Chapter 148: Jing Lanxi's Purpose

"Tch," Shen Fuyu let out a sound of disdain.

Qin Zhiyi: ...

"Fine, what should we do now then?" Shen Fuyu accepted her fate. She was now Qin Zhiyi's imperial consort; if she abandoned him and fled, she would become a public enemy of the entire Great Xun. No matter how formidable she was, she couldn't possibly survive a war of attrition, could she?

"Find a place and wait for people," Qin Zhiyi lifted his robe to look at his leg, which was already showing the beginnings of swelling. "When they find us missing, someone will definitely be sent to search."

"This concubine thinks we could use lightness kung fu," Shen Fuyu looked up, estimating that if she found a place with more rocks to use as leverage, she could make it up. "Carrying you along wouldn't be a problem."

"You forgot your belly," Qin Zhiyi pointed to it and said, "Falling and still managing to protect the child can barely be explained away by trees breaking the fall and me cushioning you. If you climb back up like this while carrying me, it simply won't make sense."

"As long as we hide well, those people won't be able to catch up for a while, so it shouldn't be too big of a problem." Weighing various factors, hiding and waiting for their own people to come to the rescue was the best option.

Besides, Qin Zhiyi was truly finding it difficult to move an inch right now.

"Alright then, let's go find a place to squat." Shen Fuyu didn't refuse. What Qin Zhiyi said made sense; weighing the pros and cons, waiting here for help was the best and most balanced approach. If they rashly ran up now, no one could say whether that group of people had left or not. In the event of a collision, she would be going into battle while burdened with dead weight.

Supporting Qin Zhiyi, the two walked forward. They had jumped straight down, and the cliff wasn't high; those people might well jump down to search as well. This place was not safe to linger, so Shen Fuyu supported Qin Zhiyi as they walked quickly ahead, discovering a small cave not far away.

"Let's use this one." After going inside, they used branches, grass, and stones to camouflage it. From the outside, it wasn't very obvious that it was a cave. After helping Qin Zhiyi in, Shen Fuyu felt around in her space and pulled out some medicine. "Waiting for people is waiting for people, but presumably those people will come down. At the very least, we need to be able to run for our lives if necessary."

"You even carry medicine on your person?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"No problem."

At a time like this, having healing medicine was naturally a precious commodity. Qin Zhiyi didn't hesitate, taking the medicine and swallowing it. Relying on the faint light filtering in from outside, Qin Zhiyi took off his clothes, exposing several wounds to the air.

Shen Fuyu pressed her lips together and only took out a topical healing ointment for him. Upon second thought, she decided against the spiritual stream water—after all, who walks around carrying water on them?

Besides, soaking in that water would heal the wounds completely right away...

Pulling that out would instantly cement her identity as a demonic consort.

Shen Fuyu yawned, sitting in the cave with the exact same attitude as sitting at home, completely devoid of any tension, and even feeling a little sleepy.

"Aren't you scared?" After tending to his wounds, Qin Zhiyi asked her.

"This concubine isn't scared," Shen Fuyu rubbed her eyes. "It's nothing major."

"Why did the Empress suddenly target you?" Qin Zhiyi asked again. "She doesn't have any reason to want you dead at all costs, does she?"

Shen Fuyu pressed her lips together; this was a very complicated question.

"The Empress is very smart," Shen Fuyu thought for a moment. "As for the things between us, while she doesn't know the details, she has guessed the general outline quite clearly."

"She also has great ambition; it seems she isn't satisfied with the current status quo."

Thinking about this matter, Shen Fuyu felt it was somewhat absurd. Jing Lanzhi was the legitimate princess of Yunjing; actually, if she had been unwilling, she didn't have to marry over. There wasn't just one princess of Yunjing, and casually fobbing off any other would have sufficed, especially since Great Xun had no choice at the time.

Qin Zhiyi let out a muffled breath. "She wants to help her brother annex Great Xun."

"Then the only way is for you to remain weak, so that Yunjing's chances become greater," Shen Fuyu added. That made sense. No wonder Jing Lanzhi had been so diligent about cuckolding Qin Zhiyi; as it turned out, the men who had slept in her bed might well be high-ranking civil and military officials of Great Xun!

Thinking about it this way, Jing Lanzhi's actions all had a motive. No wonder she had once fought her to the death—after all, with Shen Fuyu occasionally helping Qin Zhiyi like this, seemingly casually, she was actually cutting off Jing Lanzhi's retreat.

"Thinking about it this way, Jing Lanzhi must have planned this a long time ago. It's just a pity that her plan was ruined by those few birds," Shen Fuyu shook her head and smiled. That note carried the message for that team of imperial guards, but before she had a chance to deliver it, she had beaten them to death first.

"I think it's more appropriate to say that whoever runs into you is destined for bad luck," Qin Zhiyi glanced at her. "If those birds hadn't been killed by you and caught that group off guard with a surprise attack, you and I might not be here right now. Jing Lanzhi certainly never imagined her plan would fail like this."

"Thank you for the compliment."

Shen Fuyu happily accepted the praise. Jing Lanzhi's plan had indeed been perfect: animal messaging, bribing the imperial guards, dispatching sufficient assassins. As long as she and Qin Zhiyi both died, and the blame was pinned on the assassins while the imperial guards returned claiming they failed to protect them in time, no one would suspect it was Jing Lanzhi's doing.

"Your Majesty... Consort Xian..."

"Did you find them?"

"Can't see anything clearly; the bloodstains stop around here..."

"Keep looking."

...

Shen Fuyu, half-asleep, opened her eyes. Footsteps sounded outside, and through the leaves, torchlight was faintly visible.

The two of them simultaneously stood up, retreated a few steps deeper into the cave, and exchanged a glance, sharing the exact same thought.

This was Jing Lanzhi's people.

"Given this situation... what do you say?" Shen Fuyu lowered her voice and asked.

Qin Zhiyi said, "Let's wait and see for now."

"Your Majesty, do you think among this bunch, there might be some idiot who searches and decides to rest near here, and then leans back against..."

Qin Zhiyi: ...

Could she please refrain from saying things like that when the atmosphere is so tense!

Why wasn't she nervous at all?!

"Could you be a little nervous?" Qin Zhiyi was losing his patience. "If we get discovered, do you still want to live?"

"If you must know, when it comes to the matter of death, this concubine truly has never feared it," Shen Fuyu looked at the swaying figures outside, thinking to herself that on the day of her rush-wedding to dispel bad luck, she had almost fallen asleep from boredom in the Cold Palace. "Life and death, nothing more than a small scene."

Qin Zhiyi: ...

What could he possibly say to that?

"They've almost searched the whole place once. Where do you think they could be hiding?"

"The order from above is to see the person alive or the body dead. If they manage to escape, we'll all die. Hurry up and search!"

"Wait, take a look over here."

Torches illuminated the cave entrance, and about five or six figures were approaching. Inside the cave, the two of them moved in sync, continuously retreating deeper as they heard the branches masking the cave entrance being pushed aside.

Shen Fuyu took out her remaining few golden melon-seed ingots, getting ready to slaughter these people directly.