The sooner His Majesty got away, the safer he would be.
They set off quickly, while Kangxi and Fang He could already hear the assassins running behind them, making noise in the jungle.
Fang He, hit by the arrow, was in pain and exhaustion, and couldn’t run at all.
At first, the guards carried her on their backs, but later, realizing the assassins were closing in, the guards stayed behind to block the assassins, and it became Kangxi carrying her on his back.
In the jostling, Fang He was in so much pain that she was on the verge of fainting, but she could vaguely hear the sounds of fighting behind her and Kangxi’s increasingly heavy breathing.
In her previous life, being knocked unconscious by a bottle of alcohol was too quick.
Now, perhaps this was the closest she had ever come to death in her two lives.
She realized that she wasn’t that afraid of death.
Or rather, she had always been a calm and selfish person.
If she had the slightest chance to leave a last will and testament, she wouldn’t leave her savings to her parents.
And now, finally, she had a chance to play her part.
Fang He barely managed to speak, “Your Majesty, hide me in the bushes and run by yourself……………”
Kangxi only growled hoarsely, “Shut up!”
“If you keep jostling like this, I might die from blood loss. Even if I survive, the ancestors won’t spare me……”
She tried to regulate her breathing, speaking in an unprecedentedly cold tone,
“You put me down, I have a chance to survive. As an emperor, you should know what’s important. This is not the time for sentimentality!”
Kangxi stopped talking.
Running was already exhausting enough, and he didn’t have the energy to deal with Fang He’s chatter.
Fang He didn’t waste any more words.
Speaking while running was too painful, and she couldn’t afford to faint.
She had once had the guts to pick up a bottle of alcohol in a bar and fight for her friend.
Now, with life and death hanging in the balance, she was choked by the smell of blood in her throat and coughed a few times, also coughing up some blood.
She gritted her teeth, reached back, and grabbed the arrow in her shoulder, pulling it hard and screaming in pain——
“If you don’t put me down, it’s a death sentence sooner or later. I’ll pull out the arrow and die right in front of you!”
Kangxi was startled by Fang He’s painful cry and stumbled.
He then realized that the enemy had sent the wolf pack first to wear them out.
Even as strong as he was, after fighting the wolves and carrying someone for so long, he had lost some strength.
He quickly changed direction, carefully put Fang He down, and her face, pale almost to transparency, was all the more striking with the bloodstains on it.
But that was nothing compared to the cold and resolute look in her eyes that made his heart tremble.
Fang He pushed him forcefully,
“Will you leave or not? If you don’t, we’ll both die here!”
“They won’t kill me………”
Kangxi tried to explain, “Bullshit!”
Fang He cursed furiously, glaring at Kangxi,
“You are the Emperor of the Great Qing, the Khan of the Northern Mongols!”
“If you get captured and used as a bargaining chip, if I were you, I’d rather bash my head against the wall than bring shame to my ancestors!”
She was trembling all over, tears streaming down uncontrollably,
“I’ll definitely hide well. I beg you! I’m waiting for you to come back and rescue me!!”
Kangxi’s heart felt like it was about to explode.
As a man, leaving his beloved woman behind to escape was an immense disgrace.
But Fang He was right.
He was the Emperor of the Great Qing.
No matter how much he cared for Fang He, his reason and composure were still intact.
If they kept entangled like this, neither of them would escape.
Even if he knocked Fang He unconscious, he might not be able to carry her out.
Once captured, they would spare his life but would definitely kill Fang He, or worse…
He looked deeply into Fang He’s eyes:
“Wait for me here. If they catch you, say you are my Consort Xi, the ‘Xi’ of Kangxi. They will understand.”
“Hide!”
Fang He’s vision was swimming, but she gritted her teeth and nodded with effort.
She might not even wait for them to capture her to say these words; all her strength was spent on arguing with him.
“……!”
As Consort Xi, her uncle, Wei Zhu, and the maids Chunlai and Cuimei wouldn’t be implicated by her and could even benefit from her association.
Once Kangxi swiftly vanished into the jungle, she pinched her thigh hard, trying to stay conscious and staggering deeper into the bushes.
She forcefully suppressed the urge to sob; she wasn’t afraid of death at all… it would be a death worth dying for… if only she could die with a purpose…
She had heard that Mongolians liked to use their enemies’ blood and flesh to show off when they went to war.
Dizzy, she thought of being captured and boiled into a soup, and she would rather fall into the hands of wild beasts——
“Ah!” As the image of being devoured by wild beasts flashed through her mind, she was suddenly picked up horizontally and rushed in another direction.
Fang He, whose vision was darkening from dizziness, thought Kangxi had come back, and she was furious.
“You damn… can’t you understand a word I say?” she shouted in anger.
Was this guy still in love mode?!
But what she thought was a loud curse only came out as a weak murmur.
“Don’t talk, there are pursuers,” a strange, rough female voice warned her in broken Chinese.
