Chapter 4 Recovery

  Zhou Chengzong took over the sign, looked down and took a look, his heart skipped a beat. ——This is the Shen Nong Order of the Shen Nong family!

  He immediately grasped the sign tightly. When he turned around, his hand slipped and the sign had already been taken away by him.

  "Lord Godou, are you going to chase after him?" a close guard asked as he rushed up.

  Zhou Chengzong shook his head, "Do you know where they went?"

  He shook his head and looked at the first black-clad man who had been burned to ashes, knowing that this clue was broken.

  Just now the second man in black took Zhou Huai Xuan away too quickly, and because of the torches on Zhou Cheng Zong's side shining brightly, places a bit further away seemed even darker.

  The man in black took Zhou Huai Xuan and merged into the night ahead, without a single trace to be seen.

  Wang tightly hugged Sheng Siyan, bowed her head and carefully checked if she was injured, softly asking: "Did that scoundrel hit you?"

  Sheng Siyan smiled and shook her head like a rattle drum, "No, no. Brother Huai Xuan takes good care of me." Then she asked again: "Where is Brother Huai Xuan?"

  Actually, Sheng Siyan had already heard the voice of that black-clothed person just now, she just wanted to confirm it. —— Eyes can't see, after all, it's still inconvenient...

  Wang quickly glanced at Zhou Chengzong, sighed silently in his heart, and said to Sheng Siyan: "Zhou's eldest son was taken away by that black-clothed man. Let's go back. This has nothing to do with us."

  Sheng Siyan was extremely sympathetic to Zhou Huai Xuan's situation, and upon hearing this, she immediately turned her head, opened her grayish-white eyes, and spoke in the direction where Zhou Chengzong had just spoken: "God General, Huai Xuan is your son, you can't ignore him. You're so powerful, hurry up and save him!"

  Zhou Chengzong's face was as calm as water, ignoring her, not even looking at Sheng Siyan and Wang Shi, he brushed his sleeves and walked down the mountain in big strides.

  His guards exchanged a glance with each other and slightly shook their heads before following Zhou Chengzong down the mountain.

  The torches of the troops went down the mountain like a long snake.

  Wang saw this and hastily hugged Sheng Siyan as they followed behind the troops down the mountain.

  Arrived at the foot of the mountain, it was already early morning hours, with a hint of dawn breaking on the horizon.

  Wang and Sheng Siyan lived in Wangjia Village outside the capital city, so they didn't need to enter the city anymore. He took Sheng Siyan directly back to his own home.

  Zhou Chengzong returned to the Shenjiang Mansion with his personal guards, only to see his first wife, Feng Shi, rushing towards him with tears on her face. She asked hopefully, "Where's Xuan'er?"

  Zhou Chengzong said lightly: "Xuan'er was taken away." He only said one sentence and didn't say another word.

  Feng was as if struck by a thunderbolt on a clear day. He stood there for a moment, his face turning from white to red, and his whole body began to tremble.

  "Taken away? What do you mean by that? They all said that the thief appeared in front of Shen Nong Fu, and you clearly chased after him, but why didn't you catch up to him in time?" Feng looked at Zhou Chengzong's calm face, her anger growing even more. She hadn't wanted to bring it up, but couldn't help mentioning it again.

  Zhou Chengzong glanced at her and ordered the servants, "Help Madam back to the inner courtyard. This is the outer courtyard, not a place where women should come. How can you serve as attendants? You don't even have any sense of propriety." With that, he walked into his own inner room.

  Feng gazed at Zhou Chengzong's tall and majestic back, her heart aching with sorrow, but she dared not speak again. She suddenly slumped onto the chair in the outer room, covering her chest and murmuring: "Taken away? Where did they take him?" As she spoke, she burst into tears, sobbing: "I only have this one son! How can you bear to let others take him away? Do those people know he's ill? Will they take care of him? Let him eat his fill and wear warm clothes? — You're so formidable, how could you fail to catch those thieves?"

  Zhou Chengzong heard it in the inner house, and suddenly thought of what the blind girl had said on the mountain before, which was exactly the same as his own wife's words, making him even more annoyed. However, fortunately, he had been fighting outside for many years and was born calm and composed, so he didn't get stimulated by the two sentences and make a fuss, but instead ignored it, sat alone in front of the desk, and repeatedly examined the Shen Nong order given to him by the black-clothed man.

  The Zhou family has an extremely good relationship with the Shen Nong Sheng family.

  He looked at this token for a long time and couldn't see any signs of forgery. Does that mean this token is real?

  But how did the man in black get the token of the Sheng family?

  The Sheng family was called "Shennong", of course, because their medical skills were exceptional. When the Xia family's ancestors started the uprising, they naturally needed someone who understood medicine to assist them, otherwise, on the battlefield where knives and arrows flew everywhere, it was likely that one day they would meet King Yanluo (the king of hell). The Sheng family's ancestors were originally the lifesavers of the Xia family's ancestors. It can be said that if there was no Sheng family, the Xia family's ancestors would have died on the battlefield long ago and would not have been able to lead the righteous army to ultimate victory.

