Chapter 47: Poison Fire
Lü Qingyan, curious, watched as Fang Yue Lian sorted through a pile of medicinal herbs. She spotted a beautiful white flower and was about to pluck it with her teeth when Fang Yue Lian grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.
Fang Yue Lian, startled, stared at the dog, her voice laced with exasperation. “Why do you try to eat everything?”
But the flower was so pretty. Lü Qingyan wanted to give it to Jingxue.
Fang Yue Lian set the dog down. “Go play somewhere else,” she said. “Don’t come near these herbs.”
Lü Qingyan reluctantly left, settling beside Bai Jingxue, who was sprawled on the floor, her eyes closed. “Stingy,” Lü Qingyan muttered, her tail drooping. “I just wanted one flower.”
Bai Jingxue ignored her. She needed to conserve her energy for tomorrow’s escape. Knowledge was power, and she was feeling empowered.
Seeing that the cat was ignoring her, Lü Qingyan lay down, closing her eyes, but her chatter continued.
“I can’t wait to transform back into a human,” she said. “Then we can do human things again.”
Bai Jingxue twitched her tail, acknowledging the dog’s words.
Undeterred by the cat’s silence, Lü Qingyan continued. “We’ve wasted so much time here,” she said. “If this really is a game, is there a skip button?”
“I miss Fu Yuan’s cooking.”
“Do you think Luo Nianshang has noticed we’re missing? Why hasn’t she come to rescue us?”
Bai Jingxue opened her eyes. “I’m going to help Fang Yue Lian escape tomorrow,” she said. “Follow me.”
Lü Qingyan perked up. “Mission accepted!”
Bai Jingxue closed her eyes again, but a sense of unease lingered, a premonition of something bad about to happen.
She dismissed it as her usual pessimism, forcing herself to relax and sleep.
The next day arrived, and Fang Yue Lian was placed in a small sedan chair, carried out of the mansion. Because she had been so obedient, her captors hadn’t bothered to restrain her.
The cat and dog, however, were locked in cages.
What was this? A failed attempt at a revolution?
But it wasn’t even a revolution. It hadn’t even begun.
Lü Qingyan bit at the bars of her cage, but they were thicker and sturdier than usual, too thick for her teeth to penetrate.
The head butler stood before the cages, his voice firm. “Don’t let them escape,” he instructed. “The prince is terrified of cats and dogs.”
The servant guarding the cages nodded, then picked them up, preparing to dispose of them.
“Wait,” a voice said. “Set the cages down.”
The butler, recognizing the eldest miss, his expression turning obsequious, bowed. “Eldest Miss,” he said, “these are just lowly beasts from the countryside. They are unworthy of your attention.”
Fang Xin, her face perpetually etched in a frown, as if the world had wronged her, glared at him.
“Do I need your permission to do as I please?” she snapped, snatching the dog cage from him.
The butler, speechless, but unwilling to offend her, forced a smile. “My apologies, Eldest Miss,” he said. “If you wish to keep them, then by all means.”
Fang Xin snorted, then left, carrying the cage. But instead of returning to her room, she stealthily scaled the wall, escaping the mansion.
Once she was outside, she found a secluded spot and opened the cage. “Go,” she said.
“Quickly find Fang Yue Lian!” Bai Jingxue urged, her voice laced with urgency.
Lü Qingyan sniffed the air, then dashed off in a specific direction, Bai Jingxue following closely behind.
But Fang Yue Lian had a significant head start. The escape plan was probably useless now. They wouldn’t be able to catch up.
A horse galloped past them, Fang Xin on its back.
Bai Jingxue, wanting to avoid attracting attention, had been running across the rooftops. The houses here were close together, making it easy to leap from one to the other. As she reached the next rooftop, she saw Fang Xin approaching, her face hidden behind a mask, her attire identical to the one she had been wearing earlier.
“This is urgent,” she said to Lü Qingyan, who was running on the ground. “I’m going ahead. Catch up later.”
Before Lü Qingyan could respond, Bai Jingxue leaped, landing on Fang Xin’s shoulder.
Fang Xin, startled by the sudden weight, paused, then, recognizing the cat, she dismounted, scooping up Lü Qingyan, who had just caught up.
“Fine,” she said, her voice softening. “She seems fond of you two. You might as well come along.”
She mounted the horse, urging it forward, pursuing the sedan chair carrying Fang Yue Lian.
They reached the designated meeting point, but the sedan chair was nowhere to be found. “Damn it!” Fang Xin cursed. “She didn’t escape.”
According to the plan, this location, with its dense forest and hidden paths, was the perfect place to disappear.
Once Fang Yue Lian was safe, Fang Xin would have taken her place, presenting herself to the prince, sparing her family.
Bai Jingxue, seeing her frustration, sighed. They had had so little time. Fang Xin hadn’t had a chance to truly get to know Fang Yue Lian. If she had, she would have realized that her cousin was illiterate.
But Fang Xin wasn’t giving up. She urged her horse forward, resuming her pursuit.
Bai Jingxue, jostled by the horse’s movements, felt a pang of despair. Her life since her arrival in this world had been surprisingly smooth. This was the first time she felt truly helpless.
