Chapter 52 Escape
Yu Fei's heart was pounding like a drum. She tried her best to calm herself down and think about how to escape.
There is a secret passage in the wardrobe of Jingyi's room, leading to the back door of the palace. It is his secret hiding place, but the entrance switch needs Jingyi's python jade pendant to open. She checked it and confirmed it was correct.
She had wanted to steal the jade pendant for a long time. Two days ago, she found an excuse to call Jing Yi over and found that he was not wearing the jade pendant. She recalled the details of their past meetings and the subtle clues in the original text and found that he would only wear the jade pendant around his waist on important occasions.
As for the reason, she guessed that it was probably because of the difference between his and Jing Cang's jade pendants. Jing Yi was ambitious and was probably ashamed of it, so he was unwilling to show it to others. And he had to show off the gift at court meetings and banquets, otherwise he would be easily suspected of having ulterior motives.
Yu Fei glanced at the jade pendant with python pattern hanging on Jing Yi's waist.
Today was the day when he and Jing Cang would have a decisive battle and the winner would be the victor. He probably wanted to avenge his past shame and prove that he could transform a python into a dragon, so he brought this thing with him.
If only she could turn into a bird, take the jade pendant, open the secret passage, and fly out of the palace. Then she wouldn't have to face the difficult question of who would live and die between her and Jing Cang, not to mention that she would have to kill... her lover with her own hands.
"Do you want to eat it yourself, or do you want me to feed you?" Jing Yi glanced at her.
Yu Fei glanced at the jade pendant on his waist, deliberately moved a step closer, and said in a pretentious tone: "Didn't you say that this thing will be poisonous after two hours of ingestion? I haven't even washed and dressed yet. If I eat it now, I'm afraid I won't be able to complete the important task for the prince before I die. I will take it before I leave."
Jing Yi pinched her cheek lightly, leaned over her neck and sniffed it, his tone slightly teasing: "Miss Yu is naturally beautiful, with a scent all around her body. She doesn't need to be washed or painted to make people crazy."
Qianqian sighed, "My brother is almost at the gate of the palace, and I can't tolerate your little girl's thoughts."
Yu Fei pretended that she couldn't stand Jing Yi's flirting, and grabbed his belt and hem in confusion, and said shyly and helplessly: "Okay, let me change my clothes. I feel like I've been stuck in the room for a few days, and my body smells."
She grabbed his jade pendant and shook it, as if she was acting coquettishly.
Jing Yi didn't take it seriously and said sternly, "Yu Fei, you are making excuses. Are you trying to play tricks?"
Seeing her face getting colder, his tone turned gentle, "When it's done, you can wash it any way you want. I will serve you personally and even draw your eyebrows and lipstick for you."
Yu Fei hummed softly, as if he didn't hear anything.
Jing Yi took the porcelain bottle from the attendant's tray and grabbed Yu Fei's jaw forcefully, forcing her to open her mouth. He pulled out the stopper from the bottle with his mouth and raised the Duanchangsan to pour it into her mouth.
Yu Fei suddenly burst into tears.
Jing Yi was stunned for a moment.
At this moment, Yu Fei thought of her modern self, who was wandering among flowers, living a life of drunkenness and dreaming. She looked glamorous, but in fact she was just a poor wandering ghost. Even after her death, it was not certain that anyone would sincerely feel sad for her and burn paper for her.
Coming here, she took every step carefully to survive and accidentally bumped into another person's heart. Maybe they once had each other briefly, but it was all just a dream in the end.
If she died, Jing Cang would offer commemoration to her grave during the Qingming Festival, right?
She would not obey Jing Yi's orders, and only hoped that Jing Cang would kill him and avenge her. Compared to Jing Cang's revenge after knowing Jie Gu, she believed that Jing Yi would kill him after the success. For a future prince who successfully usurped the throne, only the dead can keep the secret forever.
Moreover, she was happy and willing to kill him before he raised his sword against her.
She still has a bit of a love brain. Yu Fei thought to herself with self-mockery: What if Jing Cang's previous performance was just to trick her into letting her get out of trouble? When she found out the truth, he turned his face and was ruthless, still not caring about her life or death as in the original text...
It's a pity that she couldn't see it, and she was even a little glad that it ended in a sweet lie.
She won’t be alone on the road to the underworld, because her mother will come to pick her up.
…
In just a few breaths, the memories and thoughts of her past and present lives flashed through Yu Fei's mind like a passing scene. She closed her eyes, smiled bitterly, and drank the poison.
"stop!"
A gentle female voice interrupted them, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.
Yu Fei closed his eyes and saw Yu Shuang snatching the porcelain bottle from Jing Yi's hand breathlessly and asking him, "Why did you want to kill Yu Fei?"
