Chapter 405: Yu Mingche’s Complex
Chapter 405: Chapter 405: Yu Mingche’s Complex
"Qinghe isn’t letting anyone near him right now. He only wants to see you." Chairman Wang had heard Qinghe frequently muttering Ning Xuan’s name and assumed they shared some special bond. Now, it seemed that was just wishful thinking on Qinghe’s part—Ning Xuan had no particular feelings for him at all.
"I have a pile of things to deal with, both at home and at work. In a few days, I also have a Contract ceremony to hold. I just don’t have time for anything else. Chairman Wang, please consider someone else," Ning Xuan said, politely declining.
"Ning Xuan, hear me out. We’ve known each other for a long time, and I know you’re not a hard-hearted person. How about this—I’ll do my best to think of other methods. If you finish what you’re busy with and there’s still no other solution for Qinghe’s condition, just go and see him. Treat it as visiting an old friend, alright?" Chairman Wang pleaded.
Ning Xuan thought for a moment and finally agreed. After all, they had been teammates on the New Star Body. When they were on missions together, Qinghe and Lan Xin seemed to have a good relationship. She decided she would take Lan Xin to see him then.
Ning Xuan saw Chairman Wang out and returned to the Alchemy Room to concoct potions. When she had left earlier, she’d been in a hurry and had only told Lan Xin not to move. Sure enough, Lan Xin was obediently kneeling on the bed, waiting. He was naked, his body covered in marks, still holding the exact same posture as when she had left.
The moment Ning Xuan saw the devilishly beautiful man with blue eyes and blue hair on the bed, she felt more than just a visual impact—her body began to heat up as well. A pity, but time was tight. She could only neglect the beautiful man for now.
Ning Xuan lifted her hand, and a black-and-red vine shot from her palm toward Lan Xin. One end wrapped beneath his thighs, then coiled around and around, binding his entire body so tightly not even air could pass through. Even his mouth was gagged by a tendril.
The Ghost-faced Red Vine was symbiotic with Ning Xuan, so the vine carried the scent of her pheromones. For Lan Xin, being bound by the vine was like being enveloped in Ning Xuan’s pheromones. But the vine was, after all, just a demon plant. No matter how tightly it bound a person, it couldn’t actually *do* anything to Lan Xin. For someone in the midst of his heat, this was sheer agony.
Whether Lan Xin was in agony or not, Ning Xuan didn’t care. She was engrossed in her alchemy, her full attention fixed on the Alchemy Furnace in her hands. This wholehearted focus made her work highly efficient. By the time dusk fell, she had finally completed everything she had planned for the day.
Ning Xuan looked at the racks lined with rows upon rows of Glazed Bottles, which were filled with potions of every color: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple—every color was there. The front row of Glazed Bottles held various single-color potions, the middle row was filled entirely with potions of three-layered mixed colors, and the back row contained potions where seven colors coexisted.
The potions in the last row, where seven colors coexisted, were the most magical. The seven colors were mixed together, yet they hadn’t blended, each maintaining its independent color as it flowed within the bottle.
These Glazed Bottles holding Ning Xuan’s potions were all large; she had to decant the potions into smaller bottles she had prepared earlier.
With so many potions, this was a massive undertaking. Ning Xuan remembered Lan Xin was still here and decided to have him help bottle them. She had to go find Yu Mingche.
Ning Xuan walked up to Lan Xin and held out a hand, summoning the vine back. But when she saw the glistening liquid on it, she couldn’t help but frown. ’That looks like Lan Xin’s saliva.’ Ning Xuan felt a little disgusted and decided against absorbing that vine back into her body for now.
"Lan Xin, hurry and get dressed. Time to get to work," Ning Xuan ordered.
"Yes, Master." When Lan Xin spoke, his voice was somewhat hoarse.
Lan Xin quickly retrieved a set of clothes from his Space Button and put them on. As he lowered his head to assent, a strand of blue hair slipped from behind his ear, shimmering in the flickering light of the Alchemy Furnace.
"This servant will go now."
The clean scent of potions filled the Alchemy Room. Lan Xin stood before the racks, gazing at the rows of potions and marveling to himself. ’The Master managed to make so many potions in such a short time. She really does have a unique, God-given talent for Alchemy.’
Lan Xin rolled up his sleeves, revealing a section of his wrists covered in ligature marks from the vines. He steadily picked up the outermost Glazed Bottle from the front row and began the bottling work. His hands were exceptionally steady, ensuring that every bottle he filled contained the exact same dose.
Lan Xin focused on his work with rapt attention; Ning Xuan had already left.
Ning Xuan now arrived at Yu Mingche’s courtyard. When Feng Linran saw her, it was like he was looking at his savior. "Miss Ning, Lord Yu hasn’t eaten for three days. As soon as he returned today, he locked down the permissions to the house and won’t let us in. Please, hurry and go see him."
Ning Xuan frowned upon hearing this. "He hasn’t eaten in three days? Why? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?"
These last few days, Ning Xuan and Yu Mingche had been busy with their own matters and hadn’t shared any meals, so she genuinely didn’t know about this.
"He kept saying he has no appetite and doesn’t want to eat, and he wouldn’t let us tell you," Feng Linran said anxiously.
He originally thought that with a Spirit Controller’s constitution, even a few days without food wouldn’t have any real effect. But it had been three days, and Lord Yu still showed no intention of eating. What’s more, he had just kicked all of them out.
This made Feng Linran deeply uneasy. Combined with Yu Mingche’s recent state, he felt he had to tell Ning Xuan all of this.
Listening to Feng Linran’s description, Ning Xuan remembered from Yu Mingche’s profile that he had a history of severe mental illness. Although it supposedly had been cured, this kind of psychological problem was never that easy to resolve.
It was like an inner demon; even if buried and suppressed in the depths of one’s heart, there was always a risk of it being triggered again.
Yu Mingche’s courtyard had no restrictions against Ning Xuan, so she could have entered directly. However, considering his current psychological state, she knocked on the courtyard gate. "Ming Che, are you in there? I’m coming in."
The words had barely left her mouth when the gate opened.
It was Yu Mingche who opened the gate. His face was pale, utterly devoid of color. Ning Xuan said nothing; she stepped inside, closed the gate, and pulled him into her arms.
"Ming Che, I know everything. The fact that you managed to pull yourself out of that situation is amazing. Now I’m with you, so what is there to be afraid of?" Ning Xuan said, holding Yu Mingche and gently kissing his cheek.
Tears slid down Yu Mingche’s face. "Xuanyuan, I want to know who she is. I want to go back to the time when my father was still alive. I would rather not have been born, if only my father could have lived a good life."
There was a large, intractable knot in Yu Mingche’s heart. Ever since he could remember, the people of his clan had accused him, saying that he was the one who had caused his father’s death.