In her heart, Jiang Yu still hoped to delay for as long as possible.
She first went to the kitchen to brew Pei Xiao’s medicine, then retreated to a corner to tend to her own.
Ever since the wedding night, when she had suffered a severe fright, Jiang Yu had been plagued by debilitating headaches, several times teetering on the brink of death.
Later, Pei Xiao sought out renowned physicians far and wide, even venturing personally into the eerie and mysterious Southern Zhao Kingdom, before finally obtaining an effective prescription.
Jiang Yu drank the medicine daily, and her symptoms eased considerably.
Pei Xiao was meticulous—her medicine simmered year-round in the kitchen, and every day he personally brought it to her, feeding her himself.
The prolonged bitterness of the medicine troubled Jiang Yu, so Pei Xiao devised various candied fruits and snacks to coax a smile from her.
Just the day before, he had carved a droopy-eared white rabbit from a pear, teasing her, “Yu’er, when you drink your medicine, you look just like this wilted rabbit…”
“Nonsense!” Jiang Yu reached out to swat him.
He caught her cold hand and pressed it to his chest, leaning in to kiss her puffed-up cheek. “True enough—Yu’er is far more delightful than any rabbit.”
…
The deep, magnetic tone of his voice still seemed to linger in her ears, warming Jiang Yu’s cheeks.
But the moment was fleeting—a cold wind gusted through the window, scattering the sweet dream.
In the end, it was all just a dream!
Jiang Yu snapped back to reality, listening intently.
The intermittent hissing sound didn’t resemble the wind but rather…
“A snake!”
Jiang Yu traced the noise to beneath the stove.
A silver-green snake emerged cautiously from an earthen jar, its eyes gloomy and damp, venomously flicking its tongue.
The green snake, about three feet long, writhed and overturned a ceramic pot.
Clumps of flesh and blood spilled across the floor, and the snake slithered through the mess before suddenly darting toward Jiang Yu’s forehead in a flash of cold light.
Jiang Yu stepped back to evade it. The snake narrowly missed her, landing by the table and sinking its fangs into a wild rabbit in a cage.
The rabbit, delivered to the manor by Qian Ren just that morning, had been lively and vigorous moments before. With a single bite from the snake, it immediately foamed at the mouth and convulsed violently.
“Qian—” Jiang Yu’s call died halfway, swallowed back.
Beneath the stove lay all the medicinal ingredients for her treatment.
Jiang Yu had always trusted Pei Xiao implicitly, never once inspecting the prescription or the herbs. Could it be that this venomous snake and the flesh and blood were part of her medicine?
Had Pei Xiao, with his ever-smiling face and coaxing words, been feeding her poison all along?
Jiang Yu covered her mouth, her pupils dilating in horror, yet she dared not make a sound.
She had stumbled upon too many secrets—who knew if Pei Xiao would kill her now?
What pushed Jiang Yu to the brink of despair was the slow collapse of everything and everyone she had believed in for three years, while she could only pretend nothing was wrong.
Biting her lip hard, she stifled the tears threatening to fall and groped her way silently toward the exit.
Bang—
The kitchen door burst open, and Qian Ren charged in, blade in hand.
Trained in martial arts, he was naturally alert to his surroundings.
He had heard the shattering of the earthen jar.
Qian Ren surveyed the disarray around the stove, then fixed his gaze on Jiang Yu’s terrified face, as if gauging her reaction.
“My Lady… are you all right?”
“I…” Jiang Yu paused for two breaths, masking her anguish as she pointed at the green snake nearby. “A snake—I don’t know where it came from—slithered into the kitchen. It gave me a fright.”
The green snake was now coiled around the wild rabbit, its fangs buried in the creature’s neck, drinking its blood.
In moments, the rabbit looked drained, desiccated like a mummy.
As a lady of noble upbringing, Jiang Yu was inevitably shaken.
“Do not fear, My Lady!” Qian Ren swung his blade, cleaving the snake in two.In the kitchen, blood splattered everywhere, accompanied only by the sound of a knife clattering to the ground.
The silent, blood-soaked room was filled with awkward tension as both individuals harbored their own thoughts.
Jiang Yu decided to play dumb first, picking up Pei Xiao’s medicine bowl. “I’ll deliver the medicine.”