Jing Yi held his head as if he had a headache, "I just want Yu Fei to do something for me."
"What is it?" Yu Shuang insisted, "You promised me that you would not harm the prince's life."
Jing Yi's expression was a little distorted, "The current situation has changed, and we can't just use the previous promise to cover it up."
"What happened?" Yu Shuang asked.
Jing Yi's face was uncertain. He pondered for a while and ordered his servants: "Come here, drag her away and lock her up!"
The servant immediately stepped forward, tried to snatch the porcelain bottle from Yu Shuang's hand, and took her away in shackles.
Yu Fei looked at Jing Yi's nose and her heart, guessing that Jing Yi had not told Yu Shuang that the bondage had been resolved on her, and that Yu Shuang had somehow learned that Jing Yi was going to poison her, so she came to save him. It seemed that she still had feelings for Jing Cang.
Jing Yi's behavior is understandable. He and Yu Shuang were working together through a medium, but now that the medium has disappeared, he no longer has the capital to win in Yu Shuang's eyes. Who knows, Yu Shuang might seek profit and avoid harm - turn against him and inform on him.
The enemies were in internal strife, and Yu Fei did not mind adding fuel to the fire so that he could find a good opportunity to escape.
She pretended to be innocent and said, "It's okay to tell my sister. It's just that the prince asked me to go out of the palace to kill Jing Cang. He was afraid that I would not be obedient, so he used poison..."
"Shut up!" Jing Yi glared at her fiercely.
Yu Shuang was shocked, then threw the porcelain bottle to the ground with force. The bottle broke into pieces and the poison powder scattered all over the ground.
She asked Jing Yi, "They have a pig, why did you want to kill the prince?" Then she realized, "Could it be that something went wrong with the pig?"
Jing Yi was hit in the heart, and seeing the mess on the ground, he shouted angrily: "Hurry up and take her away!"
The attendant hurriedly obeyed, and he shouted again: "Go find another bottle of Duanchangsan!"
Yu Fei played with Jing Yi's jade pendant and patted his waist twice, saying softly: "Okay, your prince can hold the boat in his stomach, don't bother with her. It's not like I don't want to eat the poison, bring it to me later, I will eat it immediately, eat it myself..."
Jing Yi rolled his eyes at her and said unhappily, "If you really wanted to, you wouldn't have said those words to provoke her just now."
Yu Fei was embarrassed, and then sniffed in a wronged manner, "Of course I'm not happy that you treat me like that, and I'm definitely trying to make you angry."
She raised her chin and gestured, "It hurts so much, my face must be red from your pinching, you don't feel sorry for me at all."
Jing Yi looked at the two red marks on her fair face, which looked like a delicate flower that was slightly broken. The petals became more rosy and tempting, making his blood boil and making him want to pick them and ravage them.
He held down her hands that were restless on his waist and said with a smile, "You haven't even tried it, so how do you know I don't love you?" He stroked her delicate skin and said, "How about I make it up to you right now?"
Yu Fei quickly let go of the jade pendant.
She wanted to take advantage of the ambiguity and wait for an opportunity to tear off Jingyi's jade pendant, but she didn't expect that it aroused his lust and anger.
She pulled her hand back in shame and snorted, "This is our first time together, and if you want to be so perfunctory, I definitely don't agree. Good things are worth eating when they're late. I hope we can both eat to our heart's content instead of rushing to fill our stomachs."
Jing Yi had seen many women in his life, some noble, some gentle, some charming... but none of them was as good as Yu Fei. Sometimes she seemed like a virtuous woman, and sometimes she seemed like a seductive woman. Her every word and action seemed to carry a hook, making people love and hate her and unable to stop.
He was infatuated for a moment, and said with a smile from the bottom of his heart: "Yu Fei, I regret that I didn't meet you earlier."
Yu Fei: “…”
It would have been no use meeting him earlier, as she was resisting the rotten cucumber in her heart.
Feeling that what he said just now was quite sincere, she took the opportunity to say, "Please give me more guidance in the future, Your Majesty." She led him to stand up, "Okay, I really need to change into a skirt. You wait for me outside the door. Once the Duanchangsan comes, I will eat it obediently."
As she spoke, she gently threw him into her arms, hugged him, and then pulled off his jade pendant.
"Okay." Jing Yi didn't notice and went out happily.
Yu Fei quickly opened the closet and placed the python-patterned jade pendant on the switch at the entrance to the secret passage. With a "click" sound, half of the closet wall slowly moved away, revealing a dark cave half a person's height. A vague white light shone from the depths, and the secret passage seemed to be illuminated by luminous pearls on both sides.
She bent down and slipped inside.