Chapter 10 Sacrifice

This person is really good at enduring pain. Doesn't he have any ticklish spots on his waist? Well, there's hardly any flesh left, so where would he get ticklish spots?

“My dad said I was stubborn before, but I think you’re the real stubborn mule,” Shen Qingmeng said, pulling Chu Wangshu’s arm and trying to pull him up. “It’s not raining today, why don’t we go outside and sit for a while?”

Chu Wangshu finally spoke: "For now, don't let anyone else know that I can't see."

"Oh, you're finally willing to talk to me?"

Chu Wangshu let out a long sigh and then fell silent.

"Okay, then let's stay cooped up in this room and see how long you can hold out."

Chu Wangshu was truly patient, or perhaps Shen Qingmeng was genuinely impressed by him; he didn't move for the entire afternoon.

However, this person is currently very weak, and the remaining toxins in his body have not been cleared. He is not awake for long, and he has to take medicine and be teased by Shen Qingmeng during the few times he is awake.

As always, Shen Qingmeng pretended to be burned by the candlelight when she left, and Chu Wangshu was so flustered that he stumbled off the bed.

"It's nothing, it's nothing. I was just pretending. Grand Preceptor, please get some sleep!"

Shen Qingmeng closed the door and walked out, her expression changing once again.

After being kicked out of the warm chamber for three consecutive nights, the nanny who had come with the palace became anxious.

"Princess, why are you out again? Why aren't you with the Imperial Preceptor..." The old woman looked at Shen Qingmeng's expression and didn't dare to continue.

Although the eleventh princess had been living among the common people for a long time, her aura was no less than that of the masters in the palace.

Shen Qingmeng looked at the girl following behind her, her eyes asking inquiringly: "You want to ask too?"

That palace maid's name seems to be Qiusheng, what a hasty name.

Qiu Sheng lowered his head timidly and remained silent.

Shen Qingmeng returned to her room with a gloomy face, slammed the door shut, and kept the nanny and Qiusheng outside.

Shen Qingmeng lit an oil lamp and admired her fierce expression in the bronze mirror. "Hmph, so what if I'm just pretending to be fierce? When I was killing those bandits, your masters were probably doing nothing."

She didn't like wearing headdresses, but in order to let Chu Wangshu hear her by her side, she had been wearing a lot of tasseled hair accessories these past few days.

Shen Qingmeng removed her headdress one by one, washed her face, and lay on the bed like a little kangaroo, wearing only her undergarments.

What should I do with Chu Wangshu tomorrow?

Although Chu Wangshu had been like this for the past few days, Shen Qingmeng found it quite amusing to tease him.

Maybe I should touch the bandage on his waist... But no, I should feel sorry for him.

Oh, right, beatboxing!

When Shen Qingmeng was a child, she learned some ventriloquism from an old man who performed on the street. However, she was not good at it and could not make a sound, so she could only imitate some bird calls. Later, she also provided background sounds for storytellers. At that time, "mute storytelling" was quite famous. However, after playing for a few days, Shen Qingmeng felt thirsty and realized that it would be more comfortable to work in the kitchen of Wang Family Restaurant.

The next day, Shen Qingmeng was awakened by the nanny knocking on the door.

"Princess, you must go see! The Imperial Advisor has vomited blood!"

Shen Qingmeng suddenly opened her eyes, and without changing her clothes, she ran to the warm pavilion barefoot in her undergarments.

She breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she pushed open the door—human blood shouldn't be this color at all.

Although she didn't know what the two men were plotting, Shen Qingmeng still pretended to be extremely grief-stricken and rushed to Chu Wangshu's side. At this moment, she couldn't help but sigh that being mute had its advantages; at least she could now just bury her face in Chu Wangshu's body and pretend to cry without having to think of anything to shout.

After the crowd dispersed, Shen Qingmeng whispered to Physician Li, "Is the chicken blood so dark that you're just taking advantage of these servants who've never seen human blood before?"

"We have to put on a show."

Physician Li helped Chu Wangshu rinse his mouth. Shen Qingmeng was still lying on top of Chu Wangshu. He didn't push her away, and she didn't move either.

Chu Wangshu's hand loosely wrapped around Shen Qingmeng's waist, and through the thin inner garment, he felt the bandages underneath. "You... what's wrong?"

Shen Qingmeng looked up and almost laughed when she saw the bloodstains on his lips. "Lord Weasel, I got this injury the day I rushed back to see you. You noticed it a little too late."

Chu Wangshu gently placed his hand on Shen Qingmeng's waist, as if he wanted to touch the wound, but was afraid of hurting her, so he didn't dare to move at all.

"You ruthlessly pushed away an injured person for three whole days. Didn't you feel any remorse?"

"Why...didn't you tell me?" He bumped into Shen Qingmeng's waist when he got out of bed yesterday, but Shen Qingmeng didn't say anything except for the jokes she made to tease him.

Shen Qingmeng tapped Chu Wangshu's chest lightly with her fingertips in a rhythmic motion: "If I tell you, will you talk to me?"

"Does it still hurt?"

