You Yuji frowned in her sleep. Even in her dreams, she was still thinking about her mother, which prevented her from falling asleep. Si Que glanced at her tear-stained cheeks and pierced the silver needle into her neck to help her sleep deeply. Then he picked her up.
Mrs. You's room was simply furnished, without even a couch. Si Que simply sat down on the chair in front of the cabinet and placed You Yuji on his lap. She had changed into loose nightgown today, and there was no layer of chest wrapping under the lavender nightgown, only a close-fitting top. Si Que untied the belt that was in the way at her back, and gave her acupuncture to remove the poison for the last time.
He untied the gauze wrapped around his left hand. The wound from last night showed no sign of healing. He scratched the wound again, and without looking for a cup, he placed his palm directly on You Yuji's lips, letting his blood drip into her mouth.
As the blood drained away, his face turned pale.
Whether it was using his internal energy to force the poison out of her on the first day, or feeding her with blood in the next two days, it was a huge drain on his body.
But Si Que is not someone who can't afford to lose.
He is willing to accept defeat.
Those who make the rules must abide by them.
Si Que put You Yuji's clothes on and carried her back to the bed. Perhaps because he had done so many things to destroy corpses and cover up traces, he was very good at restoring everything to its original state. Even the side of You Yuji's shirt strap that was tied after it was tied was restored to its original state.
He left quietly without disturbing anyone. A quarter of an hour after he left the You family, the sleeping gatekeeper woke up rubbing his eyes, blaming himself for his incompetence, and poured himself another cup of tea to wake himself up.
The weather was fine when Si Que arrived, but after he left You's house, the wind started to blow, not strong, but a little chilly. Despite the chill, he still walked slowly.
It was late at night, and everything was silent. The stars and the moon were absent, and it was pitch black.
Si Que walked by the river, the sound of the wind blowing on the water surface was subtle. Knowing that someone was following him, he stopped and sat down on the bluestone railing halfway up the river, waiting patiently. Even if no one was following him, his weakness forced him to stop and rest.
Soon, Si Hua walked out from the darkness.
Si Hua, the second prince of Si State and Si Que's half-brother.
"Why did you come out of the Jinnan Palace?" Si Hua asked in a low voice, with a hint of impatience in his voice.
Si Que raised the white gauze of his veil with his long fingers and looked over.
It was too dark, and Si Hua couldn't see Si Que's expression. He walked quickly towards Si Que and stopped three or five steps in front of him. He asked in a lower voice: "Did you get the things?"
"What is that?" Si Que's voice was as cold as water.
"Didn't you leave the palace because you got something? It's already this late and you're still so slow. We are willing to pay such a huge price to send the prince away. This is a desperate choice for our Si State!"
Si Que suddenly remembered that day.
It was Si Que who found a way to send the prince out of the palace. The old emperor dreamed of restoring his country, and knowing that he was old and incompetent, he placed his hopes on the prince. Even if he told the old emperor that the price of doing so would be that all the royal family members in the palace would be imprisoned, enslaved, or even slaughtered in a rage by Emperor Chen, the old emperor was still willing to believe in his prince.
Si Que curled up the corners of his lips almost imperceptibly, and smiled. He didn't know whether the old emperor, who was now in the death row, still believed in the prince's restoration of the country. He really wanted to see whether the old emperor could wait in the prison with hope and see if the prince brother would "be successful".
Si Que came back to his senses and looked coldly at his second brother in front of him.
Si Hua took another step forward and said in a coaxing tone: "Brother knows that it is difficult for you to approach the prince of Chen State as a girl and coax him. But the treasure map of our Si State must not fall into the hands of Chen State. Chen Anzhi has been thinking about you since the night banquet that year. If you coax him a little, you can always trick the treasure map out. Even if you can't trick it, just destroy it. Now, in order to restore the country, father and his clansmen are enduring humiliation in Chen's death cell. If you can destroy the treasure map, even if you die, it will be a great feat that will be remembered for ages..."
For some reason, Si Que had been dressed as a woman since he was young, and now he was Chen Anzhi's concubine. It was easy to find out that he was a man when they were together. Even so, everyone hoped that he would go to Jinnan Palace to get close to Chen Anzhi and use this one in ten million chance to destroy the treasure map. As for whether Si Que could get away unscathed, it didn't matter, because he wouldn't live long anyway.
Listening to Si Hua's constant chatter, Si Que slowly began to smile.
Si Hua was still trying to persuade him when he saw something flash by in the darkness. He looked closely and saw Si Que throwing a copper coin high into the air.
Si Que raised his hand to catch the falling copper coin and pressed it on the back of his hand wrapped in white gauze. He raised his right hand and glanced at the copper coin coldly.
—The reverse side.
Si Que raised his eyebrows, retracted his gaze to look at Si Hua, and said: "Although I haven't got the things, but I know where they are."
"Where is it?" Si Hua asked anxiously.
A cool breeze blew, and Si Que couldn't help but turned his head and coughed twice, with a slightly fishy and sweet taste in his throat.
"Second brother, bow your head."
Another coughing fit, and drops of blood fell on the gauze on Si Que's left hand.
Si Hua thought that the rumors about Si Que not living to adulthood seemed to be true. Seeing Si Que so exhausted, he hurried over and leaned closer to Si Que.
Si Que paused, leaned his head close to Si Hua's ear, and whispered: "You all believed me when I told you that the treasure map was in Chen Anzhi's hands. Are you still so foolish as to want to rebuild the country?"
Si Hua was stunned. Just as he was about to stand up, the three long needles between Si Que's fingers entered his neck and pierced his throat. Si Hua suddenly opened his eyes wide. He wanted to shout to his subordinates in the distance, but he couldn't make a sound. He tried his best, but he could only utter two words weakly.
