Great Zhou World
The darkness, like thick ink, weighed heavily on the solemn roof of the Imperial Hospital. Wu Yu forced his heavy eyelids open and nodded his head furiously at his night watch desk. The candlelight danced restlessly, the flame licking the wick, making a subtle crackling sound. Each flicker of light and shadow seemed to tug at his shattered consciousness. Just as his head tilted heavily to one side once again, the extremely soft, yet unusually rapid sound of turning pages suddenly pierced the silence of the night like a cold silver needle, instantly piercing his drowsiness.
Swish… Swish, swish…
The sound was very close, coming from the heavy bookshelves not far away that stored old medical records. It was so fast that it was almost panic-stricken, with a kind of desperate greed and eagerness.
Wu Yu's heart trembled, and the lingering sleepiness vanished instantly. He held his breath and quietly rose. One hand protected the flickering candlelight, the other subconsciously pressed the medicine bag at his waist. Crouching like a raccoon ready to strike, he crept towards the sound. A dim light followed his footsteps, casting swaying shadows on the cold tile floor and the towering bookshelves.
The closer they got, the clearer and more rapid the sound of pages turning became. The pages were roughly flipped and rubbed, making a sound almost like tearing. The visitor was completely immersed in the sound, unaware of the approaching danger.
"Who's there!" Wu Yu suddenly shouted in a low voice. His voice was not loud, but it was like thunder in the dead of night.
However, the expected panic escape did not occur. The sound of turning pages paused only briefly, then began to rise even more frantically! It was as if the pages contained a life-saving straw or a deadly poison, making it impossible to let go.
Wu Yu's heart flared with anger, and he stopped hesitating. He leaped forward, the candlelight instantly enveloping the figure huddled in the shadow of the bookshelf. With lightning speed and the strength of a seasoned warrior, he grasped the man's wrist with precision and a firm grip!
"Ah!" A stifled cry of pain and gasp rang out simultaneously. The wrist, slender, trembled violently at his force. A hard object fell from the wide, dusty cuff of his sleeve with a "clack" to the ground, reflecting a warm luster in the candlelight—it was a waist badge.
Wu Yu's eyes subconsciously swept over the waist badge, and his pupils suddenly contracted! Almost instinctively, the moment he saw the decoration clearly, his grip loosened as if burned by a branding iron, and his body reacted even faster than his thoughts—he suddenly took a half step back, knees bent, and was about to salute. It was a reverence for imperial power etched in his bones, even if the other party was...
"Brother, it's me." A female voice with pain, tension, and a hint of grievance sounded, stopping him from bending down.
Nangong Xi rubbed her painfully pinched wrist and, using the candlelight that had finally settled, raised her face. Her hair was a little unkempt, with a few strands dangling by her cheeks. Her face was even dusted with a thin layer of dust from the bookshelf, but her eyes were startlingly bright, like cold stars quenched by fire, staring straight at Wu Yu.
Wu Yu saw her face clearly in the candlelight. Shock instantly replaced all other emotions, and he cried out, "Princess?! Nangong... Junior Sister? You're still alive?!" His voice was hushed, filled with a mixture of unbelievable joy and lingering fear. His eyes roamed over her face, as if trying to confirm it wasn't a nightmare or a ghost. The sensational rumors of Ning Yangyang paying a huge sum of money for a ransom flooded his mind. Those unbearable speculations overlapped with the real person before him, leaving him speechless.
Nangong Xi quickly bent down to pick up the badge, shoving it back into his sleeve. His shocked expression was interrupted by his hurried voice: "What else? Senior Brother, I don't have time for small talk! I've checked the records of the Imperial Hospital. I've looked through all the archived pulse records and prescriptions! There's absolutely no problem with the prescription Grandpa wrote. The combination is precise and the dosage is cautious! But why? Why is there no detailed record of the day that the abortion medicine was prepared? Especially the person who handled the decoction process, the temperature, and the time? How many people had to go through the hands of this medicine from the pharmacy to the decoction and then to the Zhaohua Palace? Why is it that only my Nangong family suffered? This doesn't make sense!"
She spoke quickly and urgently, like popping beans, and every word was filled with burning anxiety and unquestionable questioning. Her body unconsciously leaned forward, as if she wanted to grab Wu Yu's shoulders and shake him.
