Poison Genius Consort

Chapter 1352: [10Year] A big liar

Amidst Qin Min's shock, Gu Beiyue remained calm. "Little Qi, Poison lass has the emperor, so I'm not worried."

At that moment, Qin Min couldn't figure out what Gu Qishao meant by "what would Poison lass do" or what Gu Beiyue meant by "I'm not worried." Was he talking about the protection of the Shadow Clan or…

Yet Gu Qishao only asked, "If you die, what of Great Jing's medical division?"

Gu Beiyue was calm as ever. "It hasn't needed me for a long time. I've left it for over two years."

"What will I do?" Gu Qishao demanded.

Gu Beiyue gave a start and suddenly didn't know what to answer.

Again, Gu Qishao asked, "What will Qin Min and Gu Nanchen do?"

Gu Beiyue also had nothing to say in reply.

Gu Qishao broke into a bitter laugh and turned without a word. Gu Beiyue chased after him, but Gu Qishao ran too quickly for him to catch up with his current stamina. Qin Min and little Shadow hurriedly chased after them too. Qin Min stopped Gu Beiyue, while little Shadow caught up to Gu Qishao.

Qin Min couldn't think straight after all of Gu Qishao's "but what would we dos," nor did she want to understand. She just wanted Gu Beiyue to be well. Even if he gave up, she didn't want to! Gu Beiyue must had no idea that she'd already tossed away the little dagger he gave her into the deep pool beneath the waterfall.

"You can't run anymore!" Qin Min scolded.

Gu Beiyue's complexion looked terrible as he shouted, "Shadow, stop your Uncle Qi!"

Shadow gripped Gu Qishao by the hand and said, "Uncle Qi, father says you can't leave. Don't make father angry anymore!"

Gu Qishao shook him free and snapped, "Your father's almost dead. He might not survive past half a year!"

Hearing this, Shadow was stunned on the spot. Gu Qishao left with large strides and soon vanished into the mountain forests. Little Shadow slowly turned his head to see his mother supporting his father. Gradually, his eyes grew red as tears fell from the corners. As they turned his vision blurry, he couldn't see his parents anymore. The skies seemed to have darkened and his world collapsed.

"Father!" he sobbed out with a howl. "Father, you lied! You lied…"

Qin Min rushed over and tried to hug little Shadow, but he shoved her aside. He didn't run out, but forwards to throw himself at his father and bawl.

"You lied! The Half-Year Agreement is a lie! Father, Shadow won't replace you. Shadow never wants to take your place…I don't want to…"

How could that agreement and "in his place" be so cruel?

Gu Beiyue looked down at the still young child and finally shed tears…

—

Half a month later, Gu Qishao returned with Han Yunxi, Long Feiye, Tang Li, Ning Jing, Mu Linger, Jin Zi, and the vice academy head of Medical City. Rui'er didn't go find Han Chen and came back with Yan'er. The usual empty, deserted courtyard was suddenly full of people. But it wasn't lively at all, and everyone was very quiet.

Only here did everyone realized knowing about the matter wouldn't help Gu Beiyue's condition at all. If even he couldn't cure the disease, what could the rest of them do?

Just keep him company.

Warm him with their companionship.

But that was equal to saying goodbye, a long farewell. No matter how much time there was, eventually they had to bid bye-bye. Han Yunxi might've been angry or sad, but she ended up staring at Gu Beiyue for an entire day without saying a word. Long Feiye sat alone outside the courtyard and didn't ask him a single word. Mu Linger wept while looking at Qin Min's prescriptions, but after countless times she still couldn't see anywhere she could change. It was already a very perfect formula, but unfortunately all it did was suppress coughs without curing the illness.

Gu Qishao came back with a huge pile of life-preserving pills, but they were no better at helping Gu Beiyue's condition than his medicinal baths. Gu Beiyue began to soak in them starting in the afternoons. Besides Qin Min, all the females kept their distance. Gu Beiyue wanted them to leave the mountain, but they refused and just sat cross-legged outside the compound. Meanwhile, Long Feiye, Gu Qishao, Tang Li, Jin Zi, and Shen Jueming all sat around Gu Beiyue to guard him.

This scene made Gu Beiyue unsure whether to cry or laugh. His heart was stifled but also…warmed!

Looking at Long Feiye so silent, he couldn't help saying, "Your Highness…"

Long Feiye and Rui'er both turned at the voice, making Gu Beiyue realize he'd spoken out loud. Rui'er wore a face full of confusion, but Long Feiye laughed helplessly. He knew that Gu Beiyue was referring to him. There were too many reminiscences and trust contained in that single "Your Highness." Gu Beiyue must be nostalgic for the past.

Perhaps everyone turned nostalgic when they were on the cusp of death?

Long Feiye exhaled and walked closer. He didn't speak, but waited for Gu Beiyue. Yet Gu Beiyue was also silent for a long time, staring at him before finally saying, "Your Highness, I'm sorry. This subject cannot accompany you for much longer. Regarding the medical division, this subject has already—"

Long Feiye raised a hand to gesture for him to stop. "Gu Beiyue, I didn't come to hear your last words!" He turned and strode out with large steps. Tang Li instantly chased after him. He was usually a chatterbox, but he didn't know how to talk at times like these. Seeing this, Rui'er and Gu Qishao also followed him out.

In the courtyard, only Shen Jueming and Jin Zi were left with Qin Min. Shen Jueming was old and sat far away. At the moment he was looking at Gu Beiyue and secretly wiping away his tears. Perhaps at this moment Gu Beiyue wasn't His Excellency Academy Head to him, but just…a child, a child with a bitter life.

