Jia Huan cleared the garbage from the room, washing away the stench of blood, leaving only the faint scent of medicinal soup.
"Creak~"
Nan Shiying pushed open the door, bringing with her the spring breeze. The Poison Elder raised his eyelids and looked in the direction of the breeze.
"Jin Mo, come to my side."
The Poison Elder's voice was weak, steaming with the heat of the medicinal bath, as he beckoned Ji Jin Mo to the side of the tub. Ji Jin Mo complied, walking forward with large strides.
"Use the knife to make a wound an inch deep on your chest."
Seeing Ji Jin Mo approach, the Poison Elder spoke again.
Ji Jin Mo heard this, lifted his collar to reveal his chest, pressed down hard on his chest with his fingers, piercing an inch-deep wound.
The Poison Elder unwrapped the gauze around his wrist, revealing the wound. He held the hand of that wrist with his other hand, signaling Ji Jin Mo to come closer. Ji Jin Mo bent down and presented the wound on his chest to the Poison Elder's hand.
The moment their wounds touched, all the veins in Ji Jin Mo's body bulged, surging rapidly towards his chest. The knuckles of the hand he used to brace himself on the edge of the tub protruded, and his features were contorted with the effort of enduring the pain.
A muffled groan simultaneously escaped both their throats.
Green scales appeared on Ji Jin Mo's temples, densely packed, almost covering his entire face. As the scales spread to the outer corner of his eyes, they suddenly receded like a tide. The Poison Elder's complexion changed from ashen to ruddy, and then from ruddy to pale. The parasitic worms, injected into his body, fought with the mother worm, turning his body into a battlefield, wantonly damaging his internal organs. The medicinal bath steamed, and the medicinal properties, carried by the vapor, seeped into the Poison Elder's body. The蛊 worms damaged, and the medicine repaired, barely managing to maintain the Poison Elder's body, preventing a complete collapse.
Time flew by. After about the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, Ji Jin Mo's pale face gradually gained a touch of red. As the last parasitic worm was sucked into the Poison Elder's body, the蛊 poison that had tormented him for over a decade was finally cleared.
Ji Jin Mo's body swayed, and his aura suddenly became vast and profound. With his body finally free from the erosion of the蛊 worms, his inner strength, suppressed in his dantian and hidden within his pulse, could finally flow through his body, smooth and unobstructed.
Waves of energy surged, blowing aside the stray hairs on Nan Shiying's temples.
The Poison Elder leaned against the medicinal tub, his eyes closed. Water flowed over his arms, and his body slowly slipped downwards.
Nan Shiying reached out, steadied his arm, and helped him up.
The Poison Elder laboriously opened his eyes, looking at the blurred figure above him. He opened his mouth, trying for a long time. His throat felt as if something was blocking it, and he couldn't say anything. If a person's body was controlled by a valve, then now, the valve in his body had malfunctioned.
"For..."
"For me..."
The Poison Elder weakly clasped Nan Shiying's hand. The scene before his eyes was replaced by the years of the past. Everything began to spin, shatter. The world turned upside down. By this moment, he had no regrets, or rather, he had no unwillingness, no dissatisfaction, and no complaints about the world since birth. The only thing he couldn't let go of was that child, Gouzi.
"Take care of Gouzi... compensate him, and... and the poor... poor children."
"Ying'er... or, or I should call you... I'm... I'm sorry... you, I... I..."
Before he could finish, the Poison Elder slowly closed his eyes.
In fact, from the beginning, he had been lying to Nan Shiying. He had no chance of survival after recalling the parasitic worms from Ji Jin Mo's body. in his final moments, he had still lied to her.
Nan Shiying silently carried the Poison Elder out. Ji Jin Mo took off his outer robe and wrapped it around the old man's soaked inner clothing. He reached out, intending to take the body from Nan Shiying's hands, but Nan Shiying dodged his hand and carried the Poison Elder on her back.
She walked towards the exit. Ji Jin Mo stepped forward and opened the door. Gouzi turned his head, looking at the Poison Elder lying quietly behind Nan Shiying, and his eyes immediately welled up with tears.
"Go!"
Nan Shiying passed by him and snorted.
Gouzi followed her like a walking corpse, all the way to the Poison Elder's room.
Ji Jin Mo followed silently.
...
Nan Shiying severed the head of the old楼主 of Wan Ku Lou and had Ying Yi send it to He Cang Ling and the others.
News of the Poison Elder's passing quickly spread through the streets and alleys. Nan Shiying sent people to deliver the news to Medicine King Valley at top speed.
"From today onwards, your surname is Nan. Nan, from Da Yuan's Empress Nan Feng Luan."
Gouzi suddenly looked up at Nan Shiying.
The candlelight in the mourning hall cast shadows on her face, making it flicker. As she spoke these words, paper money and ingots in the bronze basin before the coffin were devoured by the flames, making crackling sounds. The three words Nan Feng Luan seared into his mind. The first thing that flashed through Gouzi's mind was confusion, then surprise, and finally an indescribable emotion.
Why Nan of Da Yuan's Empress?
What was their connection to Da Yuan's Empress?
Gouzi didn't understand, but a voice echoed in his mind.
"What do you want to be called?"
"I mean, do you want me to give you a name, or do you want to give yourself a name?"
Gouzi suppressed the surging emotions in his heart and said without hesitation, "Nan Meng!"
Clearly, he had already decided on the name that would accompany him throughout his life.
"Good!"
Nan Shiying nodded in agreement.
"I will find the descendants of Da Yuan's Empress and add your name to the family tree."
Gouzi hummed in response.
He might not know why the other party mentioned Da Yuan's Empress, why his surname should be Nan of Da Yuan's Empress, but he knew why she didn't want him to be registered in the Nan family's ancestral records.
In simple terms: The Nan family was not worthy.
Ya Dan knelt on the other side, throwing paper money into the bronze basin one by one. Nan Shiying's gaze fell on her, and she asked, "Ya Dan, do you want to be surnamed Nan or Ji?"
Ya Dan was slightly stunned and subconsciously asked, "Can I too?"
Nan Shiying hummed in response.
Ya Dan's eyes reddened slightly. She sniffled, her voice choked with sobs, "I want to be surnamed Nan."
"And the name?"
"Please, Your Majesty, bestow a name!"
She shifted her gaze, kowtowed to Nan Shiying.
"How about Nan Wanwan?"
"Yes! It's beautiful!"
Ya Dan kowtowed to Nan Shiying, her head hitting the ground with a heavy thud. She straightened up, her forehead red, but her face held a smile that quickly faded.
The next morning, Mu Xiaoxiao, having heard of the Poison Elder's death, came to pay her respects.
Mu Xiaoxiao, with tear-filled eyes, entered the mourning hall as the servant announced, "A guest is paying respects." She accepted the incense stick from Gouzi and respectfully bowed three times to the coffin before placing the incense in the censer in front of the coffin. Only then did she have time to look at Nan Shiying, who was kneeling by the side of the coffin in the attire of a junior mourner, wearing mourning clothes.
Today, she was not wearing men's clothing but revealed her true face.
Seeing the dark circles under her eyes, Mu Xiaoxiao couldn't utter any words of comfort, only asking Gouzi for a white flower and pinning it to her chest.