Chapter 196
Chapter 196: Prince, Save Me
Luo Ning shrank against the doorway.
A falling rock had just grazed her left hand, scraping off a patch of skin.
It burned with pain, and blood would not stop flowing.
She only had one handkerchief on her, and in a short while it was soaked through with blood.
On the plain white cloth, a blood-red flower seemed to bloom and slowly spread.
Luo Ning’s left hand still clamped tightly around the dagger Wang Tang Yao had dropped, while her right hand pressed over the wound to stop the bleeding.
She looked up.
Stones kept falling from time to time. It was too high above, and there was no light up there. She could not see what was happening and could only guess.
There had been two oil lamps in the corner. One had been smashed down by the rocks. The other was wedged into the stone wall, its dim flame no bigger than a bean. Luckily, her eyes had adjusted to the gloom so she could still see.
Luo Ning kept a wary eye on Wang Tang Yao.
Wang Tang Yao sat with his knees drawn up and closed his eyes as if dozing, trying to endure the sharp pain that kept stabbing through his arm.
Luo Ning even thought he might have fainted for a moment.
[Should I just kill him now?]
[Is he wary of the dagger in my hand now? If I make a move and force him to fight me with his life on the line, how much chance do I have to win?]
[He wants to kill me. Once he recovers a little, will I still be alive?]
Luo Ning kept weighing the situation.
Her grip on the dagger loosened and tightened, tightened and loosened, but she did not strike rashly.
She did not know how strong Wang Tang Yao really was. And she very much wanted to live.
She looked at Wang Tang Yao again, trying to judge whether he had really passed out, wondering if she should drive the dagger into his throat. Just then, he opened his eyes.
Luo Ning was speechless.
[So he was pretending after all.]
She edged to the side, gripping the dagger even tighter.
Wang Tang Yao suddenly spoke: “A moment ago, why did you push me away?”
Luo Ning stared at him in shock.
[What nonsense is he talking about?]
What had really happened just now? Luo Ning carefully thought it through. He had grabbed the dagger and tried to stab her. She had felt she could not dodge, so she had rushed toward him, planning to use the sharp end of the bone to strike back.
Better to throw an egg at a rock than sit and wait to die.
By coincidence, that was when the rocks started to fall.
When Luo Ning charged at him, he had sharply noticed a huge rock dropping above his head. He glanced up, and at the same time Luo Ning shoved him.
The rock had not hit his head. It had only smashed into his hand.
Luo Ning’s hand had also been cut on the back by flying shards of stone.
His misunderstanding was not actually bad for Luo Ning, but she could not stand it.
It was like smelling something foul that made her want to gag.
Luo Ning frowned more deeply and asked: “Who pushed you? Did you hurt your arm, or did you hit your head?”
Wang Tang Yao did not answer.
Luo Ning’s brows knit even tighter. She said: “If Prince Yong’s Intended Consort dies here, the Empress Dowager and the Prince will both hold a grudge against the Marquis of Jian Ning’s household. I advise you to give up that idea and stop plotting. I might not die, but you might. Put away your foolish delusions.”
She was not so easy to kill.
Wang Tang Yao closed his eyes again.
This time Luo Ning did not dare to move at all. He might have said all that just to lull her into relaxing her guard, to lure her close and kill her, sending the sheep straight into the tiger’s mouth.
Later, half the hidden chamber filled with rocks, dust, and dirt.
Luo Ning coughed from the dust again and again. Wang Tang Yao did not move at all. He might really have passed out.
After some time, she faintly saw light from the sky.
The dirt covering the top of the cave slid away, and a single shaft of sunlight poured down.
Seeing hope, Luo Ning shouted: “Help! Someone, help!”
Wang Tang Yao opened his eyes and also saw the sunlight.
He said nothing.
Luo Ning yelled until her throat was raw. At last, footsteps sounded from above.
It seemed like people were talking.
“Help!” she cried again.
“I think I hear something,” a man’s voice came from above. “Did the pavilion over there collapse? Go take a look.”
Then someone shouted loudly: “Princess Consort, Princess Consort, are you down there?”
“Yes, I am down here!” Luo Ning called back at the top of her lungs. “Hurry and save me…”
As soon as she said it, her throat closed up.
[Who would have thought that after being reborn, I’d almost die in a place like this?]
