Chapter 52 The Substitute Princess Upon hearing this, everyone knew there was a woman inside…
The Qiaomingling mountain path, shrouded in mist, overgrown with trees and lush with vegetation, was only punctuated by the sound of rain.
The torrential rain soaked the entire ground, leaving deep ruts wherever the carts went.
"Junior Supervisor..." The servant's voice, accompanied by the sound of rain, drifted into the luxurious carriage from outside the golden Capricorn-patterned curtain.
Raindrops fell on the car roof with a muffled sound.
"What is it?" The person in the car sat upright, his eyes slightly closed. He spoke with a slightly suppressed tone, his voice lacking the roughness of an ordinary man's, yet not shrill or harsh. It was as if covered by a layer of sand, low, slow, and gentle.
"We have passed Jincheng County and are traveling northeast along Qiaoming Ridge. After crossing the Wei River, we will arrive at Jian'an in three days." After the attendant finished reporting, he waited for the person inside to respond.
Before the person inside could speak, a very soft moan came from inside the car.
Anyone who heard this would know that there was a woman inside.
The man opened his eyes; they were long, narrow, and beautiful phoenix eyes, cold and piercing.
He looked down at the person lying at his feet, remaining silent for a long time without making a sound, as if waiting for her to wake up.
"Hmm..."
A suppressed groan escaped her lips, the last syllable trembling as if abruptly cut off. The wound on her shoulder blade burned with excruciating pain, as if someone were taking a quenched needle and piercing her flesh, stabbing it out again and again. She bit her lower lip hard, her brow furrowed into a deep frown, cold sweat soaking through her gauze robe, the fabric clinging to her skin.
Tormented by pain, she finally opened her eyes.
Her eyelashes fluttered, casting dappled shadows on her pale cheeks. Her blurred vision gradually focused, and a blinding red hue was branded into her unfocused pupils.
His face was as white as if powdered, yet not vulgarly pale, like frost under the moon. His eyebrows were thin and sharp, slanting at the corners of his eyes, and his brown pupils were extremely cold and thin. The cross-collar gold and crimson official robe he wore accentuated his long neck. The light coming through the bright lamp in the carriage cast the illusory shadows of cloud patterns on the window lattice onto the side of the person in front of him, making him look as cold and aloof as an ink painting.
"You..." After being unconscious for two days and one night, Yu Nie's voice was hoarse: "Who... are you?"
When the man saw that she had woken up, his posture changed slightly, but he still looked down at her with cold eyes.
"It's good that you're awake. If you had died, I wouldn't have been able to explain myself."
What task to complete? And who is he? These two questions flashed through Yu Nie's mind. She tried to get up from the ground, only to realize that her hands were tied behind her back.
She struggled a few times, the hemp rope around her wrists tightening painfully, and the wound on her shoulder blade from the arrow made her gasp for breath.
Unable to break free, she stiffened her neck and raised her eyes, glaring at the person sitting on the soft couch inside the carriage: "Those who kidnap people are all punished by dismemberment. Judging from your clothes, you are no ordinary official. Don't you even know this little bit of the law?"
"Your Highness has been in the National Temple for so many years. I thought you only learned to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures. I never imagined that you would remember these golden rules of our dynasty so clearly."
“What princess?” She gritted her teeth and said through the pain, “I am Rong, and my given name is Yu Nie. I am from Lingbao Temple in Huaiyuan, Dingzhou. I do not change my name or surname.
He stared at her for a while after she introduced herself and gave her name.
Yu Nie felt uncomfortable being stared at, but she didn't back down: "What are you looking at? I'm really not the person you're looking for, let me go!"
The car bounced back and forth on the mountain road, and the rain started again.
Hearing the noise outside, Yu Nie struggled to sit up and looked out the car window, where faint firelight shone in.
She then realized that she didn't know where she was.
She looked at the person in front of her more closely, recalling her last memories before falling into the river.
I don't know which bastard shot her with an arrow, how did she end up in this carriage when she woke up?
What exactly happened during this process?
Those not far from her noticed the question in her mind.
He needed to make her understand who she was facing at that moment, and who she was now.
His tone was short and cold: "Disobeying the imperial decree and attempting to help the princess escape—these two crimes are enough to cost the Taoist priest his head."
Having guessed that he was the one who was hunting down Nie Lanting and Zhao Huayan, Yu Nie felt a chill run down her spine at his two intimidating words.
She peeked into the car; she was alone.
Just now, he addressed her as princess. It seemed... she pondered to herself, perhaps they hadn't actually captured Nie Lanting and his companion.
Thinking of this, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was better to catch one of them than all of them; it was good that they had escaped.
Although she was terrified, she remained calm and smiled gently, trying to exonerate herself: "Your Honor, I'm innocent! I wouldn't dare to disobey an imperial decree even if you gave me ten lives."
She fabricated a story: "I didn't know that one of them was a princess. I heard that soldiers were chasing them and thought they were bandits who had disguised themselves as imperial guards and were harming the people again. That's why I came to their rescue. I didn't mean to be an enemy of you, sir. Please let me go, considering my ignorance."
Such a lie is naturally full of loopholes.
But lying is better than having a crime pinned on her head; she couldn't bear the two capital offenses he mentioned.
As long as she can exonerate herself, she can simply deny it to the death.
Anyway, he had no evidence to prove that she knew Zhao Huayan and the others' true identities.
