Her light, floating body fell to the ground, lying in the muddy rainwater.

Her forehead struck the ground, and her head shook with severe, intense pain that instantly spread throughout her entire body. She struggled to keep open those bloodshot eyes and saw that Jing Yi’s arm and back had each been pierced by an arrow. He fell forward, his heavy body crashing to the ground, splashing rainwater everywhere.

In her dazed state, many sounds reached her ears—the sound of rain, thunder, shouting, footsteps, the sound of weapons colliding with armor…

“Shu’er.”

She saw Wei Yi, saw him running toward her, but that figure grew increasingly blurry…

However—

Someone beat Wei Yi to it, carefully lifting her from the ground. In the next moment, her body nestled into a solid chest.

“Yunshu, Yunshu…” Jingrong called her name frantically.

She vaguely saw Jingrong’s extremely tense face. The firelight reflected off the rainwater on his face—stern yet so handsome, like icicles hanging from eaves in winter, crystal clear and beautiful.

She truly wished… she could keep looking at him like this.

But—

She could no longer hold on. Her eyelids drooped heavily until everything before her eyes went pitch black!

That night, the entire palace seemed immersed in a desperate rescue operation.

Tension, solemnity, blood, death… none of these were sufficient to describe this heart-stopping palace siege battle.

At this moment, at Prince Yi’s Manor.

Ji Muqing stood outside the building, gazing at the gradually brightening sky.

Although the sound of rain pattered loudly against the eaves and roof tiles, her heart was very calm.

At this moment, she clutched a pouch in her hand. The pouch was somewhat worn, and its design was not exquisite—it was simply embroidered with a few bamboo stalks and two leaves, not at all like something a person of her noble birth would wear.

She knew that Jing Yi had taken her eldest brother to besiege the palace.

She also knew that they had all been captured!

The entire courtyard was in shambles—discarded shoes, broken vases, even clothes left behind in haste…

An hour ago, when news of Jing Yi’s capture arrived, the manor’s maids and servants had taken away almost everything they could carry.

The once-glorious Prince Yi’s Manor now looked like ruins, utterly lifeless.

“Princess Consort, aren’t you leaving?” A young maid carrying a bundle came to ask.

She shook her head and turned to ask, “Where is the Secondary Consort?”

“The Secondary Consort is bedridden with illness, no… no one has gone to her.” Her voice was very small.

“I want to drink wine. Can you fetch me two jars of wine?”

“Ah? Wine?”

Ji Muqing removed two pearls from her hair ornament. “Two jars of the strongest wine. If you fetch them, these pearls are yours.”

Seeing the pearls, the maid’s eyes lit up. The manor’s treasures had already been emptied by those quick-handed people. What she had stuffed in her bundle were just ordinary items. Thinking there was still time to escape and she might as well complete this deal first, she quickly agreed and hurried off to fetch two jars of strong wine.

“Princess Consort, the wine is here!”

Ji Muqing nodded and gave her the two pearls from her palm.

The maid beamed with joy, tucking them into her waist pouch, then asked again, “Princess Consort, are you truly not leaving?”

She shook her head!

“Then this servant will take her leave.”

She nodded.

After the maid hurriedly left, she carried those two jars of wine away from the courtyard that had been like a prison to her.

Half an incense stick’s time later, she arrived at Chen Xiang’s room.

As soon as she entered, she smelled a strong medicinal odor. A bowl of medicine had been knocked over in the room—apparently the maids hadn’t had time to bring it into the inner chamber when they heard that Prince Yi had been besieged. Frightened, they had smashed the bowl on the ground and hurriedly left.

Carrying the wine, she walked into the inner chamber and saw a scene of complete chaos inside.

All the precious vases and calligraphy paintings were gone, and even the jewelry and clothing had been taken.

After her miscarriage, Chen Xiang had remained bedridden with illness, and her health deteriorated day by day.

Now, Chen Xiang had rolled off the bed, tangled in the bedsheet, onto the floor.

When she saw Ji Muqing enter, it was as if she saw a lifeline. She reached out her hand toward her, her pale lips trembling out a sentence, “Save me, save me, I don’t want to die.”

Hehe!

Ji Muqing’s expression was cold. She set down the wine, stepped forward, and helped her back onto the bed.

Chen Xiang gripped her hand tightly, pleading, “Help me, take me away from here. I promise, I’ll listen to everything you say from now on.”

She cried her heart out.

“Your health is poor. Rest well.”

“I know I’ve done many wrong things. You must hate me to death, but I’ve received my punishment too. I even lost my own child. I’m now left with all these illnesses—I’m in more pain than anyone. And now the prince has gotten into trouble too. We’ll all suffer the consequences. I don’t want to—I don’t want to die yet.”

“Didn’t you love him very much?” Ji Muqing’s tone was extremely cold.

Chen Xiang shook her head frantically, “No, it’s not like that.”

“I thought you two loved each other deeply, which is why you were so cruel to me.”

“Sister, I know I was wrong. It was all the prince who made me do it. He married you into the manor for his own purposes, and he made me treat you that way—it’s not my fault.” Chen Xiang was extremely agitated, gripping her sleeve tightly.

At this moment, Ji Muqing was her lifeline.

To survive, she could only beg and admit her wrongs.

But hearing these words, Ji Muqing let out a cold laugh, “Sister?”

How laughable!

Hadn’t she always called her “younger sister” so smoothly?

Chen Xiang quickly said, “Sister, I was blind. I was petty and narrow-minded. Please forgive me. From now on, you’ll be the elder sister and I’ll be the younger sister.”

“They say husband and wife are like birds in the same forest—when disaster strikes, each flies separately. How true those words are.”

“Eh! Sister?”

Ji Muqing took out from her waist the pouch embroidered with bamboo, holding it in her hand as she spoke, “This pouch belonged to Cailan. She wasn’t good at embroidery, but knowing I loved bamboo, she studied embroidery for a long time just to embroider this pouch for me. At the time, I found it ugly and nearly threw it away. Now that she’s gone, all she’s left me is this pouch.”

Eh?

Chen Xiang’s face instantly turned deathly pale. Her body leaned backward as she watched Ji Muqing’s originally calm face gradually harden, her features filling with a fierce and murderous aura.

“Sister? It’s not my fault. It was the prince who ordered people to beat her to death. My child was also poisoned to death by her.”

“You deserved it!”

“Sister…”

“Shut up!” Ji Muqing looked at her fiercely, gripping her jaw tightly, and said, “If it weren’t for you, she wouldn’t have died, and I wouldn’t have lived a life worse than death. The debt you owe should be repaid by you yourself.”

“No…” She shook her head frantically.

In the next moment, Ji Muqing flung her away forcefully.

Her body rolled heavily off the bed onto the floor once again.

“Ah!”

A sense of terror spread bit by bit into Chen Xiang’s eyes.