Yan Gongyi knelt in the snow, covering her face and pretending to sob.
Yu Nanqing raised her hand and rubbed her temples in worry: "How old were you back then?"
Yan Gongyi, the great-granddaughter of the Snake Clan Chief, is three years younger than Su Wanyan. She met the Snake Clan before he became paralyzed, and at that time, Yan Gongyi was just a child in his eyes.
Of course, he was still a child back then.
No, unlike that, even now, Yan Gongyi is still a young girl.
"I don't care, Brother Nanqing has changed."
Su Wanyan said that learning the writing and language of a race would take a long time, but in reality, Yu Nanqing did not stay in the snake tribe for long, only a little over three months.
The matter was from a long time ago, and Yu Nanqing could no longer recall the details.
Seeing that Yu Nanqing didn't speak, Yan Gongyi continued to cry and fuss, "Brother Nanqing! Please help me up... Waaah... It hurts so much when I fell..."
Yu Nanqing watched without making any move, his long, narrow eyes narrowing slightly: "I have already communicated with the clan leader. Once the New Year is over, they will send someone to pick you up and take you back."
Upon hearing this, Yan Gongyi's heart sank, and he looked up in astonishment: "What?"
"I don't want to!" Yan Gongyi frowned. "I'm not going back! I want to stay with Brother Nanqing!"
She quickly scrambled to her feet: "Brother Nanqing, I don't need you to help me up anymore. Please don't send me away, okay?"
As she spoke, she reached out to tug at Yu Nanqing's sleeve, but Yu Nanqing stepped back slightly, and Yan Gongyi's hand missed its target.
"Why?" Yan Gongyi looked up pitifully. "Brother Nanqing, I won't fight with her. I just want to stay by your side. Just don't send me away. Is that not enough? I... I finally found you!"
“I have said…” Yu Nanqing lowered his eyes: “I have corresponded with the clan leader.”
"I already said I don't want to go back!" Yan Gongyi shouted.
However, the next second, as if realizing something, Yan Gongyi suddenly opened her eyes wide and looked at Yu Nanqing in disbelief.
His shocked eyes were filled with visible panic: "Could it be...?"
Yan Gongyi's heart trembled, and she couldn't help but take a step back, shaking her head in panic: "I...I don't know anything...I...I want to go back!"
However, before she could turn around, two figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere and blocked her way. Tanaka and Rakuyuki looked at her with indifferent expressions.
Yan Gongyi's heart tightened, and she turned back to look at Yu Nanqing with a pitiful expression: "Brother Nanqing, you weren't like this before... You wouldn't have treated me like this before..."
Yu Nanqing remained calm, her eyes showing no emotion whatsoever.
before?
The former Yu Nanqing is long dead.
If it weren't for Su Wanyan, he would have died long ago.
Yu Nanqing took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Yan Gongyi with a blank expression: "You don't have to say anything. After the New Year, you can go back with the people sent by the clan leader."
Yan Gongyi trembled slightly with guilt, glancing at the contents of the letter out of the corner of his eye, but dared not take it.
Hearing Yu Nanqing's words, a glimmer of hope rose in her heart: "Brother Nanqing, if I tell you, will you not send me away? Will you let me stay by your side?"
Yu Nanqing's composed brows twitched slightly, but he remained silent.
Yan Gongyi assumed he was admitting it, and gritted her teeth: "Yes! But it's not my fault! It's Brother Nanqing's fault. If Brother Nanqing hadn't been for that woman, the Empress Dowager wouldn't have come to us! I... I didn't want to either! But I can't watch Brother Nanqing be bewitched by that woman!"
As soon as Yan Gongyi finished speaking, Yu Nanqing's eyes darkened even more.
His prediction was indeed correct.
“My great-grandfather is old and his mind isn’t working well anymore. The snake clan is a small tribe, but it is still part of the Great Jin territory. Even though the Empress Dowager sent people, he still insisted on his own way and almost lost the lives of the entire clan. If it weren’t for me… if it weren’t for me agreeing to the Empress Dowager’s request, Brother Nanqing would never have seen us again! What does Brother Nanqing know about all this!”
Yan Gongyi became more and more agitated as she spoke, clenching her fists in her sleeves, whether out of anger or grievance, it was hard to tell.
However, in the end, she loosened her fist and looked at Yu Nanqing with hope: "But it doesn't matter. As long as I can stay by Brother Nanqing's side, the Empress Dowager won't harm our snake clan. Brother Nanqing, we saved you before, you won't repay kindness with enmity, right?"
After saying that, she stepped forward and approached Yu Nanqing, wanting to throw herself into his arms: "Brother Nanqing... I... I was so scared. I came out of the clan to find you, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. I was captured by bandits and almost died..."
"The snake clan is skilled in making poisons." Before even touching Yu Nanqing's clothes, Yan Gongyi was silenced by his words: "What do you intend to use the poison you've made?"
"I...I didn't!" Yan Gongyi hurriedly looked away.
She wasn't lying; she hadn't even had a chance to poison him yet!
"Is it that you haven't had the chance, or that you haven't found the opportunity yet?" Yu Nanqing's eyes were cold. Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Yan Gongyi by the neck. As he lowered his eyes, his killing intent was sharp: "I am not the same as before, and neither are you."
This was the first time Yan Gongyi had seen Yu Nanqing like this. Her heart skipped a beat, and whether from the cold or fear, her body trembled slightly. She couldn't help but let out a muffled groan: "Nan... Brother Nanqing..."
She hasn't made a move yet, has she?
What did she do wrong this time?
“The bandits come from Baiyou Valley. They are cruel and rampant. None of the people they rob have ever survived. How could you be an exception?” Yu Nanqing’s expression was cold.
He had already become suspicious the moment he first saw Yan Gongyi in the cabin.
How could she survive the bandits?
How did she happen to appear in front of him at such a convenient moment?
In the freezing cold, without any heating, how did she manage to emerge unharmed?
As he spoke, Yu Nanqing increased the force in his hand. In just a moment, Yan Gongyi felt as if his neck was about to be snapped. The feeling of suffocation spread from his throat to his whole body, until his fingertips felt cold.
“Nan… Brother Nanqing… I… we… saved you…”
Yu Nanqing remained unmoved by these words: "I am the Prince of Dajin, commanding the Dragon Banner Army. Protecting the country and saving me is the same as saving yourselves."
His voice was indifferent and cold, as if he were talking about something mundane.
If they ask him to repay their kindness, he will do so without hesitation.
However, if he were to use the debt of saving his life to harm the one he loves, then he would be an ungrateful wretch.
Yu Nanqing, who had already been stained with the blood of thousands, did not care about a few scattered ones.
"..." Suffocated, Yan Gongyi could no longer utter a single word, and his consciousness gradually blurred.
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