Yanu looked at Feng Jiu’er, seeming somewhat startled that she would strike at him.

But his expression remained calm, facing Jiu’er’s attack with composure, not even attempting to dodge.

The strike halted less than a finger’s width away from his face.

Just as Feng Jiu’er had expected, she had managed to stop the palm itself — but the force of the strike could not be held back at all.

Yanu felt a stinging pain across his face, so sharp he couldn’t open his eyes. By the time he finally opened them, Feng Jiu’er was staring at him fixedly, her gaze full of complicated emotion.

A thread of scarlet trickled down from the tip of Yanu’s nose, dripping onto the front of his robe and blooming into a small stain of blood.

Feng Jiu’er’s heart ached at the sight. She immediately drew out a silver needle and pressed it into an acupoint on his head.

But just as she was about to insert it, she suddenly shifted the needle’s position, the tip aiming instead for the Baihui point at the very crown of his head.

A fatal point! If the silver needle went in deep enough at that spot, he would have absolutely no chance of surviving!

The needle pressed against Feng Jiu’er’s fingertips, but her gaze remained fixed on Yanu’s face.

He, in turn, simply gazed back at her quietly the whole while, as though no matter what she did to him, he would never hold it against her.

At last, just as the silver needle was about to plunge in, Feng Jiu’er shifted its position once more in an instant, sinking it into a different point instead.

The bleeding from Yanu’s nose stopped almost instantly — it had come on quickly, and it left just as fast.

Still, his disfigured face quickly turned pale.

After all, he had been hurt.

Feng Jiu’er withdrew the needle, took out a handkerchief, and wiped away the traces of blood from his nose and the corner of his mouth. Only then did she look at him and let out a long breath. “You’re allowed to be angry with me. I’ll let you hit me or curse at me, however you like.”

Yanu shook his head, a trace of quiet pleasure seeming to surface in his eyes. He took Jiu’er’s hand, led her to the table, and immediately began serving food onto her plate.

Seeing that fleeting glimmer of happiness in his eyes, Feng Jiu’er felt a bittersweet ache in her heart, a faint sense of distress.

She wasn’t, in truth, a person who softened easily — and yet, this Yanu before her now made her heart soften completely.

He knew she had finally come to trust him, and that alone made him happy — so much so that he didn’t seem to mind at all that she had just hurt him.

He was so easily satisfied — as long as she trusted him, that was enough; he didn’t care in the least how much he had to suffer for it.

Feng Jiu’er sighed quietly to herself. A man like this truly tugged at her heart.

“I’m sorry.”

Still, he showed no sign of resentment at all, which only made Feng Jiu’er feel even more sorrowful. Looking at the table full of food only deepened that ache.

“Eat with me. I’m sorry — please don’t be angry with me. Forgive me.”

Yanu nodded, then shook his head.

Yet somehow, Feng Jiu’er understood exactly what he meant — he forgave her, and he wasn’t angry.

Yanu hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he sat down at the table beside her.

If he hadn’t joined her for this meal, she would probably have let her thoughts spiral out of control.

But then Feng Jiu’er seemed to notice something. Frowning, she suddenly took hold of Yanu’s hand and examined it closely.

“Your… your hands are so beautiful!” This hardly looked like a hand that had spent years doing rough labor — how could a pair of hands be this beautiful?

And then there were his eyes — setting his face aside entirely, those eyes alone were stunning enough to captivate an entire city!

Heavens, before his face had been disfigured, Yanu must have been a man of breathtaking beauty. To have ended up like this now was truly such a shame.

Yanu withdrew his hand, looking somewhat bashful.

He pushed the bowl toward Feng Jiu’er, gesturing for her to eat.

Just as Jiu’er lifted the bowl in her hands, her brow suddenly furrowed tightly once more.

Outside, the sound of footsteps drew closer and closer, and very soon, a group of people burst in. “Feng Jiu’er, you are suspected of conspiring with members of the Tianzun Sect — you are hereby under arrest!”