Phoenix's Requiem

Chapter 295: Speaking Up

Seeing Physician Ceng’s guilty expression, Yun Ruoyan immediately pressed him. “In that case, do you know of the Yun family?!”

“S—So what if I do?” Physician Ceng raised his voice a little. “The Yun family’s well known in the Li kingdom. Wouldn’t anyone with some upbringing have heard of it?”

“In that case, have you heard of the Hundred-Herb Apothecary?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

Physician Ceng’s pale face turned as white as a sheet: the Hundred-Herb Apothecary was the apothecary that Yun Lan had opened for him in the capital in gratitude for his actions. If Yun Ruoyan had even learned about that apothecary, it seemed that he would be unable to hide his involvement with the Yun family further.

“Who exactly are you?” Physician Ceng finally looked the gathered people in the eye: Yun Ruoyan, Yun Moxiao, Li Mo, and Lin Zainan. Each of them had an imposing presence, and it was clear that they weren’t ordinary men and women.

“That’s not a matter you should concern yourself with, Physician Ceng,” Yun Moxiao replied. “All you have to do is answer our questions.”

“What do you want to know?”

“We want to know the true cause of death for Yun Lan’s wife, Lin Yuemei, thirteen years ago.” Lin Zainan, who had remained silent until now, took two steps forward, his eyes gleaming at Physician Ceng. Although he was past seventy, his eyes were as shrewd as ever. No one without sufficient resolve would be able to stare him in the eye while he was furious.

Physician Ceng only glanced at him briefly before immediately looking away. He seemed to be deep in thought. “Thirteen years ago… the young madam of the Yun family?”

After a moment’s hesitation, he replied, “It’s been so long that I’ve forgotten.”

“You liar!” Yun Moxiao exclaimed. “Why else would you be so afraid that you tried to run away when I brought you to the Yun manor?”

Yun Moxiao’s tone was so severe that Physician Ceng almost jumped up in fright. Yun Ruoyan waved a hand at Yun Moxiao, motioning for him to calm down, before walking up to Physician Ceng and sitting down by the stone bench next to him.

“Physician Ceng, you don’t seem like a malicious man. Why hide someone else’s secrets? Tell us everything you know, and we’ll send you back to your family immediately,” Yun Ruoyan promised. “On the other hand, if you don’t cooperate… Given my relationship with your master, I don’t think it would be a big deal even if I killed you.”

Yun Ruoyan could see that this Physician Ceng was a coward. His expression made clear that he knew something of her death, but it was very likely that he had been threatened not to divulge the secret. She had frightened him in an attempt to get him speaking, but although he was very afraid, Physician Ceng refused to speak up.

Even by sunset, they hadn’t gotten any more information out of him. Instead, his head drooped and his features turned listless, as if he were about to sleep. No matter who tried to speak to him, he wouldn’t respond.

“If words won’t do the trick…” Yun Moxiao cracked his knuckles and stepped forward, but Yun Ruoyan held him back.

“No, Brother! Look at him—if you even punch him twice, he’d likely die! In that case, whom would we ask for information?”

“But we surely have to think of something, don’t we?” Yun Moxiao asked anxiously.

“Qiuqiu?” Yun Ruoyan summoned Qiuqiu mentally.

“What’s the matter, Mistress?”

“Why doesn’t my intoxicating fog work against this Physician Ceng anymore?” Since frightening Physician Ceng hadn’t seemed to work, Yun Ruoyan used her last remaining supply of intoxicating fog on him.

Repeated uses of the fog within a short timeframe would hurt one’s mental faculty, so Yun Ruoyan had tried to avoid it if possible. However, she didn’t have much of a choice now.

Even so, despite how effective the intoxicating fog had been on him before, it wasn’t effective at the moment. He seemed like someone who had lost his soul, and Yun Ruoyan’s words were nothing more than idle chatter to him.

“Could I have used too little of the fog?” she asked Qiuqiu.

“Physician Ceng’s only a regular human without any cultivation of his own. What little intoxicating fog you had left should have been enough,” Qiuqiu responded. “And it does look like he’s under its effects.”

