“Quick, quick, get Eli to the medicine pool!” Old Man Sai’s voice was shaking so hard it could’ve knocked over a chicken coop. Ivy Shen, frozen on the spot, started trembling too—like, when was the last time she’d seen that old geezer freak out?
Aiden Chen didn’t waste a second—he dove down, scooped Eli Crane onto his back with Old Man Sai helping, and the old man even grabbed Eli’s white tail so it wouldn’t drag. The two of them bolted off like their butts were on fire.
Ivy just stood there, totally spaced out, getting soaked while the rain kept dumping down like someone forgot to turn off the faucet.
“Young Master—hang in there!” Aiden’s shout blasted in from way ahead, snapping Ivy out of her daze. She jerked into gear and sprinted after them.
This so-called ‘medicine pool’ was way emptier than Ivy had pictured. There was just this not-very-big hot pool, puffing out white steam nonstop—even with the rain pouring, it kept fogging up. All kinds of herbs were floating around, and what should’ve been clear water was now black as ink. The smell of Chinese medicine was so strong Ivy’s stomach did a flip and her brows scrunched up like angry caterpillars.
Aiden Chen carefully lowered Eli into the pool, then grabbed a horizontal bar overhead. Two iron chains dangled from it, clanging ‘dang dang’ against the pole every time the wind whipped through. Just what kind of medieval torture setup was this?
Ivy had zero idea what Aiden was doing with those chains. Like, why did this medicine pool even need chains overhead? Was this a healing session or a prison break?
While Ivy was still stuck on that, Aiden unlocked the chains, bent down, and clamped one around Eli’s wrist, then the other. The whole thing looked like some weird Jesus cosplay—Eli, wrists chained up, totally speechless and stuck.
“Aiden, what the hell are you doing? Why are you chaining up Eli?” Ivy snapped, her voice shooting up an octave at the sight.
“This is all your fault! If it wasn’t for you, Young Master wouldn’t be having a meltdown! Do you even get how much this treatment hurts? If we don’t chain him up, he’ll mess himself up!” Aiden glared daggers at Ivy. If Young Master hadn’t run out to bring you an umbrella, he wouldn’t be lying in the rain right now!
Ivy’s brain glitched. Wait, the treatment was actually THAT painful?!
Old Man Sai yanked up this ratty old white tent from the side. Sure, it was full of holes, but hey, at least it kept most of the rain out—well, except for the drips sneaking in through the leaks. Still, better than getting drenched, right?
The moment Eli hit the pool, he let out a muffled 'ngh' and started twitching all over, looking like he was in total agony.
“Eli…” Seeing him like this, Ivy wanted to just—ugh, crawl into a hole and die. Sorry, okay? She really didn’t mean for this to happen!
Next second, Eli’s fists clenched so tight his knuckles cracked. He yanked on the chains—clank, clank!—and then, holy crap, black lines started crawling all over his face and spreading down his body like evil vines. Ivy’s jaw practically hit the floor.
Old Man Sai whipped out a cloth bag stuffed with shiny silver needles. For the first time ever, Ivy found those needles straight-up nightmare fuel.
Old Man Sai didn’t waste a second—he stabbed those silver needles into strike points on Eli’s head, neck, back, and chest, so fast it was like watching a kung fu movie on fast-forward. The needles rained down like snowflakes—shing, shing, shing!
Suddenly, Eli’s eyes flew open and he let out a raw, gut-wrenching scream—“Aaaah!”
“Aiden, now!” Old Man Sai bellowed, sounding like a drill sergeant with a fire lit under him.
The second Eli screamed, Aiden zipped behind him and whipped a prepped white cloth around his mouth, tying a dead knot at the back like he’d done this a hundred times. No biting his tongue today, thanks.
The chains forced Eli Crane to struggle in agony. He couldn’t make a sound anymore—just muffled groans, "mm mm," leaking out.
At that moment, Ivy Shen couldn’t hold back her tears any longer—they came flooding out. Her heart clenched so tight she could barely breathe. She rushed over, knelt down trembling, and sobbed as she looked at Eli Crane. What kind of torture was he going through?!
Standing behind them, Aiden Chen saw Ivy crying and took a deep breath, softening his tone: "It’s just so Young Master won’t bite himself during the treatment."
