Chapter 69 Iron-Blooded Couple: This is truly something to celebrate.

The rusty iron gate was pushed open by the bandits with a loud creak. The rotting straw, moldy walls, and the lingering damp, fishy smell after the rain rushed out, almost overwhelming one.

The wooden steps were slippery and narrow, and the thick bloodstains were washed away by the water dripping from the walls on the uneven ground. The faint light failed to dispel the gloom, and the flickering firelight only made the shadows cast on the ground look distorted and grotesque.

"This is tonight's dinner. Madam Zheng, please have some for your own health." The bandit tapped on the stone wall.

This was an extremely simple meal: a steamed bun, two small dishes, one of which was still slightly warm, as if it had been stir-fried not long ago, and contained a hint of meat.

The clear knocking echoed in the empty cell, but Zheng Shuman paid no attention.

She was thin and frail, her high-combed hair slightly disheveled, held in place by only a few small pearl hairpins, her upright back resembling a bamboo stalk enduring the cold wind, and her chin pointed.

With her hands wrapped around her knees, she looked up, gazing blankly at the bright moon outside the skylight.

Seeing that she remained unmoved, the bandit leader shrugged, put down the tray in his hand, and advised again, "It's your own body. If you ruin it, even if you escape in the future, you won't live a happy life. Why are you doing this to yourself?"

Escape?

Zheng Shuman pursed her lips and gave a bitter smile.

At that moment, she dared not even think about what life would be like after she escaped.

The bandit leader stopped trying to persuade her and turned to look behind him, saying helplessly, "You saw it with your own eyes. Ever since Madam Zheng was locked up here, she hasn't eaten or drunk anything. I've tried to persuade her again and again, and I'm exhausted from talking to her, but it's all in vain."

Immediately, the heavy clanging of iron chains rang out, the door lock was opened, and faint footsteps grew closer and closer, finally stopping two inches behind Zheng Shuman, as a figure lowered its head and enveloped her.

This utterly abnormal behavior jolted Zheng Shuman out of her numbness. Her brows furrowed, and her heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.

Before she could react, a familiar, clear female voice rang out from behind her, already very close: "Looking up at the moon, are you thinking of your hometown or of me?"

Zheng Shuman's slender back stiffened abruptly as the woman's voice rang out. Her breath caught in her throat, and before her rapid heartbeat could even register it, tears streamed down her face.

She turned around stiffly and looked at that familiar face; she could even see her own reflection in those almond-shaped eyes.

Xue Rongyue brought the food over and placed it in front of her: "The food is a bit simple, but at this critical juncture, don't be picky about food."

Zheng Shuman took the chopsticks with trembling hands, tears blurring her vision, but she could still clearly feel Xue Rongyue's presence. Her heart, which had been filled with anxiety for days, finally found peace at this moment. She choked out, "Why did you come? What if the bandits found us?"

"Why."

Xue Rongyue sighed, her tone full of helplessness: "I was also captured and brought up the mountain. I came here to see you, who is in the same boat. I didn't expect you to distrust me so much that you started a hunger strike and decided to die rather than submit."

"I didn't, I just... I just..." Zheng Shuman lowered her head, "I just can't eat. I can't convince myself, and I don't have the courage to face the days to come. I simply can't believe that even my maternal grandparents' family..."

Tears streamed down her face, and grief and indignation surged like waves. Unconsciously, the chopsticks slipped from Zheng Shuman's hands again. She helplessly covered her face with her hands, but tears kept spilling out from between her fingers.

Xue Rongyue looked at her quietly, and after a brief silence, she asked, "Do you remember how we met?"

Zheng Shuman was taken aback, then wiped away her tears and replied, "That year during the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Princess Yu'an held a banquet at her residence. I was being teased by several young men at the banquet, and I was hiding behind the artificial hill crying when you happened to see me."

The person who led the teasing was the son of the second wife, her nominal younger brother. At that time, she was still young and powerless to resist. She was also frightened by their playful act of pushing her into the water. She clung to the rockery, trembling, and dared not let go.

Xue Rongyue appeared at this time.

At that time, Xue Rongyue was living in the residence of Princess Yu'an. Many of the servants serving her came from the princess's residence. Seeing this scene, they naturally spoke up to inquire and stop it. After all, they were all children, and they were bound to be timid when their misdeeds were discovered by others. The young men pushed out their younger brother who was hiding in the back and made him reluctantly apologize to her.

How disheveled she looked then? It was evident from her messy hair and rumpled clothes. She was unwilling to accept this unapology, but with her younger brother's reluctant voice, everyone else was trying to smooth things over as soon as possible, except for Xue Rongyue.

She had been silently observing for a long time when suddenly she stepped forward and, to everyone's surprise, kicked her younger brother into the water. Although the pool was shallow, it was still easy to drown a child, and chaos immediately broke out around the pool.

The sounds of rescue, shouts, and footsteps suddenly faded away. In her shock, she stared at the girl who was two years younger than her. Her gaze was unusually cold, not only towards her younger brother struggling in the water, but also towards the girl herself.

After the incident escalated, Princess Yu'an and her entourage of ladies arrived in haste. Faced with their inquiries and the shouts of the second wife, she simply looked down at the hem of her skirt and coldly uttered, "He dirtied my newly made dress."

The two were complete strangers, and Xue Rongyue had no reason to stand up for her, she thought.