"It hurts, it hurts so much! You have to let me hold you for a while, otherwise you'll never get better."

Chu Wangshu knew that Shen Qingmeng was being unreasonable, but he still put his arm around her and patted her gently.

Shen Qingmeng hugged Chu Wangshu tightly, took a deep breath, and said like a lecherous man, "Chu Wangshu, you smell good."

Chu Wangshu paused, her face instantly turning red: "What nonsense are you talking about?"

"I...I might...not be able to go out right now." Physician Li was also taken aback by Shen Qingmeng's words and stammered.

“Sigh, the room smells too strong with chicken blood now,” Shen Qingmeng said, not saying anything more shocking. She reached out and gently touched Chu Wangshu’s lips. “What are you two doing? You’ve turned our Imperial Preceptor into a weasel.”

Physician Li said, "Cangning has surrendered."

"Cang Ning has surrendered... what does that have to do with you spitting out chicken blood?" Shen Qingmeng asked, puzzled.

"Well, we can't really make him vomit blood, can we? You want to relive the scene from that day?"

Shen Qingmeng shook her head hurriedly, not expecting it to be so frightening.

Chu Wangshu unconsciously wrapped a strand of Shen Qingmeng's hair around his fingertip, then let it fall, and then picked up a tuft and wrapped it around his finger again.

Shen Qingmeng initially felt it was too hot to let her hair down, but seeing Chu Wangshu like this, she didn't move. It was rare for the Imperial Preceptor to be so docile, so she decided to take advantage of the situation.

Chu Wangshu explained in a low voice, "The Emperor must not find out that Cang Ning originally wanted to surrender, so at this time, I should suffer some misfortune, such as spitting blood or going blind."

Shen Qingmeng then realized that the battle with Cang Ning was the source of Chu Wangshu's near-death state back then. "You didn't change anything, so you're alright now?"

"Um."

"What does Cang Ning want to do?" Shen Qingmeng still felt that these royal struggles were too complicated, with people scheming and fighting to control each other, which was really boring.

Chu Wangshu shook her head and said nothing.

Hearing Chu Wangshu's rumbling stomach, Shen Qingmeng couldn't help but chuckle mischievously: "But I know you seem hungry. Would you like some chicken soup, Lord Weasel?"

Chu Wangshu paused slightly, realizing she shouldn't have let the girl lie on her like that. "Anything is fine, but can we skip the bitter medicine?"

"Okay, I'll dig some lotus seed hearts for you to eat today." Shen Qingmeng reached out and pinched Chu Wangshu's cheek; there was so little flesh on it.

Chu Wangshu suddenly realized that offending Shen Qingmeng was definitely not a good thing.

After Shen Qingmeng left, Chu Wangshu was still on the bed practicing the Little Six Ren divination.

"What are you calculating?" Physician Li asked.

"I always feel like something's not quite right."

"Don't bother calculating anymore, it was so hard to get it back to a better state..."

"Tell Qingmeng to take Yunmo and send some more people to fetch her father!" Chu Wangshu suddenly grabbed Physician Li in a panic. "Go quickly!"

"Don't worry, I'll go talk to her right now. Don't move around on your own, you hear me!" Doctor Li hurriedly ran to the kitchen to relay Chu Wangshu's words to Shen Qingmeng.

Shen Qingmeng didn't even have time to think about who Yun Mo was before she quickly descended the mountain with the group.

There was still a basket of lotus seed cakes on the steamer, and in a porcelain bowl next to it were many bright green lotus seed hearts.

The route Shen Ning took with her caravan back to the capital was the same route that Princess Cang Ning took to the capital for her marriage alliance.

Shen Qingmeng galloped wildly on horseback, only to encounter a scene of bloodshed. When she rescued Shen Ning from a masked man, Shen Ning was barely clinging to life.

Shen Qingmeng held Shen Ning tightly, sobbing uncontrollably, "Father, Father, I can speak now, don't go, I, I'll take you home, okay, Father..."

"Meng'er, be good... don't cry..."

Shen Qingmeng watched helplessly as Shen Ning's hand slipped limply from her eyes, and could only cry out in a hoarse voice, powerless to do anything about it.

All of this happened too suddenly. Shen Qingmeng didn't know if she had cried all her tears or if she simply hadn't accepted the fact that Shen Ning had passed away.

Shen Ning said that all镖师 (bodyguards/escorts) are desperate men, and some unlucky ones get injured on every delivery. But he has been a镖师 for over thirty years, and he's been lucky enough.

He said that after this escort mission, he would quit and open a martial arts school, work as a bodyguard, or accompany Shen Qingmeng on trips to enjoy life. Once he had saved enough money, he would enjoy himself.

He said that if he really died one day, Shen Qingmeng shouldn't be too sad. Everyone will die eventually, but death is not the end; forgetting is. As long as Meng'er still remembers her father, he will always be there.

Yunmo and Shen Qingmeng said that it was the First Prince and the Fifth Prince's men who did it. They only wanted to kill Princess Cangning and frame the other party for disrupting the peace. They didn't expect that the Shen family's escort team would happen to be passing by and thus get involved.

