“Swish… swish… swish…”
Slowly, one crack after another. After what felt like a long while, the heart that had leapt into Physician Gu’s throat finally began to settle.
Then, without warning, another sudden “Swish!” — a fierce, vicious lash!
Physician Gu truly couldn’t bear it anymore. He took a deep breath, forcing down his racing heart, and lifted his head once more.
But when his eyes met Ziqing’s, he found the woman still smiling — an idle, dismissive, mocking little smile, as though she were watching some clown perform.
Finally, a surge of fury and fear welled up in Physician Gu all at once. “What exactly do you want?”
Just as everyone expected Ziqing to finally answer, she instead simply shrugged at him with a smile, saying nothing at all.
“Speak! Tell me what you want!”
Physician Gu’s last shred of patience finally snapped entirely. Practically ready to cough up blood from sheer fury, he abandoned all the composure he’d been telling himself to maintain and roared, “Han Ziqing, what exactly are you trying to do? Just get to the point!”
But no matter how close Physician Gu came to exploding with rage, Ziqing remained perfectly relaxed and unhurried, in no rush whatsoever.
She sat back down, smiling. “I already told you — I don’t want anything from you. I only wanted to know where Bai Mengmeng is. Since you don’t know where she is either, then I won’t ask anymore.”
As she spoke, she actually set the long whip down on the table.
Seeing this, Physician Gu froze, utterly unable to fathom what this woman was really up to. All he knew was that, moments ago, he hadn’t wanted to die, had been determined to hold out — but now, he found himself almost wishing for death.
Situ Haonan and Yelu Qianqian exchanged suspicious glances as well. The Han Ziqing they knew had never been one to let a grudge go unanswered! Would she really let Physician Gu off the hook? Impossible!
Jun Beiyue, too, looked over in disbelief. It couldn’t be — his woman was certainly no pushover, and definitely not some magnanimous soul who’d forgive and forget so easily!
Was the woman standing before them really Han Ziqing at all?
Just as everyone stood there, puzzled and suspicious, Ziqing suddenly turned to Jun Beiyue with a smile — a smile as radiant, as utterly harmless, as could be, nearly rivaling her own son’s.
She pointed to the whip on the table and said, “Jun Beiyue, why don’t you deal with your own servant yourself? I’d rather just watch from the side.”
Physician Gu had been so devoted to “protecting his master,” hadn’t he? Then she would let his master be the one to punish him!
The moment these words left her mouth, Physician Gu’s face went deathly pale, his entire body trembling with fury, while Ziqing simply crossed her arms and kept smiling at him.
Physician Gu’s cloudy, bloodshot eyes bored into Ziqing like nails, as if he wished he could pin her down and kill her on the spot.
This woman was actually going to have Jun Beiyue torture him himself! How could she even think of such a thing!
The one person Physician Gu cared about most in this world was Jun Beiyue — everything he had ever done had been for this master’s sake — and now this woman was going to make the very person he cared about most turn against him!
What a venomous, vicious woman!
Han Ziqing claimed she didn’t want anything from him, yet this was practically twisting the knife straight into his deepest wound!
“Han Ziqing, you vicious woman, you’ll get what’s coming to you one day!”
Physician Gu forced the curse out through gritted teeth. Ziqing had almost expected him to say something truly earth-shattering, but instead she merely shrugged indifferently. “Get what’s coming to me? Like what’s coming to you right now?”
“You—!”
Physician Gu felt he might genuinely be enraged to death — every single thing Ziqing said left him half-choking with fury.
Seeing Physician Gu unable to respond, Ziqing smiled faintly. “That’s probably about right, then.”
As she spoke, she deliberately picked up the dagger herself and handed it to Jun Beiyue.
At this point, no matter how furious Physician Gu still was, his attention was forced to shift entirely to Jun Beiyue.
In truth, the one who truly held all the power here had always been this man.
At once, every gaze in the room shifted to Jun Beiyue.
