“What’s wrong, Madam?”
Jiang Fusheng turned around quickly, steadying her arm.
Forget it. Bo isn’t an uncommon surname.
Lu Zhiling withdrew her gaze quietly and continued walking forward.
“We’ve arrived —It’s Ward 303.”
Supporting her carefully, Jiang Fusheng stopped in front of the door.She raised her hand to knock, but before she could, Lu Zhiling’s fingers had already found the handle. Without hesitation, she pushed the door open.
Jiang Fusheng’s eyes widened in disbelief.
The Madam’s ability to find the door handle so precisely—despite her blindness—was uncanny.
The bright, sterile room held two hospital beds. On them lay a man and a woman wrapped almost entirely in bandages, their limbs suspended by straps. They looked less like patients and more like mummies.
By the window stood a middle-aged man with streaks of white in his hair. His eyes were sunken, his face weary, and beside him sat an old, battered suitcase.
With a loud thud, the moment Lu Zhiling entered, the man’s knees hit the floor. His reddened eyes filled with tears as he kowtowed heavily, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
Jiang Fusheng froze in shock.
Was this… some kind of twisted greeting ritual?
Lu Zhiling’s expression remained calm. She loosened her grip on Jiang Fusheng’s hand and unfolded her blind cane (a retractable guiding stick used by the visually impaired). Without sparing the kneeling man a glance, she walked straight down the aisle between the two beds.
On one bed lay Feng Chao.
On the other—Hua Ping.
Both were barely recognizable. Feng Chao’s face was so swollen that no patch of skin seemed unbruised; his features were distorted beyond human shape, with purple-black welts crisscrossing his cheeks. Only two narrow slits remained where his eyes should be, and a thin line of drool escaped from the corner of his mouth.
Looking at him now, Lu Zhiling felt nothing but bitter irony.
How foolish she had been—greedy for Feng Chao’s tenderness, desperate for warmth. Back then, she had been a blind, penniless girl, and he, gentle and attentive, had been her only light.
Even the first time he struck her, she had convinced herself that it was because of the pressure — that caring for her must have been too much. She thought if she agreed to be his girlfriend, perhaps he’d feel lighter, happier…
But then came the night she overheard laughter from her own bed — Feng Chao’s laughter intertwined with Hua Ping’s.
They were talking about her.
About how to deal with that blind fool from the fallen Lu family.
That was when the illusion shattered.
Now, staring at her, Feng Chao’s swollen face twitched. Panic flickered in his narrow eyes.
“You—You…”
Lu Zhiling tilted her head slightly and smiled. Her tone was soft, almost tender.
“Brother Feng Chao, aren’t you surprised to see me alive and well?”
“You blind bitch—how could Bo Wang let you go?” Hua Ping rasped weakly from the other bed.
Impossible. That man was a demon. There was no way she could have survived him.
Hadn’t she… lost the child?
Lu Zhiling said nothing. Her cane tapped the floor, then lifted—searching through the air—before striking down.
Thwack.
The sharp sound cut through the sterile air.
Each strike landed with precision—on one, then the other. The two on the beds convulsed in pain, their muffled groans trembling through the ward.
Jiang Fusheng winced at every sound. Still she couldn’t bring himself to intervene.
Lu Zhiling, however, looked serene, her voice laced with chilling calm.
“Really, I have the two of you to thank. I’m now the wife of the Bo family’s eldest grandson.”
“What?”
Feng Chao and Hua Ping’s eyes widened in disbelief before another wave of pain twisted through them.
“What are you so excited about?” she murmured. “Everything I have now, it’s all thanks to you two. As long as I, Lu Zhiling, draw breath—” she raised her chin slightly, her tone sweet but her words venomous— “I’ll never forget your great kindness.”
Her cane struck again, this time catching Hua Ping’s bandaged leg that hung suspended.
A sickening crack.
“Ouch!” Hua Ping screamed weakly, her voice breaking before her eyes rolled back and she fainted dead away.
“Oh my, sorry,” Lu Zhiling said softly, almost in mock concern. She turned toward Feng Chao, stepping closer.
“Don’t—don’t come any closer,” he stammered, his trembling body twisting away from her.
Her lips curved upward in a small, serene smile.
For the first time in years, the fear in his eyes made her feel truly alive.