After Luo Wanqing was carried to the medical office for simple bandaging, she took the opportunity to ask the medical officials for some herbs, then was sent back to the water dungeon.
She and her mother had quite a reputation in Yangzhou’s medical circles. The medical official was very sympathetic to her. When she asked for herbs, he secretly gave her extra portions and had an apprentice grind them into powder and store them in bottles to prevent dampening in the water dungeon.
Luo Wanqing was thrown into the water dungeon along with her medicines. As soon as she entered the water, Liu Xiniang pulled her up, asking with concern: “How did it go? Did you see Xie Heng? What did he say?”
Luo Wanqing closed her eyes to recover. Seeing her appearance, Liu Xiniang’s gaze moved downward and noticed the whip marks on her back. With a thought, she understood the result and said carefully: “Well, if the Supervision Department won’t handle it, so be it. Life is long – there are always other ways. Exile… at least you’re still alive,” Liu Xiniang clumsily comforted her. “Exiled to Lingnan, after a few years, you can restore your commoner status, and then you and your family can continue living well in Lingnan. In a person’s lifetime, you can always look forward.”
Luo Wanqing said nothing. She leaned against the wall, seemingly thinking about something.
Liu Xiniang scratched her head, wanting to change the subject, then said: “Did you see Xie Heng just now? I was watching from far away – he seemed particularly handsome. You don’t practice martial arts, so your eyesight might not be as good, but I could see…”
“Xiniang,” Luo Wanqing suddenly spoke. Liu Xiniang quickly stopped and heard Luo Wanqing say seriously with her eyes closed: “Do you want to leave Fengyu Pavilion?”
Liu Xiniang was stunned but didn’t deny it, so Luo Wanqing knew her intention.
She slowly opened her eyes and said softly, “I heard that once you enter Fengyu Pavilion, you can only leave through death. Anyone who wants to leave is considered a traitor.”
“You…” Liu Xiniang realized something and said awkwardly, “Why are you asking this?”
“If I gave you an opportunity, would you be willing to leave?”
Luo Wanqing looked at her seriously: “If I’m willing to replace you and become Liu Xiniang, could you replace me and become Luo Wanqing?”
Liu Xiniang was stunned. She stared at Luo Wanqing incredulously: “What do you mean?”
“Your face is burned. I can use some medicines to delay its wound healing. Soon our family’s exile order will come down. Before leaving, I’ll burn my face, then we’ll meet at the medical office. The doctor should clean your wound, apply medicine, and wrap it with bandages – same for me. We’re similar in build. After our faces are wrapped in bandages, we’ll find a chance to switch clothes, and no one will be able to tell us apart. Then you go into exile, and I’ll stay in prison in your place. After the burns scab over, the muscles and skin will change. As long as I bite down and don’t let go,” Luo Wanqing looked up, continuing calmly, “From then on, I am Liu Xiniang. Fengyu Pavilion won’t trouble you. You’ll be free as a bird – go wherever you want.”
This speech somewhat shocked Liu Xiniang. She stared blankly at Luo Wanqing, then, after a moment, she smiled: “If you replace me, you probably won’t survive. I still have things to do…”
“I know.”
Luo Wanqing interrupted her, saying definitively: “You want to kill Xie Heng.”
Hearing this, Liu Xiniang’s expression grew serious.
She looked at the clear-featured woman before her. Though the other party had a face as fragile and beautiful as porcelain, under her pressing gaze, she didn’t yield an inch.
Luo Wanqing calmly met her gaze, analyzing her behavior: “As an assassin, when I threatened you, not only did you not think of killing me, you’ve been accompanying me all along. Initially I was grateful, thinking you wanted to help me, that you were a good person. But later I thought carefully – it’s not that you’re a good person, but that what I want to do aligns with yours. You’re just borrowing my actions.”
“Why do you say that?” Liu Xiniang was puzzled. “What did I do?”
“When I came back from filing the complaint, your first question was whether I had seen Xie Heng.” Luo Wanqing stared at her. “If you truly cared about me in our friendship, you should have first asked about my situation.”
“Just because of that?” Liu Xiniang laughed lightly. “You think I want to kill Xie Heng?”
“The night I stopped you, you said you were going to assassinate Qin Jue that night. But when the assassination of Qin Jue failed, you never showed any intention of leaving the prison, nor any plan to seek another opportunity to assassinate Qin Jue. This shows your mission target isn’t Qin Jue – staying in prison was part of your mission from the beginning.”
“And then?”
“You only needed to give me a little guidance, and I could kill someone, showing your extraordinary abilities – you’re not an ordinary assassin.”
“What else?” Liu Xiniang smiled lightly.
“You were imprisoned for selling illegal salt. If I’m not mistaken, the amount of salt you sold should warrant the death penalty. You said your mission is different from others, and you try not to contact people in the pavilion because you need to ensure this identity stays clean. A top-level assassin who needs to be a death row prisoner with a clean identity and shows extra attention to Xie Heng – so,” Luo Wanqing reached her conclusion, “you want to take the Supervision Department exam, then assassinate Xie Heng, right?”
