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Title: The Crazy Adventures of Wu Gate
Chapter: 33.1 of 87
Dark clouds floated by, the night wind whistled. The air felt saturated with humidity as if it was going to rain.
Qing Qiao gritted her teeth and leaned over the horse. She didn’t dare to relax.
She thought of father Gu’s heartily smiling face when she had left and her heart couldn’t help palpitating A mouthful of fishy sweetness gushed up from her throat.
Duan Yu, are you really going to ruthlessly kill to the last one?
She took out a piece of cloth from her robe to wipe her blood. When she carefully looked at it, she saw that it was the white silk Kong Kong had used to capture her.
“… Why are you using such a feminine weapon?”
“… I was temporarily overcome by anxiety and forced to by the situation, hehe.”
“… Do you know where this old one was before I rushed here?”
“…This old one had been performing a religious ceremony to help deceased souls find peace at an armed escort agency…”
Could it be… She looked at the white silk and three black lines appeared on her face.
As it turned out, this white silk had been used to decorate the mourning hall! Crap! Kong Kong, that old bald donkey!
She truly felt that she had horrible luck and quickly threw away the white silk. She also spat several times in contempt.
As the saying goes, blessings never come in pairs. The horse suddenly snorted, raised its head towards the sky, and stopped.
“Why aren't you moving? Hurry! Run!” Qing Qiao was very scared. She hurriedly started to sweetly plead, “Big bro horse, please move! Come on! You can do it!”
But, no matter how she encouraged, the horse continued to stand in place. Even when she used all of her strength to whip the horse, it still refused to walk even half a meter.
“Don’t do this! I’m begging you!” Her tears were about to fall out. “Although I had offended your family’s Jing Tiao* in the past, I always respectfully addressed him as a famous leader! Don’t worry! As long as you bring me out of this forest, this older sister promises to not eat horse meat, wear boots made of horse skin, or listen to horsehead fiddles. I’ll also honor the cult of roaring. Please be charitable and quickly move your legs. There’s a large group of underworld criminals chasing after me…”
* (T/N: Jing Tiao is a famous actor. His last name is Ma, which is also the word for horse in Chinese. He’s first mentioned in chapter 21.1 for his famous roaring scenes.)
The horse shook his head and completely ignored her. He seemed as if he was even more annoyed with her.
Her repeated efforts were met with failure and she finally gave up.
“… I just want to go home. What did I do wrong?”
Seeing that she had no hope in successfully fleeing, she felt increasingly sad. She couldn’t help regretting her actions. If she had known this would happen, she wouldn’t have looked for the Four Divine Items. Wouldn’t it have been fine if she had peacefully spent the rest of her life in the ancient world? At the very least, she would have a luxurious lifestyle without worries. Perhaps, that was following Heavens’ will! Right now, she was in such a pitiful situation. There was a strange poison in her body. Would she even be able to see tomorrow’s sun?
She used her sleeves to wipe away the tears that hadn’t dried. Her heart felt increasingly desolate.
“Are you giving up that quickly?” A person suddenly walked out from the trees. He was wearing a splendid brocade robe. He had a clever appearance and there was a cool smile on his face.
“Do you want give up? Are you going to throw away your dream?”
He looked at her with such a penetrating gaze that she felt as if there was no place she could hide.
“Zi… Zi Zheng!” She muttered his name. The corner of her mouth curved and she blinked again and again. “Is it really you?”
Lu Zi Zheng had originally wanted to say a few more mocking words, but looking at how she seemed as if she had given up her soul, he couldn’t stop himself from lowering his attitude.
“… It’s really me. Do you want to touch me?” As he said this, he approached her, lifted her hand, and placed it on his face.
“Are you okay now?” It was rare for his voice to sound so gentle.
Qing Qiao felt shocked and overjoyed. She couldn’t stop her eyes from overflowing with tears. “You’re real…. real….” Her body suddenly felt weak and it seemed as if she was going to fall down from the horse in the next moment.
Lu Zi Zheng turned his hand over and steadily caught her in his arms.
“Zi Zheng! Duan Yu wanted to kill me! He wanted to kill me!” She grabbed the front of his robe in surprise and fear. Her eyes were as wide as possible. “He said I’m an orphan from the imperial Mu family. He saw the nine surd bells I was wearing and said I was planning on sedition. He wants to execute me!”
“I know. I know.” Lu Zi Zheng gently patted her back and consoled her with kinds words, “Aren’t I here now?”
“… Zi Zheng. I haven’t…. I haven’t thought about hurting people...” Her mouth shriveled and she started to choke. “My daddy…. What’s going to happen to him now?”
“Your father is the rightful and proper Director of Board of Rites. Prince Duan Yu has no evidence against him and can’t do anything against him.” Lu Zi Zheng had planned in advance. “At most, he can only seize him and interrogate him.”
“Interrogate?” Qing Qiao thought of Sima Qian and immediately gasped. She loosened her throat and wailed, “No! Don’t punish him by castrating him! My daddy is only accepting honey traps!”
(T/N: Sima Qian is considered the father of Chinese historiography. He was punished with castration for defending a general.)
“Shouldn’t you be worrying about yourself?” Seeing the drops of blood on her chest, Lu Zi Zheng couldn’t help sighing. “Did you eat the poison in the hairpin?”
“I did.” She stopped shouting. With tears in her eyes, she repeatedly nodded.
“Does it hurt?”
“It hurts.” She was as obedient as a kitten.
“Did you vomit blood?”
“En.” Her voice became increasingly low. Low enough to fall into dust.
Lu Zi Zheng immediately took out a red pill and fed it to her.
“Do you know what that was?” His voice was severe.
“En… sweet… M&M candy?” She innocently replied.
“What candy?!” He knocked her skull and angrily said, “This is the antidote!”
Qing Qiao rubbed the back of her head and laughed foolishly.
“… “Xi Ling” is a poison unique to Mantuo Sect. You certainly have courage to swallow it down!” Lu Zi Zheng helplessly looked at her. There was a faint amount of admiration in his eyes. “Fu-er had probably clearly told you the side effects, right?”
“En.” Qing Qiao nodded. “He said I would repeatedly vomit blood for ten days in a row… If I didn’t get the antidote in time…”
“What will happen if you don’t get the antidote?” Lu Zi Zheng clearly knew the answer to this question, but he was still unwilling to let her off.
(T/N: This chapter part starts at audiobook part 33 from 9:55 to 16:24. The audiobook’s link is on the table of contents page.)