The Beauties of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 138

He made a throat-slitting gesture, and saw that she nodded very seriously. He suddenly smiled and chuckled softly.

"Can't figure it out? Ha! Turns out I'm this fragile!"

Wanlan pursed her lips, knowing he wouldn't believe her, just as he hadn't believed her when she told Zehua.

"It's best if you're not that fragile, so I don't have to figure out how to save you."

He'd better just choose a way to disappear when the time comes, so she won't have to rack her brains trying to figure out how to help him get through this ordeal.

Seeing her attitude, Zhao Dezhao stopped smiling. Remembering her background, he frowned in disbelief. "Could I... have really done such a stupid thing?"

"No, no!" Wanlan suddenly turned around and pushed him out, "Go find Zehua!"

"One last question!"

He stopped at the tent flap, turned to look at her, and asked, "If I really did commit suicide, how did you originally plan to save me?"

She didn't hide anything from him. "I'll find a way to make you disappear from this world."

Zhao Dezhao was visibly taken aback, then glared at her angrily. "You want me dead?"

Why does his reaction sound so much like Zehua's?

"Why would I hold onto this kind of 'hope'? There's a huge difference between disappearing and dying, okay? I just want you to disappear from this world, to disappear from under your uncle's nose, do you understand?"

oh?

With a smirk, she asked, "Where do you plan to make me 'disappear' to?"

Wanlan looked up at the smile on his lips and suddenly felt that the method wasn't entirely impossible. This man's answer might be different from Zehua's.

"Zhao Dezhao, if you were asked to face a completely unfamiliar world alone, would you go?"

Are you referring to your world?

Wanlan nodded, "Yes, the differences between that world and the Song Dynasty may make it difficult for you to move around, but if you figure out the methods, surviving in that world is very simple."

Zhao Dezhao suddenly fell silent.

He frowned and stared at her for a long while, then suddenly turned and left.

I'll answer that question later.

Zhao Dezhao's departure lasted for a full day and night.

In the early hours of the eighth day, Zhuozhou was surrounded by the Liao army. The remaining Song soldiers in the city fought desperately to defend Zhuozhou. When Zhao Dezhao and his party returned in the early hours of the ninth day, the Liao army, which had been unable to capture Zhuozhou for a long time, had temporarily retreated. The soldiers and civilians of the whole city breathed a sigh of relief.

After a harrowing day and night, the return of Prince Zhao Dezhao of Wugong was a shot in the arm for the entire city. These leaderless and defeated soldiers immediately turned to Prince Zhao Dezhao for refuge.

Wanlan knew that if she didn't handle this situation properly, she might really incur the displeasure of her royal uncle.

But she had no interest in caring about any of that anymore.

To be honest, Zhao Dezhao didn't directly reject her suggestion to make him "disappear" that day. She no longer cared whether the royal uncle would become suspicious of Zhao Dezhao, since she already knew he wouldn't cowardly commit suicide.

"Have you found Zehua?"

Wanlan rushed to Zhao Dezhao's horse, who had just entered the city and hadn't even dismounted yet. Her action startled Zhao Dezhao, who quickly pulled on the reins and stopped his horse. His face turned pale and he was covered in cold sweat.

This reckless woman!

"Salty orchid!"

He roared, leaped off his horse, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her away from the middle of the street. "What are you doing?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Wanlan, however, had no time to pay attention to his anger. Her watery eyes looked past him and behind him, and she asked urgently, "Didn't you find Zehua? Is there no news of the Imperial Uncle either? Why did it take you so long to come back?"

He was furious and roared angrily, "Didn't find it!"

No matter how worried she was about Defang, she couldn't just ignore her own life like that, could she?

Wanlan was completely frozen by his words.

"Didn't...didn't find them? What do you mean? Is it just that you didn't find them, or...did something happen to them?"

Zhao Dezhao frowned, looking at her pale face with concern, and said in a low voice, "We haven't found them, and we haven't heard any news about them, Lan'er!"

He hurriedly held her limp body and said urgently, "You must know that no news is good news. At least they haven't encountered the Liao soldiers again. Maybe they've left first. If we continue chasing south, we can find them."

"South..."

Wanlan's dazed expression suddenly brightened. "That's right...that's right! Jin Taishun! They must be there!"

Zhao Dezhao breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that she would insist on staying in Zhuozhou.

"Then let's set off immediately."

"Your Highness."

Lan Wu suddenly walked over silently. "The sentry on the city wall reports that someone seems to be coming this way."

The two were shocked. "Are they Liao soldiers?"

"It shouldn't be. There aren't many people, only about a hundred."

Zhao Dezhao's heart skipped a beat. "Is it the Emperor and the others? Go and inquire with Chu again—"

Before the words were finished, the sentry on the city wall suddenly shouted, "It's the King of Qin! It's His Highness the King of Qin!"