Chapter 301 The Empress

Qi Yuxuan simply closed her eyes, opened her mouth to breathe, and forced herself to think about other things to distract herself.

Think of the State of Qi, think of the Eldest Princess, think of the Crown Prince…

Suddenly, an unusually strong, sticky sensation in her throat instantly brought Qi Yuxuan back to her senses, and she felt a strange unease emanating from her entire body.

Wu Yu only told her not to swallow it, but didn't say what would happen if she did. Perhaps it's true that the more you can't do something, the more you want to do it. She felt her throat was so itchy it was maddening, but she tried her best to suppress her instinct to swallow, and she almost cried.

Qi Yuxuan's breathing was unsteady, her breaths coming in haltingly, and her eyelashes trembled violently.

Finally, the worm crawled onto her tongue, but after a short while, it stopped at the tip of her tongue and remained still.

Wu Yu was getting anxious: "Hey, crawl out already! Hurry up, or she'll eat you up!"

After being tense for so long, Qi Yuxuan suddenly felt relieved. Her breathing stopped trembling, and her heart almost stopped beating.

If dying here is her fate, then she accepts it.

She even began to think pessimistically that it would be better to die now than to be tormented by the unknown knife that might fall at any moment.

Wu Yu placed the mother Gu into a small porcelain bottle, patted the bottle with satisfaction, and praised, "That's a good one!"

Qi Yuxuan then opened her eyes.

It turned out that the Gu worm had crawled out of her mouth at some point.

Seeing Wu Yu place the small porcelain bottle into a pile of bottles and jars on the table, guessing that those containers all contained Gu worms, Qi Yuxuan crossed her arms and shivered.

She sat up from the bed, and after a moment, asked, "Sister Wuyu, those aren't ants, are they?"

Since Wu Yu was the junior priest of the Wu clan, she didn't want to miss such a golden opportunity to get information out of him. As for the topic, she would just have to talk about the Gu poison that he was interested in.

Wu Yu was still fiddling with something at the long table. Hearing her speak, he exclaimed "Huh?" and turned his head: "You haven't left yet?"

Qi Yuxuan stood up and nervously tugged at her sleeves.

Wu Yu raised an eyebrow and turned around: "Your memories haven't returned either?"

Seeing that the little girl didn't speak, Wu Yu changed his question: "How are you feeling right now? Does your head hurt? Is there any discomfort in your chest, stomach, arms, legs, or feet?"

Qi Yuxuan carefully examined it and shook her head.

She looked very well-behaved, but Wu Yu didn't react much.

"Oh, then it's not the influence of the mother-child gu. You go ahead, your brother Aze probably has something to tell you, and I'm busy for a while."

But being driven away like that, without being able to get any answers, left Qi Yuxuan feeling somewhat resentful.

"Sister Wuyu, may I take a look at these things?"

Wu Yu had already turned back to continue examining the contents of the bottles, only saying, "You can look, just don't touch anything."

Qi Yuxuan actually started reading at the two long tables in the small thatched shed.

Besides common vessels like jade vases, porcelain vases, and earthenware bottles, there were also glass bottles and crystal bottles here. Most of the things inside were dark and indistinct. As Qi Yuxuan looked at them, she actually became quite interested.

If I was just looking for topics to chat about before, now that I'm seeing all sorts of different kinds of insects, I'm genuinely curious.

"Sister Wuyu, what is this light-up thing?"

She pointed to a round, plump red crystal bottle inside and asked.

Wu Yu glanced at it briefly: "Hallucination Gu can make people fall into a hallucination and become unable to react to the outside world."

"I went through a lot of trouble to raise this one. You have a good eye; you spotted the most precious one at a glance."

Qi Yuxuan: "Sister Wuyu, do you deal with these insects all the time? Do you live here?"

Wu Yu: "Yes, but I don't live here. This is only a temporary place for me when I'm working for the Yue Kingdom's royal family. Who could stand living here normally?"

"You just woke up today, right? How was it? Was the Yue Kingdom Palace fun?"

Qi Yuxuan nodded, then shook her head: "I only woke up today. I don't know if this place is fun or not. The only people I know here are Brother Aze and now Sister Wuyu... I'm a little scared."

“But Brother Aze said that I can stay here forever.”

Wu Yu was taken aback by her words. She put down what she was holding, turned to face her, and asked seriously, "How old are you?"

Qi Yuxuan lied through her teeth: "Thirteen."

Wu Yu frowned. No wonder Xuan Yuanze wanted to help her regain her memories as soon as possible. You can't have a romantic relationship with a thirteen-year-old girl.

"Tsk, little sister, you're not thirteen, you're almost sixteen. But, for some special reasons, you've lost the memories of the last two or three years, so it's normal for you to feel scared and uneasy."

"What you need to do next is eat and drink well every day, ignore what your brother Aze says, rest well and take good care of your body so that you can recover your memory as soon as possible and become a normal, happy child, understand?"

Wu Yu felt that she had used up almost all of her patience in this moment, and had a strong feeling of being a caring older sister.

The little girl in front of him nodded as if she understood, "I understand, but Sister Wuyu, can't I really go back to Qi?"

The State of Qi?

Wu Yu seemed to have discovered some secret, and his expression became unnatural for a moment: "Are you from the State of Qi?"

The states of Qi and Yue are at war, yet Xuan Yuanze is so eager to restore her memories. Isn't he afraid that this girl will remember the hatred and grudges between the country and her family and refuse to stay in Yue?

"Oh, let's talk about the future later. If you're unhappy being around Xuan Yuanze, come find me and I'll talk to you."

After Wu Yu finished speaking, he lost interest in continuing to tinker with the Gu worms. He stood up and personally led the little girl forward, saying, "Let's go, I'll take you there."

Qi-Yue border.

Duan Wei, Xiahou Zhong, Xiahou Yin, and the others fell silent as they looked at the arrogant letter on the table.

The two armies fought for a month, and there were no fewer than ten large and small clashes. The Yue Kingdom's tribute was unusually fierce. Although Princess Chang Le had warned them about the areas, they were still unable to defend against it. They were clearly on the defensive, but they fought with exceptional difficulty and suffered heavier and heavier losses each time.

On this very day, the Yue people shot a letter with a long arrow, which landed squarely on the military flag fluttering atop the city gate.

This letter contained no flowery language; it conveyed only one meaning.

The Yue Kingdom wishes to marry Princess Chang Le, the daughter of the Qi Kingdom's eldest princess, in exchange for the position of empress, thus forging a lasting alliance between the two nations. From then on, the people would exchange goods and services, trade would be unrestricted, taxes would be reduced, and the two countries would live in harmony, with no further conflict.

Ever since Princess Chang Le was kidnapped and disappeared at the border, the Crown Prince has lost his former composure and gentleness. He is like a bowstring stretched to the brink of breaking, and the military orders sent to the border have become more and more impulsive and reckless. If it weren't for Duan Wei and Xiahou Zhong's strong remonstrances, the Crown Prince would have almost personally led an expedition to attack the Yue Kingdom.

It's obvious to anyone with eyes that Princess Chang Le's disappearance is definitely related to the Yue Kingdom.

But what does this letter mean now?