Upon hearing Cai Wei’s call, the Old Turtle lifts his slack eyelids and seeing Brother Parrot’s gradually darkening body, he exclaims in shock: "This is bad, quickly take it to soak in Lingxi River, then go to my medicine shelf and take down the purple-gold gourd at the very top."
Cai Wei heard and ran out cradling Brother Parrot. As she was about to reach the entrance, she suddenly felt a cold chill running through her body, as if ice had formed at the very depths of her heart, leaving her body shivering from the cold.
"Master Turtle...immortal....I...I..."
Before she could finish her words, her body softened, and she tumbled to the ground headfirst, having fainted!
At this moment, inside the elegant room of the Xinglong Inn, another person also fainted and was sprawled on the ground.
Chai Feng kneels by Zhu Yue’s side, facing the beauty couch in front of him, his eyes half-closed, not daring to look directly.
"Master, the person has been rescued and is not in any major danger. However, he is still unconscious and we don’t know when he’ll awake."
"Go and summon Luo Xue. Wake him up immediately!"
On the beauty couch, a person is resting lazily, giving orders in a cool tone. On the low pine table on the couch, a large tray is placed. Scattered about the tray are a dozen variously sized, strange goodies.
"Yes!" Chai Feng quietly retreats.
A moment later, Luo Xue enters in the same silent manner– without making a single sound.
"Master." She calls softly and kneels down.
The person on the couch gazes at the three pages of blueprint in their hand, and compares the objects on the tray with the blueprint one by one, acting as if they did not hear her.
Luo Xue waits for awhile, but upon receiving no response from the person on the couch, she bites her lip and turns towards Zhu Yue, who is still unconscious on the floor, to check on him.
On the couch, the person starts to assemble the strange pieces from the tray. Their slender fingers, pale and nimble, quickly put together the scattered pieces into a wooden-handled, long tube-like object. The object is heavy, the long tube empty, and black inside–resembled the pot of a smoking pipe used by old men.
He swings it a few times in his hand, his eyes full of interest.
This is called a gun?
"Master, he has woken up."
On the ground, Luo Xue bows her head and speaks softly.
The man on the couch is currently engrossed in fiddling with the object in his hand. Upon hearing her words, it takes him awhile before he lazily says, "You can go and handle it."
Luo Xue rises and respectfully withdraws, upon reaching the door, she slowly releases her clenched hands, which are red from tension.
Over the years, she has been serving the Empress Dowager with all her heart. Doing everything to perfection in the hopes of catching his attention, to get a chance to stay by his side. Even the Empress Dowager once mentioned that she plans to recommend Luo Xue as a side consort for him.
However, he has never glance at her, or rather, never truly seen her. In order to catch his favor, she has exhausted her capabilities to appear perfect, but he never noticed her merits. Showing preference towards an uncouth country girl over her no matter how much she tried to attract his gaze...
Zhu Yue awakens from his unconsciousness, and as soon as he opens his eyes, he sees himself lying in his master’s room. He instantly gets up and kneels on the ground in fear.
"Master, I have failed my duties, please punish me!"
Nangong Yi puts down the object in his hand, lazily lifts his eyes towards him, his voice containing a hint of coolness.
"Tell me, what happened?"
Zhu Yue hesitates, under the icy gaze of his master, he recounts the events of the previous night, from beginning to end.