Mo Sigui blew a smoke ring and grumbled, "You're not being supportive at all."
"You're a really great doctor," An Jiu obliged.
Mo Sigui rolled his eyes. "I'll start administering the medicine to Auntie tonight. That little thing is too slippery—if it's awake, I’d exhaust myself trying to catch it. About five or six days, I’d say. In five or six days, it’ll lose consciousness. Of course, Auntie will too."
As he spoke, he gestured for An Jiu to come closer.
An Jiu had no choice but to step forward and offer her wrist.
Mo Sigui took her pulse for a while, then frowned and pinched her shoulder. "Your Mental strength is blocked?"
"Mm," An Jiu nodded.
Mo Sigui rapped her head with his pipe, exasperated. "Do you even take me seriously?! How could you not mention something this important!"
"I feel like with it blocked, my wounds heal faster," An Jiu said.
Part of her Mental strength being obstructed reduced the chances of her body suffering from its backlash. Combined with the pill made from Gu Jinghong’s Heart blood, the injuries to her Meridians had recovered seventy percent in just a few hours—a blessing in disguise.
"Do you know why some people go mad? Some of them lose their minds precisely because their Meridians are blocked. This method can’t be used often. I’ll remove the needles in two days." Mo Sigui couldn’t resist hitting her again. "If it were this easy, do you think I wouldn’t have thought of it?"
Ash from the pipe scattered down. An Jiu rubbed her nose and changed the subject. "What are you doing?"
"Planting flowers." Mo Sigui slid off Xiao Yue’s back, stretched his waist, and sighed. "So tiring!"
An Jiu narrowed her eyes. "That tiring?"
The ones truly exhausted were the two tigers! One carrying him, the other digging furiously—though judging by Da Jiu’s enthusiasm, it seemed to be enjoying itself. In the time they’d been talking, it had already dug a trench dozens of feet long. Unfortunately, it had buried the holes again before Mo Sigui could toss in any seeds.
"So dumb," An Jiu remarked.
Mo Sigui chuckled. "You don’t understand. With this Tracking Powder, tigers take on some traits of the person they’re tracking. That’s why Da Jiu and Xiao Yue have such different personalities."
"I won’t take such childish revenge to heart," An Jiu said flatly.
Mo Sigui opened the pouch of flower seeds. "These particles are so tiny. Planting them one by one is exhausting! Help me."
"No!" An Jiu refused outright.
"You’re efficient. If you don’t help, I’ll still be planting these next year!" Mo Sigui whined.
An Jiu lifted her chin haughtily but took the seeds anyway.
Mo Sigui immediately beamed like spring blossoms. "Hurry, hurry! Da Jiu’s already dug all the way over there." He grabbed a handful. "I’ll fill in the ones here."
"Fine." An Jiu strode over.
Seeing An Jiu approach with the seeds, Da Jiu grew even more excited and dug harder.
The sun dipped below the horizon, stars lighting up the night sky. By the time the pair and the tiger had circled halfway around the island, Mo Sigui finally came panting over with Xiao Yue. "You’re so fast."
An Jiu, ever meticulous, kept her head down as she dropped seeds into the holes and asked curiously, "How did you get Da Jiu to dig so obediently?"
"Oh, it has a habit of hiding things. I just told it these seeds are all its, but it can only eat one a day," Mo Sigui said.An Jiu watched Da Jiu still foolishly digging holes. "Can it understand?"
"Tigers naturally don’t understand human speech. But I have my ways to make it understand," Mo Sigui replied.
"What if it really comes to dig up the seeds tomorrow and eats them? Wouldn’t that be a waste of effort?" An Jiu didn’t believe a tiger could resist—it might dig them all up and eat them tonight.
Mo Sigui observed Da Jiu’s busy figure and leaned in to whisper, "These seeds only need to be planted near water. They’ll sprout overnight. Only the flower’s heart and seeds are poisonous—the rest of the plant is harmless. Da Jiu won’t eat it, haha."
"You’re despicable," An Jiu sneered. "Even tricking a tiger."
"Not at all." Mo Sigui flicked open his folding fan. "This is wisdom."
"Tch." An Jiu tossed the entire bag of seeds into his arms. "I’m going back to train. You can plant them yourself!"
"Hey! Giving up halfway isn’t your style!" Mo Sigui called after her.
An Jiu raised a middle finger behind her back and strode away.
"What does that mean…" Mo Sigui raised his own middle finger and muttered, "Definitely not something good!"
With that, he clamped the cigarette holder between his teeth, lit it, and continued planting.
Setting up defenses was better done sooner than later. The seeds Chu Dingjiang provided had the most potent poison in their seeds, but a single plant’s toxicity wasn’t strong enough to kill a person immediately if ingested by mistake. However, this flower had a unique trait—when grown near water, its stamen would release a toxic gas, causing dizziness and hallucinations, leading to death in one’s dreams. If large clusters of these flowers grew together, their toxicity became even more terrifying.
It had a beautiful name—Dream Blossom.
Another characteristic of this flower was that the poisonous gas lingered near the blooms and didn’t disperse randomly. Even if a few wisps were blown away by the wind, they would quickly lose their toxicity.
It had to be said—Chu Dingjiang’s planning was thorough.
Mo Sigui exhaled smoke, lost in thought as he gazed at the vast water. Though Dream Blossom was excellent for defense, its poison wasn’t unbeatable. It could stop ordinary people, but it might not stop Ning Yanli.
