Chapter 172: Chapter 85 Threaten Him_3
He showed not the slightest concern for his life or death.
Duan Xiaoyan clenched his teeth, his voice carrying a threat, "Doctor Lu, I am from the Palace Front Office. By attempting to harm a guard of the Emperor, are you not courting death?"
"Harm a guard of the Emperor?"
It was as if she heard sothing laughable and actually laughed, her gaze deep and aningful as she glanced at him, "Young Master Duan decided to break into a civilian’s ho late at night, seemingly to commit burglary, but you were unfortunately bitten by a poisonous snake I had procured as a dical prir."
"You entered Renxin dical Hall uninvited, and you took the jar without permission and opened it yourself. A thief who opens the jar containing a poisonous snake loses their life as a consequence. Once this story gets out, others will say that justice is served and the retribution is swift. How could you bla it on , and how could you possibly use the word ’harm’?"
Her gaze was calm, yet her tone was sowhat mocking.
"Are all of you from the Palace Front Office so unreasonable?"
Duan Xiaoyan was at a loss for words.
To be fair, what Lu Tong said was not wrong. It was he who had followed her secretly and sneaked into Renxin dical Hall in the middle of the night. It was also his curiosity that was piqued when he saw her lingering at her desk for a long ti which led him to irrationally touch that porcelain jar containing the snake.
But... if it was just a jar with a snake in it, why had she lingered at the desk for so long, looking very carefully, prompting speculative thoughts.
It was as though a realization struck Duan Xiaoyan, and his body shivered violently.
He looked up, incredulously, at Lu Tong.
"Did you deliberately lead
to touch that jar?"
Had she not intentionally lingered and acted suspiciously by the desk, why would he have gone over to rummage through the bamboo basket?
She had clearly laid a trap for him!
Lu Tong smiled faintly, "Is Young Master Duan attempting again to arbitrarily sling mud on soone?"
The young man’s anger was hard to quell, and he suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"A dical hall and pharmacy are ant for saving lives and healing the sick. How can you secretly keep such deadly poisons? Even if you did not lead
here on purpose, you certainly have malicious intentions. Just wait for the day you decide to use that poisonous snake to bite soone!"
The dangerous creature was just casually kept in a jar, without even a note of warning attached. No matter how one looked at it, it seed very odd.
Lu Tong paused in her dicinal pounding, looked at the wooden jar before her, and sighed slightly, her expression carrying a tinge of regret.
"As snakes tend to ascend in nature, they make the best prirs. That Seven Steps Death was purchased by
to be used in dicine, quite a valuable and rare find. The cost of the materials alone was two taels of silver."
"I had soone search for a long ti, and it was with great difficulty that I was able to find one, only for you to kill it without reason, squandering the month’s expenses."
Duan Xiaoyan almost spat blood upon hearing her words.
His life hung by a thread, yet she was only concerned about her two taels of silver. Did she place any value on human life at all?
Lu Tong glanced at him, her eyes slowly moving to the wound on the young man’s arm, and she spoke reassuringly.
"Young Master Duan best not get angry, for although Seven Steps Death will not claim a life in seven steps, it especially abhors the stirring of qi and blood. Every ti you get agitated, the more you move, the deeper the snake venom spreads. So, don’t make any abrupt movents."
Duan Xiaoyan stiffened.
The reason he still sat here, not daring to move, was precisely his fear of the poison, wasn’t it? Otherwise, with his skills, he could have easily restrained Lu Tong by now and forced her to hand over the antidote.
The young man looked at the person in front of him.
Lu Tong sat at a small kitchen table, one hand supporting the dicine jar, the other clutching the dicine Hamr with force, pounding away; her light-colored skirt under the lamplight resembled a bud about to bloom. The woman’s features were beautiful and refined, her hair like clouds, akin to a fairy from the palace of the moon, leaving a lingering aroma.
The words Pei Yunng uttered before departing echoed in his ears again.
"That’s a madwoman. Stay away from her. Otherwise, if trouble arises, even I won’t be able to save you."
Was she really a madwoman?
If soone had told Duan Xiaoyan this earlier, he would have scoffed and refused to believe that Lu Tong harbored evil intentions, nor would he believe she was capable of murder.
But now, he was not so certain.
Lu Tong, to this mont, had refused to provide him with an antidote, seemingly quite content to watch him die.
Regret filled his heart; he shouldn’t have ignored Pei Yunng’s advice to stay away from Lu Tong, nor should he have impulsively followed her alone.
Duan Xiaoyan steadied his nerves and decided to take a different approach.
He said, "Doctor Lu, in truth, you and I have no grievances. There’s no need to make it a life-or-death situation. I was wrong today. If you give
the antidote, we can discuss this properly."
While speaking, he looked around. He had left in a hurry today and did not bring a fire signal. Pei Yunng might have returned to the Palace Marshal’s Mansion by now; he wondered whether Pei could discern that he was in trouble.
As he was contemplating, he heard Lu Tong speak, "Whom are you waiting for, that esteed Lord Pei of yours?"
Duan Xiaoyan was startled.
Lu Tong stopped her handiwork and looked at him with bright eyes, as if she could see right through to the bottom of his heart.
"Young Master Duan, how about we make a bet?"
"Bet on what?"
"Bet whether your Lord Pei can find you or not?"
Duan Xiaoyan was stunned, "What?"
Lu Tong rubbed her wrist, sore from pounding dicines, "Since the bite, half an hour has passed already; you have another half an hour."
"In that half hour, if your Lord Pei can find this place, perhaps you will live."
"Young Master Duan, would you like to bet?"
Duan Xiaoyan trembled.
She spoke these words with an indifferent tone, the corners of her mouth even carrying a slight smile. Duan Xiaoyan suddenly had a strange illusion—that his life was being treated as a child’s play, and he felt like a helplessly chosen lamb, with her standing as the butcher holding the power of life and death, looking down mockingly at the struggling prey.
A piece of lamp wick fell and shattered on the table; in the courtyard, the frost was cold, and the moon chilly, the mournful sound of crickets constant.
In this deathly silence, the sound of a voice suddenly rang out.
"Then you might lose the bet."
Lu Tong looked up.
In the distance, soone lifted the felt curtain, and a figure walked into the courtyard. The young man’s distinguished profile beca increasingly clear under the moonlight and as he approached, a faint fragrance of musk filled the air.
He stopped before the kitchen door, dressed in a deep red brocade robe adorned with precious flower patterns, elegant and sumptuous, the silver dagger at his waist reflecting a chilling light.
Pei Yunng glanced at Duan Xiaoyan, who was in disarray on the ground, and suddenly smiled.
"Doctor Lu."
He looked at Lu Tong languidly, "I believed that before you take soone belonging to , at least you would have the courtesy to notify
first."
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