Chapter 69 Ningning, give up on me. ...

Chapter 69

Shen Suining and He Hansheng lay in the hanging coffin on the cliff and talked all night long. Such a life experience is not something everyone can have.

She felt strange; her mind was somewhat excited, yet her body and mind were being consumed by immense fatigue.

Logically speaking, being hung so high up, even the most carefree person would find it hard to fall asleep, let alone Shen Suining, who has always had a poor sleep. However, fearing that her body might not be able to handle the situation afterward, she forced herself to take a short nap.

He Hansheng was the one who didn't sleep all night. He forced his heavy eyelids open, not daring to close his eyes even for a moment, afraid that once he closed them, he would never have the strength to open them again.

He thought he should at least stay with her until dawn, and after the sun came up, he could take another good look at her.

He Hansheng lay flat in the coffin, looking at the moon and stars in the night sky through the cracks.

He reflected on his past life, which, while not entirely smooth sailing, had been extremely fortunate.

When he was born, the country was at peace. Although his parents were not particularly loving, they were harmonious. From a young age, he lived a life of luxury that ordinary people could hardly imagine.

When he was young, his parents rarely saw each other. His father was away fighting wars all year round. Whenever he saw him, it was the beginning of He Hansheng's nightmare. His father was an impatient man. Although he had not received much education, he attached great importance to his education and was very strict with him in every aspect. Whenever he was dissatisfied with him, he would be beaten with military rods.

His mother, who was always gentle in front of outsiders, would not help him at this time. Her strictness in disciplining her son was even greater than that of his father. Under the double pressure of his parents, He Hansheng spent his not-so-happy childhood.

As a teenager, He Han was proud and arrogant. He inherited his father's martial arts skills and his mother's intelligence. After developing his own ideas, he began to resist his parents' authority. At that time, he had already been involved in court affairs. The father and son often disagreed and would argue whenever they met.

Perhaps it was because he was middle-aged that He Hansheng sometimes felt that his father's temperament had become much gentler. However, his father was not good with words, and He Hansheng was not one to speak softly either. Every time the two of them argued until they were red in the face, they would not speak to each other for days. If his father went to war, they would not even have any contact for more than half a year.

At the age of nineteen, He Hansheng lost his father. The military power of the city defense army, which had always been the envy of others, was taken back, and the once prosperous Yong'an Marquis's mansion gradually declined. His mother, who had just lost her husband, endured her grief and held up the broken family. It was in that year that He Hansheng knelt before the emperor. The proud man was willing to become a sharp sword in the emperor's hand, doing the things that his father had looked down on and disdained.

That same year, he went south to investigate Princess Biyue's case, where he met Shen Suining. Three years later, she became his wife and the person he would spend his life with.

For He Hansheng, this was probably the greatest blessing in his life.

A faint light appeared on the horizon, and the sun gradually broke through the clouds.

Shen Suining opened her eyes and found that He Hansheng had been watching her the whole time.

She rubbed her eyes somewhat embarrassedly and coughed, saying, "It's getting light; we need to figure out how to get down."

He Hansheng remained silent and motionless. He watched as she slowly sat up, cautiously poked her head out, and immediately exclaimed in surprise, "My God! This damn place must be hundreds of feet above the ground! If we accidentally fall, we'll be smashed to pieces!"

Upon hearing this, He Hansheng closed his eyes and softly called her name: "Ningning..."

"He Hansheng, lie down and don't move around." Shen Suining deftly untied a life-saving belt from her waist. Although it was made in the shape of a belt, it had a thin iron rope wrapped inside, and the other end of the rope was an extremely sharp rivet that could be driven into the rock.

She took out the survival rope from her belt, untied it, and said with a hint of pride, "The things made by Linrong Pavilion really can help us get through this desperate situation. When we return to Shishan Manor next time, I'm going to have a good drink with Shen Yunwei!"

He Hansheng opened his mouth and called her "Ningning" again.

"Wait for me to find a suitable spot to tie the ropes tight." Before he could speak, Shen Suining crawled out of the coffin and squatted on the wooden stake where the coffin was placed.

After she crouched down, He Hansheng couldn't see her, only hear her faint voice. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists without making a sound. When she finally came in after tying the ropes, he spoke again, his tone somewhat harsh, "Ningning, give up on me."

Shen Suining froze for a moment before managing a weak smile. "What are you talking about? I'm not that kind of heartless person."

"Ningning!" He Hansheng called out in a low voice. He had lost a lot of blood and was almost at his limit. "I can't walk anymore. Taking me with me is just a burden. You... you can still survive if you walk alone."

He was slightly taken aback when he saw that Shen Suining's eyes were red, but his attitude softened immediately. "Don't cry."

"I didn't!" Shen Suining quickly wiped her eyes. She seemed to have a lot of anger that she couldn't vent. She raised her hand and punched the coffin lid. With all her might, she opened the coffin lid completely and pushed it off the cliff.

A moment later, the sound of the coffin lid hitting the ground, neither too loud nor too soft, was enough to give an idea of ​​how high they were standing.

