Qi Xiao sat on the edge of the bed, watching the shape wriggling beneath the covers, his anger not yet entirely spent. He lifted a corner of the quilt, revealing Qi Yu's bloodstained face. The cotton in his nostrils had already been changed twice, and the bleeding had finally stopped, but several streaks of dried blood remained on his face, making his skin look even paler-far too pale. Qi Xiao reached out, gripped his chin, and turned his face toward him. Guiltily, Qi Yu lowered his eyes, not daring to meet his gaze.
"I thought you were merely greedy. I never imagined you truly had no regard for your life. A whole hundred-year-old ginseng root. The imperial physicians don't dare put even a little too much ginseng rootlet in my prescriptions, yet you gnawed on it like a radish." The more Qi Xiao spoke, the angrier he grew. He hauled him out of the covers, turned him over, and pinned him across his lap. Qi Yu struggled twice without breaking free, then buried his face in the pillow, leaving only his two bright red ears exposed. Qi Xiao raised his hand, but held back most of his strength as it came down.
"I just wanted to grow taller faster. The physician said ginseng replenishes vital energy, so I thought the older it was, the more it would replenish, and... and I took the oldest one." Qi Yu huddled listlessly in his arms.
"If you want to grow taller, eat properly and sleep properly. You're not a radish in a field, shooting up the moment someone adds fertilizer." This attempt to nourish his body had instead depleted it. The physician said the ginseng had been too potent, forcibly stirring his blood and vital energy: surging upward, it caused incessant nosebleeds; rushing