Going out was clearly not an option. She couldn’t leave the unconscious Sect Master Jiang here unattended, but if she were to carry Jiang Xidai with her, Yan Huirou didn’t have the stamina.
Yan Huirou pondered for a moment, her gaze falling on Jiang Xidai’s hand. A sudden flash of inspiration struck her, and she took off the storage ring on Jiang Xidai’s finger.
Theoretically, there should be medicine inside.
Yan Huirou studied the magic artifact for a long time, to no avail. She had no choice but to put down the storage ring and search Jiang Xidai’s body. Although it was unlikely, she prayed that she might have some medicinal pills or something on her…
Eh?
She really did.
Yan Huirou pulled out a jade bottle with three ink characters written on it: “Heartbreak Powder.”
“…” She probably shouldn’t feed her this.
She then pulled out a pill wrapped in gold foil. After unwrapping it, she saw the words “Instant Death on Sight of Blood.”
“…” Yan Huirou silently wrapped it back up and set it aside.
She hadn’t expected Jiang Xidai to have so many medicinal pills on her, but none of them sounded like they were for healing. Yan Huirou scanned the row of “Traction Medicine,” “Heartbreak Pills,” “Instant Death on Sight of Blood,” and an unknown pill casually labeled “Poison”… a complete collection of the five poisons.
There were also some unexpected gains, including some sharp, plum blossom-shaped darts and a few needles glowing with a strange green light.
Yan Huirou’s search became more and more cautious—she was afraid of accidentally poisoning herself here. And so, with her heart in her throat, she finally found a very inconspicuous small bottle on her, with the three words “Hemostatic Pill” written on it.
The bottle was old and sturdy, covered in dust. It didn’t look like she had brought it with her on purpose; it was more likely that she had forgotten it in her pocket.
Yan Huirou looked at these three words with great emotion. They sounded so pleasant, exceptionally gentle amidst a pile of poisons.
To be on the safe side, she scraped off some powder and applied it behind her ear. After a while, there was no adverse reaction. Yan Huirou then tried licking a bit of the pill. It tasted sweet.
…Things that people find delicious can’t be that poisonous.
She tried to feed the pill to Jiang Xidai. But then another difficulty arose. Yan Huirou pinched her cheeks, but couldn’t pry her jaw open. In her unconscious state, Jiang Xidai seemed to be subconsciously resisting this forced feeding.
“Ah—open your mouth.”
Yan Huirou said softly.
But her persuasion was fruitless. The woman’s brows furrowed slightly, and she seemed to bite down even harder. Her body also tensed a little, and Yan Huirou watched as the wound seeped a little more blood.
She didn’t know if it was because she had been staring for too long and was hallucinating, but she always felt that with every drop of blood that fell, the woman’s complexion turned a shade paler. Yan Huirou didn’t know how much more blood she could afford to lose.
Yan Huirou pondered for a long time and came up with a plan. Her gaze fell on the woman’s face, and she hesitated.
This doesn’t seem right.
Her fingertips fiddled with the round pill, turning it over and over. Then she hesitated, lifted her wrist, and put it in her own mouth, holding it between her lips.
But no matter what, saving her was more important.
“…Have you ever kissed her?”
“Or kissed anyone?”
Yan Huirou leaned down, trying her best to calm herself. Her gaze fell on those red lips.
She lowered her head and pressed her lips against those soft ones.
“If only you remembered.”
“Just for a little while.”
She gently held her face, murmuring coaxingly, and pressed the pill against the entrance of her teeth.
The stunningly beautiful face was so close, it was a little overwhelming. Yan Huirou closed her eyes, and with a humble and clumsy attempt, she tried to kiss her like a lover, tracing the corners of her lips, then pausing.
“Open your mouth.”
Yan Huirou felt like she couldn’t hold on much longer. Her hands trembled as she held her face, her fingers brushing against her jade-like, pale neck and sliding into her hair.
It was so hot, like a burning fire. Yan Huirou felt a faint response, barely there, but as it grew, it felt like a lingering tenderness.
It really worked.
The pill must have slipped down. Yan Huirou dared not move anymore; after all, this was her entire reason for kissing Jiang Xidai.
