Life and death separation, a desperate situation at the bottom of a cliff
Qin Yuti's maternal grandmother, far away in Jiangnan, fell seriously ill. A letter arrived, its words urgent and pressing. A pall of gloom immediately descended upon the Qin household. Adding to the gloom, the wedding date for the eldest daughter, Qin Shuhua, and Prince Yi had already been set for two months. With countless affairs to attend to in the household, the Qin couple were simply unable to spare the time. Just when things seemed to be at a loss, Qin Yuti stepped forward.
“Father, Mother, let your daughter go.” Her tone was calm but firm. “My sister’s wedding is important, and the household needs someone to manage it. I have been loved by my maternal grandmother since I was a child, and now is the time for me to go and fulfill my filial duty.”
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jingyi jumped up: "No way! Jiangnan is far away, how can you go alone? I don't agree!"
Qin Yuti merely glanced at him indifferently: "Your Highness, those are my closest relatives." With just one sentence, she silenced all of Zhao Jingyi's objections. She knew Zhao Jingyi's childlike nature, but when it came to filial piety, he dared not truly stop her.
Finally, Qin Yuti, accompanied by a reliable team of guards and maids, embarked on her journey to Jiangnan. On the day she left the capital, Zhao Jingyi rode his horse to see her off at the Ten Mile Pavilion outside the city. After hesitating for a long time, he finally handed Qin Yuti a heavy purse: "For your travel expenses... come back soon." In his eyes, there was a hint of attachment that he himself did not realize.
With Qin Yuti gone, the Prince Yi's mansion seemed to have lost its soul in an instant. For the first few days, Zhao Jingyi felt a sense of peace and quiet, quite at ease. But after a few days, he began to feel uneasy all over. The figure that had been forcing him to study was no longer in the study, the person who had been "carefully" serving him food was no longer at the dining table, and even at night, his bed felt empty and cold.
He went to Prince Rui's residence to play chess with his fourth brother, but was so chilled by Zhao Jingming's aloof demeanor that he quickly slipped away. He went to find his old cronies, but found himself uninterested in their usual frivolous pursuits of eating, drinking, and merrymaking. He then realized with a start that the princess he used to jokingly call "eight times a day" had, unknowingly, filled every corner of his life. Longing, like vines, had silently crept into his heart.
A month later, good news arrived: Qin Yuti's grandmother's condition had improved and she was out of danger. Zhao Jingyi was so happy he almost jumped for joy, counting down the days until Qin Yuti returned to Beijing. Half a month later, Qin Yuti wrote to say that although her grandmother had recovered, she was too old to endure the long journey and did not wish to come to Beijing with her. She had already set off to return to Beijing.
Zhao Jingyi longed for that familiar figure to appear at the gate of the Prince's mansion day and night.
However, what awaited him was a bolt from the blue.
That day, a commotion broke out outside the Prince's Mansion. A coachman, covered in blood and on the verge of death, was carried in. He tightly clutched a blood-stained jade hairpin in his hand—the one that Zhao Jingyi had personally chosen and given to Qin Yuti!
The coachman, barely holding on, tearfully recounted his ordeal. On their way back to the capital, they encountered fierce bandits on a remote mountain path. The guards fought desperately, but were outnumbered and all were killed. The maids and servants also perished. He himself was slashed and fell unconscious, barely escaping with his life.
“Your Highness…Your Highness…Your Highness, she…” the coachman sobbed uncontrollably, “Those damned bandits, seeing how beautiful the princess was, wanted to take her back…The princess refused to submit and managed to escape…But those beasts chased after her relentlessly…After I woke up, I struggled to find her, and only found this hairpin on the edge of a cliff…I also…I heard the villagers nearby say that a few days ago a group of thieves were drinking and boasting, saying…saying that a noblewoman refused to submit and jumped off a cliff…saying, ‘What a pity…’”
The words "jump off the cliff" were like a poisoned blade, piercing Zhao Jingyi's heart! His vision went black, and he staggered backward, his face turning deathly pale. He snatched the blood-stained jade hairpin, his hand trembling so much he could barely hold it.
"Impossible...impossible!" he roared hoarsely, his voice filled with unprecedented panic and despair. "Find her for me! Mobilize the troops immediately! Go to that place! Even if we have to turn the whole mountain upside down, we must find the Queen for me! Alive or dead...I must find her body!"
The Prince Yi's mansion instantly plummeted from its initial joyful anticipation into boundless fear and chaos. Zhao Jingyi, like a wounded, trapped beast, his eyes red, personally mustered his troops; he was about to rush to that precipice that haunted his dreams and terrified him!
Meanwhile, in a remote mountain village a hundred miles away...
A kind-hearted hunter couple were carefully tending to an unconscious girl in their humble thatched hut. The girl was soaking wet, her clothes torn by tree branches, and she had severe abrasions on her forehead and arms. She was pale and barely breathing. They had found her while fetching water downstream and, seeing that she still had a faint breath, had quickly brought her back to life.
"Alas, this girl must have suffered terribly," the old woman sighed, gently wiping the wound on the girl's forehead with a damp cloth.
They didn't know who the girl was, only that she had fallen from a great height and was incredibly lucky to have survived. This girl who had miraculously survived was none other than Qin Yuti, who had jumped off the cliff. Would she wake up? And what would happen to her after she did? All of this remained unknown. Meanwhile, the young prince in the capital, whose mind had been thrown into chaos because of her, was leading his men, charging frantically towards the mountains that had brought the devastating news.
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