Chapter 159 She Died

Yun Zhaoxue slashed the knife in her hand at the vines on the ground, and with a 'whoosh!' a flash of cold light passed by.

The vines remained motionless, looking down at the broken knife in their hands, which was broken in half, with the blade curled and stained with a few drops of blood.

Zhao Jiu scratched his head awkwardly, his face flushed, and said embarrassedly, "My knife was used by Prince Xiao to kill wolves and broke. If I had known I would need it, I would have borrowed it from Brother Liao."

"It's alright, even a broken knife can cut." Yun Zhaoxue was about to bend down.

"The cliff is dangerous, I'll handle this." Xiao Xuance led her away from the shore, pulled out a knife, and squatted down.

"Alright, you come here. Below is a bottomless cliff. If you don't cut the weeds at the root, they will grow back in the spring breeze. Cut the vines, and even if you don't smash them into mincemeat, they will still be pieces here and there."

After cutting two vines, two others beside them shook violently, as if something heavy was dragging them down.

"There are people down below."

Xiao Xuance then cut two more vines.

A scream came from below the cliff, "No, no, I don't want to die, Third Brother, I'm still down there."

Below the cliff, Xiao Xiuning tightly wrapped her hands around two vines, looking down at the bottomless abyss. She was almost scared to tears, but she held back because she didn't want to show weakness in front of Yun Zhaoxue.

There was no movement above.

She used both her hands and feet to climb onto the ground.

He lay on the ground, panting heavily.

Xiao Xuance pointed the knife at her, "Speak! Who ordered you to steal the token and poison her?"

Xiao Xiuning remained defiant, saying, "No, no one instructed me. I resented your ruthlessness and wanted to get revenge. I stole the token to make you anxious."

"Still lying!"

"I stole it myself."

"Bang!" Yun Zhaoxue lost her patience and kicked her shoulder. "If you're not going to talk, then get out of here."

"Ah!" Xiao Xiuning fell backward, her eyes catching a glimpse of a cliff beside her, her face filled with terror.

His upper body slid down the cliff.

In a panic, he grabbed onto a vine to avoid falling and then struggled to climb ashore.

Xiao Xuance looked down at the disheveled man on the ground, "Tell me who's behind you, and I might leave you with a whole corpse!"

Xiao Xiuning, who was lying on the ground, raised her eyes and slowly stood up. "No, don't kill me, I'll talk, it's..."

Using words to attract their attention, he stood up and suddenly rushed towards Yun Zhaoxue, opened his arms to hug her, and led her to the edge of the cliff.

She slipped and almost fell. "Ah!"

He hooked his arm around Yun Zhaoxue's neck to steady himself.

Xiao Xuance reached out his hand towards Yun Zhaoxue.

"Xue'er..."

"Princess..."

Xiao Xiuning tightened her grip on Yun Zhaoxue's neck and threatened, "Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer, or I'll jump down with her."

"If I die, she won't live either."

"Even if you refuse to tell me even if you die, I can guess it's Duan Qingyun from the Duan family, right?"

Xiao Xiuning denied it again, "No! It wasn't the Duan family, I stole it myself, it has nothing to do with them."

Yun Zhaoxue suddenly pulled her arm down, pinched her tiger's mouth acupoint hard with her right hand, twisted it back with force, and took advantage of her pain and relaxation.

"Clang!"

He quickly gave her an elbow strike, then spun around and escaped the cliff edge.

Xiao Xuance reached out and pulled the person into his arms.

He was about to strike and send the person flying.

Suddenly, an arrow flew from the shadows and pierced Xiao Xiuning's heart. "Thud!"

She stared wide-eyed in the direction the arrow had come from, her eyes filled with neither confidence nor despair, and fell straight backward off the cliff.

The arrow wound was fatal, and falling from such a high cliff meant he was surely doomed.

As the arrows flew, a dark figure flashed past in the direction from which they came, and several other dark figures chased after him before disappearing from their sight.

On the way back by horse-drawn carriage.

Yun Zhaoxue said to Zhao Jiu, "Brother Zhao Jiu, we broke your knife. When we get to Xuzhou, I will find you a better knife to replace it."

"No need, no need. Protecting the exiles is the duty of the escorts. You broke the knife while killing the wolf, so you can't pay for it."

Xiao Xuance, who was driving the carriage, said, "I broke it, I'll pay for it."

