Fang Zhuzi's face gradually turned from pale to red, his breathing becoming difficult. "Miss... Miss, please spare me. I have... money. I can... give you all my money."
"Money? Hah!"
Gu Qianying scoffed disdainfully. She took a poison pill from her waist pouch and stuffed it into Fang Zhuzi's mouth. Then, she pinched his chin, forcing him to swallow the pill.
To deal with a man who deserved to die, killing him outright would be too lenient.
Instead, to truly punish such a person, she wanted him to beg for life and be unable to die, only then could her hatred be appeased.
"Ahhh, ahhh, it hurts."
His entire body felt as if it were being torn apart by thousands of insects and ants, the pain spreading throughout his body.
Fang Zhuzi writhed on the ground in agony, wishing to beg Gu Qianying to spare him.
Gu Qianying kicked him away. She casually picked up a teacup from a nearby round table and slammed it onto the tabletop. The teacup shattered into two halves. She held the sharp end in her hand and, grabbing Fang Zhuzi by his collar, brought it close to his face.
The sharp porcelain edge raked across Fang Zhuzi's face.
"Ah!"
A scream rang out.
A pair of bloody eyeballs rolled to Gu Qianying's feet.
She dropped the bloodied half of the teacup, then grabbed a corner of a nearby chair and smashed it fiercely into Fang Zhuzi's abdomen.
"Ah!"
Another scream echoed.
Fang Zhuzi finally fainted from the pain.
At this moment, Gu Qianying took out a silver needle from her waist pouch and pricked the temples on Fang Zhuzi's cheeks.
Fang Zhuzi immediately woke up in pain.
Gu Qianying stood up.
She took out the powder of poisonous insects and sprinkled it onto Fang Zhuzi's eyes.
This was something she had concocted before, capable of attracting myriad poisonous creatures.
As screams continued to erupt, small, ant-sized poisonous ants crawled from miles around. Following them were several poisonous spiders and snakes, slithering from all directions.
The myriad poisonous creatures seemed to form an invincible army. Wherever they crawled, they were met with countless screams.
"Ah, what is that? Snakes, run!"
A vast, dark mass almost filled the entire street.
Everyone on the street who witnessed this scene was terrified and fled in all directions.
But strangely, the poisonous creatures crawling along the street did not attack anyone. Instead, they all crawled towards the entrance of a pharmacy.
They crawled through the pharmacy entrance and into the first-floor hall.
The physician guarding the hall was startled.
"These... are... Ah, they're poisonous."
"Ah, don't come near, don't come near, ah..."
The physician was entangled by two or three poisonous snakes.
Several poisonous spiders also crawled up his legs and onto his shoulders.
Just as several poisonous ants were swarming Wang Momo, Gu Qianying dragged the dying Fang Zhuzi downstairs.
She threw Fang Zhuzi onto the ground.
The poisonous creatures that had been swarming Wang Momo and entwined around the physician immediately changed their targets.
They turned and crawled rapidly all over Fang Zhuzi.
Though he couldn't see the swarm of poisonous creatures attacking him, he felt the pain and sensation of being bitten by them, of being wrapped by several snakes, of suffocating.
The pain at this moment was ten thousand times worse than before.
"Young master, young master!"
The physician was in a panic.
*Poof!*
Gu Qianying casually threw a handful of poisonous powder into his face.
"Ah... my eyes!"
A moment later, Gu Qianying emerged from the pharmacy, carrying the body of the elder madam and with Wang Momo, whose eyes were now blind.
At this moment, the entire pharmacy, from the first floor to the second, was engulfed in raging flames.
The snakes and spiders that had coiled in the first-floor hall, along with the skeletons left after being bitten, all turned into a pile of ruins under the fierce blaze, along with all the items and furnishings inside.
Outside the pharmacy entrance, a man lay slumped, his eyes gouged out, his legs broken, his hands bitten off, and his life hanging by a thread.
His tongue had been cut out, but he was still conscious.
