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Chapter 22: Corpse Vixen
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The eagle possessed considerable strength, not yet fully tamed and retaining much of its wild nature.
“You’re bleeding…” Lin Xihe repeated.
“Hm.”
His neck burned fiercely. Wen Zhixu touched it, feeling a slippery wetness.
Spreading his palm open revealed a smear of red.
Before he could cover the wound, the girl came crashing toward him like a falling tree.
“…”
.
The Lin residence descended into chaos.
“Terrible news, the young mistress has fainted!”
“Call the physician! The physician!”
Wherever trouble emerged, Min Shi and her daughter would appear.
Lin Zhirou followed the commotion and saw the Lin family steward leading the way upfront, with Wen Zhixu carrying Lin Xihe in hurried strides.
His water-colored sleeves billowed like wind-blown waves, their hems sprinkled with golden sunlight fragments. Wen Zhixu’s face was taut, all traces of his usual composure gone.
Lin Zhirou stared blankly at the scene: Second Master Wen playing the hero saving the beauty… making her even more infatuated with him.
Except, he was holding that vixen in his arms. That should have been her position!
Lin Zhirou approached, feigning concern: “Brother Zhixu, what happened?”
Wen Zhixu glanced sideways at her, deliberately bypassing Lin Zhirou as if avoiding plague, speaking gently only to Min Shi: “There was some trouble outside my residence that frightened Miss Lin.”
Min Shi wore a counterfeit smile: “I’ll go summon the physician.”
“I’ve already sent someone to fetch Qian Daifu.”
The air stilled momentarily before Min Shi continued: “Then we thank Second Master. When my husband returns to the residence, I will certainly report this.”
“No need to trouble yourself, madam. I’ve already sent someone to inform Lord Lin.”
Min Shi’s smile completely froze on her face, unable to utter another word.
The sunlight dazzled, warming the skin with gentle heat. Lin Xihe could hear Wen Zhixu dealing with Min Shi—wouldn’t it be awkward if she woke up now?
Never having experienced a princess carry in her previous life, she felt somewhat bashful. The current scene hardened her resolve, silently reciting: Assume Wen Zhixu is a coffin, my current main quest is to cosplay a corpse.
Having made up her mind, she relaxed her body completely, nestling contentedly deeper into that solid “coffin.”
As Wen Zhixu walked, he suddenly felt the person in his arms subtly nuzzle against his chest.
He looked down, eyelashes fluttering—she was clearly awake.
“Enough, stop pretending. I’ve already driven everyone away.”
Lin Xihe stubbornly persisted, throwing herself even more intensely into playing dead.
“Quite heavy,” Wen Zhixu stated impassively, “You should lose some weight.”
He returned her own strange words verbatim.
Lin Xihe’s mind reeled—was this ancient man a reincarnated parrot? He learned to mimic her speech quite quickly!
Wen Zhixu’s arms lightened as the corpse in his embrace suddenly slid to the ground.
The girl’s face cycled through shades of green and red before she finally managed to huff: “Only pigs need to lose weight!”
Speaking of pigs—Wen Zhixu recalled another matter.
He seamlessly continued her thread: “Oh, only pigs with snouts need to lose weight.”
Lin Xihe brightened: “Piggy Paige is still young, she doesn’t need to lose weight.”
Little pig, Paige.
For a fleeting moment, Wen Zhixu thought the name Paige wasn’t bad—catchy and pleasant, better sounding than Emerald Phoenix, Chun Lu, or Mo Hu.
In the pond beneath the corridor bridge, a foraging carp quietly shattered the water’s surface.
The shimmering ripples fragmented the young couple’s reflections across the pond.
“Lin Xihe.”
“Hm?”
“The missing bird notice I had posted,” Wen Zhixu’s tone remained perfectly calm, “why is there a pig’s head next to my name?”
Lin Xihe: “…”
Speak of the devil. It turned out that notice she had vented her anger on by drawing Piggy Paige had indeed been picked up by Wen Zhixu.
Wen Zhixu stepped forward, not intending to let her off: “Care to explain?”
The suddenly warm spring breeze chose that moment to blow, tousling the young lady’s long hair. The strands fell like a curtain, hiding her embarrassment.
“Ah…?”
“Stop pretending.”
During their standoff, Lin Xihe recalled Wen Zhixu’s Letter of Annulment. Hah, he’d already written a Letter of Annulment—what right did he have to question her?
