32: Chapter 32 First Meeting with Jiang Liuli: Her pitiful appearance makes me want to bully her.

Inside Listening to Rain Pavilion, the fragrance of medicine curled in the air.

It was a bitter scent, a mixture of hundreds of rare spiritual herbs being boiled, yet within that bitterness lingered a faint, elegant wisp of orchid fragrance.

That was the body fragrance of Jiang Liuli.

A fragrance born from long-term illness.

Xu Chen stood before the bed. His gaze did not shy away in the slightest due to Jiang Liuli's sickly appearance; instead, it wandered over her body even more unscrupulously.

In his sight, this Jiang Family Divine Maiden was like a piece of exquisite porcelain covered in cracks.

She was too thin.

Because she had been unable to refine spiritual energy for years and was tormented by illness, her oversized moon-white sleeping robe hung loosely on her. The collar was slightly open, revealing deep-set collarbones so delicate they made one's heart ache.

Her skin possessed a near-transparent pallor. Beneath that skin, as thin as a cicada's wing, one could even vaguely see faint blue veins, as if this body would completely shatter with just a light touch.

However, it was precisely this extreme sense of fragility, set against her stunning features, that formed a suffocating kind of—shattered beauty.

Especially those eyes.

Though they were dim and lusterless, filled with a numbness toward death, the tear mole at the corner of her eye was like a drop of solidified cinnabar, exuding an indescribable melancholy and charm.

"Cough, cough..."

Stared at by Xu Chen's direct and burning gaze, an extremely unnatural flush actually rose on Jiang Liuli's originally pale cheeks.

She subconsciously gripped the brocade quilt beneath her, wanting to hide her broken body.

"Don't... don't look..."

Her voice was very soft, so light it seemed a gust of wind could blow it away. "Right now, I'm... very ugly."

As a divine maiden who had once stunned the Central State, she had her own pride. She didn't want outsiders, especially such a vigorous and god-like handsome young man, to see her current state, which was neither human nor ghost.

A warm, dry, and powerful hand, however, chose this moment to grab her hiding hand with an irresistible force.

"Ugly?"

Xu Chen raised an eyebrow, as if he had heard a joke.

Applying a bit of strength, he pulled that small hand, which was as cold as jade, toward himself, his thumb lightly stroking the slightly protruding veins on the back of her hand.

"Jiang Liuli, has your sense of beauty been broken by your illness?"

Xu Chen leaned down, his handsome face drawing close until their breaths intertwined.

"In my eyes, the current you is so beautiful that it makes one..."

Xu Chen paused, the corners of his mouth curling into a somewhat wicked arc as his voice dropped low:

"So beautiful it makes one want to tease you."

Jiang Liuli's eyes suddenly widened.

Want to... tease?

What kind of bold words were these?

Since childhood, because of her constitution and status, those around her had treated her with either awe, pity, or cautious care.

No one had ever dared to say such things to her.

And no one had ever dared to look at her with such an aggressive and possessive gaze.

"You..."

Jiang Liuli's heart rate suddenly accelerated. That heart, which had been beating slowly due to her fading life force, now seemed to have been injected with a stimulant, thumping wildly.

"You rogue! Let go of my lady this instant!"

At that moment, the personal maid, Xiao Cui, who had been guarding the foot of the bed and was already stunned by the scene, finally reacted.

Was this a medical visit? This was clearly someone acting like a hooligan!

Xiao Cui rushed forward like a protective hen, wanting to push Xu Chen away.

Xu Chen merely glanced at her indifferently.

A flash of pressure belonging to a Great Power expert flickered by.

Xiao Cui instantly froze in place, unable to move. She could only stare with wide, teary eyes as she watched her lady fall into the 'demon's grasp'.

"Uncle Jiang."

Without turning his head, Xu Chen continued to hold Jiang Liuli's hand and spoke in a flat tone:

"When treating a patient, the most important thing is to have no distractions."

"There are too many idle people in this room. The air isn't circulating and the turbid energy is too heavy; it will affect my judgment of the Divine Maiden's condition."

