A pure heart in a jade pot

Chapter 190

Su Zui quietly glanced at Zhao Yu, then lowered her head, got up, and staggered out.

Volume 3, Chapter 31

Zhao Yu gently helped Mo Yan remove her outer robe and lay her down. She didn't speak or sleep, but stared blankly at the top of the tent, motionless.

Mo Yan understood her state of mind all too well, and knew that any advice would be useless, so she simply covered her with the quilt, moved a stool and sat down beside her, quietly watching over her.

In the stable, Su Zui was vigorously scrubbing the horses with a horse brush, one after another. Because he had been standing for too long, every time he applied force, a piercing pain shot through his broken leg, making him grit his teeth, but he continued to scrub even more diligently...

As darkness fell, the tent, unlit, gradually grew darker. Zhao Yu finally came to her senses and slowly sat up. Beside her, Mo Yan, propped up on her elbow, was dozing off.

"Xiao Qi, you're not fully recovered yet, you should go back and rest. You don't need to stay with me," Zhao Yu said softly, nudging her.

Mo Yan rubbed her eyes and looked up: "Princess...you...you're alright?"

"I'm fine, you can go back now."

Zhao Yu smiled slightly, her expression calm and composed, and indeed, the sorrow she had shown earlier was no longer visible.

Mo Yan stared at her questioningly for a few more moments, then asked with concern, "Princess, are you really alright?"

"It's alright. Just remember to tell Lao Hu that we'll go find that cave tomorrow afternoon and have him prepare the horses. Don't tell anyone else; just say you want to go and thank the gods."

"Oh, okay."

“I’m a little hungry too. Go out and tell them to check the kitchen to see if there are any lotus seeds. Make a bowl of lotus seed soup. I suddenly have a strong craving.”

"Princess, you want to eat lotus seed soup."

Mo Yan was delighted. Zhao Yu had been averse to food for quite some time and had no appetite, but unexpectedly, she had an appetite today, which was truly a good thing. She lifted her foot and walked out of the tent, but halfway there, she couldn't help but turn back and ask, "Aren't you sad anymore?"

Zhao Yuping said calmly, "Even if you're heartbroken, you still have to eat and do what needs to be done."

Upon hearing this, Mo Yan smiled and left the tent with a relieved expression.

The following afternoon, Su Zui indeed prepared horses and waited for them.

Zhao Yuqiang roused himself, mounted his horse, and Su Zui led the horse forward. Behind them, Mo Yan placed the incense, candles, and offerings prepared by the maids, then mounted her horse and followed them.

"Why do you seem to be limping even more?"

Seeing that Su Zui was walking with more difficulty than yesterday, Mo Yan asked curiously.

Su Zui seemed lost in thought, as if he hadn't heard her. Mo Yan had to raise her voice and ask again before he finally turned around and replied calmly, "It's nothing, it's just getting colder, it's bound to hurt a little."

Zhao Yu sat on his horse, his cloak wrapped tightly around him because he was weak and sensitive to the cold. He gazed absently at the snowy landscape around him, and after a long while, he softly asked, "How much longer until we arrive?"

"That place is remote, it'll be a while before we see anything." Su Zui said without turning her head.

Mo Yan frowned and looked at Su Zui's back several times, feeling that he was unusually gloomy today. Then she thought that it was probably because his legs were hurting so badly that he didn't want to talk.

"Why don't you ride a horse? Your legs will feel better if you ride a horse, right?" she asked.

Su Zui glanced at her, barely managing to reply. Zhao Yu was frail; how could she be allowed to ride a horse alone? What if she fell off? Mo Yan herself was also recovering from a serious illness; she couldn't very well be asked to lead the horse.

Besides, being able to lead her horse like this would make him feel a little better.

Seeing that he did not answer, Mo Yan had no choice but to stop asking.

The three of them remained silent as they made their way to the swamp where Mo Yan had fallen unconscious.

"This is it."

Su Zui first helped Zhao Yu off his horse, then took a few steps forward and pointed to a spot in the shallow water, saying to Mo Yan, "You fainted right here."

Zhao Yu took a few steps forward and saw that the shallow water was not frozen, and the snow on the mountain wall next to it was sparse. From the surface, there was no cave as Mo Yan had mentioned.

“Where’s the hole?” she asked.

Mo Yan was also searching with a belly full of doubts. She remembered clearly that the big turtle had crawled into a hole in front of her that day, but she couldn't find any trace of the cave from here.

"Xiao Qi, were you confused at the time and made a mistake?" Zhao Yu said with some disappointment.

“Probably not, I remember it very clearly.” Mo Yan raised her hand and pointed to the bandaged wound. “Look, I remember the fishing line wrapped around my hand broke off against the cave wall when the turtle went into the cave. It hurt so much at the time, I can’t forget it.”

Hearing her words, Su Zui limped to the rock wall next to the water and slowly felt around on the rock wall with his hands to see if there were any gaps...

The rock face was uneven, and the whole view was not visible from this side. Mo Yan simply took off her boots and waded into the icy water to slowly walk towards the middle, trying to look at the rock face from the spot where she had lain that day.

"Xiao Qi, you're not fully recovered yet, can you go into the water?" Zhao Yu called out from the shore as Mo Yan shivered and searched for her.

"It's alright, it'll be found soon."

Mo Yan's teeth chattered from the cold. Her eyes searched repeatedly, but she couldn't find the hole, and she was secretly annoyed. Suddenly, she accidentally stepped on a slippery stone, cried out, and fell backward into the water.

"Watch out!" Zhao Yu shouted from the shore, but it was too late.

Mo Yan's outer robe was soaked through, and she was filled with frustration. She tried to get up by using both her hands and feet, but when she looked up, the cave she had seen that day was right in front of her. She immediately exclaimed with joy, "Found it! Found it! It's here!"

Because of the uneven layers of the rock wall, the cave was very well hidden. Even though Mo Yan pointed to the cave and called out, Su Zui and Zhao Yu looked over but still couldn't see the cave. They could only see a protruding rock, which they assumed was the cave under the rock.

Mo Yan was overjoyed and, disregarding her damp and cold body, strode forward and reached into the cave to search...

"Watch out, the turtle might bite your finger!" Seeing her somewhat comical expression, Su Zui suppressed a laugh and shouted at her.

After searching for a while, Mo Yan reluctantly withdrew her hand: "The hole seems quite deep; I can't feel anything."

“That’s easy, just use smoke, and it’ll come out,” Su Zui replied. “You should come up first.”