Chapter 54: Confirming Her Suspicions

"Sir, would you check my pulse as well?"

The old physician placed his fingers on Shen Zhao’s wrist and, noting her official uniform, remarked, "You must be General Chu. The only commander left in the capital now is General Chu of the Capital Army..."

As he spoke, a slight frown appeared on the old doctor’s brow. Disbelieving, he checked her pulse once more.

"General, you..."

Shen Zhao read the answer in his expression. "Sir, is it true that I, too, have been poisoned with an infertility drug? And that the person who did this to me began many years ago? Am I correct?"

The old physician withdrew his hand. "General Chu, you have already guessed who the culprit is, haven’t you?"

She had indeed guessed who had poisoned both her and Chu Mu.

If this was true, then her bold suspicion from yesterday was confirmed—Chu Mu was not the birth son of the old matron.

"Husband, do you know who poisoned you?" Chu Mu asked.

Shen Zhao glanced at him but didn’t answer. Instead, she turned to the old doctor. "Sir, how many years have I been poisoned?"

If she simply stated it was his mother, Chu Mu might not believe her. But if the physician declared the time, Chu Mu would deduce it himself.

"Roughly nineteen years."

"Nineteen... years..." Chu Mu stared in disbelief at the physician, then at Shen Zhao.

He had been poisoned for nineteen years!

It couldn’t have been Lin Jiao-jiao, nor his second sister-in-law. Nor could it be his eldest or second brother.

His eldest brother had lived with their grandparents in their ancestral home as a child. His second brother was only three years older; nineteen years ago, both he and his second brother were mere children. There was simply no way his brother could have done it.

Could it have been his father?

He remembered his father being cold toward everyone, but especially distant from him. Since childhood, Chu Mu knew his father disliked him and avoided him.

"Doctor... Is my husband still being poisoned now?" Chu Mu asked anxiously.

His father had died five years ago. If it had been his father, the poisoning would have stopped.

"Two days ago, General Chu ingested a small dose of the infertility drug. The same person administered the poison to both of you, using identical doses each time."

Boom!

The physician’s words struck Chu Mu like thunder, leaving him dazed and shaken.

It wasn’t his father.

The only person who could have poisoned him for nineteen years... was his mother.

It was his mother.

How could this be?

How could his mother have poisoned him, and with such a drug?

No—it didn’t add up! If he’d been poisoned with an infertility drug, why hadn’t the family physician, who checked his health every month, ever discovered it?

Unless the family physician concealed it.

And the family physician had been chosen years ago by his mother.

Boom.

"No... impossible... How could it be?" Chu Mu murmured.

That was his mother—the mother he had always respected.

He had been the most obedient child, always listening to her. She was stricter with him than with his brothers, harsher and more demanding, but he had always believed it was for his own good, to help him succeed and support the family.

Even when his father protested his decision to join the army, it was his mother who knelt with him before his father and pleaded for his chance.

While stationed at the barracks, she often sent him pastries she made herself—treats his brothers never received.

How could his mother ever harm him?

There must be someone hidden in the shadows, plotting against him and Zhao.

Zhao had said she knew who poisoned them. She must suspect it was his mother. After all, Zhao’s impression of the old matron was poor; it was only natural for her to suspect her.

"Husband, it can’t possibly be who you think. She would never poison you or me. There must be someone hiding in the dark, targeting us."

Shen Zhao could hardly resist prying open Chu Mu’s wooden head to see if it was filled with paste.

Who would, nineteen years ago, take an interest in a mere child, spend years lurking by his side, and poison him daily? How idle would such a person have to be, and how mad? At that time, Chu Mu had been just the third son of a minor official—who would bother harming such an insignificant boy?

Could he not see something so simple?

To believe so firmly in the old matron’s goodness—no wonder she had ruined his future.

"Doctor, is there any cure for the poison in my husband and me? Can we still have children in the future?"

He wanted to have a child with Zhao, boy or girl—it didn’t matter, as long as it was theirs.

The old physician shook his head. "General Chu’s exposure to the infertility drug has, over the years, penetrated to his very bones and blood. Unless you find a divine elixir, it is impossible for him to have children. Your lady’s exposure was less severe, but because of her persistent coldness and weakness, she will find it equally difficult to conceive."

Impossible to have children...

"Impossible to have children!" Chu Mu echoed hollowly, like a soul departed from his body.

It was not until Shen Zhao had brought Zisu safely back to Jinyu Pavilion and the two of them boarded the carriage home that Chu Mu finally came to his senses.

He gazed intently at Shen Zhao, who sat with eyes closed, resting.

"Zhao... Don’t worry. Even if we have no children, I will still love you with all my heart, never failing you."

Shen Zhao did not open her eyes, her tone icy. "Have you not failed me enough already? What does it matter if there are children or not? Besides, the one who can never have children is you."

Irritated, Shen Zhao removed her court robes and changed into the ordinary clothes kept in the carriage. She called out to the driver, "Stop!"

Then she glanced once at Chu Mu and said, "Go home ahead of me. I have to go to the Capital Army first. When you return, take a roundabout way. Dressed like that, your loving mother might very well beat you to death. If you die, so be it, but don’t let it harm my already frail health."

Without waiting for Chu Mu’s reply, she leapt from the carriage, striding away in annoyance.

Never fail her? Yet he had done nothing but fail her.

The streets bustled with people, vendors lined the road on both sides.

Shen Zhao was heading for the barracks when, suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in the crowd ahead.

She quickly followed, blending into the throng.

Lin Jiao-jiao, who rarely ventured beyond the gates of the General’s mansion, was out alone, and in disguise.

Anyone unfamiliar with her would never have recognized Lin Jiao-jiao now.

She moved swiftly through the crowd, nothing of her former frailty visible.

Lin Jiao-jiao circled the market several times before quickening her pace down a secluded alley.

Shen Zhao followed closely. The farther they went, the narrower the alley, leaving fewer places to hide.

Fortunately, Lin Jiao-jiao stopped at a doorway instead of going further in.

Shen Zhao watched intently.

Lin Jiao-jiao knocked three times, then, in a precise rhythm, knocked five more times.

The door opened from within. Because of the angle, Shen Zhao saw only Lin Jiao-jiao enter, not the person who let her in.

Once the door closed, Shen Zhao crept forward, glanced at the courtyard wall, and vaulted over it without effort. She didn’t linger there.

Swiftly, she climbed onto the roof. She had already noted that the jujube tree in the yard was dense with branches and leaves, most of which stretched over the rooftop.

She hid among them, perfectly concealed.

It was broad daylight, after all—if she lay openly on someone else’s roof, it would be impossible not to be discovered.

Crash—a door below was suddenly kicked open with a bang.