"How can he be like this? How—" Watching Eli Crane suffer like he was in hell, Ivy’s tears kept gushing out. Her heart felt like it was thrashing in agony with his. She wanted to touch him, wanted to ease his pain, but she was terrified of messing up Old Man Sai’s treatment.
"Young Master’s not just weak in the legs—his whole body’s frail. He can’t get wet, and if it wasn’t for you, he wouldn’t have gone out in the rain..." Aiden paused, stopping himself, knowing it was pointless to blame her now.
Ivy stared blankly at Eli, eyes squeezed shut but still groaning in pain. That scene replayed in her mind...
"It’s going to rain—I came to bring you an umbrella..."
"Will you still take me out of the valley?"
"Do you despise me now?"
"But I like you, I want to stay by your side..."
His words kept looping in Ivy’s mind. Just picturing his pale face made her heart tremble all over again. He must be totally disappointed in her now, right? He must think she lied to him, right? Ivy Shen, what the hell have you done?!
Right then, Eli Crane started thrashing violently, the chains rattling with a loud 'dang dang.' His eyes were bloodshot but unfocused—wide open, but clearly not all there.
"Mm mm..." Whether it was Old Man Sai’s needles or just his body hurting, sweat poured down Eli’s forehead in fat beads. His whole face twisted in agony, like he was getting tortured in hell!
Seeing this, Ivy finally broke down and screamed, "Eli... Eli, wake up! I want to tell you—I like you, I really, really like you! Wake up!" Screw all that "only one true love" crap, screw safety—liking someone is liking someone! Why overthink it, why worry so much? Was this really the result she wanted? Was this what her so-called protection led to?!
"Eli... Eli, wake up! I want to take you out of the valley, I want to show you the world, I want to tell you stories! Don’t ignore me, don’t shut me out..." At this point, Ivy didn’t care about anything else. She just needed him to know—she really cared about him.
"Mm..." Suddenly, Eli let out another muffled groan.
Seeing that, Old Man Sai barked, "Aiden, bring the stuff!"
"Got it!" Aiden rushed to the middle of the stone ledge, dug out a cage, and hurried over. He popped it open, pulled out a little white snake, and pressed its head against Eli Crane’s body. The snake touched skin, opened its mouth, and started sucking away.
"What the..." Ivy froze again, staring at the whole scene.
After just a moment, the little white snake started turning black, its belly swelling up. The black vine marks on Eli’s body actually began to fade...
After a while, when the black vine marks were totally gone from Eli Crane, Aiden let go of the snake. The now-black snake flopped onto the ground and rolled around, so stuffed it could barely slither.
Aiden hurried behind Eli and unlocked the chains. The moment he did, Eli’s body just collapsed. Ivy dove into the pool and caught him before he could sink.
"Old Man Sai, is Eli going to be okay?" Ivy asked anxiously, glancing at the old healer.
"He’s basically through the worst, but he’s super weak right now. I need to transfer some true qi to him—he’ll feel better that way." Old Man Sai wiped sweat off his brow and got ready to jump in.
"No need, I’ll do it!" Ivy insisted. Right now, she really wanted to help him.
"You? But it’s tough work—sending him your energy will wear you out," Old Man Sai said. He was glad she’d finally figured out her own feelings, but transferring true qi was no joke!
"It’s fine, I’m tough. Don’t worry about me." Ivy reached out and gently touched Eli’s face, her heart still aching.
"Alright, I’ll leave it to you. Aiden, help Little Crane up." Old Man Sai called out.
Aiden quickly propped Eli Crane up by the edge of the pool. Old Man Sai gave a little cough and said, "Aiden, come with me—we need to go brew his medicine!"
"Huh? But Young Master isn’t awake yet!"
"Relax, with the girl here, what’s the problem? Come on, let’s go—there’s tons to do!" With that, Old Man Sai dragged Aiden off, not wanting him to get in the way. Hopefully, after this mess, those two would finally see what was in their hearts!
The medicine pool kept steaming, but now the thick herbal smell didn’t bother Ivy at all. Face to face with Eli’s still-pale face, she took a deep breath, took his hands in hers, closed her eyes, and began channeling her energy...