I put my arm around the strong man's slender waist

Chapter 51

I couldn't make out the faint, intermittent sound, but I vaguely heard a few lines: "The crescent moon shines over the nine provinces, some families rejoice while others grieve, some families drink fine wine in high-rise buildings while others wander the streets in destitution..."

The sound of the wind, the sound of singing—that night I heard an unknown ballad.

I don't know how much time had passed; it seemed short, yet it felt frighteningly long. Leng Baichun's fingers slowly slipped from my palm, and I turned my head to see the doctor holding a small, fleshy lump covered in blood.

Leng Baichun was disemboweled and died on the bed, her body and the bed covered in blood, her face like a white flower blooming in a pool of blood.

The doctor tore off a piece of clothing, wrapped the baby in it, and handed it to me, saying, "It's a girl."

The baby was so tiny, all wrinkled like a monkey, nestled softly in the brocade, lying in my arms, neither crying nor making a fuss, nor opening his eyes.

I panicked instantly and cautiously reached out to feel her heartbeat. The doctor, sweating profusely, hesitated before speaking, "Young lady... this child probably won't survive..."

"Shut up!" She'll definitely survive. Leng Baichun is watching; her child will definitely survive!

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Xiao Jiu rushed in, but then stopped at the threshold, hesitant to come any closer. Her eyes were fixed on the bed, and she stammered, "The Demonic Sect has arrived, and the carriage is coming this way..."

The Demonic Sect? I walked over a few steps and asked, "Yan Shu is here?"

He didn't answer me, he just stared straight at the bed, the gray bed curtains, and the bright red bloodstains on the floor.

Sure enough, the sound of horses' hooves outside the door grew closer and closer.

I reached out and handed the child to him, then took out a white jade token from my pocket and gave it to him as well, saying, "Take the child to Licheng Palace to find the Medicine King and the Miraculous Healer, or go to the Demonic Sect to find Shen Qing. Show them the token, and they will definitely save the child."

Xiao Jiu looked down at the limp child. "Is she... dead?"

I didn't know if he was asking about Leng Baichun or the child. Hearing the sound of horses' hooves, I didn't have time to say more and said, "Leng Baichun must protect the child with his life. If the child dies in your arms, Leng Baichun will not be able to die in peace!"

He trembled and looked up at me.

"Hurry up and leave!" I pulled him to the window.

He suddenly asked me, "And you?"

I couldn't leave. I heard the lullaby outside the window, looked up at him and said, "I still have people to wait for, so I'm entrusting the child to you."

The thunderous sound of horses' hooves echoed past the building below. Xiao Jiu remained silent, picked up the child, and leaped down, disappearing into the languid night with a light touch of her toes.

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I closed the window and turned to see the doctor slip out of the room. The room, filled with a fishy smell, contained only Leng Baichun and Gu Biyun, who was unconscious in the corner of the bed after being acupunctured.

She was sleeping so soundly.

I heard the sound of horses being reined in downstairs, and someone shouted, "Su Xie! Are you there?"

It was Yan Shu's voice. I took out a small white jade medicine bottle from my pocket and poured a tiny pill into my palm. A thin layer of white wax wrapped around a very small insect, a centipede.

I recognize it; it's the same Gu worm as the one in Ruan Bicheng's body. Ye Baizhi said there are only two in the world, one in Ruan Bicheng's body and the other I'm to be implanted in Yan Shu's body.

It seemed like someone had broken down the door downstairs. I raised my hand and swallowed the pill. That tiny worm egg pill began to stir inside my stomach, like a thousand hooks slowly pulling at my flesh and bones. Suddenly, my legs went weak and I collapsed to the ground.

Someone burst through the door, saw me rushing towards them, reached out and wrapped their arms around my waist, supporting me. "Su Xie! You..."

"Yan Shu." I looked up and saw him clearly. His eyebrows and eyes were enchantingly indistinct in the moonlight. I also heard a faint song in the wind outside the window.

Ye Baizhi also came in.

I reached out and grabbed Yan Shu's collar, saying, "Yan Shu, I've been poisoned."

Author's Note: It's so late at night, and reading the comments makes it even more cheesy... Well, the recent chapters are going to have some twists and turns, which is a bit depressing, but the male lead is Yan Shu and he will definitely be Yan Shu. I want to make the female lead give up completely and make Yan Shu more normal... These things take time to work out. I'm sorry if this makes you feel uncomfortable. *bows*

While I was writing something difficult, I stopped talking and started reading.

sixty

It felt as if a thousand tiny needles were stitching my stomach shut. I couldn't tell if it was pain or numbness. I was covered in cold sweat, and my fingers, which were gripping Yan Shu, were trembling slightly. I could barely hear my own voice. "Yan Shu, I've been poisoned."

He supported my waist, placed his fingers on my wrist, and felt my pulse. His expression grew increasingly serious. "What happened... I was perfectly fine before. Where's the antidote? Where is the antidote?"

