The next morning, several people gathered around the venomous scorpions and examined them carefully.
Xu Ancheng looked at the dead scorpions on the ground, his expression grave.
“These are scorpions from the Miao borderlands. It takes a hundred different poisonous herbs to raise even one of them. If their venom touches the skin, not even a god could save you after a few moments.”
Qin Qiwu took several frightened steps back and looked worriedly at Ji Zhaoxi and Fu Xianyan. “Miss Ji, Young Master Fu, you didn’t touch these scorpions, did you?”
Fu Xianyan was just about to answer when Ji Zhaoxi frowned at the dirt on the ground.
“Could these venomous scorpions have been attracted here by Young Master Fu?”
The air fell silent in an instant.
Under everyone else’s gaze, Ji Zhaoxi remained perfectly justified.
“Young Master Fu’s body has practically been marinated in poison.”
Like attracts like.
One poison-ridden man and one venomous scorpion—perhaps Fu Xianyan even had the scorpion’s poison in his body.
The more Ji Zhaoxi thought about it, the more convinced she became.
Qin Qiwu and Xu Ancheng stared at her in shock before turning to look at Fu Xianyan.
“This…”
Although neither of them knew much about poison, what Miss Ji had said did seem to make a little sense…
When Fu Xianyan heard Ji Zhaoxi’s words, his breathing caught. His lashes trembled faintly, as though he had suffered some enormous injustice.
“Miss Ji, if I possessed such a skill, I wouldn’t have ended up in my current state…”
Qin Qiwu and Xu Ancheng looked at Fu Xianyan’s dejected face. They felt a little guilty, then turned conflicted gazes toward Ji Zhaoxi.
Ji Zhaoxi remained unmoved and lifted her chin. “Then how do you explain the fact that those scorpions crawled toward you instead of toward me?”
And he still claimed they weren’t attracted to one another.
Qin Qiwu and Xu Ancheng heard this and once again looked at Fu Xianyan with solemn expressions.
Miss Ji was right!
Fu Xianyan gave a self-mocking smile. “Miss Ji is filled with righteous energy, so naturally those poisonous scorpions wouldn’t dare approach you. But my Eight Characters are weak, and my fate is unfortunate. Perhaps even poisonous creatures think I’m easy to bully…”
After saying this, he began coughing violently, his entire face turning red from the effort.
Qin Qiwu hurriedly handed him some water, while Xu Ancheng comforted him softly. “Young Master Fu, don’t speak of yourself that way.”
The matter was set aside for the time being. However, afterward, whenever Fu Xianyan saw Ji Zhaoxi, he would lower his head somewhat fearfully.
Seeing Fu Xianyan behaving so meekly, Ji Zhaoxi felt much better.
They had fish for lunch again. When Ji Zhaoxi saw the fish in Fu Xianyan’s hand, she simply snatched one from him.
The two stared at each other, eyes wide.
“Miss Ji…”
Ji Zhaoxi was entirely unapologetic. She was bullying him, plain and simple.
If he had any sense, he would keep his distance from her people!
Fu Xianyan let out a soft laugh and handed her the other fish as well.
Ji Zhaoxi stared at him without saying a word, but she didn’t take it.
Fu Xianyan was feeling better, though he still looked rather weak. His eyes curved slightly. “Miss Ji, you should eat it. I’m unwell, so I wouldn’t be able to finish it anyway.”
He took a few bites of the remaining small fish, then leaned listlessly against the tree. He looked as though he might fall to pieces at any moment. When a gust of wind blew past, he drew his clothes more tightly around himself.
Ji Zhaoxi looked at the two extra fish in her hands, then at Fu Xianyan’s pale face beside her. After hesitating for a while, she held one out to him.
“You eat.”
Fu Xianyan lifted his eyes and gazed at Ji Zhaoxi in surprise.
Qin Qiwu and Xu Ancheng gnawed on their fish while watching the scene with moved expressions.
Miss Ji really did have a good heart. She just didn’t know how to express it.
Ji Zhaoxi awkwardly turned her gaze away. “Eat a little. Your body is so weak that you might not even make it to tomorrow.”
The air instantly froze. The two people opposite her silently looked away.
Fu Xianyan: “…”
Fu Xianyan forced out a smile. “Thank you, Miss Ji.”
The meal ended in a bizarre atmosphere.
The carriage slowly proceeded toward Pingyuan County. After several days, the desolate road gradually widened, and they began encountering more people along the way.
