Chapter 35: Saving the Exiled Crown Princess Consort (7)

The black-clad man’s eyes widened in shock. “Impossible! All our hidden weapons were crafted by the Crown Prince’s advisor.”

Luo Xu’s tone was calm. “Is that so?” She casually tossed the token into the stove and watched as the flames devoured it, the hatred in her eyes seeming to solidify into something tangible.

“Then let me ask you: what is that advisor’s name? Where does he hail from?” Luo Xu sneered. The black-clad man fell silent. Luo Xu had no desire to dwell on the token. “How many of you came this time? What other instructions did Nalan Xue give?”

The man had some backbone and turned his face away, refusing to speak. For a moment, Luo Xu was at a loss. She was a master of craftsmanship, but hopelessly inept at worldly matters. She didn’t even know how to make a man talk.

Tang Qi stepped forward and swiftly struck several of his acupressure points. The black-clad man instantly felt an immense, sour itch rising from the depths of his being, slowly spreading through his entire body.

It was as if countless insects were gnawing at him, or perhaps feathers gently brushing against every inch of his flesh and blood. He wanted to scream, to shout, but couldn’t make a single sound. He couldn’t even move a finger.

Without any mercy, Tang Qi tossed him outside. The wind and snow were heavy there, and in moments, he was buried under a thick blanket of white.

Luo Xu stood silently by the clay stove. In the early days of her exile, she had hoped countless times that Zhao Chengfeng would come to save her. But the long months of torment and pain that followed had gradually worn her feelings away. This assassination attempt only made the truth clearer to her.

Zhao Chengfeng was no longer that unfavored prince, timid and bullied. He was the Crown Prince, willing to sacrifice anything, even for the sake of gaining the Prime Minister’s power.

She had naively believed in their bond as childhood sweethearts, as partners who had weathered hardship together, hand in hand.

Thinking back now, whether she had truly administered the poison or not was irrelevant. What mattered was that he had needed her to make a mistake so that she could vacate the position of Crown Princess Consort. He also needed to humiliate her to curry favor with Nalan Xue.

“Zhao Chengfeng and I were both disliked by our elders. We met and came to know each other in humble circumstances and shared trials and tribulations. Now, it seems it was nothing more than dancing with wolves,” Luo Xu murmured to herself. Since childhood, she had lived with her grandfather and earned no love from her parents. After her grandfather died, no one had loved or cared for her. Zhao Chengfeng’s appearance had given her hope.

She closed her eyes. Before her flashed the moments of her exile journey, piece by piece: being forced to walk over thorny plants; learning to bark like a dog just for a few bites of food; those soldiers dumping spoiled slop into a pig trough and making her compete with pigs for it!

Luo Xu was certain that no one, after enduring such torment, could still harbor a scrap of love for the person who had caused it all.

“Zhao Chengfeng, ah, you… you bastard, Zhao Chengfeng.” But oh, how she hated him! She had pitied Zhao Chengfeng for having no family to support him and, willing to go against her grandfather’s teachings, had designed those harmful hidden weapons to give him. She’d even used the sale of those weapons to help him amass wealth. What had her sincerity earned her?

Humiliation! Luo Xu couldn’t help but laugh, a laugh that morphed into a hysterical roar.

“Luoluo!” Tang Qi embraced her, patting her back to comfort her. “It’s alright, it’s alright. I promise you, I will definitely help you get revenge. I will definitely let you kill Zhao Chengfeng with your own hands.”

Tang Qi held her tightly. Luo Xu buried herself in Tang Qi’s arms in a posture of escape, her entire body trembling, hands clenched into fists. She gripped so tightly that her nails pierced her palms, drawing fresh, crimson blood.

The System raged: “Kill that bastard! I’ll exchange points for a cultivation method for you right now. You can directly summon Heavenly Thunder and strike him dead!” And just as expected, it was promptly locked away again.

Seeing Luo Xu’s emotions gradually calm, Tang Qi helped her sit and bandaged her wounds. Watching Tang Qi carefully tend to her injuries, Luo Xu slowly steadied herself.

It wasn’t really something to get agitated over. She should have thought it through long ago. “Little Seven, I’m hungry.”

Tang Qi tied the bandage and gently blew on the wound. “A blow to chase the pain away. Luoluo, be good! Wait here for me.” She rolled up her sleeves and started to cook.