Would he take it?
Physician Gu blurted out desperately, “My lord, this old servant has followed you for twenty years! Everything this old servant has done has been for your own good! My lord! All these years, if this old servant has no great achievements, he has at least labored faithfully — you cannot be so heartless!”
The moment he finished speaking, Jun Beiyue turned to look at him, and Physician Gu’s heart leapt with sudden hope, his voice choking with emotion. “My lord! This old servant watched you grow up! This old servant would gladly give his own life for you — everything this old servant did was for your own good, my lord! Even if you don’t understand this old servant’s devotion, you shouldn’t doubt this old servant’s loyalty! As for Bai Mengmeng’s whereabouts, this old servant truly—”
Before he could finish, Jun Beiyue reached out and took the whip.
Physician Gu’s lips seemed to freeze mid-motion, unable to form another word. His heart lurched violently, and from that moment on, he couldn’t seem to recover his composure at all.
Seeing this, Ziqing couldn’t help but stifle a laugh of delight, while Situ Haonan and Yelu Qianqian looked positively gleeful, cheering Jun Beiyue on.
Jun Beiyue cracked the whip viciously. Ziqing had patience — he had none.
The instant Jun Beiyue took hold of the whip, he swung it down through the air with brutal force. “Swish!” — a vicious, cutting crack!
Even Yelu Qianqian and Situ Haonan jumped in shock, and Physician Gu blurted out immediately, “I’ll talk!”
There might have been other things Physician Gu didn’t fully understand, but when it came to temperament, he understood Jun Beiyue better than anyone. He knew that once Jun Beiyue took hold of that whip, he would absolutely see the interrogation through to the end.
And once Jun Beiyue decided to interrogate someone, there was nothing he couldn’t get out of them!
Physician Gu had witnessed this man’s methods far too many times before. He couldn’t withstand any of them — he was afraid!
Only now did Physician Gu finally, truly feel afraid.
“I’ll talk, my lord, I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything!”
“My lord, it was I who hid Bai Mengmeng. I don’t know the whole truth of it myself, which is why I…”
…
Watching Jun Beiyue’s sharply defined face grow colder and colder, Physician Gu clearly wanted to explain something — yet the more he tried to explain, the more he realized he had nothing left to explain at all.
As he kept talking, Physician Gu finally, helplessly realized that having placed himself in direct opposition to Han Ziqing, there was truly nothing left he could say to Jun Beiyue either.
At last, he let his head droop weakly and fell silent.
“Where is she?” Jun Beiyue demanded coldly.
It wasn’t that Physician Gu refused to answer — he simply swallowed hard, hesitating for just a moment too long before speaking. In an instant, Jun Beiyue’s whip cracked down viciously, striking directly across Physician Gu’s already-injured leg!
“Ahh…!”
Physician Gu cried out in agony — but in that moment, the pain wasn’t in his leg at all, it was in his heart.
His clouded old eyes were filled with disbelief, shock, panic, and terror!
Jun Beiyue had actually done it. He had truly struck him. Just like that, without hesitation!
“Swish!”
Suddenly, another lash. “Still not talking?”
Physician Gu’s entire body broke out in gooseflesh from the pain — but this wasn’t pain in his leg at all, this was pain carved straight into his heart, as if someone were gouging it out.
“My lord, you…”
Tears finally welled up in his eyes. Physician Gu simply couldn’t accept the reality before him — yet there it was, happening to him, undeniable.
No matter what Physician Gu thought, Jun Beiyue had simply run out of patience — and once a person had truly exhausted his patience, no past relationship, however dear, would spare them any sentimentality.
“Are you going to talk or not!”
Suddenly, the whip rose and came down again, striking Physician Gu hard across the face!
“Ahh…!” Physician Gu tried to cover his face, only to find his hands still bound by the shackles. Warm, wet blood trickled slowly down his cheek. He wanted to talk now — he was ready to talk — but Jun Beiyue gave him no chance to.