Chapter 348: Chapter 348: A Poignant Love Story
"Don’t get too close. It’ll be a huge problem if that thing burrows into your body," Gu Jiaojiao warned.
The two teenagers and the bodyguard supporting Mu Ziquan flinched, terrified. The three old men were a little calmer.
Still, they immediately backed away from the basin of blood. This was no joke. Getting afflicted with a Poisonous Gu was unthinkable.
"Jiaojiao, what do we do with this thing?"
In truth, even Gu Jiaojiao didn’t know if the Poisonous Insect could fly into someone’s body again.
But she did know one thing: the Poisonous Insect was indestructible. Even if you chopped it to pieces, it would just multiply into countless smaller ones. Fire was the only way to kill it.
"Bring me a basin of fire. It can only be killed by burning," Gu Jiaojiao said calmly.
Quickly, Old Mu lit a piece of dry bamboo, added a few dry branches, and soon had a sizable flame going.
Mr. Han found two branches to use as tongs. They couldn’t bear to let Gu Jiaojiao do such rough work herself.
"Jiaojiao, do we just pick up the Poisonous Insect and drop it in the fire?"
"Yes. Make sure you drop it right into the heart of the flames, so it burns up instantly."
Gu Jiaojiao had no practical experience with this, either. She had only recently read about it in a book on dispelling Poisonous Gu.
Mr. Han carefully picked up the insect with the branches and dropped it directly into the heart of the flames.
BANG—
The deafening sound made Mr. Han stumble, nearly falling into the brazier.
Gu Jiaojiao had been practicing her Inner Strength for some time. With her newfound agility, she shot forward to steady Mr. Han. "Han, be careful!"
The explosion knocked Han Jingyi and Xiao Rui right off their feet. "Grandpa, I think I’ve gone deaf!"
Unfortunately, no one answered him. The three old men’s ears were also ringing, leaving them temporarily deafened.
Gu Jiaojiao was protected by her Inner Strength. She said softly, "It’s alright. Your Grandaunt will fix you right up."
She hadn’t expected such a tiny Poisonous Insect to pack such a punch, either. ’It was like a small bomb.’
’No wonder it causes so much harm to the human body!’
Gu Jiaojiao gave everyone a Health Pill, which she had made from spiritual spring water and Cibupu Medicine.
The explosion also startled Mu Ziquan awake. Gu Jiaojiao gave him one of the medicine pills as well, asking gently, "Did that scare you?"
"I wasn’t scared. On the battlefield, I heard sounds like that almost every day."
With the Poisonous Insect purged from his body and the medicine taking effect, a soothing sensation spread through Mu Ziquan’s entire being.
Feeling Gu Jiaojiao’s concern, Mu Ziquan felt a warmth spread through his heart, incredibly comforting.
’In that moment, he could only let go of his obsession with her. He knew she could never be his.’
After a few moments, everyone who had taken a medicine pill felt clear-headed and refreshed. The two teenagers felt as if they had just survived a catastrophe.
Han Jingyi patted his chest. "Whew! That scared the life out of me. Grandaunt, what was in that medicine you gave me? I feel great all over."
"Medicine for ringing in your ears," Gu Jiaojiao said, blinking her big, innocent eyes as she tried to bluff her way through it.
"Wow, this stuff for tinnitus really works!" Xiao Rui, Han Jingyi, and the two bodyguards were all completely convinced.
The three old men and Mu Ziquan weren’t so easily fooled, but they had no intention of calling her out on it.
’She was willing to give them her best medicine and didn’t even want to take credit for it. How could they possibly make things difficult for her?’
"Mu Ziquan’s Poisonous Gu is cured. You no longer have to worry about him suddenly going berserk. He can have his surgery after another two weeks of recovery. I have a folding bed in my lab. You two, help him inside to rest."
"Yes, ma’am," the two bodyguards said in unison, their voices filled with boundless respect and gratitude.
With that, Gu Jiaojiao led the group into her lab and unfolded the bed.
Then, she took out a large pile of medicinal herbs. The two teenagers and the bodyguards were put in charge of grinding them, Gu Jiaojiao prepared the concoctions, and the three old men rolled the medicine pills.
With the work divided, everyone chatted happily as they worked. Lying on the folding bed, Mu Ziquan didn’t sleep, but listened quietly to their conversation.
"Grandaunt, school starts for us tomorrow. Maybe I should just transfer into your class."
"There’s no need for that. You two aren’t medical students, anyway. We’ll be at the same school, so we’re bound to run into each other."
"But... Oh, right! We can eat together in the cafeteria at lunch! We can stand in line and get food for you."
"You two are so handsome. If you get my lunch for me every day, won’t I become public enemy number one to all the other girls?"
"So what? Our Grandaunt is so beautiful that the other girls will be jealous even if we don’t get your lunch. If they want to be jealous, let them."
"No, thanks. I’d rather not be seen as the public enemy of every girl in school, with them constantly looking for trouble with me."
"I’d like to see anyone try," Han Jingyi said with a domineering air, snapping two herbs in half.
"Haha... You’re all talk. When it really happens, don’t come crying to your Grandaunt for help."
"That’s not going to happen. Is there any student in the whole school the two of us can’t take on?" Xiao Rui added, unconvinced.
"Don’t worry, Grandaunt. If any guys try to pursue you, Jingyi and I will run them off. If any girls get jealous of you, we’ll..."
"Xiao Rui... You’re too simple-minded. Don’t make such empty promises. Jealousy drives people mad. There’s nothing they wouldn’t dare to do."
Mr. Xiao’s sorrowful voice cut in. He had been young once, too, and had witnessed the madness of jealous schoolgirls.
His first love had been bullied to death by jealous classmates. It was a pain he had carried his entire life.
Mr. Han and Old Mu knew the story as well, and their mood turned somber.
"Xiao, are you feeling down because of our nonsense?" Gu Jiaojiao asked, embarrassed.
"Sigh. It’s a tragic love story. Old Xiao was quite a handsome young man back in his day."
"He had a childhood sweetheart he was very fond of. The other girls, jealous of how he doted on her, ended up doing something to hurt her."
"What? Something like that really happened?" Hearing this, the two hot-blooded teenagers turned pale with anger.
Xiao Rui said furiously, "How could those girls do something like that? If I had been there, I would’ve made them pay!"
Mr. Han shook his head. "Hey now, son, don’t get so worked up. This all happened over forty years ago. Your father hadn’t even been born yet!"
"But... Grandpa, didn’t you make them pay?" Xiao Rui was still fuming.
Elder Xiao waved his hand dismissively. "What would have been the use? She was already gone."
Everyone learned from Elder Xiao that his childhood sweetheart’s name was Ye Ziyuan.
Back then, both the Xiao Family and the Ye family were wealthy and influential. The parents were very close friends, and as it happened, they each had a child in the same year—a boy and a girl.
The two families arranged a marriage between their children. This pair, of course, was Elder Xiao and Ye Ziyuan. They were childhood sweethearts who grew up together, innocent and inseparable.
They were classmates from elementary school all the way to university. But tragically, an accident occurred one day during their sophomore year.
Ye Ziyuan suddenly disappeared. The Xiao Family and the Ye family used all their resources to find her.
Finally, two days later, they found Ye Ziyuan in a restroom. It was unclear if she had starved or suffocated to death.
Although the perpetrators were severely punished, she was already gone.
