Chapter 150: Night Meeting

The moonlight was hazy; within a quiet courtyard of the Zhanlu Shanzhuang, a beautiful woman in palace attire leaned lazily against the window.

Her looks were not lacking; she held a book scroll in her hand, gazing intently at the candle flame on the table.

Moonlight filtering through the agarwood window lattice mingled with the candlelight, forming a warm halo around her, appearing very tranquil and peaceful in the night.

"Lady, it is late; you should retire."

At this moment, an old woman walked slowly to her side and whispered the reminder.

Hearing this, the beautiful woman frowned slightly, raised her head to look at the old woman, and was about to speak.

But the next moment, that old woman suddenly rolled her eyes white and fell straight down to the ground right before her eyes.

The beautiful woman was instantly startled; she hurriedly stood up, her gaze sharp as she swept the surroundings, and shouted in a cold voice:

"Who is it?"

"Cousin, do not fear; it is I."

As a mellow male voice sounded in the room, a clear breeze then blew in from outside the courtyard.

In the room filled with curling sandalwood incense, a middle-aged man wearing a moon-white robe and a silk cap had appeared at some unknown time.

The middle-aged man's attire could not be called anything but magnificent, but unfortunately, his figure was somewhat bloated, and his head was quite fat, stretching the clothes until they bulged unbearably, looking extremely unattractive.

This middle-aged man was naturally Hu Rui'an; if Li Musheng were to see him in his current state, he would surely be very surprised.

Clearly, the other party had left wearing night-clothes; who knows from where he stole such a flashy outfit to change into.

At this time, the beautiful woman Ruan Zhenhui, upon seeing Hu Rui'an, almost cried out in shock.

In an instant, the chilling aura released from her body receded like a tide in a flash; her gaze fixed on Hu Rui'an, clearly somewhat incredulous:

"Cousin, how did you appear here?"

Hearing this, Hu Rui'an gazed at the beautiful woman before him, his eyes full of tenderness; after a moment of silence, he said:

"I happened to pass by Zhanlu Shanzhuang on some business, so I thought to take this opportunity to see you."

Speaking thus, he paused, as if he had many words he wanted to say to the woman before him, but ultimately did not know what to say, merely looking at the other party, wanting to speak yet holding back:

"You... in recent years... have you been well..."

Ruan Zhenhui gently pressed her red lips together; meeting Hu Rui'an's gaze, her eyes were likewise tender like water.

But very quickly, she turned her head away, refusing to look at Hu Rui'an; her eyes seemed filled with mist, and her voice suddenly became extremely cold as she said:

"Thank you for your concern, my lord; I suppose my lord must have enjoyed great official fortune in Great Li these years, and probably already looks down on me, a woman of the martial world."

Hearing this, Hu Rui'an opened his mouth, gazed at Ruan Zhenhui's profile, and finally only sighed, saying:

"Indeed, cousin, you still blame me for the matter of those years."

Speaking thus, he remained silent for a while, then suddenly opened his mouth again to say:

"Actually, when I left you back then, violating the promise we made to each other, I had no choice but to do so due to unavoidable hardships."

Hu Rui'an gazed at the beautiful woman's profile with deep affection and said in a heavy voice:

"To be honest, tonight is probably the last time I will see you, cousin; there will likely be no opportunity in the future, so I wish to speak the words I have buried in my heart for many years."

"This way, even if I die, I will have no regrets..."

Hearing Hu Rui'an's words of revealing his heart, Ruan Zhenhui still turned her head, stubbornly refusing to look at the other party.

However, she heard every single word the other party said without error; and just as she was preparing to listen to how Hu Rui'an would explain, she discovered that while he was speaking, the next moment he suddenly fell silent.

Ruan Zhenhui immediately frowned and, puzzled, turned her head to look.

However, she saw Hu Rui'an, dressed in a moon-white robe, standing in the room suddenly begin to stagger, his expression appearing extremely dazed.

"Cousin!"

Ruan Zhenhui sensed something amiss; she immediately moved her body, quickly came to the other party's side, and reached out to support his arm.

And Hu Rui'an, true to his status as a Heaven and Man expert, although the poison in him was second only to Li Musheng's, still retained a shred of clear consciousness at this moment, saying:

"Terrible; I have been poisoned..."

Before he could finish speaking, his entire body rolled its eyes white, and he fell silent.

Seeing this scene, Ruan Zhenhui's spirit panicked, and sorrow instantly surged to her heart.

She felt that the "last meeting" Hu Rui'an had spoken of had come so unexpectedly; furthermore, the other party had not even finished his words before dying.

However, she soon discovered that Hu Rui'an did not seem to be dead yet, but had merely lost consciousness due to the poison.

Seeing this, Ruan Zhenhui restrained the emotions in her heart and immediately reached out to gather true qi to investigate the situation within Hu Rui'an's body.

Next, she sniffed lightly twice at her nose and smelled a rather strong scent of wine on Hu Rui'an.

"Spirit Deer Wine? Drunken Immortal Death!"

Ruan Zhenhui immediately understood what poison the other party had been struck by.

However, she frowned; the antidote for Drunken Immortal Death was only in Shen Liancheng's possession, and she had no way to detoxify him at that moment.

After thinking for a brief moment, she immediately helped Hu Rui'an to the bedside to lie down; next, her gaze swept over the old woman on the ground.

Ruan Zhenhui temporarily ignored her, hurriedly stepped out, and prepared to go to Shen Liancheng's room to find the antidote.

But just at this moment, a young woman's voice suddenly came from outside the courtyard:

"Has Mother retired? I cannot sleep; may I speak with Mother?"

Hearing this, Ruan Zhenhui immediately stopped her steps, and the expression on her face changed slightly.

The next moment, she moved her body, lifted the unconscious old woman, and threw her directly under her own bed; then she lowered the bed curtains, blocking Hu Rui'an's body.

After doing all this, Ruan Zhenhui finally calmed her mood slightly and, deliberately using a lazy tone, called out to outside the room:

"Anran, I am somewhat tired today; let us speak of matters tomorrow. You have been busy with the martial arts competition for marriage recently and should rest more."

At the same time, outside the blue-stone courtyard wall shrouded in twilight, amidst swaying bamboo shadows, stood a slender figure.

The woman in green clothes had a graceful figure; her skin was like white jade; a black sandalwood hairpin loosely pinned her raven-black long hair, with a few stray strands falling by her ears.

Her pair of clear autumn-water eyes reflected the dim moonlight; she looked at the room in the courtyard in surprise, frowning slightly.

In Shen Anran's memory, her mother had doted on her immensely, never refusing any of her requests; tonight seemed to be the first time?

Shen Anran fell silent for a brief moment, but still nodded toward the courtyard and said:

"Mother, rest assured. Then your daughter will not disturb you further."

Having spoken, she turned gracefully and left through the courtyard gate.

Seeing this, Ruan Zhenhui inside the room exhaled slightly, opened the door a crack, and peered out into the courtyard through the gap.

After confirming that Shen Anran had departed, she flicked her fingers lightly, extinguishing the candle flame in the room.

Next, Ruan Zhenhui slipped out the door, closed it behind her, shifted her form, and hurriedly left the courtyard.

Not long after, Shen Anran's slender figure quietly emerged from behind a tree by the roadside.

(End of this chapter)