Shangguan Yan and the others went to the largest restaurant in Lotus Flower Town, the White Jade Restaurant. At dusk, they estimated that Gu Lady had already cured Yan Jiuchao before returning to the village.
The moment they entered, they first smelled a strong smell of blood. Then, they saw a large pool of blood on the ground of the central room that had not been cleaned in time. Their expressions changed and blood dripped all the way to Gu Lady’s room.
The Gu Master hurriedly rushed into the room. The Gu Lady had fainted on the ground of the room. Shadow Thirteen found her an eyesore and threw her back onto her bed. Of course, it was not convenient for him to wear her clothes back, so he only wrapped her in a blanket.
The Gu Master did not know that the Gu Lady’s clothes were not worn. He pulled open the blanket and was stunned on the spot.
“Cong’er!” Shangguan Yan was worried that Yan Jiuchao would encounter something unexpected. She turned around and rushed towards Yan Jiuchao’s room. Xiao Zhenting stopped her and went in to investigate.
In the room, the oil lamp was like a bean. Yan Jiuchao was sitting at the head of the bed with his back against a large pillow and a blanket covering his legs.
The fragrance of the aphrodisiac had long dissipated, and the room had been cleaned up by Shadow Thirteen and Shadow Six. At a glance, it was as if nothing had happened.
Yan Jiuchao looked over indifferently.
Xiao Zhenting did not expect him to be awake and met his gaze without warning. He immediately felt nervous. “Cong-Cong’er.”
Yan Jiuchao ignored him. He turned around and continued to sit there quietly.
Seeing that he was fine, Xiao Zhenting was relieved. Xiao Zhenting knew that Yan Jiuchao was unwilling to see him and quickly turned around to leave.
When he walked up to Shangguan Yan, he nodded at her. “Cong’er is awake. Go and see him.”
Shangguan Yan entered the room and hurried to the bed.
“Cong’er, how do you feel?”
As she asked, she sat down by the bed and raised her hand to touch Yan Jiuchao’s forehead. “Why aren’t you talking? Are you feeling unwell? You’ve been unconscious for a few days. Are you hungry? I’ll make you something to eat.”
Shangguan Yan had never done anything in the manor. Ever since she stayed here, she had done everything herself. She and the aunties in the village had learned to make a few dishes that tasted good.
Yan Jiuchao said nothing.
“It’s not hot anymore,” Shangguan Yan said. She did not know if she should be surprised at her son’s reaction or surprised that her son was finally awake.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became awkward.
Shangguan Yan thought of something and asked, “What happened? There’s blood outside. Did an assassin come? Are you injured?”
Shangguan Yan did not ask Yan Jiuchao if he had slept with Gu Lady. In her opinion, her son was so seriously ill. The reason why he could wake up was definitely because the yin and yang had been reconciled. Then everything was worth it.
“I’ll go make you something to eat.” Shangguan Yan stood up and walked out of the house.
After taking two steps, Yan Jiuchao said indifferently, “Mrs. Xiao, don’t make any decisions for me in the future.”
Shangguan Yan’s heart ached. It was actually expected that Yan Jiuchao would be angry. She knew that if Yan Jiuchao was awake, he would never agree to let Gu Lady use this method to detoxify him. However, even though she knew that he did not like it, she still did it. The reason was none other than that she was his biological mother and she wanted to save him. Even if he blamed her now, even if she had to do it again, she would still do it.
“Do you want porridge or noodles?” Shangguan Yan asked in her usual tone.
Yan Jiuchao said expressionlessly, “I’m awake. You don’t have to waste time here.”
Shangguan Yan opened her mouth and was about to say something when she saw Shadow Thirteen lead Uncle Wan into the room.
“Princess Consort.” Uncle Wan bowed respectfully.
During this period of time, Shangguan Yan had specially left Uncle Wan in the Young Master Manor because she wanted to personally take care of Yan Jiuchao. Now that Yan Jiuchao had openly brought Uncle Wan over, he was clearly telling her that she had nothing to do here.
“Take good care of Young Master.” After Shangguan Yan instructed Uncle Wan, she returned to her room to pack her things. That night, she returned to the Capital with Xiao Zhenting.
The reason why the two of them left was because they thought that Yan Jiuchao’s poison had been cured by the Gu Lady. Next, they had to prepare the remaining remuneration and wait for the Gu Master to come and collect it.
