While they were chatting and laughing, several maids came over carrying tea and snacks. Xiao Jinglin thought Xiao Jingxi had ordered them and paid no attention.
Silly Girl perseveringly climbed up every time Xiao Jinglin knocked her down repeatedly, her paws always clinging to the Songjiang cloth on the bamboo basket, chewing with great delight.
Xiao Jingxi picked up Silly Girl and put her back in the bamboo basket, handing it to the supervising woman from the garden: “Take her down and feed her until she’s full.”
The supervising woman immediately took the basket and was about to leave when Xiao Jinglin said, “Bring the food over here to feed her.”
The supervising woman quickly complied and gave instructions to the maids standing outside the pavilion.
Those maids entered the pavilion, bringing out the snacks from the food box dish by dish, and replaced the tea bowls in front of Ren Yaoqi and Xiao Jinglin.
Xiao Jinglin found it somewhat strange: “Why are there only two bowls of tea?” There were three people here.
The maids looked at each other, and one of the cleverer ones immediately said: “Miss Yun asked us servants to bring some tea and snacks for the County Princess and Miss Ren Five. We servants didn’t know the Second Young Master was also here. Please forgive us, masters. This servant will go fetch another bowl right away.”
Hearing that Yun Qiuchen had sent them, Xiao Jinglin said nothing more. When Xiao Jingxi entered the garden, he probably hadn’t alerted anyone.
“You drink it, I’m not thirsty.” Xiao Jinglin pushed the tea in front of her toward Xiao Jingxi. Seeing the maid bring over food for the little tiger, she was about to get up to look.
Ren Yaoqi hadn’t drunk much of her earlier tea and was indeed thirsty now. Seeing that a maid had gone to fetch more tea, she didn’t stand on ceremony and picked up the tea in front of her. When she grasped the tea bowl lid, Ren Yaoqi found it somewhat strange that the tea didn’t seem very hot, but she didn’t pay much attention. However, when the bowl lid was lifted, Ren Yaoqi was alarmed to sense something crawling up from the tea bowl. Before she could see clearly what it was, instinctive fear and alertness made her cry out softly as she immediately threw the tea bowl onto the stone table and stepped back from the table. But as the things in the tea bowl scattered in all directions, one of them jumped onto her collar with extreme speed.
Xiao Jingxi had also been about to drink tea, but as soon as the tea bowl was in his hands, he felt something was wrong. Just as he was about to call out to stop Ren Yaoqi, he heard a “clang” as Ren Yaoqi threw her tea bowl and stood up.
“Don’t move!” When he saw clearly what was crawling on Ren Yaoqi’s collar, Xiao Jingxi’s face changed color, and he immediately stopped Ren Yaoqi from swatting at it with her hand.
It was a black spider the size of a longan fruit. Xiao Jingxi recognized at a glance that it was a highly venomous spider.
Ren Yaoqi forced herself not to move, although her face was pale and she couldn’t help trembling slightly.
But her not moving didn’t mean the spider wouldn’t move. The venomous spider was rapidly crawling along her collar. Today she wore a peach-colored short jacket with white trim and broken branch peach blossom patterns with a cross-collar design. The venomous spider was about to crawl inside her collar when Xiao Jingxi’s hand shot out like lightning to pinch the spider, then flung it to the ground.
Xiao Jinglin immediately stepped forward and stamped the venomous spider to death. There had been three spiders crawling out of the tea bowl – the other two were immediately killed by Xiao Jinglin and Hongying when they crawled toward Xiao Jinglin’s side.
Ren Yaoqi was naturally afraid of these multi-legged creatures. This was instinct, unrelated to her experience, and this type of spider was venomous.
Her mind went blank for a moment, not knowing how to react.
Xiao Jingxi quickly scanned Ren Yaoqi’s body and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw she hadn’t been bitten.
“It’s all right now, don’t be afraid.” His voice was unprecedentedly gentle, carrying the power to calm hearts.
After all, Ren Yaoqi was no longer a child, and her ability to control her emotions was quite good. She immediately tried to relax her body. Although her complexion was still somewhat poor, she still returned Xiao Jingxi a smile: “I’m fine, thank you.”
If Xiao Jingxi hadn’t risked helping her remove that venomous spider just now, it would have crawled inside her collar. To find it, she would have had to immediately remove her clothes, but this was outdoors – if she undressed in public and word got out, her reputation would be ruined. But if she waited to return to an inner room to look for it, she didn’t know if she would still be alive.
Xiao Jinglin breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Ren Yaoqi was unharmed, but immediately frowned and looked at Xiao Jingxi: “Let me see your hand.”
Xiao Jingxi paused and smiled at Xiao Jinglin: “I’m fine.”
Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi also looked nervously at Xiao Jingxi. Just now, Xiao Jingxi had grabbed that venomous spider with his bare hands, but his hand was hidden by his sleeves, so she couldn’t tell if he was injured.
Xiao Jinglin stared at Xiao Jingxi without blinking and repeated: “Let me see your hand.”
Xiao Jingxi was about to say something when Xiao Jinglin had already impatiently stepped forward to take action herself.
Xiao Jingxi wanted to dodge but immediately stopped his movement, looking at Xiao Jinglin somewhat helplessly: “All right, don’t get physical, I’ll let you see.”
Xiao Jinglin stopped her hand but continued to stare at Xiao Jingxi intently.
