Get out

“What, unwilling now?”

Lu Wu Jiu lowered his gaze slightly.

Lian Qiao chuckled drily: “…It’s not that I’m in such a rush.”

After all, while this curse was a little uncomfortable when it acted up, for now it only made her lose control and want to be near him.

And it only lasted for one hour.

She just had to endure staying in the same room for that hour; it was far from requiring such a sacrifice.

Besides, it was with Lu Wu Jiu.

For seven days and seven nights.

‘Impossible!’

‘I’d probably die, wouldn’t I?’

Lian Qiao was more reserved than ever before: “Um… I think that medical cultivator is pretty skilled. Maybe we should just wait for his antidote…”

With that, she touched her nose, feeling slightly awkward.

Lu Wu Jiu’s face was written all over with, ‘I knew you’d be like this.’

Lian Qiao followed him, trying to justify herself: “What’s with that attitude? You should have just said so from the start. It’s all your fault for tricking me so many times before, of course I’d get the wrong idea.”

Lu Wu Jiu didn’t even turn his head.

Lian Qiao couldn’t help but pout: “What are you so smug about! Even if I were willing, you? Could you even last for seven days?”

Lu Wu Jiu finally stopped.

He turned back slowly, a ghost of a smile on his lips: “You think I can’t?”

Just as Lian Qiao was about to retort, she carelessly brushed her forehead against his chin as he turned.

Speaking of which, Lian Qiao had always thought of Lu Wu Jiu as the cherubic little crown prince she first met, with his cloud-piercing shoes and purple-gold coronet.

But somewhere along the way, he had grown much taller than her.

As his warm breath grazed the tip of her nose, a strange feeling washed over her.

Lian Qiao froze: “You… what are you trying to do…”

Lu Wu Jiu didn’t speak, only lowering his gaze slightly.

For some reason, the places his gaze swept over felt slightly hot.

Lian Qiao would rather fight Lu Wu Jiu than be this close to him.

She couldn’t help but follow his line of sight, only to see the bulging mounds on her chest, rising and falling with her breath, their curve particularly obvious.

‘How dare he! He actually dared to look there!’

Lian Qiao didn’t know whether to cover herself or cover his eyes, her hands fumbling in a panic: “Don’t look!”

At that moment, Lu Wu Jiu’s cool hand suddenly slid to her collar, his tone teasing: “Are you sure?”

“You, you, you, you…”

Lian Qiao was so shocked her face turned crimson.

How could someone be so shamelessly brazen?

Just as she was terrified, that hand brushed past her lapel and suddenly stopped on the sash at her waist.

Then, in a cold tone, he pointed—

“Your clothes are on backward.”

Lian Qiao: “…”

She looked down and realized that in her haste to find Lu Wu Jiu, she had put on her inner robe inside out.

‘He was deliberately messing with me, wasn’t he?’

“Don’t you get cocky!”

Lian Qiao quickly rubbed her flushed face and retreated, clutching her waist sash. “What’s the use of being clever with your words? Next time it’ll be your turn for the curse to act up. We’ll see who’s a donkey and who’s a horse when it’s time for a stroll!”

Lu Wu Jiu raised an eyebrow slightly: “Act up?”

Then Lian Qiao saw his face clearly written with, ‘This thing is worthy of affecting me?’

‘He means I’m too weak to resist the Gu worm, is that it?’

She retorted indignantly: “Fine, fine, you’ll see how powerful it is then. I hope a certain someone can live up to his words and doesn’t come knocking on my door in the middle of the night. I won’t open it even if you knock a hundred times!”

“Rest assured.”

Lu Wu Jiu said coldly, turning to walk towards the mountain gate.

That direction seemed to be towards the Medicine King Valley.

Lian Qiao grew anxious and hurried after him: “Hey, didn’t we agree not to tell the Divine Physician Han? What are you trying to do?”

Lu Wu Jiu didn’t turn back: “Just asking if anyone is looking for an anti-itch remedy.”

The implication was that if the Gu was truly switched, someone else must have been poisoned by mistake, meaning another person might be suffering from the Itch Gu right now.

Lian Qiao thought the same and followed closely.

But just then, a voice suddenly called out to her from the direction of the Medicine King Valley.

“Hey—Lian Qiao, you stop right there!”

Not far away, a young woman in a fiery pomegranate-red dress was striding over angrily.

The newcomer was Jiang Li, the young mistress of the Jiang family of Kuaiji, one of the four great families of the cultivation world, and one of Lian Qiao’s sworn enemies.

