“Insolent!”
Xiao Yan wished he could tear the woman in front of him to pieces.
But all four of his limbs were broken, and he had been poisoned as well. His entire body was limp and powerless, while an unnatural heat rampaged through him, as though countless insects were tearing and biting at his flesh.
All he could do was glare helplessly as the woman straddled his thighs and did as she pleased.
“You’ve been poisoned with ‘Drunken Silk.’ I’m helping you neutralize it.”
As Gu Nian worked deftly, tugging open his collar and pulling at his waistband, she racked her brains over how to make him willingly lend her his seed.
“I’m saving your life. Even if you don’t intend to repay the favor, you shouldn’t act as though I’m the one bullying you. That’s hardly appropriate.”
Only after she pulled open his collar did she see the two hideous, bloodied gashes across his solid abdominal muscles. Old and new scars crisscrossed his chest, making the sight somewhat frightening.
Taking advantage of someone so badly wounded and frail didn’t seem entirely decent.
But she was saving him, wasn’t she?
When she had brought him back, his body had been stiff with cold. She had warmed him up and given him a pill to stop the bleeding, only to discover that his entire body was burning hot.
It was only after taking his pulse that she realized he had been poisoned with the potent ‘Drunken Silk.’ When the poison took effect, it was ten thousand times more agonizing than the wounds covering him.
Neither time nor opportunity would wait.
Gu Nian steeled herself.
She bent close to the man and brushed aside the loose hair on his forehead.
Her aggressive movement made the man stiffen.
His refined, handsome face grew even paler. His thin, cracked lips were tightly pressed together, and his eyes were filled with vicious hostility.
He was practically at death’s door, yet he still resembled a stubborn wolf on the verge of death.
So beautiful, yet so fierce.
“Both your legs and arms are broken, every slash reaches the bone, and you’ve even been poisoned with Drunken Silk. Whoever did this really didn’t intend to let you die easily, did they?”
“If I hadn’t brought you back and had simply left you lying in that filthy ditch, you would have bled to death in less than an hour. Just who are you? Whom did you offend to make them hate you so much?”
She was a little worried. If he had offended someone she shouldn’t provoke and ended up implicating her, it wouldn’t be worth it.
It would be better to find out a little more about him first.
The beauty bit down hard on his thin lips and lowered his eyes. His thick lashes trembled faintly.
The sight made her heart tremble.
Ah, beauty truly was a calamity.
Seeing that he refused to speak, Gu Nian simply tried to provoke him into answering.
She put on a stern expression. “If you don’t tell me the truth, I’ll go report this to the authorities.”
Xiao Yan’s voice was hoarse. “I am… a qingguan.”
A man from the pleasure quarters was someone an ordinary woman would normally avoid.
Gu Nian was delighted.
A qingguan was not of respectable commoner status and was, after all, someone who served patrons, so she would not have to feel quite so guilty.
Gu Nian imitated the manner of a patron and pinched his chin.
With deliberate teasing, she said, “That explains it. You’re so handsome that even I can’t help liking you. You must have seduced some wealthy madam and been discovered by her husband’s family, right?”
Otherwise, why would they have beaten him so badly?
The beauty’s phoenix eyes snapped upward, and his gaze stabbed toward her like two icy blades.
He was the dignified Crown Prince, yet he had actually been straddled by a woman and slandered as—
A tiger fallen to the plains, bullied by dogs!
But for now, he had to endure it, conceal his identity, and lie low while he recovered from his injuries.
Suppressing his revulsion, he followed her lead and rasped, “I was unwilling to serve… old men.”
Gu Nian imagined it for a moment and felt a little sick.
She quickly praised him. “You guard your virtue and remain unstained by the mud. You truly are a gentleman.”
Then, putting on an indignant expression, she cursed on his behalf. “That pack of beasts is truly vile. If you had to serve anyone, it should at least be women. How could they force you to serve old men? It’s disgusting.”
Xiao Yan’s expression turned ugly.
Make him serve women?
He endured it!
But the young woman abruptly changed tack. “With all these injuries and the poison in your body, curing you will cost a great deal of silver. You’re so pitiful, and you don’t have a single coin on you. Why don’t you…”
Her eyes gleamed intensely.
It was so obvious he could have guessed what she was plotting with his toes.
He gritted his teeth fiercely. “I. Will. Not. Sell. My. Body!”
Gu Nian nearly burst out laughing.
“I’m not asking you to sell yourself. It’s an exchange.”
