"Alright, I'll remove the needles in another forty minutes."
After administering the acupuncture to the child, Wan Yunting put away his needle bag and returned it to the medicine box. As he turned around, he saw Chen Qiuyun bending over to tuck the blanket around Liang Youle in the bed. She said, "Thank you for your hard work, Chairman Wan..."
Wan Yunting, however, was staring blankly, his eyes fixed on the glimpse of skin revealed at Chen Qiuyun's neckline. A wicked fire suddenly ignited within him...
"Chairman Wan, you should leave..."
Chen Qiuyun looked up and noticed Wan Yunting's gaze still fixed on her. Instantly sensing something, she quickly stood up, covering her chest, her cheeks flushing crimson...
"Ahem, I... I'll go sit in the living room..."
Wan Yunting, realizing his faux pas, felt embarrassed. He quickly got up and left the room, sitting on a chair in the living room. Seeing disposable cups on the coffee table, he went to the water dispenser to pour himself a glass of cold water to suppress the surging fire in his heart. He thought, *If only I hadn't sent Luo Tang back.*
"Chairman Wan..."
"I'll make you something to eat."
Chen Qiuyun turned to go to the kitchen, but Wan Yunting waved his hand and said, "No need, Sister Chen. I'm not hungry."
"Then I'll cut you some fruit..."
Chen Qiuyun opened the refrigerator to get some fruit. Wan Yunting didn't stop her this time, returning to the small sofa and looking down at his phone, wishing for time to pass quickly so he could remove the needles from the child and leave.
Chen Qiuyun brought over a plate of fruit and a small knife, placing them on the coffee table. She squatted in front of Wan Yunting to cut an orange for him. As she did, Wan Yunting, who was sitting in front of her looking at his phone, couldn't resist stealing glances. The wicked fire he had suppressed earlier flared up again, and he lost all interest in his phone.
"Here, Chairman Wan, have some orange..."
Chen Qiuyun handed him the cut orange. He finally snapped back to reality, smiled awkwardly, and took the orange. "Thank you."
Chen Qiuyun stood up and sat beside Wan Yunting. She lowered her head, remaining silent. After Wan Yunting finished the orange segment, he turned to look at her strangely and asked, "Sister Chen, are you troubled by something?"
Chen Qiuyun turned her head. Her cheeks were flushed red, and her almond-shaped eyes gazed at Wan Yunting with affection. Her full, red lips were pursed, making one want to impulsively kiss her. She seemed to want to speak but hesitated, which made Wan Yunting's heart skip a beat. The next moment, Chen Qiuyun lunged forward, directly into Wan Yunting's arms, and kissed him on the mouth...
For a moment, Wan Yunting's eyes widened, and his entire body stiffened. Feeling Chen Qiuyun's trembling, delicate red lips on his, he quickly came back to his senses and tried to push her away. In his panic, his hands accidentally touched her...
"Sister Chen, what are you doing?"
Wan Yunting sprang up like a startled spring, staring in disbelief at the blushing Chen Qiuyun, utterly surprised by her actions.
"I'm sorry, Chairman Wan, I..."
Chen Qiuyun lowered her head, filled with shame and embarrassment, her hands twisting together helplessly. She said in a low, nervous voice, "I thought you liked me, that's why you were helping me..."
Wan Yunting's expression turned stunned, and he suddenly started laughing. If he hadn't known Chen Qiuyun was not as simple as she seemed, he might have lost control based on her actions just now.
"Sister Chen, I think you've misunderstood."
Wan Yunting narrowed his eyes and looked at Chen Qiuyun, saying earnestly, "My treating your son is my duty. Helping you is out of sympathy for your situation, not because I have any other intentions."
Chen Qiuyun looked up at him, becoming even more embarrassed and mortified. "I'm sorry, Chairman Wan..."
"Alright, no need to say more."
Wan Yunting waved his hand and turned to look at the calendar on the wall, saying, "Let's pretend this never happened. We'll carry on as usual."
"En..."
Chen Qiuyun nodded. But as she lowered her head, her delicate eyebrows furrowed, and a hint of doubt flickered in her eyes. Was she not beautiful enough? Did she lack charm? Was that why Wan Yunting refused?
"Uh..."
The next second, a sharp pain shot through her chest, causing Chen Qiuyun's face to change drastically. She quickly stood up and ran towards the room...
"Sister Chen, what's wrong?"
Wan Yunting turned around and saw Chen Qiuyun with a pale face, running back into the room and collapsing onto the bedside cabinet. Her hands frantically fumbled through a drawer, searching for medicine. Wan Yunting followed her in and saw her finally find a medicine bottle. She poured out a red pill and quickly took it...
Seeing this, Wan Yunting frowned. He stepped forward, took the medicine bottle from Chen Qiuyun's hand, poured out a red pill, and sniffed it carefully. His expression instantly changed: "Duo Wan Dan!"
Chen Qiuyun, slumped on the floor, clutching her chest, her back against the edge of the bed, gasped for air, her face deathly pale. She looked up at Wan Yunting, her almond eyes clear and indifferent, a stark contrast to the gentle and demure demeanor she had previously projected.
"Speak, who sent you to approach me intentionally?"
Wan Yunting's expression also turned cold. At this point, there was no need to continue the pretense or the probing.