But when she opened her eyes, she found that the woman’s tightly closed lashes were wet. She didn’t know what she had dreamed of. She subconsciously kissed Yan Huirou desperately, clutching at the fabric of Yan Huirou’s clothes, as if afraid she would leave.
Yan Huirou stayed still for a while. There was not much passion in her heart; she felt more of a tender affection for Jiang Xidai.
Yan Huirou watched as a tear slowly formed, falling from the corner of her eye, sliding past, and disappearing into her dark hair, never to be found again.
Something had also slid past in Yan Huirou’s heart, fleeting and just as untraceable.
Yan Huirou hesitated for a moment, wanting to reach out and wipe away that tear.
Just then, the beauty beneath her opened her eyes, still with a hint of drowsiness from just waking up. She tilted her head, not quite awake, and kissed her more deeply. But Jiang Xidai’s gaze stopped when it met Yan Huirou’s profile.
She was stunned.
“You…”
With a smack, Yan Huirou suddenly felt a pain in her face. The slap was a mixture of anger and shock, delivered with such force and authority that it nearly broke the delicate Miss Yan.
She let out a muffled groan and immediately covered her face. It stung for a long time.
When she wiped it again, her nose was bleeding.
Yan Huirou looked up and felt the oppressive aura around them.
She was about to explain when she noticed Jiang Xidai was also covering her face. She was staring at her coldly, and between the fingers covering her mouth and nose, some blood seemed to be seeping out.
“Sect Master Jiang… you?”
Jiang Xidai’s breathing was ragged.
When she first woke up and saw someone kissing her, she was both angry and shocked. Without thinking, she had raised her hand and slapped her fiercely.
The finger marks on Yan Huirou’s face were clear and stinging.
Jiang Xidai felt the exact same pain, and her heart immediately understood that her own face should have—the same marks.
Meeting Yan Huirou’s confused gaze, Jiang Xidai’s hand covering her face curled slightly.
No.
Not unless it’s absolutely necessary.
It’s best not to let this little girl know about this.
But this is too obvious.
Jiang Xidai bit her lower lip, secretly regretting it. She shouldn’t have slapped her. And thinking about this annoying constitution made her even more irritated.
This situation…
It seems the only way is to…
And so, under Yan Huirou’s even more horrified and astonished gaze—
Jiang Xidai’s expression grew colder. She quickly raised her hand and slapped herself, a desperate and fierce slap, so swift that Yan Huirou hadn’t even noticed the finger marks that had already appeared.
“…” Yan Huirou took a step back. “Sect Master Jiang, why did you slap yourself?”
“You—don’t ask!”
A bottle of “Heartbreak Pills” was thrown at her, but the force was subtle. It didn’t hit Yan Huirou, but exploded at her feet.
Yan Huirou lowered her head.
Then a pile of poisons was thrown over, shattering at her feet with a clatter, quite a lively scene.
…Is this some kind of performance art?
Yan Huirou looked up at her with even more astonishment.
The woman seemed to have run out of things to throw in her anger. Her fingertips touched the few plum blossom darts, and she raised her sleeve as if to throw them. But for some reason, she pressed them back with a smack and held back, giving up.
“Get out!”
Afterwards, regardless of whether Sect Master Jiang was willing to listen, Yan Huirou very reasonably explained everything to her.
After all, she had been in a very bad state back then. It was necessary to stop the bleeding and take medicine. So much blood, dripping endlessly, Yan Huirou felt a chill just watching from the side. So she had to find a way to feed it to her by mouth. And then Jiang Xidai had grabbed her and wouldn’t let go—that was something Yan Huirou hadn’t expected.
“Logically speaking, it is not appropriate for the Sect Master to blame me. Especially with ‘get out,’ it’s not very civilized.” The female lead of this text made a gentle judgment. When she spoke softly, her voice had a sweet aftertaste, as sweet as peach puree. Speaking like this, in this tone, it was almost impossible to find fault with her.
On the other side, the stunningly beautiful great beauty, the number one vicious female villain in the world, had a cold face and was sitting quietly, meditating and circulating her energy, unmoved by Yan Huirou’s words.