“Then why isn’t he listening to me?” Yun Ruoyan had orchestrated the murder of three demons with the fog, none of whom seemed to be able to defend against it at all. How could it have suddenly lost its effect on this Physician Ceng?

“There’s only one possible reason,” Qiuqiu replied after some time. “What you’re asking about is so important to him that he’s still avoiding the question subconsciously. Mistress, I suspect he thinks it more important than even his life!”

“More important than his life?! Why?”

“Yan’er.” Li Mo’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Clear the intoxicating fog from him.

“Hm? Oh!” Yun Ruoyan hurriedly did so. Physician Ceng suddenly seemed clear-headed once more. He raised his head and blinked blearily at the four people in front of him.

“Yan’er, does this Physician Ceng have a family still?” Li Mo asked. His tone was casual, but Physician Ceng stiffened.

“Yes. He has a wife, and a few children.” Yun Ruoyan thought back to the clothes she had seen being hung up to dry that night she had visited his cottage. “Three children, a girl of twelve or thirteen, and a pair of male twins, only five or six years old.”

“This old fellow looks like he’s intending to stay here,” Li Mo continued, not sparing a glance for Physician Ceng. “Bring his wife and children to accompany him, and if necessary…”

Li Mo made a slashing gesture by his neck, and Physician Ceng’s eyes widened. His face, already stark white, began to tremble.

“Wh—what are you planning to do?” Physician Ceng slowly stood up, his shaking more and more pronounced. The middle-aged man who hadn’t even dared look Yun Ruoyan in the eye was now staring at Li Mo, his fear all but forgotten.

“That year, when Young Madam Yun passed, she left two pitiful children behind. Can you imagine their suffering?” Li Mo turned emotionlessly to Physician Ceng. “If you choose to ally yourself with villains, then I’ll let you have a taste of that pain for yourself!”

“No… No…!” Physician Ceng fell to the ground. “This has nothing to do with my family! I’ll tell you everything, but you have to promise me one thing!”

“What is it?” Yun Ruoyan hurriedly spoke up.

“Let me bear the weight of my crimes. Don’t harm my family.”

“Don’t worry—we wouldn’t hurt innocent women and children,” Yun Moxiao promised. “Just tell us everything!”

“I will.” Physician Ceng took a deep breath, sat down, and began to recount his tale. Thirteen years ago, he had been nothing more than a wandering physician. He had travelled to the capital, where he saw a notice from the Yun family seeking talented physicians for Young Madam Yun, who had contracted a deadly illness.

Thinking that he might be able to treat her, Physician Ceng paid a visit to the Yun manor. While studying Lin Yuemei’s symptoms, he realized that she wasn’t ill—she had been poisoned. As luck would have it, Physician Ceng had heard his father discuss a very similar poison with him before.

“At the time, Young Madam Yun’s skin had turned a mottled black, and she would vomit blood from time to time. These symptoms matched a poison that my father had told me about, and I coincidentally knew the antidote. However, because of how ingrained the poison was, I wasn’t confident that I would be successful.”

Nevertheless, Physician Ceng’s remedy worked, and Lin Yuemei’s illness took a turn for the better. In order to thank him, Yun Lan had had an apothecary constructed in the capital for him.

Things seemed to be going well until the day he received a letter from his hometown, stating that his wife had come down with a sudden illness and was very ill.

“I was so anxious that I intended to return on the spot. It was already nighttime, but I didn’t have the luxury to wait till dawn,” Physician Ceng continued. “However, just as I had packed and was about to leave, a veiled woman walked into my courtyard. She told me that my wife hadn’t contracted an illness, but rather the same poison that had befallen Young Madam Yun—but ten times more concentrated. She had poisoned my wife herself!”

The woman then took out two pills and handed them to Physician Ceng, one the antidote to the poison, and another a stimulant that would enhance the effects of the poison.

“The woman told me that I wouldn’t have the time to nurse my wife back to health. The only way I could save her was if I poisoned Young Madam Yun myself—once she died, someone would hand me the antidote for my wife’s poison.”

Physician Ceng began to sob. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I really didn’t, but my wife was already pregnant with my daughter…”

“So you poisoned my mother instead?!” Yun Moxiao howled at the physician, his eyes red.

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