FID – Chapter 1043

Chapter 1043: Coward, Only Dares to Bark

“It’s getting late. Go back to your room and sleep.” She stood there in a daze, silent, as the man gave the order to leave.

“…Xue Honglian, how about we make another agreement? Can you help me one more time? Once this favor is done, I’ll definitely get you out of Xiliang. How about that?” The woman bit her lip and edged closer to him. “I’m not one to go back on my word. Of course, if you want to leave now, I can’t stop you… but without you, I don’t know who else could help me with such a difficult problem. If you agree, not only will I get you out of here afterward, I’ll also give you my Xijiang snakes! How about that? You wanted the Xijiang snake venom, right? I can help you collect a lot of it!”

Her words came out jumbled and rambling. Xue Honglian opened his mouth to mock her. He was leaving now, didn’t need her, and she had no leverage to negotiate.

Yet when his gaze met her eyes, slightly red under the light, seeing the mixture of reluctance and hope, Xue Honglian inexplicably paused.

“Xue Honglian?” The woman had moved right up beside him, quietly reaching out to tug on his sleeve, holding it tightly as if afraid he would immediately turn and leave.

She assumed he hadn’t noticed this little gesture.

“Help with what?”

Her eyes lit up. “You agreed?”

The man looked at her indifferently, eyes empty, lips pressed lightly together.

Qian Yi instantly understood—he was telling her to speak up and stop dragging her feet.

“This time that damn eunuch picked six saintesses at once, didn’t he? He didn’t leave a single one for our tribe. By tradition, he should’ve left most of them here so the women could marry and have children. Only then can we ensure the Saintess Tribe’s bloodline won’t die out, right? He took them all away. That’s clearly breaking the rules first, so naturally we don’t need to follow the rules either! Right?”

After every sentence, she asked him ‘right?’, hoping to win his agreement.

“What are you planning?”

“…Do you think we might secretly let the girls escape on the road?”

Since the eunuch was in charge of escorting them, if the maidens escaped, he would be the one held responsible. After returning to the palace, the emperor would definitely punish him.

As long as they worked a bit on the idea of ‘escape’—like staging it so the saintesses were taken by bandits, kidnapped by ruthless thieves, and so on—pulling the Saintess Tribe entirely out of the incident so no one suspects the maidens ran away on purpose, then everything would be perfect.

She felt her idea was brilliant.

With Xue Honglian’s skills, as long as he agreed, the plan would absolutely work without a hitch.

Qian Yi’s eyes sparkled as she stared at Xue Honglian, waiting for him to nod and say yes.

The man’s thin lips parted, and her eyes grew even brighter, her mouth already stretching into a delighted grin—

“No.”

Qian Yi felt as if she had been turned to stone in an instant. If she moved even a little, her skin would crack open.

“Why not?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“No means no. You want me alone to rescue six saintesses? Do you think my martial arts are unmatched in the world, or that the palace guards are all made of tofu? When you came up with this idea, were you trying to send me to my death? Do you have some deep grudge against me?”

The man questioned her sharply, pressing her hard.

A chill fell over Qian Yi as if snow had dropped in June, filling her with grievance.

She stood there stiffly for quite a while before finally collapsing onto the ground in defeat. “There really isn’t any way?”

It was because of her that several sisters in the tribe were implicated and forced onto a path of no return.

She had used a trick to save herself, but indirectly pushed her own people into danger. She couldn’t bear the guilt in her heart.

If she could, she wanted to find a way to rescue them.

The young woman sat on the ground, head drooping in dejection, like an eggplant beaten by frost—completely wilted.

Xue Honglian’s gaze flickered. “It’s not entirely impossible. If you can find a way to blend into the escort team, then refine the plan along the way, you might be able to save one or two.”

“Only one or two?” the woman lifted her head and asked softly.

The man didn’t answer.

Saving one or two was already a lot. Wasn’t she being too greedy wanting to save them all? 

Moreover, even if she managed to save everyone, it wouldn’t benefit the Saintess Tribe at all. To avoid punishment, the eunuch could simply come back later and select again. Or, if a few words of slander reached the emperor, all the blame could be shifted onto the Saintess Tribe, which would be an even greater disaster.

Put plainly: even if the woman truly had a way to save them all, he would intervene and stop her.

Without the saintesses leading the way, how could Feng Qingbai and Nannan sneak into the palace?

He had spoken to the limit of his kindness; whether she accepted it or not was her choice.

Standing up, he lifted the woman who was still lost in thought from the ground and tossed her out the door. Then, he closed the door and went to sleep.

“I’m a person, not a chick or a puppy! Next time you lift me like this, it won’t end well for you!”

Outside the door came the sound of her furious shouting.

Xue Honglian didn’t even listen.

Won’t end well for me? This coward only dared to bark.

The next day, at the break of dawn, when the sun had just lifted a sliver of orange over the horizon, the Saintess Village’s caravan was already preparing to depart for the capital.

All the villagers, young and old, stood at the entrance of the settlement, watching the convoy travel farther and farther away until it disappeared along the winding mountain path.

The saintesses had been taken away. No matter how painful it was, life still had to go on. The villagers steadied their hearts and returned to their normal routines.

It wasn’t until later that afternoon that someone discovered the saintesses weren’t the only ones who had left.

Qian Yi and her protector were also gone, nowhere to be found.

Her room showed signs of being packed up. Several pieces of clothing were missing from her wardrobe, and a number of the small tools she commonly used were also nowhere to be seen.

When the news reached the elder, she was so enraged that she scolded for half the night.

Based on her understanding of that damned girl, there was no need to ask—she had definitely followed the envoy’s caravan to the capital.

If she had left the village properly, or if something had come up between her and Xue Honglian requiring them to go somewhere, Qian Yi would surely have reported it to her.

But to leave without saying a single word? She clearly felt guilty, afraid she’d be stopped and scolded.

Useless, irresponsible girl!

“Elder, Xue Honglian left with Qian Yi. Do you think they’ll cause trouble?”

“What ‘will they’—of course they will! They’ve already run off. Even if we tried to chase them now, we wouldn’t catch up. All we can do is hope that damned girl uses her brain for once. If she acts on impulse again and causes big trouble, even I won’t be able to protect her!”

That damned girl is sharp and mischievous, full of tricks. Now that she has a skilled protector with her, it would be strange if she didn’t get into some kind of trouble!

The Elder rubbed her forehead and sighed. For now, all she could do was hope that Xue Honglian could keep that girl in check and keep a close eye on her.

By now, most of the day had passed, and the envoy’s caravan had already left Mo City, speeding swiftly toward the capital.