Chapter 58 Stop Calling Out

The maid had never expected that Madam Li would dare to act so brazenly. Her eyes widened in shock as her body slowly crumpled to the ground.

Madam Li quickly stood up, catching the maid before she fell. Seeing the maid had closed her eyes, she hurriedly laid her on the floor, then strode briskly to the doorway.

But just as she reached the door, Madam Li seemed to recall something. She paused, turned back, and glanced at the maid.

Her gaze lingered on the maid for only a moment before she swiftly returned to the room. She stripped the maid of all her jewelry, fished out a money pouch from the maid’s waist, and pocketed it as well. Rising, she grabbed the fire striker from the table.

Madam Li’s eyes swept the room, and she bit her lip in secret resolve.

She could not stay here any longer. If she remained, neither the Princess Consort nor the Heir’s Consort would spare her lightly.

Lifting the oil lamp from the table, Madam Li poured the lamp oil over the bed and furniture, then used the fire striker to ignite them.

With the help of the lamp oil, the flames quickly took hold. Madam Li tossed the fire striker aside and dashed out at once.

After leaving the small courtyard, Tan Qingjiu did not immediately head for the back garden but made her way to her system disposal room.

She did not know exactly what Madam Li and Tan Yunge had done, but she understood that they must have found some way to trigger Shen Yingjue’s illness and induce his attack.

This episode had come violently, and it happened during the Princess Consort’s birthday banquet.

With so many guests at the banquet, and Shen Yingjue in the throes of his illness, recognizing no one, it was urgent to find a way to subdue him and calm him down.

Tan Qingjiu quickly retrieved a sedative from the medical disposal room, along with her modified, professionally sterilized iron syringe.

She also took a pack of anesthetic and an acupuncture kit.

Once she had gathered everything she needed, Tan Qingjiu left the disposal room and hurried toward the back garden.

As she reached the garden gate, she saw several people running out in panic from within: “Run! Lord Duan has gone mad!”

The fleeing crowd nearly blocked Tan Qingjiu’s path. Taking a deep breath, she leaped, vaulting over the garden wall.

Standing atop the wall, she quickly spotted Shen Yingjue amidst the chaos.

He was standing on the pavilion at the center of the lake, one hand gripping the throat of a woman in a pale blue dress.

The woman’s face was deathly pale, her eyes already glassy.

A pale blue dress!

Tan Qingjiu’s gaze landed on the woman’s clothes. Suddenly, she remembered Qingdai’s earlier report—that Madam Li had taken a pale blue dress to have a maid change into.

At the time, they thought Tan Yunge meant to impersonate her for some scheme, but Tan Yunge herself was not wearing the pale blue dress.

Her earlier confusion now had an answer.

That pale blue dress must be the key to triggering Shen Yingjue’s illness.

Tan Qingjiu hurried toward the pavilion, but just then, Xingyou’s voice rang out: “Where’s my mother? Didn’t she come too? Why isn’t she here?”

Following the sound, Tan Qingjiu saw Xingqi, Xingyou, and Shen Zijiao standing by the lake, not far from the pavilion.

Her heart clenched in alarm.

“Zijiao, come here at once!”

It was the Princess Consort.

She rushed over, pulling Shen Zijiao away, then called out loudly to Shen Yingjue standing above: “A-Jue, calm down, won’t you? I am your sister-in-law! The one in your hand is not your mother; let her go, please?”

Shen Yingjue turned his bloodshot eyes to the woman he held. “She’s dead.”

“She’s not dead. Let her go!”

“She’s dead. I saw it. She’s dead.” Shen Yingjue squinted at the woman in his grasp. “Can you see? She’s covered in bugs. So many bugs.”

“No, I must get them out. If I get all the bugs out, she’ll come back to life.”

“No!” The Princess Consort seemed to foresee what would happen next and cried out, “Don’t—you mustn’t, she’s not your mother!”

While Shen Yingjue’s attention was caught by the Princess Consort, Tan Qingjiu took the opportunity to move swiftly toward the pavilion.

“Mother...” Xingyou’s eyes lit up as he spotted Tan Qingjiu and was about to call out, but Xingqi quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Mother?” Amid the commotion, Shen Yingjue caught the word from Xingyou. “Mother? Where?”

Xingyou’s eyes widened as he saw Shen Yingjue’s attention had been drawn by his cry. Shen Yingjue threw the woman in his grasp straight from the top of the pavilion.

Below was the lake.

The woman plunged headlong into the water.

The Princess Consort urgently ordered the guards to dive in and rescue her.

But Shen Yingjue had already leapt toward where Xingyou and Xingqi stood.

He fixed his gaze on Xingyou: “It was you calling for ‘mother,’ wasn’t it?”

He spoke as he drew closer, his eyes growing increasingly wild. “Stop calling her. You’re disturbing her sleep. If you wake her, she’ll be angry.”

“And if you keep calling her, she’ll get bugs too.”

“So many bugs.”

Xingyou was terrified by Lord Duan’s madness and stumbled back two steps. Catching sight of Tan Qingjiu not far behind Shen Yingjue, his fear overwhelmed him and he cried out again, “Mother!”

Shen Yingjue’s eyes were bloodshot now, his gaze more deranged than ever, and tinged with murderous intent. “I told you to stop calling her. You keep calling—do you want to die?”

Suddenly, Shen Yingjue lunged at Xingyou. Xingqi quickly yanked Xingyou behind him and squeezed his eyes shut.

Just as Shen Yingjue’s hand brushed Xingqi, Tan Qingjiu arrived at last, throwing herself at him without hesitation.

Unaware of her approach, Shen Yingjue was knocked to the ground by Tan Qingjiu.

She plunged the syringe into his arm, steadily injecting the sedative into his veins.

Wracked with pain, Shen Yingjue’s expression grew even more savage.

“Courting death!”

He rolled, pinning Tan Qingjiu beneath him, raising his hand high to strike her.

Tan Qingjiu reacted instantly, catching his blow, though her whole hand went numb from the impact.

Ignoring the pain, she swiftly reached for her anesthetic pack from her sleeve.

But Shen Yingjue seized her wrist in a vise-like grip. Stabbed with pain, her hand spasmed and the anesthetic pack fell to the ground, rolling about a meter away.