Chapter 228: 228. You take care
Translator: 549690339
Qiu Ming’s family lives in Jiaye City, the southernmost city of Qian Country. They own a wealthy escort agency.
As the eldest son of the escort agency, Qiu Ming had led a carefree life, never worrying about food and clothing. If everything went as planned, this year he would have married his betrothed, and in a few years, he would have taken over the escort agency from his father.
Until his long-lost uncle reappeared, everything changed.
“My uncle was bewitched by a woman years ago and left home to go to Yin Country. He sneaked back home for that woman’s daughter!” Qiu Ming said bitterly, “But she wasn’t even his daughter!”
In short, Qiu Ming’s uncle, Qiu Jianren, was a sycophant to Mu Ya’s mother, and after she died, he became Mu Ya’s servant, serving her willingly.
“I was living a good life, not wanting to join the army…” Qiu Ming, with red eyes, began to spill his guts, “I hate my despicable uncle for forcing me for Mu Ya’s sake! He took my whole family’s lives as leverage! I didn’t dare to confess, hoping that he would fulfill his promise that as long as I successfully poisoned someone, he would take my family to safety in Yin Country! I don’t want to die because I want to know if they are still alive…”
Gu Ling shook his head indifferently, “Your uncle won’t keep his promise. Everything he does is to win Mu Ya’s favor. The lives of his relatives are not important to him.”
Upon hearing this, Qiu Ming trembled with anger and screamed in pain.
“You failed.” Gu Ling added another stab to Qiu Ming’s heart.
Qiu Ming looked at him in disbelief, “Impossible! If I had failed and Su Liang hadn’t eaten the poisoned food, why was I caught?”
“Su Liang didn’t eat it; Gao Jiabao did,” Gu Ling replied.
Qiu Ming’s face turned cold, and he suddenly grabbed Gu Ling’s collar forcefully. “Brother Han Su, help me…please help me! We are the same kind, as you said! You came here for your family, too, didn’t you? You must understand me! You can save me from the Heavenly Prison. You can certainly help me avenge Su Liang! As long as she dies, Mu Ya and Qiu Jianren will protect my family! Please pity me!”
Gu Ling looked at Qiu Ming and asked, “Why does Mu Ya want to harm Su
Liang?”
Qiu Ming shook his head, “I don’t know… It’s just because she came to Qian Country and lost face for Yin Country when she lost to Su Liang. She was originally going to be the crown princess, but in the end, she became just an imperial concubine. As long as Su Liang is alive, Mu Ya will always be humiliated in Yin Country! I overheard Qiu Jianren saying this! It has nothing to do with us! You took the risk to save me tonight and you will definitely help me, right? When I recover, I swear I will die to help you!”
Gu Ling asked instead, “Do you know what poison Gao Jiabao was given? Is there an antidote?”
Qiu Ming frowned at Gu Ling. “I don’t know! That was the poison Mu Ya gave to harm Su Liang, what does it have to do with me? How could she possibly give me the antidote? My family is in imminent danger, why are you still asking about these irrelevant matters? Think about your family, what if you were in my position? What would you do?”
Gu Ling pulled Qiu Ming’s hand away, calmly saying, “I am here indeed for my family. My only family member’s name is Su Liang.”
Qiu Ming’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Gu Ling. “You…you’re not
Han Su! No…you are…you’re not… who are you?”
Gu Ling ignored Qiu Ming’s question, instead asking, “What did Su Liang do to wrong you?”
Qiu Ming’s eyes were filled with horror, he shrank back and tried to crawl away. “You were sent by Su Liang…you lied to me! Why do you all want to hurt me…what did I do wrong…l was forced…what was my mistake…”
Gu Ling watched Qiu Ming stand up and fall to the ground again, crawling away with all his limbs, but he didn’t stop him.
The night was deep and the cool wind blew through the mountains.
Crawling a certain distance away, Qiu Ming couldn’t help but look back. Gu
Ling was still standing there, with cold eyes that sent chills down his spine.
Qiu Ming’s heart clenched, and he gathered all his strength to crawl forward!
A shrill scream rang out, quickly disappearing below the cliff.
Gu Ling walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down into the dark abyss below. Expressionless, he turned and left.
Startled awake by a nightmare in the middle of the night, Su Liang sat up, covered in cold sweat.
Turning her head, she saw a shadow flicker by. Startled, she drew the dagger from under her pillow and held it to her chest!
“It’s me.” A familiar voice sounded, and Gu Ling approached, grabbing Su Liang’s wrist and taking away the dagger.
Su Liang breathed a sigh of relief, “That scared me!”
For the first time, Gu Ling saw Su Liang’s pale face and the sweat-drenched hair on her forehead and frowned, “Did you have a nightmare?”
Su Liang nodded, grabbed her coat, and sat up against the pillow. “I dreamt that Gao Jiabao had gone crazy, and I couldn’t cure him for the rest of my life.”
Gu Ling knew that Su Liang was not a coward. As long as her problems didn’t involve others, she would never be this scared.
