Chapter 299 Domineering Female Doctor Skilled in Gu Poisoning VS Distressed Laborer and Prodigal Son 26

The Xiao family.

It was already late at night, but the Xiao family mansion was still brightly lit, and the servants were quietly keeping watch in the shadows.

Xiao He was checking the account books in the room, while Su Yun sat at the table fiddling with the talismans the master had given her.

A servant knocked gently on the door and stood outside, saying, "Master, the young master has already returned home."

"Understood," Xiao He replied, closing the ledger in his hand. He then looked at Su Yun, who was sitting there in a daze. "What's wrong? What are you holding?"

A trace of worry flashed across Su Yun's face as she said, "This is a talisman I asked a master for Che'er today. I also asked the master to calculate his marriage prospects... The master said that his divination results were not good."

"Hmph, that bastard, just thinking about him makes me angry." Xiao He's face suddenly darkened, as if he had just thought of something.

Xiao Che's actions these days could not be kept secret from the Xiao family. From the day he started looking for people with the jade pendant, his every move was secretly reported to Xiao He.

After that, he took Jiang Zhiyi around so openly, going to all the Xiao family's properties, clearly not intending to hide anything, probably even afraid that they wouldn't know about him.

"You don't need to worry about him. It's fortunate that the female doctor is still alive and well. Let Xiao Che be." Xiao He didn't intend to interfere in their affairs either.

Since Xiao Che truly loves the female physician, there's no reason for him to stop him.

As a father, he naturally hoped that Xiao Che could marry the woman he loved, and the Xiao family did not need to use Xiao Che's marriage to benefit the family.

But there were some things he really hadn't expected...

A few days ago, a servant came to report that Xiao Che was sweeping, cleaning, washing clothes, and cooking for that female doctor in that small courtyard, doing everything he could to curry favor with her, and had completely changed into a different person.

So be it. It'll be a good opportunity for Xiao Che to curb his bad habits and stop learning the vices of spoiled brats.

Su Yun frowned. Looking at the large, flamboyant characters on the talisman, she felt uneasy. She added, "That female healer might not like him; perhaps it's just wishful thinking on his part. That master also said his love life is fraught with hardship and setbacks, and he might end up..."

He ended up losing his loved one and dying alone.

Su Yun didn't continue; it wasn't something nice to say, and she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Xiao He rubbed his temples and replied, "If it doesn't work out, he should give up now, lest he do all those outrageous things again. Then you can find him a few suitable women. Hezhou City is so big, surely there are a few good families to choose from?"

Su Yun sighed; this was exactly what she was worried about. "What if he's unwilling to give up? We mustn't let him end up like the young master of the Duan family..."

"Tsk, why bring up those things out of the blue?" Xiao He walked over and snatched the talisman from her hand. "You should also avoid these things. Those masters may not all have real skills. Who can tell the difference between truth and falsehood? Stop overthinking."

Xiao He blew out the lamp. "It's getting late, go to sleep."

Su Yun then fell silent.

Lying on the bed, she was still thinking about these things.

Speaking of the past between that family and the Zhou family, it's truly regrettable. Good people, now some are dead, some have gone insane, and the whole family is in chaos…

However, these matters were kept very secret, and not many people in the entire city of Hezhou knew about them.

The Duan and Zhou families were betrothed many years ago, and Zhou Yue, the third daughter of the Zhou family, was betrothed to Duan Yunzhi, the only son of the Duan family.

The two grew up together and were inseparable; they should have been an enviable couple.

But later, Duan Yunzhi changed his mind. He broke the promise he had made to Zhou Yue and no longer loved only her.

He started frequenting brothels and made many female confidantes. He no longer only had eyes for Zhou Yue and cared about her like before. He was no longer willing to spend too much time and effort on her...

Later, he became impatient with her and even didn't want her to be around all the time. The handkerchief she embroidered was forgotten in a corner, the ginseng soup she spent a whole day stewing was taken away and thrown away by the servants, and he always made excuses to decline her invitations...

For Zhou Yue, his transformation came too quickly.

She had always known she was going to marry him, and she had even imagined growing old together with him more than once. But she didn't understand why he had suddenly changed his mind, and she didn't know what she could do to make him happy...

When Duan Yunzhi was spending lavishly on a courtesan at the brothel, Zhou Yue happened to be there as well. The pavilion was filled with embroidered lanterns, but they were so bright that they hurt one's eyes.

Zhou Yue abandoned her maid and ran out alone. She squatted under the willow tree by the stone bridge and wiped away her tears.