"So..."

Standing at the door, although Jiang Wudao felt Xu Chen's behavior was somewhat frivolous, he thought of the certainty the young man had shown earlier and saw his daughter's unusual reaction. He gritted his teeth and made a decision.

"Xiao Cui, withdraw!"

Jiang Wudao dismissed the maid and then gave Xu Chen a deep bow.

"Nephew, as long as you can save Liuli, everything within Listening to Rain Pavilion is under your command!"

"I will stand guard outside the door and ensure no one disturbs you!"

After saying that, Jiang Wudao turned and left, dragging the reluctant Xiao Cui out with him. He even thoughtfully closed the door and activated an isolation formation.

Clang.

The sound of the door closing echoed.

Inside the entire Listening to Rain Pavilion, only Xu Chen and Jiang Liuli remained.

A lone man and a lone woman.

Sharing a room.

And at such an ambiguous bedside.

Jiang Liuli grew even more panicked.

She felt like a little white rabbit that had fallen into a wolf's den, trembling with fear.

"What... what do you want to do?"

She tried to pull her hand back, but the strength of that large hand was astonishing. No matter how hard she tried, it didn't budge.

"Treating your illness, of course,"

Xu Chen said righteously, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Because of his movement, the bed sank slightly, and the distance between them closed again.

"Give me your hand."

Xu Chen released her hand and gestured for her to lay it flat.

Jiang Liuli hesitated for a moment but eventually, under Xu Chen's unquestionable gaze, she obediently extended her palm.

Her hand was very beautiful, with long, slender fingers and neatly trimmed, rounded nails showing a faint pink hue. However, her palm was covered in cold sweat, chilling to the bone.

Xu Chen didn't take her pulse like an ordinary doctor. Instead, he extended a finger and pressed it against the Laogong point in her palm.

Ssss—

Jiang Liuli gasped.

Because Xu Chen's finger was so hot!

When that finger pressed down, it was like a spark landing on ice. A scalding heat surged through the acupoint and instantly entered her meridians.

This alternating sensation of hot and cold made her tremble involuntarily.

"Don't move."

Xu Chen's voice became a bit more serious. "I am probing the degree of blockage in your Severed Meridians."

As he spoke, his finger began to wander up her arm.

Wrist... forearm... elbow...

With every spot it passed, the heat deepened.

Jiang Liuli bit her lip, desperately enduring the strange sensation.

It wasn't just heat.

That flow of heat seemed to carry a peculiar suction. Everywhere it passed, her previously numb senses became exceptionally sharp.

It was itchy.

It was tingling.

And there was a kind of... longing she had never felt before.

When Xu Chen's finger slid past her shoulder and stopped at her exquisite collarbone, Jiang Liuli finally couldn't hold it back.

"Mmm..."

A soft moan, suppressed to the extreme, escaped her nose.

As soon as the sound came out, her face flushed with shame.

This was too shameful!

How was this treating an illness?

"It seems the blockage is very severe."

Xu Chen, however, seemed not to have heard her. He analyzed with a serious face, "The Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart gave you incredibly high comprehension, but it also overtaxed your innate essence."

"Combined with these Nine Yin Severed Meridians, it's like a frozen river. Since the water can't flow, the life force is naturally severed."

Xu Chen withdrew his finger and looked into Jiang Liuli's watery eyes, saying seriously:

"If you want to live, you must break the ice."

"Break the ice?" Jiang Liuli asked, panting.

"Exactly."

Xu Chen nodded. "Use an extremely masculine and yang fire to melt this layer of hard ice and let the river water flow again."

"And I..."

Xu Chen pointed at himself, that mischievous smirk reappearing.

"Am that fire."

Jiang Liuli looked at him. Although she didn't understand medical theory well, she vaguely understood something.

"Then... what needs to be done?"

"It's simple."

Xu Chen took a set of golden needles from his storage ring.

It was the matching tool for the Golden Needle Acupoint Method he had just received from the system's sign-in.

