Chapter 79
She quickly realized that there's always a way out, and as long as you're alive, there's hope. Mu Qinhan is now very accommodating to her every need, so there's no need for her to provoke him at this time.
They got along fairly peacefully for the next few days.
Mu Qinhan was preoccupied with some matter and had to go to the palace every day. However, no matter how early he went to the palace, he always returned to his residence at the same time every day.
He was going to come back and have dinner with Mu Yulu.
Mu Yulu stopped her hunger strike and ate three meals a day without fail, enjoying each meal immensely. Sometimes she even ate more than Mu Qinhan. At these times, Mu Qinhan would watch her with a smile and keep putting food on her plate.
He seemed to really enjoy watching her eat; every time he saw her enjoying her meal so much, it put him in a great mood.
Several days passed, and it seemed that the important matter in the court was finally finished. Mu Qinhan finally had some free time to fulfill his promise and take Mu Yulu to the mountain outside the capital where she and Sanzhou Jinse had fled.
That day, he changed out of his usual black casual clothes and into a dark blue outfit that was easy to ride and shoot. He also instructed Tanxiang to change Mu Yulu into a light outfit as well, and took her out early in the morning.
A tall, black horse with snow-white hooves had already been prepared outside the Prince's mansion. The saddle and bridle on its back were very ornate, and it was clear at a glance that this was Mu Qinhan's mount.
Mu Yulu stopped at the door, her gaze sweeping over the horse. Then she looked around and found that there were no carriages or other horses nearby. She frowned and looked at Mu Qinhan.
Mu Qinhan nimbly mounted the black horse, then turned slightly to the side and extended a hand towards her.
Mu Yulu looked up at his figure high on his horse, hesitated for a moment, and finally placed her hand on his.
His hand tightened suddenly, pulling her close, while his other hand encircled her waist, pinning her to his side.
Mu Yulu felt her body suddenly become light and heavy, and before she could react to what was happening, he pulled her onto the horse.
He sat steadily behind her, holding the reins in one hand and still with his other hand around her waist, and rode off with her on horseback.
The horse was running very fast, and the violent jolting suddenly struck, forcing her to press tightly against his heaving chest. For a moment, she couldn't tell whether Mu Qinhan was doing it intentionally or unintentionally.
The official road rushed past in their field of vision, and the fields gradually spread out in the morning light. They were getting further and further away from the capital and closer and closer to that mountain.
Mu Yulu's heart pounded like a drum.
Mu Qinhan seemed to notice her reaction, glanced down at her, and then spurred his horse, making it gallop even faster.
The tracks left by the pursuers' horses at the foot of the mountain were still visible, but before Mu Yulu could take a closer look, the black horse charged up the familiar and steep mountain path.
The mountain road was rugged, and the ride on horseback was even more bumpy than before, but Mu Qinhan's arms were strong, keeping her firmly between the saddle and his chest.
Finally, they reached the relatively flat bend halfway up the mountain again. Mu Yulu looked back and took a deep look at the place where she and Sanzhou Jinse had parted ways. Mu Qinhan did not stop and led her to continue to the top of the mountain.
As soon as she reached the mountaintop, she saw the wreckage of that magnificent carriage. It was leaning precariously on the edge of the cliff, its canopy torn and rolled up, its frame twisted and deformed, and its body riddled with honeycomb-like arrow holes. In addition, there were countless broken arrows, densely packed in the ground around it.
Clear tire tracks remain on the boulders at the edge of the cliff, along with a large patch of congealed, blurry bloodstains, and below the cliff lies a bottomless, dark valley.
The scene was all too obvious. Sanzhou Jinse must have gone through a fierce battle. Just looking at the mess on the ground, even if Mu Qinhan didn't say anything, Mu Yulu herself knew that Sanzhou Jinse could not possibly have survived such a fierce battle.
Mu Qinhan pulled on the reins, and the black horse snorted and stopped a few feet away from the carriage.
Mu Qinhan spoke up at this moment: "My orders to them were to capture you alive, and kill all the Jinse from the three states without exception."
Mu Yulu was already numb from the shocking scene before her, and when she heard Mu Qinhan say that, she felt her blood rush to her head and freeze into ice in the next second.
A wave of dizziness washed over her, and she even felt her stomach churning. After a long while, she suppressed the discomfort caused by her intense emotions and gritted her teeth as she said to Mu Qinhan, "I want to go to the foot of the mountain to take a look."
Mu Qinhan lowered his eyes, his gaze falling on her pale face.
A mountain breeze swept up a few tattered white peach blossoms, which swirled and landed on the dark red bloodstains beside the wreckage of the carriage.
Time seemed to stand still.
Finally, Mu Qinhan's lips twitched up very slightly, forming a cold, emotionless arc. At this moment, he made a condition to Mu Yulu: "I can take you down, but you have to agree to one condition."
