OUR HAPPILY EVER AFTER (A WANGXIAN STORY)

Chapter 65

Gusu's Cloud Recesses...

Sect Leader Lan steps into the compound. Walking briskly, his sword and flute sway back and forth on his sides, messing with the flow of his broad sleeves.
He reduces his pace as he enters the sitting room and meets a familiar sight; JingFei on the floor fixated on a corpse. Xichen's mind also jolts when he sees the content in the box. He recalls the tragic story of a headless body.

Who could have done such a vicious thing to a woman, his mother-in-law?
Sinking low, he grasps his spouse by the shoulders and pulls her up. JingFei's eyes are motionless and refuse to look elsewhere while she is drawn away from the head in the box. Her body jitters lightly when her husband carries her like a child out of the place. He would look into this and find out the culprit but once again his wife's health came first. 

Lan JingFei seemed to have snapped back into reality just as Xichen's foot crossed the borders of the room. She raises her eyes to look at her husband briefly then buries her face in his chest to sob. Lan Xichen lets her be and says nothing. 

"Father...", Lan Huizhong bows when he sees his father entering the Hanshi. He had come to spend time with him per the schedule they agreed on two nights ago. Huizhong becomes concerned when he denotes that something may have happened to his mother and his love for her makes him ask of it regardless of her indifference.

"Is my mother not okay...Can I stay with her?", He follows behind when Xichen takes JingFei in without responding to his greeting. Cuifen asks Fan to get JingFei's medicine; she took them for depression and sleep deprivation. Once Zewujun sets his wife on the bed he turns to answer the boy with a pleading smile.

Xichen, "A'Jiang, sorry, I have to cancel our plans for today. We can go to the temple later to..."

"You...You did it.", JingFei suddenly picks up on the boy's presence and lets down her feet. HuiZhong has no idea what his mother is saying but if it was something he did, he did not mind begging for forgiveness. He would do it to make the woman happy. But her next words stung everyone present in the room. 

"You killed her didnt you...You killed my mother!!" She stands akimbo. Xichen stares at her in awe, noting the way her fingers shook. 

"JingFei, your mind is confused. This is our son.", Xichen calls the boy closer, hoping she would recognize him and not say anything to make the boy scared. It all goes wrong when JingFei attacks their son once he gets close. Not only does she slap him but grabs his neck and wrings it mercilessly before Xichen could stop her.

 "Madam Lan, you'll hurt the boy!... Please Mistress!", Cuifen fidgets in a close range as Zewujun grabs JingFei's wrists.

"You think I won't know you did it, Huh?... Well, I'm not stupid!" Huizhong writhes as his father fought hard to tear off his mother's murderous grip. He coughs and gasps for air when he is freed, crawling away from the raging woman asking for his head and into the arms of the Maiden pleading for his release. Cuifen quickly shields him and attempts to calm his shivering. Lan Jiang tries to hold back his tears but what could he do, he was just a little boy with a broken heart that bleeds over. 

"Murderer!!"

"LAN JINGFEI!!", Zewujun shook his wife so hard he heard a faint snap in her arm. He loosens his hands. "That is your son!", His chest heaves in anger and frustration. Eyes still blazing he forces her to sit back on the bed and deters her with a warning glare. JingFei breaks into tears, asking Xichen to take revenge for her mother's death.

Lan Xichen leaves her side to check on the boy. "A'Jiang, let me see it...", He lowers his height to touch him. "No!... I want...I want my Uncle.", Huizhong rejects his father's hands.