To be pestered by two sworn enemies in one night, today was truly an unlucky day.

Lian Qiao was bewildered: “What’s wrong with you now? Who provoked you?”

“Who do you think!”

Jiang Li gritted her teeth, glaring at her while drawing her sword, looking like she was about to settle scores.

However, the hand holding the sword was trembling slightly.

And her whole body would occasionally twitch left and right, as if she were having a seizure.

‘But isn’t this young mistress obsessed with her appearance?’

It was said she was so strict that if there was even a single wrinkle on her clothes for the day, the servant girl who attended to her would be punished.

Lian Qiao: “…Have you gone into Qi deviation?”

Jiang Li pointed at her nose: “Still pretending?”

Lian Qiao was even more confused: “What am I pretending? Speak properly!”

Jiang Li was exasperated: “Stop playing innocent. I couldn’t find you all night. If you didn’t do it, why would you have a guilty conscience?”

Lian Qiao: “What did I do? Make yourself clear.”

Jiang Li kept scratching left and right. It wasn’t until she got closer that Lian Qiao noticed many red rashes on her face, and her hair was a disheveled mess.

That face, which was plain besides being pale, was now covered in red rashes, looking like an unripe wild fruit.

However, those rashes, those movements, why did they seem so strange?

A guess suddenly popped into Lian Qiao’s head: “You couldn’t have been hit with an Itch Gu, could you?”

Jiang Li instantly gritted her teeth: “It really was you! Give me the antidote, now!”

Lian Qiao was stunned.

Lu Wu Jiu was right. The Gu really was switched. They had the Love Gu, and someone else had the Itch Gu!

But, she really didn’t expect that person to be Jiang Li.

At this moment, Jiang Li followed her gaze and only then noticed another person in the shadows nearby. And, that person seemed to be Lu Wu Jiu. She instantly turned to stone on the spot.

She awkwardly tousled her hair, her voice softening: “Your Highness, you’re here too?”

Lu Wu Jiu grunted in acknowledgment: “You are…”

Jiang Li was on the verge of tears: “I… I…”

Then she angrily pointed at Lian Qiao: “It’s all her fault! This vicious woman secretly poisoned me with a Gu. It’s incredibly itchy, absolutely malicious!”

Lian Qiao tried to explain: “…It’s like this, the Gu you have, I wasn’t the one who used it.”

“If not you, then who?” Jiang Li was relentless, “I didn’t say I was poisoned with a Gu just now, but you, you saw right through it. Not only did you know I was poisoned, you even knew it was the Itch Gu. Now that it’s come to this, are you still trying to argue?”

Lian Qiao: She was truly wronged.

As she struggled with how to explain, Jiang Li became even more furious: “Don’t even think about arguing. The box is in my hands. I took it to the Divine Physician, and he said this box of Itch Gu was originally kept in the Sutra Pavilion. And that Sutra Pavilion just so happens to be donated by your Lian family. Who else besides you would steal such a boring and malicious Gu?”

Lian Qiao: Why did everyone see her this way?

She got angry too: “So what if I stole it? I never intended to use this Gu on you. I wanted to use it on Lu Wu Jiu. I don’t know how it got switched midway. If you want to argue, you should go find the person who really harmed you!”

Jiang Li seemed to find it absurd: “Switched? Lian Qiao, why don’t you make up something even more ridiculous? What was it switched to? Tell me!”

“Switched to a Love…” Lian Qiao was about to explain but swallowed her words back down after a cool glance from Lu Wu Jiu.
So frustrating!

She had no choice but to explain stiffly: “In short, I wasn’t the one who used the Gu on you.”

Jiang Li naturally refused to believe her: “I see you clearly can’t explain yourself! And what a coincidence, right after you argued with me and left during the day, I started itching all over? If that’s the case, let’s go to the Discipline Hall and let them judge. I’d like to see how many people believe your ridiculous story!”

Saying that, she grabbed Lian Qiao’s wrist, clearly intending to blow the matter up.

Lian Qiao had grievances she couldn’t voice, and she couldn’t explain what she had been doing tonight.

Damn it all, it was really just a coincidence!

She wanted to break free but was afraid of angering Jiang Li even more.

Having no other choice, Lian Qiao could only frantically signal to Lu Wu Jiu, wanting him to vouch for her.

