Chapter 32

Just as they were silently facing off, the door opened.

“Your Highness? This servant is coming in.” Xiangzhu seemed both worried and anxious, speaking as she walked in.

The atmosphere suddenly sank, as if it had frozen solid.

Xin Yuan turned her head in panic. “Don’t come over!”

Qin Muqiu sighed softly. “Get out.”

Xiangzhu stared dumbfounded at her own mistress being pinned down beneath Xin Yuan. Who was she supposed to listen to?

No, wait. One told her not to come over, and the other told her to get out. It seemed she could listen to both.

Xiangzhu was about to turn around when she suddenly stopped. Her gaze fell on Xin Yuan’s hand, where there was a dagger gleaming with cold light.

Looking more carefully, her mistress was clearly tied up!

A dagger! Tied up!

Xiangzhu’s spirit jolted. From beneath the hem of her skirt, she drew a flexible blade from her calf. As she slowly approached, she said heavily, “Let go of my mistress.”

Xin Yuan instinctively [bailiantales.com]pressed the dagger against Qin Muqiu’s throat. “Stop there! Don’t come any closer!”

Xiangzhu did not stop. “Let Her Highness go, and I won’t come closer.”

Xin Yuan was panicking inside. “Don’t come closer, and I’ll let your Highness go.”

Seeing them locked in a stalemate, Qin Muqiu closed her eyes for a moment. “Xiangzhu, put down the blade.”

“Your Highness…” Xiangzhu looked at her worriedly.

Qin Muqiu stared straight at Xin Yuan and said quietly, “Miss Xin has no intention of hurting me. You misunderstood.”

Xin Yuan met her gaze, lowered her head to lean close to her ear, and softened her voice. “You’d better keep your word. Otherwise, even if I die, I won’t cooperate.”

Qin Muqiu’s brows relaxed, and a trace of a smile appeared in her eyes, as if in agreement.

Xin Yuan silently lowered the dagger, turned over, and looked at Xiangzhu. “Go out. We’re not what you’re thinking.”

She was not worried about Xiangzhu. After all, she had Qin Muqiu in her hands. But she was worried about what Qin Muqiu had said. If the Empress Dowager truly wanted to get rid of this woman, then forget letting Xin Yuan leave—she might even deliberately force the situation and use Xin Yuan as the borrowed knife to kill.

Xin Yuan did not want to become someone else’s blade, and she did not want to kill anyone either…

Xiangzhu hesitated, unsure whether she should believe them.

Only after Qin Muqiu instructed, “Go out. Order people to prepare to respectfully welcome the Empress Dowager. Read on BaiLianTalesThis palace will come shortly,” did Xiangzhu half-believingly put away her blade and leave, looking back every few steps.

“Untie this palace,” Qin Muqiu said calmly. Her tone was faint, as if nothing had just happened.

Xin Yuan looked at her manner and was still somewhat uneasy. “You’ll really keep your word and not settle accounts later?”

She had acted impulsively, but she did not regret it.

If she stayed in a weak position the whole time and let this woman beat or kill her as she pleased, she would only become more and more passive.

Sometimes taking a desperate gamble might not succeed, but at least it would make the other party wary. It would let the other party know she had the courage to fight until both sides were destroyed.

Qin Muqiu did not want to waste time and frowned. “Untie me. Or do you want the Empress Dowager to block us inside this dungeon?”

Xin Yuan gritted her teeth and obediently did as told.

After Qin Muqiu stood, she straightened her clothes and spoke very quickly. “There were also things this palace handled improperly. You may rest assured. Since this palace said I will not pursue it, I will not break my word.”

After saying that, she turned and left in a hurry.

Inside the dungeon, Xin Yuan stood stunned for a long while. Then she looked at the dagger on the ground, silently picked it up, and tucked it into her sleeve.

She could not quite understand Qin Muqiu’s way of doing things. One moment, Qin Muqiu seemed as though she would kill without blinking, like it was either one of them or the other.

The next moment, she seemed to want peaceful coexistence and said she would not pursue anything.

The key was that Qin Muqiu did not act as though she were compromising out of grievance. It seemed she truly intended to let this matter pass.

She was really changeable…

Xin Yuan’s heart felt heavy as she silently walked out.

After leaving, she saw Xiangzhu standing outside with a stern face.

Xin Yuan’s expression did not change. “Where’s Guo Xiaowu? Take me to see her.”

With her mood complicated and unsettled, she only wanted to see someone familiar right now. Although Guo Xiaowu was unreliable, at least she was easier on the eyes than the people of the princess residence.

Xiangzhu stared at her face for a moment, then suddenly leaned in furtively. “Miss Xin, tell me, how did you get to know our Highness?”

Just now, when Xiangzhu saw Her Highness walk out with a cold face, she could not help asking how Xin Yuan should be dealt with.

And what had Her Highness said? She had told Xiangzhu to treat Xin Yuan as an honored guest of the princess residence.

