Chapter 70: Chapter 70 Just treat him as an older brother
 

As the time for one stick of incense had passed, she immediately pushed the door and entered the room.

The whole room was shrouded in a faint fragrance, a blend of camphor and medicinal herbs.

In the pharmacy, she hadn’t lit any pine oil, for its odor was strong; instead, she had placed a Luminous Pearl she had previously excavated from Qian Faliang’s cellar.

The pearl’s soft glow cast Zhao Xiyan’s figure, emerging from the bath, onto the opposite wall, creating a slender sense of beauty.

“Zhao Xiyan, I’m coming in.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you feel any discomfort?”

“No.”

Qi Yue adjusted the ventilation window’s angle and asked him, while already walking up to the bathtub.

To say that Zhao Xiyan was a beauty wouldn’t be an overstatement.

If one were to ignore his strong shoulders and the bold Adam’s apple above the water’s surface, just this face alone indeed reached a state of indistinguishable gender.

His skin was so white that, against the backdrop of the dark red tub, it took on a strangely smooth and jade-like quality.

She stared fixedly at Zhao Xiyan for a long while before she came to her senses.

“Do you feel any pain?”

“Yes, a little.” Zhao Xiyan’s voice trembled with an intense effort to endure, as he kept his brows furrowed and did not look at her.

Without thinking, Qi Yue reached into the bathtub to take his pulse.

She had a peculiar ability, whenever she entered her therapeutic role, her delicate and adorable face instantly switched to a supremely calm demeanor.

Initially, Zhao Xiyan had kept his gaze lowered, but now he lifted his eyes to look at her.

He knew.

Once she started diagnosing a condition, her eyes would instantly erase his existence; it seemed as though even the most beautiful face would become like smoke and clouds to her.

Her beautiful willow-leaf eyes flickered ceaselessly, the unfocused black pupils indicated she was immersed in another profound world.

The warm steam rising from the bathtub condensed into tiny droplets of vapor on her long eyelashes.

Zhao Xiyan’s heart started beating uncontrollably again, as if it was caught and tugged at relentlessly.

“Your heart is beating too fast, has this occurred before?”

She suddenly asked, unintentionally glancing at him.

Zhao Xiyan immediately felt embarrassed.

“No.”

“Hmm? That’s strange.” Qi Yue released one of his hands and reached for the other, her face still wearing a distant and indifferent expression.

Zhao Xiyan then breathed a sigh of relief.

He suddenly remembered that first night they slept in the same bed, his heart had been tugged similarly.

And another time, late at night when the locals were secretly mending fences, he couldn’t resist grabbing her arm, reluctant to let go; his heart had been tumultuous just like it was now, no peace to be found.

A mischievous idea came to him, and he said, “There might have been twice before, similar to now, where my heartbeat was intense.”

“Oh?”

Sure enough, Qi Yue’s dazed eyes focused on his face, her surprise evident, “When did this happen? Under what circumstances? Why didn’t you tell me?”

When I was looking at you— he said to himself, yet a smile found its way onto his face.

“It was a long time ago, probably unrelated to the leg injury.”

“Oh.”

Finally, Qi Yue withdrew her hands, seemingly relieved as well, “The medicinal bath seems to be effective, let’s see how it goes after administering the Silver Needle.”

“Alright.”

Zhao Xiyan responded to her, his eyes never leaving her for a moment.

He thought to himself that she seemed to be completely immersed in her own world of medicine.

What a mysterious woman.

She was sharp enough to see through anyone when she intended to, and yet, at this moment, she was oblivious to his burning gaze.

He could clearly sense that her heart was entirely concerned with him, yet there was no obvious display of her feelings.

Apart from the occasional infatuated gaze she directed at him, he could hardly find any signs that she liked him or wanted to spend their lives together.

Indeed, he was disabled.

Could she really have been treating him just like a big brother?

Just like she said to their mother that day, treating Shuanghua and the rest as sisters.

A sense of despair slowly welled up in his heart, as he slumped lifelessly in the bathtub, letting Qi Yue do as she pleased.

She consecutively placed three needles on his forehead and chest, then fished his knees out of the water and propped them on two small boards that had already been prepared.

Soon after, she inserted another three needles into each of his knees.

While doing these things, her eyes seemed to only see the Silver Needle and the acupuncture points.

He smiled self-deprecatingly, only to suddenly hear a tumult of voices outside, the sound of stone knocking, followed by a blaze of fire that immediately overshadowed the chilly glow of the Luminous Pearl in the room.

“Kill the foreigners!”

“Drive the foreigners out of the forest!”

“Don’t let the foreigners cut down the trees!”

The indigenous people had arrived!

Zhao Xiyan clenched his fists and was about to get up, but Qi Yue sternly stopped him with a shout.

“Don’t move!”

Then he felt another needle at his neck, and darkness overwhelmed him as he completely lost consciousness.

Outside, the cries of the indigenous people continued unabated, mixed with the urgency of Da Hei and Er Hei’s calls—it seemed they had engaged in a fight.

Qi Yue frowned as she looked at Zhao Xiyan, who lay in the bathtub.

The water temperature of the bath needed to be maintained. Leaving him there would turn him cold by the time she dealt with the situation outside.

After giving it some thought, she decided the space was the most suitable and ultimately waved her hand, sending him into the space.

Outside, the fight had indeed begun.

As soon as Qi Yue stepped out of the pharmacy, she saw through the fence a breathtaking scene.

Fifteen bizarre cows led by Da Hei were entangled in battle with another group of ferocious beasts.

“Is that… a tiger?”

A black king character on the forehead, the body striped with black and white patterns.

With a head larger than a basin and a robust and powerful body, although only half the size of the strange cows, its agility and ferocity far surpassed them.

If it weren’t for the strange cows’ advantage of having two sharp horns on their heads, Da Hei and the others might have already been overpowered by these well-trained tigers!

The situation was dire!

Qi Yue immediately walked outside the fence.

Zhao Yonglian and Zhao Yongzhe were already guarding the gate with axes, and even Shen Yu was holding a wooden stick, ready to fight to the death.

Upon seeing her, everyone looked anxiously in the direction of the pharmacy.

“Yueyue, is Yanyan okay?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of everything. Mother, go back and watch over Shuanghua and the others, don’t let them run out. Father, Uncle, guard the backyard. If the indigenous people make any move, let me know immediately!”

Although their faces showed worry, they obediently did as she instructed.

Qi Yue was left alone in the front yard.

She turned back to glance at the house and slowly took out a camp solar energy lamp from her bosom, switching it on with a snap, casually hanging it on a protruding piece of the fence.

The ghastly daytime brightness stunned the tigers and indigenous people who had never seen such a thing.

The battle seemed to pause in an instant.

“What is that divine object, how can it be so bright?”

“Could it be that this woman has plucked the moon down?”

“…”

The indigenous people murmured among themselves, and Qi Yue pulled out a megaphone and shouted, “I am Qi Yue. This house is mine, and I look after the people here. If you dare to harm them in the slightest, tomorrow I will burn down the forest and none of you will live!”

After saying this, she quickly put away the megaphone and ignored the indigenous people who were discussing again, heading straight toward the dazed tigers in the light.

Having heard that tiger meat can strengthen the body, she was actually keen to catch one to eat.