Chapter 461: Hand over Mute Granny
Han Yunxi and Long Feiye had gone to Pill Fiend Valley multiple times by now, each time in a rush to get there and back with urgent medicine to save her patients. But this time was different. Inside their carriage, Long Feiye was calm while Han Yunxi was restless. If not for the fact that she’d just recovered from her burns, causing Long Feiye to insist on the carriage, she’d simply ride a horse to the valley instead.
Like always, Long Feiye was leaning lazily against the wall as he read a book. His quiet self reminded Han Yunxi of their days in the Jiangnan Plum Blossom Sea. She didn’t want to bother him, but she couldn’t help but ask, “Your Highness, how many guards did you bring with you?”
Long Feiye was still concentrating on his book as he replied, “A few.”
“That’s not enough, right?” Han Yunxi said seriously. We’re here to claim damages, not stay over like guests!
Long Feiye lifted his eyes to meet her own. “Isn’t it enough to bring your lordship along?” His guards were only here for convenience rather than to fight against Gu Qi Sha. The Pill Fiend had lost to him twice already, so Long Feiye didn’t even bother with extra precautions against the man. Gu Qi Sha had mixed miscellaneous dregs of medicine into the Broomcorn Millet Antidote, perhaps to seize a chance for profit while lying to him about the quantities. He couldn’t manage much more beyond his personal, petty schemes.
Han Yunxi shouldn’t trust Gu Qi Sha’s words when he starting contending about the amount of antidote left. That’s why Long Feiye didn’t worry about this meeting at all. Whatever Han Yunxi wanted to do later, he’d just follow her lead.
Fine, Han Yunxi could admit that she was over worrying about everything. When she saw Long Feiye’s unhappy expression, she joked, “Your Highness’s martial arts and chenqie’s poisons will be enough to beat back countless foes in the world. You can take me roaming around the jianghu!”
But Long Feiye simply said, “No time,” and went back to his book. Han Yunxi suddenly didn’t know what to say. She’d clearly been joking, couldn’t he tell?
Actually, what Long Feiye meant to say was that he had no time for idle conversation, but Han Yunxi had misunderstood him. Still, she ended up staying quiet so he had no complaints. He had loved books since he was young and hated it when anyone interrupted his reading time. Han Yunxi had brought her share of medical texts and poison manuals, but she couldn’t be bothered with them when sitting in the same room as him. Actually, even knowing he was home made it hard for her to focus on things. She could calm down much better when he was out, working until he showed up once again.
Only one day had passed so far. By carriage, it still took at least two days for them to reach Pill Fiend Valley at the fastest speeds. Han Yunxi took out the bottle of Broomcorn Millet poison and played around with it in her hands. With nothing else to do, she had the detox system pick out the extraneous sediment in the bottle and transfer it to a different bottle. Now only pure antidote was left in the original bottle. What was once seven or eight parts full was now only four parts full. In other words, Gu Qi Sha had stolen four parts of antidote for himself!
Or rather, that was what the figures indicated, but Han Yunxi wasn’t that stupid.
Judging from the size of the Serpent Fruit, if the entire fruit had been used, there should be enough to fill the bottle with antidote. Currently, she had enough to fill the bottle up four parts, which meant Gu Qi Sha must have stolen six parts of antidote from Long Feiye! Han Yunxi had no idea how big the Panoptic Red Lotus and Bear chuan were, so this was only an estimate of the actual stolen quantities. After some mental calculations, Han Yunxi placed the bottle of antidote and extraneous sediment in front of Long Feiye.
“Your Highness…”
“Mm,” Long Feiye answered casually.
Han Yunxi scooted over and told him carefully about the math she just did. She didn’t use “maybe” or “just about,” but exact figures. Long Feiye didn’t say anything at first, but soon enough he lifted his head to look at Han Yunxi.
“Your Highness, I used the size of the Serpent Fruit as a standard to figure out two possibilities. We have to get every bit back,” Han Yunxi said sincerely.
Long Feiye looked at her without a word.
Han Yunxi finally sensed something off about him. She was about to speak when Long Feiye suddenly circled her neck with his hands and drew him into his chest, keeping her against him.
Completely random!
Han Yunxi was about to break free when Long Feiye said coldly, “Your lordship has no time. Keep talking and I’ll toss you out the carriage.”
Han Yunxi finally realized the true implications of ‘no time’ that he’d said before, and grew stupefied. The driver outside the carriage heard everything and sighed with emotion at the Duke of Qin’s last words. Esteemed wangfei certainly was different than the rest. If it was anyone else who disturbed His Highness’s reading, he would’ve kicked them out of the carriage long ago.
Han Yunxi sensibly shut her mouth. From her current position in Long Feiye’s embrace, she had a perfect view of the book he was reading. She found that it was a handwritten copy of records detailing the three major horse farms in Northern Li. Long Feiye turned a page, and the next one started detailing the Skypool Horse Farm’s water and plants. Heaven knows how Long Feiye had gotten his hands on such classified information, but anyone who read the book would understand Northern Li’s three major horse farms thoroughly by the end. In other words, they would have a full grasp of Northern Li’s lifeline.
