A piece of Japanese incense

Chapter 261: False Thoughts

"Yu Nian!" Feng Jinqi checked Yu Nian's breath and pulse, which were extremely weak.

"Quick!" Feng Jinqi shouted to his guards, "Bring the best doctor in the city here! No matter what method is used, he must be cured! And..."

He looked at the figure in the corner, held his breath, reached out his hand, and lifted the hood of the wide cloak.

What came into view was a pale, thin little face, her eyes tightly closed, her hair uneven, her lips chapped and bloodless.

It was the one he had been searching for so long and dreaming about - Zhi Yihe.

Inside the inn, Yu Nian lay unconscious on his bed. Beside his bed stood several of Menghui City's most renowned doctors, each with a frown on their face, shaking their heads and sighing.

"Your Highness, please forgive our incompetence..." The leading old doctor trembled and bowed. "The poison this young man has been poisoned with is unheard of! It has already penetrated his internal organs. We have exhausted all our life's knowledge, but we can only barely stop the bleeding and temporarily suppress the spread of the poison with golden needles and strong medicine to keep him alive. But this is by no means a long-term solution. The poison will backfire at any moment!"

Another doctor chimed in, "This poison is strange. If it's not handled properly, then... Right now, the only way to survive is to find the person who poisoned us and obtain the unique antidote."

Feng Jinqi's face was as gloomy as water. Yu Nian had fallen into this situation in order to protect Zhi Yihe. They were reunited after a long separation. If he died, how would Zhi Yihe bear it when she woke up?

"Investigate!" Feng Jinqi's voice was ice-cold: "Dig three feet deep into the ground! Dissect the bodies of those killers for me to investigate again! Any powder, smell, or pattern on their bodies, weapons, and clothes must be checked for me! Also, seal the city gates immediately and interrogate all suspicious persons! Any relevant clues will be rewarded handsomely!" The guards accepted the order sternly and retreated quickly.

He turned and walked towards Zhi Yihe's room next door.

Feng Yan stood aside with his hands hanging down, sweat on his forehead, his eyes evasive. Zhi Yihe lay quietly on the bed.

"Has the antidote been administered?" Feng Jinqi's voice was emotionless.

"Yes, I fed it. I dissolved it in warm water and fed it little by little! But the antidote for 'Tangled Silk' is rare, so I only took that one pill."

Zhi Yihe showed no signs of waking up.

Feng Jinqi was filled with various emotions. He needed her to wake up, but he was also afraid that she would wake up...

Feng Jinqi had just walked a few steps out of the room when a voice came from inside:

"Nian brother..."

Feng Jinqi's footsteps were nailed to the spot, and she woke up!

There was complete trust and dependence in her voice, as if she was certain that the person guarding her bedside was Yu Nian.

Feng Jinqi froze at the door, made up his mind, and pushed the door open.

Zhi Yihe had already sat up. When she heard the voice, she immediately turned towards the door with a smile on her face. "You're back? I slept like a log! I feel like my bones are numb... You must be worried sick, right?"

Thunder exploded in Feng Jinqi's mind. He waved in front of Zhi Yihe, but she did not respond.

She can't see!

She took the antidote, woke up, and saved her life, but her eyes still did not recover.

Feng Jinqi relaxed strangely. At least, she couldn't see the complicated expression on his face that he couldn't hide at the moment.

However, this brief period of relaxation was followed by a more bitter choice.

Thinking of my brother...

The first person she called out when she woke up was Yu Nian.

She thought the person who was guarding her was Yu Nian.

And he, Feng Jinqi, how should he face her now? Tell her that Yu Nian was poisoned in order to save her, and his life was hanging by a thread?

Countless thoughts raced through his mind. How should he explain? How should he comfort her? How should he face her?

A stronger thought overwhelmed everything: he needed to stay by her side, take care of her openly and closely, protect her, and become her support when she was most vulnerable.

At this moment, the only identity that could justify him accepting his approach without any reservations was "Yu Nian".

Anyway...she can't see.

Anyway...she thought he was Yu Nian.

Rather than letting her endure the cruel truth, it would be better to let him temporarily become her "Nian brother." At least, until her eyes recovered, at least, until Yu Nian's fate was settled.

