With the echo of Shen Mo's words lingering in her mind, He Shang was stunned for a moment, then turned and left with a flick of her sleeve. As she opened the door, she turned back to her and sighed, "I really don't understand what's so good about that bastard Rong Yue."
As the door slammed shut, Shen Mo's body collapsed. An unnamed force was slowly draining her strength. She lay on the bed, thinking about He Shang's words, and a smile appeared on her lips. Indeed, what was so good about Rong Yue in this life?
A figure suddenly flashed before his eyes, and before Shen Mo could react, he heard a familiar voice: "Follow her and find her brother within three days."
Shen Mo rubbed his eyes. As if in a hallucination, Rong Yue, who had just been lying on the couch defeated by the incense and alcohol, was now standing up with a radiant expression. Even Long Lin had somehow entered the room and was now clasping his hands in a fist salute, ready to be ordered around.
"Yes, I will certainly live up to your expectations." After saying that, Long Lin strode away, leaving Shen Mo staring blankly at Rong Yue's back.
"Young Master?" Shen Mo's arms, which were supporting her body, were trembling. Even if she was slow to react, she knew that she had fallen into Rong Yue's trap once again.
"I initially thought you were a spy from an enemy country or the Left Prime Minister, but seeing that you don't even know how to use the alluring fragrance, I realized I overestimated you," Rong Yue finally turned around and said to her.
"Now that I know so much, am I doomed to die?"
She had closed her eyes and was waiting for his confirmation, but after a long time there was no response, Shen Mo hesitated and looked up at him, finally saying in a panic, "Young Master, could it be that you see how hard I have worked in the Rong family for so many years and can't bear to see me suffer?"
Rong Yue frowned immediately and turned his face away abruptly. "What's there to be reluctant about? She's just a maid."
“But they can’t play the flute, they can’t write your handwriting, they can’t understand your loneliness, they can’t cook strange and appetizing dishes, and they can’t be used by you, young master, time and time again and say ‘you’re not allowed to hurt him.’” Shen Mo stared intently at his back, as if that was where his eyes were.
“You…” Rong Yue seemed somewhat annoyed.
Shen Mo smiled to smooth things over, "This was just a joke from a dying man, young master, don't be angry, and... it's not worth it." Shen Mo's eyes became increasingly unfocused, and Rong Yue in front of her seemed to be split into several parts. She dug her nails into her palms to force herself to stay awake, her face terribly pale.
"Young master, a dying man has a question for you, may I?"
Rong Yue simply stood there without saying a word, which Shen Mo took as tacit agreement, and asked, "Why are you looking for He Shang's brother?"
"What's it to you?"
"Since I'm dying because of her, I want to die knowing why."
Rong Yue pondered for a long time, and just when Shen Mo thought he wouldn't answer, he spoke up, "He Shang hasn't reached the point of being immune to all poisons, but his brother can."
"So you want to let her leave to lure out her brother? And I've become your tool to make her leave?"
“That’s right.” Rong Yue did not deny it.
"Young Master, why are you trying to please Lu Feng? What do you really want?" Shen Mo had already closed his eyes, his arms could no longer support the weight of his body, and he collapsed in an instant. His voice was also weak and faint. Ignoring Rong Yue, he said to himself, "Power? Money? Status? Actually, you don't need to go through others. Do you know that you are the current emperor's prince? You may even be able to rule the entire country."
Chapter Eighteen: The Imprisoned Forest
In the height of summer, a gentle breeze suddenly swept through the quiet courtyard, blowing down a handful of fallen leaves, which sadly returned to the dust. However, a few leaves were exceptionally stubborn, passing through the half-open paper window and falling straight into the desolate room, silently watching the handsome and profound profile of the man standing with his hands behind his back.
The setting sun cast a rainbow-like glow, and a few dappled rays of light streamed through the window, quietly illuminating the pale, unnatural face of the woman on the couch. Then, like them, she fell into a long silence.
