Chapter 668: Shen Siyi x Xie Suzhi (12)

In the end, Xie Suzhi carried Luo Tang to the bed, and he quickly fell asleep again.

The bloody wounds from where he was stabbed in the abdomen had surprisingly healed a great deal overnight.

Shen Siyi clapped her hands together and placed them on her hips, looking rather pleased with herself.

“I don’t know how to suture, but thank goodness the Life Spring Water is so effective.”

“Thank you.” Xie Suzhi looked at her, the thousand things he wanted to say all reflected in the profound depth of his eyes.

Shen Siyi glanced at him. “What are you thanking me for? I told you I wouldn’t help for free. My offer still stands. Do you want to start a scandal with me to completely put an end to Mrs. Qi’s ideas?”

Xie Suzhi silently pressed his lips together. “Let me think about it.”

“You’re so unreliable! Forget it. I’ll just consider this me earning good karma by saving a life. The sun is up, and I have to go back. Otherwise, if my maid Anxiang sees I’m not in my room, who knows how badly she’ll be frightened.”

“I’ll see you out.” Xie Suzhi walked beside her.

However, Shen Siyi stumbled, and Xie Suzhi’s quick reflexes allowed him to steady her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his brow furrowed with concern.

Shen Siyi pressed her temples. “I’m a little dizzy. Saving him used up most of the energy in my space. The space is bound to me, so I get weaker too.”

Xie Suzhi didn’t understand what she meant, but he grasped one thing: Shen Siyi had become weak from saving someone.

She, who was always so strong, had finally revealed a vulnerable side.

Without a word, Xie Suzhi swept her up into his arms. Shen Siyi froze, staring at him.

But he just stared straight ahead. “I’m taking you home. Thank you again for this.”

He helped Shen Siyi into his carriage, and only then did he notice one of her small feet, peeking out, was bare!

Xie Suzhi stared at her fair, delicate foot for a long time. Shen Siyi curled her toes, embarrassed. “You ran too fast. I lost a shoe.”

She had just finished speaking when Xie Suzhi quickly took off his outer robe.

“What are you doing? Hey!” Before she could finish, Xie Suzhi had already tossed his robe to her.

“Cover yourself. A woman’s feet are tied to her honor and reputation. Don’t let others see.” Xie Suzhi’s tone was light, but it felt gentle.

Shen Siyi’s eyes twinkled as she asked with a smile, “Aren’t you ‘others’? You’ve already seen it!”

Xie Suzhi’s thin lips pressed into a line.

What exactly was their relationship? They weren’t intimate, not really. But if they weren’t intimate, they had already shared skin-to-skin contact.

Xie Suzhi didn’t answer and took Shen Siyi back to the Qi Mansion.

His martial arts were excellent. When he carried Shen Siyi onto the roof of her courtyard, not a single person saw them.

“The Protectors at the Qi Mansion must be a bunch of good-for-nothings. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have let you come and go so freely all these times,” Shen Siyi remarked.

Xie Suzhi smiled but didn’t deny it.

Dawn was just breaking, the light still a dim, pale blue. But in the corner of her eye, Shen Siyi caught the figure of a man climbing over the wall of the adjacent courtyard and leaving.

She quickly turned to look, staring suspiciously for a long moment.

She couldn’t make out who the figure was, but it had definitely come from Qi Jingchun’s courtyard.

“Alright, your maid has left. I’ll take you back to your room.” Xie Suzhi’s voice pulled her back from her thoughts.

Shen Siyi came back to her senses. “Mm…”

Back in her room, Xie Suzhi prepared to leave. Shen Siyi sat on the edge of her daybed, frowning in thought. ‘My sister Qi Jingchun is so timid. Would she dare to meet a man in secret?’

‘Or could it be that man, like Xie Suzhi, is also secretly hiding in the Qi Mansion to gather some kind of evidence?’

“Xie Suzhi, have you arranged for anyone else to infiltrate the Qi Mansion?” Shen Siyi decided to ask him directly.

“No,” Xie Suzhi replied. “Mr. Qi is on rather good terms with those military generals, but there’s no concrete evidence he’s involved in the treason case. You can rest easy staying at the Qi Mansion for now. You won’t be implicated.”

“I’m not worried about the Qi Mansion getting into trouble… Never mind. You should go. My maid will be here any minute.”

Seeing her rush him out, Xie Suzhi walked to the window but stopped to look back at her.

“Give me three days. I’ll give you an answer.”

“What?” Shen Siyi looked up in surprise, but his figure had already vanished.

「At dawn.」

Shen Siyi invited Qi Jingchun to her courtyard.

“Sister, it rained all night, but the weather is so nice today. Shall I accompany you to the flower exhibition in the city later?” Qi Jingchun smiled, gentle and shy, like a delicate white flower.

Shen Siyi watched her for a moment, then said suddenly, “Jing Chun, I think I saw a man coming out of your courtyard last night.”

Qi Jingchun’s face instantly turned pale. She reacted quickly, “What? Something like that happened? Could it be that thief from before has returned? Sister, we must tell our eldest brother right away!”

Seeing her stand up, Shen Siyi pressed the back of her hand. “Don’t be nervous. I might have been mistaken, which is why I wanted to ask you. Have you seen any strange men?”

“No… I went to sleep very early last night and didn’t wake up until dawn. I haven’t seen any strangers.”

After Qi Jingchun spoke, Shen Siyi smiled. “Then I must have been mistaken. Alright, go back and change your clothes. Let’s go to the flower exhibition.”

After leaving Shen Siyi’s room, Qi Jingchun returned to her own quarters and shut the door. The forced smile on her face immediately vanished.

Her eyes turned sinister, a change even she herself didn’t notice.

Qi Jingchun muttered to herself, ‘Did Sister see what happened between me and King Shu?’

‘But with Shen Siyi’s personality, even if she knew, would she choose to cover for me?’

However, what Qi Jingchun didn’t expect was that the very next day, King Shu came to see her in secret to say goodbye.

In the dead of night, the two spoke in hushed voices inside her room. Qi Jingchun was so angry she was on the verge of tears.

“Why are you suddenly taking the Princess Consort back to Shu State? Are you just going to abandon me?”

“I’m sorry, Jing Chun, it’s just… someone said something to the Princess Consort, making her think I’m keeping a mistress. I was afraid she would investigate and trace it back to you, which would be humiliating for you!”

As King Shu spoke, a flicker of guilt from his lie crossed his eyes.

He couldn’t tell Qi Jingchun directly that Princess Shu was pregnant. The real reason for returning to Shu State was to use this child as leverage to take back military authority over Shu State from the Emperor.

That was why he couldn’t stay in the Capital City, lest he be constrained at every turn.

When Qi Jingchun heard him mention that someone had informed on him, she froze. Shen Siyi’s face flashed through her mind.

‘Could it be? Did Shen Siyi really discover something and secretly go report it?’

Qi Jingchun’s mind raced.

‘This would be perfectly in line with Shen Siyi’s character—severing her connection to King Shu in the most direct way possible.’

But Shen Siyi didn’t know that Qi Jingchun saw King Shu as the only hope in her otherwise bleak life.

“I understand,” Qi Jingchun calmed down in an instant. Her voice was surprisingly serene, but the hatred in her eyes transformed into a venomous black pool, glinting like the edge of a blade. “You should go. Write to me if you have time.”

King Shu, feeling guilty, didn’t stay long and left quickly.

“Shen Siyi…” Qi Jingchun took a deep breath. In the mirror, her face already showed the first signs of ruthlessness. “You’ve ruined my chance at happiness, and I won’t let you get away with it.”