She returned the medicine bottle.

And sat waiting for him to answer her question.

Bai Yin picked up the bottle beside him, spun it around his finger a few times, then stuffed it back to her.

Saying, “You should keep it. It might still be useful.”

Buddy, are you cursing me to get hurt more?

That’s heartbreaking.

Ji Yinshu thought that perhaps keeping it really would be useful, so she accepted the medicine bottle.

Then she asked him again, “You still haven’t answered me—why did you capture me?”

Bai Yin was silent for a while before slowly uttering a sentence: “Because they wanted women.”

Brief and to the point!

Because they wanted women, so you captured women?

What a bunch of inhumane beasts!

Thinking of that woman who had stabbed herself in the neck with a wooden hairpin and died, Ji Yinshu felt both heartache and extreme revulsion at Yuedan’s disgusting “demands.”

So she coldly mocked, “Men really are animals.”

The kind of animals that become extremely thirsty once confined.

The kind of animals that won’t even spare themselves.

Bai Yin seemed not to understand her words. He narrowed his eyes but didn’t ask.

Instead, it was Ji Yinshu who seemed to want to see something from him.

But this man seemed to hide all his emotions extremely well.

So much so that she had no idea what he was thinking.

So she asked him again, “Since you captured me and brought me here, why do you protect me?”

After she was taken away by Ba Tu, he had come to rescue her.

He had even nearly come to blows with Huhe Hao.

Facing her question, Bai Yin said, “Because what I said to Ba Tu and the chief… was serious.”

Very serious!

He said she was the woman he wanted!

He said he was taking this woman!

The only two words that came to Ji Yinshu’s mind at this moment were—ridiculous.

So much so that she laughed.

“What? Does my interest in you make you feel ashamed?”

“Do you know who I am? Yet you dare say you want me?” Ji Yinshu curved her crimson lips and pointed at the medicated wound on her neck, asking him, “Do you know what this means?”

Bai Yin’s gaze followed the position of her finger.

The wound cut by the dagger had been treated with white powdered medicine, but some blood still flowed from within, staining the white powder red.

How much must it have hurt at the time!

He withdrew his gaze, expressing incomprehension at Ji Yinshu’s earlier question.

It means… you’re injured?

Bai Yin frowned slightly.

Waiting for Ji Yinshu to explain herself.

She said, “Haven’t you wondered why, after I was sent into Huhe Hao’s tent, he didn’t dare touch me or kill me, but instead wanted to lock me up?”

Huhe Hao!

She directly called Huhe Hao by name!

Bai Yin’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What did you tell him?”

“You can go ask him yourself.”

He wasn’t interested!

But what he was interested in was—

“Who exactly are you?”

This was the second time he had asked Ji Yinshu this question.

This question drew a smile from Ji Yinshu.

She said, “Huhe Hao has already asked me this question.”

With an implied reminder.

Also indicating that she wouldn’t tell Bai Yin.

If he wanted to know, he should go ask Huhe Hao himself.

But Bai Yin seemed to have guessed something and asked, “Is it related to that man in the forest… who was holding you?”

That man, of course, referred to Jingrong.

Which meant that the person watching them in the forest that night was Bai Yin?

Ji Yinshu’s eyes darkened as she suddenly realized something.

Jingrong holding her?

At the hot spring pool, Jingrong hadn’t been by her side at all, which meant…

“How many days exactly… have you been following us?”

“Three days.” He answered without concealment.

Three days?

One person had followed them for three days, and those guards were completely unaware.

Even Shi Ziran, who was always good at hiding in the shadows, hadn’t noticed. This showed that Bai Yin’s martial arts foundation was definitely not poor.

Perhaps even better than Jingrong’s.

She asked, “Then why was I your target?”

“We needed women, and I wanted you.”

“So…”

“So I brought you here.”

“I want to hear the truth.” Ji Yinshu emphasized her tone.

She knew that Bai Yin must be lying. The reason he gave was far too flimsy. More accurately, he wouldn’t follow them for three days just for a woman.

Unless he was a pervert!

Bai Yin’s eyes moved slightly, his gaze dropping.

Silent!

Ji Yinshu leaned forward slightly. A woman’s sixth sense told her that Bai Yin was hiding something, and it was related to her.

“Tell me—why exactly?”

Bai Yin was silent for a long time, then—

He uttered a shocking sentence: “I’ve seen you before.”

I’ve seen you before!

An extremely certain statement.

Huh?

And the first thought that came to Ji Yinshu’s mind was—impossible!

Bai Yin was from Yuedan, and she was from the Central Plains.

They had absolutely no connection.

Ji Yinshu said strangely, “How could you possibly have seen me?”

She had no recollection at all.

Bai Yin raised his eyes and told her, “A portrait! I’ve seen your portrait.”

“A portrait? Where did you see it?”

“You don’t need to know that.”

“So this is the reason you followed me for three days? And the reason you captured me and brought me here?”

“Yes!”

“Why?”

“You don’t need to know so much.” Bai Yin frowned slightly, his face instantly turning cold, unwilling to continue.

But Ji Yinshu’s curious nature urgently wanted to know what was going on.

Before she could continue asking—

She saw Bai Yin suddenly take something wrapped in leaves from his clothing.

He tossed it to her.

The thing was heavy.

When it was thrown in front of her, it made a heavy thud.

“Not poisoned!” he said.

Then he stood up.

Turning to leave.

“Wait.” Ji Yinshu stopped him. “Where exactly did you get that portrait?”

Bai Yin’s feet, which had reached the doorway, suddenly stopped. He didn’t respond to her words.

For a long time—

He took a deep breath, his back to her. “In any case, I won’t let anything happen to you, as long as you stay here obediently.”

Having dropped these words, he left.

Ji Yinshu could only sit in the tent, her heart feeling as if a stone was pressing on it.

But she kept thinking about what Bai Yin had just said.

A portrait?

What portrait?

Where on earth did a portrait of her come from?

The more she thought, the more confused her mind became!

“Grumble…”

Her stomach growled again.

She touched her stomach, her gaze falling on the package wrapped in leaves that Bai Yin had tossed to her.

What was it?

She struggled internally for a moment, then picked it up.

It was warm.

She opened it little by little.

When the leaves opened, a faint fragrant aroma wafted to her nose!

It was lamb!

And it was hot, very fragrant.

“Grumble…” Her stomach rumbled unproductively again.

No wonder Bai Yin had said “not poisoned” earlier.

She swallowed, truly hungry.

Better eat first and worry later.

…