Chapter 893 — Otherwise I'd Be the One Losing Out

"Let General Weiwu go with you. He can find it, and he can keep you safe," Wei Zhao said.

"Okay!" Shen Yushu ran out of the cave at once, and went off with General Weiwu to fetch water.

"I... what am I supposed to do now?" Gu Mengyao had never been through anything like this, and had no idea what to do. With Shen Yushu gone, she was at a complete loss.

"There's a dagger along the edge of my shoe. Take it out, cut the wound on my leg open, and pull the bullet out..." Wei Zhao truly had no strength left at all; that he could still stay conscious and speak was a miracle in itself.

"All right!" Gu Mengyao did not dare dawdle. She bent down and, sure enough, found a dagger tucked along the side of Wei Zhao's shoe. She glanced at the gunshot wound on his leg and hesitated. "You... take off your pants?"

"You won't help me?" Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. Where would he find the strength? If the situation had not been so urgent, so desperate, he would never have asked Gu Mengyao to do such a thing! She was a novice who did not even know how to extract a bullet; watching how gingerly she moved, he was a little worried she would not be up to the task.

But Wei Zhao truly had no other choice! He could not hold out until they got down the mountain or until help arrived. He had to get the poison out of his body before he passed out!

"Oh..." Gu Mengyao's face flushed red. She knew perfectly well that Wei Zhao had no strength to take off his own pants, but for her to take them off for him — how embarrassing!

The young miss gritted her teeth and reached for Wei Zhao's belt with trembling hands. But she was so nervous that she could not undo the buckle no matter how she tried, and soon she was sweating all over! She did not want to waste time, but the more anxious she got, the more she fumbled. Gu Mengyao nearly resorted to biting it with her teeth.

"There's a clasp on the side. Just open it..." Wei Zhao looked at the young miss's little face, flushed pink with anxiety, and had a real urge to lean over and take a bite. Mm. Very cute.

"Oh..." A little embarrassed, Gu Mengyao undid the belt as Wei Zhao had instructed. Then her movements stalled...

The young miss had never imagined that one day she would be taking off a man's pants... And yet this scene was not playing out on a wedding night, but in a shabby cave — and the two of them were not about to do that wonderful thing...

Gu Mengyao gritted her teeth, steeled herself, and yanked Wei Zhao's pants down. Wei Zhao watched the young miss's fierce expression and found it rather funny. Why did she look like some female ruffian?

Under the pants, Wei Zhao wore only a pair of shorts, and the young miss's heart leaped up into her throat again! She hardly dared look, yet she had to look, because right now time was life! The young miss could still tell the difference.

"You... spread your legs a bit..." The young miss pursed her lips, a different person from her usual self. In that moment she was like a bashful young wife, gazing at Wei Zhao, half refusing and half inviting, a feast for the eyes.

Wei Zhao moved his leg with difficulty, and only then did Gu Mengyao suddenly realize that he was wounded — how could he move? She hurriedly reached out to help him.

But Wei Zhao was straining to part his legs, and Gu Mengyao wanted to help him too, and as the two of them moved at the same time, her hand landed on a place it should not have touched... And so Wei Zhao, most wickedly, most shamefully, reacted... And so the young miss's face turned even redder, like a boiled lobster.

Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. Even in a situation like this, he could still react? Too wicked...

Gu Mengyao did not know what to do with herself. The shocks of this single day had simply been too much!

"In the hospital you touched me, so today I'm touching you back. Otherwise I'd be the one losing out!" Gu Mengyao babbled, trying to justify her earlier embarrassment.

Wei Zhao looked at the young miss defending herself with such an utterly flimsy excuse and found it rather amusing. So the young miss had this adorable side to her after all; beneath that cold exterior there also beat a lovely, passionate heart...

"Fine... but I won't last much longer. After you get the bullet out, you can touch me however you like..." Wei Zhao joked as well.

Though Wei Zhao's joke was a little indecent, in an atmosphere like this it served as an important bit of seasoning. Hearing his words, Gu Mengyao glared at him, then burst out laughing too, and raised the dagger in her hand: "Try any more of your tricks and I'll cut it off!"

At another time and place, Gu Mengyao would never have said such a thing. But after Wei Zhao's joke, the words had simply slipped out; and once she had said them, she regretted it a little and shut her mouth again.

Still, those few jokes did ease the shame in Gu Mengyao's heart, and she began to study Wei Zhao's wound carefully.

"How should I do it?" Gu Mengyao asked.

"Cut the wound open and take the bullet out," Wei Zhao said.

"How do I cut?" Gu Mengyao felt she had no idea where to begin.

"However you like. Cut whichever way is easiest for you," Wei Zhao said.

"Will it hurt a lot?" Gu Mengyao could not bring herself to do it.

"Yes. But if you don't cut, I'll probably die of the poison." Wei Zhao frowned. "I don't know what kind of poison Zhen Yingjun used. It suppresses the nervous system. If it isn't taken out, I'm afraid there'll be trouble.

Wei Zhao was afraid that once the poison took effect, he would simply fall into a coma instead of entering the jade pendant's space. A coma from exhaustion and a coma from poisoning were not the same thing; Wei Zhao did not dare take the risk.

"Oh!" When Gu Mengyao heard that Wei Zhao would die if the bullet was not removed, she was so frightened that she stopped worrying about anything else. Gritting her teeth, she took the dagger and, with a trembling hand, began to cut at the wound on Wei Zhao's leg.

"Young miss, you need to use more force, be a bit more ruthless... Right now you're performing a slow slicing..." Wei Zhao watched Gu Mengyao carving away at him bit by bit and was momentarily speechless. "This is one of the Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty!"

"Ah!" Gu Mengyao's face flushed red at once. She nodded, and finally put a little more strength into her hand — though it was still more tentative than anything.

Fortunately Wei Zhao's dagger was very sharp, and Wei Zhao's tolerance was very strong; otherwise he would likely have broken down.

At last Gu Mengyao cut the wound open, and the bullet inside could be vaguely made out. But at this point Gu Mengyao again did not know how to proceed! After all, there were no tweezers or the like at hand — surely she was not supposed to reach in and dig it out with her fingers?

"Now I can see the bullet, but how am I supposed to get it out?" Gu Mengyao asked hesitantly.

"However is convenient for you..." Wei Zhao's eyelids were already fighting each other. The pain from the wound on his leg was no longer enough to keep his mind alert.

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