Chapter 137 Counterattack
Xie Anfeng's body tensed. He didn't answer immediately. Shadows covered most of his face, and only his lips moved slightly at the edge of the candlelight, and he uttered a hoarse voice: "Someone is trying to poison my Xiu'er..."
His voice choked, "Someone won't let her live, they want her life!"
It was said vaguely, without any specific name. But Xie Wuqi's heart suddenly sank, as if falling into an icy cave.
The person behind this must be of such high status that even my father, in his extreme grief and anger, dared not or was unwilling to speak out loud at this time and place.
Xie Wuqi didn't ask any more questions.
He lowered his head and, in the dim candlelight beside the bed, looked again at the blood-stained corner of the paper in his hand. The blood had dried, turning dark brown, and the edges were coagulated and hardened.
The words "Instructed to poison" looked even more sinister in the candlelight. Before them, a few faint strokes could be discerned, seemingly the first strokes of a surname or a title, but they were completely obscured by the torn edges of the paper and the bloodstains, making them impossible to discern.
Who is it?
He gripped the paper with such force that his knuckles turned white and his nails almost dug into the dried blood.
At this moment, a sigh came from the old doctor beside the bed. Xie Wuqi looked up suddenly.
The old lady hospital judge withdrew her fingers from Xie Ying's wrist and slowly stood up.
His face was even more dejected than before, and he shook his head heavily in the direction of Xie Anfeng and Xie Wuqi. The movement of shaking his head was slow and weak, like a final word, announcing a certain despair.
"General, Young Master..." The old doctor's voice was dry, "The young lady's pulse has become weaker. The poison is too strong and too strong... I'm afraid... I'm afraid..."
In the end, he couldn't say the following words.
But the hearts of everyone in the room sank into the bottomless abyss along with his unfinished words.
The candle flame jumped suddenly, making a crackling sound, and a drop of hot wax slid down the candle body and fell on the back of Xie Wuqi's hand that was tightly holding the piece of paper.
The heat made him shiver.
The burning pain was very much like the despair and hatred gnawing at his heart at this moment.
Outside the window, in the thick night, a very light sigh seemed to come from some corner, like the whimpering of wind blowing through dead branches, and soon dissipated into the boundless darkness.
…
The other side.
Liu Yueli's heart suddenly twitched, and the hypocritical smile on her face instantly froze to death, three times stronger than the northwest wind in the twelfth lunar month outside.
There was a buzzing in my head, and only a harsh white noise remained.
What did he just say? Killed? His fiancée?
She didn't know how she tripped and didn't even notice that the hem of her skirt was stepped on hard. She staggered forward.
If he hadn't retained a last bit of instinctive reaction, clinging tightly to the edge of the hard rosewood table beside him, he would have fallen flat on his face on the spot.
My heart felt like it was being gripped by an invisible hand, squeezing so tightly that I could hardly breathe.
A chill seeped out from between his bones and instantly swept through his body, three times more chilling than the cold wind that had just blown into his neck.
She stared at Pei Ji's eyes. There was no trace of romance in them. Only a bottomless pool of black water that was about to suck her in and drown her.
No! This is not right!
Luo Zhaohan, that stupid woman with an empty brain, broke out in rashes all over her body after eating almond soup. She coughed violently and finally fainted like a dead fish. No more than three people in the entire Luo Mansion knew about it!
Liu Yueli had put in so much effort, bit by bit, to dig out this little bit of information from those gossipy old women!
Absolutely foolproof!
"My Lord..." Liu Yueli's voice was a little hazy and dry, like a thin piece of cotton that would be blown away by the wind. "I really don't know what you are talking about. I have been serving Sister Zhaohan with all my heart. How could I have ever had the slightest intention of harming anyone? This is groundless..."
The last few words were almost forced out.
"Are you putting so much effort into it?" Pei Ji smiled. His voice was low, like striking a jade chime. But to Liu Yueli's ears, it was like the death warrant from the King of Hell demanding her life, and her hair stood on end.
He took a slow step forward, and the corner of his robe stirred up a gust of wind that swept across the ground.
"You serve her so attentively. You even managed to get the kitchen to prepare her favorite pastry. Hidden in that rose crystal cake is a tiny bit of finely ground almond powder, and then a few spoonfuls of sweet and alluring osmanthus honey... Tsk tsk, Zhaohan is such a greedy girl, and since it was sent by you, her good sister, she devoured it all, didn't she?"
