

Xu Zhiwei finally spoke, slowly and clearly saying, "Aunt, you gave me this life. You taught me to read and write, to understand principles, and invited famous doctors to teach me medicine. You raised me from an unknown orphan to the renowned and respected physician I am today. Whether you come tonight or not, whether you come to save me or not, I will always remember your kindness."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ying's heart sank further.

"But……"

Xu Zhiwei glanced at the corpses in the courtyard and asked with a hint of sorrow, "Now that things have come to this, are you still planning to continue lying to me?"

Liu Ying's heart felt as if it were being tightly bound by an invisible rope, and she said in a trembling voice, "What are you trying to lie to me about?"

Xu Zhiwei let out a sigh.

At that moment, Shen Qingluan appeared at the other end of the corridor. She looked at Xu Zhiwei from afar, a hint of pity in her eyes.

Yun'er and Qi Hui followed beside her. Qi San, who was not far away, also came over. He did not look at his daughter, but respectfully said to Shen Qingluan, "Miss, the thieves have all been dealt with."

"Thank you for your trouble, Uncle Qi."

Shen Qingluan said softly, "Have someone move the corpses out of the courtyard first, and temporarily detain the survivors until Brother Xue returns to the city and is handed over to the government office."

"it is good."

Qi San nodded in agreement, then glanced at the two women in the courtyard and hesitated before saying, "This Dr. Xu..."

Shen Qingluan sighed, "Let them talk. Sister Xu needs such an opportunity to truly put an end to her past."

Qi San said no more.

In the courtyard, Xu Zhiwei seemed to have only eyes for the woman who had raised her.

She carefully chose her words and said slowly, "Over the years, I have never inquired about your secrets. Even though I know that the source of funds for Jimintang is somewhat strange, and that Li Cong and others are by no means ordinary people, and I even know that you have close personal relationships with some officials. Before this, I only thought that you were just being hypocritical out of necessity. After all, you have always told me that Jimintang's duty is to relieve suffering and distress, and that's what you've been doing."

Liu Ying quickly replied, "That's exactly right! I don't want you to be exposed to those dark things because I don't want your mind to be affected. It's all for your own good!"

"Is it?"

A self-deprecating smile appeared on Xu Zhiwei's cold face. She raised her hand and pointed to the corpses being carried out in the courtyard, and slowly said, "These people have never appeared in Jimin Hall before. They are so fearless, even more so than ordinary government troops. It is clear that Aunt's methods are extraordinary. Or perhaps, like you, they are all devout followers of that ancestor?"

Liu Ying was deeply shaken, and her hands trembled slightly involuntarily.

Xu Zhiwei watched her expression and continued, "Aunt, who is the Ancestor? What does the Holy Maiden represent? If you don't want to keep lying to me, please tell me the whole story."

"You and I……"

Liu Ying finally showed genuine fear and asked with difficulty, "Just how much do you know?"

Xu Zhiwei sighed inwardly and said calmly, "Perhaps it's much more than you expect. You said that food box had nothing to do with you, and that you came tonight to save me, but Aunt, you seem to have forgotten that everything originated from another lie of yours. You first slandered Lord Xue as a traitor, and after I discovered the suspicious circumstances, you brought up the blood feud of your entire family from back then, using it to force me to assassinate and poison him. At that time, I realized that in your heart I was just a tool, a pawn."

"After I failed, you may have felt sorry for me. After all, you would develop feelings for a dog after raising it for eighteen years. But you were afraid that I would reveal your secret, so you secretly sent that food box that was like a death warrant. You just didn't expect that I would betray you and not obediently follow your decision to die. Instead, I wanted to jump out of the game."

“From that moment on, I became a useless piece that you had to eliminate with your own hands.” A hint of sarcasm flickered in her eyes as she finished speaking.

These words were like a sharp blade slicing through Liu Ying's disguise. The carefully maintained facade of a kind mother was torn off by Xu Zhiwei, and she could only shake her head in denial, unable to utter a single word in rebuttal.

Xu Zhiwei took a light breath and said, "The reason I said your story was a lie is because Lord Xue's words reminded me that if you really had a blood feud with the Xue family, why didn't you go to the capital to take revenge for the past ten years? You are not actually Ling Ying. Who are you?"

"Are you crazy?"