Lu Wu Jiu remained indifferent until Lian Qiao mouthed a threat to spill the beans about the Love Gu. Only then did he finally speak:

“Wait—”

Jiang Li did indeed stop: “What else does Your Highness want?”

Lu Wu Jiu said: “You’ve misunderstood. It wasn’t her.”

Although the four great families each held their own territory, there were still differences in status. Jiang Li naturally did not dare to clash with Lu Wu Jiu.

Her anger subsided slightly, but she was still very unconvinced: “How would Your Highness know? You mustn’t be deceived by her innocent and carefree appearance. If she didn’t do it, why would she hide away for the night? I think she’s probably…”

“She was night hunting with me tonight.”

Lu Wu Jiu suddenly interrupted before Jiang Li could finish.

Jiang Li: “…”

‘You, Lian Qiao!’

‘You usually act like you’re mortal enemies with Lu Wu Jiu, but as soon as the Kongtong Seal is lost, you’re not above trying to form an alliance, are you?’

Jiang Li refused to give up: “Then what about during the day? You can’t explain the daytime, can you? I started itching the moment she left in the morning. Who else could it be?”

Lu Wu Jiu said again: “It wasn’t her during the day either.”

Jiang Li was unwilling. Enduring the itching all over her body, she asked, “Why is Your Highness so certain?”

Lu Wu Jiu asked in return: “You only saw Lian Qiao during the day. Were there no other outsiders besides her?”

Jiang Li suppressed her anger: “There were, but besides Lian Qiao, there was only Junior Brother.”

“Junior Brother… is that Xie Mingran?” Lian Qiao finally managed to interject.

Jiang Li rolled her eyes: “Who else? Junior Brother was sent by our Jiang family. You’re not going to say he wanted to use a Gu on me, are you? And an Itch Gu at that? Could you be any more ridiculous?”

An Itch Gu was naturally impossible, but if it was a Love Gu, then it made perfect sense.

After all, everyone knew that this junior brother had long admired Jiang Li. But Jiang Li had always been harsh with him. If the junior brother couldn’t get over it, it would be perfectly natural for him to do something drastic.

The more Lian Qiao thought about it, the more it made sense. This Xie Mingran was very likely the one who stole the Kongtong Seal and the Gu.

Things having come to this, they had to catch him and question him as soon as possible.

However, just as she was about to go and catch the person, Jiang Li grabbed her arm: “Trying to run? You don’t really think I’ll believe it was Junior Brother, do you?”

Lian Qiao was anxious: “Let go first. If you don’t believe me, you’ll know once I bring him here and interrogate him in front of you.”

But Jiang Li was not so easily reasoned with. She sneered, clamping down on Lian Qiao’s arm: “Im-poss-ible. Tonight, you must come with me to the Discipline Hall.”

As the two were at a standoff, Lu Wu Jiu suddenly said: “Miss Jiang, you are being a bit too arbitrary. You said you started itching as soon as Lian Qiao left, which is incorrect. This Gu has a delayed onset, which actually proves it wasn’t Lian Qiao’s doing.”

Jiang Li was already starting to waver: “How does Your Highness know so clearly?”

Lu Wu Jiu’s expression was calm: “I happened to have read a relevant book. Moreover, the book says that a person afflicted with this Gu should seal their five senses and rest quietly. Otherwise, with the blood vessels agitated, besides the intense itching, it could also lead to ulceration all over the body.”

Jiang Li immediately didn’t dare to move recklessly: “Then does Your Highness know how long it will take to get better?”

Lu Wu Jiu pondered: “About five days.”

“That long?” Jiang Li gritted her teeth in hatred but dared not act rashly anymore.

Seizing this great opportunity, Lian Qiao quickly pulled Lu Wu Jiu away: “Since you’re not saying anything, I’ll take it that you believe me for now. You’ll understand when I find the real culprit.”

Jiang Li was about to shatter her teeth, but in her current state, she couldn’t possibly follow them. She could only stomp her foot and watch them leave.

It was only after they had finally escaped Jiang Li’s sight that Lian Qiao, who had been running frantically, finally let out a sigh of relief.

“But…” Lian Qiao pondered again, “Is the Itch Gu really that vicious? Why do I remember it just makes you itch a little? Where did you read that book?”

Lu Wu Jiu sized her up: “You actually believed it?”

Lian Qiao: “…Huh?”

Lu Wu Jiu said: “I was just tricking her. Otherwise, how could you have gotten away so quickly?”

Lian Qiao: “…”

What a dark heart.