Dinner was sumptuous: a plate of sauced beef, a steamer basket of dumplings, half a roasted leg of lamb, and a soup of white fungus and lotus seeds specially prepared for Luo Xu. Luo Xu ate earnestly, and Tang Qi periodically added more food to her bowl.

After dinner, Tang Qi retrieved the stiff, frozen black-clad man from outside. When she unsealed his acupressure points, the man coughed up a mouthful of blood and couldn’t stop shivering. Even though his fingers were so numb from the cold they wouldn’t obey, he was still frantically clawing at his own face.

“It’s so itchy, so itchy! P-Please… just give me a quick end,” he gasped out.

Tang Qi crouched down and looked at him without a trace of emotion, then placed a pill into his mouth. Moments after the medicine was taken, the trembling stopped, and he began to gulp in great, ragged breaths. The way he looked at Tang Qi was now filled with terror.

Luo Xu questioned him again. “How many of you came this time? Why did you kill those other people? Were there any other instructions from Nalan Xue?”

“Three of us came. Because we didn’t know where you lived, we thought to just kill everyone nearby… The Crown Princess Consort ordered us to bring back your head without fail. The Crown Prince was also present when she gave the order,” the man whispered. “But the Crown Prince hinted that we should show mercy.”

The last shred of sentiment Luo Xu held for Zhao Chengfeng vanished. She found this so-called “mercy” utterly revolting. “Those two really are the utmost in viciousness, each one more ruthless than the other. My family… I mean, how is the Minister of Works’ household?”

“Minister Luo’s family is well. Luo Ping was supposed to be the Crown Prince’s Secondary Consort, but the Crown Princess Consort blocked it, so she never officially entered the Eastern Palace. I know the Crown Prince has had people secretly investigating the Prime Minister’s family for land seizure. I expect they will soon move against the Nalan family.” The black-clad man didn’t know much more.

“Nalan Xue… the thing she hates most is people stealing what belongs to her.” Luo Xu sneered. Nalan Xue had once looked down on the unfavored Zhao Chengfeng, but after marrying him, she would never allow another woman near him.

Luo Xu had nothing else to ask. Seeing this, the black-clad man pleaded, “I’ve told you everything I know. Give me a quick death!”

Tang Qi’s hand rose and fell like a blade. The man died in utter silence.

Night fell. Luo Xu tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She recalled Tang Qi’s words at dinner about seeking revenge. Though moved in her heart, she understood just how impossibly difficult this undertaking was.

She was nothing more than an exiled convict. And while Tang Qi’s martial arts were good, she was merely a hunter. Their opponents were the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess Consort. Be it power or anything else, the distance between both sides was too vast. If it were only herself, she might risk a desperate fight to the death. But there was Tang Qi.

Just moments ago, she had even considered leaving alone to pursue her revenge, but she cast the thought aside the very next moment. These two months on Barren Mountain had been the two happiest months of her entire life. She didn’t want to lose the one person who was good to her, much less did she want to leave Tang Qi.

She was even more afraid that if she left, Tang Qi would be heartbroken!

Revenge was the fuel that kept her alive. Now, a battle raged in her mind between the flame called revenge and the ocean called Tang Qi. And that ocean was growing, slowly but surely drowning out the fire.

She now believed more and more in Tang Qi’s talk of a past life. It truly felt like she had known Tang Qi for a very long time. Otherwise, Luo Xu couldn’t explain her willingness to give up her vengeance.

Seeing her still awake, Tang Qi asked with concern, “Is it the pain in your leg? Let me rub it for you.”

“No, it’s… yes, my leg is a bit uncomfortable today.” Luo Xu masked her true feelings. “You should sleep early. I’m fine.”

Tang Qi paid no heed to her refusal. She got up, moved the wooden chest aside, and held Luo Xu’s calf, gently kneading it for her.

It wasn’t simple massage. She channeled her Internal Energy into her palm, bit by bit using it to stimulate blood circulation and relieve Luo Xu’s pain. In that instant, all of Luo Xu’s attention focused on Tang Qi’s hands. She felt a warm sensation where she was being touched, and an indescribable tingling.

A tingling that reached deep into her heart.