Last time, Northern Li’s spies had provoked the lands of Tianning. Although Long Feiye seemed indifferent to their schemes, he had long made his move against Northern Li. Han Yunxi knew that none of these farms had escaped his hands. She wanted to ask more about Northern Li country, but Long Feiye’s warning kept her quiet.
But it wasn’t long before Long Feiye asked, “Did you finish reading?”
Han Yunxi really was reading the book. “I’ve finished.”
Long Feiye turned to the next page and lowered the pages down so she could have a better look. As he read, he said, “Using the horse pestilence this time, our agents were able to infiltrated into Skypool Horse Farm. Yesterday we just got some bad news—the ownership of the farm has transferred from the emperor to Jun Yixie.”
The important part of the statement laid in the words ‘Jun Yixie,’ but Han Yunxi was paying more attention to ‘we.’ He had said ‘our’ and ‘we!’
Does this count as growing another step closer?
It felt even more intimate than their shared snuggle.
Your Highness, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with you is the greatest joy of chenqie’s life!
Han Yunxi was filled with delight as she replied, “Your Highness, Jun Yixie’s actually very easy to deal with.”
“What do you mean by that?” Long Feiye asked.
“Use poison to fight poison. His strongest area is poisons, so that makes it his weak point as well. Nobody would be constantly on guard in a field where they have full confidence,” Han Yunxi explained neatly.
Long Feiye accepted her analysis with a nod. “And you? Is using poison to fight poison the best attack against you as well?”
“Is Your Highness planning to attack me?” Han Yunxi smiled.
“Do I need to?” Long Feiye retorted.
“Of course not!” Han Yunxi said without a thought.
“Mhm, I’ve never needed to,” Long Feiye said mildly.
Han Yunxi felt there was something odd in his phrasing, but she couldn’t tell what. Long Feiye simply drew his lips up in a smile and went back to reading without offering an explanation. Han Yunxi gave up her line of thought as well and joined him in his book. Eventually, they started discussing Northern Li again.
As they spoke, Han Yunxi shifted her position a few times to make herself more comfortable. Her movements were so natural that Long Feiye didn’t even notice and soon grew used to them. Meanwhile, the driver outside was quite stirred by the events. Your Highness Duke of Qin, didn’t you say you’d throw her out if she talked any more? Why are the two of you talking nonstop now?
As the carriage galloped along, Pill Fiend Valley drew closer and closer. But half a day away from the destination, someone killed through way through the underbrush at the side of the road to stand in the middle of the road—right in place to block Long Feiye’s carriage. Was his carriage something that just anyone could block? The driver looked at the offender and didn’t plan to stop, but kept driving the carriage forward.
Yet the person suddenly shouted, “Han Yunxi, get out!”
Long Feiye had sensed the person blocking the road from inside already, but Han Yunxi was clueless until the shout. She lifted the carriage curtains and spotted someone she hadn’t seen in nearly a year—Mu Linger!
The carriage was almost upon her when Han Yunxi ordered the driver to stop. It really was an immediate braking, almost close enough to send Mu Linger flying. Still, her face didn’t show a trace of fear as anger covered her features.
What’s wrong with this girl?
Han Yunxi sat in the tall and lofty carriage as she arched an eyebrow at her. “What do you need me for?”
Mu Linger pulled out a sword and pointed it at her face. “Han Yunxi, you’re the most hypocritical woman I’ve ever met! Hurry up and hand over Mute Granny! Or else I shalln’t be polite!”
Han Yunxi couldn’t make heads or tails of it. “What are you talking about?”
“You know very well what I’m talking about, so stop pretending! Give me Mute Granny this instant or prepare to die!” Mu Linger raged.
Han Yunxi grew even more baffled. “I’ve already told you, Mute Granny fell over a cliff and disappeared. What are you so frantic about?”
Mu Linger laughed coldly. “You’re such a sham. Back then, you suspected our Mu Clan of trying to assassinate Mute Granny, thus driving her off the cliff. You even made me explain to you how that couldn’t be possible. Heheh, when I think of that now, it all sounds so hilarious!”
“Just what do you want to say?” Han Yunxi still had no idea what was going on. Back then, Long Feiye still had Mu Linger in custody. She was the one who freed the girl. By then she’d already found out about Mute Granny’s fall, so she’d first used the info to pressure Mu Linger into speaking more about Mu Xin. But after realizing how much the girl cared about the old woman, she’d told her about the cliff accident afterwards, then voiced the possibility that the Mu Clan might be the culprits since they were the most suspicious party.
Why was Mu Linger making such accusations after all this time? And why was she calling her a sham and a hypocrite?
Faced with Han Yunxi’s confusion, Mu Linger only grew more infuriated. She said sternly, “Han Yunxi, why are you playing dumb when it was obviously you and Long Feiye who locked Mute Granny up? And you even lied to me! Is this so amusing to you?”
Han Yunxi gave a start before bursting into laughter. “What a joke! Mu Linger, do you even know what you’re saying?”
Long Feiye and I, locking up Mute Granny? How could that be possible?