Wei Xing puffed up again like an angry little rooster.
“How dare you be disrespectful to the prince!”
Gritting her teeth, Lin Yanxi lifted a finger toward him and complained unhappily,
“Why are you shouting so much? Can you let him leave first? You’re affecting my pulse diagnosis.”
Xiao Junyan ordered coldly,
“Wei Xing, step outside first.”
“Your Highness, this subordinate fears she harbors evil intentions. If she tries anything against you, I can kill her immediately!”
Right now, Wei Xing cared about nothing except his prince’s safety.
“I’ll say it one last time. Get out.” Xiao Junyan’s voice was icy and carried a tone that allowed no refusal.
In the end, Wei Xing unwillingly answered with a resentful “Yes,” before silently leaving the woodshed.
However, he did not go far. Instead, he pressed his ear against the door, carefully listening to the movements inside. He needed to make sure that if anyone attempted to harm the prince, he could rush in immediately.
“The man is gone now. You may take my pulse.”
Lin Yanxi let out a long breath and endured the pain in her back as she said,
“My back is injured. I can’t get up. Come closer so I can examine your pulse.”
Xiao Junyan paused briefly before obediently crouching down and extending his arm in front of her.
Only then did Lin Yanxi properly study the man before her.
[He really is quite handsome. His forehead is broad and smooth, his nose bridge tall and straight—clearly the face of an intelligent ruler. Too bad that even if the poison is cured, judging from how that matter develops, he probably still won’t live past three years.]
Those words once again entered Xiao Junyan’s ears.
His gaze darkened slightly, confusion stirring within him.
What did she mean by that? Why would he still not survive three years because of “that matter”?
Quietly, he waited for Lin Yanxi to continue speaking, wanting to hear what else she knew.
But the person beside him offered no further thoughts.
Her pale fingers, slender like scallion roots, touched his wrist. The coolness of her fingertips pulled him back to reality.
Although the young woman still wore a black veil over half her face, the clear eyes exposed outside the cloth still made him glance at her twice more. Her thick eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings, and her lively, expressive eyes naturally reminded people of beautiful things, enough to make one unconsciously lose themselves in them.
After a long while—
Lin Yanxi frowned and withdrew her hand.
“The poison in your body…”
Still crouching beside her, Xiao Junyan asked softly,
“Can’t it be cured?”
Lin Yanxi shook her head.
“It’s not that. It’s just troublesome.”
“If you truly can detoxify me, then whatever you want, I shall grant it.”
The moment she heard that, Lin Yanxi’s eyes instantly lit up.
“Really?”
“Mhm.” If she wanted the jade pillow, he could simply give it to her.
“Then I want the world. Will you give me that too?”
Xiao Junyan: “……”
“Forget it. Looking at you, you probably can’t get it anyway.”
“Who says I can’t?”
Lin Yanxi’s eyes widened noticeably.
“Really? What are you planning?”
Xiao Junyan only stared at her silently.
After a moment of silence—
“Fine then, I won’t make things difficult for you. I heard your estate has a jade pillow, right?”
“Yes.”
“How about this—I’ll cure your poison, and you give me that jade pillow. Deal?”
Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Junyan nodded directly.
“Agreed.”
“The poison in your body has probably been there for quite some time. But like I said earlier, detoxifying you isn’t the problem. However…”
Lin Yanxi suddenly changed her tone.
“There’s another poison in your body too. It’s probably been there since childhood. If I remove the newer poison, it’ll likely affect the older one. Right now, there’s no way to cure both simultaneously.”
“So it cannot be completely cured?” Xiao Junyan understood his body’s condition very well.
Ever since childhood, he had carried a cold poison within him. Every full moon night, the pain was unbearable.
The poison had been personally administered by the Empress.
Even though he had already made it clear that he had no intention of competing with the Fifth Prince for the position of Crown Prince, the Empress still did not trust him and poisoned him with the cold toxin.
It was also because of this that at fifteen, he voluntarily requested assignment to the borderlands, solely to lower the Empress’s guard.
“Who are you looking down on?” Lin Yanxi lifted her chin arrogantly. “So what if they can’t be cured together? Can’t we do it little by little? It’s just that the treatment process will be painful. Can you endure it?”
Xiao Junyan froze briefly.
So that was not what she meant.
He had suffered from poison for many years. The cold toxin planted in him by the Empress originally had a cure, but as a child he had been unable to seek treatment because of the Empress’s oppression. Although it wasn’t fatal, every month he endured pain like his bones and heart were being carved apart.
Later, after arriving at the borderlands, he was poisoned again with the “Nether Orchid Poison.” Its medicinal properties were extremely overbearing. It suppressed the cold toxin in his body, yet also made him unable to continue leading troops into battle.
Divine Physician Zou had long declared that the poison in his body had no cure and could only be temporarily suppressed—for at most another three years. Once the toxins invaded his organs, there would be no saving him.
Still crouching there, Xiao Junyan kept his sharp gaze fixed on Lin Yanxi, trying to determine whether her words were true.
His Adam’s apple rolled slightly as a low, hoarse voice slowly emerged.
“If the poison can be cured, pain means nothing.”
Pain was already the thing he was most accustomed to.
Whether it was the bone-piercing agony he endured every month before going to the borderlands, or the wounds from swords and blades suffered in battle afterward, he had endured all of it.
His gaze was focused and unwavering, and for a moment Lin Yanxi didn’t know how to respond.
Taking a deep breath, she could clearly feel her heartbeat speeding up.
[Oh no, oh no, why does this feeling happen again?]
[Sure, he’s not bad-looking, but he’s not even my type, so why is my heart racing?]
[Do I seriously have to follow the plot?]
[I’ve only appeared twice. Is it really necessary to be this strict?]
The thoughts in her mind made Xiao Junyan unconsciously frown.
Not her type?
Then what kind of man did she like?
For the first time, Xiao Junyan found himself wanting to know more about the person before him.
Lin Yanxi desperately tried calming herself down while imagining the unbelievably handsome man in front of her as—
[This person is a pig. I don’t like him. Not one bit!]
Xiao Junyan’s face instantly darkened.
She actually… actually…
Taking two heavy breaths, Xiao Junyan suddenly stood up and said coldly,
“If you can cure me, I will gift you the jade pillow. But if you deceive me, I have countless ways to ensure you never leave this manor alive.”
Lin Yanxi pressed her lips together, puzzled at how this man could change moods so suddenly.
Completely unaware that Xiao Junyan had already heard every one of her inner thoughts loud and clear.
“I’m injured this badly. I can’t even hold silver needles steadily. How am I supposed to detoxify you?”
If the guards outside had heard her, they probably would have retorted:
“Then who was it earlier who accurately dropped groups of people one silver needle after another?”