Lover's Intoxication
Cool water droplets hit her face, and her long eyelashes on her pale face trembled. Zhu Qinghe opened her eyes.
An orange light tore through the darkness, and she covered her eyes with her hand.
"You're finally awake." Han Ke placed the oil lamp he was holding on the stool. "I thought I had given you the wrong medicine and poisoned you."
Zhu Qinghe asked, "Where are the people who came with me?"
"Don't worry, your little lover isn't dead."
"That's good. If anything happens to him, I won't say a word about Han Ling."
Han Ke stared at her calm expression and suddenly felt a sense of disorientation.
He asked, "Aren't you worried that I might do something to you?"
Zhu Qinghe glanced at him dismissively: "You're just a little brother, what do I have to worry about?"
Han Ke's voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth: "...Say it again!"
Zhu Qinghe: "...Sorry, I got carried away and misspoke."
Seeing that her younger brother didn't seem to have any intention of harming her for the time being, she began to probe indirectly: "Younger brother... oh no, Hall Master Han, what exactly are you and He Xiao planning to do with us?"
Han Ke: "You'll find out when the time comes."
On the other side.
He Xiao pushed Shen Wumei, who had pounced on him as soon as she woke up, aside and shook his hand: "It's a good thing that Han Ke sealed your acupoints."
"You are now a useless person."
Shen Wumei grabbed a candlestick from the table and was about to smash it.
He Xiao: "If you want her dead, then smash it."
Shen Wumei's hand froze in mid-air: "Where is she?"
He Xiao: "You'll find out soon enough."
A bright red pill was placed in front of me.
Zhu Qinghe asked, "What is this?"
Han Ke waved his feather fan, his voice leisurely: "Have you ever heard of the Miao insect gu?"
"I know a little." Zhu Qinghe frowned, but the Miao insect gu was a forbidden technique in the Dali Dynasty. Could it be freely circulated and used here?
"This Gu is called Lover's Intoxication, a beautiful name, isn't it? Unfortunately, none of the lovers in the past have been able to pass the test."
Zhu Qinghe stared at him with suspicion and uncertainty: "What exactly do you want to do? And what is this 'Lover's Intoxication'?"
"If both parties take the Lover's Intoxication, the host will die within twelve hours if the Gu worm does not die."
"So you're trying to poison us," Zhu Qinghe said. "Do you know who I am? If I die, you won't escape either."
"I know, you are a princess from the Dali Dynasty who was sent to marry a prince, and the little prince's queen."
Han Ke smiled arrogantly: "You are a person of the Great Li Dynasty, who cares about your life or death?"
“If the scandal of a princess being sent to marry a foreign ruler but having another lover reaches the king’s ears, he will only thank us.”
"Why don't you just kill us with one strike? Why all this fuss?" Zhu Qinghe said coldly.
“Don’t misunderstand,” Han Ke said, “our goal is not to kill you.”
"Instead, I'll let you choose which of you will die." Han Ke's smile was filled with deep malice.
Han Ke placed the dagger in front of her: "Don't worry, I've sealed his acupoints. He's practically a cripple now."
"This dagger is poisoned; it will kill on contact with blood. You don't need to worry about being unable to defeat him."
Zhu Qinghe's expression was stubborn: "Don't even think about it, I will never hurt him."
“That’s great.” Han Ke nodded. “With your lover inside you, every hour will be ten times more painful than the last.”
"Are you starting to feel pain all over your body now?"
When Han Ke said that, Zhu Qinghe also felt it, as if someone was hitting all the bones in her body with a small hammer. She gritted her teeth and said, "So, you tortured those people who came to ask for medicine in the past in the same way."
"How can this be called torture? It's just to make them see themselves and each other clearly. What family, friendship, and love are all just illusory feelings."
"When faced with a life-or-death test, everyone will only think of themselves."
Zhu Qinghe said weakly, "You guys are really twisted."
"He must have lacked love growing up."
Han Ke looked at Zhu Qinghe. The dark makeup on her face had been wiped off, revealing her fair skin and beautiful features. She was enduring the pain, her eyebrows tightly furrowed.
But her eyes still stared at him defiantly, as if flames were burning within them.
Han Ke retracted his feather fan: "That's all you're good for, all talk."
"Hurry up, your time is running out."
Han Ke led her into a clean and tidy room where a maid was waiting for her.
She felt weak all over and was helped by her maids to change into a clean white dress.
Seeing the plate of pastries on the table, Zhu Qinghe swallowed hard: "Sisters, can I have a bite of that?"
A girl with her hair in two buns laughed and brought it over for her: "Of course."
Seeing her gentle tone and serene smile, Zhu Qinghe lowered her guard a little. "Sisters, are you from Xiaoyao Hall?"
"I suppose so. We just follow the orders of the hall master."
Zhu Qinghe immediately perked up: "You guys better run! Your sect leader is a freak!"
“He made his lovers eat Gu worms and forced them to kill each other. How perverted!” she said, stuffing pastries into her mouth.
The girl with her hair in two buns smiled: "So, what you drank was Lover's Intoxication?"
Zhu Qinghe stopped wolfing down her food: "You know?"
The other person's expression was somewhat cold: "Of course I know, because I was also a test subject back then."