In the other room, Gu Lady slowly woke up.
The Gu Master first let her put on her clothes herself before asking her what had happened. “…Did another Gu Master from the village come looking for trouble again?”
Gu Lady choked and shook her head. “It’s not him, it’s Yan Jiuchao!”
Even in his dreams, the Gu Master did not expect that the person who injured his beloved disciple would be that little sickly Yan Jiuchao. He was already so weak, yet he still had the strength to hurt others? Also, in order to let Yan Jiuchao maintain a certain function, he had given him two times the dosage of the aprodisiac. Didn’t this make him burn with desire?!
How could he hold it in?!
“He doesn’t like you?” The Gu Master asked Gu Lady.
Yan Jiuchao was from the Great Zhou Imperial Family, so he had seen all kinds of beauties. Although his disciple was also quite beautiful, he probably did not take her seriously.
How could Gu Lady admit that she was not charming enough?
Gu Lady told her master and senior brother about Yu Wan having a powerful Gu worm. Of course, she did not say that she had ambushed Yu Wan. She only said that she was lying on the ground pretending to faint today and heard their conversation.
In fact, she did not know what the two of them had said, but she understood that her master would not confront Yan Jiuchao and Yu Wan. In short, she would push everything to them.
The Gu Master looked at her suspiciously. “You’re not lying to me? You really only found out today?”
“I swear to God!” Gu Lady gestured with her fingers.
The Gu Master swore heavily, even though Gu Lady was not like that. However, judging others by himself, the Gu Master still chose to believe her.
A Gu Master was extremely sensitive to the aura of Gu worms, but he did not sense anything on that girl. Either his disciple had heard wrongly and that girl did not have a Gu King on her, or that Gu King was too powerful and could already hide his aura.
“Isn’t she a little village girl? Why does she have a Gu King?” The Gu Master muttered. “Also, there’s something I don’t understand. She has a Gu worm that’s even more powerful than the Golden Silkworm Gu. Why didn’t she say so earlier?”
Because she did not know at all, Gu Lady’s eyes flashed. “I’m not sure, Master.”
“Could it be that… she actually doesn’t want to save Yan Jiuchao?” The male disciple said.
The Gu Lady’s eyes lit up. “That must be it, Master! She gave birth to Yan Jiuchao’s sons. As long as Yan Jiuchao dies, Yan Jiuchao’s family assets will belong to her and her sons! This woman looks like she cares a lot about Yan Jiuchao. It turns out that she’s also scheming against him! Master, she must have deliberately taken away and killed our Gu worms because she doesn’t want us to save Yan Jiuchao. Who knew that you would think of a trump card and ask me to use my body as a cauldron to attract the poison for Yan Jiuchao? This time, Yan Jiuchao can be saved no matter what, but what if I save him and get pregnant with Yan Jiuchao’s children? Why don’t she save him herself? In that case, everything about Yan Jiuchao will still be under her control.”
Coupled with the abnormalities in the past few days, the Gu Master felt that his disciple’s analysis was reasonable. However, that was Yan Jiuchao’s family matter. Whether Yu Wan schemed against Yan Jiuchao or not, Yan Jiuchao’s family assets would not be given to him at all. Then why was he interfering? Was he bored?!
Since Yan Jiuchao had a better medicinal cauldron, he no longer needed him and Gu Lady. They probably wouldn’t be able to get the remaining remuneration. They were afraid that the Xiao family would want the fifty thousand taels on hand.
The Gu Master’s eyes darted around as he urged the two of them. “Hurry up and pack your things. We’ll leave tonight!”
“Where are you going?” Shadow Thirteen suddenly appeared. He crossed his arms and leaned lazily against the door frame.
The Gu Master was shocked and stammered, “We… we’ll go walk around.”
Shadow Thirteen glanced at his hand. “Do you need to bring a bag to walk around? I think you want to escape, right?”
The Gu Master hid the bag behind his back. “No, no!”
Shadow Thirteen took a few steps forward, grabbed the Gu Master’s collar, and pulled him into Yan Jiuchao’s room, throwing him onto the floor in front of the bed.
“Ouch!” The Gu Master fell flat on his back and stood up while rubbing his butt.