Jiang Xidai was not a woman of few words; she was just not easy to get along with. But ever since she met Yan Huirou, Jiang Xidai’s words had become fewer and fewer.
The strange thing was that Yan Huirou was clearly not a very talkative person either. On the contrary, she preferred to listen.
It was probably because Jiang Xidai had her own thoughts and didn’t really want her to hear them. She could confide in someone, but it was best not to be Yan Huirou. Jiang Xidai found herself rather annoyed by these daughters of fortune.
Jiang Xidai only thought so. Perhaps what she hadn’t thought deeply about was that maybe it was because there was a hand that could vaguely touch her, or was trying to touch her, that she had instinctively set up a defense against her.
But when she truly realized this, it was already much later.
“However,” Yan Huirou said at this point, “that’s also true. If Sect Master Jiang hadn’t come to save me, I don’t know where I would be right now. Maybe still imprisoned in Lanyue Pavilion…”
Although these words were pleasant to hear, Jiang Xidai had no intention of accepting her kindness, nor did she want to take on this “life-saving grace” for no reason.
She was a person of her word, straightforward even when committing murder and arson. There was nothing to hide.
“I wasn’t trying to save you.”
Jiang Xidai sat with her eyes lowered, her voice cold and impassive.
“But Sect Master Jiang did save me.”
“And it’s the second time.”
Yan Huirou sat obediently cross-legged on a dusty gray cushion. She had nothing to do. Apart from a few cuts on her skin from the sword energy and some bruises from bumping around, which made it a little inconvenient to walk, she wasn’t seriously injured. So she watched Jiang Xidai meditate earnestly. After watching for a long time, her gaze became unfocused, as if she were zoning out.
That absent-minded gaze was on her. Jiang Xidai had always been sensitive to gazes. She could feel the change in whether she was paying attention or not.
While Yan Huirou was distracted, she glanced at her, but her gaze couldn’t help but fall downwards, to her lips.
The young girl’s lips were lightly pressed together, with a slight curve at the corners. But just by looking, one could tell they were very soft.
Jiang Xidai couldn’t help but think of the scene just now. She narrowed her eyes slightly. It was a good thing Yan Huirou was a girl. To her, she was at most a little girl. Besides, there was a reason for what happened, and she couldn’t hit her anyway. These four points combined were barely enough to extinguish her thoughts of strangling her.
But her mind was still in turmoil.
She found it absurd. Shouldn’t this girl be kissing that trashy male lead from Lanyue Pavilion? How did she end up getting involved with her?
As Jiang Xidai thought more, her thoughts inevitably went astray. She would sometimes think of things from her childhood, sometimes of the gentle kiss just now, and sometimes of the kisses that had always ended so quickly in the past.
Her mind drifted for a moment, and before her eyes was that merciless, heart-piercing sword.
As she thought, the wound on her chest began to ache faintly again.
The pain in that place seemed to be directly connected to a corner of her heart. Her entire heart was being squeezed by a hand, a dense, sour, and astringent ache that made it hard for her to breathe.
The sweet voice sounded by her side again, “…What’s wrong with you now? How can you injure yourself while meditating?”
Jiang Xidai came back to her senses and found that her nails had cut into her palm.
Yan Huirou dragged her cushion a few inches closer. She gave Jiang Xidai a reproachful look and took her hand.
She was clearly very young, but her gaze was like that of an elder looking at a junior who was prone to making a mess, helpless yet gentle.
Jiang Xidai wanted to pull her hand back, but Yan Huirou blew on it and comforted her, “It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt. Don’t keep them too long in the future, it’s easy to get hurt.”
Her hand curled up, feeling itchy.
Then it relaxed slightly.
She let her be, without a word.
This, like that passionless kiss, felt both familiar and strange to Jiang Xidai. She had received very little kindness from others in her life. Zhan Ke had been very good to her in the past, but that was a lover, a soulmate, not a fleeting acquaintance like Yan Huirou.
And what was even more embarrassing was that people couldn’t help but be compared. Jiang Xidai had once thought that was already very good, but she now found that Yan Huirou could easily do more.
At least Zhan Ke had never been nervous about every single wound on her body.
Never.
She…
