“Are you truly willing to marry Xinlan?”
“Auntie Wu, I…” Liu Hong trailed off. He had blurted it out in a moment of haste and hadn't expected to be overheard, especially by Gu Xinlan’s own mother.
“Hunter Liu, words like that cannot be spoken in jest.”
Seeing his hesitation, Wu Guixiang’s expression darkened, and her initial surprise and excitement subsided.
“Auntie Wu, Lu Yuanxiu was here earlier. He bullied Xinlan, which is why I…” He had only been trying to comfort her.
“Is that so…” The light in Wu Guixiang’s eyes completely vanished. She pulled Gu Xinlan closer and smiled at Liu Hong, “Thank you, Hunter Liu. I know you mean well, but our Xinlan, though changed from the past, is not unreasonable. If you have no such intentions, please don’t speak of these things to her, lest she misunderstand.”
“Ah,” Liu Hong’s face flushed, feeling rather embarrassed.
“How could our Xinlan be as Lu Yuanxiu described? Can she not live without him? What if she never marries? I’m not dead yet; I’ll take care of her my entire life.”
Although she was speaking to Liu Hong, her gaze was fixed on Gu Xinlan.
Gu Xinlan kicked at a small stone on the ground, unsure if she was listening or not.
“Hunter Liu, I’ve warmed up lunch. Why don’t you come to my home for a meal later?” Wu Guixiang invited with a smile, though her tone was no longer as sincere as before.
“Auntie Wu, I have some matters to attend to at home.”
“Oh, then you must be busy. I’ll take Xinlan home now.”
On the way, Wu Guixiang was still pulling Gu Xinlan along, murmuring something. Liu Hong guessed she was probably telling Gu Xinlan not to take his words to heart.
Liu Hong’s hands, by his sides, loosened and then tightened.
Would marrying her be a wise way to compensate?
At the mass grave, bottles and jars were laid out on a table. Rong Zhi, looking at the skeletal remains in various poses around her, couldn’t help but lean closer to Xia Yunting.
“These are all half-finished products I’ve been developing. None of them can cure the poison.”
Chu Qingze handed a small vial of liquid to Rong Zhi.
“This is a sample of the poison. Be careful; if you get any on you, you’ll be poisoned.”
It was a small, delicate white porcelain bottle. Even though it was sealed, a peculiar scent emanated from within.
Rong Zhi took a small dish from the side and poured a little of the contents from the bottle. A pale blue liquid flowed out, and the scent intensified, bringing with it a familiar feeling.
“Chu Qingze, do you know what reactions ordinary people exhibit when poisoned by this?” she asked.
Chu Qingze thought for a moment and replied, “If an ordinary person is poisoned, their face will turn black, they will feel chest tightness, and suffer from dry coughs and spitting blood. If a martial artist is poisoned, it will cause blockages in their meridians, preventing them from circulating energy. The more they try to circulate energy, the faster the poison spreads. This poison also grows stronger with strength; the more profound a person’s internal energy, the faster the poison spreads. Within seven days, their internal organs will fail and they will die. For ordinary people, it’s slower, lasting eight or nine days.”
As expected, it was just as she had thought.
“I know. It’s the Seven-Day Doom Poison.”
“Seven-Day Doom Poison?” Xia Yunting exclaimed, slightly startled.
“This poison is called Seven-Day Doom Poison?” Chu Qingze, besides his surprise, felt even more pleased.
“If you know this poison, then you must also know the method of curing it!”
“Of course I do. However… why would Li Hao ask you to develop such an antidote? And for whom? We must first understand this matter. The antidote itself is not the most important thing.”
She hit the nail on the head. Indeed, if the other party was from the Blood Drinking Pavilion, and the poisoned person was some great villain, wouldn’t they be aiding and abetting evil by developing an antidote?
Chu Qingze said, “That makes sense. But Li Hao is very tight-lipped, and I can’t find out anything. Moreover, Swallow Mountain is heavily guarded, and I can’t investigate much alone.”
Rong Zhi pondered for a moment and said, “How about this: I will write a prescription. It won’t completely cure the Seven-Day Doom Poison, but it can alleviate the toxicity. Give this prescription to Li Hao first, and then we can track him. With this experience, tracking him will likely be much easier.”
“That would be wonderful!” Chu Qingze was overjoyed and quickly fetched paper and brush, handing them to Rong Zhi. Rong Zhi took the brush and, with a swift movement, wrote out a prescription, fanned it dry, and handed it to Chu Qingze.
“Just this little medicine?” Chu Qingze was stunned after reading it. These were all very common medicinal herbs; how could they alleviate such a potent poison?
“It’s not about whether the ingredients are precious, but about how they interact with each other,” Rong Zhi explained, then looked at Chu Qingze with a strange expression. “You’ve never tried these herbs before, have you?”
“I have, but they couldn’t provide a complete cure, so I gave up.”
“Give this to Li Hao first and see his reaction.”
“I’ll go now.” Chu Qingze said, putting away the prescription and preparing to leave. Xia Yunting, however, suddenly spoke.
“Is he at the Zhang Mansion now?”
Rong Zhi paused. She had almost forgotten. Li Hao had been used by her to impersonate Xia Yunting and sent into Swallow Mountain. She wondered what the people inside had done to him; had they chopped him into pieces, or was he still whole? In her haste to save Xia Yunting, she hadn’t considered that he might be useful now.
“Wait a moment, Chu Qingze, I’ll go with you!” If Li Hao had indeed been subjected to… perhaps Rong Zhi could find some clues from him.