Mo Sigui didn’t know if that woman truly loved medicine and healing as much as he did, but her obsession with being "number one under heaven" was so intense she’d rather break than bend.
The stars shifted, and the moon dipped westward.
Only after planting a full circle around the island did Mo Sigui collapse onto Xiao Yue’s back and fall asleep.
When Da Jiu started digging, it had been itching to sneak back and eat a few seeds later. But after being worked all night, it was utterly exhausted.
The two tigers dragged Mo Sigui back to the house and slept like the dead the entire day.
By evening, Da Jiu, full of energy, dashed to the riverbank. Looking around, all it saw were tiny green sprouts—not a trace of the distinctive scent of poison. It felt thoroughly cheated.
Licking its lips in disappointment, it suddenly caught another scent that excited it—An Jiu.
Da Jiu waddled on its chubby paws, happily bounding toward the tree where An Jiu was perched.
An Jiu leaped down and pulled three Dream Blossom seeds from her pocket. Da Jiu’s eyes lit up at the sight.
Thanks to those three seeds, a friendship beyond the Tracking Powder was forged between human and tiger.
An Jiu noticed what seemed like a boat on the water in the darkness. Extending her mental strength to probe, she found it oddly familiar.
As the boat drew closer, An Jiu saw two people aboard—Li Qingzhi and Sui Yunzhu.
Sui Yunzhu, smiling, steered the boat to shore.Li Qingzhi eagerly jumped onto the dock, "Shi Si!"
"You're here!" An Jiu went forward to greet them.
Da Jiu lay under a tree, squinting his eyes as he happily savored the taste of Dream Blossom seeds, paying no attention to the strangers and allowing them to land smoothly.
"Yes, Lord Chu told us about this place," Li Qingzhi said, spotting Da Jiu. "Is that Miraculous Doctor Mo's tiger? Why is it only getting fatter but not bigger?"
"A tiger raised on Poison Pills is naturally different," Sui Yunzhu remarked before asking An Jiu, "Should we go pay our respects to Miraculous Doctor Mo first?"
"No need, he's sleeping right now," An Jiu replied, leading the two to pick their accommodations and instructing Mei Yanran to prepare two extra portions for dinner.
Dinner on the island was served late. Mo Sigui woke up from his nap feeling refreshed, his mood lifting at the smell of food. "Stewed chicken soup!" he exclaimed.
Upon entering the dining hall, Mo Sigui was startled to see two familiar faces and froze momentarily.
Sui Yunzhu tugged at Li Qingzhi, who was busy shoveling food into his mouth, to bow. "Miraculous Doctor Mo."
"What are you two doing here?" Mo Sigui scowled. "Chu Dingjiang actually dared to ignore my words!"
The atmosphere in the room instantly turned tense. Sheng Changying gently set down his bowl, pondering how to smooth things over.
Zhu Pianxian acted as if she hadn't noticed, continuously adding food to his bowl. "Eat up, look how thin you are."
Lou Xiaowu drifted in with a dazed expression. Mei Yanran handed her a bowl, and she started eating wherever she found a spot, not bothering to serve herself. Mei Yanran took care of her like a mother would her daughter.
An Jiu teased Da Jiu with a chicken leg, making him pounce around.
Sui Yunzhu coughed awkwardly and turned to An Jiu. "Maybe we should—"
"You two are just like Da Jiu, forgetting to eat when you see something interesting," An Jiu said without turning around. "Hurry up and eat."
Sui Yunzhu stopped looking at Mo Sigui and smiled at Mei Yanran. "Madam, your cooking is truly delicious. It's been years since I've had such a good meal."
Li Qingzhi raised his bowl in agreement. "Absolutely, absolutely."
The atmosphere in the room quickly returned to normal.
After finishing her meal, Lou Xiaowu "floated" out again. Ever since seeing the bullet diagrams An Jiu had drawn, she had been completely immersed in the world of firearms. The principles weren't difficult to grasp, and with Lou Xiaowu's talent, understanding them was no problem. However, what seemed simple in theory was incredibly challenging in practice—even the slightest deviation could lead to failure.
An Jiu knew full well that even if Lou Xiaowu succeeded in developing firearms, they would remain rare items. Without modern precision industrial production, guns couldn't be mass-produced. Still, she didn't stop Lou Xiaowu.
In this world, firearms might not be invincible, but holding a gun gave An Jiu the same peace and tranquility a Christian might feel holding a cross.
Mo Sigui stewed in silent anger, but before he could muster the energy to kick them out, he found himself sinking into another bout of distress.
After a good night's sleep, he fell into an even more severe bout of insomnia.
Soon, however, he discovered the benefits of having Sui Yunzhu and Li Qingzhi around. Sui Yunzhu loved planting flowers, grass, and vegetables, and even had some knowledge of herbs, capable of cultivating many medicinal plants. Li Qingzhi, strong and robust, could do the work of five or six men. Both were elites trained by the Crane Control Army, efficient and skilled in their tasks. Mo Sigui found them incredibly useful, and his little apothecary's apprentice was relegated to tending the fire, assisting Mei Yanran instead.In this way, he reluctantly accepted the two of them.
Life on the island was peaceful and serene, with everyone wearing relaxed and content expressions. An Jiu even began planting pear trees.
Six days passed in the blink of an eye, and Mei Yanran had already fallen into a deep sleep for half an hour.
Mo Sigui had long since prepared everything, waiting only to extract the Gu. (To be continued...)
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