Anger flared in her heart as she lifted her chin: “Yes, I drew it. I admit it. What are you going to do about it?”
Wen Zhixu froze.
Lin Xihe smirked mockingly: “What’s our relationship? Want to control me? Dream on.” Even her cheap old father couldn’t control her.
Wen Zhixu choked back his words. Who wanted to control her?!
Not far away, Qian Daifu holding his medical kit stood awkwardly, unsure whether to advance or retreat.
The youngest apprentice in their group, seeing Wen Zhixu’s livid expression, hurriedly said: “Master, please examine Second Master Wen quickly. He’s about to faint!”
Qian Daifu was puzzled. The Lin residence steward had said their eldest young lady had fainted, so how had it become Second Master Wen?
From Tinghe Courtyard came a series of frantic barks.
The moment Lin Xihe turned around, a black blur shot from the gate straight to her feet.
Upon hearing her voice, the barks turned into whimpering whines. The dog circled her excitedly once before lifting its mud-caked nose to nuzzle her skirt.
“Xiao Hei, you’re so dirty.” Lin Xihe crouched down tiger-style, rubbing the dog’s face tiger-style, not minding the dirt at all as she used her own sleeve to wipe it clean.
The dog whimpered contentedly, but the moment it opened its beady eyes, it met a sharp gaze.
“Whine… woof…?” How did Master get here?
“Mo! Hu!” Wen Zhixu gritted his teeth, “How did you get here?”
Qian Daifu and his apprentice both widened their eyes—Second Master Wen was always composed and aloof, yet he’d actually lost his temper this time.
Lin Xihe spoke up for the dog: “It has legs, so it walked here. Right, Xiao Hei?”
With the doctor present, Wen Zhixu felt superfluous and left with the dog.
Lin Xihe waved, grinning widely: “Xiao Hei, bye-bye~”
Mo Hu looked back at every third step.
“Still not moving faster?” Wen Zhixu turned back just in time to see this scene—the girl flashing her bright white teeth saying goodbye to his dog—and felt a wave of irritation. What kind of nonsense was “bye-bye” anyway?
He scolded the dog: “When did you get so familiar with her? No discipline. I’ll starve you for two meals.”
Mo Hu’s tail drooped weakly, making pitiful whimpering sounds.
By the corridor, Lin Xihe hid herself behind a pillar and looked down at her palm—it held an exquisite gilded anklet that Mo Hu had just presented to her like a treasure.
She had considered chasing after him to return it, but immediately dismissed the thought: Xiao Hei just dug a new tunnel and that Wen fellow is already starving him for two meals. If he finds out about this chain, wouldn’t he break the dog’s legs?
She closed her hand, gripping the anklet tightly.
Hmph, not returning it.
After examining her through observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking, Qian Daifu concluded: “Miss Lin saw blood today, which disturbed her mental state, causing reversed qi and blood flow that led to fainting.”
After drinking some ginger honey water, Lin Xihe’s complexion improved considerably: “Yes, hemophobia.”
Back in university, her entire dorm had gone to donate blood full of heroic determination. But the moment she caught sight of the blood bag, she collapsed on the spot, becoming the only person in her dorm who didn’t get a blood donation certificate.
“Hemophobia?” Doctor Qian repeated the term thoughtfully, then rose respectfully and bowed deeply to Lin Xihe. “Miss Lin’s previous discourse on ‘infection and sterilization’ had already enlightened me greatly. Today, these three characters ‘hemophobia’ are even more brilliant, truly brilliant!”
“Well…” Was this giving an ancient physician a taste of modern medical shock?
After examining the human patient, Doctor Qian was reluctantly forced to become a veterinarian.
Lin Xihe dangled an exquisite leg fetter to tease Bu Bu, but the creature lay listlessly sunk in the miniature pillow she had hastily stitched overnight, its seams crooked and uneven.
If this were modern times, it would have been sent to an exotic pet hospital and cured long ago, not leaving her anxiously helpless like this.
Doctor Qian: “The ophicalcite Miss Lin is seeking…”
“Is it in stock?!” Lin Xihe had already searched every pharmacy in the city, yet couldn’t find any ophicalcite.
“I’m afraid you can only try looking in the back hills of Shu Shi An.”
“The mountains?” Lin Xihe’s eyes lit up. Why hadn’t she thought of that?
The elderly Housekeeper who came in carrying water overheard the words “Shu Shi An” and felt a sudden chill in her heart, her expression immediately turning uneasy.