Credit: Roseswithguns

Chu Junyi half-leaned in the center of the cave, his pupils reflected the blazing flame as he measure up Chen Ninghua who was picking firewood to produce flame: “I still do not know what you are called?” From the moment she helped him up to enter this mountain cave, they did not exchange another word, truly neglecting him thoroughly.

Chen Ninghua neared the flaming heap, her finger rub over her sprained ankle as her brows furrowed tightly. This mountain cave was hidden very deep and during the trip over here, she had already erased cleanly both of their tracks so no one could have noticed.

“We can already be counted as companions who journey through trials and tribulations together and I have told you my identity while you did not. Are you perhaps afraid that I will bring trouble to you in the future?”Chu Junyi did not seem to take Chen Ninghua’s cold indifference to heart as he continued to speak.

“I saved you for the sake of that five thousand tael of gold. You give me the money and we will not have any more relations after that. Why should you know my name?”

“He, you clearly do not want to tell me. It’s fine if you don’t want to speak about it. You’re able to identify Xiao family’s keepsake means that you also come from the capital. Wait until I come out to inquire about someone is also an easy matter; moreover you have such obvious characteristics.”

Chen Ninghua looked at her own pair of hands that were much darker than average people and it was indeed a big feature, even so, people knew that the Chen family had a legitimate daughter Chen Linghan who kind and merciful as well as beautiful like a fairy. Who would know her who was the family’s embarrassment?

“En? Seeing your expression, it seems that you are already sure that I cannot find you?” Chu Junyi raised his brow and slightly smiled, “Although your clothing briefly shows that it is out-of-date, but the material is not something that ordinary commoner can get their hands on. You are at least the daughter of an official in the capital. I’ve been at the capital for years yet I’ve never heard of a young miss having this kind of…..unique facial features. Then that means that you are not favored and is neglected. Based on these, it is not that difficult to investigate.” Chu Junyi briefly hooked up the corner of his lips; his whole face was exuberant with smiles.

“Hmph, then you go and slowly investigate.” Chen Ninghua ignored him after speaking and took out the clothes out from the bundle then attentively spread it on the dry grass, immediately lied on it.

After a good while, Chu Junyi heard the other party’s even breathing and he opened his eyes, lightly sweeping across Chen Ninghua’s back figure. If it was usual, this girl’s temper really suited his taste but right now, seeing as the one who was treated coldly was him, the feeling was not that good at all.

Lowering his head to see the wounds on his body, Chu Junyi’s eyebrows furrowed. Today, he went out because he wanted to take Xiao Huanxi who had finished offering incense in the temple back home but he did not think that there would be an assassination attempt at the way back, the assaulters were great in number and they were all death soldiers who would try to accomplish their mission unless they’re dead. The ordinary guards he took with him would not their match at all and the important part was that there were spies inside the guards. If it was not because of this ambush, he would not have fallen to this kind of place. Just wait until he comes out… Hmph…..

He was deep in thought when he saw Chen Ninghua exhaled as she rose up while gasping huge amount of air. Her eyes were brimming with darkness, as deep as an ancient well, making her whole body faintly covered in a layer of gloom.

Chu Junyi’s heart shook: “What happened to you?”

Chen Ninghua turned her head when she heard his voice; the oddity on her face was then restrained in: “I’m fine.”

If he had not believed his own eyes, Chu Junyi would have thought that the depression he felt earlier was just his imagination. Even if she was not a favored daughter, she was just a few years old girl. That gloomy air that covered her whole body was as if it crawled out from a mountain of bloody corpses. Who exactly was she?

Chen Ninghua lied on the ground once again yet she could not enter sleep. She dreamt of herself lying on that constantly cold bed in the ice cool Cold Palace, her whole body was filled with dust. Every day she would live like a pig or a dog….. Chen Linghan, Baili Jinze, both of you added numerous kinds of pain on my body; I will definitely let both of you suffer the same torture!

Once the sky lit up on the second day, Chen Ninghua looked at Chu Junyi and was satisfied that his words were much less. As a matter of fact, Chu Junyi had little to no energy left to speak. His wounds were too severe which let him passed through the night while muddled in fever.