“Your thinking is somewhat jumpy, but how should I put it?” Liu Xiniang thought about it and didn’t hide anything, nodding: “That’s indeed the case. So do you understand now?” Liu Xiniang looked at Luo Wanqing, seriously advising: “You can’t switch identities with me. What I have to do is enough to get you killed ten thousand times. Even if the prison can’t tell us apart, as soon as you make a move, Fengyu Pavilion will know you’re not me.”
“Why would I make a move?”
Luo Wanqing interrupted her. Liu Xiniang was stunned. Luo Wanqing stared at her and pressed: “Liu Xiniang is an ordinary salt dealer. Should an ordinary salt dealer have an assassin’s skills? You said you and Fengyu Pavilion won’t contact each other casually. As long as I can test into the Supervision Department, Fengyu Pavilion won’t actively approach me. After I enter the Supervision Department, I’ll find an opportunity to break away from Fengyu Pavilion.”
“What if you can’t pass the exam?” Liu Xiniang frowned. “If you can’t get in, Fengyu Pavilion will immediately question you, and you won’t be able to hide it for long.”
“Before Fengyu Pavilion questions me, I’ll find an opportunity to burn myself alive, leaving only a charred corpse for them.” Luo Wanqing answered without hesitation, looking seriously at Liu Xiniang: “I’ll live as Liu Xiniang and die as Liu Xiniang, never implicating you.”
This made Liu Xiniang stunned. After a long while, she quickly waved her hands: “No, no, I can’t let you go to your death. You don’t need to help me like this.”
“I’m not helping you,” Luo Wanqing said, lowering her eyes to look at her weary reflection in the sewage: “I’m helping myself. I have only one request – with your skills, it shouldn’t be difficult to leave the exile convoy. When you leave, take my family with you and help me settle them.”
Liu Xiniang said nothing. After a long while, she said quietly, “If I help you settle your family without you doing anything, would you still want to switch identities with me?”
“Yes.” Luo Wanqing answered definitively.
Liu Xiniang understood her meaning: “To find Jiang Shaoyan for revenge?”
“Yes.”
“Wait a bit longer?” Liu Xiniang looked up with some hope: “Perhaps there’s karmic retribution in this world…”
“Then I am his karma.”
Luo Wanqing interrupted her, looking up at Liu Xiniang. Each word was calm yet carried a resounding strength as she said coolly, “If there truly is karmic retribution and divine compassion in this world, how could my Luo family, having done good deeds all our lives, come to this? So I don’t look to the next life, only to this one. I don’t expect gods and Buddhas, only ask myself. If I don’t kill him, who will seek justice for me, for my Luo family? If you’re willing to help me, I’ll bow in gratitude, but I still want to go to the Supervision Department.”
Seeing Liu Xiniang’s complex expression, Luo Wanqing said seriously: “The Supervision Department is my fastest and most likely channel to gain power, and the only place where I might be able to kill Jiang Shaoyan. This is Luo Wanqing’s only path to survival. If I don’t take this road, if I don’t kill Jiang Shaoyan, I’ll never have peace in my life.”
Liu Xiniang listened, her expression slightly moved. She leaned against the wall and said softly, “Let me think about it.”
“Alright.”
Luo Wanqing agreed.
Liu Xiniang leaned against the wall, silent for a long time. She seemed to be thinking about something constantly.
As she pondered, her gaze fell on the dagger at Luo Wanqing’s waist, her expression shifting slightly.
After a long while, she suddenly said, “Do you have the medicine to delay wound healing with you?”
“Yes.”
Hearing this, Luo Wanqing knew Liu Xiniang had agreed.
“Apply the medicine to me.” Liu Xiniang turned to smile at her. “I’ve agreed, so you can’t regret it.”
“I won’t regret it.”
Luo Wanqing said, taking out the porcelain bottle. She waded through the water to Liu Xiniang, took out the powder from the bottle, applied it to her fingertips, and said instinctively: “It will hurt a bit.”
“What do I fear about pain?” Liu Xiniang smiled. “I’m an assassin – the super amazing kind.”
“I know.” Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but smile. She raised her hand to apply the medicine to Liu Xiniang’s face, asking curiously: “You already discovered the person who dragged me today?”
“I discovered him, but he was following from far away.” Liu Xiniang explained: “He used Wang clan death warrior techniques. Three inches below the lower abdomen is their vital point. He wouldn’t guard against a weak woman like you. If you killed him, he would die.”
“Wang clan death warriors?”
“That’s the Empress’s family,” Liu Xiniang felt the pain and slightly frowned, then quickly relaxed, explaining: “That must be Jiang Shaoyan’s person. He’s always had people watching you.”
