Chapter 291: Encountering Wei Chang
Ruanxi in this place did not know about the matters in the palace. She did not know how long she had walked, but this tunnel still had no light at all. Her feet were so tired that she could not lift them, and she was so hungry that she felt dizzy and saw stars.
She really could not hold on any longer and slowly squatted down against the wall.
Suddenly, she felt something cool by her foot. Ruanxi reflexively touched it. The sensation was icy and slippery, and it seemed to be moving. Looking down, it was a snake about as thick as two little fingers, flicking its tongue toward her.
“Ah.”
Frightened, Ruanxi threw the torch in her hand far away. She also jumped far away, but due to prolonged hunger, she immediately fell to the ground.
The thrown torch also went out, and the tunnel returned to darkness once more.
Ruanxi watched as the snake not far away emitted green light and slowly crawled toward her. She was so scared that her face turned pale.
She had always feared these kinds of reptiles, especially snakes.
Her body involuntarily moved backward.
But the snake seemed to find it amusing and followed her slowly.
Seeing this, Ruanxi, who originally did not dare make a sound, could no longer care about anything else due to fear and shouted loudly, “Ah, don’t come over!”
She closed her eyes and waved her hands wildly.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps near her ears, seeming to grow denser and louder.
Ruanxi thought that Jiang Minghuai and the others had found her, and her heart suddenly contracted.
Survival instinct made her ignore the snake in front and immediately crawl up to run in the opposite direction of the sound.
The people behind her seemed to have heard her shout just now, and the footsteps grew faster.
Ruanxi’s face was pale, and she knew that if she were caught, Jiang Minghuai and the others certainly would not let her go.
She could only run for her life.
“Thud.”
Ruanxi fell to the ground.
She wanted to get up, but her hands and feet were weak.
Soon, footsteps came from behind. Then her back was firmly stepped on, causing pain that made cold sweat bead on her forehead, but she did not dare make any sound.
“Who are you? How do you know about this secret passage?” A cold voice came from behind.
Ruanxi’s body stiffened, and tears could not help falling.
“Hus, husband, it’s me.”
Ruanxi seemed to have suffered a great grievance and called out with a sobbing voice.
Hearing the familiar voice, Wei Chang’s body stiffened. He lifted his foot and picked Ruanxi up by the waist.
Seeing her face covered in mud, with tears soaking the mud and congealing on her face, Wei Chang still recognized her as Ruanxi.
“Xi’er, why are you here?” Wei Chang asked while wiping the mud from her face.
Ruanxi seemed to have found her backbone and tightly hugged his waist, aggrievedly crying as she recounted the events she had encountered during this time.
Wei Chang was heartbroken by her crying and patted her back, letting her vent her emotions.
He silently accompanied her.
After she finally finished crying, Ruanxi lifted her head. Her teary eyes looked at him puzzled and asked, “Weren’t you exiled? Why are you here?”
“The exile was fake.”
It turned out that Wei Chang’s exile was fake. It was a scheme he set up with Emperor Qin to watch the Jiang family members and those rebellious officials and traitors stir up trouble. He used the name of exile to secretly prepare, then strike at the right moment.
But he had not expected those rebellious officials and traitors to be so impatient. He had not been gone long before they directly took action.
Listening as Wei Chang explained everything in detail, Ruanxi showed no surprise, as if she had known all along. Wei Chang was a bit puzzled. “Why aren’t you surprised at all?”
“After you left, I went to beat the drum for reporting grievances to protest injustice for you. Eunuch Li secretly told me to wait well for your return. I thought you were exiled, and then Emperor Qin would find a reason to bring you back, or at a time of change, you would bring the army back to relieve His Majesty of the siege.” Ruanxi explained.
So in the palace not long ago, when she was wronged and beaten by Zhong Ding, she did not counterattack because she needed to create a false impression to lull the Jiang family members. After letting out that anger, she could use the excuse of recuperating from injuries to secretly make arrangements in the capital for Wei Chang.
But she had not expected the change of events to come so quickly.
Wei Chang nodded. Thinking of Emperor Qin’s uncertain life or death, his expression became a bit downcast. “We had planned everything, but we didn’t expect them to be so ruthless as to directly attack Father Emperor.”
Ruanxi held his hand to comfort him. “Father Emperor will be blessed by heaven and will be fine. Now our main task is to deal with those rebellious officials and traitors.”
“Right.” Wei Chang remembered that Ruanxi had not answered his earlier question and continued, “Why are you here? Few people know about this secret passage.”
“Yushui pushed me down.”
At this point, Ruanxi’s eyes were full of sadness.
She did not know how Yushui was doing now.
“What happened?” Wei Chang frowned tightly.
Before he left, to ensure Yushui could properly protect Ruanxi and help her escape calamity in times of trouble, he had told Yushui about the secret passage in the manor.
Ruanxi recounted in detail how Jiang Minghuai had come to the manor to kill her and how Yushui had pushed her down to save her.
Wei Chang’s face was frosty. He had not expected Jiang Minghuai to be so ruthless as to not spare even his own biological daughter.
Suddenly, Ruanxi remembered the words she had heard right after being pushed down. After thinking, she still told Wei Chang.
“I heard them urgently looking for me then, saying they had to find me before tomorrow night. Do they have some conspiracy?”
Wei Chang shook his head. “We don’t know yet, but don’t be afraid. I’m back. I won’t let those people harm you.”
Wei Chang feared she would be scared and comforted her.
“With you here, I’m not afraid.” Ruanxi tightly held his hand.
“Now we need to figure out what they mainly want to do. I always feel their rebellion is a bit hasty. Is there some trick?” Ruanxi was still uneasy.
“Let’s go up first. Then I’ll have someone investigate.”
“The manor should have their people. Won’t we be discovered if we go up?”
Ruanxi had not expected Wei Chang to say they should go up.
The capital was very chaotic now. If he appeared in the capital, those people could kill him with any excuse.
Glancing at the soldiers standing endlessly, she did not know how many there were, but with so many people, they would soon be exposed.
“Not going to the manor, to another place. That place can accommodate all of us, and someone will come to meet us then.”
Ruanxi also believed he could arrange it well. “Mm, I believe you. When we go out, shall we go find Master Bian Du? He might be able to resolve some doubts for us.”
After all, matters like fate under Heaven’s Mandate, such mystical things, Master Bian Du should know about.
Their urgent search for her must also be related to the matter of exchanging fate with her.