At that time, Xue Rongyue had already been granted the title of Princess of Yong'an County, and with the obvious favoritism of Princess Yu'an, even though the second wife was relentless and unwilling to give up, she could do nothing about it and could only compromise and apologize in the end.

Hearing her apology, which was exactly the same as her younger brother's, and utterly devoid of any remorse, the second wife's face turned ashen. She dared not speak out in anger, and under the watchful eyes of Princess Yu'an, her father had no choice but to step forward, feign compliance, and cooperate in turning the matter into a trivial one.

Given this incident, it was difficult for her not to get close to Xue Rongyue. Initially, Xue Rongyue was not very friendly to her; she was more indifferent and distant.

Thinking about this, Zheng Shuman still felt wronged: "No matter how you deny it, you kicked me back then to help me. Since you chose to help me, why did you ignore me afterwards?"

"Why are you bringing up old grievances again?"

Xue Rongyue rubbed her aching temples and sighed slowly: "I brought up the past to tell you that what seems like an insurmountable mountain now may seem insignificant in five or ten years."

Zheng Shuman wiped away the tears that had fallen from her face.

The younger brother was unruly and disobedient. Spoiled by his elders, he acted lawlessly. In the early days after she met Xue Rongyue, she attempted suicide several times due to his cruel treatment and torment.

But no one expected that one day, when the younger brother went hunting with his friends, he was encouraged by his friends to ignore the servants' attempts to stop him and insisted on stealing a tiger cub. In the end, he was discovered by the mother tiger who had returned from hunting. When the servants rescued him, both of his legs had been bitten off. He survived for less than half a day before he died.

The shadow that she thought would loom over her for years suddenly dissipated.

After picking up the fallen chopsticks, wiping them clean with a handkerchief, and handing them to Zheng Shuman, Xue Rongyue said, "The most important thing for you right now is to eat more. If something unexpected happens and you need to escape, your body will fall apart after running just a few steps. Don't expect me to help you then. It's already more than enough that I came to save you."

Zheng Shuman took the chopsticks and snorted upon hearing this: "How can you be like this? Instead of saying how to get me out of here, you're talking about how we'll all go our separate ways if something happens."

That being said, how could she not know Xue Rongyue's temperament? She was the most stubborn but soft-hearted person in the world.

Unable to eat the greasy food, Zheng Shuman broke open a steamed bun and stuffed it into her mouth, while listening to Xue Rongyue say, "Yesterday, the bandits came out in full force, and those two also went down the mountain. I think someone means that this time the bandits went down the mountain for a secret matter. If we can find the answer, we can wipe out the bandits in one fell swoop, and we won't even need you to pretend to agree to the marriage."

Zheng Shuman was taken aback. She asked in confusion, "I know who the two of them are, but which one of them is 'someone' referring to?"

Xue Rongyue looked away and coughed lightly: "That was the one I used to hate the most."

"..." Zheng Shuman raised her eyes, looking at her quietly, and keenly caught two words: "In the past?"

Xue Rongyue: "...Focus on the important point. The important point is that once they come back, they'll be able to figure out how to save you."

“Isn’t that the key point right now?” Zheng Shuman stared intently at her. “You said you’d have to wait for them to come back to confirm, and that’s the key point after that.”

"What I really want to know right now is, why was it 'in the past'?"

This matter could not be hidden in the end, and she would still have to explain when she returned to Chang'an. Facing Zheng Shuman's interrogative gaze, Xue Rongyue touched her nose, concealed the system's forced strategy mission, and told the whole story about how she and Qin Jin were involved in the same case and were forced to join forces and form an alliance.

"Were you threatened?" Zheng Shuman blurted out after hearing this, "Or did someone else have some leverage over you?"

After Xue Rongyue repeatedly confirmed that he was forced by circumstances and had no other choice, she narrowed her eyes, her face full of disbelief: "There's definitely something fishy going on. You're definitely hiding something from me."

Xue Rongyue had almost nowhere to hide under her gaze. Just then, the spy guarding outside knocked on the iron gate. Xue Rongyue breathed a sigh of relief and stood up decisively: "It's getting late. Staying any longer might cause an accident. I'll go now and come see you again when I have the chance."

"Don't give me that, it's clearly you who's afraid to answer me—"

Zheng Shuman stood up as well, but after days of exhaustion, her body wasn't as strong as Xue Rongyue's. She felt dizzy as soon as she stood up, and quickly grabbed the wall to avoid falling.

When she opened her eyes again, the iron gate was already closed, and Xue Rongyue was nowhere to be seen in the empty dungeon.

Still feeling dizzy, Zheng Shuman sat down dejectedly, muttering something under her breath. Once the dizziness subsided, she rested her chin on her hand, recalling Ji Dian's complaints about Qin Jin and Xue Rongyue from a couple of days ago. A flicker of joy welled up inside her.

It was thought that after Xiaoyue became engaged to Liu Ruyu of the Liu family, all the hard work she had put into her work, which she had done through countless sleepless nights by candlelight until dawn, would be forced to face a tragic end before it was even finished.

I never expected that things would take such a turn for the better.

This is truly something to celebrate.

Her novel, "The Overbearing Prince's Gentle Pampering," is saved!

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Author's Note: I've had a cold these past couple of days and haven't been feeling well. I'll take a break and try to update more tomorrow. [melting emoji]

Remember that addictive novel that the prince couldn't put down? That's right, the author has revealed that even while struggling to survive, Xiao Zheng still finds time to ship couples [doge emoji].