Chapter 26: Just... Ridiculous
"Someone! Assassin! Hurry, someone! There’s an assassin!" Lu Shu screamed, losing his composure.
Lu Yanzhi had fallen at an awkward angle, his body conveniently blocked by the edge of a pillar and a flower bed. Xiao Li hesitated for a good while before finally giving up on a follow-up shot. She just didn’t have a clear line of sight.
She quickly slipped out through a small path, avoiding the servants who were rushing over to investigate.
She stashed the gun and made a quick escape through a hidden passage.
Mounting her horse, she rode quickly toward the city gates.
Galloping was forbidden within the city walls, so Xiao Li did her best to restrain her speed.
As she neared the city gate, a squad of Brocade Guards on horseback approached from the opposite direction. The man in the lead exuded a gloomy, captivating aura. Who else could it be but Lou Yan?
Xiao Li didn’t want to be recognized, but Lou Yan’s eyes were like a tracking device, locking onto her face with pinpoint accuracy.
His dark pupils were like those of a hawk ready to hunt—gleaming with a chilling light. Any prey he locked his sights on would have nowhere to hide.
Xiao Li, feeling not the least bit guilty, curled her lips into a smile and silently mouthed two words at him.
As they passed each other, Lou Yan’s hand holding the reins tightened slightly.
After another hour and a half of furious riding, she finally made it back to the hunting grounds before evening.
Upon returning to the entrance of the villa, she saw a group of people arguing in the distance.
"Feng Yu and Princess Chen are at it again. That Feng Yu is really bold. Isn’t she afraid Prince Chen will punish her?"
"Hah, you probably don’t know. Prince Chen was also personally taught by the Grand Tutor, so there’s a bond between master and student. Feng Yu has known Prince Chen since childhood and was even close to becoming Princess Chen herself. Do you think he’d blame her?"
Hearing the gossip from the people nearby, Xiao Li raised an eyebrow. ’So Feng Yu and Prince Chen have that kind of history?’
’Recalling the plot, yes, that’s right. It seems there were indeed a few of those female supporting characters.’
Unlike the original Xiao Li, a minor supporting character obsessed with the second male lead, the other "proper" supporting female characters were all in love with the male protagonist.
There was the childhood sweetheart who almost became his fiancée; the loyal female guard who was devoted to him heart and soul; the arrogant daughter of an official who supported him; and even a foreign princess who fell for him at first sight, vowing to marry no one else.
This whole group was uniformly blind, falling for that block of ice. They all ignored basic decency, targeting the man’s legal wife even after he was married, insisting that Liu Xueyin wasn’t good enough for Prince Chen, and then bullying her in all sorts of ways.
’They all knew he was taken and still went for it. What a wonderful moral compass.’
Xiao Li had no interest in watching the female lead and the supporting characters get into a catfight. She quietly slipped past the crowd from behind and headed back to her own quarters.
Hong Yue and Lan Yue had been worried sick. They finally relaxed when they saw Xiao Li return. Noticing her exhausted expression, they quickly prepared water for her to wash up and rest.
After rushing about all day, Xiao Li was completely worn out. The two maids felt a pang of sympathy just looking at her. One began to dry her hair while the other applied medicine for her, but before they could finish, Xiao Li had already drifted into a deep sleep.
However, Xiao Li hadn’t been asleep for long when a messenger arrived.
"Princess, something terrible has happened! The Prince Consort was assassinated and is in critical condition!"
"What?" Xiao Li’s shock was genuine. "Critical condition?"
’How is he not dead?’
The guard who brought the news thought Xiao Li was worried about the Prince Consort and tried to comfort her, "The Lu family has taken him in. I heard they’ve summoned many Imperial Physicians. My subordinates couldn’t get close, but rest assured, Princess, the Lu family will certainly not let anything happen to the Prince Consort."
Hearing this, Xiao Li breathed a sigh of relief. ’I knew it. It’s all fake news.’
’Maybe he just didn’t get the full story. In reality, Lu Yanzhi is probably already dead.’
