A pure heart in a jade pot

Chapter 182

Ning Jin smiled bitterly for a long time, then sighed softly, "What a silly girl. If there were really mountains of knives and seas of fire, I would have gone myself."

Hearing this from the side, Wu Zichu felt a pang of sorrow and couldn't help but advise, "Your Highness..."

"Put these furs away, make the robes, and then send them to her." Ning Jin returned to his tent alone, walking slowly, the soft moonlight casting an exceptionally cold shadow on him.

That night, Mo Yan didn't sleep a wink. She tossed and turned on the soft couch, clutching a small jade comb in her hand, thinking of Zhan Zhao, Yelü Pusa Nu, and Su Zui. Her mind was in turmoil until she finally managed to doze off at the crack of dawn.

After getting up, she couldn't bear to think about it anymore and decided to go find Su Zui to ask him for clarification. So she hurriedly went to the stables, but couldn't find Su Zui. She asked the people around her where Old Hu was, and only heard that he had gone to find herbs for the horses early in the morning, and no one knew where he had gone.

Mo Yan had no choice but to return dejectedly. After having breakfast, although she was not in good spirits, she still took her fishing gear and accompanied Zhao Yu to fish for turtles as usual.

The weather was fine that day; the snow on the water had melted and then froze back into ice, forming a thick layer on the surface. Mo Yan painstakingly enlarged the hole for Zhao Yu and placed the fishing hook inside.

Seeing Mo Yan's dark circles, Zhao Yu shook his head and sighed, "What wonderful dream did you have last night that made your eyes look like this?"

"Would you believe me if I said I went to steal?"

Zhao Yu paused for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, "It really is you! I heard this morning that Vice Envoy Yelü's camp was robbed, and several squads of Iron Cavalry guards went out to catch the thieves, causing quite a stir. So it was you who did it?"

Mo Yan woke up late and didn't know, so she frowned and said, "It's just stealing some small items, is it necessary to make such a big fuss?"

"What exactly did you steal?" Zhao Yu was annoyed when he heard her words and realized that she was the one who had done it. "Didn't you already know Lord Yelü's identity yesterday? How could you steal his things?"

"This is a long story," Mo Yan said, scratching her ear in annoyance. "I haven't figured it out myself yet, Princess, so please don't ask."

“How could I not ask? I heard he angrily reprimanded the guards for their lax security, so something extremely important must have been lost. What exactly did you steal?” Zhao Yu demanded.

Upon hearing this, Mo Yan couldn't help but reach into her bosom and stroke the small jade comb—

Could he be so angry because of this comb?

So this comb must be very important to him.

Mo Yan's heart suddenly ached. Only her elder brother would have such a reason to value this ordinary jade comb so much.

"Xiao Qi! What did you steal? Go and return it to him right now!" Zhao Yu said urgently when he saw her still staring blankly.

"I……"

Mo Yan's mind was in turmoil. The thought that Yelü Pusa Nu might be Zhan Zhao made her heart pound like a drum, but what if he wasn't... what if he wasn't...

Zhao Yu was about to urge her on when she suddenly felt the fishing rod in her hand sway slightly. She quickly looked at the float on the ice cave, and sure enough, the float was swaying. She exclaimed with delight, "It's biting! It's biting! Xiao Qi, come quick!"

“It’s probably a fish.” Mo Yan leaned closer and said calmly, “Princess, just lift it up, and you’ll know what it is once you get it out.”

"I can't lift it, it seems really heavy."

"ah!……"

Mo Yan became a little nervous. She tried to step onto the ice and peer into the hole, but it was too dark to see what she had caught.

"Princess, try a little harder! Lift it up with all your might, let me see if it is!" she called back.

Zhao Yu did as instructed, and tried to lift it up with all her might, but still couldn't get it up. She could feel the thing under the ice struggling even more fiercely.

"Xiao Qi, oh no! It's running away!"

In a panic, Mo Yan grabbed the fishing line with her bare hands, wrapped it around her palm, and pulled hard. She then felt the weight of the object; it was indeed very heavy.

"It might really be a turtle, and a big one at that, so heavy!" The fishing line was taut, digging deep into her flesh, drawing blood. It was excruciatingly painful, but Mo Yan wouldn't let go. Zhao Yu had waited so many days, and no matter what, she couldn't let it get away.

On and off the ice, they were locked in a stalemate for a long time, neither gaining the upper hand. Mo Yan gritted her teeth and said, "I didn't expect this beast to be so strong! Princess, let's put our strength into it together, and see if we succeed this time!"

"good!"

The two of them pulled hard at the same time, and the object under the ice was indeed pulled closer. They were both delighted, but when they were about to exert more force, they found that the fishing line had loosened, and they immediately panicked...

"It's broken?" Zhao Yu asked in a trembling voice.

Mo Yan, unaware of the danger, didn't bother to untie the fishing line and peered into the hole. Almost instantly, a dark shadow hurtled towards her from under the ice. With a loud bang, the immense force shattered the small ice hole. Zhao Yu was so startled that he dropped his fishing rod, and Mo Yan's body swayed violently. Before she could even see what was coming, she fell into the water along with the broken ice.

The bone-chilling cold was unlike anything she had ever experienced in her life. Water slowly washed over her body, then poured into her ears, nose, and mouth. Her hands and feet felt like they were being cut by a thousand knives at once, frozen numb. At that moment, she felt as heavy as a weight, sinking straight down, completely forgetting that she could swim.

Suddenly, my hand was tugged by the fishing line that was binding it.

Using the faint sunlight filtering through the ice, she finally saw the big guy clearly. It was indeed a huge turtle, pulling her forward.

Author's note: I'm sorry for the late update. My son vomited, went to the emergency room, got an IV drip, and just got home.

Seeing my son so upset made me cry too. Being a parent is really not easy.

Volume 3, Chapter 25

"Hey buddy, where are you going?"

Mo Yan secretly groaned. The turtle seemed to be startled and was pulling her along at an extremely fast speed. The fishing line was stuck tightly in her flesh, and she couldn't remove it at all.

The turtle led her familiarly through the water beneath the ice, turning left and right. Mo Yan intended to reach for a dagger to cut the fishing line, but as it carried her around, she accidentally dropped the dagger.

After being carried a long way, she gradually felt short of breath. If she didn't go ashore to get some fresh air soon, she feared she would die.

"I never imagined I'd die at the hands of a tortoise. It's so shameful," she thought helplessly. Then she wondered, "I wonder if Yelü Pusa Nu will be heartbroken after I die? If he sheds tears, then he must be my elder brother. It's a pity I'll be dead by then, and I won't be able to see his face..."

Whether from suffocation or cold, her consciousness was gradually weakening, and she could only try her best to keep her eyes open, staring blankly at everything around her.

The turtle was still swimming, but its speed had slowed considerably; she could sense that it had entered a narrow waterway.

Calling it a waterway is a stretch. In reality, she was dragged to a small, shallow bay where the water wasn't frozen. If she turned over, her mouth and nose would be above the water.