A scholar dressed in tattered clothes walked by. Zhou Yue threw a silver ingot at him, telling him to get lost and not bother her.

The scholar said he didn't want her money. His poems were blown to the ground by the wind, and she happened to step on them.

So the scholar asked her if she could move a little further away while she cried, and that she could move back after he picked up his poem manuscript...

Zhou Yue cried even louder, tears streaming down her face, and the scholar was at a loss for what to do.

After crying for a while, Zhou Yue asked the scholar if he could write love poems, the kind of love poems that a man would use to express his feelings to a woman.

Although the scholar was well-versed in poetry and literature and often wrote articles for others to earn some money to supplement his family's income, he had never written such verses before.

Zhou Yue said that being a scholar is useless; he will never become the top scholar in the imperial examinations. He should go home and farm the land and herd cattle as soon as possible.

The scholar was also annoyed, saying that Zhou Yue cried more than a three-year-old girl in the village, which was very shameful.

The two started arguing, and Zhou Yue couldn't win the argument, so in a fit of anger, she scratched the scholar's hand.

The argument was stopped when the servants of the Zhou family arrived.

They became friends after a fight, and from then on, Zhou Yue frequently went to see the scholar.

Duan Yunzhi could write inscriptions and poems for other women, so she couldn't be outdone.

She learned that the scholar's name was Gu Yao, and that he was very talented in literature, so she figured he could surely write even better poems.

Gu Yao initially wanted to refuse her unreasonable request, but he learned that the Zhou family had been kind to him many years ago, and in order to repay the Zhou family, he had no choice but to compromise.

While Duan Yunzhi was boating on the lake with his beautiful wife, Zhou Yue was feeding the fish forlornly by the pond in the courtyard. Gu Yao said that she was sad and wanted the whole fish family to die from overeating, which angered Zhou Yue so much that she knocked over the fish food.

While Duan Yunzhi was enjoying himself at the villa with dancers and singers, Zhou Yue was flying a kite in the countryside. However, the kite slipped from her grasp and flew high into the sky, disappearing from sight. Gu Yao, as if possessing supernatural powers, retrieved her beloved kite from the woods, though he was disheveled, his already tattered clothes torn by branches…

While Duan Yunzhi and the courtesan were drinking themselves into a stupor at a tavern, Zhou Yue was at home writing letters, the floor littered with discarded papers. Gu Yao said some letters would never be read, and even if they were, it might not change anything. She was the one who had been wronged; why was she deliberately making herself miserable?

Zhou Yue suddenly realized that what he said wasn't entirely unreasonable.

There are so many people in the world. Before, she could only see Duan Yunzhi, simply because he was her future husband. So, she only had eyes for him. But now, he might not be the one anymore.

The days passed slowly like this.

Zhou Yue will no longer constantly think of Duan Yunzhi, will no longer hide in a corner and cry alone, and will no longer look at those old things with sadness...

However, she also had a new worry. Gu Yao was so annoying, always making her angry and speaking in a very irritating way, never letting it go, even though many times it was she who deliberately did bad things to him.

Zhou Yue had to admit that, putting aside Gu Yao's countless flaws, he was still quite interesting.

Unseen by Duan Yunzhi, Zhou Yue gradually drifted further and further away from him until he no longer held a place in her heart.

One day, watching Gu Yao clumsily climb the tree to pick peach blossoms for her, Zhou Yue suddenly realized that she might have fallen in love with him.

Gu Yao was worried that she would be picky, so he picked a lot of flowers for her.

Zhou Yue returned all the peach blossoms to Gu Yao, then said with a beaming smile, "Gu Yao, you must study hard and try to become the top scholar in the imperial examination. When you pass the exam with flying colors, I will marry you, okay?"

Zhou Yue thought that although she liked him now, if he wanted to marry her, he would have to work harder.

She is the bright moon, and her beloved must be the blazing sun, shining together like the sun and moon, only then can they be considered a perfect match.

Seeing that Gu Yao blushed but hesitated to answer, Zhou Yue felt both ashamed and annoyed.

Does he not want to marry her?

Zhou Yue was a little sad and wanted to run away anxiously.

Gu Yao panicked and stepped forward to grab her, asking, "Were you telling the truth just now, or were you deliberately trying to tease me?"

"Of course I'm sincere!" Zhou Yue glared at him angrily. "If you don't want to agree, fine, just pretend I didn't..."

"I promise." Gu Yao grasped her hand, his tone earnest. "I promise you."

The two embraced under the tree and made a vow to be together forever and never be separated.

