"Maybe...maybe it was thrown away with that tattered piece of clothing," Chu Xiyin stammered.
Green Butterfly's face darkened.
Knowing she had gotten herself into trouble, Chu Xiyin preemptively accused the other woman, saying, "It's been so many days, how come you only just discovered it? If you had discovered it sooner, you might still have been able to find it."
"You...I..." Green Butterfly was so angry she couldn't speak.
The group of female servants gradually gathered around. At this moment, Chu Xiyin looked at their faces and felt that they all looked exactly like the Black and White Impermanence, fierce and evil spirits coming to take lives.
"How did you offend them? These women are not to be trifled with!" Chu Xiyin stared at Green Butterfly's profile and asked nervously. She was afraid of death, but what frightened her even more was dying without knowing why.
"She killed my guard!"
Upon hearing the sound, the maids respectfully made way for her, and Xing Tian gracefully stepped out from among them.
Green Butterfly asked nervously, "Star Sweet?"
Chu Xiyin glanced at Green Butterfly with disdain. She's just a little girl! How could Green Butterfly, known as the number one assassin in Twilight Kingdom, be so afraid? "Little girl, it's you again?" She smiled and walked up to Xing Tian, pinching her cheek.
The little girl paused slightly, unconsciously taking a step back. Since her mother, Xingya, passed away, and her older sister, Xingyu, left the palace, it had been a long time since anyone had been so close to her. Because she was the Empress, even though she was still young, no one in the Peony Kingdom dared to joke and laugh with her like this.
"How dare you!" the fierce woman shouted, shoving Chu Xiyin aside.
"How can someone be stronger than an ox?" Chu Xiyin rubbed her shoulders and muttered to herself.
"Your Majesty...? Is that right? I'd like to discuss something with you." Chu Xiyin took another step forward, getting closer to the little girl, and said, "Could you... let us go?"
Xing Tian glanced at Chu Xiyin, then at Lü Die, and waved her hand to dismiss the maids behind her. "I can let you go, but you must agree to one condition."
"What are the conditions?" Seeing that there was a way out, Chu Xiyin naturally wouldn't let it go.
“I’m afraid only Green Butterfly, the number one assassin of Twilight Kingdom, can do this!” Xing Tian looked at Green Butterfly and smiled sweetly.
Green Butterfly frowned. When she was infiltrating the Peony Kingdom, she had dealt with Star Sweet. She knew that this little girl was no ordinary person.
"Don't be so nervous. I just want you to help me save my sister and take her away from the Peony Kingdom," Xing Tian said, glancing into the crowd.
"No!" Before Green Butterfly could answer, Chu Xiyin stepped forward and said. If Green Butterfly saw that pervert and remembered those filthy things, wouldn't that...
"Okay! I promise you! What do you want me to do?" Green Butterfly answered readily!
"I'll have my servants create some chaos later, and you can take the opportunity to hijack the prison cart and take my sister away. I believe you can definitely do it within half an incense stick's time." With that, Xing Tian turned and left.
"Your injury?" Chu Xiyin asked with concern after Xing Tian left.
“The injury is nothing serious, but my darts…” Green Butterfly glanced helplessly at Chu Xiyin.
"I'll go buy it..." Chu Xiyin had just turned around when she heard a commotion in the crowd.
"It's too late, you get on the carriage first!" Green Butterfly leaped lightly and flew onto the roof.
Chu Xiyin opened her mouth in silence, realizing that she had worried for nothing.
A moment later, an even bigger commotion arose from the crowd.
Without a second thought, Chu Xiyin jumped onto the carriage and shouted, "Let's go!" The horse was very intelligent; after spending the last few days together, it could understand everything Chu Xiyin said.
The horse reared up, neighed, and charged into the group of women. The women, being timid, scattered in fright at the sight of the approaching carriage. At this moment, Green Butterfly had already rescued Wu Yue. Under the protection of the maids arranged by Xing Tian, the three of them escaped the Peony Kingdom in less than half an incense stick's time.
"We're not going to keep taking her with us forever, are we?" Chu Xiyin rolled her eyes at Wu Yue.
Wu Yue lifted the carriage curtain and coldly looked at the city wall. On the city wall, Xing Tian's thin figure gradually became a blurry black dot in her eyes.