If Xiangzhu had not seen that scene, perhaps she would not have thought too much.

But now, no matter how she looked at it, she felt there was something wrong between this Miss Xin and her mistress. Very wrong.

If it were someone else who dared [unauthorized copy]treat Her Highness like that, never mind being treated as an honored guest—the grass on their grave would already have grown.

So she did not understand.

At this moment, the person was right before her. Since she did not understand, then she would ask. Asking the person herself was faster than asking others.

The instant Xiangzhu leaned closer, Xin Yuan’s hand had already tightened around the dagger. In the end, this was what came out?

No, wait. Were the maids of the princess residence this nosy?

She looked at Xiangzhu stiffly. “We just met, shook hands, and became good friends.”

She had only brushed it off casually, but she did not expect Xiangzhu to look utterly shocked. “You shook hands with our Highness the moment you met!”

Xin Yuan: “…”

This angle of understanding was truly tricky.

“Cough, cough. I have something to discuss with Guo Xiaowu. Take me over quickly.”

What should she do? She felt the maids of the princess residence were a little abnormal!

Xiangzhu did not continue asking, as if she were still too shocked to recover.

Soon, Xin Yuan saw Guo Xiaowu.

Guo Xiaowu had a wine cup in her left hand and a chicken leg in her right, taking a mouthful of wine and a mouthful of meat, eating with great enjoyment. The moment Xin Yuan walked through the door, she happened to let out a satisfied burp.

Then came a rumbling sound, and it came from Xin Yuan’s stomach, which had been hungry for a day and a night.

Xin Yuan’s first reaction was to sit at the table. Without another word, she began eating.

Who would understand? She had been tied up and jostled around in a carriage for half the night, locked in a side room of the princess residence for half a day, gone to the palace to spar with the emperor and State Preceptor, nervously met the original owner’s parents, and then played through a thrilling round with Qin Muqiu in the dungeon.

This day and night had been truly dangerous and exciting.

Now she had finally gotten hot food. She was almost about to cry.

“No, who are you? Where did this bald head come from? Hurry and put down my chicken wing.” Guo Xiaowu had been fully focused on eating. When she raised her eyes, she saw a bald head. Before she could react, the other person plopped down and began eating with her head lowered, like a starving tiger pouncing on prey, exactly like the refugees Guo Xiaowu had encountered on the road after they had starved for three days.

Xin Yuan raised her head, gave her an irritated glance, then continued eating.

People truly had different fates. In the morning, they had been fellow sufferers. In the blink of an eye, Guo Xiaowu was eating good wine and dishes, while Xin Yuan felt as if she had walked past the edge of a cliff several times.

“Pfft.” After seeing clearly that it was Xin Yuan, Guo Xiaowu could not help bursting into laughter. “Haha, where’s your hair? You still had some short fuzz this morning. How did you turn bald after not seeing you for one morning?”

Xin Yuan ignored her. After wolfing down food for a while and feeling less hungry, she answered carelessly, “I entered religious life.”

That was right. From now on, she would become a member of the religious order, see through the mortal world, and go mad every day.

Guo Xiaowu was startled. “Entered religious life? The Eldest Princess agreed?”

“What does it have to do with her? Do I need her agreement to enter religious life?”

“No, isn’t the Eldest Princess trying to take you as a concubine? After spending so much effort to capture you, can she let you enter religious life?”

The moment Guo Xiaowu finished speaking, Xiangzhu, who had been standing at the doorway, abruptly rushed in. “What did you say? No, who did you say my Highness wants to take as a concubine?”

Guo Xiaowu froze, her eyes blinking at Xin Yuan, meaning: Can I say this?

Xin Yuan rolled her eyes at her and continued eating. Don’t ask her. Right now, she only wanted to fill her stomach and did not want to use her brain.

Just then, Jiang Si’s voice came from outside. “State Preceptor, this way, please.”

Xin Yuan’s movement paused, and she could no longer eat. No, why had this old Daoist come?

Damn it. She had not told Guo Xiaowu about borrowing Guo Xiaowu’s identity yet! Don’t expose everything!

In her panic, she could only give Guo Xiaowu a look and silently mouth: Don’t speak yet.

State Preceptor Yun walked in. The first thing he saw was Xin Yuan’s back, mainly because that bare head was far too eye-catching.

After that, he looked at Guo Xiaowu and asked as if casually, “Who are you?”

Guo Xiaowu opened her mouth. “Ah, ah, aba aba.”

She had not understood Xin Yuan’s mouth shape just now, but this time she did.

Because this time, Xin Yuan had mouthed only two words: Shut up.

Damn it all. Her mouth was already open, so how was she supposed to shut it? But she was clever too. Although she did not know what Xin Yuan was worried about, she still cooperated and pretended to be stupid.

State Preceptor Yun only looked at her faintly, then said to Jiang Si, “There is no filthy aura here either. It will not offend the Empress Dowager. Take this poor Daoist elsewhere to look.”