Chapter 32: Not Being a Sister-in-Law - Yin Ru's Disinterest in Men

Jin Suiqing hung upside down from a crooked tree, swaying back and forth under the pull of the spring behind her.

The world spun around her, and she felt like she was going to throw up.

Even so, Jin Suiqing still gripped the reins tightly, afraid that the unconscious Yin Rushi would fall.

Jin Suiqing's arm hurt terribly, but she gritted her teeth and cried out, "Sister Yin... please don't... don't fall..."

If Yin Ru were to fall to her death, her own life would be in danger as well.

Fortunately, as the shaking gradually stopped, Jin Suiqing saw that Yin Rushi was only half a person's height off the ground. She broke free of the reins wrapped around her arm and threw Yin Rushi onto the ground covered with fallen leaves.

Before the system could issue a warning, Jin Suiqing said, "Don't beep, she's not dead, she just fainted."

The system paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought.

Shortly afterward, it stopped sounding the alarm.

Jin Suiqing breathed a sigh of relief. She rubbed her back and pressed her waist lightly, and heard a slight sound from the buckle on her waist as she fell to the ground from the tree.

After rolling twice, Jin Suiqing lay on his back on the ground, squinting at the zipline hanging from the tree branch.

Since the incident at Zuixianlou, Jin Suiqing has been afraid of falling from a height again. He dismantled Gong Dagou's wrist zipline launcher, studied it for a long time, and invented a plus version of the zipline launcher that could save lives in emergencies.

She usually carries the transmitter around her waist for emergencies, and thankfully, she used this life-saving device today.

Jin Suiqing looked up and saw that the spring connecting the waist straps and ropes, which was meant to relieve the impact, was severely deformed because it could not support the weight of the two people. It was almost impossible to recycle it, so she could only go back and make another one by hand.

Jin Suiqing closed her eyes and rested for a while before slowly sitting up, trying to clear her mind and sort out the current situation.

The trip to Shuangji Mountain was never simple from beginning to end.

The Empress orchestrated two events, ostensibly for social interaction but actually for matchmaking, hoping to use them to bring Jin Shiyu and Yin Ru together. Coincidentally, Crown Prince Huangfu Li disagreed with the Empress and opposed the relationship between Jin Shiyu and Yin Ru.

This is the key information that Jin Suiqing deduced on the night of the Red Thread Festival.

This also leads to the conclusion that, for reasons unknown, Huangfu Li did not want Jin Shiyu to inherit the Jin family business.

Once the interests are clearly defined, things become much simpler.

The assassins were targeting Yin Rushi. Huangfu Li wanted to use Yin Rushi's death to add two more bad reputations to Jin Shiyu and cut off all of Jin Shiyu's ways of improving his status through marriage.

Following this line of reasoning, Jin Suiqing is just cannon fodder who has been caught up in a conspiracy.

Jin Suiqing thought for a moment, glanced at the unconscious Yin Rushi beside him, shook his head, and rejected the idea.

From today onwards, I will take the initiative to approach her, exchange horses with her, and then naturally stay to teach her how to ride, until we even ride together on the same horse...

It was probably all done by Yin Rushi on purpose.

Yin Rushi had long been aware of the Crown Prince's hostility and took the initiative to get closer to her, the young princess. Whenever Huangfu Li took any action, Princess Jin Suiqing, the Crown Prince's rumored beloved younger sister, could be her "hostage" at any time.

Thinking of this, Jin Suiqing fell silent.

She grabbed the reins that had been tossed aside and examined the broken end. A reins that could support two people falling from the mountaintop to the cliff shouldn't have broken for no reason.

As expected, half of the broken end of the reins was clean, indicating that it had been cut intentionally.

It's likely that Yin Rushi had already guessed that the horse was unusual, and offered to exchange horses with Jin Suiqing under the pretext that the horse had bitten someone. When she was attacked earlier, she chose to take Jin Suiqing with her to escape first, also to ensure that Huangfu Li would be more cautious with her as a hostage, thus causing the assassins to stop their pursuit.

She just didn't expect that Huangfu Li was a beast, constantly talking about his sister and never caring about Jin Suiqing's life or death.

This explains Yin Ru's cryptic apology before she fell off the cliff.

Having figured it out, Jin Suiqing felt even more frustrated. She had been calling her "sister" this and "sister" that for so long, but she hadn't really gotten to the heart of the matter.

Jin Suiqing sighed, leaned against a tree and slowly stood up. A dull pain shot through her ankle and shoulder, and she cried out twice before collapsing to the ground with a thud.