"How is it?" After a long silence, the man with his back to the window finally broke the silence and looked at the doctor who was pursing his lips and hesitating.
"Young master, has this young lady ingested something by mistake? Judging from her pulse, she's been poisoned..."
“I knew she was poisoned a long time ago. I’m asking you if you know how to cure this poison?” Rong Yue said with some impatience.
"This..." The old doctor was so frightened by his interruption that he broke out in a cold sweat. He had no time to figure out why he had suddenly appeared in a strange house, and was forced to face this situation. His hands and feet trembled slightly, and he looked at Rong Yue in fear and said, "I'll try... I'll try."
Rong Yue glanced at the woman on the bed. “So you’re saying you’re somewhat confident,” he said, turning and leaving. “I’ll give you three days to wake her up.”
But then it suddenly stopped at the doorway, turned its head and looked at the old man with a chilling expression, "Those who dare to try to escape, die!"
In a word, he was ruthless, arrogant, and tough. Even an old man who had lived more than half a lifetime longer than him had to submit to the murderous aura he exuded. His legs went weak, and he knelt down in front of the bed, no longer daring to look at him.
So when Shen Mo woke up two days later, the old man was overjoyed and hurriedly knelt by the window to thank Buddha for saving his life.
Shen Mo was still weak all over. He touched his neck, which was still a little sore. He looked at the strange old man in front of him and asked, "Senior, what's wrong?"
"Oh, it's nothing." The old man smiled and stood up. "It's so good that you're awake, young lady. I'll go get your medicine right away."
"Bring the medicine?" Shen Mo hesitated for a moment before calling out to him, "Bring what medicine?"
Upon hearing this, the old man shook his head helplessly and said, "Young lady, you don't know you've been poisoned, do you? You'd better be careful next time."
"Poisoning!" Shen Mo thought it over carefully, touched his throbbing neck and began to ponder. He calmed down a bit and looked at the old man with his usual expression. "Senior, do you know what kind of poison it is?"
The old man shook his head. “It’s strange, really. I’ve been practicing medicine for decades and have diagnosed many cases of poisoning, but I’ve never seen a pulse like yours before. The poisoning isn’t deep, but it seems to be quite complicated. I can’t make a judgment.”
Shen Mo pondered for a moment, then stopped questioning. Only after he went out to fetch the medicine did she straighten her weak body and look around the room, her gaze lingering for a long time before she looked away. Based on the decades she had spent in the Rong family mansion, this place was not the Rong family mansion at all! Remembering Rong Yue before he fell into a deep sleep, she couldn't help but make some plans.
As she pondered this, the old man brought in the medicine. Shen Mo gratefully accepted it, took a sip, frowned slightly, and looked up at the old man, "Senior, where did you get this medicine?"
The old man said indignantly, "It was left by that young master, so I did my best to match it."
"Oh." Shen Mo lowered his head and took a sip, but his eyes didn't miss the old man's expression. He tentatively asked, "Which young master?"
The old man suddenly looked at her in surprise, “Judging from that young man’s expression and his explanation, I thought you two… knew each other.”
"I don't know why I'm in a place like this either." Shen Mo looked up innocently and glanced around.
The old man finally felt relieved. "You look kind, young lady. There's something I have to say. Even if he were the King of Heaven, he couldn't just imprison or force us, could he? Well, he's coming tomorrow. If I can save you, I'll be able to explain myself. But young lady... what should we do?"
The other party actually mistook her for a respectable woman whom Rong Yue had abducted. Shen Mo raised her bowl to hide a hint of sarcasm and said calmly, "Us?"
"Like the girl, I also don't know how I ended up here."
Seeing the old man's defeated expression, Shen Mo guessed that Rong Yue would no longer bother to plant spies on him. Suddenly, he put the medicine bowl on the table, dipped his finger in the medicine, and wrote a single word under the old man's surprised gaze: Escape.
