Near death (revision)
The wound on his palm initially only had bright red blood slowly seeping out, but after a while, the blood turned blackish-blue and meandered out of the wound like a black snake, which was quite terrifying.
This is clearly a sign that the toxicity has worsened.
She couldn't help but cough a few times, then looked up at the person beside her.
Just by getting up, Dou Yanxun seemed to have exhausted all his strength, his whole body trembling. His face was already extremely pale due to excessive blood loss, and now even his pale lips were gradually turning purplish-black.
Dou Yanxun looked down at his injured arm, his expression suddenly turning to one of surprise, then he curled his lips into a cold smile and exclaimed in realization:
"This knife is poisoned!"
"Dou Yanxun..."
He looked up and saw that the woman who had been kneeling on the carpet was also deathly pale. His brow furrowed, and he said in surprise:
"...Just now you bandaged my wound, so you must have come into contact with my blood... Could it be that you also..."
Before he could finish speaking, Lin Xu's thin body slumped to the ground.
Dou Yanxun felt a sudden, dull pain in his chest. He shook himself off for a moment, then stumbled toward her, anxiously checking her injuries.
Aconite is inherently poisonous, and since she had personally prepared this poison, she had specially taken a large amount of stems and leaves. She had hoped that this trip would allow her to first find out Dou Huaisheng's background, secondly protect her father in times of crisis, and even kill Dou Huaisheng with a single arrow.
Unexpectedly, she ended up poisoning herself.
Dou Yanxun's expression grew increasingly grim.
Lin Xu let him lower his head and carefully examine his breath and palms.
Even though her vision was starting to blur, she could clearly see that Dou Yanxun's expression held a hint of concern...
He cares about her.
He probably thinks that he was poisoned because he accidentally got his blood on himself while bandaging the other man's wound, and that the poison was transferred to him.
Something seemed to be spreading wildly in those eyes that could capture the hearts of countless young girls with just a slight smile.
Is he feeling remorse and regret?
Looking at Dou Yanxun's features, Lin Xu suddenly had an idea—
This tactic, though extremely risky, was a golden opportunity for her, a once-in-a-lifetime chance. If she missed this chance, it wouldn't be so easy to deceive him again...
In a short while, she made up her mind.
She struggled to slowly open her slightly closed eyes, and with all her might, weakly spoke:
"Dou Yanxun, you've really ruined my life..."
Although she spoke words of complaint, there was not a trace of blame in her eyes. In fact, a satisfied yet poignant smile appeared on her snow-white face.
After she finished speaking, she struggled to use her last bit of strength to slowly reach her hand upwards.
The slender fingertips, stained with scarlet blood, gently touched his nose, paused briefly, and then slowly moved down to rest on his lips.
She was gently stroking his lips.
Feeling the cool, soft touch on his lips, he felt a moment of relief, but looked at the woman beneath him and spoke softly:
"...Since I'm going to die anyway, could you... hug me?"
That low, weak breath was filled with a mournful plea for him.
She was begging him.
Dou Yanxun's brow furrowed, his expression shifting several times before he finally reached out and gently pulled her into his arms. An unnamed emotion churned within his usually cold eyes.
Lin Xu couldn't understand those feelings, and she let herself not understand. She simply closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of being completely embraced in his arms, and a few smiles quietly crept up her eyes and brows.
It was a kind of smug satisfaction after a little trick had finally succeeded.
Dou Yanxun, seeing this, finally couldn't help but whisper:
"How stupid."
How could there be such a foolish person in the world?
Having witnessed countless acts of deceit and treachery, and seen countless sycophantic faces, this was the first time he had ever met someone in the world even more foolish than him.
His life was utterly ruined; he had long understood that even if he died one day, no one would care. Everything was like a reed in the wind, subject to the scorching flames, the floods, and all manner of destruction. He had never had the heart to seek a way to survive.
—He gave up long ago.
Nowhere to go, no one to know me, nowhere to escape...
It was just a worthless life.
Because no one cared, they took action today with the determination to risk their lives. How could they fail to do their job properly and have to lose an innocent life for no reason?
Even as he faced death, this man was still secretly laughing, simply because he had finally shown her a little kindness and hugged her.
Is it worth it...?
Am I, Dou Yanxun, worth you risking your own life for?
The skin of the person in his arms, which was originally so delicate, gradually lost its color.
If she hadn't bandaged herself up earlier, she might not have been poisoned at all, and she wouldn't be dead...
As she said, she had indeed ruined her life.
His mind sank, and in his panic, he dared not think any further. He hurriedly crawled to the mahogany table in the private room, where a pot of hot tea and several empty cups were placed peacefully.
Ignoring the dull pain in his heart, he trembled as he poured the hot tea from the pot into the cups, then hurriedly ran back to the woman who was slumped on the carpet.
"Drink it!"
Lin Xu was helped up, and as his hand holding the cup trembled, most of the tea was spilled.
Dou Yanxun reached into his open inner robe and, after a long while, shakily pulled out a white jade bottle about the size of a thumb.
He gritted his teeth and pulled out the wooden stopper, then opened his palm, but after shaking it for a long time, only one red pill fell out.
He cursed under his breath and shook it several more times, but no matter how hard he shook it, nothing else fell out of the white jade bottle.
That was the antidote he always carried with him, just in case.
Now there's only one left.
Dou Yanxun's eyes dimmed slightly, but after a moment's thought, he placed the pill to her lips.
"These are pills made from snow lotus and notopterygium root. They can cure all poisons and bring the dead back to life. Swallow them!"
