CHAPTER 528: CHAPTER 517: (PARALLEL) TRUE TO HIS WORD!

Chi City.

Cui Bai fainted unexpectedly during the troop review and roll call.

"The Young General’s injury from two months ago has already scabbed over completely, and there is nothing wrong with his body. His pulse is strong and normal, I am truly at a loss."

The military doctor reported to the imposing Cui Yang.

Cui Yang’s eyebrows fiercely knitted together as he looked at Cui Bai, who was lying unconscious on the simple bed.

This matter is indeed very strange.

He suspected someone had tampered uncleanly with Cui Bai.

Cui Yang’s gaze was sharp like a knife, directly cleaving towards Qiong Kong, who had always been by Cui Bai’s side.

"Has he met anyone these days?"

Qiong Kong dared not to conceal, "There are no current wars. The Young General usually stays in the military camp, aside from doing training, he leads soldiers to help the people develop uncultivated land."

In Chi City, although the Cui family has granted lands and residence, it is devoid of human presence. Not to mention the Young General, even the General himself rarely goes there.

While speaking, Qiong Kong thought of something.

"Right, last night, the Young General had met with Sanqing Taoist who traveled here."

Their conversation, naturally, was not heard by Cui Bai.

No one knows. His soul was light, floating out of his body, caught by a gust of wind. It was drawn into a bottomless vortex.

His ears were filled with endless funeral music and crying. The clouds in the sky were tinted like rouge and blood in clusters.

Two coffins were transported with highest ceremonies into Shengjing.

Masses of villagers spontaneously knelt on both sides of the road, with tears streaming down as they mourned.

Cui Bai didn’t understand whose death it was to warrant such an array. Certainly, it must be someone extraordinary.

These are the streets of Shengjing, and his soul uncontrollably followed behind the funeral procession.

Those at his side had traveled a long way. Each one had worn out soles, with toes blurred with blood and flesh.

He looked over.

Among them... there were several familiar faces.

They were the people he had seen in Chi City!

And now, the coffins were being carried into the very familiar Marquis Yangling Mansion.

Cui Bai’s body suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, pupils sharply constricted, as he saw Qiao Si wearing coarse hemp mourning clothes.

She had lost much weight, her face pale without a hint of blood, and her largely pregnant belly was alarming to behold.

Qiao Si, however, seemed to have lost her soul, her eyes unblinking, without any reaction.

Dowager Cui could barely stand straight with the support of a cane, nowhere as spirited as before.

She muttered a word.

"Everyone from the Cui family are worthy ones. Worthy of the people, worthy of the officialdom."

With the cane hard hitting the ground, Dowager Cui eventually broke down and wept bitterly.

"It’s the unfilial piety!"

The scene was chaotic for a while; Dowager Cui fainted from lack of breath.

Mourning banners were raised, and white lanterns hung high.

Cui Xuan, with swollen eyes barely able to see, her husband gone, her eldest son also departed. Her world, the world of the Cui family had completely collapsed.

She realized belatedly, that in fact, she didn’t hate Cui Yang that much.

That man, he just didn’t love her, that’s all.

She stood bewildered, unaware of her surroundings, while Qiao Si, unlike her usual gentle self, lost her senses and rushed forward, only to be stopped by the terrified old woman behind her.

Qiao Si shouted, "Who put up these condolence couplets?"

"It’s not my husband, absolutely not."

"When he left, he was well. A month ago, he still sent a letter home, as mother-in-law knows, he had also informed us of his return date in the letter. How could he have died?"

She didn’t believe it.

And how could she ever accept it.

The harshly cold coffin within lay her child’s Daddy.

Irreversibly separated by life and death.

Qiao Si, as if grasping at the last straw, said, "My family’s young man was brave and of good conduct, and he was most of all a keeper of his promises! He absolutely wouldn’t deceive me!"

She felt abdominal pain, her fingertips turned white, quivering all over.

"Young Madam!"

With several exclamations heard, a liquid slipped down her legs, she looked down to see, it was the glaring red of fresh blood. Quickly soaking the hem of her garment.

"Ah Si!" Cui Bai advanced in terror, but his transparent hands passed through Qiao Si’s body. No matter what, he couldn’t touch her.

He has completely become a spectator.

He saw the midwife terrified: "A severe hemorrhage, it’s a case of hemorrhage."

The midwife knew what this pregnancy meant, but Qiao Si was blankly staring at the ceiling. She was seeking death.

"Premature birth and massive bleeding, unstable fetal position. I’m afraid..." she said, withstanding the pressure.

In such a situation, even saving one life would be challenging. In most previous cases, both mother and child were lost.

But if only one can be saved, whom to save? The Marquis Yangling Mansion must make a decision.

Cui Xuan held Qiao Si’s hand, crying uncontrollably.

"Ah Si."

Her voice trembled: "This is the only bloodline of Bai."

"If the child is in trouble, it is the Cui family’s lack of fortune that cannot keep her. But if you are in trouble, how am I to explain to him?"

The doctors and medical women from the Imperial Palace hurriedly arrived.

Old Master Cui’s back was bent; Cui Yun, bearing injuries, endured the pain from the Gu Worm, his lips turning pale.

His dark eyes fixedly rested on the Imperial Doctor.

"Both of them must be unharmed. If something goes wrong..."

He let out a desolate laugh, his eyes filled with too much hostility, posing a threat.

Eunuch Ying, who came along, quickly responded: "Of course, of course."

"The spirit of the Eldest Young Master in heaven will surely protect. The official also said, the Young Madam is a person of great fortune, nothing will happen again."

Time does not understand sorrow, gnawing unusually at one’s patience.

One hour.

Two hours.

Basin after basin of blood was carried out.

At dawn, at last, a weak cry was heard.

She was too small. Her crying sounded like a cat’s meow.

Cui Yun held her as if she was a treasure, his fingertips touching her bluish-purple face.

Before long, word reached the Imperial Palace, and rewards and supplements flowed in like water. Along with it came a decree of posthumous honors.

Latter, as Cui Yun took care of Cui Rong without resting, holding the album left by Cui Bai, he flipped through it, finally stopping at one page.

Hu Teng – Imperial Guard.

Was it the Imperial Guard that assassinated him? His face suddenly changed.

It was at this time that Old Master Cui arrived.

"These days, I have not looked after you, how did these injuries come about on you?"

Cui Yun laughed, his body convulsing, and he even spat out a mouthful of blood.

"When the rabbit is dead, the dog is cooked; when the birds are gone, the bow is hidden."

Old Master Cui was stunned for a long while.

He turned his back to Cui Yun and wiped away his tears.

"The Cui family... indeed has become too eminent for its own good."

Cui Yun took care of Cui Rong for half a month until her condition was much more stable. Only then did he go to the pear garden to solve the Gu.

By then, Cui Bai was already full of wounds.

The Marquis Yangling Mansion was in decline.

The maternal uncle from the Xuan Family and the Wen Family’s daughter were forcibly separated, with two imperial decrees—one to remarry, the other to marry off elsewhere.

Cui Yun, from that careless young man, gradually retracted his edge and became indifferent to joy and sorrow.

His Rong grew up.

She looked just like Qiao Si.

When she could speak and walk, Qiao Si took her to the ancestral hall.

"Rong, kneel and kowtow to your Daddy and grandfather."

"Daddy?"

The little Cui Rong knelt on the cushion, her voice soft and tender.

"Who is Daddy? Why have I never seen him?"

Qiao Si touched her head.

In her eyes shone fragmented light, tender as when Cui Bai first saw her.

"He, he is a hero."