Xiao Jingxi smiled and sighed, extending his right hand while saying gently, “This type of spider is specially cultivated for raising venomous creatures, so its entire body is poisonous. But don’t be afraid – it can’t poison me to death.”
When Ren Yaoqi saw Xiao Jingxi’s hand, she gasped. Xiao Jingxi’s right index finger and thumb had already swollen up, and looking carefully, his complexion was also somewhat pale.
Xiao Jinglin grabbed Xiao Jingxi’s hand, frowning as she examined it, then looked up and sneered at Xiao Jingxi: “It can’t poison you to death! At worst, you just won’t need your right hand anymore!”
Ren Yaoqi was startled and, not caring about impropriety, grabbed Xiao Jingxi’s hand to examine it while saying to Hongying nearby: “Quickly prepare some indigo leaves, realgar, alum, and vinegar. Although I haven’t seen this type of venomous spider before, this detoxification formula should be of some use.”
She carefully examined Xiao Jingxi’s injury while racking her brain to recall if there were other detoxification prescriptions in the medical books she had read.
Xiao Jingxi’s hand had been somewhat painful, but now being held in Ren Yaoqi’s hands, he felt some itching and numbness – he didn’t know if this was a sign of poisoning, but he didn’t withdraw his hand.
Only Xiao Jingxi’s ears turned uncontrollably red, though his expression remained unchanged as he smiled and comforted Ren Yaoqi: “I’m fine. The medicine I drink daily has detoxifying effects. That type of spider might be too much for ordinary people to handle, but it’s no serious matter for me. The swelling in my hand will subside in a few hours – if you don’t believe me, I’ll let you see then.”
Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi was startled. The medicine Xiao Jingxi drank daily was for detoxification? Could it be that Xiao Jingxi’s poor health wasn’t due to a congenital deficiency but because he had been poisoned?
Although Ren Yaoqi was still very worried, she sensitively felt it would be better not to continue with this topic.
Xiao Jinglin looked at Xiao Jingxi meaningfully.
Xiao Jinglin knew about Xiao Jingxi’s poisoning – he had never mentioned it to outsiders. Everyone thought Xiao Jingxi was naturally weak.
Ren Yaoqi looked toward Xiao Jinglin and saw that although her brow was still furrowed, she didn’t seem overly worried. She wasn’t even rushing to call for a physician. The maids and women Xiao Jinglin had brought weren’t too panicked either. The supervising woman was directing people to carefully collect Xiao Jingxi’s unopened tea bowl and gather up the already unrecognizable dead spiders from the ground.
The maids who had just brought up the tea and snacks had long been driven outside the pavilion by Hongxiao. All four maids were trembling as they prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to make even the slightest sound, let alone beg for mercy.
Only Xiao Jinglin’s trusted maids and the supervising woman remained in the pavilion.
Ren Yaoqi had been too concerned to notice these details before. When Xiao Jinglin said Xiao Jingxi’s right hand was done for, she had only worried about Xiao Jingxi’s injury.
However, Ren Yaoqi felt it would be better to have a physician examine Xiao Jingxi’s hand. Just as she was about to voice her suggestion, she suddenly heard an angry male voice: “What are you doing?”
Ren Yaoqi turned to see Yun Wenfang emerging from somewhere, looking at her… hand with shock and anger.
Only then did Ren Yaoqi look down and realize that in her worry about Xiao Jingxi’s hand injury, she was still holding his hand without letting go.
Her face uncontrollably reddened as Ren Yaoqi tried to release his hand with an unchanged expression.
Yun Wenfang strode over quickly. Hongying stepped forward to block him, but Yun Wenfang’s eyes were filled with a furious storm. He shifted his body, blocked Hongying’s arm with a reverse palm push, causing Hongying to stagger.
Xiao Jinglin frowned, wanting to throw this arrogant fellow out, but just as she started to move, she suddenly remembered something and glanced toward Xiao Jingxi. Then she silently withdrew her step and even imperceptibly retreated slightly, allowing Yun Wenfang to successfully approach.
Hongying, Hongxiao, and the other maids had all followed Xiao Jinglin for many years and naturally saw Xiao Jinglin’s actions. Although they were somewhat puzzled, none of them moved.
“Ren Yaoqi! Get over here!”
Yun Wenfang reached out to grab Ren Yaoqi, but Xiao Jingxi shifted his body and raised his hand to block Yun Wenfang’s hand, smiling slightly: “Zishu, what are you doing?”
Yun Wenfang looked at Xiao Jingxi as if his gaze contained knives: “Xiao Jingxi, get out of the way.”
Yun Wenfang still retained some rationality – although his attitude was extremely bad, he restrained himself from attacking Xiao Jingxi.
Xiao Jingxi’s smile remained unchanged, and he didn’t move an inch: “I just injured my hand and asked Miss Ren Five to help me examine the wound.”
Xiao Jingxi’s words could be considered an explanation – he didn’t want Ren Yaoqi’s reputation to be damaged. Unfortunately, Yun Wenfang’s mind was filled only with the glaring image of Ren Yaoqi holding Xiao Jingxi’s hand, and he couldn’t listen at all.
“I’ll say it once more – get out of my way!” Yun Wenfang stared coldly at Xiao Jingxi, clenching both hands into fists. Everyone present could hear the “crack crack” sound of his knuckles, and combined with his Asura-like expression, it was full of threat, making people unable to suppress their fear.
Ren Yaoqi’s expression was also very unpleasant. If others saw Yun Wenfang like this, they would think there was some illicit relationship between them.