“I know.” Luo Wanqing finished applying to the wound and said gently, “The Supervision Department people told me earlier. They said they handled the body.”
“If they didn’t handle it, you’d have an additional murder charge.” Liu Xiniang immediately understood the Supervision Department’s meaning: “They don’t want you to be sentenced to death?”
“They want me to go quietly into exile.”
“These corrupt officials.”
Liu Xiniang understood the Supervision Department’s plan and said with disdain, “Forget it, you’ll be a corrupt official in the future too, so I won’t curse them. But speaking of which,” Liu Xiniang looked up at Luo Wanqing with some worry: “Are you prepared for the road ahead?”
“I’m prepared.”
“Alright then. When Heaven is about to confer great responsibility on someone,” Liu Xiniang stretched, “I’ll help you out. Three months is indeed enough for you to have the fighting skills of an ordinary salt dealer, but my identity as Liu Xiniang isn’t just a salt dealer – I’m also a sub-helm master of the Yangzhou Salt Syndicate branch, with some reputation in the underworld. To impersonate me, you must have this ability, and to test into the Supervision Department, you also need this ability; otherwise, you won’t get in. So I’ll give you two choices—”
Liu Xiniang held up two fingers: “Either you follow the rules and try to take it slowly. But this way, your chances of testing into the Supervision Department are almost zero.”
“The other choice?”
“I’ll give you half my internal energy,” Liu Xiniang said seriously. “But this method is dangerous – you might not survive. And I’ll forcibly channel internal energy into your body, using true qi to open your meridians. You’re a doctor – you should know how painful this process is.”
“Do I have a choice?”
Luo Wanqing smiled bitterly.
“Then fine.” Liu Xiniang nodded. “You probably can’t stand in the water. In a moment, I’ll help you tie yourself up with iron chains. During the process, you must stay conscious and guide the true qi through your body’s meridians to gather in your dantian.”
“Alright.”
“Come here.”
Liu Xiniang is called Luo Wanqing. Luo Wanqing didn’t hesitate and walked to the iron chains, letting Liu Xiniang secure her with them.
“Do you have any life-saving medicine?”
Liu Xiniang looked up at her. Luo Wanqing immediately thought of the medicine given by the Supervision Department envoy. She looked at her sleeve and reminded: “In my sleeve, there’s another bottle.”
Liu Xiniang took out the bottle and poured out a pill.
When the pill reached her hand, both Liu Xiniang and Luo Wanqing widened their eyes.
“Nine Fragrance Calming Spirit Pill,” Liu Xiniang picked up the pill with her thumb and forefinger, couldn’t help but praise: “This is good stuff. Who gave it to you?”
“A lord.” Luo Wanqing’s gaze fell on the pill, thinking of the young man behind the screen, saying softly: “A lord I will definitely meet again in the Eastern Capital.”
“Shall I begin then?”
Liu Xiniang didn’t ask more about her words and slapped the medicine into Luo Wanqing’s mouth.
Luo Wanqing held the pill in her mouth. Liu Xiniang walked behind her.
The pill’s bitter taste spread in Luo Wanqing’s mouth. After waiting quietly for a moment, she felt Liu Xiniang strike her back with a palm.
In an instant, she felt something surge violently into her meridians, like seawater flooding channels. Her meridians burst open inch by inch. Pain rushed from all over her body straight to the crown of her head. Just as Luo Wanqing was about to cry out, Liu Xiniang’s voice sounded behind her.
“Don’t make a sound.”
Luo Wanqing instinctively bit down hard, suppressing her cry of pain.
Liu Xiniang said calmly behind her, “After I entered Fengyu Pavilion, the first lesson I learned was self-control.”
“You must control your voice, your body, your mind, your words. You cannot cry out because of pain, cannot weep because of sorrow, cannot laugh loudly because of joy. Everything about you should be governed by your will, not instinct. Only this way can you truly hide yourself and control yourself.”
“You need to tame your body to tame your spirit. Otherwise, when fighting others, you’ll be the first to die.”
Extreme pain made Luo Wanqing tremble continuously. She bit her teeth tightly, tears rolling uncontrollably from her eyes.
Liu Xiniang’s voice was like a mountain spring, continuously pouring down from above onto her body.
All other sounds in her world were blocked out – only Liu Xiniang’s voice remained.
“Nothing in this world is gained for free. If you want to become Liu Xiniang, you must bear the price of becoming Liu Xiniang. I hope you won’t regret it.”
Hearing this, sweat mixed with blood from burst meridians slid down from Luo Wanqing’s forehead.
She struggled to open her eyes and spoke hoarsely: “I won’t regret it.”
Author’s Note:
The first ten chapters will focus a bit on the female protagonist’s character growth. The male protagonist’s charm will gradually emerge after his formal appearance – I’m laying some groundwork for their entanglement first.
The male protagonist will formally meet her soon, and they’ll be classmates together.
This story’s romantic line won’t rush too fast, so everyone, please don’t be anxious.