In the small house in Chengfeng Town.

A’Shui had fallen into deep sleep. She had been running around all night and had experienced repeated shocks. Both her body and spirit were utterly exhausted. Yu Tuan’er had her sleep beside Fengfeng, but Fengfeng wasn’t sleeping. He sat on the bed in good spirits, looking around here and there, glancing at Wanyu Yuedan and then at Yu Tuan’er. His dark, bright eyes were round and large, as if he found everything very curious. But he seemed to know his mother was tired, so he just looked around without making noise or fuss, his right hand firmly gripping A’Shui’s sleeve.

Yu Tuan’er and Lin Bu were working together to lift Xue Tao onto the bed. Yu Tuan’er had just applied medicine to the wound on her chest, but she was severely injured. Simply applying some wound medicine might not be effective, and they didn’t know where to find those yellow drops Liu Yan had used to treat Lin Bu, so they could only leave it to fate.

Wanyu Yuedan sat to one side. Earlier, Yu Tuan’er had chattered through everything she knew about A’Shui, Liu Yan, and Tang Lici. With his intelligence, it wasn’t difficult to understand the key points. A’Shui had carried Xue Tao back, but who had inflicted such a wound on her chest was unknown. The answer seemed very clear, yet very confusing.

She had been with Zhu Yan – who could have hurt her? Even if someone could hurt her, why would Zhu Yan leave her alone in the desolate mountains? There was only one answer: the person who seriously wounded Xue Tao was Zhu Yan himself.

But why would he want to kill Xue Tao?

Hadn’t he gone through fire and water for Xue Tao? Hadn’t he wanted to kill Wanyu Yuedan for Xue Tao, and even stormed Wangting Manor against all odds to rescue her? How could he turn around and strike her so viciously?

“Little Yue,” Yu Tuan’er stared at Xue Tao for a long time, “She’s so beautiful.”

Wanyu Yuedan couldn’t see, so he could only smile, “Is she?”

Yu Tuan’er nodded, “If I were this beautiful, I wonder if he would think of me a little more. Sigh…”

Wanyu Yuedan said, “Well… not everyone in the world necessarily loves beauty. I’ve heard some people particularly like plump girls, some particularly like older girls, so whether a man misses a woman largely depends on whether she left a deep impression on him, eh… a deep good impression.”

Yu Tuan’er looked at Wanyu Yuedan, “I wish I had your mouth. I like the shape of your mouth – small, like a little child’s mouth.”

Wanyu Yuedan was trying to chat with her, but she was thinking about his lip shape. Lin Bu chuckled – these two were talking completely at cross purposes.

Wanyu Yuedan didn’t mind and gently pressed Xue Tao’s hand. Her hand was burning hot – the injury looked very dangerous. After thinking for a while, Wanyu Yuedan suddenly asked, “Where are the clothes Young Master Tang wore?”

Lin Bu was startled. That garment had been torn by Shen Langhun’s short blade, was stained with blood, and had been rolled up and hidden in the wardrobe for fear the brothel people would discover clues. No one had touched it since. “In the cabinet.”

“Bring it to have a look. There might be medicine in the pockets.” Wanyu Yuedan’s black and white eyes turned nimbly, “He always carries quite a few good things.”

Lin Bu stood up and hurriedly pulled out Tang Lici’s bloody clothes from the wardrobe. Reaching into the pockets, there were indeed many bottles and jars inside. He took them out one by one and placed them on the table.

There was a pale green small square jade box, a mutton-fat white jade beauty bottle, a string of pearls, several small jade stones, several small gold ingots, and a round pill.

Wanyu Yuedan brought the items to his nose one by one to smell, “Young Master Tang seems to love jade artifacts. These are all top-grade beautiful jade with excellent temperament and appearance. Using them as vessels is somewhat wasteful. Hmm… sweet potato, seven-leaf lotus, yellow medicine… what’s in the box is wound medicine.” He picked up the mutton-fat white jade beauty bottle the size of a finger. This jade bottle was finely crafted with a smooth feel – definitely not ordinary. Opening the stopper and sniffing slightly, Lin Bu immediately smelled a very strange odor and sneezed. Wanyu Yuedan frowned slightly and poured out one piece from the bottle.

Lin Bu saw what he poured into his hand was a white medicinal tablet. Unlike pills, this tablet was round and flat – a type of medicine he had never seen before. Wanyu Yuedan obviously couldn’t identify what it was either. A trace of confusion appeared on his elegant, delicate face. He put the tablet back in the jade bottle and picked up the other round pill, “This is Purple Gold Elixir. Though rarely seen in the world, it’s recorded in ancient texts. The ancients said taking Purple Gold Elixir could transform one into an immortal. I don’t quite believe that, but this medicine should have other unique properties.”

“Miss Xue is critically injured,” Lin Bu continued, “I think we should have Miss Xue take this medicine to see if it has miraculous life-saving effects.”