Si Que listened carefully and realized that he was talking about "beast".
Si Que smiled with interest.
"We grew up together, and you only realized today that I am a beast. I deserved to die." Si Que's smile grew brighter and brighter, and he even chuckled, which turned into a series of intermittent coughs. He stopped smiling again in an instant, and looked coldly at Si Hua who had fallen to the ground.
Si Que sat quietly for a while as if nothing had happened, and when he regained some strength, he stood up and left. But not long after, he came back with a branch of pure white late autumn jasmine in his hand.
He had just found this on the side of the road.
Si Que sniffed the rich fragrance of jasmine, then leaned over and placed it on Si Hua's chest. He smiled innocently and said, "Sleep well, my second brother."
Si Hua opened his eyes wide and died with his eyes open.
Si Que turned and left. As he walked away, Si Hua's body slowly turned into a pool of blood, and white smoke gradually rose. Soon, even the blood disappeared, leaving only the white jasmine still lying by the river, its petals trembling gently in the night breeze.
Everyone knows that Princess Siguo Que is a talented writer and even better at playing the zither. But only a few people in the Siguo Palace know that she is best at poison. There is no poison that she cannot make, and no one that she cannot kill. Everything around her is poisonous. Even her own body is the biggest source of poison.
The You family was not close to the Jinnan Palace, but Si Que walked slowly. After another quarter of an hour, it began to rain. Even if it was just a drizzle in late autumn, it was still cold.
Soon, Si Que heard a faint cry from the roadside. He walked over to find a dying kitten in a pile of dry grass. It looked like it was less than a month old. The kitten was soaked by rain or mud, and was dirty. You couldn't see its original fur color. It cried softly, feeling scared and cold, and its weak body kept shaking.
There were several frozen bodies of kittens beside it, but the adult cat was nowhere to be seen.
Si Que wiped the mud off the cat with a snow towel, then put it in his arms to keep it warm. The cat shivered and scratched, and the mud stained his snow coat.
Si Que pulled the white gauze of his hat to shield the kitten in his arms from the rain. As he walked, he pinched the kitten's neck and said softly, "Let's compete to see who lives longer."
He named the cat Baisui.
He can kill his brothers and sisters with a smile, or he can show mercy to a street cat.
Human hearts are complicated, but unenlightened animals are pure.
When You Yuji woke up the next day, her eyes were red. Every time she cried, the corners of her eyes would be left with such a deep red mark for a long time. She finished the things that she had not finished last night in her father's study, and then reluctantly left her mother's bed and said goodbye to her brother.
You Yuji squatted in front of You Jiamu and straightened the wrinkles on his front. She said softly, "Mother is bedridden now, thank you for your hard work."
Thinking that her younger brother was still young and had to be the one making decisions, You Yuji couldn't help but feel distressed and sad.
"Okay, I have to go back." You Yuzhi stood up.
"Sister!" You Jiamu clenched his fists, "You all treat me like a child."
You Yuji touched the top of his head and said with a smile: "Jiamu is not a child, he is a little man."
You Jiamu seemed to suddenly lose his temper and shook his head.
"I'm a child, a child who can't do many things. But..." He looked up at his sister and said firmly, "Sister, you are an adult. Maybe you can do what I can't do. Even if I can't help you, I don't want to be a burden to you. If... I mean if... If you want to do something, just do it, don't worry about me."
You Yuji was stunned, and pondered carefully over her brother's roundabout way of speaking.
You Jiamu pulled You Yuji's sleeve and said, "Sister, no matter what you do, I will stand by your side. Even if everyone says your choice is wrong, as long as you choose, I will say it is right! So what if we die together!"
You Yuji understood.
After a long while, she smiled and nodded slowly.
Her younger brother had grown up faster than she had imagined, and was no longer the naughty child who got into trouble everywhere and made his father and mother angry.
On the way back, Chen Anzhi was very quiet, with no signs of troublemaking as he had yesterday. He even poured tea for You Yuji.
You Yuji glanced at him with some surprise.
Chen Anzhi coughed lightly and whispered, "Don't cry..."
You Yuji was startled, then suddenly realized. When she was with her mother yesterday, she couldn't stop crying whenever she thought that her mother might go after her father at any time.
Chen Anzhi misunderstood that she was crying because of him
You Yuji didn't explain, she lowered her eyes and drank tea silently. She thought about what her brother had just said to her, and once again thought about her future with Chen Anzhi.
The carriage continued for a while, and You Yuji asked it to stop. Chen Anzhi looked over in confusion, wanting to ask, but when he saw her holding onto the wall and getting off the carriage without any intention of explaining to him, his face darkened, and he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, not even bothering to ask.
You Yuji went to Wanfu Pharmacy.
She used to come here often to buy medicine for her mother, and the shopkeeper was very familiar with her. However, this time she didn't come here to buy medicine for her mother, but to buy a box of golden wound medicine for external injuries.
"This box of silver cream is effective in treating external injuries quickly and effectively. It guarantees that no scars will be left." The shopkeeper introduced the best external injury medicine with a smile.
You Yuzhi remembered that Si Que had injured his hand, so she passed by here and bought medicine for Si Que.
She vaguely remembered that her father had told her that Princess Que had a very poor physical condition and her wounds were harder to heal than those of ordinary people. She didn't know whether this was true or not, but she felt that the princess had fallen into the status of a concubine and slave, and there might be many inconveniences. She also didn't know if the princess had any better medicine.
When the carriage drove to the street in front of the palace, Chen Anzhi called for the carriage to stop. He got off the carriage, but did not return to the palace, and no one knew where he went.
Madam Jing sighed, her face filled with worry.
You Yuji didn't want to care where Chen Anzhi went. After returning to the palace, she changed her clothes and took the silver cream to Yunxiao Pavilion.