On the same day, Zhou Yue found Duan Yunzhi and told him that she had fallen in love with someone else and wanted to call off their marriage.

How could Duan Yunzhi possibly agree to that?

He thought she was just throwing a tantrum. Although he had indeed neglected her lately, he had never considered breaking off their engagement.

His relationships with those women of the night were merely casual flings; he never even considered taking them as concubines. In the future, there would only be one woman in his household.

Duan Yunzhi brought Zhou Yue's favorite pastries and jewelry to her door, only to find her embracing another man, the two intimately connected and inseparable.

A surge of rage welled up in his heart. How could she? How could she?

He rushed over angrily, but Zhou Yue immediately shielded Gu Yao behind her, as if afraid he would hurt her lover.

"I will not marry you." Zhou Yue's eyes were no longer filled with the infatuation of the past, but with unfamiliarity and coldness.

At that moment, Duan Yunzhi truly began to panic.

After that, Zhou Yue threatened her own life to force her family to break off the engagement with the Duan family.

Duan Yunzhi hated Gu Yao to the core.

She should have been his wife, his little Yue'er. How could he possibly give her up to someone else?

Gu Yao died by Duan Yunzhi's sword. Before he died, Duan Yunzhi cut off his hands and feet, cut out his tongue, and even...

Zhou Yue held Gu Yao's mutilated corpse and wept bitterly, while Duan Yunzhi stood by, coldly watching her with his sword in hand.

Three days after Gu Yao's burial, Zhou Yue committed suicide out of love.

After Zhou Yue's death, Duan Yunzhi also went completely insane.

He summoned countless sorcerers and tried every possible method to bring her back to life, but she was already dead, so how could she possibly come back to life?

Later, Duan Yunzhi found a sorcerer from outer space who claimed to have the art of guiding souls to reincarnation.

In an attempt to save Zhou Yue's life, he secretly gathered many women, hoping to use their blood to prolong her life. Many of them died at his hands.

Women went missing one after another in the city, and the authorities quickly tracked them down to Duan Yunzhi.

The Duan family spent most of their wealth to exonerate Duan Yunzhi and get him released.

After that, he was confined to the Duan family mansion.

Su Yun also heard that Duan Yun was having nightmares every night and was terminally ill, because the Zhou family's young lady wouldn't let him go, so the Duan family hired a Taoist priest to perform rituals every month...

...

early morning.

Jiang Zhiyi woke up early. She wanted Xiao Che to leave as soon as possible, but she didn't see him. She figured he had already left.

He was smart enough not to cause her any trouble.

Jiang Zhiyi walked around the house. There was still food warming up in the kitchen, but she didn't see Li Chaoye. He must have gone to the clinic early.

After breakfast, Jiang Zhiyi was bored, so she took her medicine box and went to the clinic to find Li Chaoye.

Both of them were treating patients in the clinic.

In her spare time, Jiang Zhiyi was engrossed in writing a prescription.

"Junior sister," Li Chaoye suddenly called out to her.

Jiang Zhiyi looked up at him and saw that he was holding a carved wooden hairpin.

"I made it myself. Do you like it?" Li Chaoye said softly.

Jiang Zhiyi reached out and took the wooden hairpin. "I naturally like anything my senior brother gives me."

Seeing that Li Chaoye was staring at her, she simply took off the silver hairpin with inlaid beads that she was wearing and threw it aside, replacing it with this new wooden hairpin.

Jiang Zhiyi wasn't disliking the silver hairpin; in fact, she preferred the exquisitely crafted one. However, she was in front of her senior brother, who must have put a lot of thought into it, so she knew what she should do and didn't want to spoil his mood.

Their commotion was clearly seen by Xiao Che, who was standing not far from the doorway.

He was checking accounts in his study when a guard came to report that he had seen her go to the clinic early in the morning. Worried that something might have happened to her, he rushed over, only to find her and her senior brother exchanging sweet nothings.

The silver hairpin she just dropped was one he had specially commissioned to be made for her a few days ago.

The craftsman had a strange temper and wasn't greedy. It took him a lot of effort to persuade the craftsman to make this unique hairpin for him.

Unexpectedly, she took it off so casually, eager to wear the gift from her senior brother.

No wonder, if the person isn't important, then the gift is naturally unimportant too.

He was nothing more than a toy she used to make fun of when she had nothing better to do.

Now that she's tired of him, she wants to discard him without any regard for his feelings.

He was just being delusional.

In her heart, how could he compare to her beloved senior brother?