In that critical moment, he kept speaking to her in a commanding tone, as if afraid she would refuse.
Lin Xu spoke weakly, his voice as faint and fleeting as the clouds in the sky.
"This only antidote... if you give it to me, what will you do?"
Dou Yanxun looked at the frail woman in his arms, who was on the verge of death. Even though she was about to stop breathing, she was still worried about his safety.
His eyes were so heavy he could barely open them, but he couldn't care less about anything else at that moment. All he wanted to do was pry open her lips and insert the only antidote.
But the person in his arms used all the strength he had left to press their lips tightly together, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pry them open.
Lin Xu coughed a few more times, and dark purple blood gushed from the corner of his mouth. Those eyes, which had always been so bright and lively when they looked at him, were now completely lifeless, staring at him listlessly. He whispered:
"If you were to die saving me, young master... Lin Xu would likely never find peace, even as a ghost..."
Dou Yanxun looked at that resolute face. For some reason, even though his heart was aching so badly from the poison that he could hardly breathe, he could still feel a deep vibration deep in his chest, which was slowly spreading through his internal organs and even to the tips of his fingers.
His fingers trembled uncontrollably; he couldn't stop them.
Lin Xu slowly curled the corners of her lips and pushed the red pill to his lips.
"...But if I were to die saving you, my lord, then my life would be without regret..."
Her delicate face was now completely drained of color. The last time he saw her was in a dark alley, when he had tightly gripped her snow-white neck for a long time, forcing and threatening her.
Even so, she didn't blame him at all. Instead, she looked at him with eyes as bright as stars and said with a flushed face, "It's always good to have a proper title."
He didn't remember how he felt when he left, only that he was just as shaken as he was today upon hearing those words, and couldn't calm down for a long time.
It felt like an eternity had passed, yet it also felt like it all happened just yesterday. They had never crossed paths before, but now he had to watch helplessly as she died beside him.
No, she can't die yet.
He wouldn't allow her to die like that for no reason.
Dou Yanxun snapped back to his senses. As his half-exposed chest heaved violently, he couldn't help but cough several times, black blood gushing from his mouth. He hurriedly wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve, his eyes flashing with ruthlessness as he shook the unconscious Lin Xu.
"What nonsense about dying! What bad luck! I will not allow either of us to die here today!"
After saying this, he reached out and pulled out a red jade hibiscus phoenix tail gold hairpin that Lin Xu had stuck in her hair. However, with a light stroke of the sharp hairpin tip, the pill in his hand was cut in half.
Dou Yanxun forced her to open her mouth with his palm, stuffed half a pill into it, and then poured tea into her mouth. After watching her swallow it, he threw the remaining half pill into his own mouth.
After finishing all that, he was completely exhausted.
Finally, he slowly closed his eyes, lay down beside her, and let the poison spread through his internal organs little by little.
He was breathing heavily when he spoke slowly, his extremely weak voice echoing in the room:
"Anyway, this is fate. If the poison on the blades of those guards and personal soldiers was too strong, even this snow lotus wouldn't save us; we would all perish. But if they used only common poison, then..."
Lin Xu turned his head to look at the person next to him.
The place where the two lay was already soaked in blood, making the already bright red carpet even more vivid. Despite being in such a bloody place, with their lives hanging by a thread, the corners of the man's lips were still slightly upturned.
Sensing her gaze, Dou Yanxun slowly opened his mouth and continued speaking.
"—Then you will marry me. Once you are in the Dou family, you can properly thank me for saving your life today."
As all the images within her eyes returned to a state of confusion, she mustered all her strength to shift her gaze to the gold hairpin on the carpet beside her.
Hidden within the intricately coiled phoenix tail was a small packet of antidote she had prepared in advance.
That was when she was preparing the aconite poison. Zhiyuan was worried and insisted that she grind licorice and pinellia, which are specially used to counteract aconite poison, into powder to make an antidote. It only needs to be gently applied to the wound to relieve the poison, just in case.
She hadn't expected to be poisoned today, nor had she expected to meet Dou Yanxun here.
However, it's useless right now.
Before losing consciousness, she gently gripped Dou Yanxun's hand, who was lying beside her.
.
When she opened her eyes again, the scene around her had changed.
The surroundings were brightly lit, and the wisps of fragrance, mingled with the flickering candlelight, were intoxicating. Countless layers of crimson curtains hung high above her head, gently swaying in the breeze, making her appear even more like someone floating in the clouds.
The fragrance was extraordinary; the moment it entered the nose, it was as if all worries vanished, and one felt free from all anxieties.
She didn't know how long she had slept, only that her eyes were very heavy and her whole body was still weak. She could only move her lips slightly with all her might. Before she could speak, she heard a faint sound coming from not far away.
It was a series of light, quick footsteps, like those of a graceful woman.
Sure enough, in no time, a woman in a very beautiful red dress suddenly appeared in front of them.
Her skin was snow-white, and her jet-black hair was piled high in a graceful banana-shaped bun. She wore a pair of exquisite white jade openwork phoenix pendants on her ears, which swayed with her movements.
It is as beautiful as a bunch of quietly blooming red crabapple blossoms, with a kind of beauty that is unforgettable.
Seeing that she was awake, the woman chuckled softly, covering her mouth.
"At least she's finally awake, otherwise I would have thought my precious medicine had lost its effectiveness."
However, as soon as he opened his mouth, Lin Xu felt a splitting headache.
She found the voice strangely familiar.
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