Her red lips exhaled, her breath tracing delicate lines across her broad shoulders and back.
Yan Zhuoxu suddenly turned around.
Her soft lips accidentally touched his wound.
"Hmm..."
Shen Zhiyi gave a soft hum.
It sent a jolt through Yan Zhuoxu's body, yet he still suppressed his gaze and questioned her.
"What are you doing?!"
His angry gaze fell on her face.
Only then did Yan Zhuoxu notice a trace of blood on her lips.
His bloodstains.
His Adam's apple bobbed, and the large hand pressed against his side slowly tightened.
"I was just helping the master apply the medicine." Shen Zhiyi raised her watery eyes and looked at him innocently. "I just saw that the master's injury was serious, so I blew on it."
"Why is the master making such a fuss?"
After speaking, he seemed to realize something was wrong with his lips, so he pursed them and even stuck out a little bit of his tongue to gently lick them open.
The metallic smell of blood made her frown instinctively.
However, Yan Zhuoxu saw it in a different light.
"She tasted his."
The thought exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.
Yan Zhuoxu's dark pupils suddenly contracted.
The wound on my back, relentlessly oozing out a dense, itchy sensation.
Like poison, it seeped into his muscles and bones.
Yan Zhuoxu clenched his fists.
The sudden longing and desperate restraint brought a thin layer of red to the corners of his eyes.
Shen Zhiyi didn't notice his unusual behavior and explained, "I just hope the medicine will be absorbed faster so that Master can recover faster."
"Is this also wrong?"
She looked a little aggrieved, and her eyes welled up with tears again.
Yan Zhuoxu's heart skipped a beat.
His chest heaved, and he turned his face away, staring at the silent Buddha statue not far away. An unspoken panic gripped him uncontrollably.
His face turned pale instantly.
He wanted to wipe away her tears, even though she hadn't cried yet.
"Go back now."
Yan Zhuoxu closed his eyes, refusing to look at her face.
"With no hindrance in the mind, there is no fear; far removed from distorted views and dreams, one ultimately attains Nirvana..."
The scriptures rolled silently in his throat, but not a single word entered his heart.
Shen Zhiyi thought he was angry.
It seems that today's progress was too rapid, which annoyed and irritated him.
So she got up and didn't linger.
"The master was injured because of me, but I was clumsy and offended him. It was my fault."
She lowered her eyes, showing no trace of apology.
When she looked up again, her eyes and brows were filled with grievance and fear. She said softly, "When I go back today, I will copy the scriptures to apologize to Buddha on behalf of the master."
"I hope the master won't be angry with me anymore..."
After she finished speaking, she stopped looking at Yan Zhuoxu's expression, looked extremely hurt, and turned to leave.
The door was closed.
Yan Zhuoxu stared at the flickering flame on the ever-burning lamp.
Almost half of them were wiped out.
He rushed over in a panic, his fingertips trembling as he trimmed the excess wick and added more oil.
The ever-burning lamp was relit.
The candle flame is stable.
It reflected Yan Zhuoxu's deep-set face.
Most of them were hidden in the shadows, making it impossible to see their expressions.
His eyes moved, and he slowly turned his head, seeing the scriptures handwritten by Shen Zhiyi on the table.
A gust of wind happened to rise outside the window.
Unfold a scroll of scripture and blow it toward him.
It wasn't the delicate, elegant small regular script, but rather a powerful running script that was completely different from her gentle personality.
His brushstrokes are vigorous and powerful, like a startled swan skimming the water, forming a landscape of its own.
Yan Zhuoxu was somewhat stunned.
The wound on my back is painful.
He picked up the paper, pressing it against his heart, whether it was the scripture or her handwriting...
The antidote is generally...
*
The next day.
Yan Zhuoxu skipped morning classes for the first time.
He sat silently in the inner hall, surrounded by Buddhist statues, practicing self-punishment.
There was a strange movement outside the window.
The north wind suddenly rushed in.
Yan Zhuoxu stopped fiddling with his prayer beads, his eyelashes fluttering open, his dark eyes as calm as a cold spring. "How's the investigation going?"
The north wind bows in reverence.
"Just as Your Highness predicted, Miss Shen's mother died in childbirth due to a poison called 'Blood-Draining Poison'."
Withered blood leads.
Yan Zhuoxu slowly twirled the prayer beads.
This poison, once it enters the heart, can cause women to give birth prematurely and disguise it as severe bleeding during childbirth, thus taking their lives.
It is an extremely cunning and rare poison.
"Are there any witnesses?"
Shuofeng nodded: "I found the midwife who delivered the baby back then. According to her, she already felt that the mother's condition was not right when she delivered the baby."
"In addition to massive bleeding, there were other symptoms of poisoning, all of which were consistent with the symptoms of blood deficiency."
"This midwife is quite clever."
"Although she had her doubts, she dared not speculate too much about the affairs of noble families. After delivering the baby, she took the huge reward and left in a hurry."
"They even hid their identities and boldly stayed in the capital."
"That's how I survived."
"It's pitiful for the second young lady. She lost her mother right after birth and had such a hard life in the manor." Shuofeng sighed as he thought of Shen Zhiyi's frail appearance. "I suppose her poor health is due to premature birth and her mother's poisoning."
"But she's really brave; she survived such a potent poison."
Shuofeng looked at Yan Zhuoxu, his tone tinged with excitement, "Your Highness is investigating this matter because you feel sorry for the Second Miss?"
If Your Highness feels sorry for them, then there is hope that you will return to secular life.
He won't be unemployed then.
Yan Zhuoxu lowered his gaze and turned his prayer beads.
He said in a calm voice, "I only agreed to help her treat her illness and find out the origin of her weakness."
"Oh..." Shuofeng lowered his head again.
"Your Highness, who do you think is trying to harm the Second Miss's mother?"
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