Yan Jiuchao could not move his legs yet. He only sat quietly at the head of the bed, but the powerful aura suppressed the Gu Master until he could not breathe.
“I heard that you’re escaping?” Yan Jiuchao said casually, not asking about his illness at all.
The Gu Master lost his confidence. He deliberated for a moment and said, “We’re not escaping. Hasn’t your illness been cured? Then we can leave!”
The medicine that the Gu Master had given Yan Jiuchao was not enough to keep him awake for so long. Since Yan Jiuchao had not fainted, the Gu Master naturally thought that Yu Wan had cured Yan Jiuchao.
Yan Jiuchao sneered and said, “You don’t seem to have cured my illness. Isn’t it a little unkind to take so much remuneration?”
The Gu Master’s eyes flashed. He straightened his back and said with a bluff, “You can’t say that! It’s you who don’t allow me to treat you, it’s not that I can’t treat you! Back then, we agreed that when I treat the illness, your father will pay the remuneration. It’s a trade! If my medical skills aren’t good enough, I’ll admit it, but you didn’t let me treat you without even telling me. You even injured my disciple. Is this my problem?”
Yan Jiuchao thought seriously. “That’s true. Shadow Thirteen, let them go.”
As expected, he’s still inexperienced and young, he was actually fooled by this. The Gu Master was overjoyed, but he tried his best to maintain an expression of having suffered a huge loss. “Forget it, forget it. Since we’ve known each other for a long time, I won’t settle the score with you for my disciple!”
After the Gu Master returned to his room, he immediately packed his things and brought his two disciples along. Unexpectedly, he was caught by Shadow Thirteen before he could leave Lotus Flower Village.
The Gu Master looked at Yan Jiuchao in despair. “Don’t tell me you’re going back on your word so quickly?! You’re a man! You can’t go back on your word!”
Yan Jiuchao raised his eyebrows and said, “Who said I went back on my word?”
“Then-then what are you doing now?” The Gu Master was dumbfounded.
Yan Jiuchao smiled and said righteously, “To rob you!”
The Gu Master: “…”
The moon was dark and the wind was strong.
The Gu Master, who had been robbed until he was only wearing white undergarments, was sitting on a tattered ox cart with an ashen face. His two beloved disciples were sitting beside him with swollen faces. All the assets on the three of them were only left with a jar of stinky tofu in the Gu Master’s arms.
“I… I already told you not to… ask for so much… In the Southern Xinjiang, you… you’ve already gotten so much… silver… Yet you… you still … still… ask for a hundred thousand taels of gold… This-this is extortion… How… could you… not be beaten up?” The male disciple covered his swollen face and said desperately.
It was too late to regret now. All he wanted was just to earn a fortune and not have to work anymore.
The Gu Master felt wronged and wanted to cry.
Wuwuwu… The people of the Central Plains were too terrifying… He would never come to the Central Plains again…
… .
Shadow Thirteen entered the room and handed a brocade box to Yan Jiuchao. “Young Master, I’ve brought the gold notes. There’s a total of fifty thousand taels and the remaining fifty thousand is in the hands of the Xiao family. They originally planned to pay them after Young Master recovers. Young Master, you don’t have to feel bad about this. They brought it upon themselves.”
Yan Jiuchao snorted. “Of course they deserved it! How am I only worth a hundred thousand taels of gold? Are they blind?!”
Shadow Thirteen was speechless.
Uh… So you beat them up not because they want more, but because they want less, which is an insult to your great value…
… .
Yu Wan slept until dawn. When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on her bed. She did not need to guess to know that Shadow Thirteen or Shadow Six had secretly sent her back.
The detestable Yan Jiuchao actually knocked her out at such a critical moment. He could even endure this. Was he Liu Xiahui?
Or was he really impotent? Or… did he not feel anything for her body? That would be too hurtful to her pride!
Yu Wan was furious.
Suddenly, three furry heads squeezed over and rubbed against her arms.
Yu Wan’s anger instantly plummeted and her heart softened. She raised her hand to touch their little heads and kissed their little foreheads one by one. “You’re still the cutest!”
Yan Jiuchao returned to the Young Master Manor at midnight.
Yu Wan gritted her teeth and looked at her little iron fist. “At least you escaped quickly!”
After breakfast, Uncle Wan happily came to the residence. The person who came with him was the famous matchmaker in the Capital, Du Hongniang.
