Chapter 37: The "Poisonous Snake" Saves the Life

When Pan Yueqing heard the mention of someone surnamed Li, she was shocked. Qi Simeng had already gone to propose to Li Shuran so early?! Her gaze was somewhat complicated as she looked at Yang Lin, who slowly emerged from behind Qi Simeng. He was wearing an old human skin mask on his face, with a kind smile and a look of benevolence. He stroked his grizzled beard and shook his head helplessly at Princess Pingning. "Little girl, I just couldn't calculate the marriage luck between you and this young master. A forced marriage won't be happy."

"You're talking nonsense!" Princess Pingning whipped at him, but Qi Simeng reached out to block it. With teary eyes, she looked at Qi Simeng. "Cousin, is it because my father passed away early and my family is not as powerful as that general's family, so you don't want to marry me?"

Qi Simeng turned his face away. He didn't know how to answer Princess Pingning's question, just as he couldn't answer Li Shuran's question, "You want to marry me, but you still want to keep so many female friends?" He had asked his mother to send someone to propose, but it hadn't been successful at all. Now he was really confused.

"Alright, I've answered all the questions you asked, Young Master. Please go back," Yang Lin had no interest in the childhood sweetheart relationship between Qi Simeng and Princess Pingning, but he was extremely enthusiastic towards Pan Yueqing. "Miss, what do you want to ask?"

"Wait!" Princess Pingning took a step forward and blocked Pan Yueqing. With tears still on her face, but showing a look of unwillingness to admit defeat, she took out a tael of gold and showed it to Yang Lin. "I'll ask first! I want to ask when that girl surnamed Li will die. I can wait!"

"Pingning!" Qi Simeng shouted angrily.

Yang Lin couldn't resist the sight of gold. Who could resist making money? He chuckled, took the gold from Princess Pingning's hand, bit it to confirm it was real gold, then closed his eyes and started calculating with his fingers. It should have been a very simple matter, but he couldn't help frowning. After a whole stick of incense time, Yang Lin suddenly leaned against the door frame, covered his chest, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The gold in his sleeve fell to the ground with a clatter, stained with Yang Lin's blood, and rolled to Pan Yueqing's feet. Yang Lin raised his eyes slightly, looked at Pan Yueqing with a complicated gaze, shook his head slightly, and finally closed his eyes and fainted.

Seeing that Yang Lin had fainted, Princess Pingning felt embarrassed. After Qi Simeng helped Yang Lin into the house, he looked around warily at the snakes, scorpions, rats, and ants that Yang Lin had raised. He then looked at Pan Yueqing with an apologetic expression. "I've wasted Second Miss's time."

"It doesn't matter. I'll wait," Pan Yueqing smiled. She moved a stool and sat in the courtyard, watching Qi Simeng and Princess Pingning leave. The 108 red agate prayer beads that circled four times around her slender wrist glistened brightly in the sunlight. Xia Yang behind her bit her lip and frowned, whispering in her ear, "Miss, this place is too scary. The things this person raises are terrifying."

"I think you haven't read enough storybooks. Which rumored master doesn't have some strange quirks?" Luo Shui's gaze was calm, even with a hint of a smile.

After about the time it took to burn a stick of incense, Xia Yang behind her held her forehead and swayed unsteadily. Luo Shui also noticed the presence of the drug. She was just about to say to Pan Yueqing, "Miss, be careful!" when her legs went weak and she fell to the ground. Pan Yueqing looked around in confusion. At the gate, a man in a gray robe and mask jumped in and grabbed her shoulder.

"Who are you?" Pan Yueqing's gaze was sharp, but her body felt weak. She clearly knew that these two were highly skilled in martial arts, and now she couldn't muster any strength at all.

"Someone asked us to invite the Miss to come with us," one of them said.

"That won't do." A familiar and clear voice passed through the courtyard and pierced Pan Yueqing's eardrums. In a dazed state, she raised her eyes and saw Qi Sian standing at the gate, wearing a white robe and a cloak, holding a flowing cloud folding fan in his hand, looking at her with a half-smile.

Pan Yueqing didn't even have the strength to speak before losing consciousness. Qi Sian's expression changed. Ignoring who these two men in gray robes and masks were, he stepped on the stone steps, whirled his body, and rushed forward. The black iron short swords on the edge of the folding fan shot out towards the two men coming towards him.

"Hidden weapons?" One of the men in gray robes and masks stopped slightly, and his gaze towards Qi Sian became complicated. He asked tentatively, "Who are you? Who is your master?"

Qi Sian sneered at the man. His original master was extremely complex. The fan in his hand was like a sword without a visible blade. When he flipped it, it seemed to have the essence of the moves of the Yue Maiden Sword. But he was still young, and he was fighting two against one. Before long, under the attack of the two men in gray robes and masks from the left and right, one of them knocked the folding fan out of his hand. Qi Sian's gaze darkened slightly, and his body sank as he used the Fumo Vajra Fist of the Shaolin Temple up close.

"I say, don't you feel a sharp pain in the middle of your second rib after fighting for so long?" A leisurely voice suddenly came from the house. The men in gray robes and masks instinctively covered the acupoint indicated by the voice. Their faces changed, and they asked Yang Lin, who was standing at the door with his hands in his sleeves in surprise, "You poisoned us?!"

"Huh! I've raised at least a thousand poisonous insects in this place. Even the grass you're standing on is poisonous," Yang Lin still had a little blood at the corner of his mouth. His two small mustaches twitched as he spoke proudly, looking very much like the treacherous minister in storybooks.

Qi Sian watched calmly as the two men in gray robes and masks jumped out from the side of the courtyard. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Pan Yueqing, who was sitting on the chair with her eyes closed. He reached out and gently stroked her smooth and tender face, but his voice was cold as he said to Yang Lin, "I've searched through the Imperial Observatory, and there's no such thing as the theory of 'two bodies sharing one fate'."

"Then you might as well try killing her to see?" Yang Lin's face showed no emotion. He even sat on a small stool beside him, took out a wine bag, and took a sip with his head tilted back.

Qi Sian sneered and turned his back to Yang Lin. "I want to have my fortune told."

Yang Lin gulped down the wine and didn't have the chance to speak. He just waved his hand to refuse. Qi Sian picked up the folding fan, silently inserted the short swords one by one back into the grooves of the fan bones, stood up, and walked slowly towards Yang Lin.

Yang Lin closed the wine bag, rested his chin in his hand, and looked at Qi Sian, who had an unfriendly gaze, with a smile. "Your Highness, do you still need to have your fortune told? Do you think who calculated that you, a celestial being descending to the mortal world, have a short life that can't be retained in this world?"

"I'm hungry," Qi Sian didn't take up the conversation. He just spoke to Yang Lin as if it were only natural. He didn't stop walking either. Instead, he sat beside Yang Lin, snatched the wine bag from Yang Lin's hand, took a couple of sips, smacked his lips, and said in disgust, "Drinking low-quality wine will make you die faster."

Yang Lin gave Qi Sian a dirty look, but he still couldn't bear to say the words on his lips, "Dying faster is still better than you, a short-lived guy, living longer." He stood up, took out a green bottle, and held it under Pan Yueqing's nose. In less than three breaths, Pan Yueqing woke up leisurely. She looked at Yang Lin in a daze. When her gaze focused on Qi Sian, she turned her eyes away and let out a slight sigh.

"What's your attitude? I just saved you!" Qi Sian immediately understood the look of disgust on Pan Yueqing's face, and his smile was tinged with anger.

"Thank you, Shen Poisonous Snake," Pan Yueqing said in a flat tone, sounding very perfunctory.