CH 53

Whether it’s a kiss, company, or even earning a living for her

As Ming Qin was about to answer, Song Shu Qing covered her mouth and dragged her out of the cell.

Outside the dungeon entrance, Song Shu Qing asked with an unkind expression, “You’re not really going to agree, are you?”

Ming Qin nodded her head. Though her expression was gloomy, she replied as a matter of fact, “This is the most secure method.”

“Secure my ass! What did I teach you about math?!” Song Shu Qing snapped back.

“When one life is exchanged for one month?”

Impatiently, Song Shu Qing patted her junior’s head and said, “Let’s not talk about whether that cunning snake of a man will keep his promise or not. Even if you live to be fifty years old, you still have over ten thousand days left. Ten thousand is not equal to thirty, is it? Were you dozing off during your negotiation class? This sounds incredibly unfair!”

Ming Qin, who had lowered her head and obediently accepted her senior sister’s scolding, suddenly raised her voice, standing up straight.

“It’s a good deal, a good deal,” her body trembling involuntarily. “As long as it is for Yan Yan, it is worth it for me to advance thousands of times in reincarnation!”

Thinking of Murong Yan, who was always by her side day and night, withered hands and sunken cheeks, with her life force constantly slipping away, Ming Qin whispered as if talking to herself, “Even if there’s only a glimmer of hope, I must fight for it.”

“… Qin Qin.”

Looking at her beloved junior sister whom she had raised single-handedly, Song Shu Qing felt her heart ache and spoke with a bitter tone, “Sometimes, life and death are predetermined, and mortals cannot change it…”

“I don’t want to!” Ming Qin exclaimed.

“Senior sister, you see, I have never demanded anything in my life, have I?” Ming Qin clenched her fists, interrupting the person in front of her with excitement. “But Yan Yan… Yan Yan is different… I don’t want to watch her die in front of me and do nothing…”

Her voice choked, and she blinked back tears.

“This is not because of our status as monarch and subject, nor because we are friends, senior sister,” Ming Qin said, standing tall and looking directly at her senior.

“I am pleased to do it for her, and I am willing.”

Love knows no bounds, and looking back, it seems to have been deep-rooted all along.

She paused for a moment, perhaps considering how to explain her overwhelming feelings to the person in front of her, before continuing, “On the way to the capital, I was constantly thinking. I realized that if it weren’t for Yan Yan, I probably wouldn’t love anyone else so deeply in my life.”

“I am willing to do anything for her, whether it’s kissing, accompanying her, or even intimacy, and now I am even willing to risk my life for her,” Ming Qin’s voice was resolute, and unconsciously she was speaking the sweetest and most bitter words of love.

Ming Qin’s voice resounded with determination and fiery passion as she declared, “If God wants to take away Yan Yan, I will fight my way into the underworld to save her! As long as Yan Yan is alive, I am not afraid of anything.”

As Song Shu Qing watched her junior sister speak with such fervor and conviction, she was at a loss for words, feeling a mixture of conflicting emotions.

She had never expected her clueless and naive junior sister, who was once so easily flustered and scatterbrained, to become so resolute and unwavering in her pursuit of love.

Ming Qin had broken through her barriers like a runaway train, charging ahead towards her goal without any thought of turning back, even if there was a mountain of obstacles in her way.

“Senior sister, I won’t die.” Ming Qin looked at her in silence, feeling anxious and concerned about her senior sister’s reaction. “You always say that I’m as strong as a bull and the shadow guards are not afraid of poison, right? When I was shot with a poisoned arrow by Xiao Tai before, nothing happened to me.”

Thinking of the wound on her junior sister’s right shoulder, she couldn’t deny that something had happened. The deep and uneven scars left by scraping off the bones were evidence of that.

“I will never be defeated by poison!”

Ming Qin swore with her hand on her heart and shook her senior sister’s shoulder with her other hand. She tried to suppress the sourness in her nose and begged, “Senior sister, please, this extra month will allow our Master and the hospital to develop an antidote. Yan Yan must live and live safely and happily.”

Watching her tearful junior sister plead with her, Song Shu Qing, who always appeared indifferent, held her head and felt extremely tormented.

As someone who had lived two lives, she was also at a loss when facing this difficult choice.

“You…”

Song Shu Qing looked up at the sky, as if hoping to quell the sourness welling up in her heart. Finally, she reluctantly and resignedly said, “Whatever.”

