“What is it?” Leng Yue’er stopped in her tracks, yet after waiting for quite some time, there was no sound at all from the bed behind her. Turning around, she saw Pei Qingmin reclining against the headboard, his lips pressed into a thin, straight line.
“Heh…” Leng Yue’er let out a soft chuckle. She leaned back lazily against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching him with a faint, teasing smile as she patiently waited for him to speak.
He remained silent, drawing in a deep breath before slowly closing his eyes. What was there for him to be angry about? He was only asking for help to protect himself, so why bother with pride or appearances?
When he opened his eyes again, he spoke softly. “Shadow Guard Leng, are you making poison?”
“You’ve found out, Your Highness?” Leng Yue’er’s tone was calm, not the least bit surprised. She had never bothered to hide the various poisonous herbs she had bought from outside apothecaries, leaving them casually on the table in the warm chamber, along with the prepared toxins. All he had to do was ask the residence physician while she was away, and he would naturally learn the truth.
“I also understand medicine,” Pei Qingmin said, narrowing his eyes slightly as he tilted his chin in her direction. Sunlight streamed in through the window at an angle, making his eyes sting faintly.
“Oh?” That genuinely surprised Leng Yue’er a little. She clearly did not recall the book mentioning that Prince Wei knew medicine, but perhaps she had skimmed past it when reading. In any case, it was nothing important.
“If Your Highness understands medicine, then why haven’t you cured yourself?” she asked with casual curiosity, her tone light.
“I’ve been bedridden since childhood. It’s only natural that long illness breeds some knowledge, but one cannot treat oneself. At best, I only know a little,” Pei Qingmin replied modestly, though a trace of melancholy flickered in his eyes.
After a pause, he spoke again, this time with some hesitation. “Shadow Guard Leng, I have a request to ask of you.”
“Please go ahead, Your Highness.”
“I… I would like to learn medicine from you, and also how to make poison…” Before he could finish, he broke into a violent coughing fit. His chest heaved sharply, and his face grew even paler.
“Learning medicine is fine,” Leng Yue’er said as she moved lightly to his bedside in a single step.
“But why insist on learning poison-making?” She tilted her head slightly, her gaze falling on his profile as he gradually calmed—
His pale skin seemed almost translucent, his lowered lashes casting a faint shadow beneath his eyes. His nose was straight, his lips a soft pink, and his slender neck as graceful as a swan’s. Truly, just as the book described, none of the royal offspring were lacking in looks.
“Because…” Pei Qingmin slowly raised his eyes. In their clear depths, her reflection appeared, and his voice carried a quiet certainty. “I believe I have been poisoned.”
At that thought, he remembered the imperial physicians who had treated him since childhood, and a bleak smile curved at the corners of his lips.
“Alright, I’ll teach you.” Leng Yue’er agreed without the slightest hesitation. Her decisiveness caught Pei Qingmin off guard; he had expected to spend much more effort persuading her.
“Then I won’t leave after all,” Leng Yue’er added, casually placing the small bundle she had just packed back onto the bed.
Pei Qingmin gazed at her steadily. After a long moment, he finally asked softly, “Why don’t you ask how I know I’ve been poisoned?”
“…Your Highness isn’t a fool.” Leng Yue’er replied lightly, a hint of teasing in her tone. Even a fool would not be that foolish.
Her words left Pei Qingmin momentarily speechless, but after thinking it over, he could not help but ask further, “You… you also saw that I’ve been poisoned?”
“It’s nothing. You won’t die anytime soon,” Leng Yue’er said in the same indifferent tone, as though she were discussing something trivial.
Her casual remark made Pei Qingmin feel a tightness in his chest. The itch in his throat surged again, and he coughed a few more times, his fingers clutching the brocade quilt so tightly that his knuckles turned pale.
Leng Yue’er listened to his coughing without even lifting her eyelids, maintaining her lazy posture as she said flatly, “If Your Highness feels upset, just cough a few times to vent it out, but don’t overdo it, or you might cough out your heart and lungs, hehe…” After saying that, she even chuckled to herself.
At her words, Pei Qingmin forcibly suppressed his cough. His cheeks flushed faintly red, his eyes filled with frustration, yet he could only remain silent. He had come to understand that this shadow guard before him cared nothing for rules or etiquette. She acted entirely on her own whims, impervious to both softness and force.
After a while, Pei Qingmin finally calmed the frustration in his heart. Softening his tone, he asked tentatively, “Then… where does Shadow Guard Leng plan to begin?”
He truly wanted to learn. He did not want to spend his life half-dead, a frail invalid at the mercy of others, with even his own life in someone else’s hands.
Only then did Leng Yue’er slowly lift her eyelids, her gaze sweeping over him from top to bottom as she spoke casually. “We’ll start with recognizing herbs. The medicinal materials in the residence pharmacy, along with the ones I’ve bought outside, you’ll learn them all one by one. Memorize their properties, effects, combinations, and toxicology. When you can recite them all fluently, we’ll move on to the next step.”
As she spoke, she somehow produced a booklet more than a finger thick and tossed it toward Pei Qingmin without even looking.
Outside, Minghai saw her throw something and immediately cried out in alarm, scrambling into the room in a panic. Only when he reached Prince Wei’s bedside did he realize it was just a book.
“Shadow Guard Leng, you nearly scared this servant to death,” Minghai complained tearfully, patting his chest.
“It’s fine. If he dies, I’ll take care of the burial.” With that, Leng Yue’er sat up.