Without a moment's hesitation, Mu Yulu immediately replied with a blank "Okay".
Mu Qinhan's smile grew even colder: "Aren't you going to ask what conditions I want to make?"
Mu Yulu shook her head. She just stared at the bloodstains beside the carriage shaft and repeated, "Take me down to take a look."
Mu Qinhan fell silent. He suddenly tugged at the reins, and the black horse deftly turned around, heading down a steeper, winding path.
This path was rarely traveled and extremely difficult to traverse; even the mighty black horse struggled to move through the slippery gravel.
Mu Yulu was held tightly in Mu Qinhan's arms. Each violent jolt brought her dizziness. Her vision swayed violently with the rise and fall of the horse. On both sides were withered branches and strange rocks that kept receding. The cold atmosphere in the depths of the valley, mixed with the smell of rotting plants and the stench of mud, grew stronger and stronger, penetrating her lungs in wisps.
After an unknown amount of time of bumpy travel, the view suddenly opened up before them, but the light became even dimmer. They had finally reached the foot of the mountain, the valley shrouded in the shadow of the massive mountain.
This place seems to be a corner abandoned by the sun.
Towering ancient trees block out the sun, their gnarled roots entwined in the damp, soft soil, and thick piles of fallen leaves that rustle unsettlingly underfoot.
Mu Qinhan reined in the horse, stopping it at the edge of a relatively open depression.
He was the first to dismount, then stretched out his arms and lifted Mu Yulu down.
After dismounting, she staggered and was only able to stand steadily after Mu Qinhan gently lifted her up.
He released his grip, stood still with his hands behind his back, and scanned the gloomy valley with his gaze: "Search. If there are any remains, they will be here."
Mu Yulu didn't look at him. She ran through the thick layer of fallen leaves, stumbling and rummaging through every place that looked like it had been dropped. She searched silently.
Time slipped away in the silent search, and dappled light and shadow moved slowly and lengthened in the dense forest, eventually becoming blurred.
She couldn't find San Zhou Jinse, not even a blood-stained fragment of his white robe, or the remains of his usual longsword.
Finally, she stopped what she was doing, knelt down blankly, and seemed lost in thought.
Mu Qinhan stepped forward and slowly approached her. Seeing that she still didn't react, he bent down, picked her up, and carried her away.
After returning to the Prince's Palace, she fell seriously ill.
This time, unlike before, she didn't involuntarily think about her past life when she was sick.
In the hazy dream, only the image of Misuzu Sumire kept recurring.
Even she herself did not expect that she would be so heartbroken by his departure.
But she still didn't believe he had really fallen off the cliff and died; the fact that no body was found was the best proof.
The absence of a body means he may have managed to escape or been rescued.
After waking up from her coma, she began to treat herself well, take good care of herself, and comfort herself every day, telling herself not to rush, that all she could do now was wait patiently.
Waiting for the day when the Three States Violet suddenly appears, waiting for the day when Mu Qinhan is poisoned like in his previous life.
She had to recover her health before that day came, because according to the timeline of her previous life, Liu Wenshuang should have made her appearance not long after Mu Qinhan was poisoned.
In her past life, she felt like she was facing a formidable enemy just by hearing the name Liu Wenshuang, but in this life, she sees Liu Wenshuang as her lifeline.
I just hope that Mu Qinhan will still have a little conscience and let Liu Wenshuang go after he officially makes her his official wife, giving her a way out.
So, in the past few days, besides waiting for Mu Qinhan's poison to take effect, she also began to eagerly await the day when Liu Wenshuang would appear.
But before that day arrived, an unexpected event occurred that had never happened in the previous life.
After Mu Yulu recovered from her illness, Mu Qinhan revealed the conditions he had previously proposed to her on the mountain.
She truly hadn't expected that Mu Qinhan's condition would be for her to return to the Mu residence with him and help him search for evidence of her father, Mu Yugang, treason.
Mu Yulu was stunned: "Who are you calling a traitor?"
Her pot-bellied, easily angered, and volatile father, who only knew how to vent his anger on his wife and daughters after suffering humiliation outside.
It wasn't that she wanted to protect him, but no matter how you looked at it, he had nothing to do with the words "treason" or "collusion with the enemy."
"To be precise, he conspired with the Third Prince to bribe officials, form cliques, and betray the country." Every word Mu Qinhan spoke contained a great deal of information: "Of course, his crimes are far more than this; these are only a fraction of the whole."
When Mu Qinhan handed her a document that clearly read "Copy of Secret Letter from Mu Yugang to the Southern Rong," Mu Yulu felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.
She finally understood why the entire Mu family had been executed in her previous life.
It turns out it wasn't her who dragged them down, but rather her father. In her past life, Mu Qinhan had hated her from the very beginning; who knows if Mu Yugang wasn't a factor?
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