Chapter 8: Mistakes of a Past Life Part 2

He had fled on horseback that day, but he had not gone far. He had tracked every scrap of news about Qi Yunchu, relayed her orders to the armies in the north as she intended, and then infiltrated Qingzhou City alone.

Their army had bred a special Tracking Eagle, and it was that bird that had finally pinpointed Qi Yunchu’s exact location.

The greatest problem now was that he held no token to leave the city.

Qingzhou City’s defenses were ironclad, especially at the gates. Getting in had taken every ounce of cunning and luck he possessed. Getting out, with Qi Yunchu in tow, was a risk he could not afford.

And besides…

A flicker of savagery crossed his eyes.

The General was still gravely wounded. How could he dare let anything touch her, not even a hair?

He needed a token. And until now, the only person he could turn to was this Eldest Young Master of the Qin Family.

If he has any conscience left at all…

Qi Qingyun stared hard at the man before him, his hand tightening on his sword hilt, his expression cold and stormy.

Qin Youyuan was no fool. One look at the other’s face told him that refusal meant only one ending: death.

With a bitter smile in his heart, he produced the city token.

“Please tell General Qi… my Qin Family has wronged her. If you could just…”

“There’s no need. She wouldn’t accept it.” Qi Qingyun cut him off, gripping the token, his lips curving into a thin, ice-cold, mocking smile.

“If the General weren’t still in there, I would have killed you the first moment I laid eyes on you.” His eyes were full of disgust.

Then, without sparing another glance at that stricken face, he turned, channeled his Qinggong, and raced off in the direction the eagle indicated.

General…

His pupils, frozen solid for days, finally began to thaw, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

Qin Youning did indeed have business today. She had to go trade words with the people of Jiangnan.

So after accompanying Qi Yunchu through breakfast, no matter how reluctant she was to part, she had no choice but to leave in haste.

They had plenty of time ahead of them, didn’t they?

So she told herself, and the gentle expression she wore before Qi Yunchu froze over completely the instant she stepped out of the room.

The Shadow Guards she left behind would watch over the Little Phoenix she had gone to such lengths to capture.

Qi Yunchu lowered her gaze, raised her teacup, and took a slow sip, listening to the sound of blades piercing flesh outside her door, watching as the room’s door swung open.

Ripples broke across her normally placid eyes. The corner of her lips curved into an unreadable smile.

An Invisibility Talisman.

The System really does come standard.

Xin Ruocai.

【How is there a System here?!】The System, which had been quietly enjoying the show all this time, shrieked in her mind.

【You were there while I was sleeping with Qin Youning?】Qi Yunchu didn’t answer. She asked a question of her own.

【No way! We Systems have standards, all right? I watched a whole night of censored blur!】

【Oh. So you only heard it, then?】

【…Muted!】

Qi Yunchu raised a brow, satisfied.

“General!” Qi Qingyun hurried forward and studied her face carefully. His gaze swept downward, and at the base of her fair, slender neck he found several red marks.

His face changed drastically, and killing intent leaked out.

Qi Yunchu glanced at him, and following his gaze downward, confirmed that yes, a bite mark was peeking out from her collar.

Honestly, given how thoroughly she had worn Qin Youning out last night, and how the woman hadn’t dared resist for fear of her wounds, that mark was probably one of the very few signs Qin Youning had dared to leave on her.

She thought of the bruises covering Qin Youning’s body from head to toe, and her eyes narrowed slightly, but she did nothing to correct her subordinate’s misunderstanding.

“Let’s go.”

Qi Yunchu rose, smoothed her sleeves, and said it flatly.

Qi Qingyun pressed his lips into a tight line, not daring to say another word, only engraving this humiliation deep into his memory. If the chance ever came, he would repay it a hundredfold!

“Forgive me.” He stepped forward and murmured.

Then he bent down, lifted Qi Yunchu into his arms at the waist, dashed out at speed, and slipped out through the manor’s rear gate using his Qinggong.

A carriage was already waiting there, one he had prepared in advance.

In a deserted alley, he carried her inside.

“Does the General trust me?” He paused, and asked the question with complete seriousness.

Qi Yunchu studied him for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

“If I can’t trust you, who else is there?” she said lightly, her eyes soft as water.

It melted Qi Qingyun’s heart into a puddle. A lone wanderer struggling through a dried-up, desolate desert, only to stumble upon the one tenderness of his lifetime.

What fortune could rival that?

He hesitated no longer. Drawing a Talisman out of thin air, he handed it to Qi Yunchu.

She raised a brow and took it. The instant her fingers closed around it, the alluring woman in the red dress shifted into someone plain and unremarkable, no longer drawing the eye at all.

As for himself, he drew out the Sachet he had kept hidden against his chest, pulled a talisman from within, and tore it to pieces.

His appearance transformed in the span of a breath.

Except…

A man turning into a woman?

To most people, that would be astonishing.

Qi Yunchu smiled with amusement as she studied that face she knew so intimately, and marveled inwardly.

Wasn’t this her Imperial Consort Xin? The one who ruled the entire harem in her favor?

In truth, this was her trusted aide from her previous life. She had held up Xin Ruocai as a shield to shut the mouths of those old foxes who spent all day pressing her to expand her harem, which was really just their scheme to smuggle people into her bed.