A single sentence repeated in his mind: "You saved me, I can spare your dog's life, letting you cling to existence!"
The fire at the Fang family pharmacy, and the death of the eldest son of the Fang family in the blaze, caused quite a stir at the time.
It was known that although the Fang family was just an ordinary household, the elder patriarch of the Fang family was someone who had saved the former emperor.
Although Elder Master Fang had passed away from illness, and the current emperor had also long since passed away, the favor remained. The current emperor, to maintain his good reputation, specially sent people to the Fang family to encourage the Fang clan, as the current imperial examinations needed talented individuals.
However, few in the Fang family pursued scholarly studies; most followed in their fathers' footsteps to manage their family's pharmacy business.
Fang Zhuzi, the eldest son of the Fang family, was one of them.
Of course, this man was usually dissolute, indulging in all sorts of vices, and merely used his family's pharmacy as a front. How could he abandon medicine and scholarship to become a refined scholar?
Be that as it may, when the Fang family patriarch learned from street vendors that his beloved son had perished in the fire, he was overcome with grief.
And from the vendors' descriptions, he found a painter to sketch the likeness of the woman who had set the fire. Then, holding the portrait, he led a group of people to the local yamen to report the crime.
Gu Qianying quickly became a wanted criminal for murder by the imperial court.
At the same time, wanted posters of the criminal Gu Qianying were plastered all over the streets.
Of course, the Fang family patriarch did not know that the object of his revenge was Gu Qianying, the eldest daughter of the Gu mansion.
Meanwhile.
Gu Qianying had originally planned to find a quiet inn to rest for a few days with Wang Momo after her mother was laid to rest.
However, her likeness was posted in several restaurants and pharmacies on the street.
As a result, Gu Qianying and Wang Momo were unable to find a place to stay.
The two could only temporarily take refuge in a long-abandoned dilapidated temple to recuperate.
Just then, a man dressed in black night-blooming clothes, his face masked, approached her. "How does it feel to be a rat crossing the street?"
Gu Qianying shielded Wang Momo behind her and looked up at the approaching man with a cold expression. "Who are you?"
"Who I am is not important. What is important is that I can help you, miss."
The man walked up to Gu Qianying and extended his hand.
A delicate jade pendant on his palm caught Gu Qianying's eye.
Gu Qianying's expression grew colder.
"So it's you!"
Gu Qianying raised her palm and clenched her fist, striking fiercely towards the man's face.
The man's figure flickered, and he quickly dodged her attack.
"Miss, do not be hasty. At that time, I was your enemy only because I did not know that you were the person I had been searching for."
"So, you couldn't kill me for my heartless father, and I should be grateful to you!"
Gu Qianying had never seen the masked man before.
However, the jade pendant she had obtained from Nangong Mo was very familiar.
She wore it often. She had lost it the day she was injured by a man wearing a conical hat and was driven out of the mansion.
She clearly remembered that the man before her was a friend of her scumbag father.
Her enemy's friend was naturally her enemy as well.
Missing with her punch, Gu Qianying resorted to using several silver needles she carried with her.
*Swish, swish, swish!*
Several silver needles flew towards the man. With a single palm strike, the man sent all the needles to the ground, not harming him in the slightest.
Seeing this, Gu Qianying grabbed Wang Momo and prepared to leave.
The man quickly stopped her. "Miss, do not go."
The coldness in Gu Qianying's eyes did not fade. "What? Do you still want to kill me?"
The man let out a laugh. "If I still wanted to kill you, why would I have wasted so much time talking to you as soon as I entered?"
"So, what exactly do you want?"
Gu Qianying was highly vigilant.
If not for her current severe injuries that had not yet healed, a fight with the man before her would have led to her utter defeat.
This man had to be killed, but not now.
"Currently, miss is in a desperate situation. I only wish to help you find a way to survive."
Gu Qianying looked at him, remaining silent for a long time.
"How will you help?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the smile lines on the man's face deepened.
"Miss, please follow me...!"