“I knew it all along, He Hansheng,” Shen Suining said in a hoarse voice, trying her best to control her emotions. “The smell of blood on you was so strong that I guessed it right away, which is why I kept talking to you.”

He Hansheng was slow to react, and only then did he realize what was happening, letting out a soft laugh.

No wonder she suddenly asked him that question. Under normal circumstances, given her personality, she would never have been curious about what kind of wife he originally envisioned marrying, nor would she have brought up the past with him for no reason.

After a moment of silence, Shen Suining asked him, "The arrow was poisoned, wasn't it?"

“Hmm,” He Hansheng closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “It was just a minor injury, but the poison made the wound bleed profusely, and the antidote you fed me is no longer effective.”

“That’s medicine to counteract the effects of sleeping pills, not poison.” Shen Suining said, then pulled out her long whip from her sleeve. She pulled He Hansheng out of the coffin and was about to tie him to her back.

He Hansheng stopped her, and said bitterly, "Ningning, this is a cliff. Even if you take me with you, you won't be able to leave."

Shen Suining ignored his words and quickly sealed his acupoints, rendering him unable to move.

She pulled out the short dagger stuck in the coffin, cut a few strips of cloth from her own clothes, and quickly and simply treated He Hansheng's wounds.

Shen Suining usually carries a lot of medicine with her, but this time she didn't know if it was taken away before she was put into the coffin or if it was dropped in the Seven Palaces Formation. She searched her body for a long time but couldn't find any wound medicine, only a few refreshing pills.

She put one in her mouth, then gave another to He Hansheng. After that, she carried He Hansheng on her back and tied a long whip tightly around her waist.

“He Hansheng, I can’t abandon you,” she said, gripping the iron chain that had already been tied, making a slipknot around her waist, and enunciating each word clearly: “If we can’t leave, then I’ll die with you.”

Unable to move, He Hansheng could only helplessly lie on her back, feeling her slender figure trembling as she carried him.

He glanced at the bottom of the cliff, which was about a hundred feet deep. Given Shen Suining's current physical condition, she might not be able to reach the bottom by herself.

“Ningning…”

"Shut up!" Shen Suining roared.

She has now stepped out of the coffin with He Hansheng on her back and is standing on the wooden stake.

The wooden stake was originally used to secure the coffin, so it was deeply embedded in the crevice of the cliff, making it very stable. Shen Suining firmly tied the other end of the iron chain to the wooden stake and then drilled the rivets into the rock.

The iron chain is not easy to break, but it is just a single wooden stake. I wonder if it can support the weight of two people.

Shen Suining took a deep breath, adjusted He Hansheng's position to secure him around her waist, wrapped her hands tightly around the iron chain, and placed her feet on the cliff face, half-hanging on the precipice.

This action is extremely demanding on a person's endurance. Normally, it is already very strenuous for a single person to hang in mid-air, let alone Shen Suining carrying He Hansheng on her back.

But she gritted her teeth and kept quiet, moving down step by step.

Blood was drawn from the iron chains binding her palms. After only a few steps, Shen Suining's hands were already a bloody mess.

He Hansheng saw this and felt extremely pained. He closed his eyes and said in a trembling voice, "Ningning, why are you doing this to yourself?"

Shen Suining was hanging up there with all her strength, so she couldn't utter a single word and naturally ignored what he said.

Fortunately, there were other coffins hanging on the cliff face. Although there weren't many, they were enough for Shen Suining to stop and catch her breath. She didn't dare to rest for too long, partly because she didn't want to disturb the deceased, and partly because she was afraid that if she stopped, she wouldn't have the strength to continue.

Shen Suining was soaked to the bone, and every step was extremely difficult.

At this moment, she suddenly felt grateful for her parents' strictness and ruthlessness when they taught her martial arts; otherwise, she would not have had the perseverance to support herself.

The iron chain wasn't long enough, but fortunately, many vines grew at the bottom of the cliff. Shen Suining used the vines to climb down, but when she was almost at the bottom, she was exhausted and almost fell.

She knelt on the ground, panting heavily. The blood on her hands stained the soil. She quickly untied the long whip from her waist. She felt as if she had lost all feeling in her body, as if she had been cut in half at the waist.

After a long pause, Shen Suining laughed out loud, "See, He Hansheng, I did it."

He Hansheng gave a muffled "hmm," struggling to open his eyes to look at her and say something, but he had lost too much blood. He had been suffering physically and mentally while hanging on the cliff, and now that he had finally breathed a sigh of relief, he had no strength left to maintain his consciousness. As soon as he opened his mouth, his head lolled to the side and he fainted.

"He Hansheng!" Shen Suining was immediately terrified, feeling as if the blood in her body was flowing backward, and immense grief almost swallowed her whole.

After a long pause, she finally reached out her blood-soaked hands, trembling, to check his breathing.

Though weak, he was still alive.

Shen Suining finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the numbness in her body was relieved for a moment.

With no medicine available and no strength to search for herbs in the canyon, she cut her wrist with a short dagger, took a mouthful of warm blood, and fed it to him.