I looked up at Ye Baizhi standing on the threshold, pointed at her, and said, "Why did you hurt me? Why did you hurt me..."

As Yan Shu's gaze swept over me, Ye Baizhi's fingers, which were gripping the door panel, tightened. Her face turned deathly pale as she stared at me, a look of shock and astonishment flashing across her eyes. Immediately, her eyes reddened, and tears streamed down her face. "Sister, what did you say? Are you trying to frame me and kill me?"

I didn't argue, but just gripped Yan Shu's clothes and trembled. The intense pain in my stomach and my bones was relentless. "I just want the antidote..." I clutched my chest, panting heavily. "Ye Baizhi, I just want the antidote."

"I didn't see you last night, how could you have poisoned me?" Ye Baizhi's eyes were filled with tears as she looked at Yan Shu and me.

I grabbed my collar and laughed. "Who brought me snacks tonight? I didn't touch anything else except the ones you brought." I looked up at Yan Shu and asked, "You asked her to bring the snacks, not her. Were you trying to poison me?"

Yan Shu's face suddenly turned pale.

"It wasn't me!" Ye Baizhi knelt down with a thud, tears streaming down her face. "High Priest, you must believe me! Really..."

Yan Shu suddenly raised his hand, and I heard a soft thud. Ye Baizhi screamed and crashed into the door panel, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Come here." Yan Shu's eyes were hidden in the moonlight, so I couldn't read his emotions. I only heard him utter these two words in a deep and calm voice.

Ye Baizhi clutched her chest, leaning against the door panel as she crawled on the ground, tears streaming down her face, shaking her head and explaining, "Priest, I didn't poison you! If you don't believe me..."

"Come here," Yan Shu repeated, his tone growing increasingly harsh. "Don't make me say it a third time!"

Ye Baizhi pursed her lips, her face deathly pale. Her fingers clenched tightly on the ground as she slowly rose to her feet, walked step by step to Yan Shu's side, and knelt down. "High Priest..."

Yan Shu suddenly raised his hand and grabbed her neck, pulling her back and causing her to stagger. He said, "Stop making excuses. You should know I have a thousand reasons not to believe you. Whether you poisoned me or not, I need the antidote, right now!"

"I..." Ye Baizhi was about to speak when his five fingers tightened, inch by inch, and I could almost hear the bones creaking.

Yan Shu continued, "I don't like to repeat myself, so this is the last time I'll ask you: where is the antidote?"

A cool breeze rustled the windowpanes, making a creaking sound. The moonlight swayed, and Ye Baizhi stared at me intently from just inches away, not blinking for a moment.

It felt like a hundred insects were gnawing inside me, both numb and painful, making every breath difficult. Yet I smiled and whispered to Ye Baizhi, "I just want the antidote. Do you want me to tell Yan Shu the truth?"

I know I can't beat Ye Baizhi. I'm not sure if she'll keep her promise to give me the antidote after I kill Yan Shu, instead of killing me to silence me. My martial arts are inferior to hers, and my cunning is inferior to hers. The only thing I have left is myself.

Yan Shu is more resourceful than I am; he's more accustomed to a life worse than death than I am.

I was laughing, but my whole body was shaking violently.

Yan Shu seemed to think I was about to die, so he loosened his grip on my hand and his fingertips shifted. In the flash of cold light, I heard Ye Baizhi's extremely miserable scream.

Blood splattered on my wrist, and Ye Baizhi's right fingers clattered and rolled to my feet.

Yan Shu said, "I'll count to three. This time, I want your face."

Ye Baizhi trembled in the moonlight.

With the thin tip of his knife pointing at Ye Baizhi's brow, he squinted and said, "From here, down, down... I'll peel your face off completely."

The thin gauze curtains trembled silently in the still night. Amidst the distant singing outside the window, Yan Shu counted, "One."

Ye Baizhi was still looking at me with eyes that seemed to want to devour me alive.

"Two." The tip of the knife touched her brow.

She trembled even more violently, and gritted her teeth as she said to me, "If I die, you and he will both die!"

I nestled in Yan Shu's arms and smiled at her, "I will live for seven days, watching Yan Shu peel your skin and pull out your tendons bit by bit, and then die with you."

She stared at me incredulously.

Yan Shu tightened his fingertip, and a bead of blood, like red coral, appeared on her forehead. Just as he was about to count to three, she trembled and suddenly said, "The antidote isn't on me!"

Yan Shu paused for a moment.

She hurriedly said, "I don't have the antidote, but I know where it is. I can go and get it for you, High Priest!"

"No need." I sat up. I had specifically checked several times beforehand. How could she not feel comfortable leaving the antidote with her?

I helped Yan Shu to sit up, then reached out to search Ye Baizhi's body. Nothing in her bosom, nothing in her sleeves. As I moved down, just before touching her thigh, she flinched and suddenly said, "I'll hand it over! I'll hand it over myself..."

I paused, my fingers still.

Yan Shu gripped her neck, forcing her to keep her head down. She could only slightly lift her leg and reach out with her bloodied hand to remove a small, white medicine bottle from her thigh. "The antidote..."

