Chapter Sixteen: The Pursuit

Chu Bing, barely holding herself together, struggled with all her might to return to the Chu family restaurant. The moment she caught sight of the familiar courtyard, her body gave out and she collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud, sending up a cloud of dust.

Chu Wenyen, who had been speaking with Li Haoran in the courtyard, was startled by this sight. He cried out in alarm and rushed over to support Chu Bing. "Sister, what happened? Who did this to you?"

His expression was fierce, the kind that would risk everything against whomever had harmed Chu Bing.

Blood stained Chu Bing’s clothes, and before she could utter a word, another mouthful of blood spattered from her lips.

"I'm all right, just help me inside..." Chu Bing gasped for breath, her entire body burning as if aflame, her meridians wracked with pain...

"Sister, tell me what happened!" Chu Wenyen held her with one hand, his face etched with worry.

Chu Bing shook her head, about to explain, but a wave of dizziness overwhelmed her, and she fainted.

"Sister!" Chu Wenyen’s face turned ashen.

Li Haoran hurried over, his expression grave. "Quick, help Miss Chu to her bed!"

As an outsider, Li Haoran dared not touch Chu Bing, and could only fret anxiously.

Chu Wenyen stood motionless, his eyes burning with fury. "It must have been that bastard!"

"Who?" Li Haoran frowned.

"The county magistrate, that despicable official! Who else would target my sister? She’s never provoked anyone else..." Chu Wenyen’s voice grew low and bitter.

He stared at the blood soaking Chu Bing’s clothes, the glaring red a constant reminder of all she had suffered.

His hands curled into fists. He shot to his feet, seething, "I'm going to make that scoundrel pay!"

No one could bully his sister!

Once, he had been powerless—forced to watch as Chu Bing was hurt. But now things were different. Now, he would seek justice for his sister!

Li Haoran, seeing Chu Wenyen on the brink of losing control, gripped his shoulders and rebuked him. "The most important thing now is to get your sister treated! Do you see her injuries?"

Moreover, Li Haoran doubted the county magistrate possessed the means to commit such an act.

But Chu Wenyen listened to none of it, gazing at Chu Bing with anguish. "My sister raised me from childhood. If it weren't for me and our father, she would never have married that brute! I can’t watch her suffer any longer..."

Realizing Chu Wenyen was lost in his despair and unlikely to reason, Li Haoran raised his hand and struck him hard at the nape of his neck.

Chu Wenyen’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Li Haoran whistled sharply. "Long San! Hurry and fetch a doctor!"

"And make sure it’s a woman physician."

With Chu Bing’s external wounds, a male doctor would only make things more complicated.

Li Haoran lifted Chu Bing gently in his arms. "Forgive me, Miss Chu!"

He laid her on the bed, carefully cleaning the blood from her face. Looking upon her pallid features, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow.

Who could be so cruel to such a delicate girl?

He gazed at her quietly, as if trying to commit her face to memory.

Fragments of his past with Chu Bing flickered through his mind, his eyes growing steely with resolve. If he ever discovered who was behind this, he would make them pay dearly.

The candle on the table flickered weakly. Nearly an hour passed, but Long San still had not returned.

Li Haoran sat by Chu Bing’s bedside and took her wrist, only to find her pulse growing fainter...

His expression changed drastically. Though not skilled in medicine, he knew enough: a weakening pulse meant her life was slipping away.

Seeing her condition deteriorate, he scooped her into his arms and decided to seek a doctor himself.

Chu Bing’s head rested against his chest, her breath shallow as a whisper. Li Haoran felt as if a fire raged in his heart.

Clutching her tightly, he summoned his qinggong and darted out of the restaurant, sprinting into the night.

By now, the streets were nearly deserted.

Li Haoran hurried through the city, searching for a clinic.

Suddenly, a group of men in black flashed across his path. Not wishing to cause more trouble, he ducked into a corner with Chu Bing, watching as the group confronted a couple selling vegetables.

"Have you seen this person?" the leader demanded, holding up a portrait.

By the flickering light, Li Haoran glimpsed the image: a woman, whose features seemed oddly familiar.

"No, no, we haven’t..."

"If you do, remember to inform us—there will be a handsome reward!"

The black-clad men let the couple go and moved on to the next bystander.

One among them, a slender woman, shrank back in obvious fear at the sight of their approach.

Her reaction only made the group more suspicious.

"You! Stop right there!"

Terrified, the woman tried to flee, but she had barely run a few steps before being seized. A cold flash of steel, and the leader’s sword sliced her throat, leaving the street awash with blood.

Hidden in the shadows, Li Haoran’s eyes narrowed. Who were these people, to murder so brazenly in the open?

Moreover...

His gaze fixed on the portrait in the black-clad man’s hand. The woman depicted was unmistakably Chu Bing.

They were hunting her.

Li Haoran glanced down at the unconscious, bloodless Chu Bing in his arms and sighed inwardly. Whatever their motives, he had to protect her at all costs.

He gathered her close and was about to slip away when the vegetable-selling couple happened to pass by and spotted them. Their startled cries immediately drew the attention of the black-clad men.

Li Haoran cursed under his breath.

"Stop! Who goes there?"

Several of the men rushed toward him, swords drawn. As their footsteps drew nearer, Li Haoran gritted his teeth, gathered Chu Bing, and prepared to flee, channeling his qinggong once more.

But the black-clad men pursued relentlessly.

Li Haoran leapt from rooftop to rooftop, Chu Bing in his arms, but the pursuit only grew fiercer; his pursuers were nearly upon him.

At that critical moment, Chu Bing finally opened her eyes.

A dark, glimmering light flickered in her pupils. She pushed herself away from Li Haoran, spun around, and with a sweeping motion, hurled a Rain of Pear Blossom Needles fiercely at the black-clad men behind them.