At the sight of that familiar face, a wave of bitterness welled up uncontrollably. Ye Wanmian's eyes instantly welled with tears.
Tears streamed down her face, dampening her cheeks. She reached up and wiped them away clumsily, choking back sobs as she said, "Are you here to laugh at me?"
Crying and questioning at the same time, her words no longer carried the previous intimidating power. Instead, she sounded like a pouting little girl.
Xiao Jingcheng crouched down halfway, holding the umbrella firmly over her head. His fingers twitched as he wanted to wipe away her tears, but he was afraid that his rash action would arouse her disgust and resistance.
He looked up at the bamboo umbrella that was being pelted by the rain, making a rattling sound.
Just as Ye Wanmian was about to push him away, he put down the umbrella and sat down beside her, allowing the splashing rain to soak his clothes.
"Do you still think I'm here to laugh at you now?" he asked.
Ye Wanmian was stunned. Dahuang ran to Xiao Jingcheng's side, barking at him while nuzzling his arm with its nose. Its tail wagged behind it, seemingly very welcoming of Xiao Jingcheng's arrival.
Lowering her eyelashes, Ye Wanmian silently wiped away the continuous stream of tears on her face. Somehow, her heart calmed down.
The noble crown prince was actually sitting on the dirty floor in the rain with her at this moment.
After a long while, she said softly, "Thank you today. Although I don't know how you found out my mother's address, if it weren't for you, I'm afraid... I would never have my mother again."
Xiao Jingcheng looked at the rain in the night, his thoughts stirred by her words.
Her mother was saved and out of danger, but his mother's situation was still unknown.
In order to save Jiang Zhiqing, he gave up returning to the capital. This was his choice, and he never regretted it.
"I used to think that I only had my mother and no father," the girl choked out. "But it wasn't until just now that I learned he had already come to me, protecting me and punishing the bad guys for me."
She didn't seem to need an answer. She just poured out all the panic and uneasiness in her heart.
"But Uncle said that he was poisoned. For all these years, the poison has been in his body. Because he saw me and knew that my mother was still alive, his emotions got the better of him, and the poison in his body flared up."
Ye Wanmian wiped away her tears, recalling the scene when Li Zhao first spat out blood and fainted in front of her.
It turned out that the poison had already flared up at that time, but she was not skilled enough in medicine. She only knew that his pulse was extremely chaotic but couldn't diagnose his illness.
"They all said that my mother was abandoned by a heartless man. She got pregnant before marriage and was shameless. She hid in Dongli Town to raise the child in her womb alone. They pointed fingers at her and the unborn child, just like when I was in the Ye family in the capital."
"I should have hated him. He didn't fulfill his responsibility of taking care of my mother. As a result, as soon as my mother gave birth to me, I was抱ed away by mistake. When she woke up, she was greatly shocked and went crazy."
"But... but..."
She cried even harder, tightly clutching Xiao Jingcheng's sleeve. "But my father was in trouble himself at that time. The entire Li family was massacred. He couldn't even protect himself, so how could he protect my mother?"
"I shouldn't hate him, and I can't hate him."
"I only wish for his safety..."
Her sobbing voice was truly heart - wrenching. Xiao Jingcheng reached out his arm, pulled her into his embrace, and let her lean on his shoulder.
He had just taken a bath, and there was still the fresh smell of bath beans on him. At this moment, it somehow soothed Ye Wanmian's emotions. She didn't have to worry about others seeing her crying face, so she leaned on him and cried even more recklessly, almost out of breath.
Just a wall away, Li Zhao's eyelashes fluttered, and he slowly opened his eyes.
His body was covered with needles, and there were several gold needles thicker than embroidery needles deeply inserted into the fingertips of his five fingers. At this moment, thick black poisonous blood was slowly flowing out from there.
Mo Zhizhang walked over with a clay bowl in his hand and sat down beside the bed.
Seeing Li Zhao wake up, he said, "You should have heard it all. In fact, she doesn't blame you in her heart and hopes that you will be safe."
Li Zhao was in excruciating pain all over his body, and his breath was as weak as a flickering candle in the wind. He twitched the corner of his lips as if he was smiling, and sighed almost inaudibly:
"She has always been a good child."
"Life is still long. Master Li has a wife and a son. Family reunion is the most important thing. Come, drink this." Mo Zhizhang said with a smile as he handed the clay bowl in his hand.
In the bowl was dark red blood with a fishy smell.
Li Zhao slowly rolled his eyes and looked at him. Mo Zhizhang had a relaxed and natural smile on his face, but it was completely different from the way they usually saw him. He then understood that this person's previous performance was all a disguise.
He called him Master Li. Did he overhear his conversation with Xiao Jingcheng, or had he actually recognized his identity long ago?
"What is this?" Li Zhao asked.
Mo Zhizhang saw the caution in his eyes. He bent down and whispered in Li Zhao's ear, "This is the poisonous blood and snake gall of a banded krait. It's extremely poisonous. Drinking it will kill you."
Watching Li Zhao's expression with great interest, he found that Li Zhao's expression remained unchanged. He felt a bit bored and said:
"The poison hidden in your body has spread throughout your body. In theory, you shouldn't be able to survive. But you're lucky. I went out for a walk last night and actually found the trace of a banded krait."
"Its poison is extremely powerful. If a person is poisoned by it, they will surely die within three steps. But since you're already poisoned, its toxicity will actually suppress the poison in your body and keep you safe."
Li Zhao was silent for a moment before asking, "What's the price?"
He didn't believe that there was such a good thing in the world that there just happened to be a way to completely cure him. The poison of the banded krait was hard for ordinary people to bear, let alone him.
Mo Zhizhang's eyes were full of interest. He said, "Of course, there's a price. Using poison to fight poison can indeed neutralize and dissolve each other, but your lifespan will only be three years left."
Hearing this, Li Zhao was in a daze.
Three years was really too short.
However, he was lucky to have survived the disaster back then. He had secretly lived for eighteen more years. Finally, he found his Yingniang and saw their child.
Not to mention three years, even if he only had one month left, he would settle his wife and child down and accompany them for a while without any regrets.
Li Zhao tightened his jaw. He looked at Mo Zhizhang without hesitation and said, "Come on."
Mo Zhizhang handed the bowl over, squinted his eyes, and watched as Li Zhao swallowed the snake blood and snake gall in the bowl.
Xiao Jingcheng heard every word of the conversation between the two in the room clearly. He gently patted Ye Wanmian, who was crying out of breath, and said with mixed feelings:
"Actually, you're much luckier than me."