Chapter 98: Chapter 99: Not Following the Way of the Virtuous Woman

The Hu Family’s relationship with Qu Wei seemed quite good, as immediately a bunch of people went to greet Qu Wei.

This indeed made Qi Yue breathe a huge sigh of relief.

For some reason, she now actually found Qu Wei much more pleasing to the eye than Hu Keqing.

So when Qu Wei came over to find her, she rarely showed some smile.

“Yo, how rare, our Miss Qi Yue can also smile. Could it be that after being apart for so long, you’ve started to miss me?”

Qu Wei shook his folding fan in his hand, believing himself to be suavely sitting down.

“You’re overthinking it,” Qi Yue glanced at him disdainfully and placed a cup of tea in front of him, “I’m just happy to see you’ve gotten uglier.”

Upon hearing this, Qu Wei immediately took out a mirror from his bosom to inspect himself from left to right.

Unexpectedly, though, from behind the reflection in the mirror, he caught sight of two faces sneaking around in the bushes.

Without changing his expression, he put the mirror back into his bosom and spoke loudly, “What are you talking about, Doctor Qi? I’ve been thinking about you all along the way. Didn’t we say we would meet after ten days? Why didn’t you wait for me, causing me to suffer the pangs of lovesickness on the road, ah, how pitiful.”

Seeing his uncommon use of “Miss Qi Yue” and then “Doctor Qi,” Qi Yue knew he had noticed the maidservants spying on her, and she smiled faintly, laying her hand upon Qu Wei’s wrist.

“Let’s see how pitiful you are. Did your hair turn white, or did you lose a heartbeat?”

Qu Wei gazed at her with eyes wide with feigned astonishment and exaggeratedly “hmmed” in response, even leaning his whole body much closer to Qi Yue.

He had originally thought that she didn’t need to take his pulse to diagnose him.

Qi Yue was indeed taking his pulse, and though last time she had relieved his temporary pain with the Ghost Gate Needle, it was only a temporary fix and not a cure.

If the object in his head wasn’t removed within two years, he would not be able to survive.

“Bend your head down,” she commanded.

Qu Wei obediently bowed his head like a well-behaved puppy.

Just then, catching sight of the two maidservants running out from the corner of her eye, Qi Yue couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“What are you laughing at?” Qu Wei asked with his head down, his voice muffled.

“I’m laughing at how close to death you are,” she stated.

As she spoke, she pressed on a raised spot on top of his head, and Qu Wei immediately fell onto the table, gasping from the pain.

“Alright,” she said briskly, withdrawing her hand and instantaneously reverting to her indifferent and calm demeanor, starting to rinse her hands with the now-brewed tea.

Qu Wei noticed this and immediately burst out indignantly.

“Hey, I bathed and cleaned myself before I came, smelling all fragrant…”

“Shut up!” Qi Yue cut him off coldly, pulling out a handkerchief from her bosom to wipe her hands.

Her fingers, slender and like jade, were clearly defined as the sunlight scattered fine light over them.

Qu Wei was momentarily transfixed and murmured, “Do you know that your hands are very beautiful?”

Qi Yue shot him a look and sneered, “I know that with one punch, I can kill you.”

Qu Wei then snapped back to reality, looking behind to the flowering bushes where there was already no one to be seen, and his face fell.

“I knew you weren’t being kind-hearted, it turns out you’re just using me.”

“That indicates you have value to be used, you should be happy about it,” she retorted.

Qu Wei was taken aback, smacking his lips after a moment.

“So, what benefit do I get from letting you use me?”

“Do you not want your brain anymore?” Qi Yue finally finished wiping her hands, setting aside the handkerchief and started to drink her tea.

“Did you really just take my pulse?” Qu Wei was astonished.

“What, you think I had nothing better to do than to joke with you?” Qi Yue put down her cup, her face indifferent, “Two conditions, one, I want to leave this place, and two…”

She paused, wanting to ask him to take care of the Zhao Family, but then she thought that as long as Zhao Xiyan were to stand up, he wouldn’t need anyone worrying about him, so she waved her hand dismissively, “That’s it.”

“Let me think about it.” This time, Qu Wei took her seriously.

Truth be told, if it could save his life, it wouldn’t just be two conditions—he would agree to ten. But with his abilities, he could not outmaneuver Hu Chengxuan, and would have to think of another way.

Qi Yue didn’t speak, obviously aware of the difficulty.

Hu Chengxuan commanded an army of 150,000 stationed at Longnan Ridge. Saying he was like a local emperor was no exaggeration.

In the face of such a man, if he refused to be reasonable, no one could do anything about him.

The only thing giving Qi Yue a glimmer of hope was that Hu Keqing had never said he liked her or anything of that sort.

Though the man was bold, he was still suppressed by her cold demeanor. She hoped that would last a bit longer.

Meanwhile, the two maidservants who had run away were vividly recounting the interaction between the two to Madam Hu.

Although the maidservants were far away and didn’t see the details or hear everything clearly,

they saw Qi Yue and Qu Wei leaning in close, talking about something sweet, as both were smiling.

Madam Hu jumped up from her luxury couch, wishing she could immediately confront Qi Yue to accuse her.

“No, this can’t reach Qingqing, he would be heartbroken. My poor son, I never imagined this young doctor was such a loose woman!”

“Madam, what should we do then? Should we still try to match the young master with this Doctor Qi?” an old servant quickly asked.

“Matchmake my ass,” Madam Hu didn’t care for the decorum of a lady anymore, speaking crudely, “She hasn’t even entered our household and already reeks of a vixen. Once inside, who knows what may happen.”

The old servant immediately agreed, “Exactly, she’s just a doctor and looking like that, she treats men. It’s clear that she seduces them. If not for your foresight, madam, we would have never seen her true colors.”

Madam Hu snorted proudly, “That night when we could not find her anywhere in or outside the house, I knew there was something wrong with this woman. Look, I was right!”

“Indeed,” the old servant nodded in agreement, “She claimed she was thinking of a prescription. Who knows what indecent things she may have been up to.”

The two of them angrily ranted about Qi Yue, but once they calmed down, Madam Hu was still worried.

“What if Qingqing really likes this woman, after all, he told me just last night that we should prepare to ask the Huang family for their blessing in marriage.”

A maid suddenly interjected.

“I heard the young master say that once he’s up, he’s going to confess to Doctor Qi, asking her to stay forever in our household.”

“That absolutely must not happen!” Madam Hu paced anxiously on the plush carpet, “Quick, see if the master is back yet, I must stop this.”

The maid ran quickly to the front gate to inquire, while the old servant tried to dissuade her.

“Madam, this is not something you and the master should intervene in, it will only alienate the young master.”

“Then what should we do?”

“Madam, in my opinion, why not just let things take their course? Maybe the young master will see her true colors and stop liking her,” suggested the old servant.

However, Madam Hu shook her head repeatedly.

“I don’t think Qingqing will easily stop liking her. Over these past years, have you ever seen him so obsessed over any girl?”

The old servant’s eyes shifted as she came up with another idea.

“Then let the young master marry her, but only as a concubine. Maybe after playing around for a year or two, he’ll tire of her, and we can deal with her then.”

Hearing this, Madam Hu was reluctant but eventually nodded.

“Fine, that’s the only way then,” she agreed.