Baoning still had tears on her face, her nose was red, and her eyes were confused, as if she didn't understand what he was saying.

She had been stimulated too much today. Pei Yuan flicked her forehead lightly and sighed, "No more talking. I'm hungry, let's go cook."

Baoning came to her senses.

Pei Yuan in front of her was still the same as before, with a pair of beautiful narrow eyes, sitting lazily, with his front open a little, revealing a clear collarbone, and his black eyes staring at her.

But it was different.

There was some spirit in his eyes, unlike the indifferent and cold warmth when he looked at her in the past.

Baoning didn't know whether she should be happy or not.

"Are you stupid?" Pei Yuan frowned and raised his hand to wave in front of her.

Bao Ning immediately said, "No." She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and jumped down as if escaping. "I'll go make dinner."

She glanced and saw the bloody red snake head on the ground. The thing still opened its mouth, revealing two sharp teeth. Bao Ning took a breath and the terrible memory just now came flooding back.

"Don't look." Pei Yuan covered her eyes from behind. "It's dead, why are you afraid of it?"

His palm was very hot, and Bao Ning's heart shrank. She hurriedly pushed his hand away.

Pei Yuan's face gradually darkened. Bao Ning turned around and caught a glimpse of his unfriendly eyes. Her fear became stronger. Without waiting for Pei Yuan to speak, she hurried out with her skirt in her hand.

Ah Huang called out twice and followed her.

The room became quiet again.

Pei Yuan lowered his eyes and rubbed his fingers. There seemed to be a soft touch still on them, wet and stained with her tears.

Forget it, let her go for now.

...

Baoning squatted beside the stove to light a fire. Holding the firewood in her hand, she looked at the dark red flames in the stove, and her soul flew away.

She didn't know how to react to Pei Yuan. She

didn't understand what he meant. It was just that facing his occasional closeness and contact, Baoning felt at a loss, embarrassed, and wanted to avoid him.

Pei Yuan was too cold at the beginning, and she had long been accustomed to that way of getting along, and never thought about changing.

Baoning recalled her original intention of marrying Pei Yuan. She wanted to leave the intrigues of the Duke's Mansion and find a quiet place to live a quiet life. So she didn't care what Pei Yuan was like at the beginning, whether he was down and out or how bad his temper was. She took good care of him and tolerated him, hoping that Pei Yuan would get better soon and be her companion in the future.

Some kindness, some selfishness, and part of it was out of responsibility. They are husband and wife, regardless of whether they have feelings or not, for Bao Ning, Pei Yuan is her responsibility.

Bao Ning can't let him go hungry, cold, or have a sore wound and ignore him.

Even now, knowing the grievances between Pei Yuan and Pei Xiao, those festivals, and the troubles that may arise in the future. Bao Ning still can't be cruel enough to abandon Pei Yuan.

Maybe Pei Yuan was right that time, she was indeed a little too kind.

The fire in the stove looked like it was about to go out. Baoning quickly grabbed a handful of dry firewood and stuffed it in. With a whoosh, the fire started again.

The door was not closed, and the wind blew in. Baoning shivered between the cold and the heat, and suddenly felt a chill on her body. She sneezed, thinking that she was not wearing enough clothes, so she got up, put on another layer of clothes, and continued to cook.

After what happened during the day, she was in no mood to eat. There happened to be some leftovers from last night, so Baoning beat a few eggs to make fried rice.

While mixing the eggs, she began to think about this and that, recalling what Pei Yuan had said.

Pei Xiao had a man named Gongsun Zhu who specialized in poison techniques... Gongsun Zhu, Baoning felt that this name was particularly familiar.

After being in a daze for a while, Bao Ning suddenly remembered that Aunt Ming had told her before that she had an uncle named Gongsunlan since she was a child. He and her father

studied under the same teacher and were both doctors. However, Aunt Ming's father Ming Heyu specialized in diseases such as stroke and hemiplegia, while Gongsunlan was better at internal symptoms of clearing heat and removing cold. He was very knowledgeable about the efficacy of medicinal materials and wrote a medical book called "Pharmacological Poison Clearing".

Before his death, Mr. Gongsunlan gave this book to Ming Heyu. Before Ming Heyu died of illness, he passed it to Aunt Ming, and later Aunt Ming gave it to Bao Ning.

Gongsunlan and Gongsunzhu, such rare surnames, how could they be so coincidental?

Bao Ning's heart was pounding. She threw the bowl of eggs on the table and hurried to look through her dowry box.

She remembered that she had brought the book with her. She only read half of it at first because it was too obscure and she couldn't understand it. She only remembered that a large section was devoted to the detoxification prescriptions for common poisons.

She didn't know if it would be useful for Pei Yuan's legs. But she still had to look for it!

What if there was a detoxification prescription written on it?

Baoning didn't have much dowry, and they were neatly arranged. There was a pile of books in the corner. She took them out, sat on the kang, and flipped through them one by one.

She really found it. A thin, old little book, the pages were already very brittle and yellowed, with four large cursive characters on it - "Pharmacological Poison Clearing".

Baoning took a deep breath and flipped through them carefully.