"I don't..." Seeing Shen Mo gesture for him to shush, the old man quickly swallowed his words, looked at the door in alarm, and shook his head at Shen Mo repeatedly after finding everything was normal.
Have you seen his face? Shen Mo continued to dip his brush in water and write, then said, "The medicine is a bit bitter, but at least I feel much better. Thank you, senior."
The old man nodded, echoing her words, "It's only right."
Shen Mo looked at him, his expression hardening, and wrote two words: certain death.
The old man suddenly became flustered, looking at Shen Mo as if he believed it but also dared not believe it. He still had a family to support, and even his fingers trembled.
"Senior, are you going to put away the bowls? I haven't gotten out of bed for many days and I'd like to get some exercise. I'll go with you." Shen Mo seemed much calmer, and after taking the porcelain bowl from the side, he got out of bed.
Watching her stagger out the door, the old man behind her was at a loss for what to do. Just as he was hesitating, he suddenly heard the sound of a bowl breaking on the ground, followed by a scream.
If there weren't other women in the courtyard, the old man would have thought that such a loud scream couldn't have come from the sickly Chen Mo. He rushed out the door, and instantly felt a figure in black dart past, but after blinking, he seemed to see nothing at all.
"How are you, young lady?" The old man quickly helped her up.
Taking advantage of the situation, Shen Mo leaned closer to his ear and whispered, "There was only one person." After standing up again, he returned to normal, "I am usually most afraid of rats, and I just ran into one. Please forgive me, senior."
The old man was stunned for a moment, then realized what she was going to do, silently released her, and finally nodded without a word.
Shen Mo turned and went into the small kitchen next door. He came out a moment later and said to the old man with a smile, "Looking at all this soot in the kitchen makes me feel uncomfortable. Could you please carry two buckets of water to my room? Oh, no, I'm a bit of a germaphobe, so I'm afraid I'll have to carry a few more."
The old man watched the woman's unsteady, weak steps and suddenly couldn't understand what she was trying to do. As the last rays of the setting sun disappeared, he suddenly realized how quickly night had fallen.
That night, the old man delivered medicine to Chen Mo as usual, but he didn't see him come out for a long time. Suddenly, a large fire broke out in the house. Fortunately, the person outside rushed in in time and risked his life to put out the fire with the water buckets and clothes inside the house. But when he opened his eyes, which were stinging from the smoke, he found that the house was empty. Looking at the wide-open paper window, the person threw himself into the fire without thinking.
After a long while, a head tentatively emerged from under the bed. As if feeling safe, it quickly climbed out and pulled the old man out. "Senior, he is only temporarily confused. He may very well come back. We should leave quickly."
They had gone in wearing soaking wet clothes, which were now mostly dried by the fire. The old man shook his clothes and followed her, but he was very dissatisfied. "Young lady, how can you joke with your own life? If that person hadn't come to put out the fire, wouldn't we have been burned to death by the fire we started?"
Shen Mo pursed his lips slightly, "Don't worry, he's acting on orders. He won't let us die until that person arrives." After saying that, Shen Mo poured some more oil on the bed, threw away the tinderbox, and ran outside.
"What are you trying to do now?"
"In order to avoid handing over an empty plot of land when we meet the deadline tomorrow, that person will be busy again when he returns."
The old man was speechless for a long time after hearing her words, and could only run for his life. But then he noticed that she was abandoning the small path and heading straight for the main road, so he hurriedly called out to her, "Young lady, do you want to be caught and taken back?"
Understanding his meaning, Shen Mo had no choice but to stop and explain, "Those who flee for their lives have always had a penchant for unorthodox methods, and so do those who pursue them." After saying this, he left, "If you don't believe me, senior, you can take another route. After all, I am not entirely certain about this matter either."
The old man looked back at the road behind him and finally believed her. The two of them continued on their way, one after the other, following a secluded spot by the main road, until they had run a lot, exerted themselves too much, and their legs were weak. Only then did Chen Mo stop.
