Chapter 74

Chapter 74: A Lifetime of Love

“Damn it, they actually dealt such a heavy blow.” Wei Chi Li gritted her teeth. She lowered her head to An Ge, “Take down my hairpin.”

An Ge held back her tears, turned her back and fumbled for the hairpin on Wei Chi Li’s hair, then pulled it hard and a small metal pin fell to the ground.

Wei Chi Li squat down again to picked it up with her hands and struggles to cut the rope on her hand. After cutting for a long time, only then did she cut the thick hemp rope. She stood up and exercise her wrists that was numb from the rope.

Wei Chi Li looked around. The place where they were locked up in was not a prison but like a room where palace servants and eunuch were locked up in after making mistakes. The floor was exceptionally clean, there were no debris, no windows and only a tiny dormer on the ceiling with light shining in.

She ran to Wei Chi Die quickly, untied the rope for An Ge, and then helped Wei Chi Die up. She then checks the wounds on her body and An Ge also hurriedly felt for her pulse.

“There are several wounds on the body, but they are not fatal. This blood is probably someone else’s.” Wei Chi Li said in an extremely quiet voice. She ran to the door in a few steps to listen to the movement outside.

“There are many people outside.” She turned her head back.

Now, they could only wait for Wei Chi Die to wake up before premediating. That emperor takes them as hostages and would probably not do anything to  them for a while.

An Ge carefully hugged Wei Chi Die in her arms, letting her lie on her shoulder, without saying a word. She just stares at Wei Chi Die’s face quietly, and then wiped the dirt off her cheeks with her hands.

Her eyes held so much affection. Wei Chi Li watches for a moment then averted her eyes and reached out to touch the jade pendant.

“Little Liu’er, wait for me.” Wei Chi Li closed her eyes and said it in her heart.

After a long time, Wei Chi Die finally coughed and opened her eyes. She squinted to see the person clearly in front of her, then raised her hand to touch her own face and said: “An Ge? What a bad luck, how come I can see you even in the underworld?”

The affection in An Ge’s eyes disappeared instantly.

Wei Chi Li rolled her eyes and stepped forward, squats in front of her and said helplessly: “I say, sister, you don’t stop even after getting injured?”

“Wei Chi Li?” Wei Chi Die sat up abruptly and almost bumped into An Ge’s chin. She moved forward and pinched Wei Chi Li’s face, “Why are you here? You were also caught by that dog emperor?”

Wei Chi Li reached out to pat away her hand: “Don’t talk nonsense. An Ge and I came to rescue you. You should hurry up and moved around, we will fight our way out later.”

“No, are you all crazy?” Wei Chi Die’s expression became serious. She grabbed An Ge’s placket and dragged her over, “Don’t you know that this palace is a dragon’s lake, tiger’s lair(!)? The envoy and the people I brought were all killed on the spot. I took the risk to inform you all to quickly leave. You….”

(!)龙潭虎穴 Long Tan Hu Xue: Dragon’s lake, tiger lair. Idiom for saying that it is an extremely dangerous place.

Her words were blocked in her mouth. With a poker face, An Ge covered her mouth and then whispered to Wei Chi Li: “2nd princess, fight our way out? Let us not talk about how many people are guarding outside the palace, just talk about this house. There are a lot of highly-skilled masters outside, can we do it?”

“Now we are alone and has no support, there is no other way besides rushing out. Based on that emperor’s behaviour, if it were not because he wanted to keep us alive to threaten the Northern Territory, he would have killed us. If we do not escape by today and if he wants to do something, it will be too late. But we have to wait till night-time.” Wei Chi Li said.

In fact, she does not really have a certainty. After all, there were too many highly skilled masters in the palace. If she was alone, it was easier, but now that Wei Chi Die was injured, she was not so sure.

She clenched her fists and looked at the sunlight shining through the window mullions.

Some things, whether they can be done and whether she does it or not was 2 different concepts. Since she has already come here, she must attempt it.

As time passed slowly, the room gradually darkened and, in the end, there was only a little bit of white light belonging to the night was left, and it barely illuminates a seam.

Wei Chi Li stood silently behind the door, waiting. The footsteps slowly approach, and the door opened with a creak. A meal box was stuffed in from the door and at the same time, the door closed quickly.

In a lightning speed, Wei Chi Li grabbed the door panel and yanked it to her side. The person who opened the door was caught off guard and pulled in directly then fell to the ground with the door wide open.

Seeing this, An Ge pulled Wei Chi Die onto her back. Wei Chi Die wanted to struggle, but her wound hurts and could not move, so she could only be anxious about it.