It is unknown where this act of disobeying imperial orders came from.
If she were an ordinary person, her thinking would be reasonable.
She was unaware that an imperial edict had been issued urgently urging the princess to return to the capital.
The people at the Imperial Horse Administration didn't care about any of that; they had no time to waste and only needed to achieve their goal.
The people wouldn't care about the evidence or anything like that she was thinking about.
After she finished speaking, the official in front of her ignored her and said, "Since Princess Shunhe disappeared with your help, the task she left behind must be completed by you."
Upon hearing this, Yu Nie sensed something was terribly wrong. What did she mean by being asked to complete it? She could even become a princess...?
Thinking this through, she broke out in a cold sweat and stammered, "You...you don't mean to use me as a substitute, do you?"
"You're not entirely shrewd." He looked at her coldly: "The princess has lived in the national temple for a long time, and when she goes out, she always covers her face with a veil. Only a handful of people around her have seen what she looks like, and those people, in order to protect themselves, will not reveal a single word."
His gaze was sharp as he slowly swept across her face: "You are quite beautiful; you would be the most suitable person to replace her."
Yu Nie was stunned speechless. He spoke of such a major event as replacing a member of the royal family as if he were borrowing rice from Granny Wang, taking it today and returning it tomorrow.
She blinked twice, her pupils contracting slightly: "...Are you crazy?"
Besides madness, she couldn't think of any other possibility. Unless there really was someone in this world who dared to risk their life as if it were food and water.
His face was as cold as ice: "If it weren't for you, why would the Imperial Stables take such a huge risk? Neither of us can bear such a heavy responsibility as the princess's disappearance."
“If no one is chosen to replace her, and the Emperor finds out the truth, do you know how many people will die? Marriage alliances are the duty of the royal family. If she doesn’t go, someone else will.”
His voice was icy: "Since monks are supposed to be compassionate, then please, Daoist, consider the lives of those below and take on this responsibility."
It was clearly a threat, but the way he said it made it sound like he was begging for her pity.
Despite the excruciating pain, with a layer of cold sweat glistening on her delicate nose, Yu Nie asked him, "What would you do if I didn't agree to act in this play with you?"
"Nothing will happen. Since Princess Shunhe went missing because of you, you will take full responsibility and make it easier to find the scapegoat." He said it as if it were for her own good: "If the Taoist priest feels tired of living, then go to the Yellow Springs with those people below."
Shunhe went missing, and she became involved in it.
From any perspective, she was the most suitable person to take the blame.
She knew that what the person in front of her said made sense; once the court found out the truth behind this matter, only the people below would die.
But would he really be so kind... to them?
She felt that things were not so simple, but since there were no other clues at the moment, she could only suppress her doubts for the time being.
Given the current situation, even if she revealed her identity as Huan Xun's wife, it wouldn't be of much use.
Those excuses from before were just fabrications to deceive Zhao Huayan and Nie Lanting into leaving peacefully, so there's no need to use them now.
It's clear that going to Longdao is no longer an option. If she can't return to the temple within fifteen days, Langxi and the others will likely be frantically searching for her.
Given her current situation, she can only take things one step at a time and has no time to worry about anything else.
Hua Yan has been betrothed to the Jie tribe leader, and she is now a fake Princess Shunhe. It is impossible for her to agree to this marriage.
She wondered how she could escape this predicament.
*
The mountain path was constantly muddy, and the orderly sound of iron hooves mingled with the patter of the pouring rain, interspersed with the occasional neighing of warhorses.
She glanced out the window, then turned back to the person in front of her: "Where are you taking me?"
He replied in a cold voice, "You were unconscious for two days and one night after being shot by an arrow. We have now reached Qiaoming Ridge. After crossing Qiaoming Ridge, we will reach Jian'an in less than three days."
Unexpectedly, she had been unconscious for so long, and in her heart, she cursed the person who had hurt her fiercely.
Although she couldn't go to Longdao, she was still thinking about it: "Is Qiaomingling far from Longdao?"
Not knowing why she suddenly asked about Longdao, he replied, "The night we bandaged your wound, we headed straight for Ganzhou from Anning Ferry. Near the fork in the road outside Jincheng County, we chose the shortcut of Qiaoming Ridge. As for Longdao, we had already left it more than a hundred miles behind."
Upon hearing this, Yu Nie felt frustrated and melancholy. She only wanted to be a gunpowder, so why did her fate have to be so unfortunate?
She sighed, and suddenly thought of Zijing.
She had originally planned to detour through Longdao to Jian'an to see him.
Now, we don't have to go around in circles anymore.
She wondered to herself, if she went to Jian'an and saw him, how would she explain it to him?
In just a few days, she transformed into a royal princess. This is beyond unbelievable.
Seeing things turn out like this, she glared at the person beside her. She was so unlucky; he was at least half responsible. It must have been one of his men who caused her to fall into the water; otherwise, she would have run away long ago.
With resentment in her heart, and too lazy to use honorifics anymore, she asked him bluntly, "Hey, what's your name? And what do you do at the Imperial Horse Administration?"
She added, "I am Princess Shunhe now. I can't possibly not even know your name and position. What if I accidentally expose myself one day?"
The person in front of her glanced at her, ignoring the disrespect in her tone, and closed his eyes wearily.
"Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Horse Stables".
“Gu Xiangzhi”.
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Author's Note: The Jian'an chapter begins! Yay!
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