Chapter 316: You can’t die, keep living (1/2)

Chapter 316: You can’t die, keep living

Han Yunxi looked at Baili Mingxiang with an aching heart as she considered many different problems. Judging from Baili Mingxiang’s body, she must have first started taking poisons when she was five years old. This year, the girl was only 20, which meant Long Feiye must have needed the Beauty’s Blood since 15 years ago. Long Feiye would only have been eight years old then.

Was he raising the Beauty’s Blood? Or was it his relatives from the Tang Clan? What did he need it for?

13 years ago, Long Feiye would’ve been 10 years old. The previous emperor would still be alive as well. How could Long Feiye have won over General Baili to his side back then? Or perhaps, General Baili had ties to the Tang Clan as well? Just how loyal was the Baili Clan to Long Feiye–or maybe, to the Tang Clan–for them to have their daughter suffer from such a young age?

“Esteemed wangfei, the poison masters under His Highness have already used up all the slow-acting poisons they can. From now on, I’ll have to trouble esteemed wangfei to help prescribe medicine for Mingxiang.” Baili Mingxiang’s words dragged Han Yunxi out of her thoughts.

“What does Long Feiye want the Beauty’s Blood for?” Han Yunxi had always thought the records on the blood in the Classic of Ancient Poisons was a legend at most. She never realized such a frightening thing actually existed.

“That’s a secret,” Baili Mingxiang replied calmly.

Han Yunxi lost her temper. “You’ve invited me over but won’t tell me the truth. Do you really think I’ll help you then?”

“Esteemed wangfei, you’re not helping me, but His Highness,” Baili Mingxiang was very calm.

“So you’re not planning to tell me anything, then?” Han Yunxi asked seriously.

Baili Mingxiang actually laughed. “Esteemed wangfei, I don’t know this secret either. If you want to know, you’ll have to find His Highness yourself.” Baili Mingxiang could tell that Han Yunxi looked unhappy. If she didn’t explain herself, Han Yunxi would definitely misunderstand. She wasn’t hanging a ‘secret’ over the woman’s head to threaten her into anything. She really just had no idea why she needed to cultivate Beauty’s Blood.

The only thing she knew was that her father had given her over to a terrifying Tang Clan woman when she was still a child. Ever since then, she was forced to eat poisons frequently. Of course, she didn’t know they were poisons back then, just that the pills were very, very bitter. She had been thoroughly scared of that woman, too scared to even say ‘no.’ Every time she finished eating her medicine, she’d cry in secret for a long, long time. She had hated her father to death.

When she was seven, the woman died. Baili Mingxiang had been thrilled thinking she’d never have to eat medicine again. But when her father took her home, he brought along a big pile of medicine with him and forced her to take them at regular intervals. By then, she already knew they were poisons because they’d always flare up in her body. Sometimes she’d be so wracked with pain that she’d throw up or faint. She always thought that one day, she’d die from all the pain.

And yet, she was still alive even now.

She’d had her share of hate and anger, and even attempted to run away a few times, but all in vain. Father’s orders were a general’s orders, as absolute as a mountain made of iron. She could only submit because she had no grounds to defy him. When she was 13 years old, she attempted suicide by diving into the lotus flower pond in the back courtyard. Instead, a boy three years older than her had rescued her from the waters. She would never forget what he looked like that day, dressed in violet, cold and aloof. His startlingly handsome face was enough to cause chaos in the Heavens, his dark eyes mysterious and deep.

After helping her to shore, he only told her coldly, “You can’t die, keep living.”

Then he stopped saying anything at all. No matter what she asked him, he never replied. His silence was enough to quiet all of Heaven and Earth. Ever since that day, he’d show up by the pond and sit there in silence for four hours. It seemed like he was blanking out, but it also seemed like he was thinking. She’d go every night as well, sometimes arriving far ahead of time to wait for him. She told him many, many things, about all the wrongs she’d suffered over the years, and all the pain she had to endure. She didn’t even know if he was listening, but he didn’t say a word to her in that entire month.

Once, she even boldly declared, “Take me with you. Take me and fly away from this place, far far away.”

He didn’t spare her so much as a glance.

She thought it was enough, since he didn’t tell her to stop talking.

Later on, he suddenly stopped coming. She waited for him everyday for three months. One day, her father took her to the Duke of Qin’s estate to get her medicine. Only then did she realize the boy who’d saved her was the proper master of General Baili’s estate and the one they’d be loyal to all their lives: Long Feiye, the Duke of Qin.

Sometimes, liking someone only takes a second. She could admit it was love at first sight.

Sometimes, liking someone takes years and years. All these years, she’d loved him in silence. And her way of expressing her love was wholly singular: to do as he said seven years ago. Don’t die, keep living. Even father didn’t know the real reason for cultivating Beauty’s Blood, much less herself. She only knew that she had a reason for living.

Baili Mingxiang had given Han Yunxi no end of surprises. She couldn’t understand why this woman would still be willing to suffer so much for the Beauty’s Blood sake when she didn’t even know what it was for. Originally, Han Yunxi wanted to ask if there was any relation with the Perplexing Butterfly Illusion, but after careful thought she suspected that Long Feiye might not have divulged that secret either. In the end, she didn’t speak up or ask any more questions. It’d be better to ask Long Feiye himself.

“Doesn’t your father feel distress for your sake?” Han Yunxi couldn’t help asking.

“Every single person in General Baili’s estate is willing to work in the service of His Highness, even at the cost of their own lives,” Baili Mingxiang spoke seriously. “Esteemed wangfei, His Highness says that Beauty’s Blood needs to be cultivated within three years at the latest. Please prescribe medicine as you see fit.”

300 different poisons were needed to create Beauty’s Blood, but Baili Mingxiang had only taken 80 of them over the last 15 years. If she kept up with the same rate of ingesting poisons, how many years would it take to successfully complete her blood? His Highness Duke of Qin had found Han Yunxi and sent her here, probably so she could prescribe fitting slow-acting poisons while speeding up the process.

Han Yunxi furrowed her brows. “I don’t want to hurt people. I have to get the answers about this first.”

Baili Mingxiang never expected Han Yunxi to say such words. She gave a start, before breaking into a smile. “Esteemed wangfei, you’re not hurting me. Perhaps you’re even helping me.”

If she could be freed from this torment in only three years, that was a type of happiness as well. Of course, she wasn’t sure whether she’d lose the chance to see His Highness forever after being freed. Still, she’d rather suffer for a short period of time instead of indefinitely. A poisons doctor like Han Yunxi understood this principle even better than Baili Mingxiang. Han Yunxi hestiated, before silently making a record of all of Baili Mingxiang’s poisons into her detox system. She only recorded one of the poisons in the Imperial Physician Courtyard’s case history, and expressed that the patient would need a long period of nursing before she regained her health. She didn’t leave any poisons with Baili Mingxiang, but some painkiller pills instead.

“I’ll come back another day,” she said mildly.