Hearing this, Xiao Yichen raised his eyes to look at Mo Xiang. Mo Xiang straightened her back and was looking at him with an embarrassed smile, waiting for his answer. She no longer felt awkward as a maid in the palace.
The next moment, Xiao Yichen lowered his eyes and said, "This prince does not doubt Xue'er. If she wanted to kill someone, why would she use such a stupid method? Why would she do it in the palace? It is obvious that someone framed her. Although this prince knows that she is innocent, he does not know who the murderer is. He was deliberately tricked and locked up in the dungeon of the palace. This prince is even more worried that someone is against him. That night, he stayed in the dungeon, facing each other through a door. She fell asleep, and I was relieved."
"I thought I was careful enough. With so many layers of protection, not even a fly could get into the dungeon and hurt Xue'er. But I didn't expect that my other half, who loved him so much, would actually commit suicide by taking poison..." Xiao Yichen's voice was a little choked. When he thought of the cold body of Ji Lingxue that he saw at the last time, his heart felt as uncomfortable as if it was twisted in a knot.
Xiao Yichen raised his head, forced the tears back into his eyes, took a deep breath and said: "Mo Xiang, you have always been with Xue'er, you are her closest person, and he didn't leave a message for me?"
Looking at Xiao Yichen with sad eyes, Mo Xiang's heart also tightened. She clenched her hands in her sleeves into fists. Several times she almost couldn't help but break her fist and tell him the truth. This was her master's plan and she had to keep it secret from the prince. She couldn't ruin her master's plan.
Mo Xiang lowered her voice to make it sound more sad, "The master didn't leave a message for the prince..."
The light in Xiao Yichen's eyes gradually dimmed, and he didn't leave any words... She was really so ruthless.
Xiao Yichen's face was full of mist, as if a storm would break out at any moment. Seeing Xiao Yichen so sad, Mo Xiang couldn't help but console him, "Your Highness..."
Xiao Yichen looked up at Mo Xiang.
Mo Xiang slowly said three words: "You... condolences..."
Xiao Yichen nodded, stood up and said: "You take good care of her, and I will come to pick her up when I finish what I did last night." After that, he turned around and strode away, his back looking a little depressed.
Mo Xiang was stunned for a long time and didn't understand what Xiao Yichen meant.
On the other side, Ji Lingxue and An Ge disguised themselves as brother and sister, and rode fast horses to the border. She had been back and forth on this route several times and was already familiar with the terrain of the border city.
After finding an inn to rest, Ji Lingxue received news from An Ge as soon as she woke up, saying that Ru Ge and his group had been ambushed and disappeared at Jiayu Pass.
Jiayu Pass, together with Dayan and Dongqi, is full of steep cliffs, making it a great location for ambush and assassination. Ji Lingxue immediately went to the street to buy some luggage and rushed to Jiayu Pass with An Ge.
Based on the traces left by the horse's hooves, An Ge determined which mountain road Ru Ge was walking on. The two quickly found a cliff. There were still dried bloodstains on the grass, indicating how fierce the battle was here at that time, which could not be washed away even by a spring rain.
An Ge said, "Master, look at how fresh the blood is. The assassination here happened last night. Although it rained in the middle of the night, it failed to wash away the blood under the grass leaves. The blood disappeared when it reached the cliff. Should we go down the cliff to take a look?"
Ji Lingxue nodded, took out the hemp rope that she had prepared in advance from the bag behind her, found a tree trunk to tie it to, and then threw the rope off the cliff.
An Ge said, "Master, I will go down and explore the way first." In case there is any danger below the cliff, he can deal with it first.
Ji Lingxue smiled and shook her head, "No need." Saving lives is important, don't waste time on unnecessary things.
The two men went down to the bottom of the cliff one after the other. The cliff was dozens of feet long. It took some effort to follow the rock wall to the bottom of the cliff. The wild grass under the cliff was as tall as a person. Ten meters ahead, there was a light black fog, making it impossible to see the road ahead.
Ji Lingxue called Ruge's name twice, but got no response.
An Ge said: "Master, you have been shouting for so long but no one responded. It seems that the person you are looking for is not here. Let's go up."
The overgrown grass at the bottom of the cliff always made him feel creepy. His intuition told him that there must be some terrifying creature at the bottom of the cliff, and the person his master was looking for might have left long ago.
Ji Lingxue shook her head and said, "No, my sixth sense tells me that Ruge is here."
An Ge: “…” Master, is your sixth sense accurate
Ji Lingxue pointed at the black mist in front and said, "That is miasma. There is no wind at the bottom of the cliff. The miasma gathers on the ground. If Ruge and the others really come down from the cliff, they will inhale the miasma... They will not be able to walk out of the bottom of the cliff. At best, they will pass out, and at worst, they will die."
Miasma is the poisonous gas produced by the decay of animals and plants in some mountains and forests.
An Ge said, "It's so dangerous. Master, please wait here. I will use my Qinggong to fly around the bottom of the valley and find the person soon."
Ji Lingxue grabbed An Ge's sleeve and said, "Don't take risks." She only had this one expert by her side. If An Ge fell down, who would rescue her if she was in danger
An Ge lowered his eyes and said resolutely: "My life was given by my master. I am willing to do anything for my master."
