Even though Xia Sanghuan seemed perfectly calm on the surface, her mind was constantly racing with thoughts of how to defend herself when the enemy made a move.
As long as there weren't too many of them, she stood a chance of escape.
Frowning, she struggled to pull the herbs out of the soil while lost in thought.
After placing the last herb into her bamboo basket, she wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, took out her water flask, and sat down on a nearby boulder to drink.
Her opponent was incredibly patient. They'd been crouching there motionless for so long.
It was so long that she began to wonder if they had no ill intentions after all.
That was until she heard the rustling sounds behind her, along with the hissing of a snake.
Here they come.
She sprang to her feet and turned around. A palm - sized snake was slithering towards her at breakneck speed.
This kind of snake was swift and highly venomous. If bitten and the antidote wasn't taken in time, a person would die within ten minutes.
An amateur would probably be scared out of their wits by now, standing still waiting to be bitten.
But Xia Sanghuan wasn't a coward. Moreover, she was well - accustomed to this kind of snake.
She dodged to the side and then leaped behind the snake.
The aggressive snake seemed stunned for a moment. It took a while to twist its body around and launch a second attack.
That's right. Although this snake was venomous, it wasn't very intelligent. Once its prey was out of its attack range, it took a long time to react.
Xia Sanghuan squinted her eyes. Every muscle in her body tensed up due to the tension.
This was her moment of truth.
She thrust the stick in her hand hard at the snake's vital spot, and then, taking advantage of the snake's immobility, she kicked it into the nearby bushes.
That was exactly where the person tailing her was hiding.
A scream rang out. A man tumbled out of the bushes. The little snake was still tightly latched onto his arm.
His expression darkened. He picked up a stick and began pounding the snake's vital spot with all his might.
The snake gradually went silent and slowly released its bite.
But just releasing the bite wasn't enough. Without an antidote, this man was as good as dead.
Xia Anying, who had been hiding in the bushes, knew the game was up. She gritted her teeth and emerged from the bushes. In an exaggerated voice, she shouted at Xia Sanghuan, "Xia Sanghuan, you've killed someone!"
Xia Sanghuan stared at Xia Anying's over - the - top act with cold eyes, showing no reaction.
"Quick, grab her and take her to the police station!"
Holding the long stick in her hand, Xia Sanghuan said indifferently, "Is this really necessary?"
"Are you done with your one - woman show?"
She prodded the dying man on the ground with the stick and then said, "Don't be so hasty to arrest me, sister. Shouldn't you be more concerned about your companion first?"
"If he doesn't get treatment soon, he'll die right here."
"You... It's all your fault! If you hadn't kicked the snake over, he wouldn't have been bitten!"
"You two, go and grab her right now!"
Xia Sanghuan let out an impatient sigh. She said to the two men approaching to grab her, "Do you really want to listen to her? Aren't you afraid of ending up like him?"
The two men looked down at their companion on the ground, whose arm was already blue and purple. They didn't dare to take another step forward.
Seeing their reaction, Xia Anying angrily cursed, "Useless fools!"
With that, she rushed over, reaching out to grab Xia Sanghuan.
Xia Sanghuan couldn't understand what had gotten into her sister. She was so eager to arrest her that she didn't even care about the lives of the people she brought.
Her eyes turned completely cold.
She dodged Xia Anying's lunge and then kicked her hard in the waist, sending her sprawling to the ground.
Ignoring Xia Anying's shrill screams on the ground, Xia Sanghuan grabbed the herbs she'd just picked, quickly crushed them, and applied them to the man's bitten wound on his arm.
Then she turned the man over so that he was lying flat on the ground. She used silver needles to pierce several key acupoints that could expel the toxin from his body from memory.
After everything was done, she let out a sigh of relief.
Xia Anying lay on the ground, looking at her disheveled.
Xia Sanghuan walked up to her, crouched down, and patted her face.
"Xia Anying, don't think I'm oblivious to what you've been up to."
"I don't have the evidence this time, and out of consideration for our years of sisterhood, I'll let you off the hook for now."
"If you want to continue living a life of wealth and comfort, I advise you to rein in these crazy ideas of yours."
"Next time, I won't be so lenient."
Xia Anying glared at her resentfully. Jealousy had clouded her eyes, and she couldn't see how much her sister had been looking out for her.
In fact, it would have been easy for Xia Sanghuan to kick Xia Anying out of the Fu family. All she had to do was tell their father a few of the things her sister had done in the past eighteen years, and Xia Anying would have been sent back to Qingshanpo.
But she didn't do it, not for any noble reason. She just didn't want Xia Laosi, who was already in the afterlife, to worry.
Looking at her almost - crazy sister, Xia Sanghuan thought of the viper that had just lunged at her.
Only then did she realize that her back was soaked with sweat.
Even though she was familiar with this kind of snake, she'd never fought one at such close range before. One wrong move, and it could have been her lying on the ground, on the verge of death.
Moreover, the appearance of this snake was no accident.
It meant that Xia Anying had been determined to kill her this time.
Just this thought sent a chill down her spine.
Although she and Xia Anying weren't on the best of terms, they had lived together for nearly twenty years.
No matter how much she disliked her sister, she'd never thought of harming her. Instead, she'd always covered for her in various situations to prevent her from getting kicked out of the Fu family.
On the contrary, to Xia Anying, her life seemed worthless. She was willing to kill her without even considering the consequences.
Were all of her actions really just because of her stupidity and jealousy?
Xia Sanghuan's gaze on Xia Anying grew even darker.
If that was the case, this person was truly terrifying.
Xia Anying felt a shiver run down her spine under Xia Sanghuan's intense stare. She tried to get up from the ground, but Xia Sanghuan kept pressing the stick on her back, making it impossible for her to move.
One of the three men she'd brought was lying on the ground, half - dead from the snakebite, and the other two hadn't even bothered to help her up.
She remembered how, back at the Fu family, everyone's attention was on Xia Sanghuan, while she was like a clown in the corner, completely ignored.