The snow peak was abnormally frigid, where water instantly froze upon contact. The wind howled past, brazenly brushing across one’s face like knife cuts.
Changling looked at the vast expanse of white before her, feeling rather bewildered for a moment. Her memory seemed fragmented, unable to recall anything.
Her vision swayed forward. She lowered her head and discovered someone was carrying her on their back, climbing step by step up the mountain peak. She could only see his shoulder but couldn’t make out his appearance.
Who was he?
Changling wanted to speak but found she couldn’t open her mouth at all. Some inexplicable sense of powerlessness bound her, as if this precarious heaven and earth weren’t real at all.
But rather a dream.
The bone-piercing cold had long since caused her ten fingers to curl stiff. From marrow to heart, she couldn’t help but shiver. Every sensation was too real, to the point where she began to doubt this wasn’t a dream but something she had actually experienced.
The man carrying her seemed severely injured. Every step he took was treacherous, as if walking on thin ice. When he was about to collapse, he would stop to catch his breath twice, then continue climbing up the icy, unmelted mountain path.
“Changling…”
That person suddenly called out. She clearly heard it, yet couldn’t hear it clearly.
Changling lay against his shoulder, leaning over several times but unable to see his face. She bit her teeth and used all her strength to slide down from his back—
Suddenly, heaven and snow spun and intertwined before her eyes. The staggered firmament and cold all drifted away.
Changling opened her eyes with difficulty. What met her gaze was white bed curtains. The afterglow of the setting sun shone through the window onto them, creating a somewhat glaring brightness.
She discovered herself lying on a soft bed. Her hands and feet still felt frozen, though not completely numb. She managed to prop herself up to sit, pulled back the bed curtains, and looked around the room.
This wasn’t the inn at Anxi Town, but judging from the furnishings and decorations, it was still an inn.
Changling sat dazed for quite a while before belatedly recalling the scene before she lost consciousness.
Her aunt had inexplicably gone mad, and she had been cut by the blade and poisoned.
She lowered her head to see her index finger wrapped in gauze with medicinal herbs applied inside.
Changling sat cross-legged and circulated her power briefly. Her true qi flowed for a moment, gradually recovering some warmth. Her martial arts didn’t seem restricted, except for a lingering chill that remained by her side, impossible to drive away completely.
Who saved me? Was it Aunt?
Footsteps approached from outside the door. She put on her shoes and stood up supporting herself on the bed rail. She had just taken two steps forward when the door creaked open as someone pushed it.
When her gaze met that azure robe, Changling’s heart sank slightly. It was Fu Yangui.
Fu Yangui carried a food box in his hand. Seeing Changling standing by the bed, he first froze, then hurriedly placed the food box on the table and walked forward two steps. “The Freezing Ice poison in your body hasn’t been eliminated yet. You can’t move about easily…”
Changling stepped back. The soles of her feet hurt from the cold. She barely managed to steady herself by gripping the chair back. Various possibilities flooded her mind, finally settling on Fu Yangui. Her knuckles turned white from clenching. “Where is this? Why are you here?”
Seeing that her whole body and demeanor were screaming “stay away from me,” Fu Yangui consciously stepped back and soothed, “This is an inn in Yanling Town. After you were poisoned by the Freezing Ice toxin, you’ve been unconscious for two days.” Seeing she still looked wary and bewildered, he added, “After you left that night, I still wanted to persuade you more, so I followed you to your inn. Later I heard sounds of fighting. When I entered the room, you had already fainted… Seeing you were poisoned by Freezing Ice toxin, I took the liberty of bringing you into the military camp to have the army physician treat you.”
Yanling Town? That wasn’t far from Jinling.
Changling looked at Fu Yangui warily, unable to figure out his game for the moment. She only said, “Where is my aunt?”
“Aunt?” Fu Yangui froze for a moment, then understood. “So she’s your aunt… After I arrived, she ran out. I saw you lying on the ground at the time and thought you were severely injured, so I didn’t have time to stop her… Since she’s your aunt, this is truly strange. Why would she attack you and poison the blade?”
Changling didn’t respond. The reason for Yue Qingyi’s madness was indeed strange, and the poison on the blade was also perplexing. But since she had already been unconscious for two days, if Fu Yangui wanted to harm her, he would have done so already. There was no need to wait until now.