She stared at the black dot, her eyes welling up with tears. After a long while, she turned to Green Butterfly and said, "Young lady, thank you for disregarding past grievances and risking your life to save me. What happened last time..."
"Last time, thanks to you saving Green Butterfly's life, we're even, so there's no need to say anything more." Chu Xiyin glanced at Green Butterfly and hurriedly interrupted Wu Yue.
Wu Yue gave Green Butterfly a deep look and said, "You look a lot like someone."
Chu Xiyin glanced disdainfully out the window; this way of striking up a conversation was too old-fashioned!
"Oh?" Green Butterfly said calmly, arms crossed.
Wu Yue lowered her eyes. "A few years ago, she was ordered to be killed by my mother in order to protect me. I hate my mother. In order for me to inherit the throne of the empress, she forced me to have relations with men and ordered the death of the woman I loved. After that, I kept finding women from the common people, partly to spite her and partly to make her give up the idea of making me empress."
"Then why did you continue after you were demoted to a commoner..." Chu Xiyin looked out the window and sneered.
Wu Yue sighed and didn't answer. After a long while, she finally spoke, "Let me get off here!"
Chu Xiyin was stunned for a moment, then turned around and said, "You have no money and no friends, how can you survive all by yourself?"
"You forgot? I'm a doctor. I can make a living. As for friends, I've never had any." Wu Yue smiled at Chu Xiyin.
It turns out that indifferent people have a unique charm when they smile!
Wu Yue bid farewell to the two, her phoenix eyes still smiling as she parted. Perhaps, only by leaving a place could she completely forget those unpleasant memories—whether it was the woman she loved so dearly, or those women she had toyed with. At this moment, her smile proved that she had completely let go, whether it was love or hate.
As Chu Xiyin watched her departing figure, a strange sadness welled up in her heart.
"You can't bear to part with her?" Green Butterfly asked softly, her eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?" Chu Xiyin rolled her eyes at her, secretly wiping away the tears that had inadvertently spilled from the corners of her eyes.
"Thank you for saving my life!" Green Butterfly patted Chu Xiyin's shoulder.
Chu Xiyin gave an awkward twitch of her lips. If she knew how she had squandered her money, if she knew how Wu Yue had humiliated her, she wondered if she would…
"Why do you look like that? Did you do something to offend me? Like, steal my money?" Green Butterfly opened her eyes and stared straight at Chu Xiyin.
"Steal? Why put it so harshly? You don't need money for medicine? We don't need money for lodging? We don't need money for food and clothing?" Chu Xiyin spoke confidently, but she dared not look directly at Lüdie. Because, at this moment, she was still clutching Lüdie's silver in her arms.
Green Butterfly smiled, too lazy to expose her.
"What are you laughing at? You should thank me for saving your life!" Chu Xiyin leaned back and said angrily.
"Never mind, thank you!" Green Butterfly shook her head helplessly.
“That’s more like it. By the way, what does ‘green butterflies dance in the wind with the moon, twilight and rosy clouds await the butterflies’ mean? Lately, you’ve been repeating this line of poetry in a daze.” Chu Xiyin asked, tilting her head.
Green Butterfly trembled, her cheeks flushed, and she stammered, "Nonsense...you...you actually believed it!"
Chu Xiyin had been dealing with Green Butterfly for so many days, and this was the first time she had seen her so shy. Zizai chuckled inwardly, too lazy to expose her.
"Does this horse... know how to get to Twilight Kingdom?" Green Butterfly stared at the horse in front of her with suspicion.
Chu Xiyin shook her head. "If I don't know, how could it possibly know?"
"You silly girl, hurry up and tell it to go north!" Green Butterfly suddenly slapped her on the head.
Chu Xiyin winced in pain. This woman, how could she be so rough, like a man! She glared at Green Butterfly, then staggered out of the carriage and shouted to the struggling horse, "Darling, head north! Straight ahead!"
Upon hearing the word "darling," the horse reared up and ran even faster. It turns out, sweet words work not only on humans, but also on animals!
This carriage is perfect for sleeping. Chu Xiyin closed her eyes and had another wonderful nap.
"Wake up!" Chu Xiyin was still dreaming when Green Butterfly shook her awake. She rubbed her sleepy eyes impatiently, about to complain, when she heard the sounds of clashing weapons and neighing horses outside the carriage.
