The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

Lu Xiaosan was very strong-willed and didn't want anyone to see him cry, so he lowered his voice and asked, "Why... do you think I didn't poison him?"

"Because what you were poisoned with wasn't arsenic at all, so neither you nor your little brother could have administered the poison," the girl said with a smile.

Lu Xiaosan was shocked, "Not... arsenic?"

He initially believed that the poison in the chicken soup must be arsenic, and since Chang'an had bought the arsenic, he felt that no matter how the arsenic was put into the chicken soup, Chang'an was responsible.

He had thought of this at the time and decided to take the blame for Chang'an with his own worthless life. Now he learned that the poisoner was someone else. He didn't know whether to be happy or angry.

I'm glad they weren't the murderers, but I'm also annoyed that I suffered so much for nothing...

Hearing this, Lu Xiaosan's breathing became rapid again, "That...isn't...arsenic, then...what kind of poison is it? Huff huff huff..."

"Hehe, well... we'll have to try it to know."

"Try it? I...I've already had three bowls...three bowls of chicken soup, and it's still not enough...if it's not enough, you can test it, grandma..."

"Yes, you drank three whole bowls. Three bowls isn't enough to kill someone as critically ill as you. Isn't that a strange thing?"

Lu Xiaosan sneered, "Heh heh, I... I thought your medical skills were superb... Turns out the poison wasn't potent enough... Haha..."

As Lu Xiaosan was laughing, he suddenly felt a light tickle on his neck from the girl. "It tickles!" But Lu Xiaosan couldn't move his whole body. Then he heard the girl giggling.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, hahaha... Stop tickling me... hahaha... stop tickling me..."

The girl loosened her grip and laughed, "Hmph? So where did you go wrong?"

"Maybe the mistake was... hitting you with a car, hitting you... and... saying you were incompetent..."

The girl trembled slightly, took a deep breath, and let go of his hand. "Okay, I forgive you, but... it's better when you don't bring up those things. Once you do, I feel... I don't know if it's fear or something else..."

Lu Xiaosan was never afraid of anything, but for some reason, he lost his usual arrogance in front of this girl.

Thinking of this, I became even more eager to see what kind of person the other party was, that he could be so humbled as to ask him to lower himself like this.

Lu Xiaosan continued, "Let's not talk about that for now... Since we... don't know anything... then I... will have to take the blame for poisoning..."

The girl pondered for a moment, "Didn't you just say that only three people could get close to the kitchen? So besides you and your little brother, who is the last one?"

"You...you mean Sweet Cake? She...hehehe, could it be her...she's so 'obedient'...and so 'diligent'?"

The girl asked again, puzzled, "What can she do?"

"She...she's a cook..."

"Besides cooking?"

"Besides cooking...she also...eats well..."

"Pfft, is that all besides this?"

"What, asking so many questions, do you want to solve the case?"

"I'm just... curious. I'm not very smart, I only know a little about medicine, but I don't have the ability to solve cases, but please tell me."

In Lu Xiaosan's mind, the image of Tian Gao was always one of someone busy in the kitchen.

He thought for a moment, "Ah... I remember now, she... she's quite agile, and she runs... runs incredibly fast..."

In the darkness, the girl shook her head. "Then do you think it was her who poisoned me?"

Lu Xiaosan laughed and said, "I...I don't know..."

The girl sighed softly, "Hearing you say that, there are three things that are strange."

"First, why would the person who poisoned someone use a poison that wouldn't kill them? What kind of poison was it?"

"Secondly, how did the person who poisoned the food manage to sneak into the kitchen and do so without you noticing?"

"Third, what was the purpose of the poisoner? If the poison didn't kill, why target only a dying person like you?"

Lu Xiaosan laughed heartily, "Maybe... the person who poisoned me hates me to death, or maybe... I unintentionally disrupted his original plan..."

In the pitch-black night, he could only see the girl deep in thought about her own affairs, but he couldn't make out her face clearly. If he bumped into her again on the street, he didn't know if he would recognize her.

"No, I'll definitely recognize it," Lu Xiaosan comforted herself. "Damn it, why am I so concerned about this kind of thing? I need to... I need to survive first..."