The corner of Ji Lingxue's mouth twitched. She was speechless about this stubborn guard.
Ji Lingxue took out a mask from the bag on her back and handed it to An Ge, saying, "I still have use for your life, so don't keep saying things like that. Put this on. I put some detoxifying herbs in it."
An Ge smiled foolishly, took the mask handed to him by Ji Lingxue, put it on, and used his lightness skills to leap forward.
Hiss, hiss, hiss… Hiss, hiss…
Hearing unusual movements behind her, Ji Lingxue turned her head and saw a red gecko lying on the cliff, staring at her with its eyes rolling. Ji Lingxue narrowed her eyes, pinched out some medicine powder in her hand and sprinkled it on the gecko.
The white powder dispersed with the wind. When all the powder dispersed, the red gecko had disappeared. Only a pair of black boots stopped in front of her. Looking up, Ji Lingxue opened her eyes wide and saw Xiao Yichen's face coming into her sight. He was still as handsome as before, and his smiling eyes were silently looking at her, with tenderness written in his eyes.
Ji Lingxue's expression was a little stiff, she didn't know what words to use to describe her mood at the moment.
Why did Xiao Yichen find me so quickly? Did he know about my plan to escape? Why wasn't he angry at all when he saw me
These thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant, and Ji Lingxue smiled, "Xiao Yichen, why are you here?"
Xiao Yichen asked: "Ji Lingxue, what do you think of me?"
"Ah?" Ji Lingxue was puzzled. He thought Xiao Yichen would blame her and carry her back to the palace without saying a word, but he didn't expect him to ask such a question. What did he think of him? He was the prince of Dongqi, second only to the emperor and above everyone else. He was the patron saint of Dongqi, and he had conquered a large area of territory.
Xiao Yichen said: "Have you ever thought that I am your husband? Why didn't you tell me that you faked your death? Do you know how sad I was when I saw you committing suicide by taking poison?"
Ji Lingxue pointed at Xiao Yichen's face and said, "But Your Majesty, you don't seem to be very sad. Your face is still plump and not haggard at all."
Xiao Yichen raised his hand and pointed behind Ji Lingxue. Ji Lingxue turned around with a puzzled look on her face. Ruge had a gray face, messy hair, and torn clothes. She was walking towards her slowly like a beggar.
Xiao Yichen asked: "Ji Lingxue, in your heart, who is more important, him or me?"
Ji Lingxue said: Ruge is my sworn brother, so of course he is very important. Your Majesty, are you still jealous?"
Xiao Yichen said: "So you don't have me in your heart at all..." As he spoke, he raised his hand, and a sword suddenly appeared in his palm, and he stabbed towards Ruge's chest.
"No!" Ji Lingxue exclaimed. Without time to think, her body reacted faster than her brain and she quickly pounced towards Ruge.
thump!
The half-human-high weeds swayed, and Ji Lingxue was lying face down in a mud pit. When she looked up again, her face had been stained black by the mud.
Ji Lingxue turned her head and looked back. A breeze blew by, and the grass leaves made a rustling sound. Neither Xiao Yichen nor Ruge was behind her.
Ji Lingxue rolled her eyes at the sky. How ridiculous! She had never dreamed like this before. Could it be that red gecko...
"Master, are you okay?" An Ge's voice sounded at an inopportune time.
Ji Lingxue stood up with an embarrassed look on her face, dusted herself off and said, "Ahem, I'm fine. I just saw a pheasant running past here, and I wanted to catch it and roast it for dinner."
An Ge looked around, "Where's the pheasant?"
Ji Lingxue said: "Come here, that thing runs very fast, Thief Liu."
An Ge said "oh" and didn't dwell on the pheasant's question. He reported, "I have looked for it and indeed found a set of footprints ahead. I wanted to follow the footprints and have a look, but I was worried about the master's safety, so I came back to report."
Ji Lingxue said, "When you came here just now, did you find anything strange?"
An Ge thought about it carefully and shook his head: "No, there are only two of us here."
In fact, he had come over a moment earlier and found Ji Lingxue talking to herself in the air, and then strangely jumped into the weeds. His master would do such a strange thing, he must be possessed by a ghost, but didn't want others to know, so he pretended that he didn't see or hear anything.
"Oh..." Ji Lingxue felt a sense of loss and held a grudge against the hateful red gecko in her heart. She had better not let her meet that little thing again, otherwise, she would definitely skin it, remove its tendons, boil it in a pot and feed it to the dog.
Ji Lingxue took out a mask from her bag and put it on, then nodded to An Ge and said, "Let's go." It would be difficult to find her after dark.
An Ge said "Sorry", carried Ji Lingxue on his back and flew towards the place where the footprints were left like a swallow.
"Ruge... Yuchi Ruge..."
In the dark crevice of the cliff, a bloody hand was groping slowly. There were only stones beside the hand. Faint light illuminated the darkness from the cracks in the stones. Ruge moved his eyelids. Was he hallucinating
It’s great to be able to hear Ji Lingxue’s voice before I die.
(End of this chapter)