After Becoming the Cannon Fodder Live-in Spouse A (GL) - Chapter 52: The Fifty-Second Day

Chapter 52: The Fifty-Second Day

That biting snowflake scent was carried by the river wind to the downstream of the Xiang River—

Someone wearing a conical hat stood by the riverbank watching the rising water level and complained softly to the person standing behind her, “Tsk, is this really something the two of us should be doing? The court’s wanted order hasn’t even reached here yet, all because the officials big and small around here are busy with disaster relief. You still haven’t paid me the fifty taels of gold you owe me for saving your life, so how come you’re dragging us into this muddy water?”

Behind her, there was a broken table and a small wooden stool. Propped slantingly beside the stool was a sign: “Seeing patients, three coins per time.”

The person sitting on the small stool could not even stretch out her legs fully. Under the nagging from the person behind her, she replied in a flat tone, “Nagging.”

The person by the riverbank was choked by her words for a moment.

She seemed to want to say something more, but at that moment she twitched her nose tip. “Eh, what smell is that?”

The instinct belonging to Qianyuan made her want to identify where this provocation came from, but her sense of smell could not figure out exactly what it was. This left her a bit unsure whether what she had sensed was really a Qianyuan signal scent. However, before she could reach an answer, the biting chill brought by the river wind, mixed in with the cold sharpness after the rain, had already made her instinctively release her signal scent in response.

“…How strange.” She murmured, wanting to turn her head to ask her good friend what on earth this was. But before she could turn back, she first heard the sound of something being knocked over.

Then she saw her friend, who had just been patiently seeing patients and preparing to observe the spread of the epidemic, suddenly stand up. And this person, who always cared about her image and thought of ways every day to straighten that consultation flag, had knocked over her own sign for the first time.

“…Little Fish?”

The one calling her stuttered a bit before remembering that the two of them had been using aliases lately. She had almost exposed her good friend’s real name.

And the doctor strode suddenly toward the riverbank, using her own signal scent as a detector. The bamboo leaf fragrance strained toward the upstream of the river, trying to capture where exactly this signal scent came from—the one that brought her a natural threat and, even though released sparingly, she remembered all too well.

Faintly.

Flickering uncertainly.

Coming in waves, now there and now gone. This was… in the river?

She opened her eyes again. Her cold and sharp eyes looked toward this river that had become especially turbulent from the gathering of tributaries and the raging flood discharge. Suddenly, she spoke up. “A Yao, find a boat. We’re going down the river.”

Xu Leyao: “?”

She looked at this river where if someone fell in, you might not even know where to fish out the corpse. Then she looked at her good friend who had made this request. She really wanted to ask, “Are you okay?”

Ye Yuge glanced at her. “If you won’t go, I’ll go by myself.”

—But why was Ye Fuguang in the water? Had something happened to Prince Qi too?

…

Fufeng County.

Shen Jinglan, who had originally fainted and been helped to rest in a tent, still unconscious until now, suddenly opened her eyes without any warning. In fact, she still had not recovered much of her vision, her head still hurt a lot, and even in her veins, that restless agitation that made her constantly uneasy still surged.

But.

In her sleep, she had seen a vast expanse of heavy snow covering the sky.

It was an unreasonable June snow, giving people in the humid and stuffy summer a sudden thread of coolness.

And that thread of coolness had shone from the dream into her reality. Shen Jinglan hazily released her camellia-scented signal scent, chasing after this biting chill that had once left a mark in her signal scent and soothed her.

It was Ye Fuguang.

It was her princess consort.

“Prince?” Jinyang heard someone say she had woken up. He tried calling out to her from inside the tent, wanting to know how she had recovered now.

All the doctors in Fufeng County who were still healthy had been summoned to care for the infected people, and many of them were unwell themselves. He was afraid Shen Jinglan would catch the illness, so he planned to have the imperial guards go to Jiangning City to kidnap a doctor to come check on her. But before the person could be brought back, Shen Jinglan had woken up again.

“Jinyang, lead a small squad.” The person sitting up in the tent slowly blinked her eyes, confirming that she could now see blurry light. Although the whole world was still unclear, her hearing seemed to have recovered. So she steadied her mind, tried hard to suppress the unease in her heart, and gave the order: “Come with me to the Xiang River.”

It was the direction of the Xiang River.

She still remembered that back in the prince’s mansion, when the little girl heard she was coming to Jiangning with her, she had worried needlessly and practiced swimming for half a day on dry land. Later, when she learned they would go by carriage, she had let out a light sigh of relief.