Chen Ninghua pulled him out and continued to head towards the north of the mountain valley. Her ankle was sprained and she was also pulling a man, her movements were even heavier. Not long later, her body was drenched in sweat and her breath was starting to become uneven.

Chu Junyi lied on the ground and heard the sounds she was emitting; his heart slightly had some peculiarities. It had been around two hours since the beginning; he who had practiced martial art obviously could distinguish one’s condition from their breathing. Her current breathing was rapidly pressing; every breath was as if squeezed out from her chest. She should’ve used up all her energy early on but still kept going, most likely was sustained by her will. He had seen no little amount of whole heartedly determined women but one like her was indeed little.

“You…. You need to rest for a while.”

Chen Ninghua stopped by the side of a creek, squatting down and drank two gulps of water; her ankle had long felt like a steamed bun, “If we come out of the valley, will there be anyone who picks you up?”

“After going out of the valley, I have my own ways to contact my people. But little black girl, are you not afraid that I will order my henchmen to kill you and then take the keepsake back?” Chu Junyi spoke as if liying as if telling the truth.

“You can try.” Chen Ninghua’s face was ice cold, “Did you think I would not thought of that? I’ve long hidden the keepsake. You give me the money and I will tell you the place, then both of us will not owe the other anything. If you want to go back on your word, then prepare to never see that keepsake ever again.”

“That jade is only a keepsake, not able to find it is no big problem.”

Chen Ninghua raised her eyes to look at him; her lips carried a cold smile: “Is it really only a keepsake?”

Chu Junyi halted for quite a while then laughed in a low voice: “Hehe, you little girl truly is not simple. But don’t worry, just by your personality alone, I will not take away your life.”

Chen Ninghua raised her body and walked towards Chu Junyi then reached out her hand to press it on his chest while her finger touched his wound, blood flowed in an instant: “When someone threatens me, I will easily get nervous and once I get nervous, I do not know what I will do next.”

Chu Junyi uttered in a low spirit: “My life is worth five thousand gold.”

“Hmph!”

Chen Ninghua coldly harrumphed while standing up when she felt her knees suddenly hurt:

“Snake!”

Violently staggering backwards, her face was pale as she tumbled onto the ground. Her mind was filled with the time she spent at the Cold Palace. Those eunuchs loved to torment people the most. She could not stir and they would put a sack over her heard then caught snakes to put inside. That kind of feeling when she recalled it right now let her felt very fearful.

Chu Junyi furrowed his brows then immediately struggled to stand up: “It’s Cun Snake. Don’t move around. When walking forward earlier, I saw snake flower grass that can cure the poison and the distance is not far, I will come back quickly!” The poison of Cun Snake was peculiar. If one did not move around and consumed the cure within an hour, that person would be alright, but once the afflicted person moves, in a short while, the poison would circulate in a fast speed throughout the body and died in suffocation.

Chen Ninghua saw him standing up and covering his chest then staggering back to where they came from. But she did not think that after waiting for an hour, there was still no one.

“Men truly cannot be relied on.”

Chen Ninghua coldly ridiculed. Currently, her pair of knees and arm started to become numb, completely could not stand up, only able to use her remaining strength to open her eyes then climbing upwards.

She still had a great vengeance waiting for her. She could not die like this, she must live on, even if she’s on her last leg, she still had to live on. As long as she still had a single breath left, she would not give up!

Amidst her haziness, she thought she could her someone asking, the voice abnormally husky, just like the friction of dry and cracked tree bark:

“You want vengeance?”

“Yes…. Chen Linghan….. Baili Jinze…. I…..want them to get tragic deaths.”

“Chen Linghan’s back is the Zhao family while Baili Jinze’s back is the imperial family, do you think you can succeed?”

“There’s Zhao family’s prosperity…. Then topple down Zhao family! There’s the imperial family sustaining…. Then throw the imperial court into disorder! I want them to pay blood with blood!”

The numb of her whole body started to cease little by little. Chen Ninghua opened her eyes once more and a face full of scars fiercely reflected in her eyes.