“An Ge! I don’t need you to carry!” Wei Chi Die said angrily.

“Princess has joked. It is this subordinate’s duty to protect princess.” An Ge said as she kicked the guard who was trying to come in.

“Follow me.” Wei Chi Li gritted her teeth. She took the sword from the man’s back and rushed out.

Sure enough, there were many people at the doorway. Now that they saw Wei Chi Li and the others rushing out, they were all in chaos instantly and were the first to be in a mess. Wei Chi Li did not delay in the slightest as she kicks one by one and smashed her way out.

Unexpectedly, leaving this door was exceptionally smooth, but Wei Chi Li did not dare to be careless, as she was always on alert regarding the surrounding movement.

Soon, news of their escape spread throughout the palace. Lights were lit everywhere in the palace that was originally dark. From time to time, there were guards carrying lanterns and torches running past. Wei Chi Li hid behind a rockery, turned around and ask Wei Chi Die: “Where should we go now?”

“This is still the inner side of the palace. We better go all the way to the north, don’t use the palace gate and jump directly over the palace wall.” Wei Chi Die panting lightly and said it while enduring the pain as An Ge’s fast pace had pulled her wounds.

Wei Chi Die’s road memory was much better than her and so Wei Chi Li trusts her very much.

Will definitely be able to get out safely. Wei Chi Li said to herself. She exhaled a few breaths to suppress the fear in her heart.

She was not afraid of death. After all, she had already died once and has lived for a few more months. This was a gift from heaven.

Just a little reluctant for that person to cry.

“Wei Chi Li.” Wei Chi Die called her softly, her voice trembling.

“It’s okay. Trust me, sister.” Wei Chi Li smiled at her. Her eyes were brightened up by the moonlight.

The 3 of them walked through the palace and from time to time, someone would discover their location and like a hungry tiger pouncing onto its prey, they rushed forward. At first, Wei Chi Li was merciful, but afterwards, she gave up that little bit of compassion and whenever 1 rushed out, she will land a killing blow. On the other side, An Ge did not fall behind at all. Her speed was so fast that she could almost kill without blinking. Wei Chi Li would take a few glances at her appreciatively.

“Turn left ahead and take the small road.” Wei Chi Die said.

The 3 of them hurried towards the dark small road tacitly. Wei Chi Li was overjoyed when the dark red palace wall appeared in front of them. Just as she was about to jump up, she suddenly stops.

“Wait.” She shouted.

An Ge stepped forward and carefully placed Wei Chi Die on the ground. Then she pressed her ear on the ground, her expression changed slightly, and raised her head, saying: “There is ambush outside. There are sounds of bows and arrows and there are many people.”

“Your ears are good.” Wei Chi Li praised, then her expression became sombre, “It explains why no one was chasing us. Turns out they are waiting here.”

“What should we do?” Wei Chi Die’s face turned pale from the pain. She gritted her teeth and stood up slowly. An Ge hurried forward and carried her.

Wei Chi Die no longer has the strength to struggle. She can only softly lean on An Ge’s back and said angrily: “An Ge, if you tell others about this, I, I will not spare you.”

An Ge’s heart trembled slightly and nodded silently.

“This way, An Ge, take sister towards west, and I will lead them to the east. Otherwise, I’m afraid we will be eliminated the moment we flipped over this high wall.” Wei Chi Li spoke extremely fast. Without waiting for them to reply, she uses QingGong, climbed up the wall and rushed up within several steps.

An Ge wanted to refute but did not have the chance. Seeing that Wei Chi Li was already on the high wall, she could only listen to her as she turns and ran west.

Sure enough, as soon as Wei Chi Li probed her head, there was a breaking wind sound. An arrow whirled towards her forehead. Wei Chi Li cursed and lowered her head.

She swept her hair that was blocking her eyes behind her head with one hand, then secretly cheered herself up.

She must return to the Northern Territory to be the king in the future and so, she could not run away just because of this small matter. She said to herself. Then she made up her mind, exerting some force on her arms, she jumps directly up onto the wall. At this moment, countless arrows flew towards her. Wei Chi Li was taken aback and quickly raised her legs and like walking on a tightrope, she ran east along the wall and using the sword in her hand to block the arrows.

The people below saw that they could not shoot her down, so they simply started to climb the walls. But their Qing Gong was not as good as Wei Chi Li, so they must use tools, and this resulted in slower speed. Some who managed to climb up were kicked down by Wei Chi Li.

The scene fell into a deadlock for a while.

