The two young maids' faces paled in horror. They quickly begged for mercy and scurried away in a sorry state.
After Sweet Yaw finished scolding, the anger in her heart still hadn't subsided. As she walked back, she muttered under her breath.
"What a living Hades! He just looks a bit fierce..."
"Moreover, all the people he punished were bad eggs from start to finish."
On this point, Sweet Yaw was quite clear. She wouldn't slander others casually.
Just as she was fuming with indignation, a dark shadow silently appeared in front of her.
"Miss Sweet Yaw, who has made you so angry?"
Sweet Yaw was so startled that her soul nearly left her body. She took a sudden step back. Only after she saw that it was Mo Chen did she pat her chest to calm her nerves.
"Brother Mo Chen, why do you walk so silently! You scared me to death!"
She stamped her foot and complained angrily, "Who else? A bunch of gossiping tongues!"
Mo Chen looked at her flushed cheeks due to anger. The usually cold and hard lines of his face seemed to soften for a moment.
He roughly understood what had happened.
"It's all trivial matters. We won't take it to heart."
They just needed to establish their authority first to ensure that those people wouldn't dare to act against them. If they were too kind, anyone could come in.
So he didn't care about these outside remarks. As long as no one dared to attack them, that was enough.
She quickly waved her hand. "Brother Mo Chen, please don't mention these things to the young master. I'm afraid it will upset him."
He was already in a bad mood. If he heard these things, he would surely be furious!
Mo Chen replied expressionlessly, "Don't worry, miss."
Only then did Sweet Yaw heave a sigh of relief, thinking that he had agreed. Little did she know that Mo Chen's "don't worry" meant that she could rest assured that those people would never be able to gossip again.
That night, Mo Chen repeated everything he had overheard under the rockery to He Ciyuan word for word.
The candles flickered in the study. He Ciyuan was flipping through an ancient book. After listening, he didn't even lift his eyelids. He just casually replied with an "mm".
"Handle it yourself. Don't let me hear about it again."
"Yes." Mo Chen left.
The next day, news spread like wildfire in the marquis's mansion that two maids' tongues had rotted overnight. Their mouths were so swollen that it was as if they had two walnuts stuffed inside, and they couldn't say a single word.
The two could only make strange moaning sounds. They rolled on the ground in pain. Since they were illiterate, they couldn't write anything down either.
The doctor they invited couldn't figure out what was wrong. He only said that it was due to excessive internal heat and prescribed some heat - clearing medicine, but it was of no use at all.
For a while, the servants in the mansion were so scared that they didn't dare to make a sound. They all guessed that this matter was related to He Ciyuan.
When Sweet Yaw heard this news, she was fanning the medicine stove for He Ciyuan. The palm - leaf fan in her hand almost fell into the fire.
[That's... quite efficient...]
She偷偷 glanced at He Ciyuan, who was calmly reading a book. His expression was normal, as if nothing had happened.
But Sweet Yaw knew that this must be his doing.
After this, the days were much quieter. However, He Ciyuan's leg ailment grew worse.
When the cold poison flared up, it was no longer just a feeling of chilliness during the day. Instead, it was a bone - deep, excruciating pain.
Especially in the late night, when all was quiet, the pain would engulf him like a tide.
Sweet Yaw had caught him in such a state twice during her night shift.
She had discovered his condition twice, and it seemed that the frequency was increasing.
Three days later, it happened for the second time. The pain seemed more intense than the previous day. When Sweet Yaw entered the room with a basin of hot water, she saw him stuffing the back of his hand into his mouth. The back of his hand was a bloody mess.
The strong, rusty smell of blood made Sweet Yaw's nose ache and she felt like vomiting.
She couldn't hold back anymore. She dropped the basin and rushed over, grabbing his other hand.
"Young master! Don't do this!"
He Ciyuan's body stiffened. He raised his blood - shot eyes, which were filled with restlessness and pain.
"I know. You go out first!"
He was really in great pain. In a state of complete loss of reason, he might hurt someone.
Instead of leaving, Sweet Yaw offered her wrist to his mouth. Her eyes were very red. "The attacks are becoming more frequent. If you feel pain, bite me. I'm tough!"
She wasn't really tough. Every part of her body was delicate.
She was mainly afraid that He Ciyuan would lose his mind and really maim himself.
Why couldn't this toxin be cured?
Was it really an incurable disease?
She regretted not reading the book carefully. She hadn't noticed some plot points at all.
He Ciyuan gasped for breath and stared fixedly at her fair and slender wrist. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down.
Finally, he let go of his bloody hand and grabbed her wrist, biting down without hesitation.
A sharp pain shot through Sweet Yaw. She didn't expect him to really bite. She was extremely angry but could only comfort him.
I don't know how long it took, but the trembling of He Ciyuan's body finally gradually subsided. He also let go of his mouth.
There was a deep circle of tooth marks oozing blood on Sweet Yaw's wrist.
In fact, he didn't bite hard because his own arm was already a bloody mess from biting in extreme pain. On her wrist, there were just a row of tooth marks.
He Ciyuan gently rubbed the circle of tooth marks with his fingertips, with a hint of pity that he didn't even notice.
"Go down and get it bandaged. You don't need to serve me tomorrow."
"Okay..." Sweet Yaw was in so much pain that she could hardly speak clearly.
He Ciyuan wanted to tell her to stop, but he no longer had the chance.
Early the next morning, when He Ciyuan woke up, Sweet Yaw was setting out the dishes for him with two dark circles under her eyes. He immediately saw the thick bandage wrapped around her wrist.
He had clearly told her not to come, but she just wouldn't listen.
His movement paused for a moment, and his voice was a bit hoarse. "Does it still hurt?"
Sweet Yaw was stunned for a moment before she realized what he was asking. She quickly shook her head and forced a smile on her face. "It doesn't hurt anymore. I've applied medicine. As long as the young master can feel better, this little injury of mine is nothing."
He Ciyuan didn't say anything else. He just silently pushed a plate of lotus - flower cake, which she liked, in front of her.
"This is a reward for you. Go back and rest well tonight."
Sweet Yaw thanked him. Then she thought the time was right.
She carefully said, "Young master, your leg... How about asking Doctor Zhang from the mansion to take another look? Maybe, maybe he has a new way?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, the originally somewhat gentle atmosphere in the room instantly froze.
He Ciyuan put down the jade chopsticks in his hand. The faint warmth in his eyes just now disappeared without a trace, replaced by a bottomless cold pool.
"Mo Chen." He said coldly.
Mo Chen's figure immediately appeared at the door. "My lord."
"Go and invite Doctor Zhang."
Sweet Yaw was overjoyed, thinking that he had listened to her.
But then He Ciyuan's next words were, "Change the dressing for Miss Sweet Yaw's wound. Use the best wound medicine."
The smile on Sweet Yaw's face froze.
He had never thought of treating his leg at all. He called the doctor just to treat her wound.