I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 52

“Get out.”

Yan Yu made a “please” gesture. Lin Luo thought she wanted her to get down first, so she reached to lift the carriage curtain. But the moment the curtain was raised, Yan Yu nimbly ducked and slipped out.

“Thank you. Colonel Lin is more considerate than I imagined.”

“…” Lin Luo swallowed the curse that had reached her lips and got out after her with a dark face. “You’d better pray we never have a chance to meet again in the future.”

Yan Yu walked forward without looking back. “Same to you.”

The place Lin Luo brought Yan Yu to was not the great hall where morning court was held, but the study where the empress handled important affairs daily.

The study doors were tightly shut. On both sides stood perfectly straight female soldiers. Amid all the cold, hard armor, that touch of white clothing looked especially eye-catching.

“Good disciple!” Lin Hegui, who had already been waiting for a long time, finally showed a smile the moment she saw Yan Yu. “You’re here.”

Yan Yu quickly walked a few steps and went up to hug her. “Master.”

Even though she had tried hard just now to put on a strong front, in her heart, she still had some uncertainty about what was about to happen. But Lin Hegui always had an extremely reliable air about her. Only after seeing her did the heavy stone in Yan Yu’s heart finally settle.

“Don’t be afraid.” Lin Hegui naturally knew what she was thinking and raised her hand to stroke her head. “Master is here.”

Yan Yu nodded with a smile. “I’m not afraid.”

Lin Luo had not the slightest interest in such a warm scene. She moved her gaze away and reminded them lightly, “You two, the empress is waiting.”

“Let’s go, good disciple.” Lin Hegui took Yan Yu’s hand.

“Mm.”

The door was opened from inside. Waves of sandalwood scent surged out, so heavy it was difficult to breathe. The windows inside the room were sealed tightly shut, and even the curtains had been drawn completely closed, giving people a cramped feeling as if they had been shut inside a Buddhist cauldron.

Yan Yu noticed that the temperature of Lin Hegui’s hand was dropping, so she quietly held it and gently shook it.

Yuling Academy had little entanglement with the imperial clan’s power, and Lin Hegui was an especially detached person who avoided worldly conflict. Yet now, she had to lower herself to ask for someone’s favor. With her personality, she had probably struggled for quite some time before making this decision.

“It’s fine.” Lin Hegui gave her a smile.

Yan Yu also returned a faint smile, but deliberately took a step forward and blocked most of Lin Hegui’s body behind her.

In fact, before entering the city, Lin Hegui had already discussed countermeasures with her. Yuling Academy was located in the capital city, and if Yan Yu wanted to enroll, she could not avoid breaking the empress’s restriction forbidding her from entering the city.

Although they had a reason that could pass on the surface and convince the public, what would happen in this small study was hard to say.

“Teacher Lin certainly treasures this disciple of yours.” The voice of the person seated above did not sound very interested. It was slightly hoarse, carrying the sediment of age.

Yan Yu gathered her courage and looked at her through the lamp on the table.

A thick black collar made of crow feathers supported the palm-sized face beneath it. Her high nose bridge had a slightly protruding hump like an eagle’s claw, and the inner corners of her eyes hooked downward. Looking at each facial feature alone, they were all very delicate and beautiful, but because they were crowded too close together, they made her entire person seem somewhat harsh.

This was the current empress, Yang Pei, the woman who held the lifeline of the Jin Kingdom in her hands.

“But what should I do? Words spoken by me, the empress, cannot become mere wind by someone’s ear just because she is your precious disciple, can they?” She quickly asked another question, biting out each word one by one, giving off an aura of authority even without anger.

Lin Hegui straightened her spine. Her tone was neither servile nor overbearing. “Your Majesty, I have already explained this point in my memorial. The one beside me now is not ‘Yan Yu,’ but the goddess reborn through possession.”

“The goddess?” Yang Pei dragged out the ending sound, carelessly toppling over a pile of memorials. With two fingers, she pinched one from the very bottom and lifted it.

“Ah.” She feigned surprise and shook the memorial splattered all over with wax oil. “This has been stained too. I can’t even read half a word.”

With Lin Hegui’s proud temperament, how could she endure such a deliberately mocking tone? She clenched her fists and was about to stand and argue, but Yan Yu, who sensed it beside her, immediately moved swiftly and pressed her down.