Wei Chi Li took the time to look back and saw 2 dark shadows on the wall in the distance and felt a little easy. Seems like An Ge has already flipped over the wall with Wei Chi Die. However, at this time, there was a firelight from within the area of the palace wall behind her and Wei Chi Li’s heart jolted.

It seems that the reason why An Ge and Wei Chi Die flipped over the wall so quickly was that someone was chasing closely after them.

Wei Chi Li did not even think twice as she stopped quickly, turned around and ran in the direction of Wei Chi Die. Sure enough, the situation here was very unfavourable, there were people behind surrounding. The dense arrows were like a large net and there were people constantly swarming onto the walls.

Wei Chi Li ran over, waved the sword in her hand and many people fell down like a wall covering peeling off. 

An Ge was unable to climb the wall with a person on her back. She had just dragged Wei Chi Di up from below and had been blocking those arrows and was already panting from the exhaustion. Wei Chi Li hurried over to help her block the arrows behind her.

“Get off now while there are fewer people!” Wei Chi Li pulled Wei Chi Die who was unconscious again, onto her back and then pushed An Ge down. An Ge was caught off guard and crashed onto a guard who has rushed over, causing the person to faint.

An Ge bounced up, swung her sword and slashed at the rest of the people. She shouted: “Quickly jump down!”

Wei Chi Li wanted to jump down too, but unexpectedly, many people had climbed up behind her and grabbed her legs. Wei Chi Li simply explode her internal force, shaking them away and then jump down from the wall.

She threw Wei Chi Die down in advance. With a quick of an eye and deft of hand, An Ge reached out and caught Wei Chi Die firmly in her arms.

At the same time, Wei Chi Li felt a piercing pain coming from her back. That pain almost made her faint in mid-air. The last trace of rationality supported her as she uses both her legs to land on the ground and then crashed into the soil.

She heard An Ge’s sound and many disorderly footsteps. Someone grabbed her arm from behind and hit her neck with a knife gesture.

Wei Chi Li exhausted her last ounce of strength to push An Ge out and shouted: “Hurry up and take sister away!”

The moment she jumped off the wall, she has already thought about it. When she sees Liu Luo Yi again, she must kiss her deeply and then take her home.

It was just that the world was strange and unpredictable and in just a short moment, all the good things came to nothing. If she must die, why not just die when she fell off the cliff and why let her experience so much.

A lifetime of love, grieving over the loss of love. It was better not to love.

The world in front of her finally plunged into darkness. At the same time, Liu Luo Yi who was lying on the bed suddenly sat up. Her face was sweaty, she lowered her head and placed her hand on her pounding chest.

“Wei Chi Li…” She said softly, then turned over, got out of the bed, and walked of the inn door. The night breeze blew the hair on her temples, allowing her to calm down a little.

Xin Ran, who was guarding at her door, opened her eyes, yawned, and walked up, “Miss Liu, it is almost midnight, why are you still up?”

“My heart is in a mess.” Liu Luo Yi said as she reached into her placket and took out the jade pendant, gently rubbing it.

Suddenly, she trembled and quickly grabbed the railing with her hand to stabilise her body.

“This, why is there a crack on this jade pendant?” Liu Luo Yi said and clenched the jade pendant tightly. Her eyelashes trembled, then strode down the stairs and stumble out.

“Miss Liu, where are you going! Princess told us to wait!” Xin Ran hurried forward to chase.

Liu Luo Yi stopped abruptly and took a deep breath, turned around and said with tears in her eyes: “Something happened to princess, let’s go back to the capital!”

“What?” Xin Ran was shocked and turned around on the spot in panic. In the end, she decided to believe in Liu Luo Yi as she took the sword and important bags and chased her to the city gate.

The 2 hurried to the city gate, just to see a person being stopped by the guards. Liu Luo Yi rushed up, grabbed that person’s sleeves to take a look, and her heart sank.

“Little An’zi!” Xin Ran said in surprise. She raised her to look at An Ge’s back and exclaimed, “Da……”

Liu Luo Yi reached out her hand to pinched her and Xin Ran changed her words halfway, blurting out “Da Niang.”

“Da Niang?” The guard frowned, “Suffering such serious injuries in the middle of the night, could she be a fugitive? Now that the city has been blockaded, one can only enter and not leave. Also, Da Niang, this lady does not look old, so why call her Da Niang?”

Xin Ran opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.

“She is Da Niang. Mr guard, this is our Da Niang. Because of jealousy and wilfulness, she got rid of a concubine’s child, was divorced by our master and was beaten up like this. Afraid that master refused to keep her to treat her injuries, we come out in the middle of the night. I beg you to show some kindness, Da Niang’s maiden family is in Yong Ling town. If she does not rush back to treat her injuries tonight, she may be in danger.” Liu Luo Yi said anxiously.

