Liang Ye’s dark pupils trembled slightly as his thumb gently rubbed Wang Dian’s tiger’s palm. “Zhen naturally trusts you.”
Wang Dian tugged at the corner of his mouth and laughed softly near his ear, “Of course you trust me, otherwise you wouldn’t have led me to that secret chamber… You discovered it early but couldn’t open it. Why did you lead me there? Because you realized there were some things you couldn’t accomplish alone.”
Liang Ye’s Adam’s apple moved slightly.
“If you hadn’t been desperately wanting to open it, given your personality, would you have stopped after undoing the belt?” Wang Dian sneered, “Those marks in front of the secret chamber were clearly made by you trying to open the door.”
Liang Ye’s brows furrowed as he bit Wang Dian’s ear in displeasure.
“I didn’t say anything because I felt there was no need between us,” Wang Dian kissed his neck while leaning in his embrace. “What I can guess, you’ve probably figured out long ago. Yet you still deliberately ask me – I don’t even need to guess what you’re thinking.”
Liang Ye bared his teeth at him.
“Idiot.” Wang Dian grabbed a handful of his hair forcefully, unable to suppress a slight smile.
Liang Ye held him very tightly, his burning palm pressed firmly against his back, moving down his spine from the nape of his neck inch by inch, both suggestive and frivolous.
“Your depression is acting up,” Liang Ye’s voice was slightly muffled. “Rest outside the palace, wait for Zhen to come get you.”
“Did you just ignore everything I said?” Wang Dian sneered, pressing his index finger to Liang Ye’s brow, “Can’t you have some backbone? Back when Cui Yuxian plotted rebellion, you had to use medicine to make both people uncomfortable. Now when everything’s been laid out so clearly, you’re pulling this act?”
When it came down to it, he suddenly regretted, acting all emotional and affectionate, yet unwilling to change his decision, ultimately only making people feel frustrated.
Liang Ye had tested Wang Dian with the secret chamber matter to confirm his “special” abilities. Thinking back on various past incidents, it was always Wang Dian’s presence that helped him narrowly escape danger. Once or twice might be coincidence, but after multiple occurrences, anyone would have to think carefully, especially since Xiao Chunhe had already given such obvious hints.
And Wang Dian was both clever and perceptive. No matter how carefully Liang Ye tried to conceal things, he could always quickly figure them out, then lay everything bare before him without any regard for face, forcing him into a corner with nowhere to retreat.
“It’s different.” Liang Ye’s eyes shone frighteningly bright, as if he had finally broken through the fog, trampling the disguise into a puddle of mud, then recklessly tearing himself away from the vines of power and benefit deeply rooted in his blood and bones. Though it broke tendons and bones, leaving flesh bloodied, he was excited to the point of trembling nerves as he personally handed his remaining skeletal remains to Wang Dian, “Zhen wants you to live well.”
Liang Ye appeared to have made this decision on impulse, which was indeed the case, since just moments ago when he was baring his teeth, he had still enthusiastically invited Wang Dian to join him in facing a deadly situation, which was exactly what Wang Dian wanted.
Liang Ye could continue using him, and he could likewise use Liang Ye. They loved each other, yet would stop at nothing, living and dying together, perishing together.
Fighting to the death, with wild abandon.
But now Liang Ye had violently torn apart their mutual understanding, ripped away the facade of their calculating and using each other, attempting to dig out that bit of indecipherable love between them and eagerly measure it.
Wang Dian looked at him in some bewilderment, and after a long while asked, “Why?”
Liang Ye grinned at him, “You would make a better emperor than Zhen.”
“Fck you!” Wang Dian suddenly felt a surge of anger rise from the bottom of his heart, yet his nose uncontrollably developed an acidic pain. He angrily cursed, “Liang Ye, are you fcking sick in the head!?”
Liang Ye shrank his neck back slightly at the scolding, muttering, “Depression attacks really do make one particularly irritable.”
Wang Dian looked at him in shock and anger, “You’re pulling this act with me now? Who are you trying to play this deep love scene with?”
Knowing it was a deadly situation yet not wanting him to go–had his brain short-circuited?
Liang Ye blinked innocently and proudly said, “We truly do share a deep love—”
Before he could finish speaking, Wang Dian grabbed his collar fiercely and pulled him close, “Stop fcking around with me here. I’ve gone to such lengths to help you so many times, this time is no different. Of course I want to live – everything I’ve done since coming to this damned place has been to keep myself alive. I don’t need you worrying about me. Even if I die, I’m taking you with me. Don’t fcking try this strategic retreat move with me!”
Liang Ye stared at his angry face, lowered his eyes, and affectionately and pleadingly bumped his nose tip.
Wang Dian’s fury came to an abrupt halt.
“Isn’t this exciting?” Liang Ye smiled at him with great satisfaction. “How did just saying I want you to live frighten you so much?”
Then he kissed his nose tip, “So cute.”
“…Cute your uncle.” Wang Dian glared while cursing.
Liang Ye’s eyebrows moved slightly as he looked at him pitifully, “If you want to go then go, could I really stop you anyway? Why yell at me?”
“I should kill you first.” Wang Dian viciously gripped his neck.
Liang Ye swayed his head twice following Wang Dian’s force, “Zhen can protect you, don’t you trust Zhen?”
Only then did Wang Dian calm down slightly. He held the back of Liang Ye’s neck and pulled him into his embrace. Where Liang Ye couldn’t see, his gaze was cold and dark, his voice barely audible, “I trust you.”
Liang Ye rested his chin on his shoulder and reached to touch the bones of his nape, kissing obsessively along his neck, sighing, “You smell so good, Wang Dian.”
Wang Dian’s neck hurt from his biting, but he didn’t push him away, only cursed angrily. “Perverted freak.”
