The thought flashed through his mind. Pei Wuheng’s expression turned stern, and he unconsciously quickened his pace.
As he hurried down the corridor, his deep phoenix eyes flickered with shifting light and shadow while he stared fixedly at the plump woman swaggering ahead.
Within just a few dozen meters, Pei Wuheng had already mentally rehearsed every form of torture he would inflict upon catching her.
Damn fatso! Utterly shameless! How dare you do such things to this prince! I will never let you off!
Closer!
Closer!
She walked ahead with an arrogant stride.
He followed behind with sharp, forceful steps.
One in front, one behind—the distance between them grew shorter and shorter.
Just then, there was a turn up ahead.
Ji Yunsu walked on, and when she reached the spot the innkeeper had mentioned—”the corridor ends at a turn, and past the turn is the backyard”—a look of understanding involuntarily appeared on her face, which was gradually swelling beneath the Weimao.
So the loquat tree must be just ahead.
A faint glimmer flashed in Ji Yunsu’s clear, almond-shaped eyes. Without hesitation, she turned the corner.
Seeing the stout woman suddenly turn, Pei Wuheng’s deep phoenix eyes darkened sharply.
Damn fatso! Thinking of escaping? No way!
With powerful strides, Pei Wuheng’s tall figure shot forward like an arrow, swiftly chasing after Ji Yunsu.
The moment Ji Yunsu rounded the corner, Pei Wuheng reached it as well.
Just as he was about to turn and grab her, a clear, youthful voice called out unexpectedly.
“Elder Sister, why are you here? I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“What’s wrong? Is Mother feeling unwell again?”
Seeing her younger brother approaching, Ji Yunsu stopped and asked anxiously.
The woman’s crisp, lively voice drifted into Pei Wuheng’s ears just as he was about to turn and apprehend her. Instantly, his arrow-like advance came to an abrupt halt.
Wrong!
This voice—it’s wrong!
That damn fatso’s voice had sounded as if her throat had been scorched by fire, rough and grating like tearing cloth.
But this stout woman’s voice was pleasant to the ear, like the singing of an oriole in the forest.
Completely different from that shameless fatso’s voice last night!
She—isn’t her!
Realizing he had mistaken her identity, the icy glint in Pei Wuheng’s narrow phoenix eyes dimmed slightly.
The woman’s melodious tone, so mismatched with her plump figure, continued to drift into his ears.
But by now, Pei Wuheng’s previously dark and stern expression had completely vanished.
His cold, transcendent immortal face, as if carved by a master artisan, had returned to its usual aloof indifference toward the surroundings.
Pei Wuheng had no intention of lingering at the corner any longer. Without so much as a spare glance for the siblings nearby, he turned and strode away.
Pei Wuheng walked farther and farther, vanishing in the blink of an eye at the end of the corridor.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the corner.
“Elder Sister, your voice has become pleasant again! That rough, cloth-tearing sound from before is gone.”
Ji Wenbo had taken another path to the backyard and happened to run into his elder sister, who had also just arrived.
Hearing that her voice had returned to normal, he forgot he had come to help gather loquat leaves and couldn’t help exclaiming excitedly.
Ji Yunsu reached up and touched her throat, a look of surprise appearing on her face hidden beneath the weimao.
“Oh, I just noticed it now. No wonder the soreness in my throat has eased so much.”
Due to the chronic poisoning causing systemic edema, even her internal organs had developed tissue swelling.
For the past couple of days, Ji Yunsu’s voice had sounded like a duck’s quack—hoarse and rough.
She had thought it would take more time for her voice to recover, never expecting it to happen so quickly.
It seemed the antidote was working more effectively inside her body than she had imagined.
“Sis, when I was walking over just now, I thought I saw a dark shadow flash by the corner.”
“Sis, are you being followed and watched?”
At that moment, Ji Wenbo glanced around cautiously, then leaned in closer and whispered in a volume only the two siblings could hear.
Hearing this, a faint glimmer flashed in Ji Yunsu’s clear almond-shaped eyes.
Indeed, as she had walked over earlier, she had heard footsteps that didn’t belong to her.
Those footsteps gave off a steady and restrained feeling, unlike Zhao Momo and her crew, who were impatient, restless, and always wore their intentions on their sleeves.
“Is the shadow still there?” Ji Yunsu asked quietly, her expression calm.
Ji Wenbo tilted his sallow, youthful face upward, craning his neck to sneak a glance toward the corner, and whispered, “Sis, the shadow is gone now.”
Hearing this, Ji Yunsu let her guard down slightly and said lightly, “It was probably just another guest staying at the inn, passing through the corridor by chance.”
Ji Wenbo listened and found his sister’s analysis reasonable, so he stopped worrying about the shadow.
The young boy nodded, then suddenly remembered the real reason he had come to find his sister—to help pick loquat leaves.
Hastily changing the subject, he said, “Sis, the innkeeper said you came to the backyard to pick loquat leaves. Let me help you.”
With that, Ji Wenbo eagerly dashed toward the old loquat tree in the southeast corner of the backyard, his footsteps pattering loudly.
Loquat trees are evergreen throughout the year, and even when they age, they don’t grow particularly tall.
Although Ji Wenbo was much shorter than others his age, by standing on his tiptoes, he could just barely reach the loquat leaves.
In no time, he was drenched in sweat.
The young boy turned his head and looked at his sister, who stood quietly under the loquat tree, a bright smile spreading across his sallow, youthful face.
He waved the dozen or so loquat leaves he had picked toward his sister and said earnestly, “Sis, is this enough? If not, I can climb the tree to get more.”
“That’s enough, more than enough,” Ji Yunsu replied gently, her voice tinged with amusement at the thought of the boy scrambling up the loquat tree like a little monkey.
Brewing loquat leaves in water has excellent cough-suppressing effects. Ji Yunsu used a large quantity of loquat leaves to boil a very concentrated decoction, which she then brought to her mother.
Less than half an hour after Liu Rumei drank it, her severe coughing eased, and she felt noticeably more comfortable.
Watching her daughter busily moving about the room, a trace of worry appeared on Liu Rumei’s gentle, slightly weary face.
“Su’er, what did you say to Zhao Momo and the others during the day? Why have they suddenly become so polite towards us?”
As the words fell, Ji Wenbo, who had been waiting nearby for his elder sister’s instructions, also curiously pressed for answers.
“That’s right, elder sister, what did you say to that arrogant Zhao Momo? Why doesn’t she dare to trouble us anymore?”