With him there, even if they were outnumbered, he wouldn’t let her lose her life.
Stunned by these words, Feng Yue fell silent, feeling the wind whistling in her ears with an air of unreality.
After being lost in thought for quite a while, she finally asked with a smile, “Does Your Highness mean that this servant is worthy of living and dying alongside you?”
Looking at the shadows emerging from the intersection ahead, Yin Gezhi’s gaze turned sharp as his lips curved slightly upward. “No, I mean that while I’m alive, you must stay by my side. And if I die, you must accompany me in death.”
Feng Yue: “…”
The touch of emotion she had just felt instantly vanished. She bared her fangs, very much wanting to bite his neck.
However, murderous intent suddenly enveloped them as over a dozen people in civilian clothes but carrying themselves with remarkable bearing emerged from their ambush at the intersection. The moment they saw the pair, they immediately surrounded them.
After sweeping his gaze over these men, Yin Gezhi raised an eyebrow. “The General’s Manor?”
Though they weren’t masked, these were all minor soldiers who had never shown their faces before this prince, yet how did he recognize them as being from the General’s Manor? Everyone was momentarily panic-stricken, and then three distracted fools were kicked to the ground.
“Your Highness,” one of the less quick-witted warriors spoke frankly, “General Yi only wishes to invite this young lady to the manor for a conversation. There’s no need to be so tense.”
Tightening his grip on the person in his arms, Yin Gezhi narrowed his eyes. “Invite her for a conversation?”
With this show of force, it was an invitation to her death!
He had merely been testing them with that statement – if it hadn’t been the General’s Manor, he might have guessed it was the Three Offices, but these people had directly revealed themselves. Now he absolutely couldn’t hand her over.
“Don’t move,” he said quietly to Feng Yue, placing her in front of himself as he calmly loosened his wrist joints.
Feng Yue stood obediently, not causing any trouble at all, watching the group charge forward while calmly relaxing her body, allowing the person behind her to hold her as he engaged in battle.
How terrifying a person was Yin Gezhi? His past achievements aside, even now, surrounded by over a dozen martial artists, his expression didn’t change at all. He simultaneously avoided multiple attacks, seized the gaps in their coordination, and struck their vital points with swift, fierce, and precise palm strikes to the back of their heads, taking down three or four in no time. Even when someone managed to grab his arm, he twisted and threw them with such force that they crashed heavily into a distant wall.
In his embrace, Feng Yue felt completely secure, knowing these men couldn’t even touch the hem of her clothes.
Earlier talk about how fighting while outnumbered was unwise only applied to other situations. When it came to Yin Gezhi, unless faced with thousands of troops, such small-scale attempts to control him were truly unwise.
How mighty was Prince Yin!
Watching his clean and efficient moves, all while using only one hand, Feng Yue finally found the mood to applaud him.
The man holding her snorted coldly, seemingly disdainful of her applause. As the dozen or so soldiers in civilian clothes struggled and fell one after another, Yin Gezhi reached out and grabbed the one who had spoken earlier, saying softly, “If General Yi wants someone to come over for a chat, he should request me. Coming uninvited to take someone away – don’t blame me for being discourteous.”
The man looked at Yin Gezhi with terrified eyes, slowly nodding, then hesitantly glanced at Feng Yue before his gaze suddenly sharpened.
Yin Gezhi reacted incredibly fast, immediately pushing him away, but the man’s sleeve had already risen, and a thin needle shot directly into Feng Yue’s shoulder.
His pupils contracting, Yin Gezhi flew into a rage, leaping forward to grab the man and shouting: “The antidote!”
These fine needles were commonly used by Wu Kingdom soldiers in close combat, typically poisoned with their usual snake venom. He had suffered from it before, fortunately, the Wei Kingdom’s military physicians had developed an antidote.
But now, he didn’t have that antidote with him, and snake venom acted quickly. There wasn’t time to send someone back to Wei Kingdom to fetch it; he could only demand it from the poisoner.
However, the captured man remained quite stubborn, raising his head to say, “The General has given a kill order. We cannot give you the antidote.”
Kill order?! Yin Gezhi’s eyes turned red as he grabbed the man’s throat. “I’ll show you what a kill order is!”
The rather burly man was lifted off his feet by Yin Gezhi’s grip, his eyes bulging and veins protruding on his face as he opened his mouth in terror, but couldn’t say anything more.
“Your Highness,” Feng Yue said calmly, finding the needle that had penetrated halfway into her shoulder and pulling it out, “These are General Yi’s men.”
“Coming to die before me – doesn’t matter whose men they are.” Watching him breathe his last, Yin Gezhi threw the corpse aside and picked her up, turning toward the General’s Manor.
Only then did Feng Yue panic, hurriedly saying, “This servant isn’t poisoned, I’m fine!”
Not poisoned? Yin Gezhi froze, looking down to carefully examine her complexion.
After the time it takes to burn an incense stick, her complexion remained normal, showing no changes.
“Are your clothes too thick?” Yin Gezhi asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.
Feng Yue nodded guiltily, “Yes, it didn’t pierce through to this servant.”
Impossible. At such close range, she was wearing thin silk. If it hadn’t pierced through, she wouldn’t have needed to pull it out earlier.
Suddenly remembering something, Yin Gezhi reached out and yanked down the clothing at her shoulder.
