Rong Jialuo was surprised with her foresight. He paused for a moment before he said frankly, "Err…I’m really curious about you…"
"You don't have to!" Gu Xijiu interrupted, "It’s just a trade between us, Your Highness. You helped me bid for this bracelet and in return, I heal your illness. When you are healed later, it'll be over and done with. Thus, you don't have to know my name."
Rong Jialuo coughed, "If you could heal my recurring illness, then you are my lifesaver. That bracelet will be worthless in comparison to repay my debt of gratitude to you, so I want…"
"A million!" Gu Xijiu suddenly spat out two words.
Rong Jialuo, "Ah?"
"If you feel sorry, pay me another million ounces of silver after I have healed your chronic illness." Gu Xijiu said indifferently while her fingers were turning the silver needle lightly, "Apart from that, I won't accept any other type of thanksgiving."
Rong Jialuo choked, "This…"
"If you aren’t willing to, just ignore what I said." Gu Xijiu did not force him because it was her extra term and even if he rejected, he was not breaking the promise.
Rong Jialuo said nothing anymore.
As a crown prince, he could actually afford a million ounces of silver, hence, he agreed.
As Gu Xijiu earned extra, she said with happiness in her heart, "Your Highness, we’ll need to place another three needles. Please continue." Rarely, she continued explaining, "The needle I placed just now, is just anchoring its tail and we'll need to place another three to remove it completely."
Rong Jialuo, "…" In order to cure his illness, he gnashed his teeth to continue the self-touching. Nonetheless, he requested too, "Can you please let me know when you place the needles?"
"No! Such an opportunity slips through easily, we don't have time to do so." Gu Xijiu replied coldly.
Alright! It should be alright as he thought he would know.
Time slowly went by. After about an hour later, Gu Xijiu finally placed her last needle.
Each needle was akin to a sudden attack, and the pain caused was an extreme one.
Nonetheless, Rong Jialuo was indeed a tough man. He did not twitch during the placement of the last few needles.
When Gu Xijiu finally embedded the last needle, she was relieved. Then, she suddenly turned to the back of Rong Jialuo and slapped quickly on a few points on his naked back with her two little hands.
A few rays of light flashed through and the silver needles were popping out in unison from Rong Jialuo's chest.
With Gu Xijiu’s little hand beckoning, that few silver needles fell on her palm and a worm was seen struggling at the tip of the needle.
That worm was just half an inch long, but its end was thick, its mouthpart was needle-like, eyes red like blood and its whole body was surrounded by a mysterious blue light. It looked very demonic.
"So, this is the Tianming poison?" Rong Jialuo could not believe his eyes. This was the small little thing that deterred him from practicing for the last two years?
Gu Xijiu was slightly shaking that worm on the tip of the needle. That worm squeaked and cocked up its head, wanting o bite.
"Burn!" Gu Xijiu threw the worm together with the needle on a piece of white paper.
With a snap of his fingers, Rong Jialuo sent out a ray of fire which burned the paper, silver needle and the worm into ash.
"That's…that’s all?" Rong Jialuo cannot help but question.
"Yes, it’s done. Your Highness, you can try to practice your Qi now."
Rong Jialuo did not care about the dusty study room. He sat down and started practicing. After about fifteen minutes, he opened his eyes and jumped up to give a bow of gratitude to Gu Xijiu, "Thank you, Mr. Ren, for your wonderful medical skills, I’m healed now!"
He was healed! He was finally healed! A chronic disease that had been with him for two years and rendered him almost hopeless, was now healed!
Though Rong Jialuo was calm all these while, he was so excited now, that his chest seemed to be bursting.
"Mr. Ren, you have healed my illness and I can reward you more, you…" Rong Jialuo looked towards where Gu Xijiu stood with his eyes beaming, but abruptly, he stopped speaking.
Gu Xijiu was nowhere to be seen.
"Mr. Ren? Mr. Ren?" Rong Jialuo did not want to give up and looked around but he was alone in the ruined study room.
That little man had disappeared suddenly like how he appeared out of nowhere. Nobody knew how he came and gone…
Rong Jialuo griped and regretted taking his eyes off the man.
Other than wanting to thank Gu Xijiu, he had many things that he wanted to ask too. For instance, the origins of this Gu and her clan. Besides, he even wanted to take her in at any cost, as it was a pity to let such a genius go!
He had even drafted out a plan on how to convince her to join him.
At the end of the day, before he could do anything, she had just disappeared!
After curing his unknown disease, she took that weird bracelet and the note of a million ounces of silver with her, and disappeared…
He did not even know that person's name! He just knew that his surname was Ren, from the little kid who sent the paper crane at the auction house…
...
The moon in the sky was as big as a circular disc but there were no stars dotting the vast sky at all, but only the silvery white heaven and earth, reflecting the moonlight.
It was already late at night. As the city had imposed a curfew, barely anyone was seen on the road, only patrolling soldiers were seen passing by occasionally.
Gu Xijiu reappeared at one of the obscure and quiet lanes in the city.
Though she was relatively skillful in applying her teleportation technique, the internal power in her body had degenerated so much that she could not apply the technique as easily as she did in her previous life. The distance of each teleport was on about one mile away from each other.
The distance between the mansion of General Gu and the mansion of the crown prince was very far - one was in the south while the other was in the north. Therefore, Gu Xijiu could not teleport directly back to her room from the mansion of the crown prince, as she needed some places to rest.
Fortunately, Gu Xijiu was very scrupulous and had already memorized the whole city map. Therefore, she knew which place was more hidden from the public eye and had a lesser crowd. This lane was one of the places she chose to rest.
"I was not expecting you to recognize this, Gu! It was also very rare during our era." The Firmament Stone Bracelet’s voice echoed in Gu Xijiu’s mind.
Gu Xijiu was not concerned about it. When she stabilized herself, she slightly panted, gently touched her chest and furrowed her brows.
"You are injured!" The Firmament Stone Bracelet sensitively realized that there was something wrong with her, "It was because of that hit from the crown prince when you embedded that needle, right?"
"It’s not a big deal."
She had actually looked down at the external force of that crown prince. Though she was prepared and escaped in time, she was partially hit and felt a bit uneasy on her chest.