Chapter 721: The One Who Knows You Best Has Arrived
The palace-robed beauty walked to the window, gazing at the sunlight in the courtyard, silent. The sunlight fell upon her face but could not bring much warmth; a persistent coldness and weariness lingered in her beautiful brows and eyes. The kitchen was quiet, the scene eerie, slowly stretching and fermenting in the sunlight.
After an unknown length of time, the medicine was ready. The woman held the pot with both hands and immersed it into the basin of prepared ice water, waiting for the decoction to cool. Like Zhou Tong, the palace-robed beauty was also highly skilled in mental secret arts. The woman could not see her by the window, likely deceived by the illusion she had conjured. In the end, the woman still raised her head to glance at her, proving that all this was not illusion but reality. The palace-robed beauty leaned by the window, gently waving her hand, signaling for everything to proceed as usual.
...
The medicinal decoction could not truly be left to cool completely before drinking; that would more or less lose some of its potency. The bowl set before Zhou Tong still emitted a thick, hot steam. Zhou Tong was somewhat intoxicated by the scorching sensation the steam brought—it made him feel full of vitality. But after he drank all the decoction in the bowl, he was somewhat dissatisfied, because the hot liquid had scalded his palate and gums—not blaming the woman, but dissatisfied with his own state of mind: he had been too impatient. No blisters had formed, but it was still uncomfortable. He licked with his tongue.
The tip of his tongue tasted a slight sweetness, somewhat like the flavor of rust. He knew it was the taste of blood, and couldn't help frowning slightly. He took a mirror from the table and examined himself. He found nothing unusual, just that his gums were slightly swollen and bleeding. The taste of blood gradually faded, leaving only the bitterness of the decoction. He grabbed two sugar-coated peanuts from the plate, tossed them into his mouth, and chewed carefully.
Since he was very young, he had been afraid of drinking medicine because it was too bitter, so every time he drank it, he would prepare some cloyingly sweet snacks in advance. As he chewed the sugar-coated peanuts, he thought about the incident he had encountered today. Xue He had been leading troops in the northern snow plains for years; it was only natural that he could obtain such a potent poison. But how had he administered the poison in the underground prison just now? Trying to poison him to avenge Xue Xingchuan, making the world see it as cosmic justice, karma's retribution? The problem was, poisoning him was not such an easy task.
A cold smile curled at the corner of Zhou Tong's lips, and a hint of pride crept into his icy gaze. The sugar-coated peanuts were delicious; the only issue was that they stuck to his teeth. He took out a finely crafted silver toothpick and, while picking his teeth, continued to ponder his thoughts. Xue He had likely already escaped from Zhou Prison by now, but that didn't matter. Though the world was vast, there was no longer a place for the Xue family to hide. Zhou Tong's gaze passed over the window and landed on the neighboring courtyard. He thought that once the matter was settled, he would have to capture Xue He back quickly, then poison him—slowly poison him to death. He had already decided which poisons to use to make Xue He die the slowest and most painfully.
A slight cracking sound rang out in his mouth, interrupting his boundless, pleasure-filled thoughts. One of his teeth had broken off, snapped cleanly at the root, lying quietly in his palm. The broken edge was covered in bloodstains and grime, looking quite gruesome. Staring at this broken tooth, Zhou Tong's body, which had just warmed up not long ago, turned cold again. He was silent for a moment, then picked up the mirror and looked again. Just one glance was enough to shock him.
His gums had turned a purplish-black, and his teeth were so loose that it seemed a gentle breeze could make them fall out. The increasingly clear and unbearable pain from the broken tooth made his body tremble once more. He had only wanted to pick out the sugar residue between his teeth, but he had pried out a tooth. The tip of the exquisite silver toothpick had turned completely black, like charcoal, a shocking sight.
This is all an illusion, he told himself. He was far too experienced with matters of poison. He believed he could not have misjudged—his antidote method, even if it couldn't completely purge the toxins from his body, could at least temporarily suppress them, giving him plenty of time to slowly resolve the issue. But why, after drinking the medicine, had the poison in his body not been suppressed but instead become more terrifying, already corroding his teeth? Zhou Tong couldn't understand. He was silent for a long time.
Even at this moment, he still didn't realize that the medicine he used was fine, but a problem might have occurred during the decoction process. He had never suspected the woman. He took out two precious pills, put them into his mouth, and swallowed them directly, temporarily suppressing the poison that was erupting. He now felt somewhat dizzy, his vision blurry. If his vision wasn't blurry, how could he see the woman walking to the entrance of the small courtyard? On the woman's arm was a small bundle made of floral-patterned blue cloth. That bundle was very small, very simple, unable to hold many things. Yes, of course—over the years, he had bought her so many valuable items; such a small bundle couldn't possibly carry them away. So she couldn't be preparing to leave. She couldn't be preparing to abandon him. It couldn't be that she was the problem. It couldn't be that she had poisoned him. Then it must indeed be that his vision was blurry. This poison was truly too potent, even causing him to hallucinate.