“Not just me, there is also a criminal down here. Hurry and save me!” Luo Ning said hoarsely.
She tried to clear her throat. She was so happy, yet still on guard, that she broke into a run toward the shaft of light.
Wang Tang Yao was still sitting there without moving.
“A’Ning?”
She suddenly heard Xiao Huai Feng’s voice.
It sounded like a voice from heaven.
“Prince, Prince, I am down here!” Luo Ning shouted with all her strength. “Prince, save me!”
“Prince” was shouted back from above: “Wait a moment, we do not know how deep it is. We need a rope…”
“A’Ning, move aside!”
Luo Ning quickly pressed herself against the wall.
Xiao Huai Feng took off his outer cloak, quickly tore it into three strips, and told Deputy General Zhou to hold on. Xiao Huai Feng grabbed one end and jumped down.
In midair, the strips of cloth were not long enough, but he could roughly judge the distance below. He let go and took the risk of dropping straight down.
Below them were nothing but human bones and rocks.
Luo Ning’s heart clenched. She was afraid he would get hurt. His foot tapped lightly on the biggest boulder, his body flipped back, and he landed steady right in front of Luo Ning.
At that moment, he was not just Prince Yong, not just her master. He was like the first ray of sunlight breaking through the darkness.
Ignoring all rules of propriety, Luo Ning threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly.
The dagger in her hand fell to the ground.
Xiao Huai Feng instinctively wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He swept his gaze around the chamber, then asked: “Are you hurt?”
“When I rolled down from the main hall, my knee hit something and got a little scraped. Later, a falling rock cut the back of my hand. Nothing else,” Luo Ning replied.
She looked at him and did not cry.
She had thought she would cry.
But his arms were so warm and solid that Luo Ning clearly understood she had escaped death today.
Since she was not dead, she no longer wanted to cry.
“Prince, the rope is here!” Deputy General Zhou shouted from above.
A thick rope dropped down.
Xiao Huai Feng tied it around his own waist first, then tied it around Luo Ning. Only then did he hold her tightly and tell Deputy General Zhou to pull the rope.
In a short while, she was lifted up to the ground.
The air was freezing, and the sunlight stabbed her eyes.
Luo Ning breathed in the bitter cold winter air and began coughing again.
Xiao Huai Feng looked around.
The men he had brought were all dressed in fitted traveling clothes, and his fur cloak had just been torn up to use as rope.
He actually started to take off his warm outer robe.
“Prince, I am fine,” Luo Ning hurried to stop him. “It is cold…”
Before she could finish, another cough hit her.
She had not had a coughing fit in a long time. She did not know whether it was the cold wind or the dust in her lungs, but Luo Ning could not stop coughing.
Wearing only thin inner clothes now, Xiao Huai Feng wrapped the outer robe around her and lifted her into his arms: “We will go to the carriage first.”
He then ordered Deputy General Zhou: “Zheng Qing will take over here. Do everything as he directs.”
Deputy General Zhou answered at once.
Cui Zheng Qing rushed over in a hurry. Seeing them, he first picked up the torn fur cloak: “Seventh Brother, put this on first…”
He settled the fur cloak over Xiao Huai Feng’s shoulders.
Xiao Huai Feng said nothing, only nodded: “There is still someone down there.”
He added: “Be careful. He is an Imperial Court Official.”
Those words carried a heavy meaning.
Only then did Luo Ning remember that Wang Tang Yao was an Imperial Court Official. He could not be killed lightly.
She leaned against Xiao Huai Feng and coughed again.
There was a water flask in the carriage, filled with cold water. Xiao Huai Feng handed it to her and said: “Drink a little first.”
Luo Ning drank half the flask. Her chest and lungs seemed to be soothed. She felt a bit better, and her coughing eased a little.
“Back to the manor first,” Xiao Huai Feng told the coachman.
The coachman set off at once.
On the way, he did not ask her anything. Luo Ning did not know how long she had been down there. She only vaguely saw the sun’s shadow slanting west. It was almost dark.
“My maid…”
“She is fine. She rode back to report and is now at the Prince’s manor,” Xiao Huai Feng said.
Luo Ning let out a long breath of relief.
Leaning against Xiao Huai Feng, she slowly fell asleep. Even in her sleep she coughed a few times. She was dimly aware of it, but her eyelids were so heavy that she had no strength to open them.