That night, Lu Feiyue and the other two were on their way to Cangzhou, still looking for a place to rest, when Lu Zhiyao tapped the table, his expression tinged with apology: “My apologies, it seems the poison is acting up.”
The other two hurriedly stopped the carriage and fetched a thick quilt for him from the compartment. This gentle man did not refuse, softly thanked them, draped the quilt over himself, and fell silent.
The night was cool as water, yet he showed no sign of discomfort. He simply leaned against the carriage wall with closed eyes as if asleep, his voice still mild.
“It’s fine. We can set off now.”
This was the book’s sole description of Lu Zhiyao’s poisoning—brief, no mention of pain at all. So why did Li Ruoshui feel like there she was in an icy hell?
After all, if a supporting male character suffered, the author would surely dramatize it to win the female lead’s sympathy. The lack of detail should have meant it was tolerable.
Now, she was paying the price of her ignorance.
A chilling cold gradually seeped from within her body. The closer she got to a heat source, the more intense the pain became—like knives slicing through flesh, a deep, bone-piercing agony.
Li Ruoshui had retreated to the top of the altar platform. The knifelike pain had lessened considerably, but it was replaced by a penetrating cold that radiated from her core outwards. Her body trembled violently, but it did little to help alleviate the cold she’s feeling.
Huddled on the altar platform, arms wrapped tightly around herself, she blew on her hands. Whether it was her imagination or not, the air she exhaled felt cold.
Lu Feiyue and Jiang Nian had hurried out with an umbrella to fetch quilts from the carriage, leaving only two people and a cat in the temple.
The orange cat rubbed against her, curiously watching, then stretched out its tongue to lick her hand, only to recoil with its fur puffed up from the cold temperature, shaking itself with a sneeze.
“Hah… Hah…Hah…”
Li Ruoshui found it amusing, but her shivering made her laugh stiff and her words came out in staccato.
The little ball of fluff’s warmth felt like a furnace to Li Ruoshui. Without hesitation, she scooped it into her embrace, only to find her own temperature was so low that even a fur-covered cat found it unbearable.
The orange cat struggled frantically. Li Ruoshui gasped sharply and let it go, still trembling greatly. She rubbed her hands together fiercely, nearly generating sparks, but her temperature refused to rise.
“Why did you let the cat go?”
Having experienced the poison himself, Lu Zhiyao knew exactly how comforting an animal’s body heat could feel.
“It didn’t want to warm me… s-s-so why force it?”
If she weren’t almost too cold to stand, Li Ruoshui would have done a full set of calisthenics right then and there.
Lu Zhiyao stood up, his black hair falling behind him, and slowly approached the altar.
“Now that you’ve tasted the poison, do you regret taking that hidden weapon for me?”
Li Ruoshui glanced at him, her words slurred by the cold: “T-to be honest? A little.”
“Is it painful?”
“It’s awful.” If Li Ruoshui could see herself in a mirror, she’d probably notice her lips were turning blue.
“Hmm, I see.” Lu Zhiyao stood before the altar, drew his sword, and offered it to her, a kindly smile on his face.
“In that case, why not end it yourself? Spare yourself the suffering. You’d also be fulfilling our wager.”
???
She thought his conscience had kicked in, that he was coming over to tell her how to alleviate the poison’s symptoms. Who would have thought he could be this deranged!
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Li Ruoshui’s body trembled—the residual chill in her body now amplified by a sharp, rising fury. Her speech actually became clearer.
“Let’s not mention who I got poisoned for. As for the wager, by any measure, I won, right? We met Lu Feiyue and Jiang Nian and saved those people. It happened exactly as I said it would.”
A Special Bounty bearing his name… luring him into a bet with her… her seemingly casual attention towards him… taking a potentially fatal poison for him… Each incident lay plainly before him, yet he couldn’t decipher her goal. Her motivations seemed as clear as a rock.
His smile remained in place, but inwardly, he was deeply unsettled. Rattled by this variable.
Initially, she was just a momentary diversion. But now, these events felt like a barbed cage, slowly entangling him, forcing him to dwell on them daily.
