His Peasant Wife : Yao Ling

Yao Ling nodded her head politely. She didn’t ask who he was because, at a glance, she already knew his identity. She quickly checked on Qing Hui’s pulse. Yao Ling didn’t stop there, but she also checked up his whole body diligently.

Yao Ying paid attention closely at what she did, waiting for her diagnose. After he felt that Yao Ling had finished her examination, he asked softly, "Ling-er, what happened to him?"

"Do you want me to talk about his condition here?" Yao Ling asked Yao Ying whether it was okay for all of the people inside the room to know about it.

Hei Yue quickly answered before Yao Ying would be able to say anything, "Yes!" He needed to know his condition!

Yao Ling heard Hei Yue’s answer but she still needed Yao Ying’s agreement. When he saw him nodded, she opened her mouth and started talking. "His condition... isn’t that good!" She honestly answered.

Hei Yue was taken aback. "Why? What happened?" He didn’t realize that even though he tried to hate Qing Hui, he was still concerned about him. They would be able to hear from his worried tone even though he had tried so hard to mask it.

"I think this man has been drugged for a long time and it affects his brain, thus he must be a bit moody. Ying, you realized that something isn’t right with him. Are the symptoms such as red eyes, excessive laughter, and he looks like that he’s in agony once in a while?" Yao Ling asked curiously.

Yao Ying nodded. "Indeed... I remember that once in the village someone that your mother treated had the same symptoms as Qing Hui. That’s why I feel suspicious of his condition." Without that knowledge, Yao Ying knew that he would also fail to realize the abnormality.

Yao Ling sighed. "I think it’s the same drug. It’s a spirit altering drug..." Yao Ling trailed off the last part.

Hei Yue looked up in surprise. "Spirit altering drug?" Hei Yue had heard about this drug before, but it was said that this drug was hard to find and at the same time, this drug was also hard to use. It needed to be used on certain dosage each day and in continuous for a hundred days without stopping --- or else, the drug would have no effect whatsoever.

Because of the hard way to use, people rarely used this drug. However, once someone successfully poisoned a person with this spirit altering drug, it would affect the person’s nerve and brain. Thus, it would be hard to cure!

Yao Ling nodded. "I wonder how someone could get ahold of this drug. Back at the village, it was because a husband was continuously cheating on his wife without any restraint. The woman was able to have this drug because she was a distant relative with the clan who made this drug. This drug isn’t sold in the market at all."

Hei Yue felt pained then asked Yao Ling, "Does his change of behavior because of the drug?" His heart started to have hope once more.

Yao Ling nodded her head once more. "Indeed... there’s a possibility for that. If someone consumes the spirit altering drug this long, people are rarely able to survive. However, this old man is strong enough to survive and it’s already a miracle. I bet his mind has been tormented all the time and it’s easy for the one who poisons him to instigate his behavior."

Yao Ling didn’t want to take a side on this although she knew that Hei Yue had lost his martial arts skills because of Qing Hui. Qing Hui was indeed too pitiful. He knew that someone instigated him to do something that he didn’t want, but because of the drug, he wasn’t able to resist. The more he resisted, the more he would become a mad person. He couldn’t differentiate between reality and illusion.

Yao Ling asked the big question, "Who is able to give this poison for more than a hundred days? The person doesn’t seem to stop letting Qing Hui consume the spirit altering drug, even after a hundred days has passed. They totally want to make him go crazy and die painfully."

Hei Yue was quite speechless with this revelation. Qing... Qing Hui... probably didn’t really want to betray him, right?

Even though Yu Wen was still a kid himself, he had been living with Hei Yue for a long time. He knew that this news gave a shock and anger to Hei Yue and sighed. "Foster Father, please take care of your body. Don’t think too much! We need to think ahead... Shouldn’t we look for the perpetrator and also try to find a way to cure Uncle Qing Hui?"

Hei Yue was too deep in grief for the past two years due to Qing Hui’s change of behavior and Yu Wen was forced to grow up early. He helped Hei Yue handle A Thousand Swords, thus he had a good understanding of things and good leadership skill --- despite, his bad-temper.

Hei Yue nodded absent-mindedly. Both of them used to be youngsters who were full of dream and vigor. They wanted to stand side by side and make a contribution to the people by balancing the power between the three kingdoms. They wanted a peaceful era unlike when they were small. Both of their families were killed due to war.

They were successfully building A Thousand Words and A Thousand Swords --- they walked hand in hand and finally achieved their dreams. Everything went well until two years ago. He started to think about whether they would be able to go back to how they used to be. Someone had turned them become enemies by using underhanded means.

He lost his martial arts skills that made him become the leader of A Thousand Swords, while Qing Hui lost the smart mind that made him become the leader of A Thousand Words. How? How could they lead both organizations with their power and talents gone? They were incomplete without each other. Qing Hui was the brain and he was the brute.

Hei Yue sighed to himself. He looked older all of a sudden due to all of his thought. Yu Wen was right. He had to find out the culprit and also clean up their organizations. After that, he would bring Qing Hui into seclusion and left the organizations. It was time for the younger generations to shine.

Hei Yue started to sort out his mind and then he smiled at Yu Wen softly. "You are right. We should focus on those matters first."

Hei Yue turned to Yao Ling and asked, "I only heard this spirit altering drug for a little bit, but I don’t know how the poison works. I mean... through what medium? Foods? Drinks? I need to know about these details to catch the betrayer inside A Thousand Words. I know the mastermind but I will need to pull out the root and eradicate them!"

Yao Ling explained to him, "That’s the thing. This drug has been embedded deep into the blood and it seems like the one who poisoned him is really cruel. He is poisoned from inside and out. I have a guess that the poison is given through his food and also on his clothes."

Hei Yue was taken aback. "What do you mean by his clothes?"