Chapter 124: Going to Exchange for the Antidote

"Yunming's body cannot hold on much longer..." Weishao Qianyu was the first to break the silence.

Previously in Yudu, Consort Liu had been sent by the Empress Dowager to the Prince of War's mansion to warn them that Yunming would not survive the coming winter. Although it was now summer, Yunming had been in a deep, induced slumber since his heart meridian was sealed, and it was feared he truly could not last much longer.

Feng Jinye remained silent.

"Jinye..." Weishao Qianyu whispered his name.

Feng Jinye was well aware of Yunming's condition and had long suspected this would be the outcome. The ease with which Weishao Qianyu had returned to Guanlin City that day had never been simple. Everything had come full circle, leading back to the same dilemma: using Weishao Qianyu to trade for the antidote.

Back then, the Empress Dowager had threatened her, forcing Weishao Qianyu to go to Twilight Pavilion to exchange for the Emperor's antidote; now, it was to exchange for Yunming's. Perhaps this was Xuanyuan Ran's deliberate design. When Huangfu Xi brought her to Guanlin City, he had not feared that Feng Jinye would rescue her. From the very beginning, Xuanyuan Ran had calculated every single detail.

Weishao Qianyu stood stunned. This move by Xuanyuan Ran felt like a show of force, as if to say: "When I told you to go trade for the antidote back then, you should have gone!"

It was a destiny she could not escape.

By nightfall, Weishao Qianyu and Feng Jinye were still locked in a stalemate in the study. Suddenly, Weishao Qianyu asked, "Why did you keep it from me that you had regained your memories?"

Feng Jinye froze.

Weishao Qianyu smiled faintly, caressing Feng Jinye's face with deep longing. After touching him for a long while as if she could never get enough, she clung to him and began to weep. Feng Jinye held her tightly; the reason he had kept silent was because he feared she would cry if she remembered.

At that time, Feng Jinye had returned to the military camp, suffering repeated poison flare-ups. Huangfu Chen and Lu Liyuan had spent a long time investigating in the Kingdom of Xiyan, finally discovering it was a parasitic poison called "Heart-Devourer"—the moment one felt love or passion, it would cause agony beyond description.

Weishao Qianyu had sensed something was wrong. Half a month after Feng Jinye left again, she set off for the border. Yet, Feng Jinye consistently avoided seeing her. At that time, rumors of an affair between Weishao Qianyu and Lin Yichu had even reached the city where the Prince of War was stationed.

Feng Jinye, however, knew nothing of this. He had been completely isolated from everything and everyone related to Weishao Qianyu, because any connection to her would trigger the poison. He could only throw himself into a frantic, busy life; in just six months, he had captured seven cities. Meanwhile, Qudu, which had originally proposed peace talks, kept stalling, and Yudu received no news regarding Qudu at all.

It was not until Weishao Qianyu arrived in Qudu that she finally learned the full story. After a lightning-fast journey, she reached Qudu from Guanlin City, only to find the city abuzz with news of the new City Lord’s grand wedding—a wedding that involved both Feng Jinye and Weishao Qianyu.

"Have you heard? The City Lord is getting married!"
"They say she's marrying into Liyue, and her husband will be a great general from there!"
"What do you mean 'marrying into Liyue'? Our whole city of Qudu has already been annexed by Liyue!"
"That's not what I heard. I heard our City Lord is using the entire city of Qudu as her dowry to marry into the Prince of War's mansion as his consort!"
"But doesn't the Prince of War already have a principal wife?"
"Even if he has a principal wife, he can still have a secondary one."
"Though, who is the principal and who is the secondary is far from certain. Haven't you heard?"
"That Prince of War’s consort in the capital of Liyue—the Prince had only been gone for half a year before she started an affair with another man. How could such a loose, fickle woman remain the Prince’s principal consort?"
"That’s true. I heard the same thing. The Prince of War probably only keeps her in the mansion to save face; at most, she’ll just be a concubine..."

Weishao Qianyu had not expected the gossip here to be even more colorful than in Yudu. To act as if it didn't matter was impossible, yet she trusted Feng Jinye. But why would the Qudu City Lord's wedding be linked to him? And why, the moment she arrived, did she hear such slander? She was forced to think carefully. She had not imagined that the aftermath of Lin Yichu’s kidnapping would drag on until now.

"Banqiu, go and inquire about the Qudu City Lord's wedding..." Weishao Qianyu finally could not resist finding the truth.

"Mistress, are we still going to the military camp?" Dongnuan noticed Weishao Qianyu's palms seemed to be sweating. Since arriving in Qudu, Weishao Qianyu had felt a strange reluctance to seek out Feng Jinye, and today’s rumors only added to her dread.

Before long, Banqiu returned: "Mistress, there are notices posted in the street."

"The new City Lord of Qudu marries tomorrow, and the procession will pass by here..." Banqiu hinted that she could see who the groom was tomorrow.

"Then we shall stay at this inn."

Weishao Qianyu felt a wave of despondency, constantly convincing herself that Feng Jinye could never abandon her. Yet, she worried about unforeseen changes and unspeakable secrets. Besides, everyone said the groom was a great general—even if it weren't Feng Jinye, who could it be?

The unease bubbling in her heart was truly terrifying. The person behind this had indeed used brilliant tactics! Ever since Feng Jinye had set out to conquer Xiyan, they had been invisibly driven apart. Distance was an examination paper; before the test, she had thought herself steadfast, but when facing the results, she was afraid.