As Tang Qi’s hands gradually moved upward to the thigh, Luo Xu’s body tensed instinctively. Her fingers tightened around the animal hide beneath her, and she fought to suppress any sound that might escape her throat.

A hint of anticipation bloomed in her heart.

If… if Tang Qi wanted to… then she wouldn’t refuse! If… if they established a real, physical relationship, then she would abandon revenge completely and live a good life.

After all, after her exile, she had no reputation left to speak of. To the outside world, she was as good as dead. There was no need to observe secular customs, no need for the Three Letters and Six Etiquettes of a proper betrothal.

No need for elaborate ceremony. A wedding night right here would be fine!

Luo Xu kept cheering herself on, searching for justifications.

She saw Tang Qi’s hand move higher and higher. Luo Xu closed her eyes, desperately trying to remember the whispered rumors she’d heard in the capital, pondering the intimacies between women. But in the next instant, Tang Qi switched to her other leg and resumed kneading from the ankle, earnestly admonishing her, “I’m afraid the cold wind got to you today. You must be more careful from now on.”

A sudden, crushing sense of utter defeat washed over Luo Xu. She kicked away Tang Qi’s hand, rolled over, and snapped, “Go to sleep!”

Tang Qi blinked, puzzled. “What’s wrong? Didn’t you say your leg was uncomfortable?”

“I am very comfortable. I’ve never been more comfortable in my life.” Luo Xu couldn’t understand it. Tang Qi was so good to her, had kissed her, held her. At the start, she had fretted over what to do if Tang Qi tried to force the issue.

But more than two months had passed, and still nothing had happened!

Now she had a new worry: did Tang Qi see her that way at all? Maybe she had completely misread the signals.

Tang Qi touched her nose and obediently lay down.

“Luoluo!” Seeing Luo Xu still couldn’t sleep, Tang Qi called out tentatively. Luo Xu, now bold as brass thanks to Tang Qi’s pampering, grumbled irritably, “What do you want?”

She yanked the animal hide from beneath her and threw it right in Tang Qi’s face, still unable to swallow her indignation, and feeling deeply wronged. She had mustered all her courage! She had been ready to give up on revenge!

At this thought, her heart hardened with resolve. She flipped over, grabbed the collar of Tang Qi’s clothes, and pulled the woman’s face right up to hers. She demanded angrily, “I’m asking you: what was our relationship in our past life?”

Tang Qi coughed lightly. “…Lovers!”

Luo Xu’s voice was rough and forceful. “Then, is the reason you treat me so well because you want to rekindle our romance?”

“…Yes!” Tang Qi had a distinct feeling that answering “no” would lead to something very bad. Luo Xu scrambled up. The snow outside had stopped, and moonlight reflecting off the white snow flooded the room with brightness.

Tang Qi could see Luo Xu’s expression clearly. It was a mix of fierce anger and deep grievance. “Then why haven’t you reacted at all?”

She tore open her inner garment, exposing her fair and delicate collarbone. Her face burned with heat, but she refused to back down stubbornly. “I’ve been waiting for you to make a move. Are you disgusted because you think I’m ugly?”

Her appearance had now pretty much recovered. She didn’t understand why Tang Qi was always so impassive. Saying this, she hammered Tang Qi’s shoulder with her fist. “If you didn’t have those intentions, you shouldn’t have come to tease me. And yet you…”

Tang Qi saw that Luo Xu was on the verge of tears and hurriedly sat up, pulling her into an embrace. She had always been afraid of the other woman crying, and that fear was even stronger now.

Truthfully, she still didn’t quite know what kind of feeling she had for Luoluo in this life. But a century’s worth of habits were a terrifying thing. She was always, intentionally or not, making intimate gestures.

But she also couldn’t explain herself. What could she say? ‘Sorry, force of habit!’

“How could I possibly be disgusted? I was worried about your health,” Tang Qi explained.

Luo Xu pressed relentlessly. “Then do you like me or not? If you don’t, just say so plainly. I won’t cling shamelessly.” Luo Xu swore this was the boldest moment of her entire life, grabbing a woman and demanding she take responsibility.

But then she thought, considering all the even more embarrassing things she’d already done, she couldn’t care less about what anyone else thought anymore!