She also remembered that Ye Fuguang had once made her promise to stay by her side without leaving a step.

What she had thought back then was coquetry and worry had all become reality.

—Why had she abandoned Ye Fuguang?

At this thought, Shen Jinglan inexplicably felt a sweetness in her throat. The already surging bl00d and qi, combined with the recent worries, plus her concern for the princess consort, all gathered together, making her suddenly spit out a mouthful of bl00d.

Jinyang was scared out of his wits. “Prince!”

He knelt down outside the tent. “If you have any orders, just tell your subordinate. Why must you tire yourself like this?”

Shen Jinglan casually wiped the bl00d from the corner of her lips. The trace left behind was the same color as the deep red robe on her body. After spitting out this mouthful of bl00d, she actually felt much lighter. So she shook her head. “For this matter, this prince must go personally. Quickly assemble the team.”

That was her life, after all.

How could she bear to hand it over to someone else?

Shen Jinglan thought that she had already broken her promise and abandoned the princess consort once. This time, even if it meant death, they should die together.

–

At the same time.

Upstream of the river, near Fufeng Station.

The carriage team’s journey had stalled a bit. Miyun had a bit of a headache as he looked at the saintess who said whatever came to her mind and would absolutely not allow the heavens to be sunny today if she said it would rain. He never remembered the saintess being like this back in the royal court. After all, the Guishuang prince had personally praised her good temper.

Now it seemed, it was not a good temper, but good acting skills.

It even made Imperial Physician Miyun, who had seen plenty of storms in Yong’an Palace, unable to smile anymore. He pressed his temple and said, “You know full well that Shen Jinglan is right here in Fufeng. Going there now, do you want to run into her? It’s not time yet, Princess.”

“With her in her current state, how could she possibly recognize me?” Su Wanqiu blew on her nail polish that her maid had freshly applied yesterday, and stubbornly spoke up. “I’m the kind of person who always settles scores, no matter how small. Letting someone who betrayed me live on, I don’t have that kind of magnanimity yet. Today, I want to see her alive if she’s alive, and see her corpse if she’s dead.”

Miyun: “…For this matter, I can leave a few people behind to quietly search downstream of the Xiang River. If we find her, if she’s still alive, give her one more stab. If she’s dead, throw the corpse back, then come back and report to you. Wouldn’t that work?”

“She’s still alive.”

Su Wanqiu looked at him very affirmatively. “That signal scent hasn’t disappeared yet. Can’t you sense it?”

Miyun could naturally sense it, but for him, the urgent matter at hand was that more trouble was worse than less. Su Wanqiu had misjudged the person herself and had even personally provided the other side with the necessary tool to escape. Now she should learn a lesson.

As if reading his expression, Su Wanqiu smiled. “Don’t forget, she knows I’m the princess.”

After thinking for a moment, she added, “Besides, she might not fail to recognize the bloodline traits of you Great Zhi people.”

If the emperor found out that this southern flood disaster also bore traces of the previous dynasty and the Great Zhi people, then the annual tribute would probably not be so easy for the Great Dynasty to collect anymore. And that was the key to providing the royal court with enough resources to launch another war.

Miyun was silent for a moment.

Thinking of that supreme royal court engraved in the hearts of all Great Zhi people, he closed his eyes, then opened them again and gave the order. “Change course.”

“Follow the Xiang River all the way downstream. Qianyuan lads, remember this chill. Search for news of the escapee.”

“Once found, kill without mercy. Bring back the corpse.”

Author’s Note:

Second update done~ All debts cleared, hehe~

*

Pushing this today!!!

《Please Keep Your Distance from Me, Female Star》 by A Flower Clip

After the Qingming Festival passed, Cen Zhi attended a friend’s birthday gathering, but she did not expect the popular female star Duan Rujin to be there too.

In the waiting area of the trendy toy space, Duan Rujin lifted her duckbill cap a bit and greeted everyone with a smiling face.

Cen Zhi happened to turn her head away and did not meet her gaze.

Her friend took the chance to warn the others: “You all better not get any ideas! Rujin and A Zhi are both straight women, just like each other! Keep your distance from them! Don’t think anything!”

Cen Zhi, hearing this from the side, raised her eyelids a bit.

Straight woman?

She clearly remembered that five years ago, on a rainy night, Duan Rujin had asked her if she wanted to “sleep” together.

And she had not refused.

She still remembered that night’s Duan Rujin being very disheveled, somewhat defeated as she clung to her, her eyes reddening, and said: “Cen Zhi, I can’t find a spot.”