Chapter 4 — When the Green Tea Meets a Dark Lotus

Willow waved her hands frantically in the air, her face drained of all color.

"That will not do! It must be of the same bloodline! My blood is utterly useless; injecting it into you will only accelerate the poison, causing it to spread faster and bringing death all the sooner!"

Xie Heng’s bloodshot gaze finally shifted toward his own mother.

"Mother..." he pleaded, two streams of bloody tears gushing down his face, carving trails through his rotting flesh. "You gave birth to me, you raised me... you loved me the most in this world... Can you truly bear to watch me die such an agonizing death?"

"Heng'er is the sole hope of the Marquis Manor... If you die, the noble title will be stripped away, and the Xie family will be completely finished..."

Madame Xie turned as pale as a sheet, her lips trembling uncontrollably.

"Heng'er... Mother... Mother is already old, my blood is foul and corrupted..."

"No! The physician said otherwise! Mother, your constitution is robust, you can live to be ninety-nine!" Xie Heng suddenly shrieked with a terrifying, ferocious expression. He rolled off the bed, crawling across the floor to grab frantically at the hem of her skirt. "Mother! Give me your life! You have lived long enough as it is! Give me your life, and I shall consecrate a shrine for you, burning incense in your honor day and night for the rest of my days!"

"Aaaa!" Madame Xie screamed in sheer panic, trying desperately to kick him away. "You are insane! You are out of your mind! I am your mother!"

"It is precisely because you are my mother! My very life was given to me by you! What is wrong with returning it to me now?!" Xie Heng had completely lost his sanity by this point; the excruciating agony and the terror of impending death had transformed him into a living demon.

I watched the spectacle of this mother and son tearing each other apart, feeling only a sense of profound, bitter irony. In our past life, the two of them had shared a deeply affectionate bond, joining hands to push me down into the abyss of hell. Yet now, standing on the precipice of life and death, their so-called "loving mother and filial son" turned out to be nothing more than a cheap, grotesque farce.

6

"If the esteemed elder madam of the Xie household is unwilling, then the young master Xie can simply wait for death."

I spoke with utter indifference, standing up and dusting off my sleeves. "This play has been quite entertaining, but we have seen enough. He Feng, take that evil woman away, we are returning to the manor."

"Hold on!"

Xie Heng roared like thunder. Abruptly, he whipped a gleaming dagger from inside his robe—a weapon he usually kept close to his person to guard against assassins. But at this moment, the tip of the blade was pointed directly at his own mother.

"No one is allowed to leave!"

Xie Heng’s eyes were as red as blood, burning with the ferocious malice of a vengeful ghost.

"Mother, do not blame your son for being unfilial... I... I am truly in too much pain... I cannot bear it any longer..."

Madame Xie was so terrified that her legs gave out, collapsing heavily to the ground.

"Heng'er... you... you intend to kill your own mother?!"

"You were the one who taught me this!" Xie Heng shrieked like a madman. "For the sake of the Xie family, everything can be sacrificed! Years ago, when you sacrificed Shen Qingzhu for the glory of the Xie family, did you ever bat an eye? Now, for the continuation of the Xie family lineage, why can you not make the sacrifice once more?"

Madame Xie’s eyes widened in horror, as if she were seeing the very child she had raised for the first time. Retribution. This was ultimate retribution! Xie Heng abruptly turned his head to glare at Willow, pointing the dagger straight at her heart.

"You! Come here! Perform the blood transfusion for me! If it fails... I will hack you into mincemeat!"

Willow felt her soul leave her body in terror; she scrambled across the floor on all fours, hurrying toward him.

"I will, I will! I shall do it! As long as the instruments are ready..."

"Shen Qingzhu!" Xie Heng shrieked, his eyes fixed on me. "Did you not bring a physician in your entourage? Call your people forth! As long as I survive... the past grievances... I can let them go! I might even... elevate you to the status of a co-wife!"

I laughed aloud out of sheer anger. A co-wife? Even at this very hour, did he still believe I was that obedient, docile Shen Qingzhu who would allow him to mold and manipulate at will?

"Xie Heng, has your brain rotted away along with your face?" I said coldly. "Assisting you now is merely to watch you linger between life and death, like a dying dog gasping for its final breath. As for the physician, I have lent him to you—because I, too, wish to witness this deeply touching family drama."

With a flick of my hand, the physician, well-versed in the intricate arts of blood exchange, stepped forward. He cast a single glance at the blood-soaked, hellish scene, sighed softly, and opened his medicine chest. A blood transfusion was a perilous procedure of the highest order. We cleared the main hall, placing two soft couches side by side. Madame Xie was forcibly pinned down onto the couch by my guards; she struggled violently, hurling curses, shrieks, and bitter tears.

"I am a noble lady of title bestowed by the court! How dare you lay hands on me?!"

"Xie Heng! You are a beast! The heavens will strike you down and destroy you utterly!"

"Yuan'er! Save your mother! Please, save your mother, my child!"

Xie Yuan curled herself tightly into a corner, covering her ears and closing her eyes, trembling like a leaf in the wind, not daring to cast a single glance in their direction. She was terrified. Terrified that Xie Heng’s wild gaze would fall upon her next. Xie Heng lay upon the opposite couch, his eyes fixed entirely on his desperate desire for survival; the heart-wrenching screams of his own mother meant nothing to him. Willow stood nearby, instructing the physician on the acupuncture points, slicing open the wrists of both mother and son, and connecting their veins with specially crafted bamboo tubes. Fresh, crimson blood began to flow. I sat upon the grand master's chair, lifting a cup of warm tea, watching through the thin, curling wisps of steam as the scene of blood and transference unfolded before me like a spectator at a theater. The voice of Madame Xie gradually grew weaker. Her frantic curses melted into desperate pleas, and finally devolved into feeble, dying whimpers. Meanwhile, Xie Heng’s swollen and distorted face truly began to show signs of soothing relief. Yet, the terrible price for this recovery... was the life of a mother... being slowly drained away to the very last drop.