FID – Chapter 942

Chapter 942: In Your Eyes, Is There Anything You Truly Care About?

“Look at me. Don’t I seem just fine? What could possibly be wrong?” The man returned to his usual laid-back, nonchalant manner, teasing lazily. “Hurry and go. If you don’t bring Badou and Hongdou back soon, they really will forget they have parents.”

Liu Yusheng gave him a long, deep look but didn’t say anything more. Before leaving, she reminded Zisu and Chenxiang to stay by his side and take good care of him, and she left a male servant as well.

She hurried off to the imperial palace. As she walked through the Imperial Garden, she caught the rich fragrance of osmanthus in the air, and then she suddenly realized—it was already September.

Autumn had arrived.

On a golden autumn morning, the sunlight was warm and gentle, and the scent of flowers was intoxicating. In the Imperial Garden, the silhouettes of imperial consorts could be seen everywhere, chatting and laughing.

Everyone’s face bore the same usual smiles, as if the major event that had occurred a month ago in Changle Palace hadn’t affected them at all.

Shan Lai, who had once been the object of every consort’s jealousy, had now become the butt of their idle gossip and ridicule.

A beauty that had once bloomed so brightly, like the ephemeral Queen of the Night—glorious for a moment, then quickly withered.

Liu Yusheng headed straight for the Yangxin Hall. As soon as she entered, the Empress Dowager didn’t greet her with joy. Instead, she looked at her warily, as if she were a thief here to steal something.

Even when the two little ones, Badou and Hongdou, reached their tiny hands toward her, the Empress Dowager quickly pressed them back down.

It was both frustrating and funny.

“Aren’t you still busy? What brings you to the palace so soon?”

Liu Yusheng sighed helplessly. “Your Majesty, it’s been two months.”

“Isn’t the matter still unresolved? I heard Feng Qingbai brought Xue Zhong to the King’s Manor. With someone that dangerous in the house, Badou and Hongdou shouldn’t be staying there,” the Empress Dowager said coolly. Her words were perfectly reasonable, but her actions clearly told a different story. She was practically hiding the children from her.

Liu Yusheng walked over and sat with the Empress Dowager on the soft couch, watching the two little ones kicking their legs as they lay there.

Though it had only been about a month since she last saw them, they seemed to have grown quite a bit. Their features had become even more refined, and when they grinned, Liu Yusheng noticed they had already grown two tiny rice-grain-sized baby teeth—just beginning to peek through.

“They’ve grown so much in the blink of an eye. Thank you for taking such good care of them, Your Majesty,” Liu Yusheng said softly, gently caressing their little cheeks.

Though she hadn’t witnessed it firsthand, just seeing the children’s healthy, happy appearance made it clear they’d been extremely well cared for.

The Empress Dowager treated them as if they were her own.

Meeting the little ones’ bright, spirited eyes, the Empress Dowager’s expression softened. “Badou and Hongdou are very easy to care for. They never cry or fuss. I haven’t had to worry about them at all.”

Rather than saying she had taken care of them, it was more accurate to say the two little ones had been keeping her, a lonely old woman, company.

Seeing their mother arrive, the twins were especially excited. As the two adults chatted sentimentally, the babies suddenly lifted their legs and gave a strong kick—propelling their small bodies slightly upward, then kicked again.

Scoot, scoot, scoot—they shuffled from one end of the soft couch to the other, then turned around and started kicking again.

Brother and sister raced each other like it was a competition, glancing now and then at their mother. When they saw her wide-eyed expression, they kicked even harder and faster.

The Empress Dowager couldn’t help laughing in exasperation.

“Is it not enough that Great-Grandma praises you every day? You want your mother to praise you again too? So greedy!”

The two little ones giggled uncontrollably, waving their tiny hands, their pure laughter making everyone around them smile without realizing it.

When the twins scooted up to her, Liu Yusheng gently pinched each of their little noses. “Badou and Hongdou are amazing.”

Satisfied, the twins peed.

Laughter burst out again in the great hall.

While this side was filled with warmth and joy, over at the Clan Court’s prison, it was a very different scene.

Feng Qingbai was personally interrogating Shan Lai.

Feng Mohan was also present.

When the woman was brought in, she looked even more emaciated than before. Her palm-sized face was now practically just skin and bones.

Her eyes were deeply sunken into her face, appearing so large that it was somewhat unsettling.

As Feng Mohan looked at the woman, she turned to look back at him. Her eyes, as always, were calm—devoid of any excess emotion. Likewise, when the young emperor looked at her, his gaze held no emotion either. To him, she was no different than a stranger passing by.

That night, it seemed, had left no trace in his heart.

“What exactly is your relationship with Xue Zhong?” Feng Mohan asked coldly.

“Hasn’t Your Majesty already decided that I’m connected to him? Then why continue the interrogation?” the woman replied blandly, her tone laced with subtle mockery.

Feng Qingbai, seated off to the side, tapped his index finger lightly. “A mysterious origin, unclear identity, skilled in medicine and treatment and also capable of Gu Techniques.”

When he said the words ‘Gu Techniques,’ his eyes locked tightly onto the woman’s face and caught a barely perceptible twitch in her eyelid.

“We once believed you came from Baicao Valley and were one of Xue Zhong’s people. But it seems now that may not be the case.”

Shan Lai turned her head toward Feng Qingbai, her pale lips pressing together slightly, but she said nothing.

“Baicao Valley, though a centuries-old medical clan with great prestige in the world of healing, has never dabbled in the art of gu. The fact that Xue Zhong himself isn’t adept at it proves that much.”

“But she does know Xue Zhong,” Feng Mohan sneered, his gaze toward Shan Lai turning colder. “Otherwise, where would Xue Zhong have found the nerve to stab a hairpin into his own chest?”

“Perhaps between the two of them, the one in control wasn’t Xue Zhong, but her—Shan Lai,” Feng Qingbai said slowly.

His words finally caused a flicker of emotion to ripple through Shan Lai’s eyes.

Though it vanished quickly, it was still caught by the two sharp-eyed men. And in that moment, the atmosphere around both men grew noticeably heavier.

Who participated in this game wasn’t skilled at acting? Who wasn’t adept at hiding their emotions?

What they wanted was to find flaws in every subtle change in the other’s demeanor, to extract the answers they desire.

Shan Lai’s reaction proved their guess was correct: this result was not something to rejoice over.

Because why would Shan Lai make the cunning and experienced Xue Zhong submit?

Unless she was backed by a power even Xue Zhong feared.

At this point, there was no need to continue the interrogation. Shan Lai wouldn’t say anything more. Since nothing could be pried from her lips, Feng Qingbai wouldn’t waste time here.

He wouldn’t use torture on Shan Lai—after all, she was six months pregnant.

To punish a pregnant woman would make him think of Shengsheng’s heavily pregnant figure.

Besides Shan Lai, there were many other places to investigate.

Feng Mohan lagged behind slightly, not leaving the prison immediately. He sat there, silently gazing at the woman for a long time before finally standing up.

He walked to her side and asked, “Can you tell me how much longer I have left to live?”

The woman’s eyelashes twitched slightly, but she remained silent.

Seeing this, he didn’t press further and left with his hands behind his back, as if even his own life and death were insignificant in his eyes.

“As a healer, your skills truly opened my eyes,” he said as they brushed past each other.

Only after the footsteps behind her faded away and could no longer be heard did Shan Lai lower her gaze to her increasingly prominent belly and said quietly, “In your eyes, what is it that you truly care about?”