Just as the old man was catching his breath, he saw Shen Mo suddenly bow deeply to him. He quickly stepped forward to help her up, saying, "I was only able to escape thanks to your intelligence, young lady. What are you doing?"
Shen Mo lowered his eyebrows. "Actually, I lied to you. I lied to you when I said that I would die if I saw his face."
Why?
"Because I'm determined to escape."
After pondering for a long time, the old man still cupped his hands to Shen Mo in a gentlemanly manner, saying, "In that case, you don't need to apologize to me. If you had abandoned me and escaped alone, I would have truly been dead."
Shen Mo didn't hesitate and said, "I will part ways with you here, senior. Please forget what happened these past two days, as it involved life and death. If we meet again in the future, we can treat each other as strangers."
"Wait a minute, young lady!"
Shen Mo turned around, "Is there anything else, Senior?"
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just wanted to remind you that I recognize this place. It’s a deserted area not far outside Ning City. Where does the young lady want to go? I can also point you in the right direction.”
Shen Mo finally shook his head and said with relief, "No need. I am inherently lonely. My parents died early, and I am alone from now on. Everywhere is my way home."
One moment she was spouting grand pronouncements, but the next she was plunged into despair after parting ways with the old man. Her vision suddenly blurred, perhaps because she had exhausted her strength. Her legs gave way and she collapsed to the side. She touched the back of her neck, realizing that there must still be some toxins left in her body. Damn He Shang, how hard did he bite her!
She struggled to climb into the haystack, but before she could hide herself, she fainted. Her only thought before fainting was that she didn't want to wake up and see Rong Yue.
Shen Mo opened her eyes groggily and saw bundles of firewood and blackened walls. Sunlight shone through the cracks, illuminating the swirling dust. It was another unfamiliar place! She couldn't help but move, but found that her upper body was sore and numb, and she could only bend and move her fingers.
She thought she had a dream in which Rong Yue was not there as she wished, but she was tied up in a strange woodshed.
Chapter Nineteen: Crimson Tiger
Soon, the door was rudely kicked open, and the bright light from outside immediately blinded Shen Mo. After her eyes adjusted, she realized that a burly man had walked in, looking at her with a half-smile and saying, "Finally awake! You'll have a good time with your master later."
The rough and thuggish voice sounded particularly jarring, and Shen Mo finally realized that it wasn't a dream after all!
"Wait!" Shen Mo stopped the burly man who was about to approach her. "Who is your master? How did I get here?"
“My master…” The burly man suddenly stopped and looked her up and down. Finally, he shook his hand and said, “Forget it. You probably won’t live long in my master’s hands anyway. It won’t hurt to tell you. Do you know that once you leave the outskirts of Ningcheng, you will be in our Qixuan Kingdom? And my master will be the future master of Qixuan!” The burly man spoke with great excitement and then dragged her over.
Shen Mo struggled back with all her might, but finally cried out when she could no longer resist his strength: "I am no longer a virgin!"
The burly man was taken aback, then suddenly grabbed her chin and laughed loudly, "What kind of pipe dream are you having, little girl? Even if the master is surrounded by beauties every day, he wouldn't be so thirsty as to summon you. Tsk tsk... It's a shame you're joking about your chastity."
Suddenly, Shen Mo felt a lightness in his body as the burly man hoisted him onto his shoulder. After struggling a few times to no avail, he stopped wasting his energy. Thinking about the fire and ashes from the previous night and the night's escape through the suburbs, he figured his face must look terrible. He agreed with the burly man's assessment, but still didn't know what the man wanted to do with him.
"Thump!"
With a thud, pain shot through his buttocks and back. Shen Mo glared resentfully at the burly man who had thrown him directly to the ground.
"What are you looking at? You think you can expect to be treated with special courtesy here?" With that, he spat, turned around, closed the door, and left.
The room suddenly became much darker, exuding a chilling aura. Shen Mo immediately looked around warily.