The home of the Tasang brothers was now in utter disarray.

The moment they stepped through the door, they were hit by the smell of blood. Tasang Nan rushed into the run-down house like a madman, and there he saw his ailing father lying in a pool of blood.

“Father!” Tasang Nan let out an anguished cry, rushing over to lift his own father into his arms, his trembling fingers reaching out to check beneath his nose.

A moment later, his entire body went rigid, and in an instant his face turned the color of death.

Suddenly, as though remembering something, he set down his father’s already lifeless body and rushed into the inner hall.

In the room beyond, a middle-aged woman lay on the ground, her entire body convulsing.

“Mother, Mother!” Tasang Nan rushed over and pulled her into his arms.

He saw that his mother’s clothes were in disarray, her hair disheveled, the trousers on her legs stained with blood. Now she was vomiting black blood, her whole body trembling.

When Feng Jiu’er and the others entered, Tasang Dong was already holding his father’s corpse, sobbing so hard he could barely breathe. Hearing Tasang Nan’s cries, Jiu’er rushed in and saw the state Tasang Nan’s mother was in.

Tasang’s father had already breathed his last—there was nothing to be done for him. As for Tasang’s mother, at least there was still some breath left in her.

Jiu’er immediately went over and took hold of the mother’s wrist, but Tasang Nan, his eyes red with fury, roared, “Let go of my mother! Don’t touch her, don’t touch her!”

These wretched men—these men!

“I’m a physician!” Feng Jiu’er said urgently.

But Tasang Nan paid her no mind at all, shoving her away. “Don’t touch my mother!”

Feng Jiu’er looked again at the state of Tasang’s mother’s body, and at once she understood—Tasang’s mother had likely been… had likely been violated by those Ruanhe soldiers!

That was why Tasang Nan would not allow any man to touch his mother now—because to him, it would be an insult to her.

Jiu’er released the voice she had deliberately been suppressing and spoke in her natural voice. “I’m a physician. A’Nan, let me examine her.”

“You…” Tasang Nan froze, staring in disbelief at this strikingly handsome young man before him.

No—that voice… she clearly wasn’t a man. She was a woman!

But none of that mattered now. What mattered was his mother… his mother…

“You… examine her, quickly!” He grabbed hold of Feng Jiu’er’s hand. “Quickly!”

He needn’t have said it—as long as he didn’t stop her, Jiu’er had never once paused in trying to save Tasang’s mother.

But Tasang’s mother had swallowed a large quantity of poison—the kind of deadly toxin normally used to kill troublesome rats. She had taken far too much; there was no chance of survival left for her at all.

No matter how skilled Jiu’er’s medical arts were, by this point there was nothing more she could do.

“A’Nan, look after… look after A’Dong… your mother, your mother has no face to see you both anymore, no face…”

Tasang’s mother convulsed one last time, a mouthful of black blood gushing out. Her eyes flew wide open, and just like that, she was gone—dying with her eyes unwilling to close.

Jiu’er’s heart grew heavy. To watch helplessly as a woman, after being violated, took her own life—how could anyone bear such pain?

No one felt it more than Tasang Nan, watching his own mother, violated, take her life right before his eyes.

“Ahh… ahh…” Tasang Nan clutched his mother’s corpse, his eyes bloodshot, and after a few wild, frenzied cries, he suddenly stood up and made to rush outside.

Feng Jiu’er knew exactly what he meant to do, and she grabbed hold of him. “Going out there like this is the same as throwing your life away!”

“What is there to fear in death?” Tasang Nan wrenched his arm free with force. “Let go!”

The hatred of a father’s death and a mother’s violation could never be set aside—if he didn’t kill those wretched scoundrels, he himself could not go on living either!

“Wait, wait a moment!” Xiao Yingtao watched them rush out and called out from the main hall. “Jiu’er—Young Master Jiu, come quick! It’s A’Dong… A’Dong is…”

Hearing Xiao Yingtao’s words, Tasang Nan’s tall frame shuddered violently, and as if seized by panic, he rushed straight back inside.

Jiu’er followed him through the door, and looking at Tasang Dong, she saw that—likely from the shock and from grieving too much—he now lay on the ground, gasping again and again, as if he could not catch his breath.

“Young Master Jiu, please look at him, quickly! He looks like he’s in so much pain!” Xiao Yingtao was nearly in tears with worry.

Such a good child, Tasang Dong, so sweet and lovable—how could he suddenly end up like this?

Tasang Nan moved to lift Tasang Dong up, but Jiu’er called out urgently, “Don’t touch him, it will only make his condition worse!”

Tasang Nan didn’t know whether to listen to her, but right now he was too desperate to do anything else.

The physician before had said that A’Dong’s illness could not withstand shock, and that he must not have wild swings of emotion, or a relapse could put his life in danger.

He had already lost his father and mother—he could not lose his only remaining brother too!

Feng Jiu’er crouched down beside Tasang Dong, her slender fingers flicking, and silver needles fell into place—swift, precise, and ruthless. First, restore his breathing, deal with everything else after.

She then planted the silver needles into several acupoints along Tasang Dong’s neck. At the sight, Tasang Nan was so frightened his very gallbladder seemed to seize. “Those are death points!”

“Don’t speak!” The moment Feng Jiu’er said this, Madam Xue, who had been silent the whole time, immediately stepped forward and blocked Tasang Nan from moving closer.

Seeing Madam Xue make her move, Tasang Nan understood at once that she was even more formidable than those two young men who had protected the Young Master before—he himself couldn’t even best the two of them, so how could he possibly stand against this middle-aged woman before him now?

Jiu’er said nothing more and continued focusing all her attention on treating A’Dong.

What Tasang Dong suffered from was asthma—what people in the twenty-first century would call asthma.

In this era, asthma could practically be called an incurable disease—if not handled properly the moment it flared up, it could take a life in mere minutes.

Even in the twenty-first century, if not treated properly, or if medication wasn’t taken promptly during an attack, it could easily turn fatal.

So, seeing Tasang Dong in this state, the first thing she did was restore his breathing—only once his breath flowed smoothly could he be safe.

Of course, restoring that breath was no easy task either. Once he had recovered just a little, Feng Jiu’er immediately massaged the acupoints—the very death points on his neck!

Anyone who practiced martial arts, regardless of the depth of their skill, generally recognized these vital death points.

That was exactly why Tasang Nan had grown so tense.

But it seemed now that Tasang Dong’s condition was gradually improving—at the very least, the flushed, congested look on his face that had refused to ease before was slowly fading, his complexion shifting from a bluish-purple back to normal.

A condition that physicians said could turn deadly when it flared—and yet in the hands of this Young Master Jiu, it was being miraculously reversed, returning to normal in the blink of an eye.

Seeing Feng Jiu’er finally withdraw the needles, he was about to ask something, but Jiu’er spoke first. “It’s cold and damp on the floor—carry him inside to lie down, quickly.”

Tasang Nan didn’t dare say another word and immediately scooped up the unconscious Tasang Dong, carrying him toward the inner room.

Jiu’er, however, looked down at the corpse of Tasang Dong’s father lying on the ground, her expression grave.

Xiao Yingtao clenched her fists and said angrily, “It must have been those Ruanhe soldiers from earlier—those people are far too vicious!”