Chapter 439: Losing him massive face (2/2)

“I’ll give it a try!” Chu Qingge immediately piped up.

Chu Tianyin glared at her. “How many times have I told you, think thrice before you act?”

Chu Qingge shut her mouth resentfully. Her heart was filled with displeasure—towards this marriage, towards the fact that she had no choice but to submit as a piece in their game. But father had long given her orders to obey. With father’s personality, she’d be ruined for life if she refused him. She comforted herself with the fact that the marriage alliance gave her more chances to strike back against Han Yunxi. At the very least…at the very least, I can see the Duke of Qin as well.

Father and elder brother both told her that the Chu Clan wanted the Tianning throne, but she felt that things couldn’t be so simple. She had asked them both multiple times, but neither of them would tell her anything. Now she was too tired to try, so she simply followed her brother’s instructions. But any ones involving Han Yunxi…had a fat chance!

“I’ll deal with Imperial Physician Huang. Qingge, has Mu Liuyue come to find you recently?” Chu Tianyin asked next.

“She hasn’t,” Chu Qingge denied it immediately.

“Has she or hasn’t she?!” Chu Tianyin asked again.

“She has! As of yesterday, she still came looking for me!” Chu Qingge shot back angrily.

Every few days, Mu Liuyue would come over to discuss how they could get back at Han Yunxi. Although her ideas were stupid beyond belief, having a comrade-in-arms in the palace with a common foe was something that Chu Qingge cherished.

“Mu Liuyue is one of Empress Dowager Li’s pieces. By no means are you to tell her of our plans,” Chu Tianyin said seriously. “And also, I’m warning you for the last time. Don’t waste your time on Qin Wangfei.”

“All she talks about is Han Yunxi when she finds me. Am I supposed to chase her out?” Chu Qingge retorted coldly.

Chu Tianyin gave a disdainful laugh. “Go through the motions and fool her for now. By the time our plans mature, see how your brother uses that crown prince’s consort to deal with Empress Dowager Li!”

Chu Qingge nodded. Of course she believed in her brother’s abilities, but she took his warning as the breeze. Tianning’s imperial harem was brewing up a storm. Whether or not Han Yunxi would be a victim of those machinations was still unclear. At the very least, Han Yunxi had never taken any of those harem ladies seriously.

A few days after departing the capital, she and Long Feiye finally took to the seas. The Baili Navy hadn’t withdrawn from their post, so nobody knew that Jun Yixie had escaped, including Gu Qishao. Gu Qishao had arrived on shore and departed for parts unknown with the Bear chuan in tow, while Mu Linger was close to tears as she tried to track him down.

As for Jun Yixie, he was still unconscious!

Sailing across the vast expanse of ocean was an unremarkable fishing boat. None of the other boats paid it any mind, but treated it as an ordinary skiff of some seafaring fisherman. However, Jun Yixie was sleeping right inside. Next to him was a girl dressed in yellow robes, applying acupuncture needles to his shoulder. She looked around sixteen to seventeen years old, with delicate features and a thin, petite figure. Her large, expressive eyes seemed to speak with a language of their own and were bizarre to the extreme.

After placing the needles in place, the girl hugged her knees and sat there to wait. But it wasn’t long before she grew impatient and pinched Jun Yixie by the nose.

“Senior brother, we’re almost at shore. It’s time to wake up!”

Jun Yixie was drowsy to begin with, but the lack of oxygen immediately caused his eyes to fly open. He peered groggily at the yellow-robed girl before shutting his eyes again. But a second later, they flew open again as he shouted, “Yuqiao!”

Bai Yuqiao1 sneered with laughter. She didn’t let go of his nose, but pinched him harder. Jun Yixie rudely brushed her aside and rubbed his stomach before surveying his surroundings. Then he rose to his feet and walked out to the deck. He knew that he’d left Fishery Island, and that the poison in his stomach was gone.

“Where’s master?” he asked coldly. There was no way that Bai Yuqiao had the skills to take him off Fishery Island, much less treat his stomach poison. But one person definitely could—his father’s ally and sworn friend, the Hundred Poisons Sect’s previous leader, Bai Qingyan.2 When he was three years old, his father succumbed to illness and left him with Bai Qingyan, who raised him as his disciple while treating him as his own son. But once he turned thirteen, Bai Qingyan had left him in the care of Northern Li’s emperor and disappeared. Jun Yixie had searched for him over the years, but only in vain.

He never expected his master to appear now of all times and save him. Most likely, his master had been watching over him the entire time. Bai Yuqiao was master’s adopted daughter and his junior sister. She was rather young, but skilled and early to mature. When he wasn’t around, she was more than capable of overseeing things at the Hundred Poisons Sect.

“Master said you were nearly poisoned to death. You’ve lost him massive face, so he doesn’t want to see you,” Bai Yuqiao giggled. “Senior brother, who poisoned your shoulder? I’ll tell you a secret, even master couldn’t figure it out. He took a bit of your blood back to study!”

1. Bai Yuqiao (白玉乔) – Bai is a surname that means “white,” Yu is “jade,” Qiao is “tall.”

2. Bai Qingyan (白青彦) – Bai is a surname that means “white,” Qing is “youth, black/blue/green,” Yan is “man of virtue and ability.”