Xiao Li rubbed her temples, which were throbbing after being so rudely awakened. She ordered, "Pack our things. Also, inform Prince Wei that the Prince Consort is injured and I’m heading back."
Hong Yue quickly replied, "I will go pack at once. But it’s almost midnight now, and traveling at night is dangerous. We should at least wait until tomorrow morning. The Princess should get some more rest so you’ll have energy for the journey tomorrow."
She hadn’t made any connection between the Prince Consort’s incident and the Princess being out for so long, but she knew the Princess was exhausted and needed to rest.
Xiao Li couldn’t help but yawn. "Fine, we’ll leave tomorrow morning."
’Why doesn’t the Princess seem very anxious?’ the guard wondered.
Xiao Li made no effort to conceal her plans, so the news spread quickly. The next morning, as she finished packing and was ready to depart, she was unsurprised to see Chen Pingting also preparing to leave.
She didn’t see Liu Xueyin, but she was certain that once Liu Xueyin heard the news, she wouldn’t be able to sit still either.
’Go on, head back. We can all receive the news of Lu Yanzhi’s death together. I really can’t wait to see their grief-stricken faces.’
Feng Yu had also heard the news and rushed over. "Princess, you’re leaving already?"
Xiao Li thought of Feng Yu’s unrequited love for Prince Chen and kept her expression neutral, giving a faint "Mm" in response.
Feng Yu saw this and assumed she was worried, quickly comforting her, "Princess, you don’t need to worry too much. The Prince Consort is blessed by the heavens; he will surely recover."
’There’s really no need for that.’
’That sounds more like a curse.’
’If Lu Yanzhi recovers, I’ll be the one who’s miserable.’
Not wanting to say more, Xiao Li simply nodded and boarded her carriage.
She could get back quickly by riding hard, but why should she rush? Even if it was to collect Lu Yanzhi’s corpse, it wasn’t worth the discomfort.
So, the carriage proceeded at a leisurely pace. By the time Xiao Li reached the Capital City, it was already getting dark.
Xiao Li was dozing off in the carriage when she heard a guard report a piece of terrible news.
’Lu Yanzhi isn’t dead!!!?’
"The assassin used some unknown Hidden Weapon that blew a large hole in the Prince Consort’s body and shattered his bones. The Imperial Physicians were all helpless. The Prince Consort was about to die, completely beyond saving. But then, a young physician appeared and offered his services. No one knows what medicine he used, but he actually managed to save him."
"I heard he’s the descendant of some Divine Doctor and just happened to be in the area looking for an old friend. The Prince Consort truly is blessed by the heavens; it wasn’t his time to die."
The guard clearly believed the Princess was still deeply in love with her Prince Consort, so he described the events with great animation, his emotions perfectly aligned with the dramatic tale.
Xiao Li almost lost her composure. ’...Are you fucking kidding me?’
’Terrible news. The worst possible news!’
She had considered that her gun was crudely made and that she hadn’t fired a second shot, so maybe Lu Yanzhi wouldn’t die that quickly.
She had considered the possibility that she hadn’t killed him in one go. After all, even in a world with high-tech weaponry, getting shot isn’t an automatic death sentence.
But she never imagined that Lu Yanzhi would be on the brink of death, with even the Imperial Physicians giving up, only for some Divine Doctor to pop out of nowhere and save his life.
’How can it be this ridiculous? It’s just... absurd!’
"To the Lu family estate!"
Xiao Li refused to believe it. She had to go see for herself.
And then, the Lu family denied her entry.
The reason given was that Lu Yanzhi’s condition was still uncertain, and his injuries were too gruesome. If the Princess were to be frightened, the Lu family couldn’t bear the responsibility.
’How passive-aggressive.’
Last time, it was Xiao Li who had barred them from her door. Now the tables had turned, and she couldn’t get past the Lu family’s gate.
Xiao Li was so angry she let out a short laugh, then ordered her carriage to return to her mansion.
’Fine, I won’t look!’
’If Lu Yanzhi dies, I’ll never have to come to the Lu family estate again. If he doesn’t die, he’ll come crawling back to the Princess Mansion on his own.’