Wanyu Yuedan gently cracked open the wax shell of the pill. Inside was a pill with golden luster, about the size of a longan. His fingers were warm, and as soon as he picked up the pill, it seemed about to melt. Wanyu Yuedan had to quickly place the pill on Xue Tao’s lips.

The large Purple Gold Elixir touched her burning lips and quickly turned to liquid, flowing down her lips into her abdomen. Both Lin Bu and Wanyu Yuedan smelled a burst of elegant, rich medicinal fragrance. It seemed this Purple Gold Elixir was indeed extraordinary, completely different from the tablets in the mutton-fat beauty bottle.

After taking the Purple Gold Elixir, Xue Tao’s burning red cheeks recovered slightly. After a while, her eyelashes trembled slightly. Yu Tuan’er exclaimed, “Miss Xue?”

Xue Tao slowly opened her eyes. Those eyes were clear and beautiful, like autumn water. Yu Tuan’er gently touched her hair, “Everyone says Sister A’Shui is a rare beauty, but I think you’re much prettier than her. You’re truly beautiful.”

Xue Tao’s autumn water-like eyes slowly looked toward Wanyu Yuedan, “Who… are… you…”

“Miss, please rest peacefully. You’re not at Wangting Manor, nor with Zhu Yan.” Wanyu Yuedan’s appearance and demeanor seemed gentle and harmless, so Xue Tao kept looking at him. Her chest rose and fell rapidly several times, her lips slightly parted as if wanting to say something, but she never could.

Yu Tuan’er kept looking at her remaining half face. Xue Tao’s eyebrows, eyes, and nose were all shaped the way she liked. The more she looked, the more she liked them, and couldn’t help feeling envious.

Wanyu Yuedan listened to Xue Tao’s rapid breathing, knowing she had something to say. He said gently, “What does the miss want to say?”

Xue Tao opened her lips and moved them soundlessly. Lin Bu watched her mouth shape, “I… am… sorry… to… him…”

Wanyu Yuedan smiled slightly, “He seriously injured you and probably already regrets it. Don’t think too much. When you recover, you’ll have strength to say many things to him.”

Yu Tuan’er looked at him in surprise, “You know who she’s talking about?”

Wanyu Yuedan smiled, “She’s talking about ‘Kuanglan Wuxing’ Zhu Yan.”

Yu Tuan’er sighed and said to Xue Tao, “Doesn’t he love you very much? Why would he want to kill you? He went to such great effort to rescue you, then just abandoned you like this?”

A tear slid from the corner of Xue Tao’s eye. She finally made a weak sound, “In his life… he was only good to me… but I… I wronged him…”

Yu Tuan’er said strangely, “What do you mean wronged him? You were captured and imprisoned by Yu Konghou – that wasn’t your fault. Besides, you suffered so much all these years. He finally found you – why didn’t he treat you well?”

Xue Tao looked blankly at the ceiling, “Ten years… so long… Why didn’t he save me eight years ago, six years ago, or even four years ago?”

Yu Tuan’er raised her hand, wanting to slap her, “What nonsense are you talking? Eight years ago, six years ago, four years ago, he was poisoned by Yu Konghou and was confused and foolish, knowing nothing. How could he save you? He rescued you as soon as he regained consciousness – isn’t that enough?”

“I imagined him breaking through walls, passing through layer after layer of obstacles to find me. I thought about this every day for ten years. I thought he might appear at the window, see me tied to the bed, and feel very sorry for me, which would make me very happy… But he never appeared. I was tied up year after year, year after year… Every hour of every day I thought about how he would come to save me… maybe today, maybe tomorrow. Without thinking this way, I couldn’t survive… But he never came.” Xue Tao said weakly, “Sometimes I was very sad, sometimes very disappointed, sometimes desperate, sometimes angry, but no matter how I thought, he just wouldn’t come. I hated my cousin – you can’t imagine how I hated him – but all these years, when I was sad he mocked me, when I was disappointed he laughed at me, when I was desperate and angry he was still the one with me. For ten years I only saw him… All other people seemed to have disappeared.”

Xue Tao’s tears flowed out like the last drop of blood from her thin body, “I hated him, but one day I discovered… Though my cousin was sinister and vicious, though he did the most inhumane things, though he tied me up until I became ill, he was equally in pain. Sometimes… he was in more pain than me. I still had hope – I looked forward to Zhu Yan coming to save me, but he looked at me, he tied me up, and he had no hope at all. I was in pain, and he would also feel heartache and regret, but he couldn’t let me go…” She began breathing rapidly, “He could only sit there watching me. Sometimes I knew he didn’t want to come see me either, he didn’t want to stay with me, he also wanted to kill me, but he couldn’t do it. I hoped he would kill me, but he held me and cried… I… I…”