Chapter 57: Precautions

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Precautions

Yue Hanzheng’s eyes were filled with an unconcealed, almost palpable disgust. He had thrown her off with such force that Qiao Suluo, caught off guard, fell straight onto the floor.

Even though he was currently unwell and suffered from a leg disability, he still dragged his injured legs backward, posing as if determined to stay as far away from Qiao Suluo as possible.

"Qiao Suluo, whatever you’re planning to do to me, it’s useless. Just give it up.

"Even if I die, I will absolutely never submit to you," Yue Hanzheng spat, his cold, handsome features clad in an icy, extreme hatred. He could not even be bothered to glance at her, turning his head away entirely.

From start to finish, he had only given her that single look.

Uh...

Sitting sprawled on the floor with a slightly bruised bottom, Qiao Suluo realized this was the first time someone had ever loathed her to this extent. Even Que Hongjin and Bai Qianluo hadn’t acted like this before.

When he was silent, the man was quite pleasing to the eyes, exuding a desolate, fragile, and weakened aura. But the moment he opened his mouth, his words were venomous. Truth be told, Qiao Suluo felt quite hurt at that moment.

In her past life, her exceptional culinary skills had earned her a massive fanbase. Reading their comments about how much they loved her food always made her feel warm and happy. It gave her a sense of being loved. Now, being so intensely despised, she really just wanted to walk away and leave Yue Hanzheng to his own devices.

Sensing the fluctuation in her emotions, the system hastily piped up. "Host, don’t forget this is a mission. A mission! You can’t be impulsive.

"Don’t forget his health is in critical condition right now. One wrong move and he’s a goner. You can’t just leave him to die!"

Qiao Suluo’s expression shifted. She took a deep breath to cheer herself up, stood up, and looked at Yue Hanzheng. "This is a medical clinic, not Medicine King Valley," she said calmly.

"I admit I was wrong to sell you to Medicine King Valley before. But I realized my mistake and bought you back.

"This is your indenture contract. Here, tear it up yourself. You’re free now."

Hearing this, Yue Hanzheng furrowed his sharp brows in disbelief. He couldn’t fathom how this vicious woman could actually be so kindhearted.

An indenture contract?

It was impossible.

Only then did Yue Hanzheng turn his head back to look at Qiao Suluo. "What are you trying to trick me into this time?"

He suspected she had ulterior motives. As for the indenture contract, he didn’t believe it for a second. Although he had been treated as a medicine man in Medicine King Valley, the Outer Valley wasn’t as strict as the Inner Valley. Many people there had privately mocked him, joking about how freely his wife spent silver.

How could she possibly have any silver left? How could she afford to redeem him?

Yue Hanzheng tensed his entire body, maintaining a high level of vigilance against her.

Speechless, Qiao Suluo directly handed the indenture contract to him. "Just read it yourself and you’ll know if it’s real or not."

Yue Hanzheng stared at her with suspicious eyes and made no move to take it.

"Here," she urged.

"Qiao Suluo, did you drug it again?"

Qiao Suluo’s mouth twitched violently at his words. No wonder he refused to reach for it—he suspected she had coated the paper in drugs! She opened her mouth to explain, but memories from her predecessor suddenly flooded her mind.

To her dismay, the original owner had indeed used all sorts of methods to drug Yue Hanzheng in the past. Even selling him to Medicine King Valley was only accomplished because she had drugged him while his body was weak.

A headache throbbed at Qiao Suluo’s temples. She tried her best to make her expression look sincere. "It’s really not drugged. I’m not lying to you.

"I was the one who cured the poison in your body. If I wanted to harm you, I would’ve just left you to die. I certainly wouldn’t have spent silver to buy you back."

Even if it was just one tael of silver, silver was still silver, right?

Hearing this, Yue Hanzheng finally recalled the events right before he fell into a coma. He froze slightly, the gaze in his sharp eyes stalling for a moment.

He remembered that after drinking the medicine delivered by Steward Lin, his body had suddenly been seized by an excruciating pain. It felt as if every toxin within him had violently surged up at once. His body had wildly fluctuated between freezing cold and scorching heat, like experiencing ice and fire simultaneously. Drinking that medicine had caused him more agony than ever before.

In the past, he could endure the pain by gritting his teeth. Even though each episode left him completely drained and drenched in cold sweat, he had at least survived. But that day, he truly felt like he was going to die. He had genuinely experienced the suffocating grip of death.

After that, he had lost all consciousness.

He hadn’t died? He survived?

Was it Qiao Suluo who rescued him in time and brought him out?

Only then did he take the indenture contract, still half in doubt. He scrutinized it several times, flipping it over and checking every corner to ensure there were no traps. Spotting a fire striker and a candle by the bed, he immediately lit the flame and burned the indenture contract to ashes.

With this, he was a free man. He would never be deceived by this female beast again. From now on, he would no longer be manipulated by her.

Having finally resolved the matter, Yue Hanzheng slowly exhaled. He allowed himself to lean against the headboard, his taut nerves relaxing just a fraction. He finally realized that the poison in his body seemed to have cleared up quite a bit. He didn’t feel nearly as miserable as before.

His pupils shrank sharply, and he finally took a proper look at Qiao Suluo.

Upon closer inspection, Yue Hanzheng’s expression shifted slightly. This woman’s skin had grown much fairer, and she had lost a considerable amount of weight. She really did look somewhat different from before.

"What do you want in return for doing all this?" he asked. "If you have an ulterior motive, you can just say it directly."

"I just want you to live well and stop giving up on yourself," Qiao Suluo said earnestly. "Your body will recover. You will stand up again."

"I didn’t expect that after not seeing each other for a while, my wife would be capable of uttering such words.

"Did my wife learn some new tricks from someone?

"Live well? My body will recover?" Yue Hanzheng sneered, looking down at his legs with a self-deprecating laugh and a look of self-loathing. "My wife is well aware of my dreams and fully knows that I can never return to the battlefield. There is no need to humiliate me by bringing up my physical condition."

He knew better than anyone what state his legs were in. They were crippled and completely devoid of sensation. The young general he once was seemed to have drowned in the stories of the past.

Since childhood, he had trained in various weapons, excelling in the Yue Family’s long spear. His dream was to defend his home and country, hoping that even if he had to die, it would be on the battlefield. He had never imagined that one day he would become such a useless cripple.

Watching him wallow in despair, Qiao Suluo suddenly thought of his former identity. He had been an ever-victorious young general—vibrant, brilliant, fiercely loyal, and in the prime of his life. His eyes had once held the stars and the sea, filled with beautiful dreams. But losing his legs was like having his wings brutally clipped.

It was truly a lamentable tragedy.

Rumor had it that he ended up like this because he had been treacherously stabbed in the back on the battlefield. Thinking of how he had led the Yue Family Army to fend off enemy forces at the border countless times, defending the nation and protecting its people, she felt that his current prickly attitude wasn’t entirely unbearable.

After all, he was a gorgeous, powerful, yet tragically broken patient.

Qiao Suluo blinked. "Look at me. Haven’t I lost weight? My skin has gotten fairer too..."

She wanted to use these visible changes as proof of her medical skills, aiming to convince him not to give up on himself.

To her surprise, before she could finish, Yue Hanzheng assumed she was harboring more unrealistic delusions about him. He cut her off with cold disgust. "You’re still fat and ugly, and most of all, vicious to your very core. Even in my current state, I will absolutely never like you."