The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

"Aren't you leaving yet!"

Si Xingxuan spoke.

"Yes."

Qi Zhu didn't understand why her master was angry, but she still placed the medicine box on the low table beside the bed, turned around and left, closing the door behind her.

As the door closed, he stood outside for a moment, listening intently to what was happening inside.

In the end, he heard nothing and had no choice but to stand empty-handed and obediently guard the corridor.

"Now there are no outsiders to bother us."

Si Xingxuan, her face flushed, sat down on the chair next to Tang Xixue, trying to appear calm.

He reached out and straightened his slightly disheveled clothes, then brushed his sleeves.

They look very busy.

It looked like a piece of cold porcelain that had been warmed up; the cool exterior remained, but the inside had become scalding hot.

"Junior Uncle, where do you feel unwell? Please extend your hand, and I will take your pulse."

Si Xingxuan's voice remained steady.

"Thank you for your help, Zheyue."

Tang Xixue stretched out her pretty, fair little hand and looked at him with great interest.

She thought to herself, "No way? Is this still that poisonous little orchid? Why is she acting all shy? Come to think of it, this little madwoman is actually quite well-behaved."

In the past, when Si Xingxuan examined others, he would always use a thread to diagnose their pulse, but this time, he didn't even take out the thread.

Si Xingxuan's hand was very cold, like a piece of white jade that had been soaked in a cold spring, gently resting on her wrist.

The chill seeped into her skin, making her almost pull her hand back.

He asked in a low voice, his tone cautious.

"Sorry, are you cold?"

"It's alright."

Tang Xixue shook her head.

She was certain that the little yandere's illness had indeed become more serious.

She sighed silently to herself:

"Very well, the reputation of my Weaving Fate Heavenly Physician has been utterly shattered."

Si Xingxuan took her pulse, and the touch under his fingertips felt like pearls and silk, burning all the way from his fingertips to his heart.

The temperature was so hot that even the roots of his ears turned bright red.

He tried to concentrate on taking her pulse, but her pulse was pounding so hard that each beat felt like a thud on his heart.

The pulse was weak and feeble, a sign of excessive indulgence and a deficiency of the soul, yet he couldn't tear his attention away from that pale, white wrist.

He tried to calm himself, but her faint, cool fragrance of crabapple blossoms seeped into his nostrils, shattering the composure he had managed to muster.

Si Xingxuan's voice was trembling, and she was about to give up.

"Junior Uncle... is somewhat... indulging in excessive sexual activity."

When he said those words, his voice was so low that it was almost inaudible.

He felt a mixture of embarrassment and a bitterness that he couldn't quite explain.

The sourness felt like a fine needle pricking my heart, making me restless.

He lowered his eyes, not daring to look at her.

"You should exercise some restraint in your sexual activity; your body is a bit too weak."

Thick, curled eyelashes fell down, like two frosty butterfly wings, and with a gentle tremor, they concealed all the emotions in her eyes.

"Um."

Tang Xixue responded.

She slowly withdrew her hand, her fingertips gently gliding across his palm, sending a faint tingling sensation through her.

It seemed intentional, yet also unintentional.

"understood."

Si Xingxuan's fingertips curled slightly, as if burned by the touch, but she couldn't bear to pull away.

The curling was very light, as light as the outermost petals of a flower bud just beginning to bloom, which would fold inward a little when gently touched by the wind.

Tang Xixue suddenly called him, her voice soft and languid.

"Zheyue."

"Um?"

He responded quickly, as if he had been waiting for a long time.

The moment I looked up, my eyes met hers.

It's like a chess player gazing at a piece in their hand that's about to fall, not in a hurry to place it, but wanting to watch it tremble slightly on their fingertips a little longer.

Tang Xixue spoke slowly.

"I heard that someone asked you to come and treat me. May I ask who it is?"

Si Xingxuan was slightly taken aback.

"It is... Hua Rong Shi."

When he said the name, his tone carried a hint of reluctance and jealousy.

The sour taste swirled on the tip of his tongue.

Tang Xixue was somewhat surprised, not expecting it to be Hua Rongshi.

"Hmm? Prince Menghua has quite the influence."

She wondered to herself, "How did he know I was back? Is he that perceptive? Or did the young prince tell him?"

As Si Xingxuan spoke, the tips of her ears turned red again.

"He has no face whatsoever."

The crimson hue came unexpectedly, like someone had splashed a cup of rouge over your head, spreading from the tips of your ears.

"I want to ask him for a painting, as an exchange."

Looking at him like this, Tang Xixue couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, I see. What kind of painting is it that's so valuable?"

She persisted, leaning slightly closer to him.

She was too close.

He was so close that he could see the curve of her eyelashes and feel the temperature of her breath.

Her breath enveloped his lungs, binding him tightly like vines.

Si Xingxuan froze completely.

"N-nothing...it's just a regular drawing."

He wanted to retreat, but there was only the back of the chair behind him, leaving him nowhere to go.

His back was pressed against the chair back, stiff as a taut string, ready to snap at any moment.

"I see—then, in your opinion, how should it be treated?"

Tang Xixue asked the question with a straight face, but the smile in her eyes clearly hid a mischievous teasing.

Si Xingxuan opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to answer.

Think for a moment.

"Nourish Yin and tonify the kidneys, strengthen the foundation and cultivate vitality, reduce sexual activity, sleep more and think less."

He finished speaking in one breath, as if reciting a memorized text, so fast and urgent that he wished he could hide himself inside those prescriptions.

"I...I'll write you a prescription first."

He lowered his head, frantically rummaging for paper and pen, his fingertips trembling.

Those fingers, which could clearly pick up the finest silver needles, could not even hold a pen steadily at this moment.

The handwriting was crooked and uneven, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the legendary physician Zheyue.

Halfway through writing, he secretly looked up and glanced at her cautiously.

Tang Xixue lightly tapped the blanket on her lap with her fingertips, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Zheyue, your Drunken Immortal Elixir is really effective. And that Rejuvenating Pill..."

"Uncle-Master is very curious, how did you come to develop these things? Do you perhaps have some hidden ailment?"

Si Xingxuan's pale face instantly turned red, as red as a boiled shrimp.

"Junior Uncle, Zhe Yue is a businesswoman."

He spoke hastily, his voice rising a beat, filled with the grievance of being wronged.

"It's not that I have any hidden illness. Those things... are just hot-selling items at the Seven Generations Pavilion."

But then a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: "Junior Uncle said it worked well, what does that mean? Who used it? And on whom?"

He recalled that night at the Hall of Longevity, when He Lichen was under the influence of the Drunken Immortal and he and his junior uncle were locked in a passionate kiss on the bed.

The image surfaced from the depths of my memory, so clear it was almost blinding.

He immediately regretted it so much he felt like his guts were turning green.

"You damn hand! Serves you right for being so impulsive! Why did you have to make Drunken Immortal?! Why did you have to sell it to someone else?!"

He cursed himself a thousand times in his heart, but on the surface he still had to put on a calm and composed facade.

"Um... I don't have any hidden illnesses. Although I'm not in good health, I can..."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized what he had said.

He frantically tried to salvage the situation, his voice urgent and disordered, even his fingertips trembling.

"I...I didn't mean that...I meant...I'm fine with being on top too."

After saying that, he froze completely.

That pale face was now so red it looked like it was about to bleed, even staining her neck, like a piece of white jade being soaked in cinnabar from the inside out.

He wished he could hide himself in a crack in the ground, in a corner where no one could find him.

What on earth is he saying?