On one side, Ruyi was kneeling devoutly, crying her eyes out. She showed none of the calmness she had when she first met Yi Qing and the others.
Yi Qing motioned to Xiao Jinghan, who had the witch doctor taken away. Then she immediately rushed over to save the patient.
It turned out to be epilepsy. If not treated in time, it could really cost the patient's life.
Ruyi was startled. Then she recognized Xiao Jinghan. "You..."
"I'm saving your son's life," Yi Qing said as she quickly inserted the needles.
Ruyi watched as her son gradually calmed down, and she finally believed Yi Qing.
When Yi Qing pulled out the silver needles, Ye Si fell into a deep sleep.
Ruyi saw that her son was out of danger and knelt down. "Thank you."
"I still want to ask the question I asked before," Yi Qing said straightforwardly.
Ruyi looked at Yi Qing in surprise. Suddenly, she knew who the person in front of her was. She looked at her son. "I can't say. If I do, he'll lose his life."
"I can keep you and your son safe," Xiao Jinghan said directly.
Ruyi shook her head. "You don't know who you're going to face."
"The Ping family?" Yi Qing asked.
Ruyi was surprised, then forced a smile. "It's not just the Ping family."
"No matter who it is, I can keep you and your son alive," Xiao Jinghan said. He didn't expect the matter to be so complicated.
Yi Qing saw that Ruyi was hesitating. "Your son's illness is only temporarily under control. It may recur in the future."
Ruyi immediately looked at Yi Qing nervously.
"I can tell you how to prevent it and how to give first aid to keep your son safe. But..." Yi Qing negotiated with her.
Ruyi thought for a while and then nodded helplessly. "There's also Xiang Beizheng, the southern border's imperial son - in - law."
"What?" Yi Qing was really surprised.
"I'm originally from the south of the Yangtze River. My family raised silkworms and had a small fortune. Later, my father offended the Ping family. Overnight, our family was ruined. I was sold here. I met Xiang Beizheng, the southern border's imperial son - in - law. At that time, I didn't know who he was. I only saw that the Ping family treated him politely, so I wanted to rely on him to leave here."
"Then I got pregnant with Ye Si. I planned to use this as a condition to ask him to let me go. Who knew that I accidentally saw him poison a woman who was pregnant with his child. It turned out that he didn't allow any woman to be pregnant with his child, so I didn't dare to say anything."
"Later, I found out that he was Xiang Beizheng, the southern border's imperial son - in - law. And the Ping family knew that I was pregnant. So they helped me secretly give birth to the child. After the child was born, the Ping family threatened me with the child and forced me to become the contact person between the Ping family and the Secret Department, mainly responsible for the distribution of Ruyi Cakes." Ruyi looked desperate.
"Distribution of Ruyi Cakes? Then you know where the people of the Secret Department are," Yi Qing said excitedly.
Ruyi shook her head. "I'm only responsible for some resold Ruyi Cakes. Later, to save money, I also sold some Ruyi Herbs myself."
"You also took Ruyi Herbs," Yi Qing stared at Ruyi.
Ruyi nodded. In such an environment, she often reached the verge of collapse. Without Ye Si and Ruyi Herbs, she couldn't have held on.
"I only know they mentioned a place called Wild Fox Ridge. I don't know anything else," Ruyi tried hard to recall.
Yi Qing glanced at the child lying on the bed and told Ruyi what the illness was, how to take care of the child, and how to give first aid when the child had an attack.
Ruyi thanked her profusely.
Xiao Jinghan had someone take the mother - son pair away. Although they were in the southern border, it wasn't difficult for Xiao Jinghan to protect them.
"Let's go to Wild Fox Ridge now," Yi Qing said without delay.
Xiao Jinghan looked at the still - pitch - black sky outside. "Let's wait until dawn."
Ruyi was usually watched by the Ping family. They saw Ye Si getting sick yesterday, so they didn't stop Ruyi from going out. Who knew that she didn't come back all night and they couldn't find her.
The Ping family immediately became vigilant and started looking for her everywhere.
Xiao Jinghan and the others had already left Qingyao for Wild Fox Ridge, a mountain range about fifty - odd li away from Qingyao. Legend had it that fox spirits haunted the place, so few people went there.
It wasn't difficult to find Wild Fox Ridge, but it was not easy to find the place where Ruyi Herbs were planted.
"Where there are people coming and going, there must be a path. Let's follow the path," Yi Qing said, looking at the path on the ground.
But Wild Fox Ridge was too big. Some paths just disappeared after a while. They wandered in the forest for two days and found nothing.
"This won't work," Yi Qing said, putting her hands on her hips and looking distressed.
Gui Daren's condition was already very bad. Such a strenuous journey was taking a heavy toll on his body. If this continued, he would die before they found the place where Ruyi Herbs were planted.
"Let's wait until it gets dark and then go out to look," Xiao Jinghan said, asking everyone to rest first.
He thought they might have entered a maze. Continuing like this definitely wouldn't work.
Yi Qing nodded. "Let's rest first and look for it at night."
Where there were people, there was light. In the current situation, it was easier to find something at night than during the day.
The group cleared a place to rest. Yi Qing felt Gui Daren's pulse and gave him some medicine.
"I suddenly really want to know what the people who died at my hands were thinking when they died," Gui Daren said with emotion.
"Then why didn't you ask them before killing them?" Yi Qing joked.
"I didn't think of asking before," Gui Daren looked at Yi Qing. "Death is just death. There's nothing to ask about."
"Are you asking because you're about to die?"
Gui Daren thought that might be the reason. He used to not know the joy of living, so he never thought about the fear of death. He didn't expect that when it was his turn, he would be thinking about this question.
"I always thought I wasn't afraid of death. Death... is just a state," Gui Daren said seriously.
"That's because you've never died," Yi Qing said.
"Sounds like you've died before," Gui Daren said.
Yi Qing paused. She really had died before.
Xiao Jinghan walked over. Gui Daren turned his head away and didn't look at Xiao Jinghan. He pulled Yi Qing aside.
"Are you jealous again?" Yi Qing looked at Xiao Jinghan's expression.
"If..." Xiao Jinghan leaned closer to Yi Qing and lowered his voice. "If he dies before we find the Gu worm?"
"That's his fate. But as long as he's alive, I'll do my best to find it," Yi Qing said firmly.
Xiao Jinghan nodded. He respected Yi Qing's choice. "But you can't get too close to him."
"He's just a patient."
Xiao Jinghan didn't accept this explanation.
"Okay, okay, okay. Let's not talk about it," Yi Qing put her arms around Xiao Jinghan's waist and looked up at him. How come she found that he was becoming more and more childish sometimes? "Xiao Jinghan, does anyone else know that you're so prone to throwing tantrums?"
"What do you think?" Xiao Jinghan lowered his head and moved closer to Yi Qing.
Yi Qing laughed. If others knew that Xiao Jinghan could be jealous and throw tantrums, their jaws would probably drop.
When it got dark, the group started looking in the dark. There were a lot of insects in the forest. It was more dangerous at night than during the day. If it weren't for the powerful insect - repellent powder Yi Qing had prepared, they wouldn't have dared to travel at night.
Suddenly, Gui Daren started to feel pain again. His forehead was sweating, but he endured it and continued walking.
"Hiss—" Gui Daren finally couldn't bear the intense pain all over his body and gasped.
"What's wrong?" Yi Qing asked nervously in a low voice. She wondered if Gui Daren wouldn't be able to make it through the night.