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墨書 Inktalez
At a quarter past the hour of the Tiger, Yun Jinxiu suddenly curled up among the piles of account books. A sharp pain gnawed at her bones like a venomous snake, and she bit her tongue to swallow back a moan. Silver needles slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground— fetal poison had unexpectedly manifested seven days early!
"The way you’re calculating, Madam, it seems like you want to eat them alive." Xiao Jingyan pushed the door open, his words abruptly cut off.
The green porcelain lamp shattered on the floor, illuminating Yun Jinxiu's pale lips. The golden thread in her sleeve instinctively wrapped around his wrist but suddenly loosened when it touched his pulse. "Get out..."
Xiao Jingyan directly seized her life gate, and after three breaths, his pupils constricted sharply. "July's Soul Departure?" He suddenly tore open his collar, revealing the same dark toxic pattern beneath his collarbone. "What a coincidence, I’ve been poisoned by 'Midnight Yama.'"
—Both poisons originated from the Bai Clan Secret Tome, mutually reinforcing yet counteracting each other.
In the mist of Bai Lu Quan, Yun Jinxiu was pressed against the stone wall by the pool, nine silver needles sealing her major acupoints. Xiao Jingyan's fingertips traced the pale silver leaf-shaped birthmark on her lower back. "So you really are of the Bai Clan bloodline."
"The heir hasn’t investigated thoroughly enough." She suddenly grasped his wrist where an old wound lay. "This arrow wound was treated with a golden salve that clearly came from my maternal grandfather."
Water splashed as both of them moved simultaneously and then froze—her fingertip pressed against his heart's toxic pattern while his palm rested on her dantian acupoint.
"Let’s cooperate to detoxify." Xiao Jingyan suddenly whispered into her ear, "After all, it's safer to entwine like mandarin ducks than to fight poison with poison."
The medicinal furnace by the spring suddenly emitted a strange fragrance; what should have been a green medicinal concoction turned blood-red!
"A servant has come to deliver the antidote." A maid outside held a jade bowl, and a fleeting silver leaf pattern flashed at the bottom.
As Yun Jinxiu's golden thread just wrapped around the rim of the bowl, that "maid" suddenly sprang into action! Poison-tipped nails shot straight for Xiao Jingyan's throat, but he pierced her hand with a silver needle.
"A fallen star?" Yun Jinxiu swept her fan across the intruder's face, revealing a tattoo of blue skin and fangs beneath.
The assassin grinned savagely. "The master sends his regards to the young commander..." Suddenly, blood poured from all seven orifices as she died.
Xiao Jingyan abruptly pulled Yun Jinxiu towards him; three penetrating nails grazed her hairpin and embedded themselves into the bedpost. He ripped off a bronze mask and placed it over her face. "Wear this; it’s the emblem of the Red Flame Army."
Heavy rain shattered the window paper, and outside came the taut sound of bowstrings.
Yun Jinxiu flung out golden threads to entangle beams amidst a rain of arrows when she suddenly felt a tightness around her wrist—Xiao Jingyan had locked their wrists together with iron chains from the Red Flame Army!
"You!"
"Since our poisons share a source," he said as he sliced through the rain of arrows with a sword-like gleam, "why not gamble on life and death together?"
That night, in the cellar of Prince of Zhenbei’s Manor.
Xiao Jingyan cut open his palm and let his blood drip into the medicinal furnace; flames surged into an eerie blue. Yun Jinxiu stared at the tiger talisman brand that appeared on his chest with the flickering firelight, finally understanding why ten years ago, the Red Flame Army fought desperately to protect that young apothecary—it was none other than her childhood self.
At a quarter past the hour of Chen, the gilded palace gates swung open with a resounding crash.
"Announcing—Crown Prince of the Northern Realm and Princess Consort for an audience!"
Yun Jinxiu knelt on the cold white marble steps, golden threads entwined around Xiao Jingyan's fingertips. The marks from last night had not faded, and now they pulsed with her heartbeat.
"Do you know your crime, my dear minister?" The voice from the dragon throne was laced with laughter. "I have heard that you killed my transport commissioner last night?"
As Xiao Jingyan bowed, the bronze mask he wore clanged against the ground: "I am terrified; Master Zhao was clearly an agent of Ting Yu Lou."
"Oh?" The emperor suddenly threw down his golden goblet, wine splattering across Yun Jinxiu's hand, staining it black in an instant. "Then what explanation does the Princess Consort have for this 'Yama of Midnight'?"
The hall erupted in an uproar!
Yun Jinxiu suddenly tore open Xiao Jingyan's collar, revealing the sinister poison patterns glaring in the sunlight: "Your Majesty might as well explain first why royal secret poison appears on my husband?"
"Clang—"
As the imperial guards raised their swords to her neck, Xiao Jingyan abruptly ripped apart his front garment. The tiger talisman scar on his chest glimmered gold under the light, and all the elderly ministers fell to their knees: "The Red Flame Command!"
The emperor crushed the armrest of his throne: "Rebel!"
"Rebel?" Yun Jinxiu flung out a ledger, its pages fanning out in midair. "In the third year of Yongchang, Ting Yu Lou smuggled nine hundred pounds of Aconite through transport, while that same year in the palace..." She suddenly ensnared Eunuch Liu with her golden thread. "Eunuch Liu, what is in your fragrance pouch at your waist?"
The pouch tore apart, and Southern Dian Aconite spilled everywhere.
Xiao Jingyan lifted a piece with his sword tip: "What a coincidence; it shares the same origin as the 'Health Elixir' bestowed upon my father by Your Majesty."
"Protect His Majesty!!"
At that moment, as crossbowmen broke through the windows, Xiao Jingyan suddenly wrapped his arms around Yun Jinxiu's waist and leaped onto the dragon table! The bronze mask reflected cold light as he bent down to kiss her amidst a rain of arrows.
"Cooperate with me." He passed her a pill between their lips. "Bite it."
Yun Jinxiu closed her teeth around it; as it burst with spiciness, Xiao Jingyan pulled over his dragon robe to cover them both. Suddenly, a roar echoed from outside—
"The Yellow River has breached its banks! The disaster victims are storming the palace!"
In the chaos, he whispered with a laugh against her earlobe: "How does my performance of 'Fire Signals to Fool the Lords' please you, my lady?"
It turned out that the pill was a special concoction from the Bai Clan called "Drunkenness for Thousands," which was now seeping into the city's water system along with the torrential rain.
Behind the artificial mountain in the imperial garden, Xiao Jingyan stripped off a guard's armor to wrap around Yun Jinxiu. She suddenly pressed against his chest: "Ten years ago, was it you who deliberately let go of the Bai Clan's apothecary...?"
"No." He wiped away the blood at her lips. "I begged the old pavilion master to use a tiger talisman as payment to spare your life."
The sound of hooves approached from outside the palace walls as Mo Zhu charged through the city gates with the merchant convoy. Xiao Jingyan pressed the bronze mask onto her face and said, "Now, it's your turn to save me, my lady."
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