Back in the room, Feng Jiu’er finally consented to release Lan Yue. The latter’s expression could no longer be described with the simple words “disagreeable.”

This was not merely disagreeable — it was clearly… strange. He could feel it himself.

He still had not been able to work out why he had not simply finished the girl off with a single palm.

“Uncle, the toxic elements in your body have indeed faded somewhat compared to last time. If I’m not mistaken, the scars on your face should have lightened as well.”

Feng Jiu’er took out her needle case and spread it open on the tea table. “This time I will inject medicine into you. The potency is several times stronger than last time. Uncle, if you’re afraid of the pain, tell me in advance — I can first give you something mild to ease you into it.”

Lan Yue’s expression instantly became considerably more disagreeable — entirely within Feng Jiu’er’s expectations.

A great hero! The Manor Master of the World’s First Manor — how could he possibly be afraid of a little pain?

She curved her thin lips into a smile. “I knew Uncle wasn’t afraid of pain. I’m going to insert the needles now. They are thicker than ordinary silver needles and do hurt quite a bit — please bear with it.”

Barely had she finished speaking when a needle was already sliding into Lan Yue’s arm.

These needles of hers were indeed considerably thicker than the needles of the twenty-first century — there was no helping it. What could one do when the technology of this era was insufficient to forge hollow needle tips that fine?

With one needle in, Lan Yue’s expression remained unchanged, but the muscles across his body had stiffened considerably.

Just as she had expected — it truly did hurt. All the more so because some people had an innate fear of needles. It was entirely possible that great heroes who didn’t fear blades and swords might fear a small silver needle.

“Uncle…”

“Don’t call me Uncle.” Lan Yue gave a cold snort.

“I simply like calling you Uncle.” Feng Jiu’er was not the least bit fazed by his coldness. In any case, she had seen through him now — this man was simply someone cold on the outside and warm within. In truth, he was genuinely a good person.

She glanced at him, smiling with crinkled eyes. “Uncle, several of these needles need to be inserted. If you’re afraid, perhaps close your eyes and don’t look.”

“Insolent!” He, afraid of a tiny silver needle? Though, these silver needles did look unusually thick — being pierced into the skin and flesh, the sensation was… rather prickly.

To call it painful, it was actually not all that painful. But the moment one thought about having a needle thrust into one’s own skin and flesh, then having some miscellaneous medicinal fluid pushed into one’s body… ahem, it was genuinely a little unsettling.

“Uncle is being terribly dishonest. Look — your body has already gone this rigid, yet you still say you’re not afraid.”

Feng Jiu’er extended her slender index finger and lightly poked his chest.

Stiff as a board — every muscle taut and tense. Claiming not to be afraid was a bit of a stretch.

“Get your hand away!” This girl! This insufferable little girl — she actually dared to touch him!

“Oh, Uncle, please don’t move. If you move and my hand happens to shake, the needle might go in crooked — and the silver needle could wander around inside your blood vessel, you know!”

“You…” Indeed, he did not dare move a muscle.

“Ahem!” Long Yan found it a little too difficult to suppress his laughter. He quickly turned his face away, afraid the Manor Master might see the corners of his own lips he had nearly failed to keep from curling upward.

The Manor Master had been cold and withdrawn for over ten years. Who could have imagined that his lifelong reputation would be overturned by a young girl?

Afraid of a tiny silver needle? Well, it did sound a touch absurd — but he had witnessed it with his own eyes.

Lan Yue’s face had turned practically green. Yet just then, another silver needle slipped silently into his flesh. The muscles of his arm clenched taut, and even his fury was forgotten.

“Uncle, don’t be so tense. When you tense up and your muscles go rigid, the medicine can’t flow in properly.”

Feng Jiu’er continued her blithe soothing, apparently not caring whether she lived or died: “Come now, be good. Relax. It doesn’t hurt. There’s a good boy…”

When Long Yan saw Feng Jiu’er out, his mood was visibly very cheerful.

“Miss Feng, you truly are… you are truly beyond anything this humble one could have anticipated. I am… tremendously grateful.”

“Are you thanking me for letting you see a different side of your Manor Master?”

Feng Jiu’er gave him a sideways glance. This fellow looked honest and steady, but in truth he was a rascal too — so pleased to see his own Manor Master make a spectacle of himself.

Seen through so easily, Long Yan had the grace not to argue the point. Still, being able to see the Manor Master displaying such a human side was truly a rare thing.

“In truth, our Manor Master is not a bad person at all. He only looks fierce…”

“No — Uncle actually doesn’t look fierce at all. Uncle is, in fact, a remarkably beautiful man. He has deliberately made himself appear so cold and heartless because he doesn’t want to be too close to others, and also because he doesn’t want… to be hurt again.”

It was a form of self-protection — born from the wounds suffered in his youth, which had made him wary of everyone.

In those days, the Long Family had been set up precisely because they had placed too much trust in the people around them, and in the imperial family, which they had believed in so deeply.

The Long Family had shed blood and risked their lives for the empire, for its people, for the imperial house — yet who could have imagined that in the end, those who hurt them most deeply were none other than the imperial family itself.

The reason Uncle hated Emperor Qiwen so bitterly was that he was convinced it had been the person holding power within the Zhan Imperial House who sent men to hunt them down.

As for whether that person was truly Emperor Qiwen, Feng Jiu’er still could not say with certainty even now.

The one thing she could say with certainty was that even if it was not Emperor Qiwen, it was still a member of that imperial house. But this person was hidden exceedingly deep — over more than a decade, they had never once shown any flaw.

She steadied her thoughts, just about to say something, when she noticed that Long Yan, walking beside her, had been staring at her fixedly, lost in thought.

Feng Jiu’er’s brow furrowed lightly. “Steward Long, is there something wrong with what I said?”

“Ah… no.” Long Yan quickly looked away, looking somewhat ill at ease. “It’s just… I suddenly feel that Miss Feng seems to understand our Manor Master better than I do — and I’ve been at his side all these years.”

Feng Jiu’er seemed lost in her own thoughts. After a brief silence, she asked suddenly, “Steward Long, have you always stayed at Uncle’s and Grandfather’s side, never once leaving?”

“Essentially, yes — except when I occasionally needed to go on campaign… I mean, go out on business.”

Long Yan’s expression shifted slightly, and he immediately changed the subject. “I wonder when the Manor Master’s poison might be fully cleared. Does Miss Feng have any thoughts on the matter?”

It seemed that when the Long Family’s calamity had struck back then, Long Yan had been away fighting on another battlefield. No wonder so many in the Long Family had perished, yet Long Yan had survived.

Feng Jiu’er let out a soft breath, pressing all those thoughts down to the bottom of her heart. She said lightly, “As long as Steward Long can persuade Uncle to take his medicine at the proper times each day, I will also come regularly to administer the needles. That poison throughout his body — within no more than a month, it will certainly be fully cleared.”

Long Yan was overjoyed and quickly said, “Many thanks, Miss Feng!”

Feng Jiu’er departed the manor on her own. Long Yan had originally intended to personally escort her back, but she had gently declined.

Tonight, her heart felt somewhat uneasy — as though she could dimly sense that something was about to happen.

Sure enough, not long after she had left the World’s First Manor, a figure on the road moved to block her path…