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Chapter 48

Auntie Mei couldn\'t help but feel afraid whenever she recalled Li Xia\'s pallid, lifeless appearance that morning.

"You\'re fine now, but you don\'t need to drink the tonic soup anymore. Mrs. Lu has arranged for you to take it for five days."

Upon hearing Auntie Mei\'s words, Li Xia immediately put on a pained expression. "Auntie, I\'m really fine now. See?" She stood up and bounced around a few times. Her arm accidentally knocked into a shelf beside her, causing her to let out a small "ah" sound involuntarily.

"Where does it hurt?" Auntie Mei stepped forward to check Li Xia\'s arm.

"Nowhere, I just bumped the small wound on my hand," Li Xia only then remembered the wound on her arm from last night. She had gotten too used to the good life and couldn\'t even tolerate a little pain now.

Li Xia avoided Auntie Mei\'s inspection, sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and continued eating. "I haven\'t finished my meal yet."

Seeing Li Xia wholeheartedly focused on eating, Auntie Mei didn\'t say anything further.

After the meal, Li Xia saw Auntie Mei off. She returned to the study, rolled up her sleeve, and unwrapped the cloth bandage, revealing the wound that had cracked open and was bleeding slightly. After wiping away the blood, Li Xia thought she would have to ask Tian Jiu for some medicine later that night.

That night, Li Xia went to the desolate mountain and saw Tian Jiu sitting in front of a grave, drinking alcohol. She noticed the grave was inscribed with the words "Heaven Punishment\'s Grave." Li Xia looked at Tian Jiu with amusement. "He wanted to kill you, yet you erected a grave for him?"

Tian Jiu took a sip of alcohol and glanced at the grave. "He was once a senior I admired." He then offered Li Xia a bottle of alcohol.

"Minors don\'t drink," Li Xia declined.

Tian Jiu laughed. "You didn\'t mention it, so I forgot." As Li Xia approached closer, Tian Jiu caught a faint scent of blood on her. He took out a small bottle from his pocket. "This is a special wound medicine I made. Just apply it, and it will stop the bleeding."

Li Xia accepted the medicine and applied it to her wound. As Tian Jiu claimed, it was indeed a highly effective wound medicine that immediately stopped the bleeding. "Can you sell me the recipe for this medicine?"

Tian Jiu laughed. Li Xia was truly an interesting one. She had taken the corpse dissolution water without hesitation, yet she was willing to pay for this wound medicine. "I\'ll write it out for you next time."

Li Xia sat down beside Tian Jiu and took out some wild berries she had picked along the way to eat.

Tian Jiu watched Li Xia with amusement, laughing for a while before suddenly speaking up. "My surname is Zhou, and my given name is Heng. My ancestors lived in Nanping Prefecture and made a living by selling medicinal herbs.

"A steward from Prince Yongkang\'s Mansion took an interest in my family\'s herb business. He wanted to seize our shop under the guise of a partnership, but my father naturally refused. That steward then fabricated a crime and had my father and elder brother thrown into prison.

"To save my father and brother, my mother had no choice but to hand over our shop to them. But those people didn\'t stop there. When my father and brother were brought out of prison, they were merely two mutilated corpses. My mother died that very day.

"After holding their funeral, my second brother sent me to live with a family in the countryside, then went to seek revenge against that steward with a knife. He never returned. When the money for my upkeep ran out, the family I was staying with refused to keep me any longer and sold me to a wandering street doctor.

"I traveled everywhere with him until I accidentally witnessed the Shadowless Pavilion committing a murder. That doctor abandoned me and ran, but he didn\'t get far. I thought I would die too, but instead I was taken into the Shadowless Pavilion. The one who brought me in was Heaven Punishment," Tian Jiu said, glancing at the grave.

After finishing the berries, Li Xia asked, "So what are your plans now?"

"Without Heaven Punishment, the Shadowless Pavilion has lost half its strength and is no longer formidable. I plan to return to Nanping Prefecture to pay my respects to my parents and elder brother, then go look for my second brother, Zhou Luo." Zhou Heng knew the chances of his brother surviving were slim, but he still wanted to find out, whether alive or dead.

"But before you leave, help me take care of something first." Li Xia stood up and led Tian Jiu into a mountain cave.

Seeing the contents inside, Tian Jiu turned to Li Xia. "How do you want to handle this?"

"Move it to a safer place," Li Xia replied. This was a bandit\'s hideout, so it was never truly secure.

"I\'ll buy a house in the city and store these things there. That way, you won\'t have to keep coming back and forth at night," Tian Jiu suggested.

Li Xia was satisfied with Tian Jiu\'s proposal and pointed to a box of gold. "This box is for you."

With payment secured, Tian Jiu became even more motivated. "Rest assured, I\'ll make sure it\'s taken care of properly."

Leaving Tian Jiu to handle the items in the mountain cave, Li Xia selected and cut down a few trees over a hundred years old in the mountains. She had Tian Jiu arrange to transport the larger sections back to the city, while she used her wind abilities to directly carry the smaller sections back to her courtyard, placing them together with the pile from before.

Looking at the carved brush pots, animal figures, human portraits, and other objects arranged on the table – all of which Li Xia had meticulously carved by hand with a knife rather than using her wind blades – she nodded in satisfaction. Just then, Qiu Shui entered.

"Miss, Zi Juan from Mrs. Lu\'s side is here."

Li Xia put down the carving knife, stood up, and went to the parlor. As Zi Juan was about to pay her respects, Li Xia stepped forward to stop her. "Sister Zi Juan, it\'s rare for you to visit today. Please, have a seat and stay for a while."

"Mrs. Lu has summoned you over. Hua Steward is also there," Zi Juan said. She rather liked this second young miss and was willing to give her a heads-up.

Hearing this, Li Xia knew the suggestion she had given Hua Steward was working, so she smiled at Zi Juan. "Sister Zi Juan, please have a seat and some tea first. I\'ll go change into something more presentable." She turned to Qiu Kui behind her. "Qiu Kui, quickly brew some of the fine tea Mother gave us recently."

Qiu Kui went to prepare the tea while Li Xia entered the inner room to change her clothes with Qiu Shui\'s assistance.

"Why the long face?" Li Xia noticed Qiu Shui\'s solemn expression and pinched her cheek playfully.

"Miss, Mrs. Lu has called for Zi Juan to summon you, so it must be something important. You should hurry and change so you can go," Qiu Shui said with concern, unable to understand why Li Xia wasn\'t taking this more seriously.

After changing into a new set of clothes, Li Xia returned to the parlor and said apologetically to Zi Juan, "Please forgive me for making you wait, Sister Zi Juan."

"No need for the second young miss to be so courteous. Let\'s go," Zi Juan replied as she stood up. Li Xia accompanied her to Mrs. Lu\'s courtyard. No matter how many times she came, she could never get used to the eerie silence within.

At the entrance, Zi Juan asked Li Xia to wait while she went inside to inform Mrs. Lu first. Li Xia waited patiently outside until Zi Juan returned to invite her in.

Upon entering, Li Xia saw Mrs. Lu sitting upright, her expression somewhat displeased. Seated at the lower position was Li Xin, who looked at Li Xia with concern. Li Xia gave her a reassuring glance. Standing in the middle of the room were Hua Steward and two unfamiliar men – likely the ones Hua Steward intended to deal with, Li Xia deduced.

Her mind raced with possibilities, but her outward demeanor remained respectful. She approached Hua Steward and said, "The daughter pays her respects to Mother."