âMom, are you alright?â Su Xiaoxue immediately asked after hearing her mother cough. She remembered that her mother was just fine when she left the house earlier that morning. She was puzzled as to why her mother suddenly started coughing.âItâs no big deal. My chest just feels rather tight.â Song Ruiping dismissively waved and said, âGive Yao a call and tell him to be careful. Guo Zhenghe is one hell of a schemer.â
âYeah, sure.â
Su Xiaoxue quickly called Wang Yao.
âWhat? He looked for you in Jing?â Wang Yao was rather shocked to hear that Guo Zhenghe still refused to let up. His enmity toward that young man from the Guo family instantly deepened.
Some people were so obnoxious and did not know when to give up.
âYeah, and he came to my place as well,â Su Xiaoxue said.
âHe was at your place?â Wang Yao asked. âDid you find something off about him?â
âSomething off? Well, I felt that he had a weird aura about him. Oh, his face didnât look right.â Su Xiaoxue recalled the encounter with Guo Zhenghe in detail. Guo Zhengheâs face had looked different from normal people. He looked as if he had gone out of his way to put on makeup.
Song Ruiping, who was next to her, began coughing again.
âIs Auntie by your side?â Wang Yao asked. âWhat is happening to her? Is she feeling unwell?â
âShe is feeling some tightness in her chest, but she was fine this morning,â Su Xiaoxue said.
âIf she was fine in the morning, did she begin feeling sick after Guo Zhenghe came to your place?â Wang Yao anxiously asked.
âIt seems so.â Song Ruiping thought about it and found that what Wang Yao asked was correct.
He was in the house for less than 10 minutes and didnât say anything important. It was mostly just small talk. However, she smelled something rather weird and began feeling unwell after he left.
âAlright, Iâll head there right away,â Wang Yao said. âTell Auntie to not go outside at all.â
âWhatâs wrong?â Su Xiaoxue asked.
âIâll tell you about it later.â
Wang Yao was worried that Guo Zhenghe had brought something poisonous he acquired from Miao Xihe to Su Xiaoxueâs place. If that was the case, the entire household was in danger.
He called Zhong Liuchuan and Jia Zizai to get things back home settled with them.
âKeep an eye out in this place. Zizai, keep your eyes peeled for any signs of Guo Zhenghe. Heâs dangerous.â
âI know, Master,â Jia Zizia replied. âYou can count on us.â
âAlright, you guys be careful. Use the Prolongation Pills I gave you guys if the situation demands it. They could save your lives.â
âWill do.â
After settling things back home, he told his parents that he was going to visit Xiaoxue in Jing. His parents did not ask any questions and simply told him to be careful. They even told him there was no need to rush back to the village. This was a good chance for him to stay in Jing and spend more time with Su Xiaoxue.
Wang Yao booked the next flight to Jing. He arrived at her home that night.
By the time he got there, Song Ruiping was already bedridden from severe tightness in her chest. She kept coughing. Blood was seen as well. Chen Zhouchuan was by her side. Su Xiaoxue was very restless.
âYouâre here!â
âLetâs check your mother out.â Wang Yao immediately began to diagnosis her.
âShe is poisoned.â
âPoison? From Guo Zhenghe?â
âIt was most likely him,â Wang Yao said. âLetâs put that aside for the moment and focus on treatment for Auntie.â
The treatment was easy.
He used half a leaf of Antidote Herb and half a leaf of Sedge with Guiyuan to adjust the effects.
After gulping down a bowl of medicine, it only took 30 minutes for it to work.
She no longer coughed, and her chest no longer felt tight.
âFeeling better now, Auntie?â
âA lot better.â Song Ruiping breathed a sigh of relief. âThank you for rushing all the way here.â
âDonât mention it,â Wang Yao said. âJust lie down and rest. Iâll prepare more medicine for you. Itâs for strengthening your body.â
âSure.â
All of them left the bedroom.
âWill my Mom be OK?â Su Xiaoxue asked.
âSheâs fine,â Wang Yao said, comforting her. âThe poisoning was not deep. Iâm here, so no worries.â
âI never thought that young man from the Guo family would do something like this,â Chen Zhouchuan said. âWhat was he after?â
Wang Yao thought about it and said, âHe may not be doing this on purpose.â
Anyone with even the slightest bit of sense would not have done something like that. Song Ruiping got sick right after he left. That identified him as the obvious suspect. Furthermore, the Su family was not an ordinary one. Showing up to harm one of them was a blatant act of provocation. Anyone with any brains at all would not have done something like that.