Just as I was about to reach for it, her fingers suddenly trembled, and the small medicine bottle clattered to the ground and rolled away.

In a split second, Yan Shu instinctively bent down to pick it up, his fingers loosening their grip slightly. In that instant, Ye Baizhi ducked and dodged, breaking free from Yan Shu's grasp and retreating rapidly to the door.

I ignored Ye Baizhi, bent down to pick up the small medicine bottle, and froze when I opened it. There was only one antidote inside. I looked up at Ye Baizhi, "Only one antidote?"

Ye Baizhi suddenly laughed outside the door, her eyes flashing with a fierce light. "Su Xie, you didn't expect this, did you? There's only one antidote in the world. What are you going to do about it?"

Yan Shu snatched the small medicine bottle, poured the antidote into my palm, and was about to speak when there was a sound of fireworks exploding outside the door. With a bang, thousands of neon lights illuminated Ye Baizhi's face.

She stood outside the door, holding a signal flare, and laughed, "You're finished, Yan Shu!"

As the fireworks faded into ashes in the night sky, I heard the thunderous sound of horses' hooves coming from outside the window. It seemed to be outside the city, but the sound was so powerful that the ground trembled.

Who's coming? It's like a massive army, a rolling tide of iron horses and icy rivers.

Yan Shu supported my waist and helped me up. He reached out and touched the trembling window frame, frowning as he looked at Ye Baizhi and said, "Since when did you start plotting to betray me? Who is your new backer? Who makes you so bold?"

Ye Baizhi threw the fireworks on the ground, glaring at Yan Shu through gritted teeth. "From the first time you tried to strangle me for Su Xie, I swore I'd make you taste what it's like to be a dog! Yan Shu, I've followed you for so long, endured so much, and the position of Protector was within my grasp, yet you discarded me like a useless piece for Su Xie! Since there's no future with you, it's only natural that I'd switch allegiances." She paused and laughed. "Isn't this the first lesson you taught me? Survival of the fittest. If you can't even protect yourself, why should I submit to you?"

The sounds of fighting erupted outside the window, causing the windowpanes to tremble more violently.

I peered out the window. In the deep night, a dark mass of soldiers and horses swept in, raising dust. In the distance, I could see several flags amidst the dust and mist—some from Licheng, some I didn't recognize, and one… a four-legged green snake.

Is it... the Salaksha sect?

I turned to look at Ye Baizhi and asked in surprise, "The Saluo Sect? What's the Saluo Sect doing here?"

Ye Baizhi's fingers were dripping blood. Against the backdrop of the night, she looked at Yan Shu and said, "Priest, aren't you supposed to be incredibly shrewd? Guess who my new backer is?"

Yan Shu didn't speak, but instead tore off strips of cloth and bent down to bandage the wound on my shoulder layer by layer, saying in a tone that was hard to decipher, "Besides me, isn't Ruan Lianhua the only other one?"

He lifted his eyelashes to look at Ye Baizhi in the moonlight. The thin moonlight cast shadows on the side of his face, delicate and exquisite like openwork patterns. "Do you think Ruan Lianhua can get rid of me?"

"Of course not." Ye Baizhi leaned on the railing, smiling sweetly. "You skinned the Princess of Licheng alive and killed the Prince of Licheng. Do you think the Prince of Licheng will let you go?" She continued, "Oh, and Princess Jinglian too. If it weren't for Young Master's help, I really wouldn't have been able to coax that silly princess back. If you kill her, Xiaoye Kingdom won't let you go either. You've made enemies on two fronts. The confidants you brought have long been replaced by the old sect leader's confidants by Young Master. Now you're isolated and helpless. Would a thousand troops be enough to get rid of you?"

Yan Shu fastened my shoulders, brushed a strand of hair behind his ear, and chuckled, "That's enough. It certainly surprised me, but you underestimated my trusted confidant..."

Ye Baizhi frowned.

He raised his hand and slapped it open. In Licheng, a group of men in black and girls in white poured out of Tongrentang. Ye Baizhi's face darkened. Just as the girl in white rushed up, she flipped over and leaped onto the roof, saying, "You can't escape Licheng!" She then flashed out of Tongrentang.

I looked out the window and saw soldiers pouring into Licheng, raising clouds of dust that swept across the sky.

Yan Shu suddenly reached out and hugged me tightly, as if he wanted to crush me. He buried his head in my neck and whispered, "Wait for me here... They want to kill me. I can't take you with me. I'll come back for you after I distract them and make sure it's safe."

Yes, you are the one who killed people, you are the one who massacred the city, and the only person you wanted to kill was you. You led the way so as not to implicate me. How affectionate and righteous you are.

“Su Xie…” He turned his head and kissed the corner of my mouth, then hugged me and said, “You have to wait for me. Take good care of your injuries. It won’t be long… I won’t keep you waiting too long.”

"Sir," someone urged him to hurry up.