The two of them didn’t head towards the large cabin; it was too conspicuous, and going there would be like delivering themselves to the enemy’s blade.
Lu Zhao led Shen Qingyao to a storage hold filled with miscellaneous items. It was a hidden spot, and even if the guards at the front couldn’t hold the intruders back, it would still take some time to find them here. With time, Lu Zhao could think of a way to deal with the situation and ensure Shen Qingyao’s safety.
However, Shen Qingyao felt that something was off.
It was too quiet. Lu Zhao had been pulling her along quickly, but along the way, he hadn’t said a single word. Even when they were surrounded and in dire straits earlier, Lu Zhao still managed to comfort her. But now, with fewer pursuers on their trail, he was completely silent.
Suddenly, Shen Qingyao realized something. She looked sharply at the wound on his arm. The arrow was still lodged in it, the fletching gently swaying with Lu Zhao’s movements. With each step, the arrowhead embedded itself deeper, and the blood oozing from around it had turned a dark, bluish color.
Is the arrow poisoned? This realization sent a chill down Shen Qingyao’s spine.
Although she tried to tell herself not to panic, her hands still trembled uncontrollably. She supported Lu Zhao, her voice shaking, “Elder Brother Lu Zhao…”
Lu Zhao paused and turned to look at her. His forehead was drenched in cold sweat, and his face was pale from excessive blood loss, his lips devoid of color.
In the hold, Lu Zhao found a corner and, exhausted, slid down against the wall. He looked up and saw that the young girl was on the verge of tears. With great difficulty, he forced a weak smile. He raised his hand to pat her head but was stopped by Shen Qingyao.
“Elder Brother Lu Zhao, how are you?” Tears the size of beans streamed down Shen Qingyao’s face.
“It’s nothing,” Lu Zhao said softly. He reached out to wipe her tears, but instead left a dark red smear on her face. Startled by the blood on his hand, he hesitated and then gave up.
The girl was still crying, and Lu Zhao, at a loss, decided to distract her. He said, “Yaoyao, can you do me a favor?”
“What?” Shen Qingyao swallowed back her tears.
“Help me pull this out,” Lu Zhao gestured to the arrow in his arm with a nod.
Shen Qingyao’s hands were trembling. She knew the poisoned arrow needed to be removed as soon as possible. She nodded, gripping the arrow shaft shakily, “Elder Brother Lu Zhao, bear with it.”
Lu Zhao nodded with a trusting smile, as if he didn’t mind even if she ended up killing him.
Shen Qingyao bit her lip, closed her eyes, and with a swift tug, pulled the poisoned arrow out. Lu Zhao grunted in pain. The arrow had barbs, and as it was removed, it tore out chunks of fresh flesh. Warm blood splattered all over her, but she was too preoccupied to notice.
She threw the arrow aside and rushed to embrace Lu Zhao. “Elder Brother Lu Zhao!”
With no medicine at hand, and the black blood still oozing from the wound, Lu Zhao’s condition visibly deteriorated. Shen Qingyao frantically tried to press the wound for him and babbled, “Elder Brother Lu Zhao, don’t scare me. Hold on, someone will come soon, the doctor will be here any moment… Elder Brother Lu Zhao…”
Lu Zhao weakly smiled. Compared to him, with her face smeared in blood, Shen Qingyao looked more like the one gravely injured and near death.
He held her still and leaned his chin on her shoulder, his breath warm against her ear. “Don’t cry. It’s just a mild poison, not fatal.”
“Really?” Shen Qingyao calmed down a bit, but she was still scared.
“Mm.” Lu Zhao’s breathing grew heavier. Exhausted, he said, “I’m so tired, Yaoyao. Let me lean on you for a bit.”
With that, he closed his eyes.
Shen Qingyao, held in his arms, dared not move after hearing his words. She silently shed a few tears, then sniffled and cursed herself for being useless, only knowing how to cry. Wiping her tears away, Shen Qingyao gently patted Lu Zhao’s back, listening as his breathing gradually evened out. After a long time, his breathing became lighter and lighter. Shen Qingyao couldn’t see Lu Zhao’s face, but a bad feeling suddenly arose. She called out softly, “Elder Brother Lu Zhao?”
There was no response.
Shen Qingyao’s heart sank. She tried again, “Elder Brother Lu Zhao?”
Lu Zhao remained motionless.
Shen Qingyao panicked completely, “Elder Brother Lu Zhao!!!”
Meanwhile, the guards left behind were all elite soldiers. Although they were initially at a disadvantage due to being outnumbered, they became more ruthless once their masters had escaped. Soon, they had subdued the less skilled assassins.
After dealing with the unimportant threats, the lead guard detained a few of the more valuable captives and rushed to report back.
When he found the two, he was almost frightened to death by the scene before him.
