Han Yunxi’s dumbfounded expression was extremely detestable to the man, who raised his sword to rest against her neck again.

“Hurry up!” he said impatiently, as if channeling an vicious spirit.

Recovering her wits, Han Yunxi cursed herself from the depths of her heart. How pathetic was she? After taking in a deep breath, she managed to compose her senses.

“Set the sword aside. Otherwise, if my hand slips and causes an accident, it won’t be my fault.”

“You’re threatening me?” the man narrowed his eyes.

“You can take it that way, yes.” Although this man was a feast for the eyes, Han Yunxi was no lovestruck fool. She valued her life, but it really was harder to focus on her work when she was threatened. If Han Yunxi had glanced up just then, she would have saw him narrowing his eyes until they turned into slits. It was a look sharp enough to slice her into mincemeat. But what did it matter if he was fierce? Who told him to end up at the mercy of someone else?

Slowly, the sword was withdrawn.

Han Yunxi didn’t say much, but used a cotton swab to inspect the wound, serious and alert. Eliminating toxins came in two steps: 1) expunging the poison and 2) diluting its remnants.

Expunging meant finding a way to draw out the poisons from within the body, while diluting usually referred to poisons that couldn’t be expelled. Dilution required the use of certain drugs and toxins to dissolve the existing poison. Of the two, expunging poisons was Han Yunxi’s strongest skill.

There were two ways to expunge a poison. One used acupuncture needles while the second used medicines. Acupuncture itself was enough to expel most of the poison, then an application of various medicines to absorbed the remaining toxins that seeped out. After a thorough examination, Han Yunxi was convinced that this fellow’s poison could be expelled completely. It was only a pity she didn’t have all the ingredients she needed.

Without uttering a sound, she extracted her acupuncture needles. Different sections of the body corresponded to different poisons and acupoints. An ordinary doctor might need some time to find them, but it was a simple task for her.

“It’s going to hurt, bear with it.”

The man didn’t reply, but looked at her from beneath hooded eyes.

Han Yunxi was supposed to be an ugly woman, so how did her looks rival the entire capital’s to stun the populace? She was supposed to be weak and cowardly, so what was this courage and imposing manner in the face of danger? She was clearly the useless young Miss of the Han Family, so why were her acupuncture skills so exquisite?

Han Yunxi had no idea of the man’s suspicions because she was busy looking for acupoints. Her delicate brows knitted in concentration as she searched, emanating a thoroughly serious and professional air. It was the type of awe-inspiring dignity that made it difficult for people to interrupt her work. As the man watched, he didn’t even notice that he was getting more and more enthralled. He only thought that this woman wasn’t quite so annoying when she was focused on completing a task.

As more and more needles were stuck into his acupoints, his wound began to ooze with blackish blood. The flow grew heavy, almost to the point of being nauseating, but Han Yunxi didn’t bat an eyebrow as she wiped the mess clean to prevent it from infecting the other cuts on his body.

It wasn’t until the wound started bleeding fresh, red blood that Han Yunxi withdrew her needles, cleaned the injury, applied some blood-clotting balm and bound up everything with gauze and bandages. Her actions during the entire process were dexterous, nimble, and neat, done in an systematic way that took less than two hours.

Although she didn’t want to take responsibility for this man’s life, she still eliminated as much of the poison as she could. As for the traces of toxins remaining in his body…without further treatment, it’d be up to Heaven to decide the man’s fate. The medicine she’d applied to his wound was just to reduce inflammation while temporarily inhibiting the poison’s effects. If she went to look for additional medicines, there would be no way to shake off this man. This was the Duke of Qin’s residence and today was her wedding night, with her husband was due back at any time. If he ever found out she was here with another man, she was dead!

This guy–the sooner he leaves the better! It’ll be best if he never comes back!

Han Yunxi handed over a few packets of medicinal herbs and said in earnest, “Take this medicine once a day and you’ll be well in a few days. Hurry up and go.”

Who knew that the man only raised his eyebrows to reply, “Han Yunxi, this is your wedding night. Where do you want your lordship to go?”

Nani?[1]

-o-

[1] nani (纳尼) －the pinyin for the text literally reads “nani.” A borrowed exclamation from Japanese. Nani? = “What?”