Many villagers stood on the ridges between the fields. Some were pulling weeds, while others were directing the water. Every one of them was working exceptionally hard. Although their foreheads were covered in sweat, their faces were filled with smiles.
Xu Ancheng looked at the scene and smiled. “Pingyuan County seems to be very well governed.”
At least the common people appeared happy.
Ji Zhaoxi had wilted from the heat. She lay against the carriage window, frowning as she watched the villagers. “Something’s strange.”
Qin Qiwu asked softly, “What’s strange, Miss Ji?”
Ji Zhaoxi wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at the villagers, who were smiling far too happily.
“They’re smiling too happily. They’re working so hard.”
Did they have to pay attention to their facial expressions while working too?
Xu Ancheng took a careful look. It did indeed seem that way.
On the field ridge, one young woman’s smile had become so stiff that the corners of her mouth were twitching. She secretly let her lips relax, but the next second, someone poked her. She immediately bared her teeth in a smile again and continued working.
There wasn’t a trace of amusement in her eyes. If one looked closely, it even seemed as though her eyes were cursing someone.
Everyone else: “…”
Everything was extremely strange, and that eerie feeling reached its peak when they arrived at the entrance of the first village.
Several villagers resting by the roadside kept observing Ji Zhaoxi and the others. As they watched the carriage, they muttered among themselves.
“Is it them?”
“Definitely not. How could a carriage from the capital be this filthy…”
“Then forget about them.”
Ji Zhaoxi and the others witnessed the entire exchange: “…”
Ji Zhaoxi lowered her head in embarrassment.
The carriage had actually been quite attractive before, but the last time she had led the way, she had accidentally driven it into a ditch. Their carriage was a little dirty now.
Because of that incident, whenever the horse saw Ji Zhaoxi take the reins and lead the way, it would stop where it was and refuse to move.
It was, after all, a fine horse capable of traveling a thousand li. It had always been mighty and majestic, but ever since that fall into the mud, its coat had been dirtied!
Although it had already been washed clean, it would never again recover its former imposing appearance…
Fu Xianyan looked at Ji Zhaoxi, who was sitting beside him with a guilty expression, and suddenly felt like laughing.
Ji Zhaoxi, sensitive as ever, turned her head and stared at him.
Fu Xianyan’s body instantly stiffened. He silently shifted his gaze toward the window and looked at the villagers working along the field ridges.
The carriage rolled over the flagstones. Street vendors lined both sides of the road, and at last they reached the main street of Pingyuan County.
The road was especially lively. The townspeople had gathered in a crowd, pointing and whispering toward something ahead.
Ji Zhaoxi looked inside and saw several yamen runners restraining a prisoner while shouting abuse at him. The prisoner’s hands were bound with rope, and he was crying miserably.
“What crime did he commit?” Qin Qiwu asked curiously.
Someone nearby gave her a puzzled look. “Miss, you’re not from this county?”
The matter had been making the rounds throughout the county recently.
Xu Ancheng smiled at the man. “We’re here to visit relatives.”
The man understood and leaned closer, lowering his voice as he explained, “He stole official silver and was caught by the authorities, but he still refuses to admit it.”
Qin Qiwu frowned. “Official silver?”
Afraid that someone else might hear, the man moved closer and nodded solemnly. “I heard both his parents died, and his younger brother is seriously ill. That’s why he… Ah.”
Qin Qiwu and Xu Ancheng exchanged a glance.
How had the matter of the official silver suddenly become public knowledge…?
Besides, how could an ordinary man possibly get close to the government’s silver?
Just as Qin Qiwu and Xu Ancheng were wondering about this, Ji Zhaoxi kept staring at the prisoner whose hands were bound with rope.
She looked at the prisoner, then at Fu Xianyan beside her, as though she had learned something.
Qin Qiwu and Xu Ancheng had finally finished questioning the prisoner and were about to discuss matters with the other two.
But when they turned around and saw what was happening behind them, their faces instantly froze.
Ji Zhaoxi stood atop a wooden post with a sword strapped to her back, a length of rope clutched in her hands.
As for Fu Xianyan, his hands had been tied tightly with rope, in exactly the same manner as the prisoner’s. He stood silently beside Ji Zhaoxi, his expression utterly calm.
Qin Qiwu was so frightened that even his voice changed.
“Miss Ji, you don’t need to learn that sort of thing!”
Miss Ji’s ability to learn was a little too impressive.
