After rebirth, she became the favorite of the powerful minister.

Xu Chengjin's intention was not actually related to the Nine-Turn Heartbreak Powder.

He simply couldn't find an excuse to persuade her to drink, so he just made up a reason on the spot, following Feng Qingtan's words.

Although he made it up on the spot, he believed there was some finesse involved. The reason couldn't be too simple; after all, given his easygoing nature, he wouldn't throw such a big fuss over a small favor. Similarly, the reason couldn't be too dramatic or damaging, and at the very least, it couldn't be related to Yuan Ge… In that case, Song Wenyuan's Nine-Turn Heartbreak Powder was the best excuse.

Unexpectedly, he had run into the line of fire—Xu Chengjin thought to himself, "This is bad." While secretly glancing at Yuan Ge, he stood up with a forced smile, bent down to pour wine, and said awkwardly, "Don't get angry, don't get angry... Besides, she's sitting here perfectly fine now! Don't worry, with that brat's temper, even the King of Hell would have a headache. That's why she was sent back to you! But you, at your age, are still making things difficult for a young woman... Now look what's happened, the 'Life-Ending Flower' has been uprooted. What will Song Wenyuan do now?"

Another glass of wine down, "I don't care if he lives or dies!"

The wine glass was extremely heavy when it was placed on the ground, and the remaining half-mouth of wine splashed onto the back of his hand. Feng Qingtan clenched his teeth and smiled coldly.

Neither Xu Chengjin nor Yuan Ge had ever seen Feng Qingtan like this before. His eyes, which could never hide the deep smile no matter how he laughed or scolded, were now covered with a thick layer of ice, and he seemed to have gained a look of dominance over the world.

It's like... a completely different person suddenly appeared.

Xu Chengjin trembled inwardly. He was truly at his wit's end. He was in Shengjing when Yuan Ge had the accident, and later he only knew that she had fallen off a cliff while gathering herbs. How could he have known that the herb was actually the Life-Severing Flower? If he had known, even if he had seventeen or eighteen more lives, he wouldn't have dared to utter a single word about the "Nine-Turn Soul-Severing Powder"! He lowered his head and kicked the person opposite him, signaling Yuan Ge to quickly help him out of the predicament.

There was no movement from the other side. Apart from the initial shock, Miss Yuan simply lowered her eyes and quietly ate the rabbit meat, her slightly pale face remaining completely calm.

Xu Chengjin rolled his eyes, thinking to himself that this heartless woman was something else. He had gone to great lengths to hunt for her, and now he had to rack his brains to gather information for her, while she just watched like it was a show… Had she been sick and her brain wasn’t working properly? He was so angry that his head ached, and he secretly kicked her again. Not satisfied with that, he kicked her again, but before he could even retract his foot, he received a slap on the head from Feng Qingtan. “If you don’t want your legs, you can ask this old man to dislocate them for you!”

He was secretly kicking Feng Qingtan, while Yuan Ge blinked innocently, his gaze falling on the old man's hand that had been used to hit her. His eyes narrowed slightly; the slightly slipped cuff seemed to be wrapped with a piece of cotton gauze. But the old man withdrew his hand too quickly, and before Yuan Ge could examine it closely, the other man had already pulled up his cuff and chuckled bitterly, "Why did you kick her? Did you expect her to come and comfort me, to tell me not to get angry? Ha..."

He forced a bitter smile, his cheeks flushed, but his eyes held a deep sorrow. As the two gazed at him silently, he lowered his head and murmured to himself, "I'm old. I've reached the age where I can see that coffin at a glance..."

"teacher……"

"Listen to me!" Feng Qingtan suddenly shouted, stopping Yuan Ge. She took a sip of wine, sighed, and said, "Fourteen years... I've stayed on this mountain for a full fourteen years. I've taught you everything I could. You are very smart and promising. As your teacher, I have no regrets in this life for having such students. But I'm worried... Girl, even with your extraordinary skills, you might still perish on a single life-severing flower. Even with your superb medical skills that can bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded, ultimately, a doctor cannot heal himself. After these two ordeals, do you understand?"

Before I knew it, dusk had fallen and night had quietly crept in.

There were no lights in the courtyard, but the light from the campfire danced and fell on half of Feng Qingtan's face, illuminating every crisscrossing line and his increasingly graying hair and beard.

Yuan Ge suddenly realized that his teacher had really gotten old.

Such aging should happen in every ordinary day, so why had he never noticed it before? Until this moment, Yuan Ge's impression of Feng Qingtan seemed to be the same as it was fourteen years ago: a little old man with high medical skills, a big temper, and an exceptionally loud voice. He seemed to have always been this old and always this young, so when he suddenly heard the description "he has reached the age where you can see the coffin at a glance," he felt his heart jump and then fall heavily to the ground.

With each lift and drop, I felt dizzy.

It felt like there was a wad of cotton stuck in his throat, unable to spit it out or swallow it down. After making a swallowing motion, Yuan Ge said in a hoarse voice, "Yes, I know I was wrong and I won't act rashly in the future. Please don't be angry. Since you feel you're getting old, drink less alcohol, or you'll have a headache tomorrow."

The little girl was supposed to be obedient and honest, but Feng Qingtan didn't believe a word of it. If she had really learned to weigh the pros and cons and act cautiously, she wouldn't be Yuan Ge.

She risked her life for Yuan Qi back then, and now she risks her life for the people of Zhixuan Mountain. There will naturally be others to do the same in the future. She's only a teenager, yet at such a young age, she's already taking everyone on her shoulders, trying to protect everyone single-handedly… It seems so naive. But that naiveté is so endearing that you just want to protect her… You really want to protect her naiveté forever.

But he couldn't protect her for many more days.

Feng Qingtan's eyes darkened slightly. After a long while, she finally put down her wine cup, raised her eyes, and replied with a smile, "Alright, alright... Listen to my precious disciple and drink less wine. No more, no more... Eat meat! Didn't you say you hunted a deer? Why are you only looking at a rabbit?"

The atmosphere was so tense and unpredictable that it made everyone's heart tremble. Xu Chengjin had no intention of urging anyone to drink anymore. Hearing this, he honestly replied, "I had someone take it and deal with it. There were only two young girls on duty in the kitchen. They said that the chef in charge of cooking caught a cold and was afraid of infecting the masters, so he asked for leave for a few days. I sent a guard to deal with it. Judging from the time it takes, it should be done soon."

Yuan Ge handed the freshly sliced ​​rabbit meat to Feng Qingtan before turning to Xu Chengjin and asking, "Is it really just a cold?"

Xu Chengjin nodded, "Yes, don't worry, I just checked, it's just a common cold. Now that we know Xuanshan is like this, it's not wrong to be careful. Anyway, there are few people on the mountain now, so there shouldn't be any problem with our meals. Don't worry."

Feng Qingtan paused, and sure enough, she met the little girl's gaze. The girl's eyes were calm, serious, scrutinizing, and calculating, with a complex mix of worry and heartache. The little girl looked at Feng Qingtan with those eyes and asked, "Teacher, where did the deer blood I've been drinking these past few days come from?"