Liu Ying stared wide-eyed at Xu Zhiwei, exclaiming in shock and anger, "You actually believe an outsider? What kind of bewitching potion did that corrupt official Xue Huai give you? Xu Zhiwei, I raised you for eighteen years, and this is how you repay my kindness? Without me, you would have died in that cold winter, and how could you have learned this medical skill and become a revered physician? Have you lost your conscience? You ungrateful wretch!"

Her hysterical roars filled the courtyard, all traces of sorrow gone, leaving only naked violence and resentment.

These sharp screams were like barbed whips, lashing at Xu Zhiwei's seemingly icy heart.

The deep-seated filial piety that had been building up for eighteen years was stirred by this intense accusation, causing a final, painful ripple.

Eighteen years of living and working together, every little detail replayed in Xu Zhiwei's mind.

That gentle figure that stayed by her bedside all night, that embrace that warmed her feet on a snowy winter night, that look of immense relief in her eyes when she successfully performed acupuncture to save someone for the first time...

Those memories clung tightly to Xu Zhiwei's heart like vines.

Her tears silently slid down her cheeks and fell onto the cold bluestone slab.

Upon seeing this, Liu Ying also burst into tears. Compared to Xu Zhiwei's silent tears, she cried with heartbreaking sorrow, her voice plaintive and desolate, like a desperate and truly repentant mother making a final plea.

Only when he lowered his head did a fleeting, sinister glint appear in his eyes.

a long time.

"Allow me to call you aunt one last time."

Xu Zhiwei's wooden voice rang out, and then she said, "Even if we put aside all the scheming and manipulation, you are now a prisoner, and I am just a useless pawn. What's the use of you telling me all this? In the end, you just want peace of mind, right? But even now you still refuse to tell me a single truth."

Liu Ying swallowed hard, looked at Xu Zhiwei's cold gaze, and shook her head, saying, "Zhiwei, your aunt was wrong. Your aunt shouldn't have treated you like that. But we've depended on each other for nearly twenty years, and we're already like mother and daughter. Can you forgive me?"

Just then, a cool night breeze blew through the courtyard without warning.

Xu Zhiwei suddenly turned around and went into the room. Liu Ying stared blankly as she picked up a piece of paper from the table, the same paper she had used to write earlier.

"To depend on each other for survival?"

Xu Zhiwei returned with the paper in her hand. She looked at Liu Ying with a sad smile and shook her head, saying, "That's not about depending on each other for survival. That's just you raising a tool to help you achieve your goals. The repentance you speak of is nothing but a last-ditch effort of sophistry and deception, just like everything you've done to me in these eighteen years—beneath the hypocritical mask, there is only exploitation and scheming."

Xu Zhiwei took a deep breath, as if she wanted to inhale the bloody smell and heavy past that filled the courtyard into her lungs, and then crush and exhale it all.

Her gaze finally passed over Liu Ying and landed on the distant night sky where dawn was about to break. Her voice was soft yet firm: "Let it go."

These three words seem to be spoken to Liu Ying, but even more so to the little girl deep within her own soul.

"Lord Xue promised me that he would do his best to keep Jimintang running. I know that Jimintang is the result of your hard work over the past ten years, and I am willing to pay any price to save it. This is the only thing I can do now."

After saying her last words, Xu Zhiwei slowly turned around, her plain blue robes drawing a cold arc in the deepest darkness before dawn.

She didn't look at Liu Ying again, and walked steadily back to the brightly lit room.

The piece of paper drifted down in the wind and landed in front of Liu Ying. There was a sentence written on it.

Liu Ying slowly lowered her head to look, and saw Xu Zhiwei's beautiful handwriting on it, illuminated by the surrounding torches.

"All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows; like dew and lightning, they should be viewed in this way."

Liu Ying's expression froze completely, her lips opened but she could no longer utter a complete syllable.

Seeing this, Qi San waved his hand, and two fierce guards immediately covered Liu Ying's mouth and nose with a cloth soaked in anesthetic.

She let out a few futile sobs, then her eyelids fluttered, and she was completely plunged into boundless darkness.

inside the house.

Xu Zhiwei sat at the table and did not pick up the pen again.

The lamp flame flickered slightly, making a soft sound.

Shen Qingluan walked slowly to the door, looking at the woman sitting at the table with a complicated expression.

Xu Zhiwei looked up at Shen Qingluan, her eyes clear as glass, yet filled with an indescribable sadness.

(End of this chapter)