The joy in Wu Yu's eyes quickly faded, replaced by a deep worry and heavy resignation. He glanced around warily, confirming that no one was around before stepping forward. His voice dropped even lower, a voice almost pleading with him: "Junior Sister! Since you've survived, since you've narrowly escaped that catastrophe, you should live well! Find a safe place and live peacefully! The dead are gone, your grandfather... and all that happened. It's all in the past. The past cannot be brought back!" He reached out, as if to pat her shoulder in comfort, but froze mid-stride, his hand dropping helplessly.
"Don't pursue her?!" Nangong Xi seemed to be stung by these words. She looked up suddenly, and the flames of anger instantly ignited in her eyes. Her voice suddenly rose, but was forcibly suppressed by his silencing gesture. Her chest heaved violently. She gritted her teeth and squeezed out the extremely suppressed question from between her teeth: "You mean, an old doctor who has been immersed in the Imperial Hospital for a lifetime and is famous for his benevolence and medical skills would be stupid enough to put Hedinghong in the labor-inducing medicine he personally prescribed?! Who would believe it? Who would do such a stupid thing that would dig their own grave and be afraid that others would not see it? Senior brother, this is not stupid! This is a frame-up! A naked frame-up! What about the truth? What about my grandfather's innocence? Are the lives of my Nangong family just lives? Are they not important?!" Her voice trembled with a strong nasal sound, and her eyes were red, but she stubbornly refused to let the tears fall.
Wu Yu, observing the burning stubbornness in her eyes, closed them painfully. When he opened them again, only a deep pool of melancholy and a subtle hint of fear remained. He leaned in closer, practically whispering in her ear, and whispered, each word weighing heavily: "Junior Sister... you are too naive. Do you think anyone in this palace truly cares about the truth? Everyone knows that Yang Guifei's miscarriage, due to a malposition and her inherent frailty, was an accident! But..." He paused, his Adam's apple rolling with difficulty, his voice hoarse. "But as the Emperor's favored concubine, the loss of her long-awaited Dragon Heir has left the Emperor furious, and the Concubine heartbroken. Without a 'culprit,' how can the Emperor appease his beloved? How can he quell the gossip within the court and harem? And how... can he demonstrate that his 'imperial majesty' cannot be violated?" His last words were light, yet carried a piercing chill.
"Ridiculous! This is absolutely ridiculous!" Nangong Xi was so angry that he was shaking all over, his nails digging deep into his palms. "Her body is not strong, and her pregnancy is dangerous, but it is definitely not hopeless! I secretly read her early pulse records. Although it was dangerous, Grandpa has been taking care of her meticulously, and the fetus has stabilized in the end! As long as she can get through the last two months safely... This can't be an accident! At least, it won't result in the death of both mother and child! There must be something behind this..."
"Junior Sister!" Wu Yu suddenly interrupted her, his voice filled with undeniable severity. He looked at her with complicated eyes and forced a change of subject. With a hint of tired concern, he asked, "Are you... okay in the palace? How does the Regent... treat you?"
However, Nangong Xi completely ignored his forced change of subject. She grabbed Wu Yu's arm with astonishing strength, her eyes a mixture of desperate pleading and despair. "Brother! Do you know something? You must know, right? Please, for the sake of... for the sake of our growing up together in the herb garden, for the sake of your grandfather's instruction... tell me! Even just a tiny clue! Just a little bit! I can't let my grandfather die with such a stigma!" Her voice choked with sobs, carrying the mournful cry of a lone goose, sounding especially poignant and helpless in the empty, cold Imperial Hospital.
"Some diseases are brought from the mother's womb." Wu Yu's words instantly awakened Nangong Xi.
"Swish!" A jet-black crossbow arrow shot through the window, piercing Wu Yu's chest with pinpoint accuracy! Blood splattered instantly.
"Run!" Wu Yu used up his last bit of strength to push her away and fell to the ground dead.
"Brother—!" Before Nangong Xi could finish her scream, several more poisonous crossbows came shooting at her! She rolled over in fear, her scalp tingling.
The chill of death pressed on! She rolled and crawled towards the dog hole in the backyard she remembered, the footsteps of the man in black following her like a shadow! She pushed aside the weeds, ignoring the scratches from the gravel, and desperately squeezed herself into the narrow hole.
"Swish!" The crossbow arrow grazed her heel and sank into the dirt! She tumbled over the palace wall, desperately running through the dark palace grounds. A cold fear gripped her as she fled hastily among the rockery and flowers, the shadow of the man in black clinging to her.
