Chapter 348 Rescue

Two days passed quickly.

This was the day Qi Yuxuan was to depart for the capital.

The reason I lingered in Kunming for so long was that I wanted to repair the carriage before setting off safely.

Last night, several maids checked the carriage several times to make sure there were no problems before loading all the dowry chests onto the carriage in preparation for departure.

Meanwhile, good news kept pouring in from the military camp. In five days, they won three battles in a row. The Yue Kingdom had begun to withdraw its troops, and news was also secretly coming from the Yue capital. It seemed that peace talks would begin soon.

Therefore, today, all matters concerning the border are temporarily entrusted to Generals Xiahou Zhong and Zhou Qing. The Crown Prince personally scooped up a handful of ashes from Tianque Valley and placed them in Duan Wei's clothes, and Xiao Jue, whose injuries had almost healed, escorted the coffin back to the capital.

For some reason, Qi Yuxuan felt uneasy as soon as she sat in the carriage.

This journey should have been smoother and easier than her trip to the Northwest, so why did she always feel anxious and flustered?

She lifted the curtain and looked out of the carriage.

Qi Jun was whispering instructions to Xiao Jue, his expression somewhat serious.

Qi Jun said he would have to stay in Kunming for two more days. Once things were settled here, he would catch up with her carriage and return to the capital with her.

The procession carrying the coffin back to the capital and the procession carrying Princess Chang Le back to the capital did not travel together. The former was carrying clothing and earth, which needed to arrive in the capital along with the battle reports. If Princess Chang Le were to travel to the capital at this pace, she would probably fall ill after only a few days.

People accustomed to riding on horseback don't notice it, but for those sitting in a carriage, no matter how comfortable and stable the carriage is, the feeling of being shaken and swayed by everything inside is unpleasant.

So the Crown Prince said that even if it was a little slow, as long as the princess was safely sent back to the capital, that would be fine. As for Xiao Jue, what did it matter if he, a dignified eight-foot man, was injured while traveling?

And that's how the matter was settled.

Out of respect, Qi Yuxuan let Xiao Jue and his group leave first.

The carriage curtain remained open. Qi Jun walked over, reached into the carriage window, and ruffled Qi Yuxuan's hair, which was free of any jewelry: "What's wrong? Aren't you happy that we're going back to the capital?"

Qi Yuxuan shook her head and then quietly rubbed her hand against his palm: "I'm not unhappy, I just don't know why, but I'm a little scared."

Surrounded by attendants and soldiers, Qi Jun didn't linger on the little girl's fluffy hair. He quickly withdrew his hand, lowered his voice, and said gently:

"What are you afraid of? I'll set off in a couple of days, and I should be able to catch up with you in three to five days. Don't overthink it."

"After I get back, I will personally visit my aunt..."

Qi Yuxuan knew perfectly well what it meant to pay a personal visit. Her ears immediately turned red, and she loosened her grip, quickly pulling the curtain down to separate the two of them.

Then, a muffled voice came from inside the carriage: "Cousin, you should go and attend to official business. I have to leave."

It was clear the girl was angry. Qi Jun stood there, smiling and shaking his head.

Princess Chang Le's carriage was spacious, and the wedding procession traveled almost the same way they came and went, always taking the smooth official road.

Therefore, the journey required passing through more than fifty counties before reaching the capital.

The team was led by ten members of the Qilin Guard, the leader of whom was the young man from the Wei family who had been guarding the entrance to Qi Jun's temporary residence that night. His name was Xin Xihe, and he seemed quite clever.

Midway through the journey, Qi Yuxuan wanted to dismount and ride a horse, so he took the opportunity to report back on the places they would pass through along the way, the name of the next stop, whether they would stop to resupply, and what good food and fun things there were in the city.

After traveling for five days, the Crown Prince finally caught up with them at sunset on this day.

Meanwhile, in the mountains a hundred miles away.

A girl dressed in sloppy clothes, her body so dirty that her original color was unrecognizable, was crouching in the bushes. She gently brushed aside the leaf hair tie that was disguised on her head and glanced furtively at the towering cliff in front of her.

Ten days have passed, why hasn't anyone fallen down yet? That shouldn't be the case. She remembered that on the tenth day after the male and female protagonists arrived in Kuncheng, they set off to return to the capital, and their horse was startled and fell off the cliff.

Even though there were many trees growing on the cliff to cushion the fall, the male protagonist was injured when he fell from such a height, and the female protagonist also lost a part of her memory, which she did not recover until much later.

It's almost dark, and there's still no sign of anything.

As night fell in the mountain valley, it grew increasingly cold, and the occasional calls of unknown animals could be heard. Wei Qingqing rubbed her arms and continued to squat down, patiently waiting.

She finally escaped the group that was escorting her to be a government slave, so she must seize this opportunity!

If it weren't for her will to survive taking over, how could she have stayed here for a whole day?

Wei Qingqing hunched over, squatting for so long that her legs felt numb and didn't even belong to her anymore.

Just as I was about to straighten up and stomp my feet to relieve the pain, suddenly, a heavy thud came from the cliff!

It's here!

Ignoring her legs, which felt numb as if they were being electrocuted, she rushed over in a panic, wanting to save the male lead!

We've made it big!

Once she becomes the Crown Prince's savior, wouldn't she have everything she could want—gold, silver, jewels, fame, and fortune?!

She might even be granted the title of Princess someday. She'd decided that her fiefdom would be Qinghe County, which was even more prosperous than Changle County...

However, when she saw the man lying on his back on the ground, his chest barely rising and falling, his life hanging in the balance, Wei Qingqing stopped in her tracks.

He is indeed a handsome man, but why isn't he the crown prince?

She had secretly met the male lead ten days ago; the man in front of her was definitely not the crown prince.

Wei Qingqing stood there, hesitant about whether to rescue the person.

Should she save them? What if, in just a short while, the male and female leads were rescued by the villagers in the original plot? But if she didn't save them, she felt a pang of guilt that this perfectly healthy person would lose the right to live because of her.

She looked up at the sky; it was dusk, and the sunset had already turned the sky a dark red, so she estimated that the sun would set in about ten minutes.

The original story states that the villagers only saw the male and female protagonists, who had fallen and were injured and unconscious, when they came out to look for their children at night. So, if she had rescued the man as soon as possible and then returned to squat down, wouldn't it have been possible to save the male and female protagonists?

Besides... even if we take a step back, the clothes this man is wearing are not the cotton cloth worn by ordinary people, but the finest silk, so he must be either rich or noble!

Even if she fails to save the male and female leads in the end, she can still squeeze a hefty sum out of him!

While pondering, Wei Qingqing made up her mind, stepped forward, patted the man's face, and said loudly, "Wake up, wake up?"

"Are you dead? Can you hear me?"

"I can save you, but only if you repay me after you wake up, understand?!"

"The person who saved you is named Wei Qingqing, you must never forget her!"