“It doesn’t matter, Your Majesty. If you can’t read it, I can repeat it to you word by word. If I speak to you face to face, surely it won’t be missed.”

The moment Yan Yu opened her mouth, Yang Pei’s gaze immediately turned cold. Her lowered brows and eyes brewed thick anger. “Where is there any place for you to speak here?”

Who would have thought Yan Yu was not afraid at all? She even spoke again. “Of course there is a place for me to speak here.”

“This is the Jin Kingdom, and I am still a citizen of the Jin Kingdom. How do I not have the right to speak?” Looking at Yang Pei’s face sinking bit by bit, Yan Yu still continued to finish her words. “Listening to the people speak, relieving the people’s worries, and making decisions for the people—is this not also something you, as the empress, have said?”

“What a fine citizen of the Jin Kingdom. A ‘fine citizen’ with not the slightest sense of rules in her eyes!” Yang Pei stood and slammed the table heavily. Another tall stack of memorials collapsed onto the floor in a messy crash.

With her hands behind her back, she paced back and forth in the small space behind the desk, accumulated emotions erupting little by little along with the rise and fall of her chest.

Finally, she stopped, turned, and pointed her right hand at Yan Yu. “You say you’re the goddess. On what basis? With just your mouth, I’m supposed to believe you?”

“Your Majesty, everything has been written very clearly in the memorial. I did indeed see the divine omen in a prophetic dream. Every condition matches this child. I am willing to stake everything I have to guarantee that not a single word I just said is false.” Lin Hegui could not help raising her voice.

“How can things not seen with one’s own eyes be believed? Your prophetic dreams are indeed accurate, but no one can guarantee they will never be wrong.” Yang Pei paced over and looked down from above at Lin Hegui, who was kneeling on the ground. “Or is Teacher Lin also willing to use your family’s reputation as a guarantee?”

She was using the extermination of the Yan family as a reminder to Lin Hegui. Back then, Yan Yu’s mother had also sworn so firmly in Guo Lu’s defense. And the result?

“Of course.” Lin Hegui slowly rose and met her gaze from the same height.

She was not from the Jin Kingdom. Kneeling to the empress was merely observing etiquette. Even if she truly did not kneel, no one could use it as leverage against her.

Yan Yu had not expected Lin Hegui to be so firm, to the point of being willing to say such words to guarantee her. She gently tugged at Lin Hegui’s hem, signaling with her eyes that she should not do this.

But Lin Hegui still did the same as before, patting her hand as if saying, “Don’t be afraid.”

Yan Yu’s nose suddenly felt a little sour. She had the feeling that Lin Hegui truly treated her as a close junior to be cherished.

However, now was not the time to sink into emotion. She adjusted her breathing and looked at Yang Pei again. “The prophecy regarding the goddess is recorded in ancient books. Your Majesty, are you denying the existence of such a person?”

“Of course I don’t deny it, but someone can’t simply open her mouth and say she is, and I must believe it, can she?” Yang Pei picked up a feather pen and wrote on a piece of paper. “In the era of Guangliu Zhengnian, the goddess descended. Above, she knew the heavens; below, she knew the earth. She foretold blessings and disasters across a thousand years and solved riddles that had remained for ten thousand. The goddess’s sacred hands could cure all illnesses, rekindle dead ashes, and return the departed from the afterlife.”

After finishing, she lifted the paper and held it in front of Yan Yu, pointing at it. “Which one of these things can you do? If I remember correctly, you were someone who could not even pass the qualification exam.”

“I can.” Yan Yu answered steadily. Her gaze toward Yang Pei did not waver in the slightest. “If I can cure the eldest princess’s illness, will you believe me?”

This was the countermeasure she and Lin Hegui had discussed beforehand.

Yang Pei had two daughters. The eldest princess had abundant soul power but was born weak. The younger princess had a strong physique but no talent for spiritual arts. Neither had accomplished anything in the Beast Arts world, which was very distressing to the competitive Yang Pei.

“Cure illness?” Yang Pei curved out a mocking smile. “Even your master is helpless against Little Jing’s illness. Where do you get the confidence to dare mention treating her?”

“Yu’er has only just entered the field, but her accomplishments in Healing Arts are no lower than mine. I wonder if Your Majesty still remembers my elder brother.”

“Lin Zhuxun? What about him?” Yang Pei frowned, somewhat impatient.

