But my wife, who had agreed to treat General Liu, disappeared.
I went to the general's residence to ask after her, but the gatekeeper said no female physician of that description had ever entered.
The military adviser to such a powerful official had deliberately lured my wife there, yet now they claimed no such person had come. I truly had no idea what he intended.
I could only wander aimlessly through the Divine Capital, searching for the old monk. I was certain he had imprisoned my wife.
Although I did not know why he would do this, anything that made someone so important go to such lengths to scheme against her could not be a trivial matter.
Worried that my wife was in danger and frantic with anxiety, I searched day and night without rest. At last, my persistence paid off, and I spotted the old monk on the outskirts of the city.
He frequently visited a heavily guarded mountain estate, built halfway up a mountain against a cliff, in terrain that was difficult to approach.
My heart tightened when I learned this, and I immediately hurried to the estate.
Fortunately, my time hiding in the mountains had given me some skill at climbing and maneuvering, as well as familiarity with the wilderness.
Although soldiers carrying sharp blades guarded all three sides of the estate except the one against the cliff, I used my experience of mountain life to lower a rope down the rock face under cover of darkness and slip inside.
Only then did I discover, to my horror, that the rooms contained no people, but large snakes of varying thicknesses and colors. They lay coiled in the corners, flicking their tongues, their eyes cold.
At this point, Cui Jiuyang's expression changed. How could he fail to understand?