“Ming Qin has grown up, and I can’t control you anymore, my junior sister.”

At Changning Palace.

A woman lies on a bed with hair as black as night, devoid of even a single grey strand. From afar, she appears elderly, but upon closer inspection, her closed eyes and eyebrows reveal a striking beauty, and her face is devoid of wrinkles. However, her pale and frail appearance only elicits pity.

At the foot of the bed, a tiger rests, occasionally swishing its tail back and forth.

Despite her comatose state, the woman’s body is being meticulously cared for. Even in the dry autumn weather, her lips remain moist due to the careful application of lipstick.

The woman’s hands were covered in hand cream as Ming Qin held her soft fingertips, carefully filing her nails before applying a rosy lipstick.

Yan Yan had a love for beauty, and Ming Qin was fully aware of it. If she woke up and found that she had lost her grace, it would surely make her unhappy.

Despite not being skilled at this task, Ming Qin was doing it with a focused expression, determined to carry out the task with precision.

“…Qin Qin.”

“…Qin Qin, Qin Qin.”

“Qin Qin!”

Startled by Song Shu Qing’s shouting, Ming Qin paused her work and turned to look at the person who called her.

“What are you doing? I knocked several times and called out to you for so long,” Song Shu Qing said as she handed the medicine bowl to Ming Qin, clearly frustrated.

But then Song Shu Qing suddenly stopped talking halfway through her sentence. “Could it be that you can’t hear me anymore? How is that possible? What kind of crappy poison is this?” she asked, looking at Ming Qin anxiously and wanting to check on her.

“It’s not that, don’t worry,” Ming Qin smiled and brushed off Song Shu Qing’s hand as it reached for her ear. “I was just too focused and didn’t hear you, and my right ear hasn’t been working well since it was cut off.”

Half-believing, Song Shu Qing was about to say something, but Ming Qin’s question interrupted her.

“How’s the progress with Master? It’s been seven days,” Ming Qin asked with an uneasy expression.

“The doctors at the hospital are doing their best,” Song Shu Qing replied, but it was as if she hadn’t answered at all.

Ming Qin lowered her eyes and didn’t say much. “I see,” she said quietly.

She took a small bamboo tube from her pocket, which was the size of her little finger. Song Shu Qing instructed her junior sister to hold the unconscious woman’s neck and slowly inserted the tube into Murong Yan’s slightly open mouth until it reached her throat.

“Be gentle,” Ming Qin said worriedly, furrowing her brow as she held her beloved. “Don’t hurt her.”

“I am being gentle! Don’t be so nervous all the time,” Song Shu Qing said, rolling her eyes at her overly worried junior sister, as she slowly poured the medicine into the bamboo tube.

Since her return to the capital, her junior sister, whose desire to protect was excessive, seemed to have gone crazy.

She would get extremely nervous whenever someone touched the Princess, afraid that she would be hurt.

She was fine with herself and the imperial doctors, but if a stranger entered the room, she would react fiercely, guarding the princess like a tiger and staring at them as if ready to attack.

At first, she was confused and almost hit the princess’s brother, General Changsheng Murong Can, mistaking him for a bad person. The two of them ended up smashing several rockeries in the courtyard.

If it weren’t for their master coming out to stop her, her tense junior sister might have broken the man’s arm before giving up.

As Song Shu Qing slowly pulled out the tube, she casually asked, “Do you need any help with the care you have to do later? How long has it been since you’ve slept?”

“No, I can handle it myself,” Ming Qin decisively shook her head. “I’m not sleepy.”

She wiped away the brown medicine that had dribbled out of the woman’s mouth, slowly lowering the person in her arms, her gaze filled with indescribable attachment.

“Okay,” Ming Qin responded softly.

Looking at her junior sister, whose eyes seemed to be evolving into panda eyes, Song Shu Qing felt a little helpless but didn’t want to persuade her anymore.

After packing up, the woman silently turned around and elegantly left, her back facing Ming Qin. Her hand didn’t pause as she opened the door, but suddenly she spoke out tentatively, “Um…”

“About the antidote for the Princess…”

The volume was not low, yet the person behind her showed no reaction.

As expected.

Qin Qin is a liar.

A big liar!

Song Shu Qing was tempted to turn around and curse, to grab the person by the collar and make her see reason. She wanted to shake her deeply sentimental junior sister and force her to face the harsh reality.

However, in the end, the woman did nothing. She merely opened the door and walked away quickly.