Nangong Ling glanced over, his brows furrowing slightly.
"Come here, we should go back."
He wasn't in a good mood; too many things weren't going according to plan, so of course he was unhappy. At times like this, everyone knew not to provoke him, and I was no exception.
"Disciple, you can't be this heartless, can you?" The old man stood up abruptly.
"You've known me for a while now."
After he finished speaking, he pulled me towards the door, but the blood-red sunset in front of me suddenly stung my eyes and made me stop.
"What's wrong?" His voice carried a hint of impatience, which made me furious.
Yue Linghe is important, but your third senior brother doesn't even have one life?
"Why didn't you save your third senior brother?" This was a pointless question; everyone knew the reason.
He looked down at me, his eyes filled with suspicion. "...Poison Fairy's next target is Ling'er. I need to get back before she makes a move."
That so-called Third Senior Brother, you were originally beyond saving and were going to die, but you're lucky, this girl is determined not to let you die.
I pulled my hand away from his, and his eyes immediately darkened.
"Then you go back by yourself. I'll go to Anting with your master and senior sister. Anyway, He Xiuqi is there. I'll have him come down the mountain to detoxify your third senior brother. That way, both of us will be happy."
"Oh right, I forgot that the Medicine King always gives you face. This suggestion is feasible!" Zhi Yu slapped his forehead, almost jumping for joy.
Even the old man didn't object, but he was reluctant to owe me a favor, so he kept quiet.
"What are you planning to do now?" Nangong Ling's expression was not good.
"No, saving lives is the priority. You can send someone to pick me up in Anting after Yue Linghe is alright."
I'm not playing around, I'm just unhappy. Can't I just use a different way of interpreting it that you prefer?
But I underestimated Nangong Ling and overestimated myself. He quickly regained his usual expression.
“Alright, this will give you a good chance to think about what kind of answer you should give me. I’ll come back for the results in a month.” He turned to the old man and said, “I’ll trouble you, Master, to keep a close eye on her for me. If I don’t see her in Anting in a month, you’d better hide your treasures well, or don’t blame me for being impolite.”
He then looked at Zhiyu, who immediately raised his hand to indicate that he understood.
"Alright, alright, I'll take excellent care of you, so please don't hold it against me..."
"I'll think about it when the time comes."
Finally, he circled back to me and said, "Control your temper, or you'll be the one who suffers. This month... never mind, I've waited so many years, a little more time won't make a difference."
The four guardians would be quite surprised if they were here; their god-like Grand Palace Master was now acting like a woman, all fussy and indecisive. But I didn't find it annoying; in fact, it made me feel a little better.
"Then I'm leaving."
After saying that, he took a step forward, then suddenly turned around and grabbed me. Before I could react, his lips were already pressed down. His smooth tongue, carrying his unique scent, easily pried open my lips and teeth. In fact, I was so surprised that I forgot how to react until my mouth was filled with his cool fragrance. Only then did I snap out of my daze and push him away violently. There was a deep smile in his dark eyes. He licked his lips, seemingly still not satisfied, then grabbed my hand and leaned in to gently bite my lips before turning away contentedly, leaving Wu Zun, Zhi Yu, and me, who were stunned and whose minds were blank.
Chapter 39
As soon as Nangong Ling left, we didn't linger and quickly got on our horses. Almost half an hour later, I still hadn't recovered from that feeling of unease. How was I going to face him after this? We clearly didn't like each other, right? How did things suddenly become so awkward and ambiguous?
"You know that Junior Brother has a cleanliness obsession, right?" Zhiyu asked, slowing down as she walked beside me.
“…I know, it’s almost to the point of being perverted.” I replied absentmindedly.
"But he touched you."
I was taken aback and glanced at him sideways. "He always likes to touch me."
She didn't believe it, but then she remembered what had just happened, and her expression suddenly became very distorted.
“The Yue family’s young lady is very much favored by him, but at most, my junior brother can only pat her head… Sigh, you are Rong Lian, you are different after all.”
That sounded awkward. "Senior sister, could you please just say it clearly all at once?"
"Anyway, I've never seen him touch anyone other than you and Miss Yue. He practices those extremely energy-consuming techniques because he doesn't like being close to people, and the reason is that he's afraid of getting dirty and hates the smell of other people."
"...That's why I said it's reached a perverted level."
"Are you even listening to my point?!"
"What?"
Zhi Yu sighed heavily, "What do you think of my junior brother?"
"He's petty and vengeful, capable of anything when he's in a bad mood, and incredibly unpredictable. He's cunning and calculating, lazy and boring, and what I hate most is his ability to learn anything instantly, and he especially enjoys bullying me."
