The morning light pierced through the sky.
Caiyu jolted awake from a nightmare in which Song Yinghuai suddenly died.
"Your Highness!" the woman in the bed let out a scream and sat up abruptly. Her head bumped hard into someone, and a man let out a muffled groan.
Caiyu looked back in panic and saw Song Yinghuai holding his just-bumped chin, staring blankly at her.
Caiyu rubbed her aching head and looked at the man who was half-sitting beside her, bare-chested with his strong body exposed. She was in a daze for a long while.
"… You're not dead?" the woman murmured, "You're really not dead?"
Song Yinghuai rubbed his numb chin and also looked puzzled, "… I thought we were both in the underworld."
Caiyu stretched out her fingertip and pinched hard at the root of his thigh!
The man's long leg jerked in pain. He didn't dare to resist and could only frown and draw in a breath, "Yu'er, be gentle…"
It was so unfair that he got tortured as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning!
"Does it hurt?" Caiyu looked at his tightly furrowed brows in doubt.
"It hurts…" Song Yinghuai looked pitifully at the red mark on the root of his thigh, and the corners of his mouth drooped.
Caiyu finally came to her senses.
Song Yinghuai wasn't dead!
He didn't die after spending the night with her!
What was going on with those twin snakes?
Caiyu suddenly felt as if she had fallen into a huge lie.
What twin snakes, what love gu, and what dying suddenly after having sex with a woman…
Liars!
All of them were liars!
She suddenly withdrew her fingertip and stared coldly at Song Yinghuai.
"So Your Highness is actually in perfect health, right?"
Had he been playing with her for such a long time?
He even used this matter to coerce her yesterday, forcing her to blurt out an agreement to go with him!
Song Yinghuai had just recovered from the pain in his thigh when he met Caiyu's cold and fierce gaze. He was immediately frightened, and his body turned cold. He quickly pleaded his innocence:
"No, I really was poisoned by the twin snakes… It's absolutely true!"
"Then how does Your Highness explain the current situation?"
At the moment when Song Yinghuai entered her yesterday, Caiyu's despair had reached its peak.
If he had died, she probably wouldn't have been able to go on living!
She never expected such an outcome.
"I really don't know." It was frosty in the early winter morning, but sweat broke out on Song Yinghuai's bare back. He stammered, trying to find a reason that could make the little girl believe him for the time being, "Master Guangzhi has been looking for an antidote for me for many years. I was really poisoned back then. The former crown prince and the late emperor both knew about it…"
"Maybe, maybe… the snake… died in my body?" Song Yinghuai had always been good at making plans, but this incident had left him in a complete mess.
The fact that he could have sex with Caiyu normally should have been a great thing, but at this moment, he wished he could drop dead to prove his innocence.
The snake… died?
Caiyu narrowed her eyes, lost in thought.
After Song Yinghuai put forward his speculation, the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, "… Yes, maybe it died at some point."
Although the possibility was extremely small. How could a gu worm die first? It was simply absurd!
But at least it could help him calm down the little girl's rising anger for the time being.
As for the reason, he would let Master Guangzhi figure it out slowly after seeing him.
Caiyu nodded, and her expression seemed to soften a little.
It was a good thing that he was okay after all.
As for whether the gu was real or fake, or whether the snake had been cured during the two years they were apart, and whether he had hidden anything from her…
These didn't matter.
What mattered was that he was still alive and well.
Seeing that the little girl's expression had softened a little, Song Yinghuai felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He was so weak that he felt as if he had been fished out of the water.
Now that they had been intimate, and he had somehow broken the deadlock that had lasted for many years, his hope was increasing. How could he let Caiyu suspect him?
However, the next second, he felt as if he had been thrown into the eighteenth level of hell.
"It's great that Your Highness is in good health." Caiyu was getting dressed, looking like a heartless guest who left right after finishing the business, "Judging from Your Highness's stamina yesterday, I'm sure your injury has recovered a bit. I'm relieved now. I'll leave."
No.
Song Yinghuai was so anxious that he grabbed her wrist. He didn't even have time to put on his clothes and quickly said:
"Yu'er! Where are you going?"
Caiyu turned her head and her gaze fell on his back. Her expression was hard to read.
It was said that a person who had his shoulder blades pierced would be powerless, but the strength the man had shown last night was not only enough to tie a chicken. Even if A Ye were here, he might not be able to resist.
Although Master Guangzhi's plaster was extremely effective, the injury of broken tendons and bones, combined with the bumpy journey, could not have recovered to this extent in just one month anyway.
The only possibility was that Song Yinghuai's shoulder blades had not been seriously injured.
Thinking of this, Caiyu's gaze turned even colder.
This man's schemes, whether two years ago or two years later, she could never figure them out.
"Your Highness is good at making plans. I'm sure you're not only good at matters between men and women, but also at state affairs and military strategies. I'm just a little woman and I can't participate or interfere."
Caiyu's voice was cold, "All I can do is leave and not cause you any trouble."
He was okay, the gu poison was okay, and the injury was okay.
The only thing Caiyu could think of was that Song Yinghuai was probably plotting something again, which was why he insisted on not running away.
In that case, she didn't have to follow the prisoner cart and try to persuade him to escape.
Maybe, if she stayed, she would ruin his big plan again like two years ago.
Song Yinghuai understood what she was thinking as soon as her gaze fell on his back.
But this time he was really wronged!
"Yu'er, can you listen to my explanation?" Song Yinghuai held her hand tightly and didn't dare to let go, "Just give me a few minutes."
Caiyu shook her hand and found that she couldn't pull it out, so she stopped struggling.
It was just a few minutes. She would listen.
Song Yinghuai swallowed hard and said, "I really had my shoulder blades pierced by Sheng Jiangli…"
When he met Caiyu's suddenly cold gaze, his scalp went numb, "I'm not framing him. If you see him, you can ask him about this."
He didn't dare to say a single bad word about Sheng Jiangli now.
He hadn't even managed to get the chance to follow them.
Caiyu thought it made sense. Whether he had done it or not, Brother A Li would tell her sooner or later.
Song Yinghuai quickly explained again, "His knife was too fast. At that time, I really felt like I was in hell. I couldn't tell where exactly he had pierced. Besides, I was covered in injuries and couldn't move anyway."
He speculated carefully, "He… probably showed mercy and avoided my tendons and bones, piercing through the flesh instead."
"I only found out that my tendons and bones were not broken last night when I was in a hurry and made some strenuous movements!"
Song Yinghuai looked up at Caiyu eagerly, "Yu'er, believe me. I really didn't dare to lie to you."
Showed mercy…
Pulling off such a trick right under Li Muge's nose.
It was just like Sheng Jiangli's usual style!
Caiyu was so angry that she wanted to laugh.
They seemed to be fighting to the death, making her jump around like a clown, worried and anxious.
In the end, it turned out that only she had been worried.
"Yu'er." Seeing that her expression didn't improve, Song Yinghuai's heart skipped a beat. His hand holding hers was trembling, "I really only found out during the act with you last night… How could I stop and explain it to you at that time?"
Song Yinghuai felt for the first time in his life that God was playing tricks on him.
Just when he had a glimmer of hope, Yu'er started to suspect him about two things in a row.
"Yu'er, don't leave, okay?" Song Yinghuai pleaded carefully, "Aren't you going to Shangjing to find him? I'm also going to Shangjing for trial. We're on the same way."
"Even if I don't die now, I'll surely die when I get to Shangjing. Will you accompany me for the last stretch?"
Caiyu's body swayed.
This man always knew exactly how to hit people's weak points!