"Oh, how could I possibly accept this?"

Zhao Jiu didn't expect them to compensate him; he planned to go to Xuzhou City to buy another blacksmith's shop and ask Lao Liao for reimbursement.

Hearing them say they would compensate me, I was immediately flattered.

In return, he felt he should do something.

So he offered, "I'll talk to Brother Liao. I can testify for you and make sure Brother Liao doesn't make things difficult for you."

"Thanks, there aren't many good people like Brother Zhao anymore." Yun Zhaoxue gave him a grateful look.

With Zhao Jiu as a witness, the sudden disappearance of one member of the Xiao family can save them the trouble of explaining to Lao Liao.

Zhao Jiu couldn't take his eyes off her smiling, beautiful face; the princess was as beautiful as a celestial maiden.

The blush on her face spread to the back of her ears.

Xiao Xuance brandished his whip, the end of which swept across Zhao Jiu's arm before landing on the horse.

The slight tingling in his arm brought him back to his senses.

The cool night wind, carrying a chill, made him shiver.

Zhao Jiu thought it was because it was cold at night, so he hugged his arms and rubbed them together a couple of times. He grinned and said, "Your Highness is too kind. It's late and a bit cold. Your Highness, please go back to the carriage and sit down."

Oh dear, this darn old habit of mine—I can't resist beautiful women. I hope people won't think I'm a lecher.

Xiao Xuance swung his whip again, the end of which nearly grazed his eye. He leaned back to avoid it, almost falling off the carriage. He quickly grabbed the edge of the carriage and cried out, "Ouch!"

Yun Zhaoxue had just lowered the curtain when she thought there might be an assassin and asked, "What's wrong?"

Xiao Xuance calmly said, "It's nothing."

Yun Zhaoxue's lips curled slightly; someone must be jealous.

They returned to the exile group.

Madam Yang immediately stepped forward and asked, "Ce'er, where is Ning'er? Have you found her? Is she in the carriage? Ning'er, why did you run away without saying a word? Your mother is very worried about you."

As he spoke, he hurriedly peered into the carriage, "It's good that you're back. I don't believe you would poison us. There must be some misunderstanding. Let's clear things up in front of everyone today."

Xiao Xuance lifted the curtain and carried Yun Zhaoxue down from the carriage.

She pressed on anxiously, "Sanlang, Ning'er..."

Xiao Xuance told her, "She fell off a cliff and died."

Yang was shocked, her expression blank. "Dead...dead? How could he have fallen off a cliff like that?"

“She confessed that he poisoned her. She is not our relative and has long been estranged from us. Mother doesn’t need to be sad about her death.”

Yun Zhaoxue, "..."

Is this what straight men are like? They just rub salt into people's wounds.

Given Yang's feelings for Xiao Xiuning, once death comes, all grudges are settled, and she probably wouldn't hate her.

Madam Yang collapsed to the ground, sobbing, "Ning'er is dead, waah..."

Not long after I got back, it was almost dawn.

Those who lost loved ones would find a pit nearby, bury the body, and lie on the grave, wailing loudly.

"Waaaaah..."

"Awoooooo..."

If anyone were to pass by, they would be terrified.

There were also wolf carcasses, and the escorts didn't know what to do with them, so Lao Liao came over to discuss it with Xiao Xuance.

"Young Master, the wolves were mainly killed by your Xiao family. The wolf pelts and meat are worth a lot of silver. Do you think we should take them to the city to sell and earn some silver to supplement our household income?"

Xiao Xuance wasn't short of money and had no intention of dragging the wolf into the city to sell. The Xiao family consisted mainly of women and couldn't move it, so he wanted Lao Liao to handle it himself.

Yun Zhaoxue spoke first: "Master Liao, our family is sick, weak, women and children, and we can't carry it. Could you help us find a few people to drag it into the city to sell? How about we split the profits fifty-fifty?"

Although the escorts also helped deal with the wolves, Lao Liao felt that the Xiao family had contributed the most and even saved his life, so they should be the ones to earn the money.

"OK!"

Many members of the exile team are probably short of money, as are the escorts. If 20% of their wages are given to them, they can still get 30%, and they can still make a profit.

After Lao Liao walked away, she said to the man, "It's foolish not to make money when you can. Small amounts are still money, and they add up."

"Um!"