Chapter 4683 — Have You Thought It Through?

"Thank you," Huo Yudie said softly, blushing as she voiced her gratitude. Privately, she was rather surprised—she had assumed that after suffering such an undeserved grievance, Wei Zhao would truly storm off. Never had she expected him to be so unexpectedly agreeable. She certainly hadn't seen that coming before.

For some reason, after this misunderstanding, Wei Zhao suddenly seemed far more dependable in her eyes—at the very least, a world apart from the haggling, profiteering image he had cut at the start.

Yet no sooner had her impression begun to improve than his very next sentence sent much of that hard-won trust crumbling: "Think nothing of it. That said, you and I need to have a proper talk."

"Talk about what?" Huo Yudie had only just regained consciousness, and her head still felt foggy; she stared at him blankly, unable to react for a moment.

"About your repayment, naturally. Surely you don't naively think I'd save you for nothing? You're a prodigy disciple of the Chenjiao Academy, at least—you can't be that ignorant of how the world works." Wei Zhao regarded her with a sly grin.

"Ah... you want..." At that expression, Huo Yudie tensed up again—only this time, whereas before she had been purely startled and indignant, now a few traces of maidenly shyness crept in unbidden. Already ravishing beyond compare, she grew all the more tantalizing, carrying a certain allure that seemed to invite plucking; Wei Zhao's eyes could not help but light up.

"Drawing the poison out for you this time nearly cost me my life. You know better than anyone how dangerous it was, so repayment is naturally unavoidable." Wei Zhao paused, letting Huo Yudie's heart pound wildly, before continuing: "So when the time comes, the split of the Lei Xuan Vine will have to change—you take two, I take eight. You have no objection, I trust?"

"What? You..." Huo Yudie was utterly dumbfounded. The faint nervousness and shyness in her heart vanished in an instant. She had assumed Wei Zhao had glimpsed something he shouldn't have beneath her skirts earlier and meant to use the occasion to make some improper demand—after all, the trope of repaying a life-saving debt with one's body was as common as could be.

Huo Yudie had always been confident in her own beauty; that was precisely why she wore a veil—otherwise men would swarm after her like flies that could not be shooed away, bringing endless trouble. Under the circumstances, she had naturally assumed Wei Zhao would make such a demand too. Never in her wildest dreams had she expected that, after circling the matter for so long, this was what he was after.

Huo Yudie was caught between exasperation and amusement, staring at the utterly serious Wei Zhao and unable to find words for a long while. She truly did not know how to describe the feeling; had she been from the secular world, she might well have blurted out, 'I've even taken off my trousers—and this is what you show me?'

"What do you mean, 'what'? This is already the smallest of repayments, all right? Think about it—I saved your life. Is even this too much to ask?" Wei Zhao said with an expression of perfect matter-of-factness.

"No. We agreed on three-seven, and a deal is a deal," Huo Yudie said, the corners of her mouth curving upward—though for some reason her mood had suddenly turned excellent.

"Then didn't I suck out that poison for nothing?" Wei Zhao shot her a glance.

"I'm already cured anyway. It's no use trying to go back on your word—three-seven is what we agreed, so three-seven it is. As for curing my poison, you can think of some other way to repay yourself," Huo Yudie said, her mouth curving smugly. She had never felt this way before, but now she found that even bickering with Wei Zhao like this seemed rather pleasant.

"Heh. So you're burning the bridge after crossing it?" Wei Zhao could not help but laugh, though his face still wore the look of one holding all the winning cards. Smiling faintly, he said: "It's just a pity you've torn it down a bit too early—you haven't even fully crossed yet. Isn't tearing it down now just digging a pit for yourself?"

"What do you mean?" Huo Yudie's eyelid twitched at his expression.

"Simple. Aren't you still so numb you can't move? That means the poison hasn't been fully drawn out. What I sucked away just now was only some toxin lingering near the surface, but during this time some of it has already been absorbed into your body, fused into you so deeply it's hard to expel. So I'd estimate that in a few more hours, the poison will have reached your very marrow..." Wei Zhao said with a faint smile, looking down at her from above.

"What?!" All trace of good humor drained from Huo Yudie in an instant. Frightened out of her wits by Wei Zhao, she was utterly at a loss, her face full of terror: "Really? You're not lying to me?!"

"True or false—just feel for yourself and you'll know. This is something you should understand better than I do. See how far the poison has progressed in your body. If it really had been completely removed, why would your legs still refuse to move?" Wei Zhao said indifferently.

"This..." Not daring to be negligent, Huo Yudie carefully sensed her body as Wei Zhao had instructed, and her heart sank to the bottom of her stomach. Just as he had said, the toxin that hadn't been drawn out had already seeped through her blood into her body, and if it continued to spread, even the gods themselves would not be able to save her.

"Well? Have you thought it through?" Wei Zhao stood to one side with his arms crossed, watching her at his leisure.

"That fool was absolutely right—you really are a eunuch!" Huo Yudie could not help but grow angry. Blinking pitifully, tears glistening like pear blossoms in the rain, she pouted: "I begged you so earnestly, and you still want to take advantage of me—and that kind of advantage at that!"

"Oh? Then would you rather I weren't a eunuch and took that other kind of advantage—or are you saying you wish I'd just..." Wei Zhao's lips curled into a knowing smile at her words.

"Uh..." Huo Yudie was struck speechless, only then realizing the ambiguity in her own words. Her lovely face flushed bright red once more—this time so fiercely that even her veil could not hide it. She hurriedly buried her head against her chest and mumbled: "Fine, fine, two-eight it is. Now hurry up and cure my poison!"

"That's more like it. This may hurt a bit—bear with it." Wei Zhao chuckled, then knelt down on the ground again and brought his mouth to her wound. His lips had gone utterly numb before, but after resting for a while, they had recovered completely.

"Mmh!" Feeling the suction from Wei Zhao's mouth, Huo Yudie suddenly let out a low cry of ambiguous meaning, then blushed crimson at her own reaction. Though her legs were still numb, because so much of the toxin had been expelled, she could now feel at least a little sensation.

Especially now, with Wei Zhao drawing out the poison with his mouth—the sensation was less a sharp sting than a faint stimulation tinged with pain; and indeed, Huo Yudie even found the pain rather pleasant. (To be continued..) R752