Chapter 243: Scolding Awakening

"You didn't say?" Chi Nan Yi pushed the door open, holding a medicine box.

"I've already finished the medicine; why are you still coming?"

Chi Nan Yi looked at the still flesh‑rending wound, took out a bottle of Spirit Spring Water, and poured it all over his wound.

The wound, which had been burning hot, instantly stopped hurting.

Qing Shan had intended to reach out to block, but his hand froze in mid‑air, his eyes widened.

Is it really that miraculous?

"They're just superficial injuries; they only look scary."

Upon hearing her, Qing Shan instantly became displeased and shouted, "What do you mean 'just superficial injuries'? This wound… this wound could be fatal! If I hadn't gritted my teeth and held back, I'd have been killed long ago by those damn dogs."

Chi Nan Yi smiled helplessly, "Then what do you want to do?"

Qing Shan gave her a glance, saying nothing.

"If you want to leave, I won't stop you." Chi Nan Yi turned around to start packing the medicine box, ignoring the flushed Qing Shan behind her.

"If I'm leaving, I'm leaving." Those words lingered on Qing Shan's lips for a long time, but he never uttered them.

For a moment, the room was extremely quiet.

Chi Nan Yi snapped the medicine box shut, emitting a clacking sound.

"How ruthless." Qing Shan curled his lip, "At least the young master fought side by side with you."

Fighting side by side…

Clearly, I was the one who saved him.

"What's your relationship with Mo Junyan?" Qing Shan asked, feigning indifference, "I'm just asking casually."

"What do you think?"

Qing Shan glanced at her and, tsundere‑like, said, "How would I know?"

"You and him are cousins; I thought you two were close!"

Chi Nan Yi finished speaking, and Qing Shan's pupils contracted, "When did you find out?"

"A long time ago."

"Did Mo Junyan tell you?"

"No." Chi Nan Yi said with a smile, "You don't really think you've hidden it well, do you?"

"Exactly how did you know?"

"You don't need to concern yourself with that. I can't just say it's something the previous owner brought from a past life."

"Since you're cousins with Mo Junyan and want to avenge the White family, why don't you use his power?"

"Use his power?" Qing Shan snorted coldly, the blue veins on his forehead bulging, "If it weren't for him, how could the White family end up like this?"

"What do you mean?" Chi Nan Yi observed his suddenly agitated, almost out‑of‑control emotions, her brows slightly furrowing.

"If only he had never existed, how wonderful that would be." Qing Shan clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles whitened, the bones creaking, a crimson hue flashing in his eyes as he shouted, "If he had never existed, how could the White family have incurred the emperor's suspicion? Hundreds of members of the White family, old and young, none alive except me." His chest heaved violently, his voice hoarse, "And it's all thanks to him! All because of him! He destroyed the White family!"

"I originally thought his legs were truly crippled, that he would spend the rest of his life confined to a wheelchair, and I secretly rejoiced that he finally got his comeuppance." At this point, Qing Shan slammed his fists hard onto the bedboard, his eyes filled with a twisted hatred, and snarled, "I never imagined… I never imagined it was a ruse; he isn't lame, his martial arts aren't ruined." He gasped, his eyes brimming with resentment, "Heaven's way is unjust! How can such a treacherous, heartless creature still be alive? On what grounds? On what grounds?"

Slap!

A crisp slapping sound rang out, and for an instant the air seemed to fall silent.

Aside from heavy breathing, only the faint crackle of the candle flame could be heard.

Qing Shan's head was knocked to the side, one cheek burning with pain.

"You… you hit me?"

He stared at Chi Nan Yi, his eyes filled with anger and disbelief, "You struck me for that treacherous, heartless thing? Huh, and you… you have a deep friendship with him."

Chi Nan Yi flicked her wrist, having put force into the slap; Qing Shan's face swelled quickly, her palm tingled, the gentle smile that usually lingered on her face had long vanished, leaving only simmering anger.

You fool.

What?

"Don't you know what kind of person Mo Junyan is?" she said softly but with an undeniable authority. "How many power struggles and court intrigues lie behind the White family's disaster? What does a child‑like Mo Junyan have to do with it? You refuse to hate the actual perpetrators, you refuse to hate the architects of these poisonous schemes, yet you place all blame on the one who protected your life. If you're not foolish, then who is?"

Qing Shan clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening; he tried several times to retort but didn't know how to begin.

He lifted his gaze to Chi Nan Yi, seeing the deep melancholy in her eyes; every word was stuck in his chest, pounding his heart with pain.

"The ones truly feared behind the scenes are never Mo Junyan, but the White family that commands massive troops." She said in a low voice, "As long as the White Noble Consort lives, there will be one, two, even more Mo Junyans. If the White family remains, the son of the White Noble Consort could be made Crown Prince. In their eyes, only cutting the roots prevents the grass from growing again, so regardless of who the White Noble Consort's child is, the White family must be eradicated."

Qing Shan's lips moved, yet he still had no way to argue.

"Do you think he wants to watch the White family be slaughtered while sitting idly by? He left the court and volunteered for campaign— for whom? He has endured humiliation for years, advancing step by step— for whom?"

"Do you think he wants to become a cripple? The illustrious Prince Li, Daqi's war god, now shuttles about in a wheelchair— do you know how the world mocks him?"

"You keep saying you'll avenge the White family, yet you can't even tell friend from foe."

Chi Nan Yi looked at Qing Shan's eyes reddening, her voice tinged with sorrow, "What you should truly hate are the masterminds behind the White family's downfall, the petty scoundrels who kick a man when he's down, not Mo Junyan, who risked his life to protect the last thread of the White family's bloodline. He owes you nothing, nor does he owe the White family anything."

At that moment, the silhouette standing outside the window froze in a harsh start, still unable to regain composure.

Did I… really owe no one?

Just then, a commotion came from the doorway.

The two looked up, and the newcomer was Chi Shao yuan.

Qing Shan naturally recognized him.

What is the Chi Family's second son doing here?

Chi…

His pupils snapped shut.

Could it be…

"Second brother." Chi Nan Yi said with a smile, "Why did you come?"

Second brother?

Second brother!

Qing Shan's gaze swept back and forth between them a few times: "Se‑… second brother? You… you are …"

His complexion shifted, he straightened his posture, and shouted, "What relationship do you have with Situ General?"

"It's not that I'm a fool," Chi Nan Yi said with a faint smile twice. "If, as you say, you hate Mo Junyan, then should I hate the Bai family? If it weren't the Bai family, my father wouldn't have died, and the Situ Family wouldn't have been exterminated."

She patted Qing Shan's shoulder: "Some things must be thought through oneself; a person lives only one life, and cannot live in a dead‑end."