Feng Miaojun quickly raised her hand, interrupting him: “I’ll do as you say.” For an attendant, fifty taels a month was a high salary. But she was Princess Changle, with her properties in both Jin’s capital and Peak Kingdom. How could she care about this small allowance? Still, she had also borrowed various resources from him—just the daily Blood Tree flower-infused wine she consumed was beyond monetary value.

Yun Ya meant to remind her of this point. He certainly knew she had money—what girl who could spend fifty spirit stones on something would care about fifty taels of silver?

“Alright, next question.” He wiped his hands with a white cloth, asking as if casually, “How did you happen to go to the southern pharmacy to buy the Dragon Tooth Halberd?”

But Feng Miaojun understood that with him, nothing was ever truly “casual.”

“Some days ago, I was visiting medicine shops and heard that a pharmacy had acquired a Dragon Tooth Halberd over a thousand years old. By rights, such an item shouldn’t appear in a common pharmacy, but its original owner urgently needed money and sold it at quite a low price. I wanted to buy it, but when I went to collect it, I encountered Lady Tan trying to cut in line.”

Saying this, she shrugged: “Since she was buying it to give to you anyway, I thought, why not make a small profit?”

He lowered his head until his gaze was level with hers: “So you’re saying An’an spent seven hundred taels of gold to buy the Dragon Tooth Halberd for me?”

“…Mm.” In truth, all she wanted to probe was the relationship between Tan Qingshuang and Yun Ya.

His eyes flashed with inquiry: “Why?”

“Huh?”

Feng Miaojun had thought he would tease her as usual, but he looked seriously down at every strand of hair: “I thought you feared and dreaded me in your heart, that you wanted nothing more than to stay away from me. Why would you spend such a large sum to buy medicine for me?”

Feng Miaojun stared at him blankly, once again shocked by his perceptiveness.

How incredible—he had described her feelings toward him without missing a single detail!

If she didn’t have those wild ambitions in her heart, she would have fled long ago without looking back, escaped to the ends of the earth. They say serving a ruler is like serving a tiger, and this ruler before her was even more unpredictable in his moods and ruthless in his actions. She fundamentally didn’t want to stay by his side!

She opened her mouth but found herself unable to provide an adequate reason.

Provoking Tan Qingshuang this time was done on impulse. She had always been good at assessing situations, yet somehow she had become possessed and felt compelled to stage this drama with the daughter of Fengyang City’s lord.

She truly shouldn’t have done so, but she did it anyway.

She couldn’t clearly explain where that impulse had come from.

Feng Miaojun swallowed and looked away: “I am your servant, naturally I hope for your recovery…”

Before she could finish, Yun Ya had already turned her face back with his finger, maintaining their eye contact: “Be good, tell the truth.”

He was so close to her, his thin lips only a fist’s distance away. Feng Miaojun stared at him as if seeing through his disguise to those enchanting peach blossom eyes.

The light within them captivated the soul.

Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s: “I don’t know either. Why don’t you ask Tan Qingshuang why she bought the Dragon Tooth Halberd?”

“I don’t need to ask to know—she likes me.” He saw through her evasion at a glance but pressed on relentlessly. “Does An’an like me too?”

“I…” She opened her mouth but ultimately couldn’t deny it. At this point, only this reason seemed sufficient; otherwise, how could she explain why she went to the southern pharmacy to buy the Dragon Tooth Halberd?

Let him be so full of himself!

But why was her heart pounding like a drum? In Yun Ya’s eyes, she also saw her reflection—her face red enough to drip blood, as if she might suffocate and collapse at any moment.

Yet he refused to let go until he achieved his goal: “Hmm?”

His eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of mist, enough to make one lose their way. Moreover, he lowered his head a bit more, his thin lips seemingly about to touch her cheek. “I have some regrets,” he whispered in her ear. “I don’t want to wait any longer.”

Sensing the sparks and danger created by their intertwined breaths, Feng Miaojun’s legs weakened a bit. She widened her eyes and forced herself to say: “Lady Tan told me something about you.”

He was about to bite her ear but stopped, seemingly waiting for her to continue.

So Yun Ya remained perfectly in control and at ease, didn’t he? Feng Miaojun steadied herself: “She said you have a heart of iron and stone.”

“Is that so?” He spoke, his hot breath permeating her sensitive ear. “Then what does An’an think?”

“I disagree.” She said with utmost seriousness, “I think you’re just ruthless and merciless.”

Yun Ya couldn’t help but laugh: “Since you like me, what are you afraid of?”

What else could she fear, except death and him? Feng Miaojun struggled to keep a straight face: “Too many people like you; I should go stand in line.”

“No need; you’re already in a position of advantage.”

Seeing he was about to act inappropriately again, she quickly said: “Before me, there were many others in positions of advantage, and I don’t want to share their fate.”

Yun Ya narrowed his eyes slightly and lifted her chin: “What do you mean by that?”

Feng Miaojun summoned her courage to look directly into his eyes: “If Master didn’t constantly threaten me and try to take my life, I would like you a bit more.”

Did this mean she did like him?

Yun Ya examined her carefully. The young girl’s gaze was as clear as spring lake water, seemingly transparent to the bottom. As he looked at her, that hint of tenderness in his heart quietly dissolved in her gaze, leaving no ripples.

Clever girl! At a moment when other women would be immersed in passion and sweetness, was she calculating to extract a promise from him—a promise not to kill or frighten her? “That won’t work,” he said softly, his expression full of mischief. “Otherwise, where would my amusement be?”

Keeping a cat in hopes it might occasionally show its claws, and act cute and charming—if it only knew how to purr and sleep all day, what would be the point of keeping it?

Her small face couldn’t help but collapse as she broke free from his control: “The millet cake is getting cold.” She wasn’t full yet.

Perhaps because it had cooled, it didn’t taste as good as before. Yun Ya wanted to say something more, but the pain in his chest suddenly intensified.

He had endured this suffering for so long that his expression barely changed. He only stepped back a few paces and went to fetch a book to read.

He occasionally glanced over thoughtfully, which Feng Miaojun could pretend not to notice, but she couldn’t ignore his increasingly pale complexion.

“Would you… try taking the Dragon Tooth Halberd?” Tan Qingshuang’s gift was still here.

Yun Ya nodded.

It was best eaten raw. Feng Miaojun quickly took a small section of its root, ground it into a paste, mixed it with the wine brewed from Blood Tree pollen, and served it to him.

Yun Ya took the opportunity to regulate his breathing, and it was about half a watch later when he slowly opened his eyes. Feng Miaojun saw that his complexion seemed to have improved slightly, though she didn’t know if the episode of heart disease had passed or if the Dragon Tooth Halberd had truly taken effect.

By now the night was deep, and it was time to sleep. As Feng Miaojun helped him remove his clothes, she discovered his back was soaked with sweat.