"This hair-raising voice stuck close to Hua Rou's ear: 'As long as the dagger is lightly pulled, you can hear it.'"

  "Who... who are you?" Hua Rou's mind went blank: "You want... to kill me?"

  A low, sneering laugh: "If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead."

  The dagger was withdrawn from Huajou's neck, and the person who had been pressing against her back retreated. Huajou quickly took a step forward, turned around, and saw a woman.

  The woman was wearing a tattered Tangmen disciple uniform, with some moldy black marks on her chest.

  Her hair was disheveled and unkempt like a beggar's, but her face was surprisingly clean and pale.

  Hua Rou had never seen this woman before and for a moment didn't know what to say, so she just stared at her blankly, but in her heart she couldn't help guessing the other's identity.

  At this time, the woman took a step forward, full of doubt: "You don't look much better than Ziqi, how can that cheap person not tolerate you?"

  Hua Rou's heart skipped a beat, her eyebrows raised: "You mean... Zi Qi wants you to... kill me?"

  The woman nodded: "That's right, the one who wants you dead is her. This dagger was also given to me by her. She said that as long as I kill you, she won't poison me and make me suffer."

  The woman said to this place, suddenly laughed twice, and then spat a mouthful of saliva on the ground, saying: "What's the difference between suffering or not? Anyway, it can't be gotten rid of."

  "With a clang", the woman suddenly threw the dagger in her hand to the ground and turned back to her dark corner: "How did you offend that cheap woman?"

  Hua Rou shook her head: "I... I don't know."

  From head to toe, she had no idea how she had offended these scoundrels.

  "You don't know? It seems you're just like me, a nuisance in other people's eyes!"

  Hua Rou's expression changed slightly, and she blinked: "You... have offended someone?"

  "In the darkness, the woman's response came slowly and with a hint of viciousness: 'A worthless person, a worthless person who ruined everything for me!'"

  ……

  Tang Jiuer sat in the large chair in the main hall with red eyes, Linlin stood opposite her with swollen red eyes and occasionally sniffled.

  Tang Jiuer stared into Linlin's eyes and saw the dissatisfaction and resentment in them.

  "It was I who forced you, but... the choice is yours."

  She opened her mouth, and her voice was choked with sobs.

  Ling glared at him: "I'm as disappointed in you as Hua Rou is. If my dad were still alive, he'd be just as disappointed."

  "Perhaps." Tang Jiuer sneered: "But similarly, you also disappointed me very much."

  "I've already compromised, what more do you want?"

  "Tang Jiuer closed her eyes: 'I told you a long time ago, if there isn't a firm and compassionate heart for all people, the poisonous house can only become eternal darkness in your life. Have you forgotten?'"

  Ling Ling was taken aback: "You... what do you mean?"

  Tang Jiuer opened her eyes, and in them, besides disappointment, there was also a hint of pity: "Find an appropriate opportunity, leave the Poison House, leave the Tang Manor!"

  "What?"

  "Although I've broken my promise to your father, it's better than letting you live in darkness..."

  Tang Jiuer had not finished speaking when Linlin rushed to her side, with a puzzled and confused expression: "Why do you want me to leave? I..."

  Tang Jiuer grasped Linlin's hand tightly and said: "What you gain is what you lose, and losing is the real gaining."

  At this moment, the pen holder on the table in front of Tang Jiuer suddenly rose a little, which made her eyebrows slightly frowned. Chong Linlin continued: "Everyone's path is chosen by themselves."

  "Could it be..." Linlin looked at Tang Jiuer's eyes filled with sorrow and disbelief: "Could the one who really passed this test be... Hua Rou in the prison?"

  "Three days later, if she still doesn't change her mind and compromise."

  Ling's body swayed slightly, and then suddenly straightened up. She pulled her hand out of Tang Jiuer's, took two steps back, adjusted her clothes, and bowed to Tang Jiuer with a curtsy.

  "I'm sorry... I've let you and Father down."

  Tang Jiuer immediately got up and rushed to Linlin's side, embracing her in his arms, sobbing softly: "Don't blame me for being heartless, although I'm not your real mother, but...I'll teach you some skills, so that even if you leave the Tang family, you can still live a peaceful life."

  Lingling stretched out her hand and hugged Tang Jiuer's waist, sobbing: "Can't you give me another chance?"

  Tang Jiuer closed her eyes, and tears fell one by one: "I'm sorry."

  ……

  A moment later, Tang Jiuer walked into the secret room with a cold face: "What's the matter with you looking for me?"

  "Did you take them to the dungeon?" Grandma asked Tang Jiu'er.

  Tang Jiuer nodded slightly.

  "What was the outcome?"

  "The flower has entered the bitter prison."

  Grandma stood up with a "swoosh": "I don't know what's the point of doing this? Toxic skills require toxic feeding, apart from Hua Rou, can't you just feed the others to make them toxic?"

  Tang Jiuer stared at her grandmother: "I am not you."

  "Y...". Grandma only managed to utter one word, but felt a wave of heat surging in her chest, a sharp pain in her back, and a breath stuck in her throat, unable to go up or down. Suddenly, she became dizzy and fell forward.

  "Master of the Gate!" Tang Jiuer immediately stepped forward to support Grandma, and with a flick of her other hand, silver needles flashed and pierced into Grandma's back at the vital points.

  "Cough...cough..." A string of violent coughs burst out, Grandma Zhang's mouth was agape as she gasped for breath, her face flushed with a hint of cyanosis.

  Tang Jiuer saw this and single-handedly pinched the needle again, stabbing two more needles into her grandmother's chest.

  "Ah..." The scorching heat in her lungs finally subsided, and Grandma Zhang panted heavily for a while, the flush on her face gradually fading away.

  "Why get so worked up?" Tang Jiuer pulled out the silver needles one by one: "Don't you know your own situation?"

  Grandma stared at Tang Jiuer, the air coming out of her throat was like a burst from a broken windpipe, accompanied by an ear-piercing noise.

  Tang Jiuer put away the silver needle and went to give her grandmother a gentle massage along her back.

  "It's all said and done now, there's no need to say these things anymore, the result is just like this. But let me tell you one thing, if Huajing can't hold on for three days and compromises, no matter what you want, I will absolutely not teach her the poisonous skills."

  "Ah!" Grandma huffed and puffed out a sentence: "How can you be so stubborn!"

  Tang Jiuer whispered back: "You're no different either."

  Grandma gave Tang Jiuer a white eye, grabbed the teacup beside her with an ill temper, and drank several mouthfuls.

  "Good rest, I'm leaving." Tangerine stood up and was about to leave when Grandma stretched out her hand and grabbed her arm: "Huā Róu... how's your enlightenment?"

  Tang Jiuer looked at Grandma's eyes with an undisguised expectation, and sighed: "Both hands do not see the aura of energy."

  "Grandma stared with wide eyes: 'The elephant is invisible?'"

  Tang Jiuer nodded: "Yes, she has thoroughly enlightened the Heavenly Pulse, congratulations to you, Master."