Zhou Tong said this to himself, then stood up from the chair. Between the room and the main door was about ten zhang of distance, and the courtyard in between was filled with sunlight. He and the woman faced each other across a sea of sunlight. The woman's expression was calm, gentle and peaceful. She made a slight bow, just like every time she bid him farewell—except today, she was the one saying goodbye. So this was not an illusion after all. Why? Zhou Tong did not ask, because he clearly knew there could be countless reasons, but since he hadn't discovered them before, why bother discovering them now? The cruelest thing in the world is when you don't want to know the answer, but someone insists on telling it to you.
"She never liked you. She never liked you at all," the palace-robed beauty said to him from outside the door. "She was only afraid of you, so she didn't dare leave." Why wasn't she afraid today? Naturally, because he was about to die. Zhou Tong was not surprised by her appearance. In fact, by now he had fully understood: it wasn't that his medicine was ineffective, but that someone had added another poison to it. From the moment he realized this, he knew someone had come to this small courtyard, and he even knew who it was.
The one who knows you best is certainly not your family—otherwise, why would Xue Xingchuan have died so miserably, nearly left to rot in the wilderness after death? The one who knows you best is not necessarily your enemy, as the books say, because you are always wary of your enemy and take many precautions in advance. The one who knows you best is not necessarily your friend either. Growing old together is beautiful, but you spend too little time together, the distance between your cities is too great, and when you meet, you're always drinking, reminiscing about the past, looking forward to the future, cursing your former teachers and the current court—it's hard to find a chance to talk about very detailed things.
So the one who knows you best is often your work partner. In the course of years of repetitive work, it's hard for you not to get to know each other. You'll drink many times together, talk about many details, and because of the overt or covert competitive relationship, you'll remember these things especially clearly, preparing to use them at any time in the future. For example, he knows which takeout place you like best, you know which noodle shop he likes best, he knows which leader you hate most, you know which channel he likes best, he knows how many girlfriends you've had over the years, you know how many boats he's been juggling this month. On the morning after Christmas Eve, you might even walk out of the same budget hotel, then exchange a knowing smile, because the company gets the best corporate rate there.
Logically speaking, Zhou Tong had no work partner, because the Ministry of Justice was a very special office, directly answerable to the Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden, requiring no dealings with anyone in the court. Cheng Jun and the other Eight Tigers, the cavalry—they were all his subordinates. But there are always some special exceptions in the world, such as this palace-robed beauty. The Heavenly Sea Holy Maiden controlled the Great Zhou army through divine generals like Xue Xingchuan, Tian Chui, and Xu Shiji, while she controlled the court and then ruled over the billions of people in Great Zhou mainly through two people: one was Zhou Tong, and the other was, of course, Mo Yu. They were the Holy Maiden's left and right arms in the court, privately denounced by many as birds of a feather. They had worked together for several years, and though they weren't exactly of one mind, they had their own tacit understanding. Whether facing the Heavenly Sea family or the military's strong will, this tacit understanding had always played a very positive role.
Because of this tacit understanding, they knew each other well. Zhou Tong knew the rebelliousness and resentment hidden deep in Mo Yu's heart, and even vaguely sensed her feelings toward someone. Mo Yu knew the fear of the Holy Maiden that he had hidden well, and this sun-drenched small courtyard. So today, she found this place and delivered her most fatal blow.
...
Watching Mo Yu walk in from outside the door, Zhou Tong quickly calmed down, even faster than he had expected. In the days since the Tian Shu Ling incident, he had kept the Ministry of Justice searching for her in the south, or rather confirming her whereabouts. Perhaps because of this, he had already mentally prepared himself to see her in the capital. He said to Mo Yu, "I knew you would definitely return to the capital, but I didn't think it would be now."
Mo Yu asked, "Why?"
Zhou Tong said, "Since you know very well that returning to the capital means you will surely die."
Mo Yu looked at him and said, "I don't really care about that, as long as you die before me."
Zhou Tong didn't know that Chen Changsheng had said something very similar not long ago. He looked at Mo Yu and asked, "Did you come back to avenge the Holy Maiden?"
"I don't have that ability, and you are not my enemy, because you don't have that qualification." In Mo Yu's eyes, he was just a dog raised by the Holy Maiden. "I came to punish the Holy Maiden's dog."
Zhou Tong was silent for a moment, then said, "How do you plan to punish this dog?"
Mo Yu said, "Put it in a pot and stew it? I think that sounds good."
Zhou Tong looked at her seriously and said, "You don't have to be the rabbit."
"It's not about the hounds being killed after the hares are caught. I'm just not as experienced as you in torturing people, so I can only think of boiling you to death." Mo Yu looked at him seriously and asked, "Do you have any other good suggestions?"