  Just like the Zhou family, known as "Divine Generals", because for generations they have produced famous generals. From the ancestors of the Zhou family who followed the ancestors of the Xia family to conquer the world, the Zhou family has been a gathering place for star generals, and each generation has produced exceptionally talented generals.

  The divine brush of the Zheng family, refers to their family's literary giants emerging in succession. The ancestor of the Zheng family who followed the ancestors of the Xia family to start a business, wrote "Discussing Zhou Yi", which was famous all over the world and laid the groundwork for the Xia family's rebellion. The wonderful pen gave birth to flowers, sweeping across thousands of troops, not at all inferior to the power of the divine general Zhou family.

  Thinking of the Sheng and Zheng families, Zhou Chengzong couldn't help but think of the Wu family's divine calculations.

  The Wu family is not saying that they are good at fortune-telling, but rather they are good at abacus. The ancestors of the Wu family who followed the ancestors of the Xia family to conquer the world had a nickname called "Golden Abacus". They were born into a business family and not only had a keen eye for spotting opportunities, but also knew how to hoard and speculate, buying up shares in the Xia family's ancestral stock. Moreover, they were responsible for organizing supplies and preparing military rations for the righteous army at that time, ensuring logistical support.

  After Xia Jiali established the country, he granted the four families as Guogong, hereditary and irreplaceable, coexisting with the Xia royal family.

  But this was broken ten years ago when it was written in black and white on the family register of the Xia Shi royal family, and a stone tablet was erected in the ancestral temple of the imperial family.

  Ten years ago, Zhou Chengzong was still in the northwest leading troops to fight against the barbarians and expand the western territory of Dashu.

  That year, a sudden change occurred in the imperial city of Dashu, and the emperor suddenly fell ill and lay in bed, unable to speak or see until now, like a living dead person.

  The Empress Dowager was enraged, and upon hearing the news, she ordered the execution of the elderly Mr. Sheng who had been responsible for taking care of the Emperor's body. The entire Sheng family, young and old, were thrown into prison and beheaded three days later.

  The Sheng family prospered for a thousand years in the Great Xia Empire, and there were many people from the side branches of the ancestral house.

  However, apart from the direct descendants of the Sheng family, the collateral branches and smaller households were not entitled to inherit the Sheng family's medical skills. Therefore, for the people of the Sheng family outside the capital, the Empress Dowager graciously decreed that they did not have to share the same guilt as the direct descendants of the Sheng family, and also ordered local officials not to extend the punishment to the entire clan, allowing everyone in the country to breathe a sigh of relief. Otherwise, it would have been a truly terrifying storm of blood and rain...

  In the capital city, the Shen Nong family is truly the leader in mastering the great Xia medical skills. Their Shen Nong Hall offers free clinics for the poor every month. The Shen Nong Order, it's said that there are only three in the world. Two were taken away by the Empress Dowager during the house search, and only one was left outside, which should be the one he has?

  It is said that whoever obtains the Sheng family's Shen Nong Order can get the most skilled old master of the Sheng family to treat them once.

  However, Old Master Sheng was executed by the Empress Dowager's order ten years ago. What good is the Shen Nong Decree to these people? Can they bring Old Master Sheng back to life and help him save his son Xuan?

  Zhou Chengzong closed his eyes, and the tough guy who never shed tears had some moisture in the corners of his eyes.

  ……

  Wang brought Sheng Siyan and Xiao Cui back to Wangjiacun, also in silence.

  She returned home and, as usual, boiled a pot of hot water for Sheng Siyan, adding various medicinal herbs to treat eye diseases, simmering it into a pot of greenish medicine water for Sheng Siyan to soak in.

  Sheng Siyan noticed Wang's low mood and quietly got into the medicinal bath without a fuss, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth in endurance.

  The medicine was very hot, scalding her fair skin red, but the medicinal properties penetrated into her body through her skin, hoping to take effect.

  "Your eyes will definitely get better. Mother must cure your eyes." Wang said seriously, turning her head to continue reading a medical book with her head buried.

  Sheng Siyan smiled sweetly and comforted Wang Shi, "Mother, don't worry. I'm fine now. Although I can't see, my ears are more sensitive than anything else, I can tell the direction of the wind! It's no different from having eyes..."

  Wang was amused by her and chuckled, shaking her head: "Silly child, still trying to guess the wind? Do you think you're a divine general? - Hurry up and stop talking nonsense, go soak in your medicinal bath."

  Sheng Siyan murmured a response, closed her eyes, and used the breathing technique that Wang had taught her to regulate her breath.

  This time, she suddenly discovered that not long after, the two tooth marks on her palm and tiger's mouth were bitten by Zhou Huai Xuan, emitting a wave of heat. The scorching feeling ran all the way up her arm to her eyes. This stimulation was like the feeling of being stung by onion juice when chopping onions in her previous life, she only felt that her eyes were also burning with pain. ——This is something that has never happened before!

  Gradually, she found that the gray light spots in front of her eyes were increasing, and it was a bit like what the doctor had told her when she was looking at eye diseases in the ophthalmology hospital, the situation where the photoreceptor cells in the eyes recover!

  Is her eyes really going to heal?!

  ……