The one person who had ever given her a sense of safety, the one man she’d been willing to give everything to without condition —

Could it really be over, just like that, so decisively?

Even unconscious, Ziqing had kept telling herself: at the very least, she had to ask him face to face, to know why.

But right now, in this moment, she truly, truly felt heartbroken.

Unable to hold back her grief and despair, all she could do was tell herself: don’t want that man anymore, never again — only that way could she save herself, could she find some peace. Only that way could she, for now, escape this helplessness and sorrow.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t even know what to do with herself.

She could see no tomorrow, no hope.

She didn’t know, either — if she saw him again, what would she even do? She truly didn’t dare imagine it.

She could only silently bury the wound, deceive herself: don’t want him, never again, it’s all over, pretend none of it ever happened!

Only by deceiving herself could she find peace, could she save herself!

Don’t think about it. For now, don’t think about any of it.

But!

Whether it was that old nanny or Bai Mengmeng, she would never forget either of them. Never!

Whoever had schemed against her, whoever had stolen her man — she would absolutely never let them go!

The great foolish bear had no idea what was going on, but it could sense that this creature before it was terribly sad and helpless. Though it was only an animal, no smarter than a human, and couldn’t understand human speech —

Animals, however, had an extraordinary gift for sensing emotion, a sensitivity that language could never match.

Though the great foolish bear knew Ziqing was upset, it had no idea why.

It thought, this creature must have lost something precious to her — the way it would grieve for days if it lost its honey.

The great foolish bear thought it over, then took hold of Ziqing’s sleeve in its teeth, tugging to signal her to follow.

Only then did Ziqing pull herself out of her sorrow. Confused, she nonetheless followed the great foolish bear deeper into the cave.

Soon they reached the very back of the cave. The great foolish bear, ignoring the wounds on its shoulder and leg, dug frantically at the ground, and before long unearthed a honeycomb, which it handed to Ziqing.

The instant she smelled it, she recognized the scent of honey — and looking closer, she realized this was royal jelly!

Was this meant for her?

This was something every bear in the world treasured beyond measure!

Ziqing was about to hand the royal jelly back, but she saw the great foolish bear grip the corners of its own mouth with both paws and pull outward, as though trying to force out a smile.

In that instant, a wave of bittersweet emotion surged up in Ziqing’s chest. So… so this foolish bear was trying to make her laugh.

So even a hopelessly foolish bear could tell how sad she was.

Fallen this far, and even a foolish bear was here trying to cheer her up — what right did she have to despair?

Ziqing’s eyes rimmed red; she tilted her head back, blinking hard to keep the tears from falling. She scooped out the royal jelly with her hand, her palm sticky and fragrant.

That delicious royal jelly was something the great foolish bear had painstakingly kept hidden away and treasured. Now, with the treat right in front of it, the great foolish bear watched hungrily, its mouth watering, nearly desperate enough to lunge and devour Ziqing’s very hand along with the jelly.

But it never moved. Even as it couldn’t help opening its great mouth, baring its gleaming white fangs, it stayed still, staring at Ziqing’s hand, panting eagerly.

The sight could be called adorable, and yet it could just as easily be called savage.

A beast was still a beast — their temperament was unpredictable, friendly one moment, capable of turning on you the next over something you hadn’t even noticed.

Beasts were dangerous, without question.

But Ziqing wasn’t afraid.

That was simply who she was — anyone who had helped her sincerely in her darkest moment, even if she couldn’t give her whole heart in return, she would never forget the debt she owed.

In Ziqing’s eyes, the great foolish bear, fangs bared and all, was frightening, yes, but also foolish, and above all, honest and good-natured to the core.

She couldn’t help laughing again, genuinely, from the bottom of her heart. Boldly, she reached her small hand out toward the great foolish bear’s mouth. “There, there. Eat up.”

The great foolish bear couldn’t hold back any longer — the moment Ziqing’s hand came near, it stuck out its tongue and licked, eager and greedy, licking every last bit of royal jelly off her hand in one go, yet still reluctant, still licking at her hand.

Those hands, soft and fair, carrying the distinctive scent of royal jelly — to the great foolish bear, it was simply heavenly.

It couldn’t bear to stop, couldn’t bear to let go. Some instinctive urge rose within it, wanting to curl its tongue around that little hand and take it into its mouth, just to taste what it was like!

It kept licking, licking — even as it told itself to restrain itself, even as it had resolved to be Ziqing’s obedient little follower — in this moment, it couldn’t suppress the thought in its mind, the greedy urge in its belly!

Finally, the great foolish bear curled its tongue around Ziqing’s small hand, drawing it right up to its mouth, about to open wide — and at that critical instant, Ziqing suddenly clamped her other hand over its mouth!

In an instant, a flash of malice flickered through the great foolish bear’s eyes.

But to its surprise, Ziqing merely pried its jaw open with one hand while gently stroking its head with the other. “Hold on, be good — there’s something in your mouth!”

Seeing Ziqing’s serious expression, the great foolish bear didn’t dare move at all, letting her do as she pleased.

Carefully, Ziqing pried open the great foolish bear’s jaw and gently plucked out a long thorn wedged in its gum.

“Look, this thing would’ve stayed stuck in your mouth — it would’ve gotten infected sooner or later,” Ziqing said earnestly.

The great foolish bear froze, staring foolishly at the thorn. Staring and staring, it suddenly whipped its head around and slammed itself hard against the cave wall — once wasn’t enough, it kept slamming itself again and again!

Damn it!

It really was a wretch! How could it have thought about eating her! How could it repay kindness with betrayal!

There wasn’t a single top-tier poison beast in the entire world as kind as this one!

It deserved to die!

Ziqing was stunned — had the great foolish bear gone mad? She was about to step in and stop it when the wound on its shoulder split open from the impact, blood spraying across her face, across her whole body!

Ziqing froze, and only then did something feel wrong.

This blood…

There was something seriously wrong with this blood!

Ziqing suddenly realized — this blood contained medicinal poison, the poison-blood of a poison beast, exactly that!

And she had no immunity to medicinal poison!

But from her battle with those two top-tier poison beasts up until now, including this great foolish bear, she had certainly gotten plenty of their blood on her — so why hadn’t she felt any sign of poisoning?

Just as Ziqing stood there puzzled, she watched the blood on the back of her hand slowly seep into her skin. Instinctively she reached up to wipe it away, but it was completely useless.

Her skin was as dry as if nothing had ever touched it. Ziqing quickly touched her face too — again, not a single trace of blood.

What was going on?

Though she didn’t know much about medicinal-poison beasts, Ziqing at least knew that their entire bodies were saturated with poison — they were the natural nemesis of someone immune to a hundred poisons, like her.

Cultivating a Gu meant placing her among her natural enemies, forcing her to fight, to endure the poison, until eventually she was refined into a true body immune to all poisons — one that even medicinal poison couldn’t touch.

But she hadn’t even been cultivated yet! So how could she already be…