Chapter 35 Ruthless: "I will repay you in every possible way."...
The mountain road winds its way through the snow-covered landscape.
Inside the carriage, charcoal was lit, and cashmere blankets were placed around the sides. Ruan Yang's frozen fingers gradually regained feeling as she pointed. She lowered the curtain and hugged a hot water bottle to warm her hands.
Fortunately, we're safe now; otherwise, if we had stayed in that damp and cold place overnight, we would probably have frozen into ice sculptures by tomorrow morning.
Ruan Yang bent down and pressed her burning hot palms against Ning Xian's cheeks, repeating this several times before the bloodied man finally showed some reaction.
Seeing Ning Xian muttering in her sleep and her brows furrowed, Ruan Yang sighed and gently took Ning Xian's hand. She leaned against the corner of the carriage and remained in that position for the entire journey.
After a long day of driving, the car finally stopped.
Ruan Yang followed Helian Jia to the two stone lions in front of the Prince's Palace. She said, "Young Master, could you please have a doctor examine my husband's injuries?"
Helian Jia glanced at the red lips that were opening and closing beneath the fox fur hoodie and smiled, "It's not impossible to save your husband. How about this, take off your shoes and socks, walk across these charcoal fires to the eaves, and I'll agree to save your husband."
Ruan Yang looked ahead and saw that the snow in the courtyard had not been swept away and was covered with charcoal, with specks of red appearing in the white snow.
If I were to actually walk there, I would be unable to walk for several days. Moreover, walking barefoot in public is no different from being naked, which is a great disgrace.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on her, as if they were all waiting for her to make a decision.
Ruan Yang smiled and sighed, "Young Master has really made ample preparations to give me a hard time. I just didn't expect that a powerful general would resort to such tactics as those of a woman confined to her household."
Helian Jia didn't answer: "I'm just asking you, are you going to save her or not?"
Ruan Yang thought that Helian Jia must know about Ji Changhuan and Ning Xian's ambiguous past, and that he was testing someone else.
If she were to be heartless and not save them this time, someone would definitely lose their temper.
Ruan Yang stopped and said, "It's freezing cold. I'm afraid I, a woman, can't stand it."
"Is it right not to save them?"
Helian Jia said loudly, "Then please have the Crown Princess take your husband to live in the stable. It's dirty and messy there, and rats and ants love to gnaw on fresh flesh."
The two remained silent for a while when suddenly a woman walked towards them from around the corner. The wind under the eaves lifted her skirt, and although her steps were steady, her face showed obvious anxiety.
She passed by Ning Xian, who lay unconscious in the snow, and walked to Helian Jia's side: "I am an old acquaintance of the Crown Princess. Today I am fortunate to meet her again and would like to catch up with her. I wonder if Your Highness would agree?"
Helian Jia touched Ji Changhuan's face and said with a smile, "This matter needs to be discussed with the Crown Princess to see if she is willing."
Ruan Yang nodded: "It is my honor to have a few words with Miss Ji."
Ji Changhuan affectionately took Ruan Yang's hand, but his eyes glanced at the blood-stained snow: "Then let His Highness the Crown Prince wait in the woodshed in my courtyard, shall we?"
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Ruan Yang followed Ji Changhuan's men to a small courtyard on the west side. As they crossed a small bridge, they heard the sound of whipping in the distance, followed by the wailing and crying of a woman, which sounded chilling.
Ruan Yang stopped and asked, "What happened up ahead?"
Ji Changhuan grasped her hand and sighed, "Oh, that's the First Madam's personal maid. She's usually honest and kind, but somehow she ended up sleeping in the Young Master's bed the other day. The First Madam is scolding her right now."
The woman standing in the courtyard was dressed in elegant and luxurious clothes. Ruan Yang took a closer look and saw that her skin was even more fair and delicate than that of women from the Central Plains. A goose-down headband held up her black hair, and below it was a face that exuded an air of authority.
After hearing this, Ruan Yang continued walking: "Then why isn't the young master coming to plead for him?"
Upon hearing this, Ji Changhuan's eyes revealed a trace of sadness: "Women who only know how to beg and act cute are nothing more than playthings for men. They'll be thrown away once they're done using them."
As they were talking, the two arrived at the front of the house. Ji Changhuan had someone light a heater and then led Ruan Yang to sit down and have tea. The two exchanged pleasantries during the meal.
