The hot spring water wrapped around Changling’s feet bubbled upward—she was using the water to expel the poison from her body.

The Myriad Poison Suppressant was not an item that made one immune to all poisons. Rather, after taking it, no matter what kind of poison one was afflicted with, it would temporarily be contained and prevented from flowing into the limbs and vital organs—as long as one used their internal energy to force the poison out within five hours, their life would not be in danger.

Changling circled her palms in a small rotation, and the turbid water evaporated through her sweat and skin, making her entire body seem shrouded in mist.

Ye Qi watched from the side, still unable to put his mind at ease. He couldn’t help but step forward and say, “Are you… alright? If not, I’ll go call Physician Ji…”

“Stand back!” Changling ordered Ye Qi to retreat. “Be careful not to get touched by my poison vapor.”

Although the Myriad Poison Suppressant could control poison, in theory it was also an item that fought poison with poison. If the person who took it had deep internal energy, they could release a bit of it through their palm force, causing anyone struck by their palm to be poisoned without even knowing it.

Thus, this was exactly the trick that Mingyue Fei had fallen for—just when she thought she had brought everyone down, that palm wind that inadvertently swept past under the table, how could she guard against everything?

In terms of cunning schemes, the Eighth Princess was naturally quick-witted with endless tricks, but unfortunately when facing the young Marquis He, it was like a little devil meeting a Buddha—she fell far short.

However, watching Changling struggle so much to expel the poison, Ye Qi began to regret coming up with this terrible idea—what if the Myriad Poison Suppressant had expired and its medicinal effect was insufficient?

“It’s my fault, I should have thought of a more reliable method…”

Changling stopped expelling poison halfway through and looked at Ye Qi nervously staring at her. She said, “Go hide behind the screen.”

Ye Qi: “Why?”

“Expelling poison only through hands and feet is too slow. If I immerse my entire naked body in the water and circulate my energy throughout my whole body, I can quickly drive out the remaining poison.” After Changling finished speaking, without caring whether Ye Qi agreed or not, she began to untie her outer garment on her own.

Ye Qi’s face had already turned red as a persimmon upon hearing the words “naked body,” and seeing Changling undress at an inhuman speed, he hurriedly turned his back. “Then then then I’ll go out first, you can call me in when you’re done…”

“You can’t go out.” Changling had stripped down to only a chest wrap. She slipped into the hot spring water without any pressure, only feeling her bones soften and her muscles relax, her entire body comfortable. “I might pass out halfway through circulating my energy. You stay here, and if you don’t hear any sounds, remember to pull me out in time, otherwise I won’t die from poison, but from drowning.”

The young marquis who heard these words stopped at the door. The screen blocked the embarrassment he couldn’t hide on his face. Somehow, hearing her call him to stay, his heart that had been jumping erratically seemed to be soaked in honey, sweetness seeping bit by bit into his heart.

She trusts me.

Ye Qi coughed lightly and said reluctantly, “Oh, then there’s no helping it, I’ll… I’ll stay.”

Changling closed her eyes, her hands gliding back and forth underwater like swimming dragons, wisps of poison vapor dispersing with the flow. Soon, a rosy flush returned to her face, and before long, the Myriad Poison Suppressant had been completely expelled.

However, the Second Young Master Yue had just entered this hot spring—how could she be willing to get out so quickly? She swam back and forth twice, and heard Ye Qi from behind the screen say, “How… how are you feeling now?”

“Ah, right now…” Changling suddenly felt playful. “This Myriad Poison Suppressant is really strange, why can’t I seem to expel it completely?”

Upon hearing this, Ye Qi broke out in another cold sweat. “Then in a moment… if you pass out, remember to let me know…”

Changling held back her laughter. “If I’ve already passed out, how can I let you know?”

Ye Qi’s tongue tied up in fright. “Then I… then if I don’t hear any sounds, I’ll just come straight in, and if I see something I shouldn’t see and offend you, you, you mustn’t blame me…”

“Something I shouldn’t see?” Changling couldn’t hold back and laughed. “What shouldn’t you see? Oh, my body? What are you afraid of, anyway… haven’t you already seen it before?”

“When did I…”

Changling stirred up a splash of water. “Your memory is really poor…”

Ye Qi listened with his face flushed red, practically steaming from his nostrils. “You mean when we were little, but, but I was still young then, I didn’t know any better. You’re not holding a grudge until now, are you?”

Hearing the usually silver-tongued young marquis stutter, Changling finally couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

Ye Qi heard the laughter and was stunned for a good while before belatedly realizing, “I say… you were deliberately teasing me, weren’t you?”

Changling happily paddled in the water. “Aren’t you supposed to be brilliant at predicting everything with infallible schemes? Take a guess?”

“I really am impressed by you,” Ye Qi scratched his head, half annoyed and half relieved as he sat down. “Please don’t casually make these kinds of jokes, okay? I’ll…”

“You’ll what?”

I’ll take it seriously.

Ye Qi didn’t respond, and Changling didn’t pay much attention. She had soaked comfortably and was in much better spirits, feeling that chatting idly with Ye Qi like this was actually quite relaxed and natural. She said, “However, about tonight’s events, there’s still one thing I haven’t figured out…”

“What is it?”

“Mingyue Fei didn’t seem to have any killing intent toward me, and she kept saying she wanted to take me away. That Tianpo had the same line too… Do you think they’ve become suspicious of my identity?” Changling said strangely. “Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense…”

“What’s so hard to understand about that,” Ye Qi listened and felt quite uncomfortable in his heart. “It must be Mingyue Zhou’s idea…”

Changling was even more puzzled. “What does he want with me?”