The gaze Xin Ran have when she looks at Liu Luo Yi was filled with shock. How could this Miss Liu be different from the one in her impression?

This nonsensical ability was almost catching up to her princess.

While speaking, Liu Luo Yi took out a few silver taels and stuffed it into that guard’s hand.

The guard calmly weighs it, took out another portrait of Wei Chi Li to compare it with Wei Chi Die’s face. Then he waved his hand: “Okay, take your Da Niang away to treat her injuries. I say, you these big family beating up a woman like this is too cruel. Go go go, don’t be seen by others.”

“Many thanks to Mr guard!” Liu Luo Yi bent a little and then pulls An Ge. The group followed the main road and away from the guard’s sight.

“An Ge, what happened, Where is princess?” Liu Luo Yi immediately changed her expression and grabbed An Ge to ask. 

“2nd princess protected us all the way out but was shot by an arrow when we were out of the palace. Now it is unclear if she is alive or dead. I will send eldest princes to a safe place then return to rescue 2nd princess.” An Ge said as she lowered her head.

“What? Little An’zi, princess is injured! I will go back now!” Xin Ran opened her eyes wide, turned and walked towards the capital but was held back by Liu Luo Yi.

“No, she risks her life only to save eldest princess, so we cannot act rashly.” Liu Luo Yi said as she forcibly held back her tears. And while speaking, she clenched her fists so tightly that it almost bled. “An Ge, you cannot go back, they will definitely chase you. Let us find a safe place to hide. Follow me, I know a place, it is nearby.”

“After finding a place to settle down eldest princess, I will return to the city with Xin Ran and will plead with my father for help. Worst come to worst, I will beg the emperor. I am from the Yan Country and is not afraid of being arrested.” Liu Luo Yi said, but her body was trembling.

“Miss Liu, what are you saying? You can’t go and beg the emperor.” Xin Ran was anxious. She grabbed Liu Luo Yi, “Let’s go to a safe place then discuss.”

The so-called safe place was a small house in the nearby forest. The owner of the house was an old man with wrinkles yet has thick black hair. He glanced at Liu Luo Yi and let them in without saying a word, as he turned around and went back to sleep.

“Divine doctor, can you treat my friend’s injuries?” Liu Luo Yi suddenly said.

That strange old man turned his head, glanced at Liu Luo Yi again, and then strode over, gesturing An Ge to carry Wei Chi Die into the house with him.

After they left, Liu Luo Yi fell to the ground, as if the taut bowstring has suddenly broken. She clenched the jade pendant in her hand, lowered her head and let her tears fall to the ground like raindrops.

“Xin Ran, I must go, I want to see her.” Liu Luo Yi choked and spoke. As if she had lost her soul, she grabbed and shook Xin Ran’s hand.

“Miss Liu don’t be anxious. Earlier on, Princess left a letter, saying that we should open it when something happens. I will open it now to take a look, okay?” Xin Ran was about to cry too; she wipes a tear from her eye and fumble frantically for that letter.

There are only a few words on the letter: “Don’t search for me, wait 3 days.”

“Telling me to wait again!” Liu Luo Yi suddenly crumples the piece of paper into a ball but was reluctant to throw it away as she held it tightly in her hand.

“Wei Chi Li, why do you always tell me to wait……” She simply squats on her knees, crying bitterly, as if she was a child who had lost everything.

Xin Ran felt sad after seeing her cry. She patted Liu Luo Yi on the shoulder and said softly: “Miss Liu, I always have a principle in everything I do and that is to believe in princess. Whatever princess says, I will listen and so I will still listen to princess.”

She took the letter, opened it, and suddenly called out in surprise: “Miss Liu, look, there are words behind!”

Liu Luo Yi raised her head abruptly, and regardless of the tears and snot on her face, she borrowed the moonlight to look at the words. Only to see those majestic words unique to Wei Chi Li.

“Be good, don’t cry, one last time.”

Liu Luo Yi suddenly smiled again. For a moment, the 2 expression of crying and smiling were tangled on her face, making her look less beautiful than the mortal’s fireworks.

“Wei Chi Li, one last time. I will wait for you to come back.” She smoothed the paper and placed it on her chest.

Cannot break this promise.

[T/L Note]: Heya! I really really want to apologise to all the readers out there waiting for this to update. It was Chinese New year period and was busy, after which I procrastinated with this translation. It is no excuse!! I have chapters translated, but did not edit it yet. I really really am so sorry for dragging this. Drop this 1 chapter for now, the rest will be updated asap!