The thought that I might pass away at any moment fills me with worry and resentment.

"Damn it! Why should I be afraid? It should be all the death in this world that is afraid of me!" Thinking of this, Lu Xiaosan felt a surge of heat rising in his heart.

Overwhelmed with emotion, his breathing quickened again, and his consciousness began to blur. "Tell me, what...what's your name?" he cried out, afraid he would never wake up again. All he could think about was the other person's name.

Upon hearing his words, the girl immediately turned around and smiled, "You asked me? My name is Wen Ying, Wen as in warmth and Ying as in firefly. What's your name?"

Although Lu Xiaosan couldn't see her face clearly, he knew how beautiful and radiant her smile was at that moment!

His breathing became more and more rapid. Wen Ying quickly pressed one hand on his chest and patted his back with the other, and said softly with a smile, "Don't worry, don't get excited. Listen to me, I'll give you something delicious to eat, hehehe."

Lu Xiaosan felt much better after being stroked by her, but he still stubbornly said, "Master...Master is called Lu Xiaosan, and I'm no longer a three-year-old child...I won't fall for your act."

Wen Ying patted his back, "Alright, alright, now that you're a grandpa, you need to take even better care of yourself! If anything happens, just tell me, and don't get so agitated, okay?"

"You... go light a candle... let me see... what... what have you done to me?"

Wen Ying smiled and said, "Alright, let Grandpa Lu take a good look at the results of my work."

As soon as Wen Ying's hand left, Lu Xiaosan's blood and qi surged violently, and his vision blurred again.

In a daze, he heard Wen Ying say, "It's lit." Then he felt it get a little brighter, but he could no longer see anything clearly.

"Lu Xiaosan! Lu Xiaosan, are you alright?!"

Hearing Wen Ying's calls, Lu Xiaosan drifted back into unconsciousness. "It's been so long... I haven't heard anyone call my name..."

During the day, she felt Wen Ying feeding her porridge and medicine, and whenever she moved slightly, something would lick her face.

He got used to being licked so much that he gradually became accustomed to it.

He only regained consciousness at night, and after ringing the bell, he asked, "Wen, where are you?"

“Here it is.” A voice came from behind Lu Xiaosan. “Aww…” Wen Ying yawned. “I knew you would wake up in the middle of the night, so I just slept here.”

"Come in front of me now, or I'll fart and suffocate you," Lu Xiaosan said in an almost commanding tone.

Wen Ying smiled and said, "Alright, alright, the patient always comes first."

"Well... I have a favor to ask, could you... grant... my request?" Lu Xiaosan said somewhat embarrassedly.

“Hmm… tell me about it,” Wen Ying replied.

"Hehehe, cough cough cough, now that my...hands can move, can you...let me...play with yours..." Lu Xiaosan said with a wicked smile.

Wen Ying was slightly startled, "Wh...what?"

"Your...hair!"

Seeing that Wen Ying remained silent for a while, Lu Xiaosan continued to plead, "Please...please. Didn't you say...the patient's request is always the most important...?"

"But...why...did you...play with my hair?" Wen Ying's tone sounded both troubled and confused.

Lu Xiaosan suddenly looked utterly captivated, "Nothing feels better than the smooth strands of hair gliding through my fingers!"

"You don't know how to play...play with your little brother's hair?" Wen Ying asked curiously.

Lu Xiaosan's smile vanished. "No...no, men's hair...is too dry and greasy. It's so uncomfortable to play with!"

"Hehehe, when it comes to hair... it depends on the girl." Lu Xiaosan drooled, itching with desire.

Wen Ying remained silent in the darkness for a long time, as if struggling with something. Then she said, "Well... alright then."

"Thank you! You are truly... the best girl in the world." Lu Xiaosan was moved to tears.

In the darkness, the sound of clothes being removed could be heard.

After a long, long time, Lu Xiaosan finally felt something soft in his hand.

"Ah!" Lu Xiaosan twirled a small tuft of hair between his two fingers, completely absorbed in the moment.