Liang Ye grew increasingly bold with his kisses and asked, “So am I the person you love most now?”
Wang Dian felt the pain on his neck, his gaze floating in empty space. He tugged at the corner of his mouth and no longer resisted. After a while, he grabbed Liang Ye’s hair and left a bloody bite mark on the back of his neck.
“…Yes.”
The sunset had completely fallen, and the sky showed a grayish white color. Bird songs and evening winds could still be heard outside the window, and several cups of clear tea were placed on the old wooden table, giving off wisps of steam.
Yue Jingming sat properly in the main seat, while Xiao Chunhe lazily leaned against the window, directing Xiang Meng who was drawing something beside him. The vermillion cinnabar was picked up and dropped by the brush tip.
“I gave the white jade soup recipe to Cui Yuxian.”
Yue Jingming’s words were like a thunderbolt. Wang Dian’s gaze suddenly shifted from the brush, coldly staring at Yue Jingming, already thinking of dozens of ways to kill him.
Xiao Chunhe held his forehead in frustration, knocking on the table to signal Xiang Meng, whose ears had perked up, to regain focus.
Liang Ye’s reaction was surprisingly calm, but Wang Dian saw his suddenly tightened fist. “Why?”
“To suppress the poison in your body,” Yue Jingming said, “You’re immune to all poisons because the toxin has already spread throughout your limbs and deep into your flesh and blood. Cui Yuxian always thought it was a drug that could make people lose their minds, which is why she had you take it regularly.”
Liang Ye narrowed his eyes, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“If I told you, it would have been harder to quit after the accumulation over time.” Yue Jingming said calmly, “My medical skills are limited. This recipe can at most suppress the toxicity but cannot eliminate it, and it even becomes addictive. Later on you would have become increasingly dependent on it. Rather than treating it as medicine, it’s better to treat it as poison, letting you fight it yourself to stay clear-headed.”
“But he hasn’t had white jade soup for a long time now.” Wang Dian felt a sudden shock in his heart.
“Because even white jade soup can no longer suppress the poison now.” Yue Jingming glanced at Liang Ye, “The reason you’re immune to all poisons is because what you were forced to drink back then wasn’t Crane’s Crown Poison, but Maple Frost Fall. When ordinary poisons encounter it, they have no effect at all.”
Wang Dian had never heard of this poison. Seeing the confusion in their eyes, Xiao Chunhe, who was bending over watching Xiang Meng draw, explained. “It’s a poison created by those with impure thoughts practicing evil arts. It was quite popular in the Da’an Dynasty over a hundred years ago. Initially, assassins used it to dissolve corpses – a few drops would make flesh fall away and bones turn to powder, like frost dyeing red maple leaves, hence the name Maple Frost Fall. However, because the ingredients were expensive, very few could afford to use it, and after one of the crucial raw materials went extinct, no one used it anymore.”
“You might not remember, but at the time you were forced to drink an entire bottle. The person probably wanted to turn you to ash.” Xiao Chunhe straightened up and gestured to them about palm-height, “If it had been half a moment later back then, even the immortals couldn’t have saved you.”
Wang Dian’s hands and feet suddenly turned cold, and he firmly gripped Liang Ye’s hand.
Liang Ye squeezed his palm reassuringly and said casually, “Do you know who forced me to drink it?”
“This person’s background is mysterious. I never saw their face clearly and was defeated in several encounters.” Yue Jingming said in a deep voice. “Last spring, the white jade soup had already lost its effectiveness. Taking you away was also about seeking some chance.”
“Why did that person want to give Liang Ye Maple Frost Fall?” Wang Dian said cautiously, “He was just an eight-year-old child then, was it worth using an entire bottle?”
Unless they were putting on an act.
Wang Dian was almost extremely vigilant, like a hedgehog covered in spikes all over, looking at Yue Jingming with hostility.
However, Yue Jingming was unusually tolerant of him, and even explained quite patiently, “Liang Ye has excellent aptitude. What ordinary people achieve in ten years of bitter practice, he can match in a day. One bottle of Maple Frost Fall destroyed eight or nine tenths of his foundation, yet even the remaining one-tenth is enough to surpass most ordinary people.”
Liang Ye frowned slightly.
“The poison of Maple Frost Fall in your body can now barely be suppressed.” Yue Jingming said, “When the poison breaks out, your entire body’s blood and bones will turn to ash and smoke, and the third cervical vertebra that remains is what that person wants.”
Liang Ye instinctively wanted to touch his neck, but Wang Dian held his hand firmly and pressed it down. He tugged at the corner of his mouth, “Why would it be the cervical vertebra? And so precise about which one?”
When Yue Jingming said this, he completely lacked the mysterious air of a Taoist priest, and instead frowned, “Because I can only calculate this far.”
“Anything that can survive under Maple Frost Fall must be extraordinary.” Xiao Chunhe leaned against the table with his arms crossed and said, “Ordinary people would turn to bloody water with just one drop, the fact that this kid could drink an entire bottle and still be alive and kicking until now says a lot. Calculating any further would cost your master’s life.”
As if to prove his words, a sudden clap of thunder sounded outside the window, followed immediately by a violent wind and rainstorm.
Liang Ye raised his eyebrows curiously, “So Martial Uncle can even control wind and rain?”
Xiao Chunhe frowned at the weather outside and cursed, “I wish I could.”
“What should we do now?” Wang Dian’s grip was almost strong enough to crush Liang Ye’s hand.
“That person has the antidote,” Yue Jingming said.
Rain blew in through the window, wetting Xiang Meng’s drawing. The ink spread into a large stain, revealing a faceless portrait. Xiao Chunhe pulled her aside slightly and used his fingertip to place a dot of cinnabar on the faceless person’s brow, forming a cinnabar mole.
“Draw out the snake.”
