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Mo Yan snorted and stood up: "Don't forget, I'm the head constable of Kaifeng Prefecture. Do you think I spend my days embroidering in Kaifeng Prefecture?"

Su Zui shook his head and sighed. It was a disgrace to be a gyrfalcon, having been defeated twice by this little sparrow. It was truly an injustice.

"She is deeply in love with you, how can you bear to treat her like this?" Mo Yan couldn't help but ask angrily, remembering how Zhan Zhao had also kept her in the dark.

“So what?” Su Zui smiled bitterly. “There is absolutely no possibility between us. It would be better to let her think that I am dead. That way, it will be a cleaner break.”

"Yes, once she dies, you'll be clean."

Mo Yan cursed fiercely, but couldn't think of anything to make him change his mind. She stomped her foot and stormed off, not even taking the food box with her.

Su Zui remained silent, head bowed, sitting quietly, lost in thought.

Volume 3, Chapter 38

For the next few days, Su Zui lived in constant fear. Every day, he would deliberately take an extra detour when riding his horse, passing by Zhao Yu's tent, wanting to check if she was alright.

Even though he knew perfectly well that Zhao Yu hadn't yet presented the tortoise to Yelü Hongji, and that since nothing had been done, she should be safe and sound, for some reason, ever since he heard Mo Yan's words that night, he had felt uneasy.

Should I tell her that I'm still alive, just lame?

So what? Let her be sad, let her pity her, and she will still have to marry Yelü Hongji in the end.

He truly didn't know what to do.

During these days, Mo Yan was also filled with conflicting emotions when facing Zhao Yu.

Every time, I want to tell her that the person is not dead, not only is he not dead, but he is right beside you, within your sight.

But each time she was about to speak, she hesitated...

"Xiao Qi, what's wrong with you again?" Zhao Yu looked at Mo Yan, who was staring blankly again. He had seen her like this many times these past few days.

Mo Yan bit her lip and hesitated before saying, "N-nothing."

Zhao Yu smiled faintly and didn't press the matter. Since no one was around, she softly asked Mo Yan, "Are you worried about Zhan Zhao?"

Not knowing what to say, Mo Yan neither nodded nor shook her head, remaining stunned.

Zhao Yu sighed and said, "I really hope they can find out soon. You two have been separated for so long, it must have been tough for you. Do you have any leads yet?"

"There are clues, but..."

"But what?"

"But the snake hasn't come out of its hole yet, so we still have to wait." Hearing her question, Mo Yan felt a chill run down her spine, thinking of the Tang Clan involved. "I wonder if it will all go smoothly?"

"Do you need my help?" Zhao Yu asked.

Mo Yan quickly shook her head: "No need for that, Princess, you have enough troubles on your own."

Zhao Yu smiled and pointed to the various things Yelü Hongji had sent over the past few days on the low cabinet next to him: "Look at these, I think it's about time to take out the tortoise. Tomorrow morning, you can secretly bring the tortoise to me."

"good."

"Then you should go back and rest. When you leave, have them prepare hot soup and bring it in. I want to take a bath."

Mo Yan agreed, absentmindedly stepped out of the tent, called a maid to prepare bathwater for Zhao Yu, and then slowly returned to her own tent.

Early that morning, she wrapped the tortoise and secretly delivered it to Zhao Yu.

When they went in, Zhao Yu seemed to still be asleep, so Mo Yan could only gently call to her, "Princess, Princess... I've brought you the turtle."

Zhao Yu's face was half-covered by the quilt. When Mo Yan saw that she was still not awake, she reached out to pull the quilt away. When her hand touched Zhao Yu's cheek, she felt that it was burning hot. She had a high fever.

Mo Yan panicked. She put the tortoise down, found several silk handkerchiefs, soaked them in a copper basin, and quickly applied them to Zhao Yu's forehead. She then called for the maids to come in and prepare warm water to wipe Zhao Yu's body.

The maids were alarmed to find that Zhao Yu had suddenly developed such a high fever overnight, and they didn't know what had gone wrong. Someone rushed over to inform Ning Jin, who also hurried over. Seeing that Zhao Yu's forehead was burning hot and his lips were cracked, he was clearly quite ill. He was both anxious and angry, and he scolded all the people following him.

Amidst the chaos, Zhao Yu groggily awoke and first dismissed everyone, leaving only Mo Yan behind. Ning Jin remained in the tent; because of his higher status, she couldn't do anything about him.

“Xiao Qi…” she said weakly, “Remember, when Yelü Hongji comes, tell him that I fell into the ice water while trying to catch this turtle, which is why I have such a high fever. Make sure you remember this clearly, and don’t forget to say it.”

Upon hearing this, Mo Yan felt a chill creep into her heart: "Princess, did you deliberately make yourself sick?"

Zhao Yu didn't answer, but forced a smile.

Upon hearing this, Ning Jin angrily said, "Little Yu'er, what are you thinking? If you want to compete for favor, you can just pretend, but you actually did this..." He couldn't finish his sentence.

Mo Yan stood up and saw a large bathtub with half of it sticking out from behind the screen. She hurried over to check and found that the tub was full of cold water that had not been poured out. She immediately understood.

"Princess, it's so cold! You...you actually went to soak in cold water! Do you have a death wish?!" she said urgently.

"Soak in cold water!"

Ning Jin was also shocked, staring at Zhao Yu in disbelief: "Little Yu'er, are you crazy?"

Zhao Yu was dizzy from their clamor and kept silent with her eyes half-closed. Last night, she first wrapped herself in the quilt, then ordered her maid to light a brazier to warm herself up, and then dismissed the maid and suddenly immersed herself in the already icy water. Such a sudden change from cold to hot in the dead of winter would be unbearable even for an ordinary person, let alone someone as frail as her.

“Princess! I’ve been worried you’d do something foolish these past few days, but I never expected you to…” Mo Yan never imagined Zhao Yu would use this method.

"This is not a foolish thing to do," Zhao Yu said softly.

"You're risking your life, isn't that foolish! It's all because of him, isn't it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yu paused for a moment, then stared intently at Mo Yan without saying a word.

Ning Jin, however, was somewhat confused. He turned to Mo Yan and asked, puzzled, "For whom? Yelü Hongji?"