Now that the real culprit has been brought to justice, is it still meaningful to investigate what injuries Ji Feiyu had suffered?
However, if he could learn about her real situation at that time and her subsequent movements from others' descriptions, would he be able to empathize with her pain a little more?
Concubine Ning had instructed Eunuch Wang to smuggle a dagger and a torch into the Cold Palace. But Concubine De, the one who had directly committed the crime, had already perished in the fire. There was no way to know what had actually happened in the Cold Palace.
When Concubine Ning had met him yesterday, she was injured. And the arrangements he had made had ultimately turned into persecution. How much more difficult must Ji Feiyu's situation have been? He was filled with remorse.
Investigating the medical clinics gave him a chance to get closer to the truth again. He didn't want to be scolded by the Butterfly Girl again, saying, "You know nothing." So he still had to go to the medical clinics to learn more about her.
Under the arrangement of the secret agent, Yong Yaxuan disguised himself and left the palace again.
Following the secret agent, he visited one medical clinic after another to check the medical records of that day. Listening to the doctors' descriptions, he eliminated one by one the possibilities of the patients being Ji Feiyu. Since most of the medical records recorded the names, ages, and addresses of the patients, the secret agent would send people to investigate while getting the medical records, and it was easy to find the real patients at that time.
At this moment, dark clouds loomed over the city, and a low rumble came from afar. It was going to rain again.
The secret agent led Yong Yaxuan on horseback, galloping through every corner of the imperial city.
Solving a case was such a laborious task. One had to listen, record, and analyze everywhere, and then reason, judge, and eliminate step by step. Yong Yaxuan felt as if a huge boulder was pressing on his heart. In what kind of situation had his Feiyu gone to seek medical treatment?
The weather was getting worse. The secret agent wanted to finish checking the last few medical clinics before it rained.
Yong Yaxuan was already a bit impatient. He thought that maybe Ji Feiyu had never gone to seek medical treatment. Maybe the Butterfly Girl could take care of her. Maybe all his efforts were in vain.
With such thoughts in mind, he walked into one of the last few medical clinics.
The medical record in this clinic was slightly different from the others. It recorded that a young woman had had a miscarriage, and the woman's address was a guesthouse. The secret agent casually flipped through it, and the more he read, the more shocked he became. He hesitated whether to tell Yong Yaxuan or not.
"What's wrong?" Yong Yaxuan saw that his face seemed a bit pale, so he took the medical record and read it himself.
The medical record described the scene when a young woman named Hua Yu came to seek medical treatment. She had been carried in by a man, covered in blood and looking extremely pale. The doctor could only diagnose and prescribe medicine but couldn't stop the bleeding. The woman was deficient in both qi and blood, with a floating pulse. The cause of her miscarriage was that she had been poisoned by the Softening Tendon Powder, which had led to long - term deficiency of qi and blood.
The record of the Softening Tendon Powder in the medical record, the homophone of the name Hua Yu, as well as Hua Yu's age and address, all told Yong Yaxuan a fact.
Just then, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and a loud thunder roared in the distance.
Yong Yaxuan felt his blood turn cold. It froze him so that he couldn't move.
No, no!
Seeing this, the secret agent also wanted to rule out the possibility of coincidence, so he asked, "Does the doctor still remember what the woman in this medical record looked like?"
The doctor said, "The woman had her eyes tightly closed and her eyebrows furrowed. Although I couldn't see her full face, she had the appearance of a celestial being, with a beauty that could topple kingdoms. She was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my many years of practicing medicine. It's just a pity that she was imprisoned by drugs and had a tragic fate."
It would have been better if he hadn't said anything. The secret agent thought to himself and stole a glance at Yong Yaxuan's expression, thinking, "It's over. It's even more certain now."
"Did she have any other wounds on her body?" Yong Yaxuan asked with difficulty, as if he had mustered up all his courage.
"Let me think..." The doctor scratched his head and then remembered, "Yes, yes! When I felt her pulse, I found that there was a large red burn on the back of her hand, and there seemed to be a healed knife wound."
Boom—
Thunder roared again in the distance, as if the door of hope had been completely closed.
Yong Yaxuan's hands were trembling, but he still asked, "Did she have willow - leaf eyebrows, a straight nose, and a cherry - like mouth?"
The doctor exclaimed, "Your description is so vivid, my lord. Have you seen this woman?"
He had seen her more than just once...
Yong Yaxuan's breath stopped at that moment.
There was no doubt. This person was Ji Feiyu herself, without any disguise.
Yong Yaxuan clenched his fists tightly, allowing his fingernails to dig into his flesh. He desperately suppressed his grief, but he could hardly stand steadily.
His mind was in a whirl. All of the Butterfly Girl's accusations were swirling in his mind. He finally understood what the Butterfly Girl meant by "unworthy as a husband and unworthy as a father." It turned out that the Butterfly Girl had already told him! It was just his own negligence at that time. He had thought the Butterfly Girl was referring to Concubine Xin's son.
Yong Yaxuan could no longer hold back. He said to the secret agent, "You handle the aftermath." Then he rushed out of the medical clinic directly.
At this time, it was stormy outside, with lightning and thunder. He grabbed the reins and leaped onto the horse, then galloped towards the outskirts of the city. He couldn't take it anymore. He needed to escape and vent!
Because of the heavy rain, the streets in the imperial city were empty.
Yong Yaxuan galloped on horseback, letting the bean - sized raindrops hit his face.
The last time he had galloped like this in the rain was when he had chased Ji Feiyu before Lianhua Town. Now that he knew all the truth, how could he have the face to chase her?
He galloped all the way. When passing through the city gate, he showed his token, and no one dared to stop him.
He galloped all the way to the outskirts of the city. The speed of his gallop somewhat relieved the pressure in his heart, but it was far from relieving his pain. He wanted to go faster. There were many trees in the outskirts. He was galloping at high speed when unexpectedly a tree was split by lightning and fell directly in the middle of the road. When he saw this, he pulled on the reins, but the horse was running too fast to stop. The horse directly crashed into the tree. When the horse hit the tree, Yong Yaxuan was thrown out. He landed on his chest. Even though he was wearing armor, he still felt his chest stuffy and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Yong Yaxuan felt his vision go dark. He lay prone in the mud, unable to move even when the heavy rain hit his body. When he realized his situation, he couldn't bear it anymore. He turned the pain in his body and the sadness in his heart into a long howl:
"Ah——Ah———"
There was no one in the outskirts at this time. He could shout as loudly as he wanted, and no one would laugh at him even when his tears rolled down.
He shouted and screamed in the heavy rain like a madman, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of rain and thunder. Mud splashed up as he pounded the ground with his fists. He was covered in blood and dirt, and he had long forgotten his own identity. In the vast world, he seemed so insignificant.
"Why! Why is this happening!" Yong Yaxuan shouted in pain. His tears and the rain had already mingled together, and it was impossible to tell them apart. He had shed more tears in this period than in his entire previous life.
He never thought that the child he had been looking forward to for so long would be killed by his own hands in such a way. How could he forgive himself?
Tears dripped down one by one with the rain. His eyes were blood - red, and his heart felt like it was falling into an abyss.
He couldn't, he really couldn't!
Just thinking about the despair of his Feiyu when she learned this news made his heart ache so much that he could hardly breathe.
It was all his fault! It was all his doing! He blamed himself over and over again, but what was the use? The fact was already like this. Pain couldn't change it. How could he make up for it, and what could he do to make up for it?