“To make you…” Ye Qi paused for a moment, stopping his words just in time, but then thought that Mingyue Zhou would come looking sooner or later anyway, so he changed his tone and said, “Who knows? Maybe he’s taken a fancy to your peerless martial arts and wants to recruit you to be his princess consort, making the Great Yan even more powerful?”

Changling blinked in surprise. Her first reaction was that this was nonsense, but thinking about the “sister-in-law” that Mingyue Fei had mentioned, she felt Ye Qi’s words made some sense. “That would explain it…”

Ye Qi added fuel to the fire. “Right? I mentioned that gilded ring to you before—it’s a token Yan people use to choose wives, which is why I found it strange at the time…”

Changling continued, “Thinking about it this way, he gave me that ring after witnessing my martial arts, but he didn’t say it explicitly. I thought he just wanted to thank me for saving his life…”

“A debt of gratitude for saving one’s life should be repaid with one’s body—actually that’s not wrong either.” A certain scheming young marquis added, “If you think about it carefully, Mingyue Zhou is also quite talented and handsome, with power and influence. If you married him, it would also be a good choice…”

He deliberately said this, waiting for Changling to voice her objection.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, Changling shook her head. “Marry? Even if I were to marry, how could I possibly marry a Yan person?”

Ye Qi suppressed a smile. “So you’re saying you’ve actually thought about marriage? I thought the Second Young Master Yue only thought about taking a wife, not getting married herself.”

“Of course I’ve thought about it.” Changling’s voice drifted over. “I thought about getting married before.”

Upon hearing this, Ye Qi gradually lost his smile. “Before? To… who? Can you, can you say?”

“Isn’t it you?”

This drifting voice was too unreal. Ye Qi thought he was having auditory hallucinations again.

Having had the experience with the “you” incident before, he pressed his chest and quickly adjusted. “You’re joking again, aren’t you?”

“I’m not joking, I’m telling the truth.” Changling said seriously. “Eleven years ago, by the hot spring water, the time you saw me—I was thinking, ah, what a pity, if this weren’t a child, no matter what I’d have to make him marry me.”

Ye Qi’s heart suddenly leaped.

After one leap, it pounded even more fiercely.

He didn’t know whether he was momentarily confused by the spring mist or had lost his reason, but he couldn’t help blurting out the question.

“I’m not a child anymore now… if, if I were willing to marry you, would you still be willing to marry me?”

The room fell silent for a moment.

Ye Qi waited and waited, but heard no response—his palms sweated nervously, even his breathing became erratic.

“Are, are you still there?”

The person on the other side of the screen still gave no answer.

Ye Qi’s heart sank with a “thud,” and he asked, “You didn’t pass out, did you? Quick, quickly answer me.”

Still no movement.

He couldn’t care about anything else now. He strode out from behind the screen, but didn’t see anyone in the pool.

Ye Qi frowned and looked around the bedroom again, but still didn’t see any trace of Changling.

He was even more shocked—how could a living person disappear into thin air on such a night?

“Changling, Chang…”

Ye Qi was about to open the window to look when, after running a few steps, he suddenly heard her say, “I’m here.”

He turned back following the sound, his steps abruptly stopping as he saw Changling walking out from the inner chamber.

She wore a snow-white straight-collared robe, unbelted, with her long hair hanging down. Perhaps because she had just soaked in the hot spring, her fair skin had a rosy tinge, her lips were red as crimson fruit. Unlike her usual cool and icy demeanor, she was simply charming and boneless, with an added touch of allure.

Changling lowered her head to roll up the sleeves that were far too long, saying, “My clothes were completely soaked through, so I went in to find your clothes to wear. But your pants are too long, I can’t wear them. I never noticed before—are you really this tall? Do I look ridiculous dressed like this?”

If she hadn’t mentioned it, Ye Qi wouldn’t have dared to look more closely. But with this reminder, he realized she wasn’t wearing pants. Although the upper robe covered her knees, it still revealed a stretch of slender calves. She walked a few steps barefoot, making her graceful figure even more apparent, full of feminine charm.

Ye Qi stared at her blankly, suddenly feeling something surge into his heart, stirring up towering waves.

Only one thought remained in his mind: I’m done for.

Changling was completely unaware of the young marquis’s distress. She tilted her head to the side, wringing water from the ends of her hair. “I think if I go out like this…”

“That’s definitely not okay! Absolutely not!” Ye Qi immediately interrupted.

Changling heard his vehement words and looked up, somewhat puzzled. “I know it’s not okay. It’s just that if I change into a different set of clothes to go back, it will surely make Jing Wuwei suspicious. I’ll just dry my clothes in a bit and change back… hey, what’s wrong with you?”

She saw fresh blood flowing from Ye Qi’s nose and hurried forward, using her sleeve to cover it, asking strangely, “Why are you bleeding again? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“Maybe it’s… I inhaled a bit of the Myriad Poison Suppressant from the air…” Ye Qi made up an excuse. “I’m not…”

Changling found him too tall, so she stood on her tiptoes, her chest brushing against his body, whether intentionally or not.

Ye Qi: “…”

Heavens, what sin have I committed that You would test me like this?

Changling held her hand there for a while. Seeing he had stopped bleeding, she lowered her hand and sighed. “I swallowed the Myriad Poison Suppressant and was fine, yet you were so far away from me and still got affected… tsk tsk, young people just can’t handle things…”

He heard the subtext in her words.

Not knowing where the courage came from, he suddenly leaned forward, grabbed her wrist, spun around and pressed her against the wall behind him, lowering his voice with restraint. “I’m not a child anymore… you know that…”

Changling froze. Her eyes, usually calm as an ancient well, seemed to have a pebble inadvertently dropped into them, creating slight ripples.

He looked deeply into her eyes and said, “The question I just asked you—you heard it all, didn’t you?”