It was like her past life, when she had understood the problems, but had been powerless to solve them.
Despite their efforts, they were too late. The sedan chair had already entered the prince’s mansion through a side gate.
“Damn it!”
Fang Xin cursed again. She tethered her horse, then quickly scaled a tree.
The tree was close to the mansion wall. Bai Jingxue and Lü Qingyan assumed she was planning to jump over the wall, but she simply sat there, motionless.
No one enjoyed a tragic ending. Lü Qingyan, her ears drooping, whined, “Jingxue.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” Bai Jingxue said, her voice soft. “But perhaps this is all an illusion. Maybe none of this is real.”
Lü Qingyan stared at her. “Are you avoiding reality?”
She was, but avoiding reality was the only way she could find peace.
But as the sky darkened and lanterns began to illuminate the mansion, Bai Jingxue’s frustration grew. She finally snapped. “If this really is a game,” she hissed, “whoever designed this deserves a zero! No, a negative score!”
Lü Qingyan had been circling the mansion, hoping to find a hole she could squeeze through, but even if she succeeded, it wouldn’t achieve anything.
Hearing Bai Jingxue’s outburst, she ran over. “Jingxue.”
As the cat and dog wallowed in their shared misery, Fang Xin, perched on the tree branch, moved.
She plucked a leaf, tossing it into the air, watching its trajectory. “Southeast wind,” she muttered. “Good.”
She retrieved a fire starter from her sleeve, igniting it, then stealthily leaped over the wall.
She immediately realized something was wrong. The mansion should have been heavily guarded, but there was no one in sight.
She wondered if it was a trap, cautiously retreating into the shadows. But the entire mansion was eerily silent.
She couldn’t wait any longer. Every moment wasted could mean disaster for her cousin.
She ignited the fire starter, setting a small fire in the mansion.
As the flames grew, she quickly scaled the wall, escaping.
According to her plan, someone would surely come to extinguish the fire. She had targeted the prince’s treasury. That greedy beast would prioritize his wealth over a new concubine.
But she waited, and the mansion remained silent, the only sound the crackling of the flames.
No one came. The fire spread, its heat dispelling the chill of the night.
The villagers, awakened by the commotion, emerged from their homes, their faces filled with alarm.
Fang Xin’s heart sank. The fire had spread beyond its intended target.
Panicked, she searched for a way back into the mansion.
“Help! What’s happening?”
She recognized her cousin’s voice, despite their brief encounter. She followed the sound, finding Fang Yue Lian trapped by the flames.
Desperate, Fang Yue Lian was trying to climb the wall, but she wasn’t strong enough.
Just as she was about to give up, a hand reached down from the top of the wall. She looked up to see the woman who had claimed to be her cousin, her expression stern.
“Grab my hand!” Fang Xin shouted.
Fang Yue Lian, startled, reached out, her hand grasped firmly, her body lifted over the wall.
Fang Xin jumped down, then extended her hand towards Fang Yue Lian, urging her to follow.
Seeing her hesitation, she said, her voice urgent, “Trust me! Jump!”
Fang Yue Lian, still afraid, closed her eyes and leaped, the brief sensation of weightlessness followed by the feeling of strong arms catching her.
The cat and dog, witnessing this daring rescue, were stunned.
But they had no time to dwell on it. Fang Yue Lian, safely on the ground, seeing her cat and dog, scooped them up, one in each arm, and ran.
Fang Xin untied her horse, then pulled Fang Yue Lian onto its back.
Once they were a safe distance away, Fang Xin reined in her horse, a wave of regret washing over her. She hadn’t intended to start such a large fire. She had simply wanted to sneak her cousin out.
“Why didn’t you follow my plan?” she demanded, grabbing Fang Yue Lian by the collar.
Fang Yue Lian, still shaken from her near-death experience, blinked. “What plan?”
Fang Xin, exasperated, released her grip, punching a nearby tree in frustration. “Strange,” she muttered. “There wasn’t a single guard in the entire mansion.”
Fang Yue Lian’s face paled. “I didn’t expect a fire,” she said, her voice filled with guilt. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have poisoned them.”
Fang Xin stared at her, her jaw slack. This seemingly timid girl had poisoned an entire mansion? She hadn’t needed to start the fire at all.
The cat and dog, watching the exchange, were also stunned. Lü Qingyan suddenly remembered the white flower she had tried to pluck earlier. Could it be…
Her ears drooped. “Jingxue,” she whispered, “why are the flowers I try to give you always dangerous?”
The last one had come to life and tried to eat them. This one seemed to be poisonous.
Bai Jingxue shuddered. It was a good thing Lü Qingyan hadn’t managed to grab the flower.
She glanced at the dejected dog, her voice teasing. “Perhaps you’re trying to kill me.”
“No!” Lü Qingyan protested.
She was about to explain when she saw the amusement in Bai Jingxue’s eyes. She realized she was being teased again.
“You love messing with me,” she said, her voice flat.
Bai Jingxue turned her gaze towards the two cousins, her voice soft. “Perhaps.”
Leave a Reply