“His legs were cured by Yu’er,” Lin Hegui said.

“Oh?” She finally became a little interested and opened her eyes to look at Yan Yu. “You cured him?”

Who did not know that Lin Hegui had spent many years traveling outside to search for herbs and prescriptions for her brother’s legs? Yet year after year had passed, and there had been no result.

Now a yellow-haired girl who should have disappeared from this world long ago suddenly appeared and said she could cure them?

Yang Pei did not doubt the truth of Lin Hegui’s words. She understood that making Lin Hegui lie about such a matter would feel even more insulting to her than publicly belittling her Healing Arts.

“Your Majesty may choose not to believe me, but please give the eldest princess a chance.” Yan Yu’s eyes were clear, and her words landed with weight. “A chance to live.”

Eldest Princess Yang Jing had been frail since birth. At first, it was only weakness in her limbs, but she could still get through the days. It was not until after she passed her thirtieth birthday that her body seemed to suddenly have something extracted from it and began deteriorating at an accelerated rate. The muscle atrophy began with her feet, then her hands, and in the end, even speaking became difficult. Now, she could only stay in bed to recuperate. Without others to care for her, even eating, drinking, and relieving herself had become problems.

When Yan Yu first saw these symptoms in the book, she felt they were very similar to the clinical manifestations of ALS. So after returning from Yaochi, she had begun making related preparations, because she knew she would eventually need them.

Only, this time, she had no prescription she could reference. According to the original book’s plot, Yang Jing ultimately did not survive.

At first, Guo Lu had used an excuse to deceive the younger princess, saying he could cure her elder sister’s illness and having her steal the national treasure, the Blood Lingzhi, for him to use as a medicinal primer. But before he could fulfill his promise, Yang Jing’s illness flared up and she passed away, beyond saving.

“Little Jing’s body is worth ten thousand gold. How is it something you can touch just because you say so? What if you use the excuse of treating her illness to hold Little Jing hostage and threaten me? Wouldn’t I have fallen for your trick?”

“Then use me as collateral.” Lin Hegui stepped forward and voluntarily handed a dagger to Yang Pei. “I believe in Yu’er.”

“Master, you don’t need to do this.” Yan Yu spoke to stop her, but Yang Pei could hardly wait to agree. “Very well. I choose to respect Teacher Lin’s decision.”

There would be no more than two outcomes later. If Yan Yu truly had the ability to cure Yang Jing, then everyone would be delighted.

If she could not… with Lin Hegui, a Special-rank Beast Arts Master specializing in Healing Arts, missing from Yuling Academy’s mentor seats, then in this year’s exchange competition, Weiying Academy’s chances of victory would increase greatly. In that case, Yang Pei could also smoothly send the seedling she had chosen into the ranks of candidates.

Without any extra time to talk, Yan Yu was grabbed by the hand by Lin Luo, who came in afterward, and taken outside.

“A slick tongue can protect you for a moment, but it can’t protect you forever.” Lin Luo had her back to Yan Yu, her lowered voice ensuring only Yan Yu could hear. “If you fail, the empress will certainly be furious. If this turns into a citywide storm, no one will have a good ending. You might as well simply comply with her wish—”

“Comply with her wish and die, is that it?” Yan Yu coldly interrupted her. She stopped in place and forcefully pulled her wrist out of Lin Luo’s hand. “Lin Luo, do you really want to be nothing more than a dog for the rest of your life?”

No one had ever dared to connect this noble colonel with such a lowly word. Lin Luo should have been angry, but at this moment, her attention was entirely drawn to Yan Yu’s eyes.

That gaze seemed able to easily see through all things in the world, carrying a force that made her heart tremble.

What was laughable was that this was the same person who had once clung to her leg without the slightest dignity, crying in a sorry state, her voice hoarse as she begged Lin Luo to spare the Yan family.

Only back then, Lin Luo had not hesitated at all. With blade rising and falling, she had cold-bloodedly ended everyone in front of her like an executioner.

Lin Luo overlapped those tear-red eyes in her memory with the pair before her now, yet she could not find the slightest similarity.

Suddenly, she bent down. Her gloved right hand pressed against Yan Yu’s face and patted it. “You’re quite tough now.”

But some things were not so easily changed.

She had seen all the darkness and had once been illuminated by light. In the end, she had come to know…

In this world, there were no miracles.

Author’s Note:

But the miracle has arrived.