Just as he was experiencing this blissful moment, he felt the other person trembling all over, as if they were very scared.

Lu Xiaosan quickly withdrew his hand and said with an apologetic smile, "I...I'm sorry, I was a little...out of line!"

In the darkness, only Wen Ying's heavy breathing could be heard.

After a long pause, she finally said, "No...it's nothing, I'm just...a little..."

Lu Xiaosan laughed again, "No matter what, I'm very grateful to you. And... your hair... is truly the best I've ever touched. You must be very beautiful yourself."

"You...you really like my hair?" Wen Ying's voice sounded somewhat excited.

I absolutely love it!

Even so, no matter what Lu Xiaosan said, he dared not touch her hair again.

He was no longer the tough guy who protected his brothers. He unconsciously let down his guard and talked to Wen Ying about his past.

He talked about the interesting things that happened to him when he was a child in the temple, then about his bandit brothers in the temple, and then about why he left the temple and how he met Chang'an.

Wen Ying lay beside him, listening quietly to him talk, nodding occasionally. When she heard something interesting, she would laugh along with him, and when she heard something unfair, she would listen to his complaints with a smile.

Finally, Lu Xiaosan was so out of breath that he could no longer tell the story, so he said, "No... no... I can't tell it anymore, it's your turn."

Wen Ying smiled and said, "What? You want to hear my story?"

“Hmm… I’m not interested in listening to stories anymore… Why don’t you sing me a song instead…” Lu Xiaosan said after thinking for a long time.

"Hmph, you're the first person to want to hear me sing... Let's make it clear first, you're not allowed to think it sounds bad," Wen Ying said happily.

"Hehe, I'll try my best."

Then she cleared her throat, and a clear, melodious voice, like that of a kite, rang out, its gentle, cloud-like beauty slowly entering the ear.

He had never heard this song before, but he knew that she seemed to be intentionally lowering her voice, and he felt that the tone was becoming softer and softer, the melody was becoming more and more gentle and beautiful, and his eyelids were becoming heavier and heavier.

Before I knew it, I drifted off to sleep to the sound of her sweet singing.

The next night, the two talked for a long time. They talked about everything from the affairs of the country to flies and mosquitoes.

Finally, Wen Ying said hesitantly, "You...you...still want to touch my...hair?"

Lu Xiaosan was immediately overjoyed, "I want to! I dream about it! But... you... aren't..."

"No...it's okay, I just...have never had this experience before, so..." Wen Ying replied shyly.

This time, Wen Ying stopped trembling; she seemed to have let go of her resentment.

In this way, he could chat with her while gently feeling her beautiful hair. For Lu Xiaosan, this was the ultimate pleasure in the world.

And so, Lu Xiaosan slept during the day and chatted with Wen Ying at night. Although this was the worst illness he had ever had, it was also the most pleasant and beautiful time of his life.

One day, Lu Xiaosan finally woke up during the day. A faint smell of herbs slowly entered his nose. He reached out and felt the cool wooden floor. "I... I can move. I can finally move."

Lu Xiaosan stood up excitedly, his whole body aching and numb. He twisted his neck and stretched his limbs, only feeling extremely comfortable when he heard the "crackling" sound of his muscles and bones being loosened.

Lu Xiaosan looked around and saw that he was in a wooden house.

The wooden hut was very simple, with only a shed for drying herbs and a kettle for boiling medicine. Even his sleeping place was just a mattress on the wooden floor, with a quilt and a pillow.

Although it was simple, it was a quiet and comfortable place. "Where is Wen Ying?" Lu Xiaosan wondered.

"Ouch." A woman's voice came from behind the white curtain in front.

Lu Xiaosan hurriedly stepped forward, lifted the curtain, and saw a thin old woman dressed in plain clothes sitting inside.

She looked to be in her forties, and was holding her injured leg, which was covered in bandages, with a worried expression. Her figure was also similar to Wen Ying's that night.

Upon seeing her figure and her injured leg, Lu Xiaosan disregarded her age and appearance, and excitedly exclaimed, "Wen Meizi, Wen Meizi, I've finally met you!" He then went to hug her.