She was injured.

Jin Suiqing's initial examination revealed that the shoulder was fine; it was likely just a muscle strain.

Her ankle was swollen considerably, indicating a serious problem. Her ankle had dislocated when she fell from the horse, having borne the weight of two people.

Jin Suiqing pondered for a moment, then quickly made a decision. He picked up a tree branch, bit it into his mouth, and forcefully pushed his dislocated ankle back into place!

"Ugh!" Instantly, Jin Suiqing was covered in sweat, and tears streamed down her face. She comforted herself, "Endure...endure it, a short pain is worse than a long one."

The chances of Jin Shiyu coming to rescue her are extremely slim. Huangfu Li is cautious and will definitely send someone to the bottom of the cliff to check. At that time, their lives will probably be out of their hands.

Jin Suiqing tore down the rope hanging from the tree, tied it to a wooden stick to make a simple brace, secured her ankle, and got up to take a few steps.

Although it still hurts, at least it's bearable.

As he left, Jin Suiqing thought for the first time ever, "If only Jin Shiyu were here."

If my older brother is around, I can beg him to carry me.

Jin Suiqing slapped her cheeks hard: "Wake up, what kind of daydream are you having, Jin Suiqing?"

"No one should dream of Kim Shi-ok!" Kim Sui-seong strode confidently for two steps, then bent over, clutching his ankle and groaning in pain, "Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts, it hurts..."

As she cried out, tears welled up in her eyes again.

Jin Suiqing pouted, "It hurts...it hurts so much."

Jin Suiqing's tears flowed even more profusely. Thinking that there was no one to watch over her in the desolate wilderness, Jin Suiqing was about to let out a few howls when she was frightened back by the faint wolf howls coming from afar.

There are wolves in the mountains!

She scrambled to her feet, then darted into the bushes. A moment later, Jin Suiqing returned, cursing "Damn system."

Jin Suiqing struggled to support Yin Rushi, and they limped away.

*

After searching for a long time, Jin Suiqing found a cave hidden in the forest. The location was not low and it was some distance from the water source.

Before entering the cave, Jin Suiqing lit a torch with the sulfur-based gold left over from the launcher and threw it into the cave. The torch rolled twice and landed at the deepest part of the cave, but the torch did not go out.

After burning for a while to make sure there was enough oxygen and no wild animals had escaped, Jin Suiqing helped Yin Rushi into the cave.

After laying Yin Rushi flat on the ground, Jin Suiqing went to set up a fire in front of the cave and returned to check on Yin Rushi's condition.

As soon as she got close, Yin Rushi opened her eyes wide, rolled over, opened her mouth, and vomited.

A wave of warm, damp heat washed over my feet.

Jin Suiqing: ...

Yin Ru Shi vomited for a while, then weakly covered her mouth and said, "I...I'm sorry, I really couldn't hold it in..."

Jin Suiqing's lips twitched down as she silently moved to the fire and squatted down.

"Young Princess?" Yin Ru Shi exclaimed in surprise upon recognizing Jin Sui Qing. "You saved me?"

Jin Suiqing took off her shoes and threw them by the fire to dry: "Yeah, I fell all the way down and got caught on a lot of branches, and finally ended up hanging from a tree."

Yin Rushi felt dizzy and tried to take a good look at Jin Suiqing. She found that Jin Suiqing was clumsy and her ankles were tied with wooden sticks and ropes, indicating that she was seriously injured.

It was a small princess, too small to even draw a bow, who saved her. Instead of abandoning her delirious state, she moved her here despite her injuries.

Yin Rushi's heart surged with emotion, and her remorse for deliberately involving Jin Suiqing in the past intensified. She struggled to get up, saying, "I will never forget the little princess's life-saving grace..."

Jin Suiqing moved over angrily and pressed down on her shoulders, saying, "Sister Yin, lie down and don't move."

Yin Rushi obediently lay down, and seeing that Jin Suiqing's expression was somewhat distorted, she asked suspiciously, "Little Princess... are you sulking?"

“Yes.” Jin Suiqing nodded emphatically without hesitation.

Because she admitted it so frankly, Yin Ru was completely bewildered: "Why is the young princess angry? What is it about me that you're angry about?"

Jin Suiqing looked down to examine Yin Rushi's wounds and made up a story: "Before Sister Yin fell off the cliff, she told me to cut the rope and let me live alone."