Finally catching a glimpse of the cold light of the moat, she stumbled toward it. Dizziness washed over her like a tide, her legs felt like lead, her lungs seared. Everything went black, and she tumbled heavily into the cold mud at the riverbank, completely unconscious.
Consciousness struggled to emerge from the cold darkness. The first thing Nangong Xi felt was not the warmth of being rescued, but a suffocating feeling of confinement—she was tightly wrapped in a luxurious fox fur coat, her entire body locked tightly against a scorching chest by an iron-like arm.
She suddenly opened her eyes.
Xiao Ziyi's face, handsome yet sinister in the night, loomed close. Behind him, fireworks burst forth in the sky, their dazzling light reflecting the undisguised, predatory glint in his eyes, as if he were stalking prey.
"Miss Nangong," his low voice carried a hint of playful smile, his breath brushing her forehead, "How did you fall into the water?" The strength of his arm tightened a little more, making her completely unable to move.
Nangong Xi's right hand was tightly grasped by him, her cold, damp fingertips pressed against the inside of his warm wrist. She instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but her fingertips slipped in her struggle, suddenly touching an unusually hard, rough protrusion just below his palm, near his wrist bone—that was definitely not an ordinary skin texture!
This is it!
A cold, death-inspired image instantly pierced her mind—the jet-black crossbow arrow lodged in Senior Brother Wu Yu's chest! The cold arrow shaft, the taut bowstring!
This is the spot! Years of repeated rubbing and pulling by the tough bowstring create this unique, thick, root-like callus!
murderer!
This realization exploded in her mind like thunder, carrying with it a bone-chilling chill and overwhelming hatred! The face before her, seemingly saving her from danger, instantly overlapped with the cold figure in the darkness firing a deadly crossbow! He had the audacity to hold her in his arms, imprisoning her with the very hands that had just taken his brother's life, and yet pretending to be his savior!
The immense fear and rage instantly tensed her whole body, her blood seemingly frozen. She stared intently at Xiao Ziyi, her eyes no longer filled with confusion, only a cold, almost murderous intent and the certainty of an accusation.
"It was dark at night, the lakeside was slippery, and I couldn't see the road clearly." Her voice was dry and hoarse, and every word was like an ice-hardened blade, pointing directly at Xiao Ziyi. Her left hand, hidden under the fox fur, had quietly grasped a poisoned silver needle in her sleeve, the tip of the needle trembling slightly with anger.
Xiao Ziyi seemed oblivious to her sudden change, or perhaps, he simply didn't care. He continued lazily, "The Imperial Palace is a complex place, and Miss Nangong accidentally fell into the water. I can only do the hard work and escort her back home." His eyes, still filled with naked desire, lingered over her soaked clothes.
Nangong Xi's silver needle, stealthily rubbing against a pebble, his cold murderous intent clashing fiercely with the evidence of the murderer he had confirmed. Kill him! Right now! Revenge for my brother! Yet, reason screamed: Too close! He exuded the dangerous aura of an apex predator, his muscles tense as steel. If he missed, he would surely die!
At the moment when her killing intent reached its peak——
Xiao Ziyi's hand, covered in deadly calluses, shot out like a ghost, and with incredible precision, it grabbed her left wrist, which was tightly gripping the silver needle! The force was so great that it almost crushed her bones.
He forcefully pried open her fingers and easily picked up the thin blue needle. In the afterglow of the last grand fireworks display, he examined the needle tip with interest.
"Tsk," he chuckled, his voice filled with a hint of cruel pleasure, "Silver needles are better used for acupuncture to save lives." With a casual flick of his finger, the poison needles sank silently into the dark river water.
The fireworks went out, and heavy darkness instantly enveloped the riverbank.
Xiao Ziyi suddenly turned over, completely crushing her to the cold muddy ground! His heavy body, with a burning aggression, tightly pressed against her clammy body. The sound of koi carp splashing in the lake was clearly audible. On the shore, their noses were almost touching, their breaths mingling.
In the darkness, Nangong Xi's eyes burned with deep hatred and cold murderous intent, fixed on Xiao Ziyi. In Xiao Ziyi's eyes, there was an inextricable desire, the confidence to control everything, and a morbid appreciation for this hatred.
"This is the wilderness." Nangong Xi's voice was as cold as iron, and his body trembled slightly due to extreme anger and the memory of the touch of the calluses.
"Exciting." Xiao Ziyi responded in a low voice, pressing his body down maliciously.