"You married His Highness as you wished, are you happy?"
Ruan Yang's eyes flickered: "If I told you now that I was forced by someone, I'm afraid you wouldn't believe me."
She forced a smile and said, "Ningxian and I are just a couple who have gone through thick and thin together. We don't even know how many days we have left to live. We're struggling to make ends meet, so how can we talk about happiness?"
Ji Changhuan retorted, "As the old saying goes, love makes even water taste sweet."
With tears streaming down her face, Ruan Yang said miserably, "Just like you said, how many men are honest? They're always looking for something better. He married me, but there are still plenty of other women around him."
"I still remember our wedding night. He was holding me in his arms, but he was calling out someone else's name, which sounded like a woman named Ayou..."
Ji Changhuan was taken aback, a tingling sensation spreading through her chest: "Are you serious?"
"Does Miss Ji recognize this woman named Ayou?"
Of course I recognize her; Ayou is clearly her childhood nickname.
She wiped away Ruan Yang's tears with a handkerchief and shook her head: "I don't recognize you. Come on, you must be tired after riding in the carriage all day."
Ji Changhuan picked up the jade plate on the table: "These are some dried fruits and pastries."
Ruan Yang lowered her eyes, picked up a few pieces of candied fruit with frosting, put them in her mouth, and said, "Your Highness's injuries are serious this time, and you probably can't be left alone. I have to go and see you. Please forgive me for not accompanying you."
Ji Changhuan straightened up slightly, but quickly bent down again, and sighed with a smile: "Go ahead, but the young master just told me that you should go to his place immediately after you finish your lunch."
"You must not be late and anger the young master."
Ruan Yang smiled and said, "Thank you for the reminder."
People followed her all the way. When Ruan Yang arrived at the woodshed, she used the excuse of cleaning Ning Xian's wounds to temporarily shut out the others.
After spitting the dried fruit she was holding into the charcoal brazier, she came to Ning Xian's side.
Ruan Yang touched his burning forehead and realized that his fever was caused by his wound. Logically speaking, he should not be able to withstand any more stimulation right now.
Ruan Yang pulled her hand away from his grasp and sighed, "I'm sorry."
After speaking, she secretly stuffed the dried fruit she had taken into Ning Xian's mouth and forced him to swallow it with water.
Seeing that the boiled water had cooled down enough, Ruan Yang took off Ning Xian's clothes, exposing the boy's upper body to the air.
His chest and even his waist and abdomen were almost completely covered with blood clots, and the smell of blood was extremely strong. He was on the verge of death.
After Ruan Yang wrung out the towel and wiped away the bloodstains, he watched as the pale-faced boy in front of him gradually regained his color, and his weak breathing became rapid. However, the wound reopened due to his pulling.
Her prediction was correct. Ji Changhuan used the same trick again, putting aphrodisiac powder in her food. The First Madam couldn't tolerate even a speck of dust in her eyes. Ji Changhuan's actions were meant to make her suffer the same fate as that maid.
Ruan Yang glanced at Ning Xian and muttered to herself, "These two are truly family; even their dirty tricks are exactly the same."
When it was almost time, Ruan Yang went to Helian Jia's place with a maid from the Prince's mansion.
She stepped into the pavilion and pulled her shawl tighter. Snowflakes from her fox fur fell onto the plush carpet. Ruan Yang knelt in the center of the hall: "Does Your Highness have something to ask me?"
Helian Jia said, "Miss Ruan, perhaps we can cooperate."
Ruan Yang said, "I am just a woman and a prisoner. I don't know how I can help the prince."
"Do you recognize the handwriting on this paper and the token on it?"
Ruan Yang took a look and found that the handwriting and the tokens were all from Lu Wenjin.
She felt somewhat relieved; Lu Wenjin's ability to contact Helian Jia proved that his subordinates had successfully kept up with their trail.
“I know you are unwilling to accept being imprisoned and treated as a plaything.”
He stepped forward, looking down at Ruan Yang, whose shadow completely enveloped the kneeling figure: "I don't ask for much. You help me become the ruler of the Northern Frontier, and I will help your Emperor of Daye eliminate the remnants of the Ji family, and I will also help you leave Ningxian."
"But before that, you need to do some things for me, such as continuing to be Ning Xian's most docile canary, telling me his every move, especially his dealings with the Ji family, in great detail."