But in reality, she had never once touched the body of that legendary beauty, the Imperial Consort Xin who had nearly charmed her away from the business of ruling.

A subordinate who was devoted and indifferent to reputation was a good thing.

She was hardly some beast in heat, determined to force her subordinates into some sordid workplace romance.

【XIN RUOCAI!!!】The System’s voice screamed in her skull, shrill enough to make her brow twitch downward.

Qi Yunchu invoked her Divine Sense and muted the System once more.

【Say one more word, and start preparing for deletion.】she said flatly in her mind.

The System: QAQ Monster!

An absolute monster who abuses systems!

Qi Qingyun had no time to explain anything further. She hurried to the driver’s seat, wanting to be out of the city before midday.

Carrying the token obtained from Qin Youyuan, and disguised as a servant of the Qin Family, she passed through the gates without a hitch.

But on the way out of the city, they crossed paths with Qin Youning’s carriage.

Talk had gotten them nowhere. Qin Youning had just left the Governor’s Manor and was on her way back to her own residence. Along the route, she passed a pastry shop, an old establishment with a long reputation, and decided to buy some for Qi Yunchu to try.

At the mere thought of that person, the look in her eyes softened for an instant.

But when she climbed back into her carriage and set off for the manor, another carriage swept past close enough to brush her own.

A breeze stirred, lifting the curtain of that passing carriage just slightly.

And by pure chance, her eyes met those of an unfamiliar young woman seated inside.

The features were delicate and lovely, entirely a stranger to her.

Only those eyes. Those eyes were familiar beyond all reason. One single glance was enough to set her heart pounding.

Panic surged up from nowhere.

She frowned faintly, but by the time she looked again, that carriage was already speeding toward the city gate.

Qin Youning deliberated for a moment, then finally called a halt.

“What are your orders, Female Lord?”

Someone outside asked.

“Find out who was in that carriage just now.” The cold voice drifted out from within. The men outside squinted at the carriage, which was already nearly at the city gate. Not daring to delay a single moment, they hurried to obey.

But they were one step too late. By the time they reached the gate, the carriage had already passed through.

“Who was in that carriage?” One of the guards demanded of the Military Officer manning the gate.

“Two women. Said they were servants of the Qin Family, out on an errand. Why, what’s wrong?” The officer recognized them as guards from Qin Youning’s side.

Servants of the Qin Family?

Impossible!

The guard’s face changed. He sent two men chasing after the carriage and sprinted back to report at once.

“Qin Family servants?” Qin Youning slammed her palm against the table, her eyes terrifyingly cold.

“Send men after them, now!”

“…Turn around. Back to the manor, immediately!” She nearly ground the words out through her teeth.

The pastries in her hand were crushed to powder.

Crash!

The tea set on the table inside the carriage swept to the floor in ruins. She clutched the table’s edge until her knuckles whitened, murmuring that person’s name, a shadow of darkness passing through her eyes.

“Qi. Yun. Chu.”

The manor had naturally descended into chaos. Qin Youyuan sat waiting in the main hall. None of the servants dared touch him; they could only wait in helpless, mounting anxiety for Qin Youning’s return.

One look was all she needed to understand what had happened.

The color she had been forcing onto her face drained away instantly. She surged forward and seized the front of Qin Youyuan’s robe, demanding through gritted teeth, “Where is Qi Yunchu?”

That voice, normally so cool and composed, was now hoarse and dark, thick with barely leashed violence and rage.

“She should be out of the city by now.” Qin Youyuan, by contrast, regarded her calmly, watching the edge of madness creeping over her, a flicker of pity crossing his eyes.

“She is mine!” Qin Youning’s hands trembled, her fingertips white from clenching.

Every shred of dignity abandoned, she wanted to lash out, to release the pain that felt like knives carving through her chest. But in the end, when she met the disapproval and reproach in Qin Youyuan’s eyes, all that was left was a weak, bloodless pallor.

Plop!

A tear fell, striking the floor with a crisp, splintering sound.

The woman in the blue-green dress bowed her head and raised one hand to cover her eyes, her expression caught somewhere between laughter and weeping, unhinged past all recognition.

Broken laughter mingled with the patter of falling tears, striking again and again, each drop landing squarely on the heart.

Qin Youyuan’s own eyes stung. He didn’t know what to say.

He opened his mouth, but the moment his gaze met his sister’s face, twisted with agony beyond bearing, the words died in his throat.

“She is mine!”

Qin Youning screamed with everything left in her, sweeping every object off the table and shattering them.

Strands of hair hung loose across her forehead. Her eye sockets had gone red, bloodshot threads creeping across her vision, and that once-beautiful face now looked terrifying beyond words.

Then, abruptly, she began to laugh, laughing until the tears poured down without end.

The marks on her body had not yet faded. The afterglow of one night’s indulgence still lingered in her memory.

That tender voice seemed to whisper still at her ear.

Fake.

All of it was fake…

A blurred, distant sound reached her ears. It was Qin Youyuan, calling her name in mounting panic.

She lowered her gaze and stared, dazed.

So that was it. Her legs had given out beneath her, and she had fallen to the floor.

The pain of the body. How could it measure even one ten-thousandth of the pain in her heart?

Plop!

Another tear struck the floor, blooming into a tiny, broken flower.