After the tournament where Li Chu beat Li Zhao and An Jian had to intervene. Li Zhao left the tournament in a daze. After An Jian won the martial arts tournament, she thought about Li Zhao who she had originally expected to face in the final match. He had been acting weird since the Spring festival seeming a little sad and less focused. He was quite severely hurt by Li Chu and thought she would go check on him. An Jian, didn't exactly want to show up and announce she wanted to see Li Zhao in case they got the wrong idea, so she jumped onto the roof and scanned for Li Zhao from the shadows like a squirrel.
Madam Li seem to be happy Li Chu improved his ranking although he was injured by An Jian. Madam Li then opened the door to Li Rong's room and screamed, An Jian seeing this suddenly jumped down and ran into the room. Madam Li looked at An Jian in shock but somehow did not see her as a threat.
An Jian started checking the pulse of Li Rong on the floor, she was gone, she then checked Li Zhao, it was faint. An Jian then ran off to get An Hao. When An Hao arrived she had her medical kit and started applying acupuncture needles at different spots to stabilize Li Zhao. An Hao then looked at Li Rong, who was now placed on the bed in a peaceful position. She thought "This was the woman that thought highly of her and asked Li Zhao to court her" She said a small prayer and made a promise to save Li Zhao so she could rest in peace.
Li Zhao was later moved to the dormitory nursing room where An Hao usually worked. She worked day and night brewing medicine using the most effective methods to remove poison, but Li Zhao still didn't recover fully.
She was running out of options. Her last resort would be to use methods described in the dark manual that taught her how to drain life energy. One could heal another or oneself through sexual energy.
She untied her robe and got into the bed with Li Zhao, at first she rubbed his chest warming it up, then pressed her body against his. She would start to rub her own sensual places on him until she was arouse or there would be no sexual energy to transfer. It seemed to work and Li Zhao's body warmed up.
She understood why it was in the forbidden manual, she would only do this at night and just from one session, she was finding herself looking forward to the next session.
By the third session Li Zhao woke up with An Hao on top of him. He was still in a half daze and didn't know if he was dreaming. An Hao finally noticed his eyes open then stared into his and kissed him. He finally felt control of his arms and placed his hand around An Hao. He thought maybe it was an erotic dream he was having and just kissed and squeezed back pressing An Hao closer to him.
An Hao found herself more and more addicted, and knew something was wrong.
On the third day Li Zhao was fully conscious, he woke up thinking about An Hao, and when he looked over, An Hao was standing beside him brewing medicine. He felt guilty thinking about he was dreaming all these erotic dreams of her.
"An Hao?"
An Hao turned around to look at him, smiled and brought a bowl of medicine over "How are you feeling?"
Li Zhao felt her tone seem more casual like they were somehow closer "I'm think I'm fine" as he tried to sit up, he notice his erotic thoughts hadn't completely passed and he used the sheets to cover up a bulge in his pants. An Hao handed him the bowl and he drank the medicine quickly. "How long have I been here". An Hao looked at him with concern "It's been five days". Li Zhao, then remembered his mother "My mother" and got up but then almost fell over, An Hao grabbed him and hugged him, "She has been buried by the meadow overlooking the kingdom, I'll.. take you there to visit her when you're fully recovered". Li Zhao sat back down trying to make sense of everything. An Hao then placed her hand on his chest pushing him down on the bed. Li Zhao thought An Hao maybe wanted him to sleep and rest some more. "I think I have slept enough" An Hao then got on the bed and put a finger to his mouth to stay quiet. He looked in slight disbelief, she untied her robe and reveal her irresistible naked figure. She pressed herself against him and started to remove his pants. It seemed those dreams he had been having might have been real or was he still dreaming.
An Hao felt possessed and crave more intimate time the more she had it. Now that Li Zhao was awake she could finally perform what she had been craving for the last 3 nights with his perfect specimen of a body. Li Zhao had never been intimate before but it came natural and he knew when to be dominant and when to be gentle. It was their little secret and Li Zhao would fully recover after 5 more long sessions, before they continued in secret meeting up at night.
No one really noticed anything weird, people just assumed they fell in love after An Hao nursed Li Zhao back to health. An Jian was protective of her sister but did approve of their courtship as Li Zhao was very capable and could protect her sister as well.