Chen Qiuyun, sitting on the floor, took a deep breath. The chest pain from the poison, under the control of the pill, slowly began to subside. She then looked up to meet Wan Yunting's gaze, her voice devoid of any emotion: "You should be able to guess who it is!"
Wan Yunting narrowed his eyes, staring directly at her, then a smile played on his lips: "Sima Boyong. It was him indeed!"
"So, she sent you with a sick child, and the plan was to get close to me, right?"
Wan Yunting looked at her, holding the bottle of life-ending pills, and asked, "But what about this?"
Chen Qiuyun glanced at him briefly, then at the medicine bottle in his hand, and lowered her head in silence.
"Heh heh, Seven-Day Poison. I didn't expect Sima Boyong's skill in poison to be so high. Last time, he used Lei Gong Teng to poison my sect elder..."
Wan Yunting looked at the bottle of life-ending pills in his hand and said with a cold laugh, "This Seven-Day Poison, as the name suggests, is taken every seven days. During an attack, it feels like countless ants are crawling and gnawing within your lungs and blood vessels. If you don't take this life-ending pill in time, you'll die from the poison within an hour. So, Sima Boyong is controlling you with this Seven-Day Poison to make you do his bidding?"
Chen Qiuyun, having recovered slightly, struggled to sit up, leaning on the bed. Despite Wan Yunting's accurate guess, she said coldly, her expression unchanged, "You should leave."
Wan Yunting's eyes narrowed as he gazed intently at Chen Qiuyun. "Sister Chen, while I don't know your exact relationship with Sima Boyong, the fact that he could poison you like this indicates he doesn't intend for you to live!"
"After taking the Seven-Day Poison and suppressing it with the life-ending pills for seven times, you will still die from the poison. This bottle has two life-ending pills left. You just took the fifth one, didn't you?"
These words made Chen Qiuyun tremble. She looked up, her almond eyes fixed on Wan Yunting, and said, "Whether I live or die has nothing to do with you."
"Heh heh, of course, it has nothing to do with me."
Wan Yunting chuckled coldly and said, "But you deliberately used such means to approach me. Are you just going to let it go?"
Chen Qiuyun's expression remained blank and calm. "Since I'm going to die from the poison anyway, if you want to vent your anger now, you can just kill me."
"Killing is against the law. Why would I kill you now?"
Wan Yunting took a cigarette from his pocket, put one in his mouth, and lit it with a lighter. He took a puff, exhaled, and looked at Chen Qiuyun, who sat on the bed with a blank expression. "I just want to know, why did Sima Boyong go to such lengths to have you approach me?"
Chen Qiuyun extended her delicate hand. Wan Yunting, startled, took out a cigarette and offered it to her, then handed her the lighter. Chen Qiuyun lit her cigarette and took a small puff, exhaling the smoke gently. As they both smoked, the air filled with wisps of smoke dancing in the air. She said calmly, "What if I tell you? And what if I don't? Sima Boyong wants your life!"
Wan Yunting exhaled smoke, a slight smile on his lips. "So, if something had happened between us just now, you would have taken the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow?"
Chen Qiuyun looked up at him and said, "If you're angry, you can take me to the police station now, but you cannot harm this child. He is innocent."
Wan Yunting glanced at the sleeping child on the bed, knowing that he was not Chen Qiuyun's child!
"I won't take you to the police station. Also, as long as you tell me Sima Boyong's true purpose in approaching me, I can cure the Seven-Day Poison in your body!" Wan Yunting took a puff of his cigarette and said to her earnestly.
This statement made Chen Qiuyun's heart stir. Her almond eyes fixed on him. Wan Yunting smiled, "This Seven-Day Poison is not incurable. Of course, most people can't concoct the antidote, but I can!"
Now Chen Qiuyun was truly moved. She asked, "Can you really cure this poison?"
"I swear, I can," Wan Yunting nodded seriously and said, "You can tell me now, can't you?"
Chen Qiuyun paused for a moment before saying, "He's after the Thirteen Needles of Ghost Gate!"
"Oh?"
Wan Yunting's eyes widened, and he looked at Chen Qiuyun in surprise. He wondered why Sima Boyong wanted to obtain the Thirteen Needles of Ghost Gate from him.
"No wonder you stood by and watched so attentively every time I performed acupuncture on the child. So, you wanted to secretly learn the Thirteen Needles of Ghost Gate," Wan Yunting chuckled and asked, "Do you know why he asked you to steal this knowledge?"
"I don't know," Chen Qiuyun shook her head.
Wan Yunting narrowed his eyes and asked, "Is that all?"
Chen Qiuyun nodded and said, "That's all. Of course, if he had the chance, he would have asked me to kill you, but obviously, I wouldn't have been able to."
Wan Yunting smiled and remained silent, pondering. What did Sima Boyong intend to do by wanting to acquire the Thirteen Needles of Ghost Gate from him?
Back then, when he and his master were disciples of Master Ren Dao, his master Gongsun Xiuliang inherited the Thirteen Needles of Ghost Gate, but Sima Boyong did not. This caused a rift between him and Gongsun Xiuliang, and he harbored jealousy.
Could it be that Sima Boyong simply wanted to learn the Thirteen Needles of Ghost Gate from him?
This question, he could probably only get an answer to by asking Sima Boyong directly.