“What else can we do? Find some uncouth peasant woman or beggar who won’t charge anything to help you dispel the poison? Wouldn’t that be just as disgusting as an old man?”
Xiao Yan stared at her in horror.
Was she a widow?
Was that why she was so starved for a man?
He was already injured like this, and she still intended to—
The young woman’s soft body was nearly pressed against his chest.
Her warm, supple skin was separated from his body by only a thin layer of clothing. As they rubbed together, it was like fire being poured into hot oil, burning so fiercely that he could barely control himself. His consciousness began to blur.
Gu Nian was embarrassed as well. If the candlelight in the room had not been so dim, the blush on her face would have been plain to see.
Since the age of seven, she had followed her father in gathering herbs, preparing medicines, and treating patients. A physician could not be overly constrained by the usual proprieties between men and women, but she was, after all, an unmarried young woman.
She clenched her teeth and began moving her hands the way the little romance booklets described.
In a shy murmur, she said, “The poison in you is too strong. The only way to dispel it quickly is to be intimate with someone. Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon. I promise I won’t hurt you…”
The young woman’s movements completely shattered the last thread of Xiao Yan’s reason.
But she did not know the proper way to do it, making his torment even more unbearable.
“You brought this on yourself…”
Using the last of the strength in his waist and abdomen, the man suddenly rolled over and pinned her beneath him.
His movements were so rough they were almost savage. His wounds tore open again, and blood soaked through his clothing, but he did not notice at all. All that remained was the madness ignited by the drug and his humiliation.
Gu Nian sucked in a breath. Why did it hurt so much?
The little romance booklets had all been lying to her.
“Be careful of your—your wounds… Don’t use so much force… Ah… It hurts… Sob…”
Her cries were suddenly cut off.
The drug had long since burned through all his reason. Even his breathing carried a scorching ferocity as he dragged her into that uncontrolled blaze, leaving her nowhere to escape.
Gu Nian grew frightened.
“Let go of me! Let go of me right now! Do you want to die?”
Gu Nian raised her hand and pounded on his back. Her palm came away sticky. When she lifted it and saw it covered in blood, she jumped in fright.
Was he going to get himself killed like this?
“Do you want to die? Let go of me! That’s enough, that’s enough!”
But she shouted until her throat felt scorched, and it was still useless.
The candle flame went out, and the feverish fire in them finally died down as well. The two of them lay there limp and powerless.
She was beginning to doubt whether this man really was a qingguan who guarded his virtue.
Afraid that he had died and she would be saddled with the crime of murder, Gu Nian hurriedly poked his arm with a finger.
“Hey, are you all right?”
Xiao Yan was filled with both regret and hatred.
He did not want to answer her.
One day, he would kill her. Only then would the hatred he felt over today’s humiliation be appeased!
Gu Nian hurriedly got out of bed, grabbed a robe at random, and wrapped it around herself before relighting the candle.
The man’s eyes were tightly shut. His rigid, broken body looked like that of a shattered man drenched in blood.
Strong and proud, yet pitifully helpless.
Her heart clenched.
If her selfish desires caused his death, she would blame herself for the rest of her life.
Gu Nian quickly felt for his pulse.
He was still alive.
Enduring the soreness in her body, she hurried back to her own courtyard.
If her parents had not met with disaster two months earlier and vanished without a trace, leaving no sign of whether they were alive or dead, her paternal uncles would not now be eyeing her family’s pharmacy and house so covetously.
If this one attempt gave her a son, she would be able to establish a separate household and protect the pharmacy and property.
Even if the child was not a son, she would still gain a year—enough time to think of a better solution.
For example, finding an honest and dependable man willing to marry into her family.
Before long, Xiao Yan watched as the young woman came in carrying a large copper kettle in one hand and a large wooden chest in the other.
After putting them down, she hurried out again. A short while later, she returned carrying a copper basin and a coarse earthenware cup.
“This is the best medicine for internal injuries. Take it quickly, and I’ll treat your wounds.”
Her slender fingers held a pitch-black pill to his lips.
Xiao Yan lifted his phoenix eyes. “It isn’t poisoned, is it?”
Gu Nian, thoroughly irritated, stuffed the pill straight into his mouth. “You’re injured this badly. Whether you take it or not, you’re going to die, so why are you being so fussy?”
His Highness the Crown Prince was scolded and then forcibly fed the medicine. He silently bit the pill to pieces, as though he were biting the woman in front of him to pieces.
He would remember this debt!