Everything was worth it when Murong Yun saw Luo Qianqian, the girl in his dream.
Murong Yun didn’t tell Luo Qianqian what exactly he and Su Liancheng had gone through, Su Liancheng opened his mouth but he didn’t utter word.
Su Liancheng had witnessed how his Brother Eighth had fought a bloody battle in the imperial palace. In order to save time, Murong Yun had given his all in fighting back, those assassins couldn’t even get close to Murong Yun and there was a lot of blood shedding unavoidably.
This was the first time that Su Liancheng had seen his Brother Eighth fought mercilessly outside the battlefield, he couldn’t imagine what Murong Yun would do if anything shall happen to Luo Qianqian.
Su Liancheng shot a glance at Murong Yun, he knew Murong Yun wasn’t planning on telling Luo Qianqian the details, so he suppressed the urge to be the big mouth. Su Liancheng appeared as an unreliable playboy, but deep down he was one good observer and one of the most trusted brother of Murong Yun’s, he knew exactly when to put on his playboy face and when to keep his mouth shut.
The prison guards all stood transfixed, they knew it was Murong Yun who was breaking in, but they also knew no one — even the emperor — could stop Prince Eighth from doing what he set his mind on, so they dared not to try their luck.
Murong Yun, Luo Qianqian and Su Liancheng left the prison with no resistance.
That was a remarkable night.
Luo Qianqian had seen blood everywhere on her way back to Red Joy Palace, but none of the servants who were assigned to clean up the mess made a scene. Everything looked normal the next morning, some flowers looked even more delicate and charming after soaking the blood.
The empress managed to detach herself from this case because none of the assassins dared to identify her as the mastermind behind the scene.
The emperor played dumb as usual, maintaining peace for appearance’s sake was what he did best. The situation in his harem needed to be handled delicately, he didn’t want to punish the empress because it would break the balance between the empress and the Imperial Noble Consort. Plus Murong Yun was the Imperial Noble Consort’s son, Murong Yun would be even harder to control if the empress were weakened. Therefore, what the emperor did was to promise the Imperial Noble Consort and Murong Yun that he would investigate this thoroughly, basically he adopted a policy of appeasement.
No one even bother to make any effort to raise objections.
Luo Qianqian didn’t want to set foot on the imperial palace after the farce she had gone through, she would either spend time with Murong Yun or practice martial arts in the tavern in the following days.
Murong Xue had learned her lesson as well, she wanted to be able to protect herself and her mother in the future, so she employed a new attitude in practising martial arts, she worked just as hard as Luo Qianqian.
The two made progress in leaps and bounds.
Sometimes Luo Qianqian didn’t want Guang Yao to feel like she was giving him the cold shoulder so she would take Murong Yun to see Guang Yao. Luo Qianqian saw Guang Yao as a baby brother who had gone through a lot, Guang Yao would love to spend time with him and support him.
However, Luo Qianqian did notice Guang Yao had been acting strangely recently. Luo Qianqian thought Guang Yao was just overcoming the devil inside him, so she didn’t pursue the matter further with Guang Yao, she just wanted to help Guang Yao together with Murong Yun.
Luo Qianqian had been riding on horseback from home to the tavern these days and Murong Yun would keep her company on the way on his horseback, Murong Yun was worried for her safety in the beginning, but soon he felt assured that Luo Qianqian knew what she was doing, she soon became a quite decent rider.
Lin Zimo had found two more herbal medicines that the antidote required, there were six more needed, Feng Qing went to the field to try his luck. Luo Qianqian hoped Feng Qing could make a fruitful trip considering Murong Yun’s health condition.
Luo Qianqian this day dressed as a man and rode on her horseback to the tavern, no one could recognize her except her close friends.
Luo Qianqian was shocked when she heard the news that Princess Ninth ‘committed suicide’ in the prison, she held a doubtful attitude towards the authenticity of the news, she wasn’t sure whether Princess Ninth really died from suicide or not.
People on the street talked with ardor, “The annual auction is just around the corner, I’m so excited to see what it has in store.”
“That’s none of my business, a poor wretch like me who can’t even afford the price of admission, one hundred taels of silver!”
“Likewise, I heard that there will be a lot of rare herbal medicines being auctioned this year, curios showed up in previous years are less.”
“Is that so? Herbal medicine? Tut tut tut, how pricy can they be?”
“You bumpkin, rare herbal medicine can save lives! Human lives are priceless, you know, especially for those high officials and noble lords, they are willing to dissipate their fortune on a rare herbal medicine. I think this year’s auction will yield more profit than ever!”
“But where are those rare herbal medicine from?”
“Some say they are from Monster Forest and places in the frontier provinces, it’s not easy to get access to those rare medicines. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Luo Qianqian slowed down and listened with keen pleasure, she was glad she picked a horse with a mild nature this day instead of the ferghana horse that Murong Yun gave her.
‘An auction? Rare herbal medicines! This is great news! Hopefully we can see the rest of the herbal medicines in this auction and make the antidote for him!’
The more Luo Qianqian thought about this, the more she thought it was the empress who had poisoned Murong Yun when he was younger. And the empress always counted on the saying that there was no cure for Frigid Poison, Luo Qianqian couldn’t wait to see her face when they collected all the herbal medicines and cure Murong Yun.
On a second thought, it baffled Luo Qianqian that why the empress wanted to kill Murong Yun now that she thought Murong Yun would die soon anyway.
Luo Qianqian made up her mind that she would find out where the auction would be hold and she couldn’t wait to tell Murong Yun the good news. She whipped her horse gently and resumed her trip.
A carriage galloping down the street caught her attention, the carter shouted, “Move! Everyone get out of my way!”