Half a year had passed, but Ming Yi still remembered that night vividly. Her poison had flared up, causing her to kneel and vomit blood, staining the sapphire carpet with a terrifying crimson.
The Empress Consort rushed in but didn’t help her up. Instead, she stood at the doorway, resentfully saying, “You couldn’t even hold out for one more day?”
At the time, Ming Yi didn’t understand the meaning behind those words. She had never experienced the poison’s effects before and didn’t know how to endure the sudden corrosion of her meridians.
Later, she understood. The Empress Consort only cared about her struggle with Madam Meng. This time, the place hiding large quantities of poison and antidotes had been discovered and burned down by Madam Meng in her bid for power. The Empress Consort couldn’t even show a bit of empathy, expecting Ming Yi to delay her poisoning to help her win this round.
Ming Yi had always been understanding, helping her win many times. But at that moment, she was in so much pain that she knelt before her, laughing, “Mother Empress, aren’t you going to ask if I might die?”
The Empress Consort didn’t need to ask; she knew the answer.
“I’m the one who least wants you to die. You know how many years of effort my family and I have invested in nurturing you.” She looked at Ming Yi coldly, as if staring at a completely useless thing, wanting to place expectations but feeling Ming Yi couldn’t bear them, only able to sigh repeatedly.
Ming Yi, pale-faced, suddenly asked, “If I wasn’t born with the Great Red bloodline, would Mother Empress still acknowledge me?”
The Empress Consort didn’t answer. At that moment, Madam Meng burst into the courtyard with her people, smiling and calling out, “Sister, are you catching up with your daughter? Guests have arrived, come out and greet them.”
The word “daughter” terrified the Empress Consort. Without thinking, she pushed Ming Yi into Ming An’s arms and said coldly, “Dispose of her. Don’t let them have a chance to examine the corpse.”
Ming An jumped out the window with Ming Yi.
The night in Chaoyang City wasn’t cold, but the wind was strong, making it hard for her to keep her eyes open. She could only smell the blood constantly seeping from the corner of her mouth and the burning torches held by the guards beside her.
She never imagined that her mother’s last words would be to dispose of her, leaving no trace of her remains.
The scenes of her fighting for her mother, her mother’s family, her father, and Chaoyang City over the past decade were all torn apart and burned in the torchlight, as pitiful as a joke.
Ming An looked back at her in the firelight and suddenly asked, “Does Your Highness have anything to say?”
Ming Yi opened her mouth and frowned, “So, there’s poison in my body.”
“It’s been there since you were ten years old.”
“So losing to an unknown opponent today wasn’t because I wasn’t skilled enough, but because the poison’s effects were unbearable.” Ming Yi closed her eyes, “You need to know this fact and inform the others in the inner court.”
Ming An remained silent for a long while.
The group carried her out of the main city. Ming An dismissed everyone and approached her with a dagger. At that time, Ming Yi had no strength to resist and could only lie there waiting for death.
Unexpectedly, he came over and cut the ropes binding her, placing her on a nearby beast carriage.
“Your Highness asked the Empress Consort today if she would still acknowledge you if you weren’t born with the red meridians.” He smiled, his words full of meaning, “The child born to the Empress Consort can only have innate red meridians.”
The Empress Consort’s clan was originally nomadic. Because of their special bloodline, the clan had produced two or three exceptionally talented fighters, and most of their children were born with talent. That’s why they were exceptionally accepted into the rear palace by the Chaoyang City authorities.
Her first child, the focus of everyone’s attention, couldn’t have ordinary meridians. Even concubine red or water red wouldn’t be acceptable. It had to be pure Great Red.
So Ming Yi, born with red meridians, even though she was a girl, had to disguise herself as a boy to become the Empress Consort’s son.
“There’s someone who might be able to help you, who can cure your poison and bring you back to Chaoyang City.” As the beast carriage was about to leave, Ming An handed her a note, “Live on, Your Highness. Go find him. If he’s still alive, he should be about your age.”
…
The wind blew through the curtains of the beast carriage in her memories, now gently lifting the stray hairs at Ming Yi’s temples.
She looked at the man before her: “I don’t remember ever granting you any favors, nor do I recall having much of a relationship with you. In the inner court, you usually didn’t care about anyone except the Empress Consort.”
There was no reason for him to help her like this if he couldn’t gain any benefit from her.
Ming An smiled, wrinkles appearing at the corners of his eyes: “Your Highness will understand in the future. But for now, please leave quickly. If the Empress Consort learns that you’re still alive, she won’t easily give up. After all, if your identity as a daughter is confirmed, the Empress Consort’s clan would face the crime of extermination.”
Ming Yi frowned even deeper: “I remember, although you’re distantly related to the Empress Consort, you’re still of the same clan. There’s even less reason for you to risk clan extermination to let me go, unless…”
“Your Highness,” Ming An interrupted her, smiling slightly, “Since we can meet again, there’s still a long way ahead. Why rush to understand everything at this moment?”
Hearing footsteps in the distance, Ming Yi fell silent. She gave Ming An a deep look, then grabbed a few bags of coins from beside the bed, threw one to him, and jumped out the window with Xiuyun in her arms.
The coin bag was heavy, with many high-value coins inside. Ming An raised an eyebrow, felt the bag, and smiled.
The footsteps behind grew closer. The door opened again, and Guard Captain Ying Liencan entered with his men. He looked at Ming An and shook his head: “The Empress Consort gave you a chance to redeem yourself.”
“I’ve committed no crime, why would I need redemption?”
“Privately releasing a fugitive twice, even with the kinship of being clansmen for over a decade, can’t save you now.”
Smiling as he weighed the bag in his hand, Ming An handed it to Ying Liencan: “We’ve worked together for so many years. It’s not too much to ask for you to bury me, is it?”
Ying Liencan took the money bag and lowered his eyes.
His men rushed out following Ming Yi’s direction, a grand pursuit. At this moment, he raised his sword, holding it above Ming An’s head.
…
Ming Yi ran forward without looking back. Xiuyun was too slow, so she carried her on her back, intermittently flying on her sword. When her Yuan power was depleted, she would run on the ground for a while, rest, and then fly again. In this way, they managed to avoid being caught.
Xiuyun was too jostled to speak. When Ming Yi stabilized on the sword, she finally said, “That man seemed so kind. He kept looking at you… like you were some kind of treasure.”
Ming Yi was stunned, her speed suddenly slowing.
She rarely saw Ming An and had little interaction with him. In her memory, whenever her mother came to check on her training, Ming An would stand in the distance, hands clasped, occasionally glancing over.
Far from being kind, he had barely spoken to her in over a decade. Why would such a person suddenly show such emotion?