Wang Yaoâs diagnosis was that she was merely poisoned, not cursed. That was probably a side effect caused by Guo Zhenghe ridding his body of those bugs using Miao Xiheâs blood. That was what made Su Xiaoxue feel weird about him. He was also a man with medicine in his blood, technically speaking. However, said medicine was actually poison.
âOne way or another, he was the one who caused all of this, and he didnât come here with good intentions to begin with,â Su Xiaoxue coldly said.
She originally had a good impression of Guo Zhenghe, which was later reduced to being just average. Her impression further dropped to become a bad one, and she felt disgusted by the man. Now, she resented and hated him.
âSomeone like that deserves to be punished.â Those were heavy words coming from someone like Su Xiaoxue.
âPunishment?â Wang Yao asked. âI reckon heâs suffering said punishment as we speak.â
Miao Xiheâs blood could not be ingested without repercussions.
He talked with Su Xiaoxue for a bit before cooking the Regather Soup. He had brought ample herbs with him on the trip. They were all stored in the slots of the system. By the time he was done, it was late at night. Su Xiaoxue stayed by his side the whole time. He checked Su Xiaoxue for a bit after giving the medicine to Song Ruiping. After confirming that there were no problems with her, they went to their respective rooms and called it a night. It was the first time he had spent the night at her place.
The next day, Song Ruiping was up early in the morning. She felt fine and relieved. She strolled the compound before going back to the house to make breakfast.
Wang Yao got up rather early as well.
âHow are you feeling, Auntie?â he asked.
âA lot better,â Song Ruiping replied with a smile. âMy chest no longer feels tight. I donât feel any pain in my body anymore either.â
âCome, Iâve made you guys breakfast.â
Su Xiaoxue called down from upstairs, âBreakfast? Smells good!â
âCome down quick and eat it,â Song Ruiping replied.
Wang Yao did not rush to eat breakfast. Instead, he performed a simple checkup on Song Ruiping. After confirming that she was fine, he ate breakfast with the mother and daughter.
âEat more, mom.â Su Xiaoxue peeled an egg boiled in tea for her mother.
âThanks, Daughter. You eat more too.â
After they were done with breakfast, Wang Yao accompanied Su Xiaoxue on her way to school. Song Ruiping was the only person left in the house. After a while, Chu Lian arrived.
âMadam.â
âThat kid from the Guo family has really gone too far,â Song Ruiping said with a serious expression.
Regardless if he had been doing so deliberately or not, the fact that he was the one who got her sick remained. It was an act of provocation. Coming to her place just to provoke them was not something she was able to stomach.
âWhat would you like to do?â Chu Lian asked.
âHave someone keep a close eye on him,â Song Ruiping said. âIâd like to see what else he is capable of.â
âYes, Madam.â
Su Xianghua came home for a bit that morning.
âA rough trip, I take it?â Song Ruiping asked.
After washing his face, Su Xianghua said, âIt was not too bad. Iâve gotten used to it.â
âYao came last night.â
âIs that so? Tell him to come over at noon. Itâs been a while since I last saw him,â Su Xianghua said. Considering his position at work, he was on a very tight schedule. There were many matters that he had to attend to whether he liked it or not. His time slots were all filled with work.
âDo you know why he came here?â Song Ruiping asked.
âWhy?â Su Xianghua was rather stunned by that question.
âHe was here because of me,â Song Ruiping said.
âYou?â Su Xianghua asked in shock. âWhat happened to you? Did you got sick?â
âI was nearly poisoned to death,â Song Ruiping said. âIf it hadnât been for Yao coming here in the nick of time, I figure youâd be seeing me elsewhere.â
âWhat the hell happened?â Su Xianghuaâs expression turned severe. He knew what his wife was like. She would not have joked about something like that.
Song Ruiping told him what happened the day before in detail.
âThis is outrageous!â Su Xianghua shouted.
âYao definitely is still holding something back. Iâll talk to him later.â
âSure.â
Su Xiaoxue and Wang Yao were having a great time at Yenching University. They went back to her place at noon for a bit because her father was home.
After lunch, Su Xianghua told Wang Yao to come to his study. The two men talked for quite a long time. Wang Yao told just about everything he was able to recall about the matter, from the very beginning to what happened most recently, to Su Xianghua. He held almost nothing back. He, however, omitted the happenings at the southern mountain as best he could.
âHe killed someone?â Su Xianghua asked.
âI have no proof, but I couldnât think of anyone out to do that but him,â Wang Yao replied.