Chapter 698: Three Conditions

Qin San Lang immediately forced Master Xia’s mouth shut, and with a gulp, the pill slid down Master Xia’s throat into his stomach.

Master Xia was terrified, staring at Gu Jinli and demanding, "What did you feed me?"

Gu Jinli smiled and said, "A kind of poison that can take your life."

Xia Gu was shocked; he knew from Master Hu that Gu Jinli could concoct poisons, but he never imagined that Gu Jinli would dare to poison him.

"It can’t be, you don’t have the guts," Master Xia stated with conviction.

However, within moments, Master Xia’s stomach began to severely ache, and his complexion instantly turned pale green.

Only then did Master Xia believe that Gu Jinli had indeed poisoned him, deeming her a despicable country girl, relying on underhanded methods.

He pointed at Gu Jinli and exclaimed, "You malicious girl, how dare you do this?"

"Ah!" Lady Xia was even more terrified than Master Xia, and hurriedly rushed over, saying, "The antidote, bring out the antidote for my husband, you can’t kill him. If you kill my husband, your whole family will pay with their lives."

With a bang, Gu Jinli kicked Lady Xia over: "How cheap can you be, liking Xia Gu so much? His concubine isn’t even crying, why the hell are you?"

Chun’er had not left but had been kneeling nearby the whole time, shivering, yet she truly had not cried.

Hearing this, Lady Xia looked at Chun’er, saw she wasn’t crying, and scolded, "You ungrateful wench, how wasteful of my husband’s kindness to you!"

Chun’er sneered inwardly, was Xia Gu good to her? Originally, she could have married an official guest of the Shangguan family, but the old crook Xia Gu saw her beauty and asked the Shangguan family for her.

Though he appeared to be just over forty, he was actually in his fifties – a man old enough to be a grandfather wanting to sleep with her, a teenage virgin; she could thank his ancestors.

Chun’er had no intention of helping Xia Gu; over the years, she had saved up a considerable sum of private money and stolen valuable items from the manor. If Xia Gu died, she planned to purchase her freedom and leave.

However, before she could leave, she would not offend the Xia couple, thus she squeezed out a few tears, crawled over, and nestled directly into Xia Gu’s arms: "Old Master, I will always be with you."

Xia Gu did not respond after hearing this, but Lady Xia said, "Good, good, good, the lady here knows you are a good one."

Gu Jinli’s mouth twitched: "Lady Xia, your illness is not minor, sharing your man with another woman, and you find it touching?"

Gu Jinli thought Lady Xia was beyond saving.

But Lady Xia had been raised from a young age with the belief that men were paramount, thinking that providing her husband with concubines and maids, and getting along with his concubines, was the hallmark of a wise wife.

Ignoring Gu Jinli’s words, Lady Xia continued to plead with Gu Jinli: "Xiao Yu, please consider that my husband has tutored Brother Cheng for three years, can you give the antidote to my husband? I beg you."

She then hugged Xia Gu and said, "Husband, seeing you in such pain, I wish I could suffer in your place."

Gu Jinli smiled and said, "Since the lady insists so much, I’ll lend her a hand."

It’s just poison, I have plenty of it, here you go, take a pill.

She took out another pill and directly forced it into Lady Xia’s mouth.

Gulp, Lady Xia swallowed the poison and was completely shocked.

"Xiao Yu... How could you harm us, husband and wife, like this?" Lady Xia couldn’t believe her eyes as she looked at Gu Jinli.

Gu Jinli: "You and your husband have harmed my sister like this, what’s wrong with feeding you two pieces of poison? Two servants even dare to act as masters, today I’ll teach you how to be servants."

Xia Gu, being a Madman, had been respected for years, even having fooled the first Emperor of Great Chu, but now being scolded as a servant by Gu Jinli, he was extremely angry and enduring the severe pain in his stomach said to Gu Jinli: "Don’t be arrogant, I, Xia Gu, am a Madman of Great Chu, my origin is countless times more noble than the Gu Family, your family is nothing but commoners from the countryside!"

Gu Dashan was shocked to hear this; he originally thought Master Xia was genuinely good to Brother Cheng and liked his family, but it turned out he looked down upon them so much.

"Puh!" Xia Gu cursed too fiercely, a burst of discomfort made him spit out a mouthful of fresh blood, his complexion turning from cyan to that of golden paper, and he was about to die.

"Husband, Husband." The pain in Lady Xia’s stomach also intensified, but she valued Master Xia’s life more than her own, crying incessantly, fearing that Master Xia would die.

On the high wall of the courtyard, Cheng Feng furrowed his brows watching everything in the flower hall, and after seeing Master Xia spitting blood, he finally jumped down from the height, like a gust of wind, rushing into the flower hall.

With a clang, Qin San Lang felt the strong wind coming and immediately drew his long knife to strike behind, Cheng Feng used his armored arm to block, quickly turning and reaching Master Xia’s side, withdrawing a packet of medicine powder from his waist bag to feed him.

This was a detoxification medicine left by the first temple master of Hu Yun Temple, a secret medicine of the palace, capable of neutralizing many poisons.

Qin San Lang knew he was facing a master, immediately rushed forward, pulling Gu Jinli behind him, and pointed the long sword at Cheng Feng: "Who are you? This is a private feud between the Xia and Gu families, outsiders should not interfere."

Cheng Feng ignored Qin San Lang, instead, he looked at Gu Jinli and Gu Jin’an: "I am from Hu Yun Temple, you can punish Xia Gu, but he must not die."

The head of the Lu Family had sent a letter to Master Hu when Xia Gu came to Qingfu Town, stating Xia Gu was a renowned Madman in Great Chu, an important person who had once faced the first Emperor of Great Chu, we must keep Xia Gu for significant uses.

"People of Hu Yun Temple?" Gu Jinli laughed: "It’s like you’re speaking as if Hu Yun Temple has a life-saving grace over us, don’t take my words harshly, but our Gu Family owes nothing to Hu Yun Temple."

They dealt with Master Hu because Master Hu was part of the Lu Family line, and he was a decent person; for the sake of Mrs. Cui, they were willing to interact with Hu Yun Temple.

But that doesn’t mean they had to listen to Hu Yun Temple.

Cheng Feng hurriedly said: "The temple master knows that this matter is Xia Gu’s fault, and she will take him away, just asking you not to let him die in Qingfu Town. If Xia Gu dies here, it will definitely cause a huge uproar."

He added: "Don’t worry, even if Xia Gu survives this time, he will still face punishment, our rules are strict."

"Xiao Yu..." Gu Dashan looked at Gu Jinli; he wasn’t soft-hearted, but he was worried that if Master Xia died, the government would come after Xiao Yu, considering Xia Gu was a scholar.

Gu Jinli did not speak, and Cheng Feng continued: "Xia Gu once taught Brother Cheng, although he did not formally accept him as a disciple, the teaching favor is second only to that of a parent, if you kill Xia Gu, how would the world view Brother Cheng? He would never be able to establish himself in this world."

Gu Jinli laughed: "As long as you don’t say it out, how would the world know?"

Cheng Feng was at a loss for words; Miss Gu Er’s thinking was indeed unusual, completely indifferent to the regular conventions.

However, Gu Jinli generously said: "You can take Xia Gu and his wife away, but I have three demands."