Feng Jinqi mobilized his internal energy, imitated Yu Nian's gentle and clear voice, deliberately softened and slowed down his tone, and walked towards the bed.

"Are you awake? Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"

After confirming that the person next to him was the "fake Yu Nian", although he was considerate to himself, Zhi Yihe's hearing and intuition, which became extremely sharp due to his blindness, still caught too many clues.

She asked to go out for some fresh air. When walking on the noisy street, although "Fake Yu Nian" seemed to be protecting her closely, Zhi Yihe could still catch the overly "regular" footsteps of several groups not far behind her, which always maintained a fixed distance and almost identical pace.

Even in the dead of night, when she pretended to be asleep, she could still hear extremely slight sounds outside the window. It was the sound of someone with extremely high light skills moving between the roof and the courtyard wall.

The enemy wasn't just one person, but a well-organized, well-trained team. She, a blind person, dreamed of escaping from their sight. A head-on confrontation would be a dead end.

In the lobby of the inn, Zhi Yihe fumbled to pour tea, his fingers were "trembling unsteadily", and the warm tea "splashed" onto the table.

"Fake Yu Nian" reacted very quickly, stood up immediately, supported her with one hand, and took out a handkerchief with the other hand to wipe the table.

Zhi Yihe’s thought of taking the opportunity to ask the waiter or others for help, PASS!

"Brother Nian, let's go out for a walk. I heard that the night market in Menghui City is very lively." She pulled the sleeve of "Fake Yu Nian", her voice full of longing and coquettishness.

"Jia Yu Nian" agreed.

Sitting in the carriage, Zhi Yihe seemed to be resting with his eyes closed, but in fact he was concentrating.

Record direction: After the initial vibration of the wheels rolling over the cobblestone road, it soon turned, and the sunlight shone in from the left window (it was the right when we set off) for a long time, turning to the south.

Time: I estimated it by silently counting my heartbeats. After about two hours, the carriage began to jolt gently, accompanied by a regular clatter and the sound of running water—crossing a bridge. A stone arch, about fifty heartbeats long.

Terrain: Shortly after crossing the bridge, the sound of the wheels became dull and the car body tilted forward slightly, and the downhill road continued for about five minutes.

Sounds and Smells: Along the way, we passed an area with a strong fishy smell and the clamor of vendors. A little further on, the air was thick with the bitter aroma of herbs, and we passed a field of medicinal herbs, perhaps a large cluster of herbal medicine shops. In the evening, the wind carried the distant, resonant sound of a bell. There was a nearby temple, the bells resonating deeply and powerfully, and it was quite large.

She memorized these fragments of information firmly in her mind and formed a map.

Whenever she had the chance, she would use the excuse of needing "a moment alone." She used the silver hairpin she always carried with her to carve a tiny character for "禾" (a Chinese character for "禾") in an inconspicuous corner, and placed three almost invisible dots next to it with the tip of the hairpin. This was a secret code that only she and Yu Nian understood.

In the stillness of the night, in her room, she removed the head of the silver hairpin. She sharpened the body of the hairpin to a sharp edge. She also secretly hid a bamboo chopstick she used for eating and repeatedly sharpened one end on the edge of her bed. She practiced over and over again how, in an instant, relying on her sense and memory, she could precisely stab her enemy's throat or eyes.

She had to prepare for the worst, thinking of her brother, who might no longer be here. When she had this thought, she was heartbroken and cried silently, not daring to make a sound.

However, what Zhi Yihe didn't know was that all her little actions, all the temptations and preparations that she thought were secret, fell into Feng Jinqi's eyes full of amusement and desire for control.

He was lazily reclining in a chair in the next room. A map lay spread out on the table, and beside it sat an exquisite object, like a crystal ball. Within the sphere, Zhi Yi and the room were clearly reflected: she was sharpening bamboo chopsticks, practicing thrusts into the air, clutching a carved silver hairpin tightly in her palm.

"Haha," he chuckled lightly, happily, "You are quite clever."

His men were spread all over the place, and every post station and every route was under surveillance. If his men hadn't discovered the code she had carved when they were "cleaning" the inn, he would have thought his disguise was flawless. He didn't expect that she had already discovered that he was not the real "Yu Nian".

He thought he was a hunter who had a bird's-eye view of the whole situation, but he didn't know that his identity had already been exposed in the minds of his prey.