"So you don't like him?" Zhiyu raised an eyebrow. "If that's the case, why don't you let him go? Why do you have to make such a fuss, just to get his attention? There are countless women waiting to be my junior brother's wife. If you don't like him, you might as well let him go and give someone else a chance."
"He hasn't broken off the engagement with me yet." These words were blurted out without any thought.
Zhi Yu smiled. "When you have time, think carefully about what you want and try a different way to get his attention. Otherwise, if you two continue like this, something bad is bound to happen, and you'll regret it later. Junior brother hates it when you act like nothing pleases you. It makes him feel like he's not special to you, so he went a bit too far in disciplining you, just to make you take him seriously. Both of you have such awkward personalities, each clinging to your pride and unwilling to lower yourself. A young master and a young lady... what a hassle."
I didn't say anything because I didn't know what to say. I felt like I was in a complete mess, like I was about to find a way out, but there was always another voice in my heart telling me not to go.
We remained silent for the rest of the journey. The old man, annoyed by our slow pace, turned back and whipped my horse hard. The horse neighed and charged forward like the wind. The force of its charge startled even Senior Sister Xiuwen ahead of us. However, because we quickened our pace, we arrived in Anting half a day earlier than planned.
"Why don't we just carry Huai'er up the mountain?" The old man lingered at the foot of Yanxing Mountain for a while.
"No need, we can call him down right here."
I took out a small Bagua plate from my sleeve, then found the Earth God statue that was almost buried by weeds and yellow soil, pressed my Bagua plate into a circular indentation on his vest, and after it fit perfectly, I turned it to the right and I was done.
"What... what is this?" the old man asked curiously, stroking his beard.
"It's a small mechanism. Once it's activated, we can receive the message at the mountaintop. Of course, only I, young lady, can activate this mechanism, so we'll have to wait about half an hour to see He Xiuqi."
I put away the Bagua plate and sat down next to the Earth God, ready to wait patiently.
The old man was very curious, so he lay down to the side and began to ponder the statue of the local earth god.
Half an hour passed neither quickly nor slowly; in short, I was almost asleep when I heard a long-lost voice.
"What do you want?"
I jumped up with a start and saw an old man who was half a head shorter than me, thin as a rake, pale-faced, and with one foot already in a coffin.
"Of course it's about saving lives."
"I only have two hours, and I can't save them from far away."
"It's not far, just in the city ahead. As agreed, once things are done, I'll come up the mountain to do odd jobs for you."
"Okay, lead the way."
He nodded and walked ahead on his own.
Chapter 40
"Tsk tsk, you've really learned from your master quite well."
The old man's eyes darted around constantly, and he couldn't get enough of staring at He Xiuqi the whole way.
He Xiuqi went straight into the room to see the patient, completely ignoring the old man.
Once inside, only Senior Sister Xiuwen was taking care of him. When He Xiuqi pushed the door open without saying hello, she was stunned for a moment, but quickly understood.
"Hello, sir." The tone was very respectful.
I almost burst out laughing, but I just couldn't help it. This He Xiuqi likes to play the old, weak, sick, and disabled to gain sympathy and take advantage of others.
He Xiuqi nodded reluctantly, his eyes narrowed, and then walked around the screen to the bedside. He frowned after just one glance.
"Mushroom poison?" The deliberately lowered voice carried a hint of seriousness.
"Can't it be saved?" I asked, standing by the screen.
He immediately rolled his eyes at me, implying that there was no poison in the world that I, the Medicine King, could not cure.
"How many days has it been since you were poisoned?"
Fourteen days.
"Troublesome." He leaned over and took her pulse. "Prepare datura as a medicinal ingredient, five hundred taels per plant, whose account should it be on?"
“Him.” I pointed to the old man.
Without a second thought, the old man jumped up and shouted, "Where am I going to get so much money?!"
"You can borrow whatever you want, even if you have to sell your possessions, but if the money isn't in your account within two months, I'll personally send this person back to the underworld, no matter how well I save him. I can save him for Rong Lian's sake, and you can decide what to do next."
"What kind of lousy medicine is so expensive? Are you robbing me?"
Seeing that He Xiuqi's eyes were not right, I turned around and ran over to push the old man out of the house.
"Do you still want to save your apprentice? If you don't understand, don't meddle."
"...Go get a bowl of hot water." He said, taking out two pills from a small pouch at his waist. "Here are two Four Life Pills, which can help replenish some of his lost blood."
Xiuwen carefully took the pills, turned around and left the house.
"The Poison Fairy isn't dead yet?"
"She's protected by the people at Haifenglou, so she won't die so easily."
"Qu Haifeng is indeed capable of testing poison on people."
"However, this time she has offended someone who is not easy to deal with, and Haifenglou is going to be in trouble."