The first half of the book contained some daily antidotes, as well as treatments for bites from various poisonous creatures, such as venomous snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and spiders. There were pictures before the prescriptions, and Bao Ning read through them line by line, fearing that she had missed something.

No, no, there was no red-headed snake at all.

Bao Ning's heart grew colder and colder, and she was about to give up when she saw the last few pages. But her finger slid to the next page, and she shuddered in her heart. The picture on it was the snake from today!

There was hope!

Bao Ning wiped the sweat from her fingertips on her skirt, picked up the page, and read it word by word almost devoutly.

"This snake is not found in the wild. You need to take a black viper and cultivate it from a young age. You can soak it in several poisonous substances. Nine out of ten snakes will die. The only one left is extremely poisonous. It has a red head and is most poisonous when it wakes up from hibernation..." "

...No one who has been attacked has survived so far."

Seeing this line of words, Baoning's heart sank to the bottom of the valley.

Her wrists were shaking, even more than when she saw the snake. She hesitated to read the last line.

"Fortunately, there is medicine to cure it."

Baoning breathed a sigh of relief. She hurriedly turned to the next page, but saw that the page had been gnawed by rats. Perhaps it was damp, the remaining page was blurred, and the ink was fused into a ball.

"...Why did it rot?" Baoning rubbed the ink with her fingers, knowing that it was futile.

Disappointment came like a tide.

Disappointed, self-blaming, if only I had protected the book well and had some snacks. Baoning sat on the edge of the kang in a daze, feeling sour in his eyes.

But it was still a good thing. At least there was a cure, right?

Baoning sniffed, holding the book and ran to find Pei Yuan, without knocking on the door, ran to him and pointed it out to him: "Fourth Prince, did you see it? This book says that this poison can be cured, you must not give up!"

Pei Yuan took it, glanced at it, and asked in confusion: "How did you get this book?"

"That's not important." Bao Ning said seriously, "What's important is that your leg can be healed, there is hope, we can't give up."

Pei Yuan smiled: "But Gong Sunlan is dead."

Bao Ning was silent for a moment, and then said: "In a few days, when Ji Yan comes, I will go back to find Aunt Ming. Aunt Ming's father was originally a good friend of Mr. Gong Sun, she might know."

Pei Yuan asked: "How likely do you think this is?"

Bao Ning looked into his eyes. He seemed to be joking, but his expression was serious: "Bao Ning, don't waste your energy."

"I..." Baoning was about to speak, but Pei Yuan interrupted her, "Actually, I thought of another way."

Baoning's eyes lit up: "What?"

Pei Yuan used his palm to make a knife, gestured at the base of the leg, and said two words coldly: "Cut it off."

Baoning was shocked: "What nonsense are you talking about!"

"Anyway, this leg can't be saved. Keeping it will only cause trouble. What's the point?" Pei Yuan gestured with his eyelids drooping, as if he was really thinking seriously, "Cut it off, and you can walk normally..."

"Pei Yuan, I hate your character." Bao Ning pursed her lips and said angrily, "Why do you always think the worst of everything? In your heart, you clearly admit that you are a cripple. You think you can't be cured, but there are so many methods, and you obviously haven't tried them. Pei Yuan, don't always put yourself in such a low position. Look at the bright side, okay?"

Pei Yuan still lowered his head, Bao Ning tried to pry his chin open, so that he could face himself.

"I want to go up with you, but you always pull me down. Think about it yourself, isn't it wrong for you to do this!"

Pei Yuan looked at her. Her cheeks were red with anger, her eyes were dark and shiny, and she was breathing heavily.

They were very close, and the breath she exhaled sprinkled on Pei Yuan's face, with an abnormal temperature, burning and shocking.

Pei Yuan realized something was wrong and reached out to touch her forehead.

Bao Ning backed away, Pei Yuan frowned, grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, holding her in his arms. When he

put his fingertips on her, it was indeed hot.

Pei Yuan was afraid that he hadn't hit her correctly, so he pressed his lips against her shoulders and neck again.

Bao Ning was startled and scared, and struggled back: "What are you doing..."

"Don't move!" Pei Yuan yelled at her, and pulled the quilt to wrap her up tightly, like a cocoon.

Pei Yuan was so angry that he pinched her cheek and scolded her harshly: "I just heard you making up stories about me. I thought you were such a powerful person and you knew everything. You don't even know that you are in such a mess. You still have the nerve to blame me?"

"Am I sick?" Bao Ning blinked in confusion, and then said, "That's different. You are..."

"What about me?" Pei Yuan squinted at her, "If you say one more word, I will throw you out now. You see, my legs are not in good condition, so I can still deal with you."

Why is this person like this? He was gentle at that time, but in the blink of an eye, he changed back.

Maybe because he was confused, Bao Ning was bold and talked back to him: "You are wrong, you are unreasonable!"

Pei Yuan ignored her and supported the edge of the kang to get up and put on his shoes.

He ignored her, and Bao Ning's arrogance gradually weakened. Staring at his movements, she asked softly, "What are you doing?"

"I'm boiling water to boil medicine," Pei Yuan turned around and looked at her with gritted teeth, "I'll serve you, you little troublemaker!"