Fang He, who was about to faint, was startled awake.
She widened her eyes and looked up.
Through her dizziness, she could only see a tall, strong woman with half her face covered, who looked more secure than Kangxi.
The woman’s exposed skin was crisscrossed with scars, and her overall demeanor was so cold and intimidating that Fang He was momentarily scared into silence.
The woman didn’t run far with her but hid her in a very secluded cave.
After being gently put down by the woman, who even stuffed a piece of ginseng into her mouth, Fang He felt a bit more energetic.
She quietly moved back and asked,
“Who are you?”
The woman was concise: “Lady Laksen sent me. The Empress Dowager has some questions for you.”
Huh?
Lady Laksen sent her to ask questions on behalf of the Empress Dowager?
Why couldn’t the Empress Dowager ask her directly?
There had been too many surprises today, and Fang He’s mind was struggling to keep up.
“How can I trust you?” Fang He was puzzled but even more on guard.
The woman took out a small seal.
“This is the Empress Dowager’s private seal. Lady Laksen told me to let you know that she knows you didn’t tell the truth.”
“Whether you stay or leave, she wants it to be your heartfelt choice.”
Fang He was stunned for a moment, her eyes slightly warming.
No matter what, the Empress Dowager was probably the best elder relative she had in both her lives.
So, she couldn’t harm her.
There were more important things at stake right now!
“The Emperor won’t let me go,” she said calmly.
“Since you know the Emperor and I are being pursued, you should hurry to notify the Imperial Guards to save………………”
The woman’s eyes were mocking:
“What does it have to do with me? Men are all good for nothing!”
The kind of heartless men who don’t care about their own lovers escaping usually live long.
If they don’t die, that’s all there is to it.
Fang He looked at the woman’s face, which was almost unrecognizable from the scars, and fell silent.
She didn’t need to ask to imagine a drama of a bad man and a mean woman.
The woman explained crisply:
“Don’t worry, I’m already a dead person on the surface. No one will find out that I helped you.”
“If you stay, I’ll help you gain a high position……”
Fang He sat up abruptly, without hesitation, so resolutely that even the ginseng piece was spat out——
Fang He, on her deathbed,
“Of course I want to leave!”
The woman: “…………..Are you not going to think it over?”
Once her identity was confirmed, this seemingly gentle and weak girl was too decisive.
“Only when you know you can’t leave can you stay.”
Now, without the ginseng, Fang He seemed as spirited as if she were having a last burst of energy.
“Who in their right mind would stay!”
“If you can leave that hellhole, who cares about Kangxi’s life or death?”
Sorry, he saved her life, and she had already repaid him on the spot.
She didn’t owe him anything!
There were no so-called moral constraints, only living for herself, so she often didn’t have such strong principles.
Once she left the palace, she could immediately get involved in the tea-drinking and scheming, and she was also ready to grow a brain and fight with the other palace women over head flowers.
She could leave… but… everyone understands the reason, yet still feels wronged.
In her previous life, scheming had at least a quitting time.
Here?
It’s non-stop for a lifetime.
You might have to act on the bed and off the bed.
Your own child might not grow up, or even become someone else’s.
There’s even the danger of death at any time!
Why should a good girl raised under the red flag suffer this?
She tried to be happy and enjoy life as much as possible.
Isn’t it because she had no choice?
Her happiness and enjoyment had value only in this way.
Now she could leave.
Forget about gold and silver, forget about the imperial cuisine, all that stuff!
To hesitate for another second would be a disrespect to her current half-dead state!!
She still remembers the joy of running away at that moment; it was the taste of freedom.
The woman, seeing this, simply nodded, walked to the cave entrance, and listened carefully.
Once the footsteps outside disappeared, she picked up Fang He, who was already semi-unconscious, as easily as if she were holding a chick.
Tsk, Na Ren was amazed inside.
This girl was too thin.
Her life in the palace must have been hard, and with such serious injuries, who knows how long it would take to recover.
No wonder she wanted to leave so decisively……
She ran swiftly with a clear goal, quickly reached the destination, put Fang He down, and tied a vine rope around Fang He’s waist.
Fang He was vaguely woken up by the tight force around her waist.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she found herself on the edge of a cliff.
She weakly asked Na Ren, who was slowly getting up,
“This…… Sister, what are you——”
Before she could finish her sentence, Na Ren ran over with a sharp look in her eyes,and jumped off the cliff with Fang He in her arms.
Fang He: “!!!”
In the fierce, knife-like wind, Fang He’s eyes widened in terror as she looked at the woman who was holding her and falling rapidly.
She realized that when a person is extremely scared, they can’t make a sound.
The strong airflow and the sense of weightlessness from the rapid descent were too much for the already extremely weak Fang He to bear, and she fainted completely.
But before she fell into darkness, she was still crying out in her heart, cursing herself for not making it clear.
She wanted to leave the palace, not to die while leaving the palace ahhhh!!