Tang Qi looked into Luo Xu’s eyes. The expectation reflected there suddenly overlapped with the image of Luo Xue from her past life. Did she have regrets about her past life?

She must have. Countless times in the Main God Space, she had thought: if only she had deceived her back then, even just a little.

Tang Qi gritted her teeth. “I… I like you. The one I like the most is you.” There was truth in those words. After traversing ten thousand lifetimes, the person she liked most was still Luoluo.

Luo Xu felt as if a thunderclap had gone off beside her ear. Uncontrollably, she wanted to weep. Tang Qi’s single declaration of “I like you” seemed to fill every ounce of her discontent and restlessness. It felt like a sentence she had waited many years to finally hear, or like a precious treasure sought in the dark for an eternity, finally in her grasp.

In this moment, she wanted to have a real, physical relationship with Tang Qi. Not just to solidify her own resolve, but more because she truly wanted to possess this person.

“Then why have you…” Luo Xu couldn’t bring herself to finish the question. Tang Qi continued her explanation. “It’s about your body…” This era’s Luoluo was different from the last. This lifetime, she carried so much more pain and hatred. Tang Qi had always assumed that in this life, Luoluo cared about revenge far more than about her.

So she had planned to help her get revenge first and deal with feelings later. If in this life they could only be friends, she would have been content with that.

In the darkness, Luo Xu’s kiss landed on Tang Qi’s face. She whispered, “Are you willing to marry me, then?”

Tang Qi’s throat tightened. She swallowed hard, and when she spoke, her voice was hoarse. “I will.” She held Luo Xu as they lay down. The pure white moonlight seemed, in that moment, to drape a bridal veil over Luo Xu.

She untied Luo Xu’s clothes and kissed her with devout gentleness, murmuring, “Luoluo, meeting you in this lifetime… makes me very happy.”

…

The gasps and movements in the darkness gradually ceased. Luo Xu lay in Tang Qi’s arms, a profound peace settling in her heart. Suddenly, she spoke. “Little Seven… I don’t want revenge anymore.”

These two months of living with Tang Qi had already diluted her desire for vengeance. Before, she had just thought of surviving and waiting for an opportunity. Now, she wanted to build a good life with Tang Qi.

“I’ve been thinking, when spring comes and my leg is healed, I’ll go into town and buy a loom.” Luo Xu laid out her plans. “We’ll slowly save money, then move to town. Or, after a few years when the capital has forgotten about me, we’ll change our names and go to Jiangnan.”

As she spoke, a smile tinged with joy crept into her eyes. “When we’re old, let’s come back here, okay? I actually really love this place.”

Tang Qi was silent. She didn’t agree, nor did she say she wouldn’t. She vaguely guessed that Luo Xu was afraid of dragging her into danger. She simply kissed the other woman’s forehead and said, “Sleep now.”

The next morning, Tang Qi collected the bodies for the neighboring families. Not knowing their names, she built a single cenotaph for them all and bought a great deal of spirit money to burn for their souls.

In the days that followed, Tang Qi still went into town every few days, each time bringing back something different. Before spring arrived on Barren Mountain, when Luo Xu had been in exile for eight months, her leg was finally fully healed.

The spring here was still cold, but there were faint hints of warmth in the air, and traces of green grass began to appear on the ground. Tang Qi chose a day of fine weather and led Luo Xu up into the mountains.

Luo Xu had long wanted to walk the Barren Mountain, and with Tang Qi by her side, she felt no fear. “What exactly do you want to show me?”

Tang Qi pointed at a giant boulder ahead. “Guess.”

They reached the boulder. With a single shove of her palm, Tang Qi pushed aside a chunk of rock so large it would take several men to wrap their arms around it. Behind it was a cave entrance. She turned and smiled. “Take a look.” Luo Xu peered in curiously.

Sunlight streamed into the cave, and Luo Xu couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

Even the thick dust inside couldn’t hide the radiance spilling forth. This enormous cave was filled with countless gold and silver treasures, glittering with a faint golden light under the sun’s rays. The System placed its hands on its hips: This was the radiance of one thousand Points.

“This is the capital for your revenge,” Tang Qi said. “Luoluo, I won’t let you give up your revenge for my sake. What they owe you, you should take back.”

This was Tang Qi’s consistent principle!

“I want you to return to the capital openly and honorably!”