"This poison is colorless and odorless. Anyone who drinks it..." Bai Youan let his voice trail off, tossed the stone aside, and approached Song Qingchao. "…won't die, exactly."
A gentle smile played on his lips. "The only consequence is that their entire body will rot, and they will be devoured by maggots."
He circled around her, his gaze fixed on Song Qingmu, who was leaning against a tree. His voice turned cold. "However, this person is truly malicious, thinking of taking all of us down with them."
Song Qingchao pushed him away in disgust, then shielded Bai Youan's view with her body. "Mr. Bai, my daughter thanks you for saving her life, but please be careful with your words."
"Careful with my words?" Bai Youan's smile vanished as he turned his head to look at Song Qingmu again. "I am merely speaking the truth."
"You..." Song Qingchao's eyebrows furrowed, regretting that she wasn't tall enough to reach his jaw.
Song Qingmu, who had been silent all along, finally spoke.
"You suspect me?"
Song Qingmu: "No!"
Bai Youan: "Mm."
Song Qingchao and Bai Youan spoke at the same time.
The moment she turned around, before she could say anything, she saw Song Qingmu pick up the shard with the residual juice and drink it down in one gulp.
"Spit it out quickly!"
Song Qingchao was so terrified she almost fainted. She abandoned Bai Youan and rushed to Song Qingmu.
She patted his back, urging him to spit it out again and again.
However, Song Qingmu stubbornly clamped his lips shut, tight as the stitches sewn by a skilled embroiderer.
Frustrated, Song Qingchao wished she could just hit him twice, as she used to when they were children.
Their relationship as siblings was indeed not good.
But if anyone were to tell her that Mu Mu would harm her, she wouldn't believe it!
She now only blamed herself for not confessing to Mu Mu sooner!
"I didn't expect Young Master Song to have such spirit," Bai Youan said with a bow. "It seems I misjudged the young master."
Song Qingchao looked at him with a frown. His fair face, covered by a white gauze band, held an air of mystery.
She couldn't see through this man.
But he was, after all, someone Ah Zhu had brought. He couldn't be here to harm her.
"But you must die now."
Song Qingchao looked up at him in disbelief as he approached, holding a silver needle.
Her eyes reddened, but she still stood in front of Song Qingmu, as resilient as ever. "No."
"If he doesn't die, we all die!"
"Please, sir, save my brother!"
She knelt on the ground, performing the deepest courtesy.
She was gambling.
Having been ill for a long time, she had read through all the medical books she could understand while confined to bed.
Although she hadn't found a cure for her strange illness, she had learned a little.
She had just felt Mu Mu's pulse. What this man said was true.
Killing him and cremating the body was the simplest solution.
But precisely because of this, she was even more afraid.
Because she couldn't cure this illness, she was ultimately too inexperienced and could not be taken seriously.
"Eldest sister, don't beg this lowly person,"
Song Qingmu gritted his teeth and spoke, painfully clutching the grass beneath him, still stubbornly pulling at Song Qingchao.
"I didn't want to live anyway."
Song Qingchao bit her lip and ignored him, stubbornly staring at Bai Youan.
"Eldest sister!"
"Please, sir, save him!"
A scholar could be killed but not humiliated, yet one must bow their head when necessary.
She knew the person in front of her must have a way.
As long as Mu Mu could live, anything was acceptable.
"I'm afraid I'm powerless to help," Bai Youan sighed, looking down. "I am missing one crucial ingredient. If he dies, we all die if he lives. Make your decision and then come find me."
He turned to leave, his back casting a solitary, elongated shadow in the moonlight.
But how could Song Qingchao let him go?
She quickly got up, cruelly pulled away Song Qingmu's arm that was gripping hers, and ran a few steps before finally catching his belt.
"I'll go get it!"
"This medicine grows on sheer cliffs, hidden in the dark. It dies upon exposure to light. It is priceless and unavailable in the market," Bai Youan said, turning his head. "Why must you persist, girl?"
"He is my brother."
"Since ancient times, all who sought Forget-Me-Not died on the journey," Bai Youan said, smoothing the belt at her waist. "Can you do it?"
"Eldest sister!"
A furious roar sounded from behind her again.
Song Qingchao turned back, tears in her eyes, looking at Song Qingmu whose veins were bulging with pain. But she calmly said, "I can." httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
She snatched the silver needle from Bai Youan's hand and injected it into Song Qingmu's acupoint, freezing his raised hand in mid-air.
"Have you thought this through, girl?"
"I have," Song Qingchao lifted her head, her eyes, hidden by unshed tears, shining brightly in the moonlight.
"Very well. Three days. Any later, and even I will be powerless."
Song Qingchao tilted her head and smiled. "Three days. I will present you with that herb."
She wasn't speaking empty words.
In her past life, confined to her courtyard, she had early on formed the intelligence organization Nightingale, which became her greatest joy in her mundane life.
Who obtained a treasure, whose young husband kept a mistress – she knew it all.
And that herb was the betrothal gift from the Wan family to the Shen family.
It was also because this medicine saved the unconscious young lady of the Shen family that the previously neutral Shen family began to lean towards the Wan family.
Song Qingchao confidently walked towards Song Qingmu, squatted down, and snatched the blood-stained shard from his hand.
Then, she unblocked his acupoint and slapped him across the face.
Song Qingmu stared at her blankly, but stubbornly said in a hoarse voice, "You're not allowed to go."
Song Qingchao slapped him again.
His delicate face turned red from the force.
"Song Qingmu, listen to me. No matter what, you cannot gamble with your own life!" She turned his face towards her, her voice gentle but stubborn. "I am very angry, angry that you took such a risk just to prove yourself."
Song Qingmu refused to listen, so Song Qingchao forcefully made him listen.
"You are my brother, and I will never doubt you."
"You are not allowed to go, you will die!"
She hugged Song Qingmu's neck tightly. "No, Mu Mu, you must wait for me to return. Believe me."
Believe her, she knew the location of that herb and the way.
Song Qingmu struggled for a moment, then buried his face in her shoulder.
The slight trembling and the dampening of her clothes made Song Qingchao's heart ache.
She stroked Song Qingmu's hair repeatedly, reluctant to leave, but knew in her heart that time was short and she had to depart as soon as possible.
She would find out who gave him this water and where the poison came from upon her return.
She also had to confess about the space to Mu Mu when she returned; after all, Mu Mu was not an outsider.
Song Qingchao heartlessly pushed him away. As she stood up, looking at his red-rimmed eyes, she sighed, "Don't worry."
Song Qingmu turned his head away awkwardly. "Don't die."
"You little rascal," she scolded with a smile, then turned and bowed to Bai Youan. "Mu Mu is entrusted to you."
Bai Youan nodded.
As Song Qingchao brushed past, he turned his head. "You don't need to worry about us leaving. Just return to this spot in three days."
"The exile caravan is stagnant, delaying progress is a grave offense."
Song Qingchao paused before adding, "Not even if you are from the Grand Princess."
"That is my concern, the young lady need not worry." He drew out his fan, his smile gentler than the evening breeze. "A wise man has his own stratagems."