Aside from the main residence, the mountaintop was covered in forest, stretching from east to west, extending clear through to the other side of the mountain.

Jiang Chen, who should have gone down the mountain, was instead hurrying deep through these woods, moving as though he’d been this way several times before. The rugged mountain path had no lantern light to guide him through the darkness, yet he walked steadily and sure-footed.

This path led all the way to the back of the mountain. Suddenly, a sharp claw shot out from the darkness and seized his throat in a vise-like grip—and the figure that appeared was none other than the Gu family’s Second Miss, Gu Suying.

Jiang Chen showed not the slightest alarm, saying with a cold snort, “Second Miss Gu, what exactly do you think you’re doing?”

“You coward! Besides harming your wife and son, what use are you at all?!” Gu Suying snapped furiously.

Yet in the face of such harsh insults, Jiang Chen didn’t seem bothered in the least. He sneered coldly. “Plenty of use, Second Miss Gu. Who exactly is the strongest in internal power in the Gu Shi household right now, if not me? Your family still needs me… and of course, the one who needs me most of all is you, isn’t it?”

“I’m ordering you to go get the medicine right now!” Gu Suying said sharply, shaking off his hand roughly.

But at those words, Jiang Chen’s eyes turned cold instantly. “I have no such plans.”

“You—!” Gu Suying choked with fury. “That’s your son!”

“So what? I don’t believe it absolutely has to be that red yang-natured medicine to save him,” Jiang Chen said coldly.

Gu Suying suddenly grabbed him again, slamming him hard against a tree trunk with a heavy thud. “Jiang Chen! Even a poisonous tiger doesn’t devour its own cub! Aren’t you afraid of being struck down by lightning for this?!”

“Ha, struck by lightning—and what about you? A tiger doesn’t eat its cub, and what exactly does that make you?” Jiang Chen seemed to have Gu Suying figured out completely, smiling with open disdain.

Gu Suying took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. “One thing is one thing, another is another. Jiang Chen, that is your son. Saving him is nothing but a small effort for you. Go beg for the medicine, and when you come back, just say you bought it down the mountain—who would suspect you?”

“This isn’t going to be that simple a coincidence—there’s definitely something suspicious going on. We’ve come this far, I’m not taking that risk!” Jiang Chen said seriously, brushing her hand away.

“What’s suspicious about it? I’ve already checked the storehouse thoroughly. Starting from the day you took the red yang-natured medicine and left only two stalks behind, the shadow guard’s first trip to collect the iris root was ten days later—he clearly had no suspicion at all. His second trip, for the fallen-red vine, was another three days after that. The storehouse has always kept only two stalks of red yang-natured medicine on hand—no one ever noticed, no one ever suspected a thing. And Yingzi didn’t take them deliberately on their own—the prescriptions simply required those two ingredients!” Gu Suying explained seriously.

“And how do you know this isn’t all just a smokescreen?” Jiang Chen said coldly. On this matter, he would rather miss an opportunity than make a mistake.

He and Gu Suying had already waited far, far too long for this.

“I’ve seen both of those prescriptions myself. To Jun Beiyue, they’d read as nothing but ordinary tonics. They have absolutely no idea he’s been poisoned—and poisoned with a medicinal poison at that!” Gu Suying explained further. In truth, she was normally far more calculating and cautious than Jiang Chen, but with Jiang Yuan’s life hanging in the balance now, how could she possibly stay composed?

Hearing this, Jiang Chen finally hesitated.

Gu Suying pressed on quickly. “Think about it—if they’d known the truth, given how domineering and unforgiving Han Ziqing is, do you really think she’d have held back this long? She’d have torn the Gu residence apart by now!”

At this, Jiang Chen hesitated even more, his brow knit tight, saying nothing.

“Jiang Chen, that’s a medicinal poison—how many people in this world even understand such things? Han Ziqing and the others surely have no idea. This has to be a coincidence. Can Yuan’er’s illness possibly be faked? Could Doctor Hua’s diagnosis possibly be wrong?” Gu Suying kept urging.

Finally Jiang Chen looked up. “Even if we believe this… do you think ‘he’ will believe it?”

“Go beg him. Explain the whole situation to him, and he’ll believe you,” Gu Suying said earnestly.

But Jiang Chen hesitated again. “Suying… why don’t you go to him instead? Between the two of us, he’d trust your judgment over mine.”

Gu Suying flared with fury. “This is no time to be passing the buck! If I could go myself, don’t you think I’d already be there? I still have to deliver medicine to Doctor Hua too!”

She knew exactly what this man was thinking—he was simply afraid of taking responsibility.

If it hadn’t been for Jiang Chen introducing her to that “him,” she wouldn’t have deigned to work with someone like this at all!

Jiang Chen hesitated a good while longer before finally saying, “Fine, fine, I’ll go now. When I bring the medicine back, if your parents ask anything, back me up.”

“Don’t worry, just go quickly,” Gu Suying urged.

Jiang Chen finally hurried off, not through the front gate but around the back of the mountain. Gu Suying didn’t linger either, hurrying anxiously back and forth…

By now, the sky had grown fully bright.

By the gate at the foot of the mountain, atop a large tree, Ziqing landed without a sound, gazing off into the distance ahead. “Still not back?” she asked quietly.

Yingzi had kept watch all night. If he hadn’t been worried about spooking their prey, he would have chased after Jiang Chen long ago. Just how capable Jiang Chen truly was had never been tested—even Ziqing didn’t dare draw a conclusion yet.

“No,” Yingzi reported honestly.

“Keep a close watch,” Ziqing said flatly, then turned and headed toward the guest quarters. That child had called her “auntie” so affectionately—she supposed she ought to go show a little concern, shouldn’t she?

In the guest room, Jiang Yuan lay practically buried in a mound of ice, his low fever still unrelenting, unconscious. Doctor Hua didn’t dare stop the needles or the medicine.

Gu Meiting looked like a corpse, collapsed limply to one side. Madam Gu sat by the bedside, still wiping away tears without pause, while Gu Suying murmured soft words of comfort to her.

The moment Ziqing entered, neither Gu Meiting nor Madam Gu reacted at all. It was Gu Suying who looked up, her gaze cold and unfriendly.

Doctor Hua, at least, greeted her politely. Ziqing said flatly, “It’s this late already, and the son-in-law still isn’t back? Even a round trip to the nearest town should have been enough time by now.”

“Isn’t that the truth!” Doctor Hua said helplessly.

Gu Suying’s brow was knit tight, unable to hide her worry. Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen, why wasn’t he back yet? Could it be that man really didn’t believe him?

Anxious as she was, though, she gave nothing away, not until Ziqing had left.

She still didn’t move. Wait. Just wait a little longer.

She was being so careful—both in the storehouse and here, she left no trace behind anywhere. Even though she was certain this was all just coincidence, she still needed to make sure she left no evidence against herself.

The medicine—it absolutely could not pass through her hands.

She looked at Jiang Yuan, unconscious before her, gritting her teeth, thinking to herself, Yuan’er, hold on. Once you get through this, your auntie will give you everything, in time.

Meanwhile, at that very moment, Jiang Chen had already gotten hold of the medicine—but he’d been intercepted along the way.

“Who exactly are you? I have no quarrel with you—why block my path?” he demanded angrily. Just past this stretch of forest lay the Gu family’s front gate, yet here, halfway there, he’d run into a highway robber!

Before him stood a figure clad entirely in black, face concealed, hands clasped behind his back—tall, lean, radiating a wild, commanding presence that made anyone nearby instinctively feel diminished, inferior.