Chapter 659: Long Feiye, are you saying it or no (2/2)
“Master, Miss Jing’s wedding affairs are just about set. We’re in a rush for time. A few days later the Tang Clan will come propose marriage formally. The wedding date’s set for the end of the month,” the retainer with the latest news reported. “Miss Jing has raised a fuss with Young Master Nuo for two days now. She refuses to stay a full year at the Tang Clan, so Young Master Nuo has requested you to come back and oversee the end.”
“Troublesome!” Ning Cheng said impatiently, but he headed back to Cloud Realm Trade Consortium all the same. He couldn’t afford to be careless with the Tang Clan nor allow Ning Jing to cause a row.
“Follow Duanmu Yao and the rest. Report to me immediately if anything happens!” Ning Cheng before leaving, but then stopped to add, “And keep an eye on that acupuncture needle for your lordship!”
Bewildered as they were, his retainers dare not disobey. Currently, Han Yunxi’s group had already traveled a night’s worth of road and long left Yaoshui Prefecture behind them. Gu Qi Sha and Mu Linger didn’t even follow along. Originally, the latter was quite enthusiastic about visiting the Medicine Hut, but after hearing that Gu Qi Sha wasn’t going, she stayed behind to keep him company.
Gu Qi Sha only said, “It’s got nothing to do with this old man,” before refusing to budge. Han Yunxi didn’t press the issue, while Long Feiye had his own guesses but kept them to himself. Right now, he was reading a letter sent fresh from the Tang Clan about Tang Li’s impending wedding.
“Any progress with Cloud Realm Trade Consortium’s medicine planting plans in Snow Mountain?” Long Feiye asked.
“Nothing yet. I’m afraid Ning Jing’s wedding has delayed things,” Chu Xifeng responded from outside the carriage.
“Keep an eye on it,” Long Feiye was still concerned with the matter. After all, it would affect Han Yunxi’s position in the markets with Pill Fiend Pharmacy. She herself didn’t seem worried. As she saw it, even if Cloud Realm Trade Consortium succeeded in their plantations, all she had to do was expose their alliance to Medical City to make their wares unmarketable. She was more concerned with the matter at hand.
“Long Feiye, just how did Empress Xue die?” she asked, still ignorant of the truth.
She knew that he had sent people to kill her, but not the woman’s cause of death. She assumed it’d been a simple assassination, but after seeing the corpse, she didn’t notice any obvious wounds. The Chu Clan and Ning Cheng must have done their own inspections too, but without success. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have made up a wound on her foot instead of targeting the original site of injury.
Long Feiye leaned against the tall pillows and feigned sleep instead of answering. Han Yunxi scooted over and pushed him. “Come on and say it. How are you so sure that Cao Tong won’t be able to figure it out? Aren’t you afraid that the corpse will reveal its secrets once it’s been restored to the state right after death?”
Long Feiye reached out a hand to pull her into his arms. “This matter isn’t important.”
The outcome wouldn’t matter to them either way. It was the process and Duanmu Yao’s perspective on events that was more important.
“Come on and spill. It’s not like I’ll betray you,” Han Yunxi wouldn’t give up until she knew the truth.
Long Feiye still remained mute, so she narrowed her eyes in a threatening manner. “Are you telling me or not?”
Long Feiye still shook his head, so Han Yunxi started scratching his armpit to tickle him. He quickly dodged and put her hand down. His greatest weakness was being ticklish, but that was something only Han Yunxi knew. She persisted in attacking him. “Are you telling me or not? Are you?”
Long Feiye started out silently evading her attacks, but couldn’t help but burst out laughing by the end. Still, he kept his lips firmly sealed and refused to say a word. The two of them started roughhousing right in the carriage, their movements loud and occasionally pierced with Han Yunxi’s pants for breath. Outside, Uncle Gao and Chu Xifeng only exchanged glances and had all sorts of imaginings about what was going on inside.
Using a postmortem to declare a person’s innocence was a big deal. News of their travels to the Medicine Hut had spread far and wide, so all of Cloud Realm Continent was paying attention to the news! But this couple still had the mood to fool around in their carriage. If Duanmu Yao found out, wouldn’t she go mad with rage?
In any case, Han Yunxi and Long Feiye arrived after a few days’ worth of travel. Pill King didn’t cause them any difficulties as they imagined, but happily handed over the Rising Dead and enthusiastically offered to help them apply it properly. Han Yunxi couldn’t help but think that the old man had finally learned how to be docile for once.
“Yunxi, have you read through the ancient medicine text I gave you last time?” he asked with a chuckle.
“I have, I have,” Han Yunxi said offhandedly. In reality, she’d been so busy trying to break through to Rank Two of the poison storage space that she’d left Mu Linger and Gu Qi Sha to study its contents. Once things passed, she could simply flip through the girl’s own notes instead.
“Then do you have any areas where you’re unclear about, or need help on?” Pill King asked next. He had given her the text just so she could write him more letters and keep in touch with him for pointers. Like this, master and disciple could grow closer and become a true teaching relationship. If he couldn’t keep the girl here by force, he could at least be her master in more than name.
“I’m…still reading through it. I can just study the areas I’m unclear on a bit more. Asking about the particulars afterwards won’t be too late,” Han Yunxi went through the motions again.
After a few more rounds of casual conversation, she went to the Medicine Requesting Cave to pay a visit to the old eccentric. Compared to Pill King, she preferred him much more. Unfortunately, the man refused to see her without good news in tow. He was waiting for his own disciple to come back. Han Yunxi couldn’t help but think of Gu Qishao’s laughing eyes. No matter how much she pitied the old eccentric, she still wouldn’t betray Gu Qishao for him.
She and Long Feiye ended up resting at the Medicine Hut for half a day before Duanmu Yao and Cao Tong arrived with the Council of Elder’s representatives. Pill King personally inspected the empress’s corpse and went to brew the medicine immediately without a word. Cao Tong was quite respectful of the old man and acted like a child despite his advanced years, hovering here and there to help him out. In the end, it was the disciple Han Yunxi who was left watching from the sidelines with nothing to do.
It really was…ridiculous!
Only now did Duanmu Yao finally accept that Han Yunxi had been accepted as a disciple of the famed Pill King. Her bad mood grew ever worse. As the Pill King’s disciple, Han Yunxi’s status was quite high. Just what other outstanding roles did Han Yunxi bear besides the title of Qin Wangfei? Duanmu Yao disliked the feeling of distance now growing between them!
Very soon, Pill King finished brewing the medicine and personally came to apply it on the body. Although he’d made a fine show of fancy gestures and tricks, in the end all he did was pour the decoction onto the corpse. As the liquid trickled down from the body, it began to slowly recover. Cao Tong watched from the sides, his eyebrows knitting increasingly at the sight.
Just what…had he discovered?