Lu Zhiyao didn’t know what this feeling was, but he intensely disliked it.
Only by severing the root of this irritation could he return to his former tranquility.
“I cannot love. The latter part of our wager can never come true. Rather than be tormented by this poison in the future, it’s better to die by my sword.”
“The future hasn’t even arrived! How do you know you won’t fall for me? I realize you’re something else—worse than the dog that bit Lu Dongbin!” [1]
Perhaps her agitation helped a little; her body temperature rose slightly. With a move reminiscent of a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, Li Ruoshui wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, filled with sheer indignation.
“‘Rather than… it’s better’—are you an elementary student practicing sentence structures?[2] Why not say, “Rather than watch me freeze to death, why don’t you play the hero and warm me up?”
From this close, if he decided to strike, she was determined to take him down with her.
Li Ruoshui’s body was icy, yet the sensation reminded him of the kitten he’d held as a child—soft, warm, but it had run away before long.
Lu Zhiyao suddenly sheathed his sword. His right hand rose to stroke her hair, patting it down over and over, likens to consoling a tantruming child.
Strangely enough, the irritation within him quieted down.
Completely unaware she was being treated like a pet cat, Li Ruoshui was bewildered. She’d expected a lunatic’s retaliation, but he hadn’t done anything like that. He was just stroking her hair.
What set him off now???
A chill ran down her spine, but her intuition screamed at her: Don’t move. Li Ruoshui held her body rigid, letting him stroke her hair.
His cool fingers slid down from the back of her head. It’s fine, it’s fine. Her teeth chattered and she didn’t know whether it was from the cold or from fear. I’m still alive, and I won’t have to brush my hair tomorrow anyway.
His technique was uncannily similar to how she petted the cat. Under such gentle treatment, Li Ruoshui’s stiff spine gradually relaxed. Combined with the warmth from Lu Zhiyao’s normal body temperature…
Forget it. Adaptability was her virtue. This was a time for flexibility, no point making things harder for herself.
Lu Feiyue and Jiang NIan rushed back into the temple with the quilts. Both halted mid-step at the sight of the two entangled figures, but then Lu Feiyue stepped forward, quilt in hand.
“Brother Lu, this temple is windy and wet. A quilt would do you much good.”
Sitting on the altar platform with Li Ruoshui in his arms, Lu Zhiyao’s quiet, gentle demeanor resembled the half-faced Buddha statue behind him—mellow and approachable.
His closed eyelashes fluttered slightly, as if annoyed by the disturbance, but he nodded nonetheless.
“Thank you.”
Even trapped within his embrace, Li Ruoshui struggled to turn her head and look at Lu Feiyue, her smile radiating boundless gratitude.
“Thank you, Sister Lu!”
The female lead was truly the female lead—beautiful and kind-hearted, so considerate.
She couldn’t suppress another shiver and quickly bundled herself tightly in the quilt.
Lu Zhiyao’s own body temperature wasn’t particularly high, but for some reason, he began using his inner energy to raise it. The temperature under the quilt soared instantly.
Regardless of her previous opinions of him, at this moment, he was a Bodhisattva descended to earth.
She patted this lifesaver’s shoulder. There was no hint of inappropriate thoughts, no trace of her mission agenda, only sheer sincerity in her thanks.
“Thank you too. I really don’t know how I would have made it through the night otherwise.”
That feeling of cold rising from within, the inability to warm her hands no matter how hard she rubbed, her body gradually stiffening, the pain of her bones feeling like they were freezing and shattering—she never wanted to experience it again. Read the latest chapters at novelping(.)com.
If someone could serve as her personal heater, she had nothing but gratitude.
Lu Zhiyao didn’t reply. He just continued slowly smoothing her hair, from roots to ends, stroking back and forth as if he couldn’t get enough. There was no teasing intent, not a whisper of ambiguity in the action.
Jiang Nian, watching from the side, glanced at Lu Zhiyao’s placid expression and decided to ask about the poison.
“Speaking of which, Brother Lu, you mentioned you’ve been poisoned by this before. Where did it happen? Maybe we can find some clues from that.”
