Chapter 358: He Was Angry

Mu Nan Zhao's eyes shifted, looking at the two people tied up under the tree.

His gaze swept past the female bandit and settled on Fan Dongping.

"A big haul?"

Gu Xixi followed his gaze, "It's him, Prince, so clever!"

Mu Nan Zhao said, "Insincere praise, why force it?"

Gu Xixi felt her teeth sore as she pursed her lips, this person is just so hard to please.

At this moment, Mu Nan Zhao looked at her, "You wouldn't think that praising me once would settle this, would you?"

Gu Xixi instantly managed her expression, solemn and sincere, "No, no, Prince, wise and mighty, you always have your own judgments, how could a mere compliment affect you?"

Mu Nan Zhao's expression remained unchanged, unreadable, "Prince?"

Gu Xixi gritted her teeth, thinking that Lu Jing's case still needed his cooperation, and those corpses also needed to be handled.

She raised a smile, "... Mu Nan Zhao."

The frost on someone's face finally showed signs of melting.

We can say it's your big haul.

Gu Xixi gave a glance, the two walked a few steps away, then she said, "That bastard is Fan Dongping."

Mu Nan Zhao's eyes turned sharp, "Because you rescued that woman?"

Gu Xixi nodded, this time she finally didn't praise the Prince's cleverness again.

Mu Nan Zhao said, "I came to the capital looking for the Lu family, didn't find them, so I first set my sights on you."

Hiring thugs to kidnap, one to force the Lu family's whereabouts, two for revenge.

Gu Xixi agreed, "Exactly, that's it!"

However, Mu Nan Zhao didn't hear what she said at all.

Really, courting death.

Mu Nan Zhao turned and left, killing intent bursting from his whole body,

His expression was grimly terrifying, no one dared approach, only Gu Xixi kept following him, speaking:

"On the way I was brought here tied up, I guessed it might be him, and luckily I won the bet."

"Now that we've caught him, as long as we get his confession, Lu Jing's case can go to trial soon."

"At the same time we have a legitimate reason to go to Nan Yi Xian and search Fan Dongping's home for evidence, surely we can forge an ironclad case and thoroughly rid the people of harm."

"Also, his connection to the Fan family—I've thought about these past two days; handing him to you might uncover the Fan family's loopholes, giving you a hand."

"Looking at it this way, it's truly a case of killing many birds with one stone..."

Mu Nan Zhao suddenly stopped; Gu Xixi, happily scheming, bumped into him without noticing.

"Ah!" She covered her nose and stepped back.

Before her eyes were fully open, she saw Mu Nan Zhao turn to face her, standing.

"So, you're doing this to help the Lu family right their wrongs, to help me overthrow Grand Secretary Fan, not sparing your own life to fall into the hands of bandits."

"Gu Xixi, it's rare that you selflessly sacrifice for others; should I be moved to tears?"

Gu Xixi, hearing her full name from him, was already secretly startled.

Her eyes darted guiltily, she muttered softly, "I dare not move, really I dare not move."

Mu Nan Zhao frowned, "What are you saying?"

Gu Xixi hurriedly said, "I mean, I have no intention of giving my life to others; I haven't lived enough yet."

She looked at Mu Nan Zhao again, trying to explain with sincerity.

"You still don't understand me; if I weren't fully prepared, how could I possibly risk my life as bait?"

Mu Nan Zhao displeased, "How dare you? At first you were just guessing."

"Fortunately you met only a rabble of bandits, and that sort of ruffian surnamed Fan."

"What if they were experts sent by others—would you still be confident of escaping unharmed?"

Gu Xixi glanced at him cautiously, "I might actually have that."

She opened her palm, revealing a small bamboo tube.

Mu Nan Zhao picked it up to look, "Poison again?"

Gu Xixi suddenly tensed, "Don't move randomly! Never twist the cap!"

She took the bamboo tube back, then breathed a sigh, "The antidote's used up, we can't have any mishaps."

According to Gu Xixi's detailed explanation.

This time she didn't just upgrade the poison's formula, making the poisoned stiffen and numb more quickly.

She also completed a reform of its usage method in advance.

The lower end of the bamboo tube holds the poison, while the upper wax-sealed part hides a special powder.

It is a "catalyst initiator" formulated according to the poison's properties.

As long as you gently twist the cap, the wax seal breaks, the initiator mixes with the poison, vaporizing the active ingredient of the poison.

Compared to the previous method of scattering poison, it's more concealed, swift, and has a larger killing range.

Mu Nan Zhao watched Gu Xixi tuck the bamboo tube back into her sleeve, hidden from sight.

For the first time he felt a lingering fear.

Just now he was a hair's breadth from being poisoned again?

After a moment of silence, Mu Nan Zhao said, "Poison arts have reached this point—undefendable; even top experts could fall victim."

Gu Xixi was glad he finally understood, "Right?"

Before entering the agricultural university, her chemistry grades were always top marks, right?

From the moment Mu Nan Zhao knew Gu Xixi had gone missing, he felt anxiety and worry; upon seeing her again, it turned into a heart full of concern.

Only after confirming she was unharmed did he feel deep lingering fear and anger.

Afraid something might happen to her.

Angry that she didn't cherish herself, angry that she decided to risk herself without considering he would worry.

But this emotion finally melted into helplessness when he saw her confident, bright smile.

Mu Nan Zhao heaved a heavy sigh, 'Not afraid of ten thousand, just afraid of the one in ten thousand.'

Gu Xixi blurted, 'It's fine! Aren't you still here!'

She regretted it as soon as she said it.

Those words made it sound as if she relied on him so much, as if it were taken for granted!

Mu Nan Zhao's eyes were deep.

Gu Xixi tried to amend, 'I meant to say, you're so smart and capable, you'll surely find them soon.'

Mu Nan Zhao stepped forward, 'Let's go.'

Gu Xixi paused a moment, then kept up.

At the central clearing, He Jinghui had already led people to finish counting the corpses and moved them to one place.

Seeing Mu Nan Zhao had returned to normal, He Jinghui stepped forward and gave the tallied numbers.

Including the one who fled then and died far away, San'er.

Mu Nan Zhao looked at Gu Xixi; she nodded, 'That's all of them, none slipped through.'

'But...' she rolled her eyes, 'How should we handle these?'

Mu Nan Zhao's tone was light, yet his eyes unconsciously showed a hint of indulgence.

'Now you know it's bad to leave loose ends? When you laid the poison, why didn't you consider that?'

Gu Xixi, needing help, could only smile and feign innocence.

Mu Nan Zhao said she was 'pure self-sacrifice for others,' which of course wasn't true.

The way to vaporize the poison—she only found a mouse hole and conducted a miniature test.

Today was the first real-world application, and of course the data yielded further gains.

So, she had indeed gained some benefits.

As for how to dispose of the corpses, she had never done it before.

This place is under the emperor's feet; if many corpses with unusual conditions appeared, who knows what chaos would ensue.

In fact, while Gu Xixi was waiting earlier, she had also considered how to handle them herself.

Feed them to wild beasts?

Poisoning animals is not allowed.

Push them off the cliff?

Sooner or later they might be discovered, and frightening innocent people would be pure sin.

Earth burial? Can't dig a pit that big.

Cremation? Set fire to the mountain...

However, Gu Xixi didn't realize that the problem troubling her was trivial to Mu Nan Zhao and He Jinghui.