Jin Suiqing said aggrievedly, "What does Sister Yin take me for? A treacherous villain who would stand by and watch someone die?"

Jin Suiqing rubbed her eyes, pretending to wipe away tears, but actually she felt guilty.

Actually, she is. If it weren't for the system, she would have been a complete villain who refused to help someone in distress.

Yin Rushi was unaware of this, and she opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“Little Princess,” Yin Rushi said, deeply moved, “are you worried that my life is in danger?”

Jin Suiqing gently blew on the wound on Yin Rushi's forehead and nodded. Jin Suiqing thought to himself, "Actually, it's not that; it's that I'm worried about my life."

Yin Rushi choked back tears, embracing Jin Suiqing who was so close to her, and murmured, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Little Princess..."

Jin Suiqing, who was being held by her, groaned softly, sounding as if she was about to cry.

If it weren't for the system stopping her, she would have cut the reins long ago. How could she have fallen off the cliff with Yin Rushi, been spit on by her, been hugged and cried, and had her clothes soaked?

The unlucky Jin Suiqing also wanted to cry. She sniffled, but there was no use crying now that things had come to this.

However, since Yin Rushi is an important supporting female character, and she is now Yin Rushi's savior...

Then let's try to build a good impression.

An artificial crematorium—might as well paint it; you never know when it might come in handy.

It was time to put on an act again. Jin Suiqing patted Yin Rushi's shoulder and then started sobbing, "As long as Sister Yin is alive, it's okay."

“I have very few friends, and Sister Yin is the first. I like Sister Yin very much, and I will never leave her alone.” Jin Suiqing took a deep breath and said firmly, “If I’m going to die, I will die with Sister Yin.”

Jin Suiqing's voice trembled slightly, weak yet powerful, filled with genuine emotion. Hearing this, Yin Rushi felt even more guilty, tears streaming down her face. She said haltingly, "I had blindly believed the rumors, mistakenly thinking the young princess was spoiled, clumsy, and unruly..."

It seems that, according to the rumors, she is a very typical villainous supporting character. Jin Suiqing sobbed, "So my reputation is that bad? Who told you that, Sister Yin?"

This is very important. If she finds out which little brat spread the rumor, they'll get a good scolding from her.

Yin Ru Shi was dizzy and careless, and blurted out the truth: "I heard... she said... as long as the little princess is happy... she will believe anything..."

She was in a daze and fainted after saying only a few words. Jin Suiqing didn't understand at all and called her name twice, but there was no response.

Jin Suiqing immediately stopped crying.

“Sister Yin is the one who’s easy to fool,” Jin Suiqing said softly as she carefully laid Yin Rushi down. “I haven’t even started acting yet…”

Yin Rushi suddenly raised her eyelids, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes: "What are we acting out?"

Jin Suiqing was shocked: "Sister Yin?"

Yin Rushi became drowsy again, her eyes opening and closing repeatedly. "I... I think I heard you say..."

Jin Suiqing was sweating profusely: "I didn't say anything. Sister Yin, you probably misheard because you hit your head."

"Is...is that so?"

Jin Suiqing nodded vigorously.

Yin Ru remained silent, staring blankly at Jin Suiqing, making Jin Suiqing's hair stand on end. Suddenly, she said out of the blue, "Little Princess... I don't want to be your sister-in-law."

"ah?"

"Don't... overthink it, I won't... take your brother away."

Yin Rushi smiled weakly and said, "I am not interested in... male... Jin Shiyu."

After saying that, she finally fainted completely.

Having learned his lesson, Jin Suiqing quickly retreated to the cave entrance, keeping a great distance from Yin Rushi, and squatted down, clutching his chest.

Thank goodness, today almost became the Waterloo of her acting career.

Jin Suiqing picked out the dried shoes, somewhat disliking them, but after a moment's thought, she decided to put them on anyway. The forest was full of poisonous insects; getting bitten would be a greater loss than gain.

Jin Suiqing sat on the ground beside the fire, looking up at the sky.

Roughly estimated, four or five hours had passed since they fell, and it was getting dark.

Yin Rushi wouldn't wake up anytime soon, so spending the night in the cave was inevitable.

Jin Suiqing's biggest concern is how she, with no food or water and the constant threat of wolves and assassins, can safely survive the night in the dense forest, where she is powerless to even kill a chicken.

Author's note: Mei Bao is trying to win everyone's favor, making herself the group's darling.

I'm giving out little red envelopes this chapter so I can see your comments!

That concludes the 7000-word post. See you next week! [cat emoji]