Lu Zhiyao was silent for a moment, as if recalling, or perhaps simply ignoring him. But finally, out of habit, he curved his lips into a smile.
“Years ago, when I went with my master to steal a chicken to eat, I was accidentally poisoned. I don’t remember where, just that it was a very large estate.”
Master?
Li Ruoshui racked her brain for the details from the novel but only recalled the phrase ‘his master died tragically before him.’ No other information was given, not even her name.
Weighing her words, Li Ruoshui ventured a question: “Your master must have been very skilled, right?”
In Lu Zhiyao’s short life, two people had been deeply involved: his mother and his master. Understanding them was key to understanding his past.
She already knew his mother was an outright yandere. What about his master?
“My master, very skilled?” Lu Zhiyao let out a soft laugh, his tone breezy. “The tendons in her arms and legs were all severed. She was a cripple. Otherwise, why would she have taken a fancy to another cripple like me?”
The implication seemed to be that his master wasn’t exactly a good person either.
Born to a scumbag father, having a mentally ill mother, being looked down on by his master… Li Ruoshui almost blurted out ‘Holy sh*t!’ What kind of terrible luck did he have, encountering nothing but villains?
Jiang Nian looked embarrassed, thinking he’d touched a nerve. He quickly waved his hands in explanation.
“Of course not! Brother Lu, your martial arts are exceptional. You’re a rare prodigy.”
Having said that, he felt it inappropriate to pry any further. Lu Zhiyao didn’t respond. The atmosphere instantly became stifled. The only sound penetrating the silence being the crackling of the fire.
Huddled in the quilt, Li Ruoshui felt it was a shame, sighing internally at Jiang Nian’s youthful innocence. He should have seized the opportunity to ask more while Lu Zhiyao was in a good mood.
A happy Lu Zhiyao was a willing talker, answering any question without taboo. From her observations, he didn’t seem like the type to be hurt by such topics. Following his lead might have yielded answers.
But the topic had been closed by Jiang Nian. If she asked now, Lu Zhiyao would definitely realize what she was trying to do. She’d have to find another chance.
“This temple is leaky and drafty, quite damp and cold. Ruoshui, perhaps the two of you should rest in the carriage instead.”
Lu Feiyue dropped this bombshell in the midst of the quiet. Li Ruoshui and Jiang Nian both stared at her as if their tails had been stepped on—one out of fear, the other out of shock.
Even Lu Feiyue was taken aback by their reactions. Her usually decisive tone held a hint of uncertainty.
“It really is cold here… The carriage would be much warmer… Wouldn’t it?”
They didn’t know how long the poison would last. The only one here who could help Li Ruoshui was Lu Zhiyao. While his temperament was strange, he wasn’t a lecherous scoundrel. For the sake of saving a life, this wasn’t improper.
In her past missions, Lu Feiyue had often been injured. If she cared too much about superficial propriety, she’d have drunk the Soup of Forgetfulness[3] many times over by now.
“Alright.”
Physical pain triumphed over psychological fear. Li Ruoshui nodded in rapid agreement. After all, pain relief was the priority now. The temple was truly just too humid; the slightest breeze seemed to resonate with the poison inside her, intensifying the cold .
Lu Zhiyao gave a slight nod. Holding her, he leaped down from the altar platform. His steps were light while descending. His white robes fluttered as he landed, like a young temple Bodhisattva stepping forth.
“We’ll trouble you two to keep watch then.”
[1] 吕洞宾, Lü Dongbing, or Lv Dongbin is one of the 8 Immortals of the Tang Dynasty. He supposedly lived to the age of 220. The dog was one he saved from a dog meat shop but it still bit him after he saved it.
[2] This is how students in some schools practice forming their sentences. It’s like one of the most common ways they practice grammar.
[3] 孟婆汤 or Meng Po Tang is a reference to what happens to people when they die. They find themselves at the Naihe Bridge (aka Bridge of Oblivion) and have to drink the soup of Meng Po to forget all their memories in order to reincarnate.
TLN: Oooh getting close already… and we’re just getting started.