Chapter 391: Chapter 146: Back in the Year _2
"Huh——"
The coachman ahead cried out, and the carriage came to a stop at the bridgehead.
The coachman didn’t dismount; he stayed on the horse and turned to look at Lu Tong, shouting loudly, "Are you all right?"
Lu Tong’s ankle was injured from the fall, but she didn’t feel much pain. Sometimes, her perception of "pain" could be a bit duller than that of ordinary people.
She picked herself up from the ground, quickly adjusted the fallen cloak back onto her face, stooped to pick up the medical chest from the ground, and turned to leave. She didn’t want to entangle with strangers.
She had taken only a couple of steps when she suddenly heard a voice.
"Wait——"
Lu Tong numbly turned her face to look, and saw the curtain of the carriage lifted by someone who descended from it.
It was a beautiful spring day.
Green willows and fragrant grass, the east wind coloring the willows; all of Su Nan was bathed in the joy of early spring. On the embankment, people laughed and strolled with their companions. Since it had rained the night before, willow flowers fluttered about the bridge, filling the entire lake with their presence.
The young man in a blue robe walked out of this tranquil scene of spring, stopped beside Lu Tong, looked down at her with handsome, slightly furrowed brows, and asked, "How are you?"
The young man’s voice was very flat, hardly matching his somewhat concerned expression.
The sudden return to her senses made Lu Tong lower her head and move to leave without a word.
A figure in blue blocked her path.
Lu Tong looked up to see the young man in blue pinching his lips, gesturing toward her knee.
There, where she had fallen, gravel brushed against her clothes, and a hidden patch of red gradually seeped through.
"You’re bleeding," he said.
Next, no matter how Lu Tong explained that she didn’t need the young man to take responsibility and that she had more important matters, the young man insisted on escorting her to the nearest healer’s clinic.
Even the coachman couldn’t stand by idly. He followed and persuaded her, "Miss, just listen to our young master. Once he sets his mind to something, it’s relentless. If you don’t go to the clinic today, he will keep you here all day!"
Lu Tong remained silent.
She still needed to go to the execution ground to find Lady Yun’s body. Spring wasn’t like the harsh winter, and after some time, the body would decompose and rot. She couldn’t afford to waste much time.
She had no choice but to agree reluctantly.
The young man and his coachman then took Lu Tong to a nearby medical clinic.
He was not very talkative, rather reticent, and Lu Tong was even less inclined to initiate conversation with him. Upon arriving at the clinic, the coachman helped her to sit down, and the Resident Doctor, after examining the abrasions on her legs, didn’t prescribe any medicines but simply gave her a bottle of antiseptic medicine.
Lu Tong took the wound medicine and was about to leave when, upon trying to stand, she suddenly felt dizzy and nearly collapsed.
A hand reached out from beside her and steadied her.
She said, "Thank you."
The hand that supported her was warm, and from her elbow down to her wrist, it lingered without letting go.
Lu Tong, sensing something amiss, suddenly shook off his hand, only to meet the young man’s slightly astonished gaze.
He said, "You’ve been poisoned."
Lu Tong’s expression subtly changed.
There was no antidote for "Cold Silkworm Rain."
Most of the poisons crafted by Lady Yun had no antidotes, but to prevent her from dying immediately after being poisoned, she controlled the dosage and toxicity just right, balancing on a fine edge. This ensured she could feel the agony of the poison’s onset without dying amidst its boundless torment.
If she could endure this suffering, she would live; otherwise, she would die.
She had already endured seven days and nights, the most ferocious period of the "Cold Silkworm Rain." The residual poison was unlikely to endanger her life, but it still lingered in her system, waiting for the torment of a day’s cold rain to pass before gradually integrating into her flesh and blood.
She didn’t know the young man possessed medical knowledge, yet with just a brief examination of her pulse, he detected the irregularity.
Lu Tong clutched the antiseptic medicine tightly and said in a low voice, "There’s nothing of the sort." She turned to leave.
But a hand grabbed her.
The young man frowned at her, slowly repeating, "You’ve been poisoned."
His voice was certain.
The place where he held her suddenly felt scalding hot, as if the most embarrassing secret she wanted to hide had been exposed. She wanted to break free, but the lingering effects of the "Cold Silkworm Rain" poison left her too weak even to resist properly.
The Resident Doctor of the medical clinic was summoned by the young man to examine Lu Tong’s pulse. After a long look, the Doctor said with difficulty, "This... I am sorry, but I’m unable to detect any signs of poisoning in this young lady."
Both were momentarily stunned.
Lady Yun was skilled with poisons, and if she chose to conceal them, even the best Healers in the world might not detect any trace, and the "Cold Silkworm Rain" was no exception.
Lu Tong was surprised that the clinic’s old Doctor couldn’t see any symptoms of poisoning. Yet, this young man, who appeared no older than seventeen or eighteen, could see through it at a glance, indicating his understanding of Medical Classics and Pharmacology was likely unparalleled in the world.