Every word he spoke was as clear as peeling an onion, and it was exactly the thought that had just flashed through Liu Yueli's mind.
Every step, every ingredient, even the heartless smile on Luo Zhaohan's face when he saw the pastries, were as if he had seen them with his own eyes!
The blood in Liu Yueli's body suddenly turned cold.
The chill that penetrated her heart froze her hands and feet like rusty wooden stakes, making her unable to move.
Impossible! This is definitely an accident! He must have heard about it from somewhere, or he must have just guessed it!
She suddenly straightened her back, clenching her fingers so tightly that her nails practically dug into the hardwood of the table. She squeezed out a few words, "Sir... this is slander! I didn't do it! Sister Zhaohan is now recuperating peacefully in the Plum Courtyard. How could you fabricate such things and slander me like this?"
She even forced herself to raise her face, wanting to meet Pei Ji's gaze and accuse him with her usual aggrieved look. But when she did, she was plunged into a deep, motionless darkness, so deep that she couldn't see the slightest bit of her disguise.
Pei Ji's peach blossom eyes, which could show deep affection even to a dog, narrowed slightly, and the curve at the corner of his lips, which seemed to be a smile but not a smile, was full of mockery.
He took another step closer to her, and the invisible pressure between them suddenly increased. Liu Yueli almost couldn't help but retreat.
"Slander?" Pei Ji sneered, his gaze fixed on her pale face. "You were standing there just now, and you were thinking clearly—'That brainless idiot, who can be coaxed into opening her mouth with a few spoonfuls of sweet honey, and who doesn't even realize she's put her life in someone else's hands', huh?"
Liu Yueli only felt a loud bang in her head, which scared her to death!
That wasn't a lie! Absolutely not! Is he a monster? How could he... How could he...
It wasn't that she didn't want to move, but her entire body was out of her control, leaving only the buzzing sound of her bones trembling violently.
Pei Ji looked at Liu Yueli's pale face.
That face that was so exquisite that it was impeccable now looked dead.
Even supporting the body seemed to be a heavy burden. He could only stand by leaning on the table, like a reed that was about to break in the raging wind.
A hint of smile quickly flashed across Pei Ji's eyes.
He stretched out a slender finger and lightly touched the left side of his chest - right at the vital point where his heart beats.
"Miss Liu," he said slowly, "there's no need to be so frightened. You and I are both mortals. To peer into someone's mind from a distance is ultimately too absurd and far-fetched. It's nothing more than idle gossip."
The bony hand was still firmly pressed against the front of his shirt, and beneath his fingertips were the fine lines of brocade cloud patterns.
"I was able to discern a small part of what you just said, simply because of an ancient, secret technique passed down by my master. This method is extremely simple, requiring the practitioner and the recipient to be extremely close, with only a tiny wisp of skin between them. Just now, the young lady was only inches away from me, and my hand happened to be placed on my heart, and I felt a slight sensation."
Pei Ji's tone became increasingly gentle, even carrying a hint of magnetism that made one want to draw closer. Like a warm current, it seeped into Liu Yueli's nerves, "If you are curious about this, and wish to know the details of this crude technique, why not come closer? I can tell you everything without reservation."
The hand on his chest moved away a little naturally, as if to make room for her to lean against him safely.
That posture was completely open, even with a gentle temptation.
Liu Yueli's heart, which was beating like a drum, seemed to be pulled back from the brink of death. Although it was still beating rapidly and chaotically, at least it was no longer so desperate that it was about to jump out of her throat.
In order for him to be able to see into people's secrets, he needs to be so close?
Maybe even through the fabric? Then...
A tiny, weak light struggled to light up in the depths of her dark consciousness.
If that's the case, maybe I just accidentally got too close...
She stared at Pei Ji's hand that was pressing on her chest. That hand had just been like a ghost claw strangling her breath, but now it became her only hope of life!
"So that's how it is..." Liu Yueli trembled, her voice as weak as a mosquito's. She even tried to twitch the corners of her mouth, though the result was only a stiff twitch. "Your Excellency is truly resourceful... I am truly ignorant..."
While she was stammering out these lies that even she was almost believing, she dragged her legs that felt like they were filled with lead and moved very carefully towards Pei Ji with waves of uncontrollable violent tremors deep inside her body.
Closer... Closer...
