"Mother, you’d better not ask about this matter. After all, she was confined for her own good."
"Ah, but there should be a reason, shouldn’t there? As a doctor, she needs to go out frequently. If she can’t go to Jisheng Hall, and you feel the patients who come seeking her help bring bad luck, not letting them enter our residence, you just like to meddle too much."
"Mother!" Madam Lin really felt weary at heart. The Empress was suspicious of her having ulterior motives, and now the dowager was pestering her for a reason?
She sighed and said, "I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave now. Mother, if you have any doubts, why not go and ask Xingyi? He probably knows more than I do."
Seeing Madam Lin’s rarely serious expression, the Eldest Madam Lin felt that the issue might not be so simple.
"Go call Xiang Chun. Oh no, don’t call Xiang Chun yet. Watch the adults closely, and as soon as one comes back, have him come see me immediately. Ah, it’s so late already. Where has Xingyi gone? Why hasn’t he returned yet?"
Madam Lin had been pulling people aside for talks since returning from the Imperial Palace, and now that she had been summoned by the Eldest Madam Lin, it had already grown dark. Normally at this time, she would already be asleep.
As for Gu Youyou, all the servants had been taken away by Madam Lin for a lecture, including Xiang Chun, and Searcy had been called along as well.
Searcy was very dissatisfied. "What is this about in the middle of the night? Doesn’t anyone want to sleep? I’m not a servant of the Lin Residence. Don’t go too far."
Madam Lin’s personal maid, Hen Xiang, responded, "You live at the Lin Residence, you eat at the Lin Residence, and yet you think it’s too much for our lady to ask you to answer a few questions? If you don’t want to go, that’s fine, but don’t blame me for accurately reporting to Madam Lin and having you sent out of the residence immediately."
In Hen Xiang’s eyes, Searcy was the only one in the Lin Residence living there without contributing anything. She wasn’t a relative of the Lin family, yet she had the nerve to be very comfortable with that.
Gu Youyou sighed and said, "Go on, at least you haven’t been locked up."
With a huff, Searcy went along with Xiang Chun, mainly out of respect for Gu Youyou.
They had just left when a person silently arrived in Gu Youyou’s room.
Gu Youyou was startled and turned around to see Jin Ziyuan’s pale face.
She hadn’t seen him since they parted at the ancient tomb that day, nor had there been any news of him from the outside. It was as if he had vanished into thin air, and now, unexpectedly, he was here?
"Why are you here?" Gu Youyou asked.
She quickly glanced around the doorway to make sure no one had seen him, then securely closed the doors and windows.
"While Yu Jizi’s fate is uncertain now that the formation has been broken, and he won’t be able to cultivate that many medicine men in a short period, we are temporarily safe. Oh, right, have you cured the cold poison in your body? If not, I have a new medicine here that can cure it."
Gu Youyou grabbed Jin Ziyuan’s wrist and took his pulse.
She found that his cold poison had been cured.
Yes, she remembered now; Jin Ziyuan had taken the Zhuzhao Pearl.
She sighed and said, "You’d better throw away that pearl. In fact, even without it, I can cure the poison. I have already developed an antidote."
By now, the poison in Gu Youyou, Jin Zijin, and Jin Ziyuan had all been cured.
Jin Ziyuan remained silent, listening to Gu Youyou’s endless chatter, which showed her concern for him in every word.
After hiding and struggling for so long, enduring so much hardship and suffering, and even risking his life to save her, he felt it was all worthwhile.
Originally, he was planning to continue hiding while searching for Yu Jizi’s whereabouts.