Shen Qingmeng stared blankly at the person who had delivered the fatal arrow to Shen Ning. Although he was now a corpse, he reminded Shen Qingmeng of some past events.

This is not a dispute between princes at all. The last time Shen Qingmeng saw this person was in the imperial city.

He was one of the masked guards in front of the emperor.

Shen Qingmeng had only felt a sense of familiarity with his eyes when she last saw them, but now she suddenly realized that the gentle woman she had once called "Mother Consort" had died at this man's hands.

The masked man who just kidnapped Shen Ning... was the guard who had given Shen Qingmeng the drug that made her mute back then, and he was one of her good fifth brother's men.

Shen Qingmeng still couldn't remember much about her childhood; only a few fragments flashed through her mind.

Insults, beatings, and laughter filled the air; she was like an ant that anyone could trample on. Perhaps because she stubbornly refused to beg for mercy or cry out in pain, that childish yet wicked voice said, "Since you don't want to talk, then just don't talk at all."

No one protected her, no one even stopped her. She was drugged, tortured until she was delirious, stuffed into something filthy, and thrown into a mass grave.

So this is how she came to be.

The Qing Kingdom is truly a bunch of scoundrels.

Shen Qingmeng opened her mouth, only to find that she had lost her voice again. It seemed that Uncle Li was not bluffing after all; her voice had not fully recovered.

Fortunately, the members of the escort team and Yunmo could understand Shen Qingmeng's sign language.

After the escort team tallied their losses and returned to the capital, the palace provided compensation, and the deceased received a grand funeral.

After a brief rest, half the group stayed behind to escort the princess to the capital. Once rested, Yunmo led the rest of the group and I back first.

As for all these changes that have occurred, the envoy who escorted the bride explained them to the emperor, and Shen Qingmeng could not interfere with right or wrong.

“Junior sister,” a young man in the caravan reached out and grabbed Shen Qingmeng’s arm, “aren’t you coming back with us to bury Master?”

Shen Qingmeng shook off his hand and walked towards Princess Cangning's sedan chair without looking back.

“She is now the eleventh princess of the current emperor. Brother, you should not try to marry her.” Yunmo stuffed a bag of silver into the young man’s hand. “Farewell.”

Since Emperor Qing has already taken action against Shen Ning, he intends to sever all ties with Shen Qingmeng over the years, making her completely and utterly revert to being the Eleventh Princess.

All Shen Qingmeng could do was to make a decision before her good father, the emperor.

Shen Qingmeng didn't want to see anything outside anymore, so she could only crawl into Princess Cangning's sedan chair, covered in the smell of blood.

They're all women, so what?

"You are, the Eleventh Princess?" Clearly, Princess Cangning had heard what Yunmo had just said.

Shen Qingmeng nodded, and when she looked up, she realized that the person in front of her looked somewhat like herself.

"My name is Murong Lishu, and I am the Fifth Princess of Cangning."

Shen Qingmeng nodded again. She didn't quite understand why this person wanted to tell her who he was, and she really didn't know what to say to the princess in front of her. Besides, she couldn't say anything at all.

The two remained silent throughout the journey, each sitting in a corner.

Shen Qingmeng's mind was in a mess. She tried to sort everything out, but found that everything was just like fragmented pieces that could not be pieced together.

Shen Ning was killed by men sent by Emperor Qing, the timing chosen solely to make his death appear accidental. The First and Fifth Princes were there to disrupt the marriage alliance and then pin the blame on the other. Of Emperor Qing's eight sons, the Third and Fourth Princes were already dead, the Second Prince was bedridden, and the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Princes were still young. If the latter two were after the throne, it would be plausible.

What was Chu Wangshu doing when he said Cangning's original intention was to surrender? The woman before him didn't look like a princess of a fallen kingdom coming for a marriage alliance at all; there was no sadness in her eyes.

And Yunmo, where did he come from?

These questions can be asked of Chu Wangshu later; the most urgent task is to sever ties with the Shen Family Escort Agency and Wang Wanwan.

Shen Qingmeng seemed to suddenly understand what Chu Wangshu had said.

Everything she cares about will become a tool in the hands of those in power.

But the problem is, isn't threatening Shen Qingmeng with Shen Ning far more effective than killing him? What on earth is this damned emperor thinking?

Shen Qingmeng returned to the capital with the marriage alliance four days later.

Emperor Qing kept Shen Qingmeng behind and asked her why she hadn't gone with the镖队 (bodyguard team) to bury Shen Ning.

With the Emperor as her father, there was no need to have any ties to the past. Seeing her off on her final journey before her death was enough to fulfill the long-standing father-daughter bond.

Besides, in the end, everyone dies; we're all the same, including me.

Perhaps Shen Qingmeng and Chu Wangshu were truly a match made in heaven, both daring enough to threaten the emperor.

But since the emperor had the advantage of keeping these two alive, he dared not let them actually die.

When they returned to the Astrology Pavilion, the adopted daughter of the Shen Family Escort Agency was no longer there, and Princess Changning, Liu Wanyi, was also gone.

If Emperor Qing wants a tool to prolong his life, then let's go along with his wish.