Their Young Madam was covered in blood, holding what seemed to be a lifeless Lu Zhao, silently weeping.
The guard’s heart skipped a beat. He stiffly ran over, “Young Master, what’s wrong with the Young Master…”
He trembled as he extended his hand, trying to feel Lu Zhao’s breath.
“Where’s the doctor? Go get a doctor…” Shen Qingyao didn’t even look at him, tightly holding Lu Zhao, overwhelmed by immense fear. Just then, Lu Zhao moved slightly, letting out a barely audible groan of pain.
The guard’s hand froze in mid-air, and Shen Qingyao also breathed a sigh of relief.
From then on, everything seemed to happen in a fragmented, old-movie-like sequence. The scenes jumped intermittently.
Shen Qingyao’s ears buzzed. She silently helped the guards carry Lu Zhao back to the bed, watched another guard bring in a doctor carrying a medical kit like a chick, and silently watched the doctor treat Lu Zhao, turning herself into a disheveled statue, motionless.
“Young Madam, you should rest a bit.” A guard came over to comfort her, while the frightened Hong Yun worriedly approached, looking at Shen Qingyao’s pale face with concern.
Shen Qingyao shook her head, not minding her disheveled state at all. She spoke in a hoarse voice, “No rush, I’ll wait for the doctor to finish.”
The doctor felt Lu Zhao’s pulse, examined his eyes, and checked his wounds, his brows furrowing and relaxing repeatedly. Shen Qingyao was not foolish; she knew this poison was very tricky, nothing like the common poison Lu Zhao had reassured her about earlier.
After all, the assassins came with killing intent; how could the poison on their arrows be ordinary?
After a while, the doctor withdrew his hand, sighed deeply, stood up, and shook his head as he walked away. “I’ll prescribe some medicine and see if it helps.”
Shen Qingyao’s heart tightened again. She stumbled forward and grabbed the doctor’s hand, desperately wanting to ask what the sigh and the head-shaking meant.
Half of her body felt numb, her eyes red as she pleaded, “Doctor, please check again, try again, just one more time, please?”
But the doctor expressionlessly withdrew his hand, looked at Shen Qingyao indifferently, seemingly accustomed to such tearful scenes. He said blandly, “Young Madam, Young Master’s injuries are not severe, but the poison is complex. I’m not very confident. I’ll prescribe some medicine; if he drinks it, it might neutralize the poison.” The doctor paused and added, “If he wakes up within three days, it means the poison is neutralized.”
“And if he doesn’t wake up?”
“Should he not wake up…” the elderly doctor sighed, “Young Madam, you will have to seek someone more skilled.”
With that, the doctor, seemingly still upset about being forcibly brought onto the boat by the guards, waved his hand, wrote a prescription, and left at his own pace.
“He will wake up within three days…” Shen Qingyao murmured. Wiping her face, she believed that Lu Zhao would not make her wait that long. She had an inexplicable but strong faith that he would wake up.
“Go prepare the medicine,” Shen Qingyao ordered calmly. The guard beside her looked at her with suspicion, feeling that in this moment, the usually delicate and pampered Young Madam, who was always shielded from any hardship, seemed different.
The guard’s previous disdain was now completely gone. He lowered his eyes and respectfully responded before quickly leaving.
Once everyone had dispersed, Shen Qingyao walked to Lu Zhao’s bedside and sat down. As she released her grip, she felt a slight stinging pain. Startled, she looked at her palm and realized that she had been so tense earlier that her fingernails had dug into her skin, leaving numerous tiny blood marks.
Under normal circumstances, she would have immediately complained about the pain, but now she didn’t care at all.
She looked down at Lu Zhao’s handsome face. It was rare for her to see him in such a deep sleep. Although they had been married for some time and shared the same bed, Lu Zhao always made sure she fell asleep first and woke up earlier than her. On the rare occasions she did see him asleep, it was usually because he was pretending to sleep to tease her.
Those times always made her feel both embarrassed and annoyed, but now she wished more than anything that he would tease her again, wink at her, and say with a smile, “Didn’t expect that, did you? I’m teasing you…”
Her nose tingled with the onset of tears.
Normally, she was the one lying in bed sick, and it was always Lu Zhao who took care of her. She never thought much of it at the time, but now that their roles were reversed, she realized that sitting by the bedside was much harder than being the one in bed.
With a sob, she buried her head in Lu Zhao’s hand and whispered, “Elder Brother Lu Zhao, you can only be lazy for three days. You must wake up after three days…”
“As long as you wake up, even if the number on your head goes up to 100, I won’t be angry. Really, anything is fine, just please wake up soon…”
rokumi’s note : starting next week, this novel will be updated everyday.
Really? Thank you!!!!!
Thanks for the chapter!!!!