Only Jin Zi sat directly in front of Gu Beiyue. He wasn't familiar with the man at all, but he still came after hearing the news. After hesitating, he ventured, "Grand Tutor Gu, Ning Cheng often spoke of you back in Northern Li. He definitely doesn't know about this, so you can take me as him as I replace him to accompany you."

Gu Beiyue creased his brows. He didn't feel bad at first, but hearing these words gradually filled his gentle eyes with sorrow.

"All right," he said, "Thank him on my behalf."

The first day passed thus in silence.

Qin Min saw all these people in the courtyard and realized for the first time that it could still be cold and chilly with a crowd.

That night, no on slept.

However, the next morning Han Yunxi stalked into the courtyard while Gu Beiyue was still soaking in his bath. She didn't have time to mind propriety and rushed in front of him to declare, "Gu Beiyue, before finding a cure, I don't want to talk to you!"

"Esteemed Empress can't forget your Ten-Year Agreement! There's still six months left, you shouldn't waste your time on this subordinate," Gu Beiyue used a stern tone for the first time to speak to her.

"Ten-Year Agreement?" Han Yunxi laughed coldly. "It's not as important as your life!"

As soon as she entered the building, she found Qin Min, Mu Linger, Gu Qishao, and Shen Jueming.

She said, "Qin Min, tell us whatever you need help with. As long as he still has a breath left, I'll chop anyone who dares to give up!"

Long Feiye and Gu Beiyue had once joined hands to lie to her; Long Feiye, Gu Qishao, and Gu Beiyue had also allied together to trick her; now Gu Beiyue had lied to everyone.

Are all these men big fat liars?

Han Yunxi was almost insane with rage!

Qin Min nodded instantly. "Good! Whoever gives up gets chopped up!"

At last after all these years, she wasn't alone anymore. At last there were people accompanying her to keep going. Although she knew there was no solution, she still gritted her teeth and didn't give up!

Mu Linger and the others nodded as well before she added, "Big sis, curing the symptoms and treating the root cause have similarities between them. I refuse to believe the curse, I just don't believe I can't figure this prescription out!"

Gu Qishao glanced at her and didn't want to interrupt, but his heart knew best after reading the prescription yesterday. Even if Mu Linger pondered the prescription to pieces, it was useless. Currently, he was only thinking of one thing: simply turning Gu Beiyue into a Poison Gu human before his condition went out of control. Unfortunately, it was impossible to find the poisons for raising poison gu anymore.

Han Yunxi dragged over Qin Min to ask about Gu Beiyue's condition. She dearly wished she could use her modern medical knowledge to diagnose Gu Beiyue. At least that could give them a clear direction for treatment. But Qin Min said a lot of things and Han Yunxi still couldn't identify the illness. It was similar to consumption, or asthma, but not exactly. The more they learned, the more they realized it was incurable, but none of them wanted to say that out loud or give up. Time passed like thus, one, two, three days…

Until one day, QIn Min and Han Yunxi were buried in a pile of medical books, Mu Linger and Shen Jueming were buried in a pile of medicinal ingredients, and Gu Qishao suddenly declared, "Treat a dead horse as a living one. Mu Linger, let's figure out a life-saving remedy! Not to cure the disease, but preserve his life!"

Everyone looked up in shock.

Not to cure the disease, but preserve his life.

This…

The sickness was fatal enough to take a life, so how could they preserve it? Though the words were different, the principles were similar. Han Yunxi thought it over and felt the words were familiar. She was about to speak when Qin Min blurted out, "Right! Don't cure the disease, but preserve his life!"

As she spoke, she rushed towards a bookshelf and started searching like a madwoman for a book. Everyone looked at her curiously, but Gu Qishao ignored her and told Mu Linger, "Think up some life-preserving elixirs, try to make them last as long as you can."

Life-preserving elixirs were used in times of crises or near death. The most special type was life-sustaining pill, a medicine that forced the body to hold on while sick. But the effects could only last one or two days. After it wore off, the patient would die in even more agony. Only patients requested the pill themselves; usually, doctors wouldn't prescribe them proactively.

Mu Linger shook her head. "Grand Tutor Gu will feel very uncomfortable."

Gu Qishao had more or less lost his reason by now and was about to speak when Qin Min exclaimed, "I found it! I found it!"

Everyone looked over and saw her holding a medical book on the art of acupuncture.

"Qin Min, what's going on?" Han Yunxi asked urgently.

"Don't treat the illness but preserve his life. There's a solution, a solution!" Qin Min was almost incoherent with excitement. After all these years, she finally revealed the same heartfelt smile she'd worn back then under the sky full of fireworks in Ningzhou. She said…

Ruyi's Thoughts

At last after all these years, she wasn't alone anymore. At last there were people accompanying her to keep going. Although she knew there was no solution, she still gritted her teeth and didn't give up!

this, i think, is what i find cruelest about gu beiyue: not that he's suffering in silence, but that he forbade qin min from telling anyone and in short dragged her to suffer with him and for him all alone. he knew she was desperate, he saw her crying, but at the same time he let it go on while they both knew death was imminent.

i mean, i'm not expecting him to be some perfect parable of a saint or pity qin min's state, but neither did i sense any, well, human empathy or even proactive reaching out. it's like he turned himself into a doll to let qin min treat and feed and take care of him as much as she likes. he doesn't resist her, he somewhat supports her with research and discussing treatment plans, but there's a gaping abyss he never tried (or wanted) to fill as emotional support. *throws up my hands* how am i supposed to ship this couple when they're currently so one-sided?

but ALSO: mad props to Gu Qishao for finally getting everyone into the loop and in front of Gu Beiyue's face! honestly, if they dragged out the suffering of the GuQin couple (and Shadow!! poor little Shadow who's only 10 at most!!) any longer i was gonna go hack a doctor myself~