The small needle wound was bleeding, like a cinnabar mole, clearly visible on her shoulder.
Feng Yue’s face went white.
The Wu Kingdom often used underhanded tactics in battle, and poisoned needles with snake venom were common. Given that Wei Kingdom commanders had died from such close-range tactics, Wei Kingdom’s Crown Prince Yin Gezhi had ordered all Wei soldiers to take antidote potions before the battle. Important commanders were given specially formulated pills created by the Imperial Physicians, which would make them immune to snake venom after consumption.
Now, she was immune to snake venom.
The arms holding her suddenly tightened. A strange look appeared in Yin Gezhi’s eyes as he stared at her for a long while: “Living near the North Xuan Gate, often watching me go to the training grounds?”
“Your Highness…” Feng Yue’s throat tightened as her eyes darted around. “This is a coincidence, this servant has a special constitution.”
“Admiring me for years, only wanting to accompany me for life?”
Setting her down, Yin Gezhi stepped back half a step, completely ignoring her weak explanation.
Though it was the height of summer, fierce winds swept through this rarely visited street corner. The wind whipped at Yin Gezhi’s robes and blew strands of hair across his eyes, while Feng Yue stood rigid, unable to move.
For all her calculations, she hadn’t anticipated this turn of events. She couldn’t go to General Yi’s manor, but now… whether she went or not, everything had already gone wrong.
The man who had been so protective of her moments ago was now filled with fury, standing half a step away from her amidst the unconscious bodies, his eyes churning like stormy waves: “Who exactly are you? What is your true purpose in approaching me?!”
Feng Yue fell silent, her mind racing through possible countermeasures while also reviewing the names of all the military daughters from the Wei Kingdom.
There was no suitable identity she could borrow. One lie would lead to another, and Yin Gezhi would only become more enraged.
But she couldn’t die yet and especially didn’t want to die by his hand.
What to do? What to do?
“This servant… isn’t as complicated as you think,” she forced a smile and looked at the person opposite her, saying softly, “It’s just snake venom, you can’t condemn this servant based on that alone. My family raises snakes, so being immune to snake venom isn’t strange, is it?”
His eyes cleared somewhat as Yin Gezhi nodded: “Fine, your family raises snakes. So you’re immune to snake venom. Then how about I invite you to eat some goji berries?”
Feng Yue froze.
When taking the antidote pills, the Imperial Physician had specifically warned that while the antidote was excellent, its one drawback was that a particular ingredient reacted adversely with goji berries. If someone ate goji berries after taking the medicine, they would suffer from severe abdominal pain – at best lasting several days, at worst leading to death.
However, death was only the worst outcome, and compared to the current situation, Feng Yue saw this as a way out.
“Alright,” she agreed with a bright smile, “What’s wrong with eating goji berries?”
Yin Gezhi lowered his eyes, taking a deep breath to slowly contain his anger, and said word by word: “You’d better not deceive me, or no matter how useful you are, I’ll send you to the Yellow Springs.”
Blinking, Feng Yue laughed, “Your Highness, didn’t you just say that you’d live if I lived? Does that no longer count?”
Men’s words really couldn’t be trusted.
Ignoring her, Yin Gezhi’s eyes were frozen over with a thousand layers of ice as he dragged her toward Xiangyu Street.
Feng Yue walked while smiling: “Please be gentler, don’t treat this servant as a criminal so quickly, this servant is innocent.”
“Shut up.”
“Whimper, whimper.” With resignation in her eyes, Feng Yue said, “This servant thought you liked me and would want to protect me no matter what happened, but it turns out you can’t wait to find me guilty and deserving of death.”
“…”
It wasn’t that he was being heartless, but if she had truly taken the special antidote made by Wei Kingdom’s Imperial Physicians, her identity would be too frightening. Even though the Wei Kingdom allowed women to serve in the military, those who had access to the Imperial Physician’s special antidote could be counted on two hands.
How could someone of such status be working as a courtesan in the Wu Kingdom?
Business was good at the Zheng Family Pastry Shop today, and Madam Zheng was wrapping pastries when she unexpectedly saw Feng Yue being dragged past by Yin Gezhi.
Her heart jumped, and Madam Zheng clenched her hands, trying to stay calm. When they reached the counter, she finally smiled and asked, “What would the customer like?”
“Goji berries,” looking at the person before him, Yin Gezhi said flatly, “Do you have any pastries with goji berries?”
Feng Yue smiled at her, trying to help her stay calm.
However, Madam Zheng was startled, unable to understand the situation, and frowned, “Our shop doesn’t have any pastries with goji berries.”
“Then would the shop owner please go buy an ounce or two, and feed them to her when you return?” Yin Gezhi stared at Madam Zheng and said flatly.
Madam Zheng’s eyes widened, and she instinctively wanted to shake her head, but saw Feng Yue desperately trying to signal her with her eyes.
Buy them! If you don’t buy them, there will be trouble!
Taking a sharp breath, Madam Zheng didn’t know what was happening, but she gritted her teeth and lowered her head to say, “Alright.”
Then she ran quickly across the entire Xiangyu Street, her footsteps following a strange rhythm that made the blacksmith pause his work, the flower seller turned her head, and the owner of the general store at the street corner put down his goods to look.
Had something happened?