"You are the murderer." She enunciated each word clearly, and the touch of the deadly calluses seemed to remain on her fingertips.
"Exciting," he repeated, his smile deepening, as if her accusation were the most beautiful love words in the world.
"You are a lunatic!" Nangong Xi cursed through his teeth.
Xiao Ziyi suddenly lowered his head, his scorching lips almost touching her earlobe, and with a destructive possessiveness and madness, he declared in a whisper:
"I like you."
The whistling sound of arrows tearing through the air still lingered in their ears, carried by a chilling night breeze that barely brushed past the noses of Xiao Ziyi and Nangong Xi. The instantaneous chill and the throbbing sensation of a brush with death caused their pupils to suddenly constrict, their breath choking. Nangong Xi stumbled back half a step, his back slamming hard against the cold Taihu stone. He clutched his wound, gasping for breath, the suffocating feeling that had been driven to despair by Xiao Ziyi finally easing.
"Brother, why are you here at the Imperial Hospital so late at night?" Ning Yangyang's figure was like a moonlit elf, her toes lightly tapping the lake's surface, creating ripples that floated gracefully between them. She deliberately placed herself in front of Nangong Xi, her head tilted slightly, a smile of innocence yet a hint of mischief on her face. The moonlight danced in her cunning eyes. "You're not here to see a doctor, but to come and see someone?"
Xiao Ziyi raised his hand, his fingertips slowly wiping the tiny streak of blood on his left cheek, left by the arrow. The warm liquid wet his fingertips, and he glanced down. When he looked up again, his gaze settled heavily on Ning Yangyang's smug little face, which was filled with the words "Praise me!" He couldn't understand what she was so proud of. At this moment, in his eyes, weren't both Nangong Xi and her lambs to be slaughtered, his "possessions"?
"Heh," Xiao Ziyi sneered briefly, his voice sounding particularly clear by the quiet lake. "I really was a kind-hearted person tonight, but what was the result? I was almost killed by an arrow." He glanced meaningfully at Nangong Xi behind Ning Yangyang, then looked at her again.
The smile on Ning Yangyang's face remained unchanged, but deep down, her complaints were almost overwhelming:
System! She roared in her heart, how can you not count me as OOC? The original owner, Ning Yangyang, wanted to eat her brother Nangong Xi alive, how could she possibly be a brother complex? I was merciful not to nail him directly to the rockery with that arrow just now! You didn't let me tear them apart directly, just to create this weird and ambiguous feeling between them? Where's the united front we agreed on? The script is crooked! "
The system's stony electronic voice slowly began to play, a hint of programmed helplessness: "Host, the plot requires it. A direct showdown between them would be dull. Appropriate interaction and tug-of-war would be more interesting." Please maintain a superficial harmony. Without something to watch, how can you attract readers?
Ning Yangyang rolled her eyes internally. "Highlights? Come on! I'm the host! Isn't I the real attraction? Watching me dance on the tightrope, trying to survive under this perverted persona, isn't that exciting enough? The audience just needs to watch me!"
The system seemed to choke on her narcissism, the electronic sound froze for a moment. "There's no CP heroine in this scenario; it's all about how you survive." "Host, while we're focusing on careers, character relationships are also a crucial driving force of the plot. Please focus on the mission and maintain your character."
Ning Yangyang was choked by the system's blunt response of "There is no CP, I'm just looking at you", and she silently complained in her heart: Isn't it just increasing the difficulty of the task?
She took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to complain. The "innocent" smile on her face instantly changed to a sweet and unquestionable coquettishness. She spoke in a clear voice towards Xiao Ziyi, and at the same time, she quietly moved to the side, blocking Nangong Xi more tightly:
"Oh, what Brother Ziyi said is so hurtful! I just thought it was some beast in heat. Of course I have to be a hero and eliminate evil!" She blinked her big eyes, as if the thrilling arrow just now was really just an "accident". "Look, isn't the misunderstanding resolved now? It's late at night, and the wind is strong by the lake. It would be bad if you get sick from the wind."
As she spoke, she put one hand behind her back and quietly nudged Nangong Xi, signaling him to hurry up. The other hand seemed to casually stretch out in the direction of Xiao Ziyi, as if trying to pull him, but with a bit of caution and tentativeness, she continued in that cloyingly sweet voice:
"So, Brother Ziyi...isn't it time for our show to end? Let's go home early, okay?" She tilted her head, the moonlight shining on her delicate profile, her smile bright, but there was a cold calculation and urging in her eyes.
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