The girl with the double buns was named Xiaoshuang. Three years ago, her lover fell ill with a cough, and she came to Xiaoyao Hall to seek medicine, where she was included in the list of test subjects.
Three days later, she woke up to find herself and Xu Lang in an unfamiliar room.
Xiao Shuang's smile was tinged with sadness: "We took the Lover's Intoxication, and the pain gnawed at our hearts every second, until finally..."
Zhu Qinghe listened intently: "So in the end, you killed him."
She's standing here perfectly fine now; the outcome is predictable.
Xiao Shuang retorted sharply, "I didn't kill him, he wanted to kill me, I was just trying to protect myself."
Her expression turned cold: "I want to thank the hall master. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been able to see his true colors."
Zhu Qinghe remained silent. Xiao Shuang straightened her shoulders and combed her hair, her tone becoming gentle again: "Soon, you will see clearly too."
"Is this the case for all of you?" she asked, looking at the other girls.
“That’s right. We were all test subjects who had taken the ‘lover’ drug. It was the other party who betrayed us first. We were just trying to protect ourselves.”
"They are the ones who have wronged us."
Xiao Shuang placed the heavy dagger into her palm: "Good luck."
After an incense stick had burned, Zhu Qinghe finally met Shen Wumei.
"Are you alright?" Shen Wumei asked anxiously, holding her hand.
Zhu Qinghe shook her head.
Han Ke said coldly at the door, "You only have twelve hours. If the Gu worms are not dead, you will all die."
"You will feel increasingly painful during these twelve hours, so I suggest you make plans as soon as possible."
"Also, the poison on your daggers was applied by me personally. It's truly lethal upon contact with blood, so be careful."
"Okay, okay, you should leave now. Standing there is really bothering us." Zhu Qinghe urged him to leave.
Han Ke glared at her, then turned and left.
Looking at Han Ke's retreating figure, Shen Wumei suddenly said, "I feel like he treats you a little differently."
And then there's the "be careful" thing—what's with the cute act?
“That’s normal, after all, I’m so good-looking,” Zhu Qinghe said.
Shen Wumei's eyes were icy cold. Zhu Qinghe belatedly realized what was happening and said, "No way, you're serious?"
"You're exaggerating when you get jealous over something like this, Lord Shen."
Shen Wumei snorted coldly, "I don't care, I'll give you a chance to explain."
Looking at the arrogant man with his chin held high, Zhu Qinghe felt something soft gently bump against her heart.
Her lover was drunk and causing chaos inside her, and she felt pain even in the very bones.
Shen Wumei must be the same.
Pretending to be jealous at this time is to reassure her that she won't worry so much.
She understands everything.
Zhu Qinghe gave him a big smile, turned his face back to her, and said with a grin, "You're so cute."
She stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the lips.
"Don't be angry. Look at his skinny, muscular build. How can he compare to your tall, imposing, handsome figure? I'm not blind."
Shen Wumei nodded approvingly: "I think so too."
next door.
Han Ke pressed the throbbing veins on his forehead and looked at He Xiao: "Can I go and stab them to death right now?"
He Xiao rubbed his chin, looking like he had a toothache, and said, "These two are too lovey-dovey."
I've never seen anything like this before.
"Let's wait a little longer." He Xiao held down his scraggly brother-in-law, thought for a moment, and comforted him, "Don't listen to them. Although you've lost some weight, you're still..."
He thought for a moment and said seriously, "Very cute."
Han Ke: "..."
I'll just stab you to death first.
The first hour.
The two cursed Han Ke and He Xiao for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, then swept all the pastries on the table. When they had more energy, they cursed Han Ke and He Xiao for another incense stick's time.
The second hour.
The two held hands and slept for a whole hour, completely unconscious.
Han Ke wrote in his notebook with a brush, muttering to himself, "Eat and then sleep, are these two pigs?!"
He Xiao glanced at his notebook, on which was written in large characters: Pig!!!
It also used three exclamation marks.
He Xiao: "..."
I haven't seen my brother-in-law so irritable in a long time.
These two are amazing!
The third hour.
Zhu Qinghe said, "This is so boring. I should have brought the book 'The Legend of the Central Plains Heroes' that you bought for me."
Shen Wumei: "Judging by the days, it should be time for the finale to come out."
Zhu Qinghe perked up immediately: "That's right, the seventh volume is the ending. I really want to know who killed Master Fang's mother?"
"Isn't he his stepfather?"
Zhu Qinghe was shocked: "How is that possible? His stepfather is a good person."
Shen Wumei: "It's all an act. His stepfather is the leader of the Demonic Sect who is hiding his identity. His mother happened to pass by and saved him, so she used them to escape the pursuit of the heroes of the martial arts world."
"Later, his mother discovered his true identity and he killed her to silence her."
Zhu Qinghe broke down: "I don't believe you, you're lying to me!"
She had been so genuinely invested in her parents' love story for so long, only to find out it was all fake!
"You're not the author, how do you know?" Zhu Qinghe glared at him.
"Coincidentally, I previously investigated and seized an author who privately printed erotic pictures. It just so happens that he is the author of The Legend of the Central Plains Heroes. I saw the manuscript of the final chapter."
Zhu Qinghe: "...I hate you!"
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