“Madam!” Qian Ren stopped her.
After a moment’s thought, he stepped forward and cupped his hands respectfully. “As you’ve seen, these snakes were indeed intended for your medicine.”
Jiang Yu looked up in surprise, her damp eyelashes fluttering.
She hadn’t expected Qian Ren to be so straightforward about the matter.
But Qian Ren raised his hand in oath. “Though these snakes are highly venomous, their gallbladders are excellent and rare medicinal ingredients! His Lordship did this all for your benefit!”
“His Lordship personally went up the mountain to catch these snakes.” Qian Ren lifted the earthen jar, carefully collecting the bloody remains.
Jiang Yu finally saw clearly that the jar contained numerous snake galls.
Qian Ren sighed with regret. “These snakes are hard to find. His Lordship went through great trouble to gather them, nearly losing his life in the process…”
Qian Ren trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished.
Jiang Yu remained skeptical. “My husband never mentioned that my medicine required venomous snake gall.”
“That’s because His Lordship knew you fear snakes and worried you wouldn’t take the medicine if you knew.”
Though Qian Ren spoke hastily, having come this far, he couldn’t help adding more. “Do you know why His Lordship becomes short of breath and even faints when he smells pollen?”
Jiang Yu shook her head.
Recalling their first two years of marriage, Pei Xiao had never shown any pollen allergy symptoms.
It was only last year, when she begged him to accompany her to the Flower Banquet, that she witnessed him having such an episode.
Pei Xiao had claimed it was congenital, and Jiang Yu hadn’t thought much of it.
But now, it seemed there was more to the story?
Qian Ren nodded, confirming Jiang Yu’s suspicion. “Last year during the continuous heavy rains, hunters refused to go up the mountain for these venomous creatures, so His Lordship took me there personally.”
“At that time, there was a mudslide in the mountains with poor visibility. His Lordship was accidentally bitten on the neck by a snake. The venom reached his heart and lungs, leaving him with breathing difficulties – it was never a pollen allergy.”
“If not for the Old Abbot of Azure Cloud Temple saving him, His Lordship might not have survived!”
Pei Xiao nearly lost his life to gather medicine for her?
Had she heard this before, Jiang Yu would have been deeply moved.
But having just witnessed Pei Xiao’s ruthlessness, these words left her with mixed emotions, unable to discern whether Qian Ren spoke the truth.
Her mind in turmoil, Jiang Yu sighed. “I’ll take the medicine to my husband.”
Regardless, she still had to face him.
Carrying the medicine, Jiang Yu went to the study.
At that time, Pei Xiao hadn’t woken yet, but his breathing had steadied.
Jiang Yu intended to wake him, but found herself sitting by his bedside instead. She opened his collar and leaned closer for a careful look, indeed finding two small puncture marks on his neck.
Green snake venom was potent – once injured, the marks would remain for years.
So Pei Xiao really had gone up the mountain to catch snakes for her?
Jiang Yu remembered that during last year’s rainy season, Pei Xiao had indeed taken a long trip.
With heavy storms raging at the time, he had claimed he was going outside the city to pacify rioters.
On the third day, he returned in the pouring rain, his clothes and hair soaked through, his face sickly pale.
When Jiang Yu came out with a lantern to greet him, he collapsed directly into her arms.
Terrified, Jiang Yu kept vigil by his bedside all night.
In the end, it was Pei Xiao who comforted her, saying he’d been injured by rioters and that it wasn’t serious.How could Jiang Yu not be concerned? Nestled in his embrace, she chided him, “Since you’re injured, why not rest in the suburbs for a few days instead of rushing back in the rain?”
Pei Xiao merely chuckled softly, his thin lips brushing her forehead. “Today is your birthday, my lady. I promised to return to accompany you.”
He placed a woven bamboo rabbit in her palm. “I made this birthday gift on the way back. It’s crude—please don’t mind its simplicity.”
The rabbit was damp from the rain, its craftsmanship rough—clearly made by him in a jolting carriage while battling illness.
It was ugly!
But Jiang Yu had never received a gift crafted with such devotion.
…
As Jiang Yu’s mind wandered, cold, thin lips lightly grazed her cheek like a serpent’s tongue.
Her heart tightened, and she immediately leaned back to avoid the contact.