Green Butterfly lifted the carriage curtain a crack, and Chu Xiyin looked out through the crack.
They are now on a small hill, and below the hill, two armies are engaged in battle.
"Third Princess!" Green Butterfly exclaimed in surprise.
Chu Xiyin followed her gaze and saw a woman riding a Ferghana horse, her chestnut hair tied up high, and her appearance was charming and beautiful.
The man fighting her was wearing a mask, and his figure looked remarkably like someone else.
The two fought for forty or fifty rounds, their strength evenly matched.
Suddenly, the woman leaped up and swung her sword with all her might. The man had no time to defend himself, and his mask was cleaved in two.
"Yi...Chuan," Chu Xiyin exclaimed, her eyes widening in disbelief.
Chapter 41 Hostages (Part 1)
Before Green Butterfly could react, Chu Xiyin had already jumped off the carriage and raced down the hillside.
Her gasps mingled with the sounds of fighting and wailing from below the mountain. This was the first time in her life that she had witnessed the horrors of war firsthand, and the first time she had watched helplessly as vibrant lives vanished in an instant.
Chu Xiyin stopped and stood on the hillside, gazing at the Fourth Prince. He was completely different on the battlefield than he was on ordinary days.
At this moment, his melancholy eyes were stained with blood and mercilessly possessed!
He held the Purple Imperial Blade and slashed fiercely at Mu Jing. A burst of purple energy shot out from the blade. Fortunately, Mu Jing dodged quickly. If it had been an ordinary person, they would have already become a sacrifice under his blade.
Mu Jing's swordsmanship was also extremely fast; she wielded the Twilight Moon Sword. This Twilight Moon Sword had a sapphire blue blade throughout, and when it was swung, it resembled a cold moon exuding a chilling killing intent. If it were an ordinary person, they probably wouldn't even be able to withstand the sword's energy.
The Fourth Prince did not show any mercy to Mu Jing just because she was a woman. He dismounted, swung his sword, and cleaved Mu Jing's armor in two.
Mu Jing was so captivated by the Fourth Prince's handsome face that she lost herself in thought and had her weapon snatched from her hand.
The Fourth Prince gave her no chance to breathe, and with a single stroke, his blade was aimed straight at her neck.
"The Third Princess has been captured! Why don't you surrender immediately!" Mo Cong roared at the soldiers of the Twilight Kingdom.
The Third Princess was captured.
The Third Princess was captured.
...
The soldiers and generals under the Fourth Prince were immediately invigorated. Meanwhile, the soldiers and generals of the Twilight Kingdom, seeing the princess captured, dropped their weapons and retreated in terror.
"Fourth Prince, let go of the Third Princess! Take a good look, who is this?" Green Butterfly suddenly appeared behind Chu Xiyin, grabbing her neck and saying.
The Fourth Prince narrowed his eyes slightly, looking towards the hillside where the sound came from. The moment his eyes met Chu Xiyin's, his heart skipped a beat. A flash of joy quickly crossed his eyes, followed by a fleeting look of guilt.
"Oh, it's Chu Xiyin!" Hua Shao brushed aside his messy hair and pointed at Chu Xiyin on the hillside. "What's that girl doing here?"
Qi Yu wiped the blood from his face, and when he saw Chu Xiyin, he couldn't help but frown and tighten his grip on the knife in his hand.
"I don't know her!" the Fourth Prince said coldly.
He gripped the Purple Imperial Blade tightly, and with a slight exertion, a stream of bright red blood quickly seeped from Mu Jing's neck.
Chu Xiyin felt a chill in her heart and said indifferently to Green Butterfly behind her, "I am no longer the Fourth Prince's consort. It's no use threatening me. He won't care."
“Oh? I don’t think so!” Green Butterfly laughed.
"Fourth Prince, how about this? We each withdraw our troops first, and then exchange hostages in three days! If I don't see the Third Princess in three days, Fourth Prince, you can forget about ever seeing your Princess again!" Green Butterfly deliberately pressed down on Chu Xiyin's neck with a bit more force. "By the way, I will inform Your Highness of the time and place for the hostage exchange separately."
Chu Xiyin winced in pain, her face turning bright red.