Ruan Yang frowned. So Helian Jia was delaying killing Ning Xian because he was planning to use him as bait to catch bigger fish, and then wipe them all out in one fell swoop?
She agreed upon hearing this, but the image of that man risking his life for her kept flashing through her mind. Ruan Yang's eyes welled up with tears; she could hardly understand Ning Xian's feelings for her anymore.
With her eyes still wet, Ruan Yang said to Helian Jia, "Your Highness, my husband's injuries are quite serious. A large chunk of flesh on his shoulder was torn off by that wolf, and it's bloody. It breaks my heart to see him like this. Could you please send a doctor over to take a look?"
"He is with Madam Ji. If the young master is worried, he may come with me."
......
After Ruan Yang left, Ji Changhuan went alone to the woodshed in the backyard. He looked around and, seeing that no one was around, pushed open the door and went in.
Ning Xian lay on the haystack, his bare upper body covered in scratches and sweat, the veins bulging in his lean waist and abdomen, his chest heaving violently, clearly in great pain.
She parted her lips, knelt beside him, and said, "Crown Prince Brother?!"
Ning Xian's pain was similar to that caused by the aphrodisiac. Through his blurred vision, he saw a long-haired woman kneeling in front of him and subconsciously thought that Ruan Yang had returned.
He was in great pain. Under the influence of the medicine, his whole body was not only unbearably painful and itchy, as if countless ants were gnawing at him, but when he tried to sit up, he was too weak due to excessive blood loss.
He had never felt so helpless before, not even when he was a hostage in the northern frontier and was poisoned with insects.
Slowly, the boy began to hum, tears welling in his eyes. Clinging to his last vestiges of consciousness, he gripped the girl's sleeve, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, pleading, "Yangyang, I'm sorry, it hurts so much. I don't blame you, please kill me..."
"How...how could this happen?"
Ji Changhuan was at a loss for what to do, as she had clearly only given one piece of dried fruit to Ruan Yang.
Her icy hand gently touched Ning Xian's lower abdomen: "Crown Prince, you've been poisoned. You'll die if no one helps you. There's no one here who can take me..."
Ji Changhuan became increasingly audacious until her wrist was grabbed.
Ning Xian endured the most painful period alone, gradually regaining his senses. He finally struggled out of the pain, only to find that the person beside him was not Ruan Yang. Ning Xian was utterly devastated, as if the sky had fallen.
Ruan Yang wasn't there to help him through this difficult time, and he felt incredibly wronged, as if the whole world had abandoned him. Ning Xian burst into tears again: "...It's you? Where is she?"
Ji Changhuan was also saddened to hear this. She bit her lip and said, "Do you know that she almost killed you, and you still remember her..."
"What do we do now? There's no other antidote for that stuff..."
With a creak, the door opened.
The scene startled the maid who had come to deliver the medicine.
Helian Jia frowned and pushed the person who had stepped back on him away: "What's wrong? Why are you in such a panic?"
"Madam Ji...Madam Ji, she..."
Helian Jia glanced at the innocent Ruan Yang, gave a slight snort, and walked inside. He saw Ji Changhuan kneeling beside Ning Xian, whose clothes were disheveled, crying for some unknown reason.
Upon seeing Helian Jia, Ji Changhuan quickly wiped away her tears: "Your Highness..."
Helian Jia slapped the girl and angrily said, "Are you having an affair behind my back?"
Upon seeing the unharmed Ruan Yang, Ji Changhuan felt a lump in her throat. She shook her head, weeping, and said, "I didn't. I was utterly loyal to you. She framed me..."
Helian Jia met Ruan Yang's eyes and said, "No need to say more. From now on, you are not allowed to step out of the pavilion without my summons."
Ruan Yang understood that Helian Jia was not unaware of the schemes within the inner courtyard of this mansion; she was simply taking this opportunity to ensure that Ji Changhuan would sever all ties with her brother, Ning Xian, and others in the future.
Seeing Ruan Yang about to leave, Ji Changhuan chased after her, gritting his teeth and saying, "Ruan Yang, you are despicable and shameless for setting me up. Do you really have the heart to abandon your Crown Prince brother?"
After hearing this, Ruan Yang turned around, suppressing the indescribable soreness in her heart, and said in a trembling voice, "What despicable and shameless? I was just giving them a taste of their own medicine. You and Ning Xian did the same to me back then. I was just... imitating you."
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