Poison Genius Consort 2: Emperor’s Swallow - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Coincidence, Encountering the Assassin

Gu Feiyan wanted a pen and paper to draw a picture.

The forest was so big. She wasn’t so stupid to go find medicine by herself.

She drew three different types of ephedra: equisetum ephedra, middle ephedra, and grass ephedra.

Equisetum ephedra had the best effect among the three ephedras, followed by middle ephedra, and grass ephedra.

She didn’t have the time to explain. As she drew, she said to Cheng Yifei seriously, “These three are all ephedra, go and find someone to copy them at once. After that, assign more people to search the nearby mountain forests, grasslands, and fields. Remember, ephedra likes sandy soil, sunny soil, but not wet soil. If you see sandy soil, you must search for it carefully. If it’s in a moist place, then don’t waste your time. There isn’t any. In addition, it will take two hours to travel from the military camp to the nearest village. We can send someone to the village to look for ephedra. Maybe there will be some farmers with ephedra in their houses.”

Hearing this, military Doctor Guo’s face reddened, secretly admiring Gu Feiyan’s sincere attitude.

Cheng Yifei promptly ordered Deputy General Zhou to do as Gu Feiyan said. Tears had already appeared in the eyes of Xu Bin and a few of the kitchen attendants. They had never thought that their lives would be taken so seriously.

Soon, groups of soldiers began to set off with torches in their hands.

Before she left, Gu Feiyan turned around to look at Doctor Guo. Unlike the aggressiveness and perseverance shown when she was arguing with him, her eyes were now severe and sincere as she said, “Doctor Guo, I’ll be relying on you for the rest of the time! Please persevere on all counts!”

Doctor Guo was stunned. He was clearly very unwilling, but for some reason, he couldn’t help but reply loudly to Gu Feiyan, “Don’t worry! No matter what, this old man will do his best to wait for your good news!”

Only then did Gu Feiyan and Cheng Yifei left. Just as she reached the door, she bumped into Madam Lin.

When Madam Lin heard that her son had kidnapped Gu Feiyan and was about to come over to investigate, she was informed that something had happened in the kitchen camp. She had been standing in the doorway for some time, taking in everything that had happened in the tent. When she saw Gu Feiyan came out, she originally wanted to dodge, but it was too late. She was hit in the face.

Gu Feiyan turned around and left without a word. Madam Lin looked at her back and felt a sense of loss.

“This little girl actually took the initiative to bow to me? Don’t you remember the past enmity? Since she didn’t hold a grudge, why didn’t I greet her and say a few words to her?’

Seeing that her son was about to catch up, Madam Lin quickly pulled him back and whispered, “Yifei, why did you kidnap her back?”

“Saving life, can’t you see? Mother, we lack a medicine girl in our army. I have already sent someone to the city to ask for her from the Imperial Pharmacy.” Cheng Yifei was a little excited in his seriousness. He was about to leave, but then he turned back and added, “I must have her!”

“Huh?”

Madam Lin was stunned. She wanted to ask more questions, but Cheng Yifei chased after Gu Feiyan with big strides.

Ephedra is a small herbaceous shrub, slightly short. Although many of the plants in the mountain forest were dried up, there were still plenty of plants that could withstand the cold. Finding a short stalk of the medicinal herb in the middle of the night was truly difficult.

Gu Feiyan and Cheng Yifei searched for a long time from the east, but to no avail.

A long time after dawn, a soldier came to report. “General, Medicine Girl Gu, I found a few stalks on the southern hillside. They look exactly the same as the ones on the drawing. You guys quickly go take a look.”

Gu Feiyan and Cheng Yifei were overjoyed, rushing over as soon as possible.

Cheng Yifei arrived, compared the drawing, and was about to pick it up. However, Gu Feiyan shook her head helplessly, “This isn’t ephedra, it’s festival grass!”

“What?”

Cheng Yifei and a few other soldiers were surprised.

The festival grass and equisetum ephedra looked remarkably similar, but after all, the two were still different, and their effects were even more different.

Everyone finally understood after Gu Feiyan explained it to them. One had to say, everyone was a bit discouraged. After all, there wasn’t much time left.

However, Gu Feiyan did not appear discouraged. Instead, she encouraged everyone, “Everyone, continue searching for the ephedra. It will save your brother’s life!”

Even if he was a chef soldier, he was still a close brother! The soldiers rallied and began to search.

When Cheng Yifei saw that Gu Feiyan’s fair and white face had turned red and that her cotton jacket was worn out and thin, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of pain in his heart. He took off his cloak and handed it to her. “Put it on.”

Gu Feiyan glanced at him and snorted. She then turned around and left.

No!

The surrounding soldiers who had yet to leave all looked over upon hearing the commotion. Cheng Yifei was extremely embarrassed. He finally realized that he hadn’t made peace with Gu Feiyan yet!

Gu Feiyan saw a small forest in front of her, so she abandoned him and quickly walked over.

Unexpectedly, just as she entered the forest, she saw a man in black clothes standing in front of her, looking at her from afar!

She stopped, almost screaming.

Oh my god!

It was him…

It was actually him!

The cold-faced assassin from that night!

The justice courts and Deputy General Zhou had been trying to track down this fellow’s whereabouts, but apart from the clues at the Imperial Pharmacy, there were no other leads. So far, even the Imperial Pharmacy did not seem to have any leads.

The forest had been bustling for an entire night, with soldiers everywhere. This fellow dared to appear here?

What was he doing?

Not only had he come, but he had deliberately shown himself for her to see. Wasn’t he afraid that she would call Cheng Yifei and the soldiers over? The military camp was at the foot of the mountain. With the strength of the eastern military camp, Cheng Yifei definitely had the ability to surround the entire forest so that not even a bird could fly out!

Although Gu Feiyan was quite far away, she could not see his expression clearly, but parts of her heart were still filled with fear. She was indeed only afraid of her master, but now, she seemed to be frightened of him too.

One must know that this fellow was not an ordinary person. He was able to survive after being poisoned by her lethal poison.

Gu Feiyan’s heart raced. She was usually slow and calm, but at this moment, her mind was somewhat empty. She subconsciously retreated.

However, Jun Jiuchen didn’t come over. Instead, he stood far away from her, looking at her. Not long after, he turned around and walked towards the mountain path at the back.

Only then did Gu Feiyan come back to her senses. She didn’t know why she didn’t call for anyone. Perhaps it was because she did not tell the truth, or maybe it was because she was scared senseless? She didn’t know for sure.

She only came back to her senses when Cheng Yifei came chasing after her. She suddenly headed in the direction the assassin had disappeared to, subconsciously wanted Cheng Yifei to find out himself.

“Hey, why are you running? Wait, did you find the ephedra?”

Cheng Yifei chased and soon caught up with Gu Feiyan. Gu Feiyan ignored him and ran down the path as fast as she could. There were steep stone walls on both sides of the road, and this was the only way the assassin had escaped.

Unfortunately, when Gu Feiyan reached the end of the road, she didn’t see the assassin’s back.

Where was he?