Jiuqing and Qiao Mu had both made it back.

Qiao Mu was locked back into the cave together with everyone else.

As for Jiuqing, Elder Feng specifically had him brought elsewhere.

No matter who he faced, Jiuqing kept his expression cold, not saying a single word.

Given that their young miss had just married into the stronghold’s young master that very night, Elder Feng didn’t dare treat Jiuqing too harshly.

After finding nothing suspicious on his person, they fed him another dose of the Bone-Softening Powder and sent him back to the cave.

“How is it?” Xue Gu was anxious now. “This Elder Feng seems hard to deal with — he didn’t give you any trouble, did he?”

Jiuqing shook his head, still saying nothing.

Everyone was used to Jiuqing’s temperament by now. Unless something urgent came up, no one bothered asking him questions.

Xue Gu looked around at everyone, lowering her voice. “How is everyone feeling now?”

Long Shiyi said, “There’s a bit of warmth in my dantian, my strength seems to be coming back, though I still can’t exert much force.”

“Don’t worry — Jiu’er said these medicines were newly prepared, the effect might not be as strong as their original antidote, but with enough time to rest, everyone will recover.”

The medicine had been brought back by Qiao Mu. When Jiuqing returned, he’d had all the medicine hidden on her person.

At the time, no one had understood why Jiuqing trusted her so completely — now it seemed he truly had some kind of foresight.

Elder Feng’s full attention had been on Jiuqing, and he hadn’t noticed her at all.

When Jiuqing came back, he’d caused quite a stir, which made it easy for Qiao Mu to slip back into the crowd without drawing much attention.

That was how she’d managed to bring the medicine back to everyone safely.

But now that Jiu’er had been sent into the bridal chamber, why did Jiuqing seem so unconcerned?

Tuoba Keyan, by contrast, had tried to circulate his energy several times after taking the antidote, but each attempt had failed.

He looked anxious — surely it was because of what was happening to Jiu’er.

Qiao Mu walked up to Xue Gu, lowering her voice. “Jiu’er… what should we do about her?”

Xue Gu glanced instinctively at Jiuqing, carefully choosing her words.

“Jiu’er hinted to me before that the young master doesn’t like her. It should… probably not be a serious problem for now.”

Should!

That word offered absolutely no reassurance.

Qiao Mu glanced at Jiuqing again — why was he still so calm?

She’d thought he cared deeply about Jiu’er, especially given everything that had happened before.

But Qiao Mu still couldn’t relax. “What if that young master…”

Xue Gu waved a hand. Everyone here had just taken the antidote — charging out now would be a sure path to death.

The antidote would likely take at least two hours before anyone fully recovered. Could Jiu’er hold out for two hours?

Before they’d left, Jiu’er had kept signaling to her with her eyes — perhaps two hours wouldn’t be a problem, would it?

But Jiuqing’s calmness was truly beyond Xue Gu’s expectations.

She’d originally thought he would be the most anxious, the least able to bear it.

How could he look so unreadable now?

Suddenly, Qiao Mu let out a startled cry. “Where’s Yanu?”

The question left everyone exchanging awkward glances, no one sure how to answer.

“Xue Gu, where’s Yanu?” Seeing everyone’s strange expressions, Qiao Mu’s heart lurched with panic. She rushed over and crouched in front of Xue Gu.

“Where’s Yanu? Why isn’t anyone saying anything? Where is he right now? Did something happen to him?”

Earlier, everyone had been preoccupied with distributing the antidote the moment they returned, and hadn’t noticed.

No wonder something had felt off — it turned out Yanu hadn’t received any of the antidote at all when it was handed out!

“Where is Yanu exactly? Xue Gu, tell me — did something happen to him?”

Everyone else had made it back — there was no reason Yanu wouldn’t have too!

“It’s not… exactly that something happened.” Xue Gu looked troubled, glancing at Tuoba Keyan.

Tuoba Keyan blinked, startled — why was this suddenly being thrown at him?

How was he supposed to explain this to Qiao Mu?

After a moment’s thought, he said, “Well, Xue Gu and I were both in the main hall earlier. Maybe… you should ask Shiyi.”

Long Shiyi blinked — why was this hot potato being tossed to him now?

Everyone knew Qiao Mu liked Yanu — it had been obvious to everyone the whole journey.

But now, Yanu was…

“Well…” Long Shiyi genuinely considered pretending to faint.

“What exactly happened to Yanu? Why isn’t he here? Is it… is it…”

The more Qiao Mu thought about it, the more frightened she became. The more everyone hesitated, the more her fear grew.

“No, no, Yanu’s fine. He’s… he’s actually doing quite well right now.”

Whether “quite well” was the right way to put it was debatable, but at least there was no danger to his life.

The young lady who’d said she wanted him only wanted… to get close to him. At the very least, she wasn’t going to kill him.

A grown man losing… something, well, that wasn’t such a big deal, was it?

But Long Shiyi didn’t dare say any of this out loud. He figured if he actually said it, Qiao Mu would tear him apart.

Right now, Qiao Mu could move freely, while he, despite having taken the antidote, hadn’t fully recovered his strength yet.

If Qiao Mu wanted to finish him off now, he had no way to resist at all.

“What exactly is going on?” Qiao Mu was beside herself. Why did everyone keep dancing around the subject?

“Well, there’s a girl at the stronghold, probably the chief’s daughter, who’s taken a liking to Yanu and wants to marry him.”

“What?” That chief’s daughter had dared to set her sights on her Yanu, wanting to marry him!

How outrageous! Too outrageous! Didn’t she know Yanu already belonged to her?

“Did Yanu agree? What does that girl look like? Is she pretty?”

“She’s… she’s pretty good-looking.” Long Yi answered honestly.

Qiao Mu flared with anger instantly, grabbing his collar.

“What? You actually think she’s pretty?! A woman who forces two men to marry her, and you call her pretty?! Are you blind?”

“But she really is…”

Long Shiyi quickly tugged at Long Yi’s sleeve, whispering a warning, “Your strength hasn’t recovered yet, you can’t beat her right now — watch yourself.”

Long Yi fell silent at once and shook his head. “She’s not as pretty as you.”

Only then did Qiao Mu give a satisfied huff and release his collar.

Long Yi cleared his throat lightly and added, “For now… it shouldn’t be a serious problem. They’ve just taken him somewhere to be well fed and housed.”

Of course, the part where the girl had said she wanted to share the bridal chamber with him that very night was absolutely not something he could mention.

If he said that, Qiao Mu would surely go mad. She probably wouldn’t even wait for everyone’s strength to recover — she’d charge out immediately to save him.