“Husband, you go home.” She turned to Xia Yunting and ordered him to leave, her gaze lingering on his face. Xia Yunting’s face had already been seen by some people during his trip. She needed to quickly alter his appearance. Until then, he couldn’t be seen by others.
“Alright.” Although a little displeased at being excluded, Xia Yunting didn’t refuse. Rong Zhi’s idea made sense. It wasn’t unheard of to test medicine on living people; they would resort to any cruel method to test their medicine better. In Rong Zhi’s eyes, such practices were no different from unorthodox methods.
The facts proved Rong Zhi’s speculation correct. When they arrived at the Zhang Mansion, they heard people saying that Steward Li had gone missing inexplicably yesterday and had only just been brought back. He was currently injured and recuperating in his room. Both of them understood the reason. Chu Qingze feigned surprise and said, “How badly is he injured? Is it serious? Hurry and take me to see him!” As Chu Qingze was a frequent visitor to the Zhang Mansion, the servant didn’t refuse and led Chu Qingze towards the steward’s room. Seeing the stranger behind him, he wanted to say something, but seeing that Chu Qingze didn’t intend to exclude her, he remained silent.
Upon entering the steward’s room, Rong Zhi was immediately assailed by the smell of medicine, causing her to cover her nose. Two maids in the room were wearing white cloths over their faces and frowning as they stood by the bed, wiping the body of the person on the bed, coughing occasionally. The person on the bed was panting heavily, his face ashen, with several wounds on his chest oozing black blood. This symptom was the same as when Xia Yunting was poisoned, only more severe. It seemed the people in Swallow Mountain had indeed been ruthless.
“Divine Physician Chu.” The two maids bowed respectfully when they saw someone arrive.
“You may leave now. I will examine Steward Li.”
“Yes.” The two maids, only too happy to oblige, quickly left. Chu Qingze then approached the bedside, moving aside to let Rong Zhi have a look.
“See, are these the symptoms of the poison you mentioned?”
Rong Zhi nodded, “Yes, exactly the same.” But…
“What is this?” She pointed to a faint green smudge at the edge of Li Hao’s chest wounds. The green was so pale that it was almost unnoticeable if one wasn’t looking closely.
“This…” Chu Qingze’s expression stiffened. “This is a method of antidote I devised earlier. Wounds are made at several vital acupoints on the body, and then toad poison is applied to the wounds to counteract the poison with poison, thus blocking the spread of toxicity. However, both poisons are harmful to the body, and the final result is fatal. I thought they had stopped using this method, but I didn’t expect…”
“It seems they don’t entirely trust you,” Rong Zhi murmured. “Tell the servants to brew the medicine according to the prescription. He’s not going to die yet, so there’s no need to alleviate the toxicity.”
“Certainly!” Rong Zhi’s attitude suited Chu Qingze perfectly. He had long been annoyed with Li Hao and thought it was good for him to suffer a little longer. He called the maids outside and instructed them to brew the medicine according to the prescription. Meanwhile, Rong Zhi looked at Li Hao’s face and noticed that the mask had been removed, revealing his true features. Fortunately, it had been night when she went to Swallow Mountain, and the darkness had provided cover. Even if those people could see his appearance clearly, there would be some discrepancy. Otherwise, Xia Yunting would have been completely exposed.
Before long, the medicine was brewed. Chu Qingze took the medicine from the little maid and gave it to Li Hao. Li Hao was disoriented, and half the medicine spilled as he drank it, but he managed to finish a small amount. However, after drinking the medicine, Li Hao’s complexion didn’t improve. He only coughed twice, his voice growing weaker.
“What’s going on? The medicine isn’t working?”
“It’s the toad poison.” Rong Zhi reached out and pressed a couple of acupoints on Li Hao’s body, channeling her internal energy to guide the toxicity towards the wounds. With a soft *poof*, a green-black blood flowed from the wound. Li Hao’s complexion improved slightly, but then his head lolled to the side, and he fainted.
“His body is too weak to withstand the medicinal properties.” Rong Zhi looked at the few pathetic muscles on Li Hao’s body and explained. Although he appeared to be a martial artist and more than capable of dealing with ordinary people, he was no match for true masters, let alone being poisoned by two combined toxins.
“It will take some time for the toxicity to alleviate. Let’s wait outside.” Chu Qingze nodded, went outside to call a little maid to take care of Li Hao, asked her to open the window for ventilation, and then they went to the courtyard to enjoy the coolness.
In the courtyard, a tree cast a cool shadow. Rong Zhi leaned against its base, unable to stifle a yawn. She had been busy all night and hadn’t had a proper sleep. She squinted, chatting idly with Chu Qingze.
“When Li Hao wakes up, you can use the excuse of inquiring about his condition to ask him what happened. If he’s willing to talk, it will save us some effort.”
Chu Qingze thought the same. He nodded. He observed Rong Zhi leaning against the tree. Her eyebrows were naturally beautiful, and her lips were red without makeup. However, her small stature made her less striking and grand than Zhang Yajing. She looked harmless, yet she was so calculating in her actions. He suddenly felt a dull ache in a place he had been hit before.
“How old are you this year?”
“18.”
18? Putting aside her appearance, she could easily be taken for 28 or 38.
“And you, how old are you?”
“23,” he replied, then after a moment’s thought, added, “By age, you should call me big brother.”
Rong Zhi gave a barely perceptible smile. “If you can beat me, I will.”
“…”
After chatting for a while, they saw a little maid approaching from another direction, carrying a basin of murky water. Judging by her direction, it seemed to be from Master Zhang’s room. Chu Qingze called out to her.
“Wait a moment.”