At that time, Weishao Qianyu was not yet seventeen. She had believed she trusted Feng Jinye, and that he trusted her. When he had awakened back then, he hadn't questioned her at all, and the kiss before they parted was proof enough—they had needed no further explanations. But hearing the clamorous rumors in Qudu, she still feared that the groom passing by tomorrow would be Feng Jinye. She couldn't help but wonder what he thought when he heard these rumors.

Her anxiety stemmed mostly from the feeling that Feng Jinye was pushing her away. She had been at the border for over half a month; she did not believe he was unaware, yet he had never appeared. Even when Banqiu went to gather information, she was intentionally or unintentionally blocked.

"If it is him passing by tomorrow, I will kill the City Lord of Qudu!" Weishao Qianyu declared, her voice suddenly brimming with murderous intent. Dongnuan and Banqiu were startled by her intensity, but her next words were even more chilling: "And then I will kill Feng Jinye!"

Weishao Qianyu did not know then that Feng Jinye had been tormented by the Heart-Devourer until he was neither human nor ghost. If one could avoid love and passion, the poison could be suppressed for three to five years, allowing time to find a cure. But Feng Jinye’s poison had flared up violently and rapidly, likely because of his feelings for Weishao Qianyu.

Three months prior, Feng Jinye had settled on a marriage arrangement with the City Lord of Qudu, which was why Qudu had not gone to war. However, whenever Feng Jinye settled down, the poison would flare up, so he had left Qudu to wage war, capturing four cities in a matter of months. He never stopped for a moment. In the original plan to divide the troops into three fronts, he now personally handled whichever front required action.

The next day, the wedding procession below the inn was bustling with life. It was the first time Weishao Qianyu had seen a traditional wedding. Everything was vibrant red, filled with festive cheer, and the procession seemed to carpet the entire main street in red. As that stretch of red slowly spread forward, she gradually made out the figure on the tall horse at the front of the procession.

In the Prince of Yuan’s study, a sharp pain suddenly pierced Weishao Qianyu’s head, and the images in her mind shattered.

"Qianqian?" Feng Jinye called out anxiously. Weishao Qianyu looked at him, dazed.

"I'm fine," she said, shaking her head. But it was clear she had sensed something wrong. In her memory, the man who married the female City Lord of Qudu was Huangfu Chen. But Qudu’s surrender was a ruse; Feng Jinye and Huangfu Chen had seen through it, and on the day of the wedding feast, they had assassinated the groom.

But shouldn't the main target of the assassination have been Feng Jinye? Why did she remember seeing Huangfu Chen as the groom? Weishao Qianyu realized there was a problem with her memory. Could it be that Huangfu Chen had used an illusion technique on her?

"Feng Jinye, when did you regain your memories?" she asked.

Seeing her pale face, Feng Jinye pulled her into his arms. "The day Qingxuan attacked you..." he whispered.

"Because of that one sentence from Feng Qingxuan?" she asked in shock.

As she spoke, she immediately shook her head. Feng Jinye should have had his memories by then; that had happened shortly after he woke up from his amnesia. It was because she had used a method to break the poison for Mei Ji! She went still. Her method had been to have Mei Ji fake her death, and she had assassinated Feng Jinye, but he hadn't truly died.

So, Feng Jinye had guessed that she had tried to kill him only to cure him. Weishao Qianyu felt a wave of sadness; that sword thrust into his chest had felt as if it were piercing her own heart. It had been so profound, so painful, and she had said such hurtful things. Yet, she had forgotten how she had managed to say them.

Feng Jinye watched her lost in thought and pulled her closer. "Shall we not think about it anymore?"

"It was I who let you suffer," he said in a voice so low she could barely hear it.

Weishao Qianyu turned her thoughts back to the day she had stabbed him. She had been disguised as the young master of the Xiaoyu Villa, approaching him under the pretense of a grain dispute. "The grain from Xiaoyu Villa is reserved for the Prince of War..."

"Before, it was just child's play. Today, let's see if the Prince can afford my price..."

At that time, Feng Jinye had looked at her in confusion, clearly struggling to remember who she was: "Are you here to talk business with me?"

He had truly forgotten her. Weishao Qianyu wept internally but smiled with reckless abandon: "Yes, but it's a big deal. I want the Prince to first remove an arm so I can see your sincerity!"

She remembered the look in his eyes then, just as it had been when they first met at the Mingke Inn. There was a smile in his eyes; he didn't treat her as an assassin, or perhaps even if she were, he didn't fear her.

"The lady is joking. If I remove my arm, there would be no need to fight, so why would I need the grain?" Feng Jinye had replied with a light laugh.

At that moment, his smile had made her want to retreat: "Then the partnership is off. I shall take my leave!"

Weishao Qianyu was not as strong as others perceived her to be. Perhaps it would have been better to let him forget her and live out the rest of his days well. But Feng Jinye had stopped her: "Oh, you ask for my arm and expect to walk away freely?"

She stopped, remaining silent for a long time, knowing she could not afford to hesitate.

"Then Qianyu..." She intentionally said her name to catch him off guard. "Then Qianyu would like to request a few pointers from the Prince?"

She had then attacked, using a fierce move from the swordsmanship he had taught her. Feng Jinye was visibly shocked, and she knew that the more she hesitated, the more she would be unable to let go—she had to finish it quickly.