Chapter 104: Chapter 104: To Each Their Own, Mutual Consent
 

“Dr. Qi, do you really intend to leave just like that?”

Qi Yue remained on her horse, silently staring down Zhang Fang.

“What? You hurried to catch up with me. Is it the Prefectural Magistrate who wants to arrest me?”

“No,” Zhang Fang said with furrowed brows and an angry expression, clearly quite upset.

“So? Is it you who wants to stop me?”

“Yes. Dr. Qi, please take a look at this first.”

As he spoke, Zhang Fang casually threw something over, which Qi Yue caught.

Round, white, and smooth as jade.

Wasn’t this the unidentified object she had picked up in that fog?

She suddenly remembered the night she said she would make the medicine, she had just placed it on the table and later forgot about it because it was not the medicine she used.

But how did it end up in Zhang Fang’s hands?

“Dr. Qi, please explain why the medicine you provided for my young master didn’t work at all.”

Qi Yue raised an eyebrow.

“Because it was indeed ineffective. Why, is there a problem?”

“You!” Zhang Fang’s eyes widened, “Initially, it was Elder Huang who said my young master’s leg absolutely needed the horn of the White Rhino. That’s why we went to the Western Regions, and so many people died. And now, after obtaining such a thing, you didn’t use it?”

“Could it be that you and your master were deceiving us all along?”

Zhang Fang’s logic was correct, but Qi Yue had already prepared a response.

She smiled slightly.

“Guard Zhang, you’re mistaken. I obtained two pieces of medicine at that time, and the piece I gave you was not needed. Since you’ve returned it, I’ll take it back in case someone needs it for treating a leg.”

Zhang Fang was taken aback.

“Is that so?”

“What else could it be?” Qi Yue smirked, “Your master is perceptive. How could we mere doctors dare to deceive in such a manner?”

“Then I misunderstood Dr. Qi.”

Zhang Fang scratched his head, finally at a loss for words.

“So, may I pass now?” Qi Yue lifted her riding crop.

“You may.”

Reluctantly, Zhang Fang stepped aside, his face still muddled with suspicion.

Qi Yue knew he hadn’t completely believed her; it was very likely he would tell Hu Chengxuan!

Suddenly, she remembered someone and thus reined in her horse to turn back and ask,

“Zhang Fang, do you know someone named Zhang Zhao? He’s tall and sturdy, somewhat like you.”

Upon hearing this, a look of mingled surprise and joy emerged on Zhang Fang’s face.

“Zhang Zhao is my brother. But I lost contact with him after I joined the army. How do you know him, Dr. Qi?”

Pleased, Qi Yue curled her lips and explained how Zhang Zhao was framed and exiled to the Nanling Pearl Field.

“Zhang Fang, if you see Zhang Zhao, could you pass a message? Tell him that his wife and son are well and to rest assured.”

Having said that, she flicked her riding crop and caught up to the departing carriage.

Zhang Fang stood rooted to the spot, filled with excitement, relief, regret, and amazement.

What? Qi Yue is a convict?

And she had saved his brother’s family!

Luckily, he hadn’t reported the matter of the medicine to the Prefectural Magistrate right away but had approached Qi Yue to get clarity, or else he would have wronged his brother’s benefactor!

That’s right, his brother was also wronged. He must hurry to the Nanling Pearl Field to find his brother; it was no place for people to stay.

Invisibly, a crisis had been resolved. Although Qi Yue remained composed, she was inwardly breaking a sweat.

This Zhang Fang was gullible, but Hu Chengxuan was not to be trifled with. If he caught even a whisper of news, he would hold onto it and definitely investigate the matter of her digging up Panlong Seven and Huang Zai’an deceiving him. Then she would never have peace.

Luckily, she had the bright idea to bring up Zhang Zhao in her story, and coincidentally, they really were brothers.

Now, even if Zhang Fang had any suspicions, he wouldn’t say anything in front of Hu Chengxuan!

As for her identity, it wouldn’t matter if he knew, since Zhao Xiyan would be standing up soon.

The group hastened on their journey, not delaying for a moment.

On the third day, Qu Wei suddenly caught up with them.

At that time, Qi Yue’s team was resting, and she was roasting a chicken.

Qu Wei plopped down across from her and began to complain, saying that Qi Yue was inconsiderate for not waiting for him.

Qi Yue ignored him, and he kept pestering her with questions.

“Miss Qi, I’m talking to you—why aren’t you paying attention to me?”

Qi Yue coldly retorted, “I only talk to people. Are you a person?”

“How am I not a person?” Qu Wei frantically waved the fan in his hand, his face full of denial, “Don’t I have a nose and two eyes? Or do you think only Zhao Xiyan is worthy of talking to you?”

Qi Yue rolled her eyes, “You actually got it right—I do think that way.”

Qu Wei got so angry that he stopped talking, but after a while, he shamelessly approached her again.

“Miss Qi, I heard that you didn’t get the White Rhino Horn. Is that true?”

“It’s fake.”

“So, you really got it? And you’re going back to treat Zhao Xiyan’s leg?”

“What’s it to you!”

“Miss Qi,” Qu Wei shook his fan with a look of earnestness, “I know you dislike me, but could you seriously consider what I’m saying?”

Qi Yue gave him a sidelong glance, “You’re quite self-aware.”

Qu Wei chuckled and leaned a bit closer.

“I’m serious. You really want to make Zhao Xiyan stand up? Does he know how much you’ve done for him? Does he know how dangerous the Western Regions are?”

“So what? I promised to cure him, and I’ll do exactly that,” Qi Yue casually stated as she turned the chicken over to grill the other side.

“Haven’t you thought about it? He wrote the divorce paper so easily; it’s clear he understands your intentions, knows you are finding a medicine for him.”

Her feelings? Her feelings of liking him? Qi Yue scoffed silently in her heart.

“So what? What he does is his business; what I do is mine. Each mind their own; he wills it, I wish it.”

Hearing this, Qu Wei frustratingly snapped his fan open and shut in his hand.

“Why are you so foolish, you clearly have a good head on your shoulders.”

“That’s enough; there’s no need for you to go to such lengths.” Qi Yue pulled out some seasoning powder from her pocket, sprinkled it on the chicken, immediately filling the air with a delicious aroma.

“Qu Wei, I don’t like you. Even if Zhao Xiyan weren’t in the picture, you and I would have nothing to do with each other. If you like, I can consider you as my brother since talking to you is somewhat amusing—but that’s it, nothing more.”

“Clatter…”

Qu Wei’s fan fell to the ground. He quickly bent down to pick it up, his face filled with dejection.

“Why?”

“You’re older, not good-looking, and ill; I don’t like having connections with someone sick. You’re fickle, you have many women even without being married… Oh… I should stop there, or even the role of brother might be too much.”

“Isn’t Zhao Xiyan also your patient?” Qu Wei stubbornly argued.

“That’s different. Even if we’re divorced, it doesn’t change the fact that I was once his legal wife.”

Of course, what mattered more was that she liked him.

Her feelings were hers to command; once she had fallen, all rules and principles became mere bubbles to her.

Qu Wei had nothing more to say, and she continued roasting the chicken with focus.

Finally, she tore off a chicken leg and threw it to Qu Wei, who thanked her saying, “Thanks, sister,” and began to eat heartily.