She glanced at him and said, “Thank you, Minister Fu, for saving me. Now that I’m awake, you can let me leave, can’t you?”
“As long as the Freezing Ice poison remains in your body for one day, Miss, you won’t be able to move an inch. Even if I wanted to let you go, how far could you walk?” Fu Yangui opened the food box and arranged the hot dishes inside one by one, finally ladling a bowl of hot congee and placing it in a position closer to Changling. “I truly don’t understand—in one day we can reach Jinling. Why must you keep me at such a distance?”
The congee was sprinkled with scallions and minced meat, gently steaming. Several small dishes of hot stewed crocks were also perfectly fragrant and appetizing. They subtly stimulated taste buds that hadn’t eaten in two days, while also subtly making one feel that only by swallowing all these things could one alleviate this bodily chill.
Changling’s gaze flickered for a moment, then she approached the table. Without any hesitation, she picked up the bowl and chopsticks and began eating.
Fu Yangui was somewhat surprised. He had originally prepared himself for Changling to overturn the table and leave. “Aren’t you afraid I’ve poisoned the food?”
“Already poisoned—what else is there to add?” Changling drank the entire crock of fish and pork rib stew in one go, finally feeling much warmer. “Minister Fu, let’s speak plainly. This time you’ve saved my life. The first matter you mentioned before—I don’t mind doing it. As for the second matter, I cannot possibly agree to it. Even if it’s fake, it’s impossible. However, if you insist on telling Shen… telling the Emperor that I’m your fiancée, as long as he doesn’t come before me to ask, even if I want to refute it, he won’t hear it anyway.”
Fu Yangui heard a conciliatory tone in these words. He froze, then actually felt somewhat happy. “You mean it? You’re willing to return to Jinling with me?”
Changling raised her eyebrow slightly. “Since we can return to Jinling tomorrow anyway, I really have no need to resist desperately…”
“No, Miss Changting has misunderstood again… If you truly wanted to leave, how could I harm you?” Fu Yangui couldn’t help but smile again, inexplicably stammering somewhat. “I originally, I originally thought that after you woke up, you would be very angry… I thought you wouldn’t want to see me…”
“I truly don’t want to see you, but since you saved me, I have nothing to say.” Changling ladled congee while saying casually, “This is all I can do, but the premise is that you must guarantee Young Marquis can be safe and sound. Otherwise, you’ll only regret bringing me back to Jinling City.”
Upon hearing this, Fu Yangui readily agreed. “Naturally.”
“Additionally, I have one more condition.” Changling said, “Minister Fu has extensive connections. If you can send people to find my aunt, I will naturally have another reward for you.”
“Good. Fu will certainly do his utmost.”
Having said this, Changling didn’t continue the conversation. Fu Yangui, seeing she could talk with him this much at once, was already content. Watching her show signs of fatigue after eating, he ordered servants to replace the charcoal brazier in the room, then consciously left, letting her rest well before departing for Jinling the next day.
Only after Fu Yangui had walked far away did Changling drop her peaceful facade. The hand clenched in her sleeve had already pinched out bruises.
She was no longer that Second Young Master from years ago who would easily offer sincerity. Such coincidences, such performances—no matter how seamlessly arranged—she would never believe again.
From the moment she saw Fu Yangui, Changling had almost concluded that he was the one who poisoned the blade, and he was also the one who played the bamboo flute to drive her aunt mad.
By this reasoning, even the person who lured her aunt to the Qian residence was Fu Yangui.
His two so-called cooperation requests on the bridge meant she had to agree whether she agreed or not, had to compromise whether she wanted to or not.
All to make her willingly accompany him back to Jinling.
Since someone surnamed Fu could calculate and scheme step by step to this point, naturally he could also calculate her desire to escape.
Changling admitted she wasn’t material for scheming and plotting. At present, she could only pretend to fall for his trap. After entering the capital city with him, she would take things one step at a time—
However, the only thing that perplexed her was: why did he insist she go with him?
The sun had already set. The full moon was slightly waning.
Changling stood by the window and pushed it open forcefully. Outside the window, she saw thorny shrubs growing densely within a bush. Thorn flowers bloomed brilliantly in the night.
She seemed to see something. In an instant, her pupils suddenly contracted!