"Cough cough—"
In the small, pitch-black space, a young woman was curled up and panting.
After being poisoned last night, Huang Quan had been hiding in the closet of Ye Anping's bedroom, sleeping intermittently for several hours, relying on the pills Ye Anping gave her to counter the poison.
Although he told her to take one pill every hour, she didn't know how long an hour lasted, so she would swallow one pill whenever she felt uncomfortable.
At this moment, it seemed that the effect of the pill had worn off again, so Huang Quan uncorked the small bottle of pills and wanted to take another one.
But when she opened the bottle and looked inside, she found that there wasn't a single pill left.
The tingling feeling in her chest kept intensifying, and Huang Quan started to panic. She didn't know what time it was now. If she went out, she would definitely die if she encountered the attackers.
But if she didn't go out now, the poison would probably end her life here.
After weighing the options, Huang Quan had no choice but to push open the wardrobe door. Perhaps due to the poison or maybe because she had been curled up inside for too long, she couldn't muster any strength at all.
With a thud, Huang Quan directly fell from the wardrobe, landing face-first on the ground.
"Hiss..."
Biting her lip, she raised her head to look at the window. Seeing that the sun was already shining outside, she started shouting.
"Help… help..."
Unfortunately, her voice was so weak that it couldn't even get through the paper window.
"Help… Guards… help..."
A deep sense of despair rose in her heart. Gritting her teeth, she squirmed on the ground, crawling toward the door, clinging to a glimmer of hope.
"Help..."
Creak—
There was the sound of wooden hinges, and Ye Anping, in blood-stained clothes, stealthily climbed into the room through the back window.
Because he wanted to create an alibi, while the Sword Sect Elders were still discussing the matter of Pei Lianxue, he rushed back to Flowing Water Peak with his sword.
As for why he needed an alibi?
His original intention was to reconcile Yun Jiujiu and Yun Yiyi after they had experienced hardships together.
If Yun Yiyi learned that he was secretly involved in this matter, she would naturally feel that it was thanks to him that she escaped from Zhuang Yan's hands.
Yun Yiyi's affection for him was already overflowing, so increasing his favorability rating was pointless. If Yun Yiyi knew that he saved her secretly, it would have done nothing but transfer her appreciation from Yun Jiujiu to him.
However, he did not expect that Huang Quan was still hiding in his bedroom now.
It was already afternoon, but the guards of the Cloud Mansion had not yet discovered Huang Quan hiding in his bedroom wardrobe?!
Ye Anping frowned, walked over, picked up Huang Quan from the ground, then put her on the bed and checked her pulse.
"Master, you..."
"Shh—" Ye Anping raised his index finger to silence her first, then took out a set of fine needles from his storage bag. He said, "Rest quietly and listen to what I'm about to say."
Ye Anping transferred his spiritual energy into the needles, then gently pulled open Huang Quan's blood-stained clothes, revealing her delicate white shoulders. He inserted the needles into several acupuncture points to force out the residual poison from her body.
At the same time, he spoke softly. "Miss Huang Quan, last night I asked you to come over and help me comb my hair. Unfortunately, four gangsters came in and tried to assassinate me by poisoning my room. I fought back hard and killed three of them; the remaining one fled when things turned unfavorable."
"..."
"Then, because of the strong poison, I fell to the ground, unable to move. You found the pills in my storage bag, and we took them together, which allowed me to survive. However, I fell into a deep slumber, and when I woke up, it was already the next afternoon."
Huang Quan listened to these words, her eyes filled with confusion. "What? Hiss—"
Ye Anping pulled out a blackened needle and replaced it with a new one as he continued, "If someone asks you about this later, will you answer like this? Remember that."
"But... Young Master, this..."
"Just think of it as doing me a favor, okay?" Ye Anping gently stroked her messy hair before inserting the fine needle into her chest. "This way, you would have done your duty protecting your master. Miss Yun will definitely reward you generously once she finds out; there is no harm for you."
Huang Quan felt confused. She clearly remembered that there were only three attackers yesterday, and in the end, Ye Anping disguised himself as one of them. How...
Ye Anping asked softly, "How about it? Will you help me tell a little lie?"
After Ye Anping asked for the second time, Huang Quan suddenly came back to her senses. Looking at him gently smoothing her hair, she replied with a slight blush. "... Well, I will say whatever you want me to say, master."
Seeing the girl blushing, Ye Anping suddenly felt a little guilty for his handsomeness. He sighed softly, but then he heard Huang Quan adding in a low voice. "Then… if I help you tell a lie, can you repay me with a favor?"
"Oh?" Ye Anping raised an eyebrow. "Tell me."
Huang Quan looked somewhat nervous, and she pursed her lips, staring at Ye Anping's eyes intently, afraid that he would get angry. She pleaded, "Young Master, how about letting me take care of you personally? Such as helping you dress and groom in the morning, bathing, and warming the bed at night... And if Young Master needs to release tension, I can also help... I have been following Young Lady since childhood; I'm very clean... Young Master, you can rest assured..."
"..."
Seeing that Ye Anping stood frozen, Huang Quan hurriedly changed her tune. "Ah...if you don't want to, forget it. I will still help you with the lie..."
Ye Anping pursed his lips, neither agreeing nor denying, just continuing to help Huang Quan drain the poison from her body. He had felt last night that this girl was probably climbing into his bed to seduce him, but he didn't expect her to say it directly.
"I'm not even married to your Young Lady yet, and you dare raise the issue of a shared room?"
"Ah..."
"You have guts."
Ye Anping narrowed his eyes, and Huang Quan turned pale and lowered her head guiltily, not knowing how to defend herself.
She suddenly realized that her mind was clouded by her master's hand caressing her hair.
"I... I'm sorry, master, I... I..."
"It's okay. I won't mention it to Eldest Miss. If you want to take care of me personally, I agree."
At this point, Ye Anping remembered the incident a few days ago when he slept with Yun Yiyi in bed, and she rubbed her cheek against his foot.
After this incident, he felt that there was a certain possibility that Yun Yiyi would come to attack him at night.
"But..." Ye Anping lowered his head in contemplation, and then said, "Whether you can share my room is not something I can decide on, Miss Huang Quan. Mainly because I have some weaknesses in that area and cannot get it up, do you understand?"
?!
Huang Quan's eyes widened, involuntarily looking toward Ye Anping's pants, but then she realized that staring was impolite, and she quickly averted her gaze.
After a moment of thought, she asked, "Ah... Were you born like this?"
"No. I once went to see Doctor Zhang privately. He said it would get better as I grow older," Ye Anping fabricated a reason and said, "Don't let Miss know about this matter. Also, if she comes to my room in the future, remember to help me stop her, okay?"
Master actually told her about such matters; clearly, he trusted her... Huang Quan smiled happily and nodded. "Um…"