"The first step is to use golden needles on your acupoints to stimulate the remaining life force in your body, preparing your meridians for the 'impact'."

Xu Chen shook the golden needles in his hand, which glinted coldly under the candlelight.

"However..."

Xu Chen's gaze fell upon Jiang Liuli's layered clothing. He said with some difficulty:

"This Golden Needle Acupoint Method requires extremely precise insertion into the points. Doing it through clothes is definitely not an option."

"So, Miss Jiang..."

"Will you take them off yourself, or should I help you?"

Boom!

It was as if a bolt of thunder had exploded in Jiang Liuli's mind.

Take... take off her clothes?

In front of a strange man she had met less than half an hour ago?

For her, who had been raised under the strictest etiquette since childhood, this was practically harder to endure than death.

"No... no!"

Jiang Liuli instinctively refused, her hands tightly guarding her collar, her eyes filled with terror and resistance. "I won't be treated! Just let me die!"

"Die?"

Xu Chen sneered. "You want to die? Have you asked me?"

"The person I, Xu Chen, want to save, even king yama cannot take away!"

After saying that, he gave Jiang Liuli no chance to resist.

With a flick of his wrist, several strands of spiritual energy turned into silk threads, instantly binding Jiang Liuli's wrists and ankles, fixing her to the bed in a spread-eagle position.

"You... let me go!"

"Xu Chen! You are the Young Master of the Imperial Clan, how can you do such a thing?!"

Jiang Liuli was so anxious she began to cry, struggling desperately, but her meager strength was nothing before Xu Chen.

At this moment, she was like a little lamb captured by a hunter, pinned to the chopping block, left to the mercy of others.

This extreme sense of helplessness and shame made her face so red it looked as if it might bleed.

"Shhh—"

Xu Chen placed a finger against her lips, making a silencing gesture.

"Save your strength."

"I'll be inserting the needles in a moment; it will hurt quite a bit if you move around."

Looking at the tearful, pitifully beautiful sick woman beneath him, a certain mischievous streak in Xu Chen's heart was greatly satisfied.

The system was right.

This kind of fragility really made one want to... tease her ruthlessly.

"Jiang Liuli, look at me."

Xu Chen's voice suddenly became deep and magnetic.

Jiang Liuli looked at him through teary eyes.

"I know what you're thinking,"

Xu Chen spoke slowly. "You feel ashamed, and you feel I don't respect you."

"But you must understand one thing."

"In this world, compared to life, dignity is worthless."

"Moreover..."

Xu Chen's finger lightly hooked the tie of her collar, slowly pulling it open.

"No woman I, Xu Chen, have set my sights on has ever escaped."

"Your father entrusted you to me; in truth, he has already sold you to me."

"So, be good."

"Cooperate with the treatment. Not only will you live, but you will also... experience the joy of being a woman."

As the tie was undone, her outer robe slid off.

Then came the inner garment...

Jiang Liuli closed her eyes tightly, her eyelashes trembling violently as two lines of clear tears slid from the corners of her eyes.

She stopped struggling.

Because she knew struggling was useless.

Furthermore, in a corner deep within her heart, there was actually a faint sense of... relief?

Perhaps, entrusting herself to him like this was also a kind of destination?

At least, he didn't seem... unpleasant.

Looking at that jade-like body—exquisite yet fragile like a work of art—as it was gradually revealed in the dim light, Xu Chen took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the heat in his heart.

"System, activate auxiliary mode."

"Golden Needle Acupoint Method, begin!"

Xu Chen picked up a golden needle, his gaze becoming focused and sharp.

While he did want to take advantage, he was also serious about the treatment.

After all, only by saving her life could he... tease her for a long, long time to come.

"Endure it; the first needle will hurt a bit,"

Xu Chen said softly, then flicked his wrist.

The golden needle turned into a beam of light, accurately piercing the 'Shanzhong' point on Jiang Liuli's chest.

"Ah!"

A suppressed cry of pain, accompanied by a strange vibrato, echoed within Listening to Rain Pavilion.