It was close enough that he could clearly see the intricate gold thread cloud patterns on Pei Ji's dark uniform, and close enough that he could smell the scent of ink-scented cedar emanating from the fabric of his clothes.
She lowered her head slightly, her long eyelashes covering her bottomless eyes. She stretched out her almost unconscious hand, as if she was extremely nervous and unconsciously wanted to support Pei Ji's raised elbow to gain leverage to stand firm.
"I still don't quite understand." Her voice was shaking and incoherent.
His hand flipped suddenly, as fast as lightning.
It was not a weak movement at all. The silver hairpin with pearl tassels that had been pinned in her hair had silently slipped into her palm without her noticing.
The round oriental pearl on the hairpin was instantly freed from its restraints and rolled to the ground with a trail of fine silver threads.
What was even more frightening was that the top of the place where the pearls were originally inlaid was actually a needle tip thinner than a cow hair!
On Liu Yueli's pale face, only a pair of extremely cruel eyes remained! Like a Shura crawling out of hell!
"Beast! Die!" Her sharp roar broke through the air, suppressing the teeth-grinding buzzing sound in her bones!
The poisoned hairpin tip brought with it a strong wind and stabbed towards Pei Ji's heart with all its might!
The cold blue light from the poisoned hairpin tip was just a millimeter away from Pei Ji's chest.
However, in that split second——
The disguised smile in Pei Ji's eyes was instantly replaced by a fierce light!
That look was as deep as an ancient well that had held cold water for a thousand years, reflecting Liu Yueli's ruthless and resolute face at the moment, as if he had been waiting for it a thousand times!
He ignored the poisonous needle that was aimed at his heart.
The left hand pressed against the chest quickly turned into a blurry black shadow!
It wasn't a block, nor was it an evasion! Instead, it was a silent, yet extremely cunning and vicious flick of the finger.
clang!
An extremely slight crisp sound.
Pei Ji bent the tip of his index finger and struck the lower side of the hairpin that was flying towards him with extreme precision.
The poison hairpin that was infused with all of Liu Yueli's strength suddenly changed its direction with just a flick of the finger!
The deadly silver-blue line suddenly bounced upwards.
Before Liu Yueli could even feel the impact of the power being hit, her wrist was violently pulled by an overwhelming force that she could not match!
A stinging pain mixed with the reflection of metal flashed across Liu Yueli's right eye like lightning.
That was the shadow of death she had cast herself, and she only had time to let out a muffled groan that stopped abruptly.
Phew!
A sound like a bamboo stick piercing through thin cooked meat!
Liu Yueli felt a sharp pain on the outside of her right upper arm. The extremely sharp, poison-tipped tip of the reeled hairpin had pierced most of the sleeve of her thin spring gown.
The bright red blood almost spurted out from the needle hole at a speed that instantly soaked through the light blue gauze dress, like a blood flower suddenly exploding on the ice field!
“Ugh—!”
She could no longer hold on, her vision went dark, and her whole body was carried by the huge inertia and crashed heavily backwards!
Clang! Crash!
His back slammed hard onto the heavy, hard mahogany desk behind him.
The freshly brewed Yuqian celadon teacup was knocked away and smashed into pieces when it hit the hard wall.
The boiling hot tea mixed with the broken porcelain pieces splashed everywhere like a rainstorm!
The loud noise alarmed the guards on duty outside.
"Sir!" A dark shadow suddenly pushed open the door, and the guard drew his sword smoothly and rushed in halfway with murderous intent.
But the scene before him made his shout stuck in his throat!
Blood kept gushing out of Liu Yueli's arm, and his immediate superior, Pei Ji, was slowly lowering his left hand, his face pale and a little scary.
What made the guard's pupils shrink suddenly was that when Pei Ji raised his left hand, the wide black sleeve slipped down, revealing a scratch on his left wrist near the inside of the sleeve.
Although it was not deep, the skin and flesh were turned outward and bleeding!
The color of the blood was actually somewhat dark and purple, which contrasted with the little bit of silver-blue poisonous light remaining between the knuckles of his right hand, making people shudder!
"Sir! Your hand?" The guard's voice changed and he no longer cared about pointing the knife at Liu Yueli.
At the moment when the guard lost his voice in fear, Liu Yueli's consciousness, which had been shaken by the impact, took advantage of the brief gap brought about by this sudden upheaval, and suddenly burst out with a beast-like survival instinct, like a drowning person who grabbed the last piece of driftwood.
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