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Li Yuanzhi had initially planned to watch the show, but when she heard Chen Yuanyuan cursing her lover, she immediately stepped in and snapped, “Who are you calling shameless?”
Chen Yuanyuan replied coldly, “Ask your man yourself. He knows full well what he did to me.”
Li Yuanzhi huffed, “No need to ask him…I know exactly what happened to you.”
“You’re not angry?” Chen Yuanyuan blinked, finding it hard to believe. What woman wouldn’t be furious knowing her man had done something so despicable?
Just thinking about that night made her feel that filthy taste in her mouth again.
“Why should I be angry?” Li Yuanzhi rolled her eyes. “Don’t blame my Brother Song for this…the one who messed with you that night was me.”
“You?” Chen Yuanyuan was baffled. “How is that possible? You’re a girl…how could you have… that filthy stuff?” A blush crept up her fair, slender neck.
“What’s impossible about it? I just used my mouth, that’s all…” Li Yuanzhi snorted and gestured, describing exactly what had happened.
Chen Yuanyuan listened, both mortified and enraged: “You wicked girl…how could you be so cruel!”
“*I’m* cruel? *I’m* wicked?” Li Yuanzhi laughed in disbelief. “How I lost my innocence and ended up in the Cold Palace…you know better than anyone, don’t you?”
Chen Yuanyuan’s face changed. “You… you know?”
“There are no secrets under heaven.” Li Yuanzhi stared at her coldly. “I never imagined that beneath such breathtaking beauty lurked a viper’s heart.”
“I’m sorry for what happened to you…” Chen Yuanyuan looked apologetic. “But we were only following orders.”
“Whose orders?” Song Qingshu interjected.
Chen Yuanyuan opened her mouth, hesitated, then refused to answer with a soft sigh: “It doesn’t matter whose orders…it’s all irrelevant now. I’ll soon be dead, so let my death make amends to Miss Li.”
“Don’t be so quick to play the martyr,” Li Yuanzhi said angrily. “You were dead to rights in Consort Wu’s palace…Brother Song risked injury to save you. If you just die now, we’ve wasted all that effort for nothing!”
“Cough, cough…” Chen Yuanyuan coughed weakly. “What do you want, then?”
“We’ll discuss that after you’ve recovered.” Her voice was so frail, and with that pale yet stunning face, even Li Yuanzhi softened a little.
*Hmph, a true vixen,* Li Yuanzhi thought sourly.
“Afraid my injuries won’t heal.” Chen Yuanyuan gave a bitter smile, still radiating charm.
Li Yuanzhi snorted, “With Brother Song here, even if you were dead, he could bring you back.”
Seeing the pride radiating from the young girl, Chen Yuanyuan shook her head. *Young maidens in love really do have a blind faith in their lovers.*
Though she knew nothing of medicine, Chen Yuanyuan understood her own body. She felt that closing her eyes might mean never opening them again…she was clearly at death’s door.
She’d been sustained by nothing but obsession. Now that she knew Song Qingshu’s identity, that obsession vanished, replaced by deep melancholy. Coupled with her guilt toward Li Yuanzhi, she could barely hold on.
Sensing her breath growing fainter, Song Qingshu quickly said, “Yuanzhi, stand guard at the door and watch for anyone coming. I need to treat her now.”
Li Yuanzhi hesitated. “Brother Song, you’re injured too…”
Song Qingshu shook his head. “It’s nothing. I know what I’m doing.”
Their conversation reached Chen Yuanyuan’s ears clearly. Gathering her strength, she pushed Song Qingshu’s hand away: “I don’t want you to save me!”
Song Qingshu frowned. “Even if you don’t care about yourself, think of Ah Ke. If you die, what will happen to her?”
“Ah Ke…” The thought of her daughter made her hesitate, but soon she shook her head. “She’s grown up. I can’t be with her forever.”
Seeing her refuse everything, Song Qingshu grew angry: “If you won’t let me save you, fine. When you’re dead, I’ll strip you naked and hang you at the main palace gate for every man in the world to admire.”
“You’re despicable!” Chen Yuanyuan trembled with rage. Since she could remember, every man had shown her their best side…none had ever spoken to her like this.
“Say what you will.” Song Qingshu glared at her fiercely, as if to prove he meant every word.
“Ooh, ooh…that would be quite a sight!” Li Yuanzhi clapped her hands, ever the agent of chaos. She nearly made Chen Yuanyuan faint from fury.
“Have you decided? Do you want my help or not?” Song Qingshu said coldly.
“Fine…help me.” Chen Yuanyuan bit her lip, deeply resentful.
“Tch. Why didn’t you just agree earlier? You had to make things difficult.” Li Yuanzhi curled her lip disdainfully before running to the door to keep watch.
Song Qingshu helped Chen Yuanyuan sit up and said softly, “I’m going to use the One-Yang Finger to open your eight extraordinary meridians and pull you back from death’s door. Relax completely…don’t resist in any way.”
“Thank you…” Chen Yuanyuan hesitated, then gave a slight nod. She was a clever woman and had already realized that his earlier harshness was mostly to make her accept treatment.
With previous experience treating Xiao Longnu and Lu Wushuang’s legs, Song Qingshu was now adept with the One-Yang Finger. The old drawback…that using it to heal severely depleted one’s inner power…had long been solved.
Back when Reverend Yideng used the One-Yang Finger to heal others, he would lose so much power that it took five years to recover. Ultimately, this was due to insufficient cultivation.
Anyone unaware might scoff at the idea that the Southern Emperor…one of the Five Greats…had insufficient cultivation. Even Song Qingshu hadn’t believed it at first. But after personally using the technique to heal others, he found the loss far less severe than rumored. Then he recalled that after Yideng obtained the general outline of the *Nine Yin Scripture*, the five-year recovery period shrank to less than three months. Song Qingshu finally understood the key.
He’d not only trained in the *Nine Yin Scripture*, but also the *Divine Brilliance Scripture*, the *Joyful Meditation Method*, the *Supreme Mystery Scripture*…each no less formidable than the *Nine Yin Scripture*. His martial arts far surpassed Yideng’s. Thus, when he used the One-Yang Finger to heal others, he suffered almost no loss of power…just physical fatigue that a good rest could cure.
Pushing aside his stray thoughts, Song Qingshu placed his left palm on his chest and extended his right index finger, slowly pointing toward Chen Yuanyuan’s Baihui acupoint at the crown of her head. After one point, he withdrew, then without moving his body, his finger went to the point an inch and a half behind Baihui, then continued down through Qiangjian, Naohu, Fengfu, Dazhui, Taodao, Shenzhu, Shendao, Lingtai… As he went, he couldn’t help but feel a stir…this was the body that drove the world’s men mad, and he was freely touching it.
But he wasn’t the only one feeling this way. Chen Yuanyuan too felt a trembling that seemed to come from the depths of her soul, her body quivering involuntarily.