FID – Chapter 939

Chapter 939: Once Again, a Move Lost in the Game

When they entered the adjacent room, the man lying silently on the long couch was covered in blood. At first glance, it was a truly horrifying sight especially the area around his chest—only the tip of the hairpin stuck out from where it had been stabbed into him.

Bai Zhu, Qi Xin, Zisu, and Chenxiang, who had come along with Liu Yusheng, all looked visibly shocked.

“He really didn’t hold back, huh? To be that ruthless to himself—even if his heart’s on the wrong side, stabbing it like that must’ve hurt, right?” Bai Zhu stepped forward to examine the exposed tip of the hairpin, clicking his tongue in disbelief. He had never seen someone so vicious.

If they hadn’t been part of this scheme and knew some of the inside story, with his experience, he would’ve found it hard to believe a person could stoop to such a low point.

Did he even have a shred of humanity left?

“Princess, do you think he can hear us right now? Is he really unconscious, or just faking it?” Qi Xin squeezed in behind Bai Zhu, craning her neck to look, both curious and hesitant.

Even though she was a doctor, one particularly skilled in suturing, and had assisted Liu Yusheng with several bloody surgeries recently, she wasn’t afraid of blood.

Just looking at him made her nauseous.

They say a person’s face reflects their heart. This was, without a doubt, the ugliest person she had ever seen.

“How about we skip the anesthetic when stitching him up later?” Chen Xiang suggested seriously.

Zisu nodded. “Actually, that’s doable. If he could endure stabbing himself in the chest, he should be able to handle a few stitches without pain relief.”

Liu Yusheng set down the medical kit and looked at them with amusement. “Spread out a bit. Don’t crowd here. No matter what kind of person he is, we still have to save him. As doctors, that’s part of our ethics.”

The four of them quickly moved to the four corners of the room and, with serious expressions, began chaining the unconscious man’s limbs to the corners of the bed.

These iron chains had been prepared in advance, specifically for Xue Zhong.

“His Highness said, it’s all for safety reasons.”

“Alright, enough joking around. Come over here. I’m giving you all a chance to practice; use him for training. Remove the hairpin, suture the wound, and just make sure he doesn’t die.”

The four looked back at Liu Yusheng. Hadn’t the Princess just lectured them about medical ethics? Was letting four surgical rookies who weren’t even close to being fully trained take charge of a procedure really ethical?

Xue Zhong woke up from the pain. When he opened his eyes, he saw someone stitching his chest near the left side of his heart.

Looking down, he could see blood everywhere. It should have been so numb he couldn’t feel anything—but somehow, with every stitch piercing his flesh, he could feel it clearly.

The pain made him want to die!

On top of that, his limbs were tightly chained down with heavy iron restraints. It was one thing that he couldn’t feel his legs—but now, even his hands couldn’t move a single inch.

None of this was what he had anticipated!

“Princess, he’s awake,” he heard someone say.

Forcing himself to endure the pain, he looked around—and by the side table not far from the bed, he saw the Feng Qingbai’s Consort, Liu Yusheng.

His pupils contracted. “You’re not—” Before he could finish speaking, he abruptly shut his mouth.

But the woman looked over at him and said with a soft smile, “You were expecting me to be performing surgery on Xue Qinglian, weren’t you? Sorry to disappoint you. I didn’t operate on him today. So that stab to your own chest, intended to disrupt my surgery and turn Xue Qinglian into a cripple like you was all for nothing.”

“You—!” The pain from the stitches in his chest was nothing compared to the blow delivered by Liu Yusheng’s words. Xue Zhong stared in shock, his already pale face turning even whiter—almost completely bloodless.

He finally realized something was very wrong.

He had requested to see Feng Qingbai multiple times. So why did Feng Qingbai choose to see him today of all days?

Why, despite his skill and reflexes, had Feng Qingbai seemingly failed to stop a cripple like him from stabbing himself in the chest?

He thought he had uncovered the truth and set up a clever trap for Feng Qingbai. But in reality, everything that happened today was just another calculated test by Feng Qingbai!

Feng Qingbai had already anticipated that he would try something before he even went to the prison. He had likely even predicted exactly what trick he would use!

He had lost yet another round in this game of strategy!

Liu Yusheng hadn’t performed the final and most critical surgery on Xue Qinglian today for the sole purpose of letting him put on this act!

The moment he made a move, it would prove that he still had accomplices—both outside and inside the prison.

Feng Qingbai wanted to use this to uncover who his allies were!

“Phew, I’m finally done stitching,” Bai Zhu let out a breath, tying off the thread and yanking it off as if completely unaware of how much pain that must’ve caused the patient. “It doesn’t look too pretty, but at least it’ll help the wound heal. It’ll have to do. I’m still a rookie, so don’t blame me.”

“Doctor Bai, you stitched it into a lumpy mess. Next time, let me do it. At least I’m a bit more meticulous than you. The Princess said the sutures must be smooth to be considered acceptable. Yours doesn’t pass.”

“It was my first time as lead surgeon—I was a little nervous. I’ll do better next time.”

Xue Zhong slowly turned his gaze toward the group chatting casually beside him. His vision darkened, and under the weight of so many blows, he finally couldn’t bear it anymore and passed out.

“He fainted already? Wasn’t he supposed to be some thousand-year-old cunning fox? That’s all it took to knock him out?” Bai Zhu frowned. 

That guy, who Young Master Qian always praised as nearly demonically clever, clearly wasn’t all that impressive.

“He’s gotten old. The tolerance for pain weakens with age,” Liu Yusheng said as she walked over, casually picking up a bundle of cloth and stuffing it into Xue Zhong’s mouth. To keep him from spitting it out, she even tied another strip of fabric around it. “Now it’s time to get down to business.”

She led the four assistants back to the adjacent room, shut the door again, and lit every lantern to make the room as bright as possible. Walking to the bedside, she looked at the now steadily breathing man and took out her surgical tools.

The anesthetic had been administered to Xue Qinglian when Xue Zhong was brought to the courtyard gate, and now it was at full effect.

Xue Qinglian’s final surgery was finally about to begin.

Outside the room, this time, three people stood as sentries: Qian Wanjin, Shi Xianrou, and Feng Qingbai.

Qian Wanjin looked quite excited. In order not to disturb the operation inside, he pulled Shi Xianrou and Feng Qingbai a little further away. His eyes sparkled as he looked at Feng Qingbai. “You didn’t see Xue Zhong’s expression when he woke up. Man, I caught the whole thing from the window!”

“I bet right now he’s wishing time could rewind, so he could reshuffle that utterly stupid plan of his and try again.”

Shi Xianrou laughed, “Xue Zhong had already been fooled earlier. He truly believed Xue Qinglian was dead. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have started begging to see Feng Qingbai half a month ago, trying to play his final card in hopes of saving his life.”

“After Xiao Feng’er threw Shan Lai into the Clan Court Prison, his behavior started to change. In the end, he even tried to test whether Xue Qinglian was alive or dead by faking a suicide. He was absolutely certain Feng Qingbai would save him and would never let him die. That kind of certainty means he knew Qinglian was still alive. Someone told him Qinglian was alive.”

“Rather than say someone told him Xue Qinglian was alive, it’s more accurate to say someone told him how to use a parasite to sense whether the other person was dead or alive,” Feng Qingbai said with a cold smile tugging at his lips