"Miss Huan, Miss Huan?"
Someone was calling out to her by her ear. However, at this moment, Song Yihuan's ears seemed to be blocked by something, and all she could hear was a buzzing sound.
Sometimes she felt as if her body was floating in the clouds, and sometimes she felt as if she was falling from a great height. The alternating sensations of floating and weightlessness made her throat tighten and her heart beat rapidly.
Suddenly, her feet were grabbed, and she felt herself being dragged into the water. She choked and coughed, then suddenly opened her eyes.
"Thank goodness, Miss Huan! You're finally awake!"
A familiar voice came from beside her. Song Yihuan blinked her hazy eyes, turned her weak neck, and looked to the side.
Qi Lei was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at her with a worried expression.
Song Yihuan was in a daze for a long time before she remembered what had happened to her before and why Qi Lei was here.
"Uncle Qi."
Song Yihuan called out and raised her hand.
Qi Lei stepped forward to help her up and let her lean against the head of the bed.
"Miss Huan, how do you feel? Is there any part of your body that hurts?"
Song Yihuan felt that all the bones in her body ached. It was as if her body was about to fall apart.
She told Qi Lei how she felt, and Qi Lei complained, "That's only natural. You jumped from such a great height. Even though we had made all the necessary preparations, it was still bound to hurt you. The fact that you only feel tired and haven't suffered any serious injuries is already the best possible outcome."
"We've agreed that you should only do something like this once in your lifetime. You must never do it a second time!"
Qi Lei kept nagging in her ear, repeatedly warning her not to harm herself like this again.
Song Yihuan was in a daze for a moment and quietly tightened her grip on the quilt.
She looked up at Qi Lei and asked hoarsely, "Uncle Qi, how long have I been in a coma? What's the situation outside?"
Qi Lei looked at her quietly for a while, then sighed and said,
"You've been asleep for three days. After you fell off the cliff that day, the Crown Prince of the Ningqin Palace ordered the mountain to be sealed off. He led people into the mountain to search for you every day. I heard that they found the body of that Beidi man. He was shot with arrows and fell from such a great height that he was smashed to pieces."
"As for your elder sister, Song Nanxin, she didn't die after being shot with arrows. She was taken back. Lord Gu submitted a list of her crimes to the Dali Temple. With the testimonies of the eminent monk Taihe and Fuling, and the fact that she colluded with the Beidi people and kidnapped you to commit a crime, she was sentenced to the extremely cruel punishment of being sliced to death and will slowly suffer and die."
"As for the Marquis of Ding'an, he was found to be colluding with the group of the Prince of Dunqin. The Marquis's Mansion was raided by the order of the Emperor. Except for your third sister, Song Nanxi, who was spared because of her meritorious service in exposing the crimes, all the others were sentenced to exile and will set off after the New Year."
"I heard that there has also been a change in the palace. The Empress Dowager intended to kill the Emperor and claim the throne for herself. However, the Emperor had been on guard and regained power from the Empress Dowager. He sent the Empress Dowager to the Huguo Temple. Nominally, it was to let the Empress Dowager cultivate her mind and not interfere in worldly affairs, but in fact, it was to put her under house arrest."
"Oh, and the Emperor also issued an imperial edict to completely annul the marriage between the Ningqin Palace and the Ding'an Marquis's Mansion..."
Qi Lei kept chattering beside her, telling her about the changes in the capital city in the past few days. Song Yihuan listened and felt as if it was all a dream.
It turned out that so many things had happened outside while she was in a coma.
Since she left Xile Town and returned to the capital, she and Qi Lei had planned everything.
The reason why Ji Lingchuan would return to the Marquis's Mansion with Song Nanxin was that she had previously let Feixue pass on the news and informed Ji Lingchuan in advance.
The purpose was to expose the death of Rou Caiwei back then and the conspiracy of the Beidi people completely and get rid of Song Nanxin and the Cui Taizhu who was hiding behind the scenes.
But Ji Lingchuan didn't know that she had also planned the act of faking her death.
She used herself as a pawn and included both herself and Ji Lingchuan in the plan. Every step she took, she would think about the subsequent steps.
After all her scheming, she finally got the result she wanted.
But whenever she thought of what had happened at the edge of the cliff that day and the expression on Ji Lingchuan's face before she fell off the cliff, her heart would still ache uncontrollably.
It was as if someone was stabbing it with a awl, making it bleed and leaving it in tatters.
"Now the capital city is heavily guarded. In order to search for the whereabouts of the Beidi spies, the Xuanjia Army and the City Patrol Guards have been searching every household for suspicious people recently. I'm afraid they'll come here soon. It's not a good time to send you out of the capital now. If people find out that you're still alive, I'm afraid..."
Qi Lei looked worried.
The Ding'an Marquis's Mansion was found to be in contact with the Beidi people. This was a serious crime that could lead to beheading! Miss Huan was a member of the Marquis's Mansion. If she was found, she might not be able to escape the fate of exile.
Song Yihuan didn't tell Qi Lei that she had a gold medal for exemption from death. She said, "Uncle Qi, don't worry. I have my own way to avoid the search. You can leave with confidence. As long as you can keep things stable there, no one will suspect you or me."
After waking up and resting for a while, Song Yihuan had regained some strength. She asked Qi Lei to help her up and walked around the room for a few steps.
Thanks to the proper protection, even though she had fallen from the high cliff, there were no external injuries on her body. She was just a little tired after being in a coma for so long.
She asked Qi Lei to take out the things she had prepared in advance. In front of Qi Lei, she fiddled with her face for a while, and then she transformed into an old woman in her sixties.
"Cough, cough, cough. Uncle Qi, look. Can you still tell anything now?" She bent over, supported herself with a walking stick, and asked Qi Lei in a very old voice.
Qi Lei was stunned. He never expected that she had such skills. She could not only disguise herself as someone else but also imitate their speech. No wonder she was so calm when she learned that the Xuanjia Army was searching the whole city. She had already had a backup plan!
"Miss Huan, this trick of yours is really amazing!"
"Since you've made preparations, I can rest assured!"
Qi Lei sat with Song Yihuan in the small courtyard for a while longer before getting up to leave.
"Miss Huan, we don't know what the situation in the capital city will be like in the next few days. For your safety, I'm afraid we won't be able to see each other again. You must be careful when you're alone here."
Qi Lei said earnestly, "After you leave the capital safely, remember to send someone to inform me."
After getting Song Yihuan's reply, Qi Lei finally left. However, he didn't leave through the front door. Instead, he climbed over the wall.
After Qi Lei left, Song Yihuan was the only one left in the small courtyard. She then changed into another set of clothes and stuffed a lot of cotton wool into her clothes to completely disguise herself as someone else.
Looking at the sky, she found that it was still early. She was a little hungry after being in a coma for so long, so she picked up some firewood and planned to start a fire to cook.
Just as she lit the fire, there was a commotion outside.
It was the sound of soldiers walking in unison, and from time to time, the sound of armor rubbing against each other could be heard.
"Hurry up and block every exit of this neighborhood."
Song Yihuan's hand that was picking up the firewood paused. She frowned and looked outside.
The searchers had come so soon?
The next moment, someone knocked on the door of the courtyard where she was: "Is there anyone inside? The Xuanjia Army is here by order to search for fugitives!"