The room was quiet, and there were no servants guarding the door, but Tang Nian did not get up. Her face was as pale as before, and her brows were furrowed. This time, she was not pretending to be unconscious; she had truly fallen into a deep sleep.
Lou Mu wasn't surprised. He would be surprised if Tang Nian could still be full of energy after forcibly releasing the poison from the poison sac into her body.
However, he was still worried, so he put his hand on Tang Nian's wrist. Tang Nian's pulse had not worsened, which meant that her body was digesting the toxins.
Lou Mu thought for a moment and decided to help Tang Nian. He stood up, took a needle kit from a shelf, inserted the needles into several acupoints on Tang Nian's body, and then sat down to watch over her.
He already knew what the Chu Emperor had been busy with during his time away from the capital.
Standing next to him, the overwhelming smell of medicinal pills almost made Lou Mu cover his nose.
The medicinal smell was almost imperceptible to ordinary people, but to a fox, it was extremely pungent.
The last time he went to the palace to report on his duties, the incense burning in the imperial study was too strong and made his nose hurt. He didn't even notice the faint medicinal scent.
He hadn't expected the Chu Emperor to suddenly become obsessed with alchemy. Judging from this, it's likely that the missing people were also used for alchemy.
When Jingyao returned, she closed the door and walked to the bedside. She was somewhat surprised to see Tang Nian sleeping with acupuncture needles inserted into her skin.
She had sensed something was wrong as soon as she was inside, but she didn't expect Tang Nian to actually be sick.
"Senior, this..."
Lou Mu looked up at her and gently shook his head: "She's always been like this, it's none of your business."
He paused for a moment, then asked, "Has the Chu Emperor left?"
Jing Yao nodded.
"He's quite the schemer, but it's a pity..."
Lou Mu shook his head. The Chu Emperor's apparent thoughtfulness was nothing more than a way of stripping him of his power. Although he hadn't explicitly placed him under house arrest, the meaning behind his words was crystal clear.
The imperial physicians of the Imperial Medical Academy will also "treat" Tang Nian well, as the Chu Emperor also wants to use Tang Nian to make himself work for him.
"Oh, and tell the cook to prepare extra meat for dinner tonight."
Jing Yao was taken aback. Lou Mu was a hermit who didn't eat meat, and the chicken soup he gave Tang Nian that day was an extra portion. Now that he's saying this, it must mean…
She nodded in agreement, then couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Seeing that it was almost time, Lou Mu stood up and removed the needles from Tang Nian's body.
What are you laughing at?
He turned his head and glanced at Jing Yao, but his hands did not slow down.
Jing Yao coughed a few times in fright, quickly covered her mouth, and shook her head.
Lou Mu turned his head back suspiciously, and soon pulled out all the silver needles. He put all the blackened silver needles back into the needle case, handed the case to Jing Yao, and asked her to clean them.
"You can go down now."
Jing Yao glanced at Lou Mu, whose expression was unfriendly, and then carefully looked at the unconscious Tang Nian. She couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth, but quickly suppressed it and lowered her head to respond.
Lou Mu waved his hand, setting up a barrier and revealing his ears and tail.
Looking at Tang Nian, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, Lou Mu's white fox ears twitched slightly. The nine tails behind him seemed to have their own ideas. As soon as they were released, they rushed forward to hook Tang Nian. The nine tails squeezed together and fought desperately, and three of them were even intertwined.
Lou Mu looked down at the nine tails. All the tails had stopped and were hanging quietly behind him, except for three tails that were still tangled together.
He shook his head helplessly and raised his hand to separate the three tails.
After taming the tail, Lou Mu turned to look at Tang Nian.
He wouldn't publicly reprimand Tang Nian for her underhanded tactics. However, he would retaliate in kind.
Otherwise, why would Tang Nian dream of that white fox for several days in a row?
Lou Mu bent down and gently stroked Tang Nian's face.
It seems she still hasn't remembered what happened back then!
Since that's the case...
He extended his finger, and a thin golden light traveled along his finger and entered Tang Nian's brow.
Lou Mu, seeing that it was about time, smiled and withdrew his hand.
Despite being an ethereal fox spirit, the smile on her face made her seem like a fox spirit who had cultivated for a thousand years.
He retracted his ears and tail and left the room. He still needed to go to his study to organize the clues he had gathered and wait for the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review to hand them over.
After about an incense stick's time, Tang Nian slowly woke up.
She sat up and rubbed her temples wearily.
Her body entered a self-repairing state, and she fell into a deep sleep. She had only felt the pain of the toxins, but then she inexplicably started dreaming again, and the white fox she had fooled appeared in her dreams once more.
She struggled to wake up, but couldn't, and only woke up again after signing a contract with the fox.
These days, her intuition tells her that the white fox is Lou Mu, but Tang Nian doesn't want to investigate the truth. She's afraid that the fox really is Lou Mu, and then how can she work with him these days?
"woke up?"
As soon as Lou Mu entered the room, he saw Tang Nian sitting blankly on the bed and couldn't help but chuckle.
Upon hearing Lou Mu's laughter, Tang Nian's face, which had been flushed from just waking up, regained some color.
"All done?" Tang Nian turned to look at Lou Mu, then immediately turned her head away.
She can no longer look Lou Mu in the eye.
Lou Mu nodded and smiled, "I'll have to trouble you to stay in bed for a while longer."
Tang Nian's face darkened immediately. If it were winter, it would be fine, but now it's the middle of summer, and if she lies in bed all day, she'll grow mushrooms.
"What did those quack doctors say?" Tang Nian's dissatisfaction was clearly evident in her voice.
"It can alleviate the symptoms, but it didn't say how many days it would take for you to wake up." Lou Mu sat down. "However, with Emperor Chu around, wouldn't those imperial physicians do everything they can to wake you up?"
"Oh? How could the Emperor of Chu..."
Tang Nian paused halfway through her sentence, having guessed the Chu Emperor's intention.
"Do you know anything about alchemy?" Lou Mu asked after a moment of silence.
"Huh?" Tang Nian was taken aback. Lou Mu changed the subject too quickly, and she hadn't even reacted. "I know a little bit."
Lou Mu told Tang Nian his guess.
"Is there really such a bizarre pill formula?" Tang Nian scratched his head. "Or is it possible that they kidnapped people to test the pills?"
It is unavoidable that there is poison in elixirs. Generally, semi-finished products are tested on people. It is possible that the Chu Emperor captured ordinary people to act as guinea pigs.
"Then why did he issue an order prohibiting the Celestial Masters from entering the city?"
Indeed, if it were merely about alchemy, the Chu Emperor wouldn't have gone to such lengths to issue this imperial edict. But Tang Nian simply couldn't understand what kind of elixir would require human lives to refine.
"Could it be..." Tang Nian frowned, recalling a pill formula written in a second-rate alchemy book, "But that pill formula..."
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