The moon was bright and the stars were sparse; outside, the weather was growing colder and colder.

A figure sat on the rooftop nearby, and there he stayed for half the night.

He wore thin night-travelling clothes, and through the window he watched the woman in the room, for a long, long time, without moving at all.

Not until the sky was about to brighten, when the oil lamp in the room went out, did he finally stand and vanish into the night.

Jiu’er was his wife, and for his entire life he could never bear to harm her in the slightest.

And so, Jian Yi would rather guard her silently like this, never daring to draw close.

The sun rose. A new day had come again.

Feng Jiu’er slept for two hours, then woke.

She went to find Yu Jingfeng, Xiao Yingtao, Feng Yinan, and Yue Qinchun, ate a quick breakfast with them, and then went out.

The brothers had spent this time gathering a great deal of medicinal herbs — first, to have on hand for brothers wounded in battle, and second, to guard against Lei Shenbao’s poison.

Now they had a third task: to cure the poison in the bodies of Lei Shenbao’s former guards.

The brothers responsible for gathering herbs had gathered all the medicinal plants currently in their hands into a small side courtyard.

The battle had only just ended, yet no one had any intention of resting, especially the people who had once belonged to the Tianji Hall.

They understood very well how important the medicine was to them.

The antidotes capable of curing the hundred poisons that they currently had on hand were running low, and new ones had to be developed without delay.

The brothers split into three shifts to develop this antidote, rotating around the clock.

Everyone who was allowed to take part in developing the medicine pills had been personally selected by Feng Jiu’er.

Even so, Xiao Yingtao and several of the physicians still had to take turns going over to supervise, and of course, whenever Feng Jiu’er had free time, she would often go over as well.

The side courtyard used for the temporary medicine-making was separated from where Feng Jiu’er and the others lived by only a few courtyards.

When Feng Jiu’er brought people over, the brothers who had taken the night shift the previous evening had just left, and a new group had taken their place.

In the courtyard, some people were laying out herbs, some were sorting them, some were grinding them, and so on.

Everyone was full of energy, their movements skilled and practiced.

“Miss Jiu’er.”

“Miss Jiu’er.”

Seeing Feng Jiu’er arrive, the people in the courtyard all looked up one after another to greet her.

Feng Jiu’er looked at everyone and nodded, smiling as she said, “You’ve all worked hard!”

“It’s no hardship.”

“This is our old trade, after all.”

“That’s right — I’ve actually started missing life back at Tianji Hall a little.”

“Me too. I hope the realm can find peace soon.”

“With Miss Jiu’er here, the realm is bound to find peace, and our days will only get better.”

“That’s true.”

Amid everyone’s cheerful laughter, Feng Jiu’er walked into the largest of the side chambers in the middle.

“Today, the main reason I asked you all to come is to develop the antidote for those guards,” Feng Jiu’er said, coming to stand by the round table.

“Xiao Yingtao, go and call the physicians over for a moment.”

“All right.” Xiao Yingtao nodded and turned to head the other way.

Soon, six physicians arrived.

Everyone sat around the large round table, facing one another.

Feng Jiu’er opened her own specially made medicine case and took out a thin tube from inside.

Everyone could see that a single medicine pill had been placed inside the thin tube.

“Jiu’er, are you sure this is the one?” Xiao Yingtao had slept deeply the night before and had no idea what Feng Jiu’er had already prepared.

“Mm.” Feng Jiu’er nodded. “Last night, Yu Jingfeng and I went to see Lei Shenbao.”

“We can now confirm, with one hundred percent certainty, that this is the medicine the guards have been taking all along.”

Feng Jiu’er took several sheets of paper from the medicine case and handed them to Xiao Yingtao beside her.

“This is the analysis of the poison’s composition. The line on top was written out by Lei Shenbao; the line below is what I analyzed myself.”

“One sheet each — pass them around so everyone can take a look.”

“All right.” Xiao Yingtao took one for herself, and the rest were passed along.

“I didn’t have enough time, so I can’t say for certain where there might be gaps. There’s no need for any of you to treat mine as the final word,” Feng Jiu’er’s voice continued.

“Today, everyone should study it carefully, and I’ll go over it again myself as well.”

“Once we’ve confirmed the exact composition of this poison, we’ll discuss and settle on a plan together before we begin developing the antidote.”

Everyone now held a copy of the poison’s composition analysis in hand. Xiao Yingtao and the six physicians, being the backbone of Tianji Hall, carried a greater responsibility than the rest.

Even knowing that everyone present was less capable than Jiu’er, as long as Jiu’er gave the order, they would all give their full effort.

Every single person had a copy of the poison’s composition diagram — even Yu Jingfeng took one.

Feng Jiu’er took out a bottle from the medicine case, along with paper, tubes, and tongs.

Xiao Yingtao and Yue Qinchun stood and handed a set to everyone.

Yue Qinchun did not take one for herself, and Yu Jingfeng did not ask for one either.

Yu Jingfeng’s duty was to watch over Feng Jiu’er; Yue Qinchun’s duty was to record everything that was said.

During this time, Yue Qinchun had been working hard, and she now recognized more and more kinds of medicinal herbs.

Even so, she was well aware that she still had a long way to go before she could truly study medicine.

Feng Jiu’er said nothing more, and once again ground up a medicine pill, focusing entirely on her research.

Everyone else did the same — aside from Yu Jingfeng and Yue Qinchun, Feng Yinan was also able to lend some help now.

Studying a single medicine was not the work of two or three hours.

They bent over their work all day; aside from a hasty lunch and the occasional trip outside to relieve themselves, they barely stood up to move at all.

Not until the sky had gone dark did Feng Jiu’er finally set down what was in her hands, stand up, and walk a couple of laps around the room.

So tiring! Sitting still for an entire day was more exhausting than going to war.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go arrange dinner,” Feng Jiu’er said, dropping the remark and turning to leave.

“Miss Jiu’er, let me go instead.” Yu Jingfeng stood and strode after her, taking large steps.

Arranging dinner was one thing — he truly wanted to get outside for some fresh air.

As the most capable aide at Di Wu Ya’s side, Yu Jingfeng was by no means ignorant when it came to letters.

But holding a single book and staring at it for an entire day was truly more than he could bear.

Once Feng Jiu’er and Yu Jingfeng had left, Feng Yinan set down his pen and turned his head to look at Yue Qinchun.

“Qinchun, you should go out and get some air too. There’s nothing that needs recording right now.”

Feng Yinan did take part in the research, but he was, after all, no expert, and his results generally weren’t used as reference.

Feng Jiu’er liked to bring him along, partly because Feng Yinan happened to be free today, and partly because this was something Feng Yinan himself was genuinely interested in.

Yue Qinchun shook her head and turned to the next page of her notebook.

Even though the two of them sat together the whole time, Yue Qinchun rarely so much as glanced to her left.

She did not know how to face this man who thought of her only as a younger sister — and yet she did not want to think of him merely as an older brother either.

Feng Yinan knew that Qinchun’s mood had been poor on the day Madam Yue had taken her away, and that even after they met again afterward, the two of them could no longer speak as easily and naturally as before.

He did not understand any of this, and simply assumed that Madam Yue was uneasy about letting Qinchun grow too close to a man, and so he did not dare seek her out on his own.

Feng Yinan felt a little down. He had finally found a friend he could truly open up to, and now they could only occasionally exchange a few words that meant nothing at all.