Ren Qiqi was dragged away, but the sound of her curses seemed to linger in the air, refusing to fade for a long while.

Qiaoqiao looked at the girl on the sickbed and said gently: “Don’t take what she said to heart. The truth is, you’ve been letting her off again and again—it’s her who won’t let herself off.”

If Jiu’er hadn’t wanted to spare Ren Qiqi, she would have exposed everything the moment Ren Qiqi gave her that injection earlier.

She hadn’t explained why—she’d simply told Ren Qiqi to get out, which was the last bit of leeway she’d left her.

Unfortunately, Ren Qiqi had never once been able to see the goodwill others showed her, always choosing instead to interpret people’s hearts in the worst possible light.

“What’s wrong? Trying to comfort me? You think I care about something like that?”

Jiu’er didn’t open her eyes—even the act of opening her eyes felt like too much effort now.

Qiaoqiao wanted to say more, but Lu Beicheng, seated at the bedside, had already spoken: “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

“I’m just very tired right now.” Jiu’er’s whole demeanor was, indeed, saturated with exhaustion.

Lu Beicheng didn’t press further. He pulled the blanket up over her, told Qiaoqiao to take good care of her, and left the tent.

There were quite a few people outside. Qiaoqiao leaned in close to Jiu’er and said quietly: “It seems like that Second Young Master is out there too.”

Jiu’er said nothing. Qiaoqiao lowered her voice further and asked: “I heard it was the Second Young Master who carried you back after you got hurt? Jiu’er, what exactly happened? Why would someone target you? Do you know who it was?”

Jiu’er, back in school, had always had average grades, been average in everything, never the type to seek attention.

By all rights, she shouldn’t have had any enemies at all.

“Could it be… that they’re enemies of Ninth Master?” Just two days ago, Ninth Master had personally announced that Jiu’er was his girlfriend.

If someone wanted to strike at Ninth Master, going after Jiu’er wasn’t out of the question at all.

Qiaoqiao’s head wasn’t so slow after all—she could piece together cause and effect just fine.

“I don’t know for certain yet, but it’s likely aimed at Ninth Master.”

After Lu Beicheng left, he’d said something to Ji Mingyu—something Qiaoqiao didn’t catch—and Ji Mingyu had mentioned the name Lu Feifan, at which point Lu Beicheng had walked off.

Probably to go have a word with Lu Feifan.

Matters of important people were, indeed, not something small fry like themselves should pry into.

But the problem was, Jiu’er had already been dragged into it.

Qiaoqiao grew truly anxious: “If this really is connected to Ninth Master, Jiu’er, you have to tell him. Why didn’t you explain clearly to him just now? At the very least, he should send someone to protect you, shouldn’t he?”

This place was, after all, out in the middle of nowhere. Even though their group had plenty of people, everyone was busy.

What’s more, this place had once been a city, now abandoned—desolate everywhere, overgrown with weeds.

Only the area where their camp was set up seemed relatively safe; venture any deeper into the ruined city and one could easily lose all sense of direction.

To put it bluntly, if someone died in some forgotten corner of this place, their body could rot away without anyone ever finding it.

This place really was far too dangerous.

“I have to tell Ninth Master—from now on, someone needs to be assigned to protect you.”

After all, it was Ninth Master himself who’d gone around telling everyone Jiu’er was his girlfriend. What if someone actually believed it?

Anyone wanting to strike at Ninth Master might really come after Jiu’er instead.

The more Qiaoqiao thought about it, the more uneasy she felt, and she was just about to get up and go find Lu Beicheng.

But before Zhen Jiu’er could finish speaking, she said hoarsely: “No need. He’ll have his own plan for how to handle it.”

“But…”

Before Qiaoqiao could finish her sentence, footsteps could be heard approaching from outside.