Mo Sigui stared at her speechlessly.
When he first met An Jiu, Mo Sigui thought she resembled a leopard or a wolf—her face practically screaming "stay away," either aloof and elegant or exceptionally fierce. Yet the more he got to know her, the more he realized that deep down, she was like a seven or eight-year-old girl! And a rebellious one at that, covered in thorns.
He remembered once asking her if she had ever done any good deeds, and all her answers were about things from her childhood.
Thinking this, Mo Sigui felt a sudden impulse and began treating her like a child. "Go play somewhere else today. I have something to do. How about I roast sweet potatoes for you tomorrow?"
"What is it?" An Jiu sat bolt upright, her oversized robe draping down, her waist-length black hair cascading behind her. The top of her head was slightly disheveled, and when her calm, unreadable eyes fixed on someone, they held both coldness and innocence—an unsettling combination.
"As healers, we must uphold professional ethics and not casually disclose patients' private matters. Someone is coming for a consultation tonight." Mo Sigui reached out to pull her up.
An Jiu nodded deeply in agreement. "I'm surprised you even have ethics."
Too lazy to argue, Mo Sigui simply pushed her out the door, grabbing the two little tigers lounging by the entrance and stuffing them into her arms. "Go on, go play. Take Xiao Yue and Da Jiu with you."
"Which one is Da Jiu?" An Jiu asked.
Mo Sigui had already shut the door, calling from inside, "The dumber one, of course."
Holding the two tigers by the scruffs of their necks, An Jiu examined them closely, muttering skeptically, "Can someone with that level of intelligence even raise smart pets?"
After a moment, she concluded, "They really are equally dumb."
The two tigers seemed to understand, squirming unhappily.
Inside, Mo Sigui was so irritated he nearly flung the door open to argue, but remembering the more pressing matter, he gritted his teeth and held back.
An Jiu tucked one tiger under each arm and glanced thoughtfully at the tightly shut door before leisurely returning to her own room.
She placed the tigers on the bed, flipping them over to scratch their bellies. The previously wriggling cubs immediately stilled, paws in the air, eyes squinting in bliss.
From Mo Sigui’s room came the clattering sounds of preparation.
The final step was preparing the life-saving Medicine for Gu Jinghong. After drawing a large amount of blood from the heart, the body’s normal circulation would be disrupted, causing the heart to temporarily stop until blood from other parts gradually returned. Gu Jinghong would enter a state of suspended animation, requiring external assistance to prevent actual death. Since oral Medicine couldn’t be administered at this stage, Mo Sigui would use golden needles on acupoints along with a self-invented smoke-like Medicine.
Night fell.
Gu Jinghong arrived as promised.
The moment he appeared, An Jiu sensed it.
After Gu Jinghong had been inside for a while, An Jiu threw on her cloak, slipped out, and silently crept beneath Mo Sigui’s window.
The two little tigers pattered after her, their footsteps so loud that the moment she pressed against the window, Mo Sigui opened the door.
What was it called when you tripped over your own schemes? This was a textbook example.
An Jiu glanced at Mo Sigui, then bent down to grab the tigers, pretending she had come to retrieve escaped pets…
Mo Sigui said, "Perfect timing. Come in and help me with something."
"Ahem." An Jiu cleared her throat and replied with great reluctance, "Fine."Following him inside, An Jiu saw Gu Jinghong sitting by the edge of the bed. "Are you sick?"
With a dazed-looking tiger tucked under each arm, her serious expression somehow ended up looking a bit silly. Gu Jinghong watched her, feeling a rare flicker of amusement, and smiled at her. "Yes. Before going all out in a fight, one must be in peak condition."
An Jiu nodded and sat down opposite him.
Two tigers and one human—all motionless, all wearing solemn expressions.
"Hey! I didn’t call you here to spectate!" Mo Sigui, now wearing a medical gown and a cloth mask over his face, pointed at the medicine pot on the stove and said irritably, "Watch it. Don’t let it boil over."
"Oh." An Jiu nodded and moved to sit in front of the medicine pot.
Inside, the liquid bubbled noisily, sending wisps of white steam into the air.
The thick medicinal aroma filled her senses, and her vision darkened in waves. By the time she realized something was wrong, she had already collapsed to the ground with a thud. The two little tigers had long since fallen into a deep slumber—even when they hit the floor, they only reflexively stretched their paws, showing no signs of waking.
From the moment An Jiu sat down to her fainting, only a few breaths had passed.
This was a specially enhanced knockout drug Mo Sigui had prepared for her. In an enclosed space, it could easily knock out an entire village.
Gu Jinghong also collapsed onto the bed.
Only Mo Sigui, whose mask was soaked in antidote, remained clear-headed and alert in the room.
He adjusted Gu Jinghong’s position on the bed, then unbuttoned his robe. Staring at the firm chest and well-defined abdominal muscles, he rolled his neck and stretched his limbs before pouring a pre-prepared medicinal solution over Gu Jinghong’s body, carefully wiping it with clean cotton cloth.
Once that was done, he took out a slender dagger half an inch wide and hovered it over Gu Jinghong’s pale chest. The cold glint of the blade reflected on his face, his peach-blossom eyes gleaming with an unsettling excitement.
"What should I do? I’m just too thrilled," Mo Sigui muttered to himself. After taking a few deep breaths to steady his hands, he measured with his left hand, found the precise spot, and without hesitation, slowly pressed the sharp blade in.
Bright red blood instantly welled up around the wound, blooming like crimson tassels against the pale skin—an eerie kind of beauty. Due to years of consuming rare medicines, the blood carried a rich, pure medicinal fragrance. Mo Sigui inhaled deeply, his eyes brightening further.
He released the dagger and collected all the blood into a small vial.
This blood, mixed with surface tissue, wasn’t pure heart blood yet—but it still held medicinal properties.
As he gathered the blood, he observed its changes. When he noticed it turning a deeper red, its translucence intensifying under the light, he swiftly switched to a vial carved from black stone.
The blood began to flow faster. Once Mo Sigui estimated he had enough, he quickly corked the vial and placed it into a jar filled with ice. Then, he lifted the dagger slightly and used a pulse-reading technique with his True Energy to locate the fatal wound. Immediately after, he inserted several hooked silver needles, thin as strands of hair, to latch onto the torn blood vessels. Then, he withdrew the dagger and plugged the wound with a piece of Celestial Silk soaked in medicinal solution.
In that brief moment, fine beads of sweat had already formed on Mo Sigui’s forehead.
He stood up and lit a stick of incense.
As the medicinal solution seeped in, the bleeding gradually slowed.
By the time the incense burned out, Mo Sigui carefully removed the Celestial Silk and replaced it with a fresh piece.An Jiu drifted in and out of consciousness, unaware of how long she had been asleep. When she finally came to, the sound of flowing water reached her ears.
With a soft groan, she pushed herself up from the ground. Through her blurred vision, she saw Mo Sigui, now dressed in a loose moon-white robe, leisurely reclining on a three-sided seat while sipping tea. Meanwhile, Gu Jinghong lay on a nearby couch, covered with a quilt. (To be continued...)
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