This time, although Liang had done nothing wrong, the innocent victim Gao Jiabao had become a heavy burden on her heart.
Gu Ling went to the outer room, poured a glass of water, brought it back and sat by the bed.
Su Liang thought it was for her and instinctively reached for it, but Gu Ling dodged away.
Su Liang was speechless, “Fine, you drink it.”
Gu Ling didn’t drink either. He held the glass in both hands and talked to Su Liang, “I took Qiu Ming out of the Heavenly Prison.”
Su Liang was shaken, “Why?”
“The Ministry of Justice wouldn’t be able to get anything out of him. In the end, they would only have a corpse,” Gu Ling replied.
Su Liang knitted her brows. “Where is he? Did you find anything?” “He fell off the cliff and died.” Gu Ling said. “The mastermind behind this is Mu
Su Liang was stunned, “Mu Ya? The female general from Yin Country?”
Gu Ling nodded and told Su Liang everything he had learned from Qiu Ming.
After listening, Su Liang’s face darkened, “I thought I had offended someone who would resort to such a vicious method against me, but it turns out it was that woman! Even if she was humiliated because she lost to me and was ridiculed when she returned to her country, it was her own fault! She insisted on competing with me in the first place!”
The cause of everything was Mu Ya’s attempt to publicly humiliate Su Liang, stepping on the new Martial Arts Champion of Qian Country to make herself look better, but unfortunately, she failed and was the one humiliated instead.
As for Qiu Jianren, his name truly suited him.
Even if Qiu Ming was genuinely being forced, he himself was a selfish and immoral person who was indifferent to right and wrong. His suffering was not an excuse to hurt Su Liang.
“In the end, Great God, you didn’t see any black mist in Qiu Ming’s brow, which proved that it was his fate to die and didn’t need you to save him,” Su Liang said coldly.
Being taken advantage of repeatedly as a ‘good person” and using her own morals to hurt her, Su Liang had already reached her breaking point. Especially thinking about Gao Jiabao, who hadn’t been cured of the poison yet, she couldn’t wait to chop Qiu Ming into pieces!
As for Qiu Ming’s family, that had absolutely nothing to do with Su Liang. She is not the savior of the suffering, and now she can’t even help herself. The only thing she wants to do is to help Gao Jiabao recover his health.
Gu Ling handed the cup of tea to Su Liang.
Su Liang was startled for a moment, “Are you sure you’re giving it to me?” Gu Ling nodded.
Su Liang took it, took a sip, and the warm water was not cold. She drank up the whole cup of water and felt much more comfortable.
“Do you want me to go to Man Ya for the antidote, or stay and protect you?” Gu Ling took the empty teacup and asked Su Liang.
“Ah?” Su Liang was dumbfounded, “I… I haven’t thought about it. I didn’t know Man Ya was behind all this. Thank you so much for your kindness. But if we’re going to Yin Country, it’ll take at least half a month for the round trip. Gao Jiabao may not be able to wait that long. If I can’t detoxify him, I can only hope that I can get the antidote from Man Ya, so it’s better to go there early…”
Su Liang looked troubled, “Protecting me is secondary, but would you really be willing to go out of your way to get the antidote?”
Gu Ling saw Su Liang’s earnest gaze at him, and slightly nodded, “I can.” What a great brother!” Su Liang punched Gu Ling on the shoulder.
Gu Ling lowered his head and looked at his punched shoulder, his expression indifferent, “I’m hungry.”
Gu Ling’s eyes fell on Liang’s white feet and immediately turned away, “No need, I’ll find a way myself. You go back to sleep.”
Su Liang had not put on her shoes and socks, and Gu Ling disappeared from the room.
“Gu Ling is a good person, knowing that time is of the essence.” Su Liang muttered to herself, “I’ll make him something delicious when he gets back.”
Since she was awake, Su Liang didn’t go back to sleep and decided to continue studying the detoxification method to be prepared.
As soon as she had dressed and walked into the outer room, she saw Gu Ling standing there, with a baffled look on her face, “Gu Ling, you haven’t left yet?” “I haven’t said goodbye yet, as I’m going a long way.” Gu Ling said.
Su Liang reacted and took the initiative to approach Gu Ling, hugged him, and patted him on the back, “Gu Ling, be careful out there, take care of yourself, and come back soon.”
“Mhm.” Gu Ling replied with a hum, and Su Liang had already let him go.
“You…” Gu Ling looked at Su Liang, started to speak but stopped abruptly. Su Liang also looked at Gu Ling, waiting for him to speak with an obedient face.
“Take care.” Gu Ling looked up, gently patted Su Liang’s head, and turned to leave.
It was morning.
Qi Jun came and saw Su Liang’s room door open. She was dressed neatly, sitting at the table, focusing on making medicine. So he assumed she hadn’t slept all night.
“Miss Su, Young Master Gao hasn’t woken up yet, and there’s no abnormality. My brother is here to relieve me. If there’s nothing else, I’ll go back first and come back later.” Qi Jun said respectfully.
Su Liang looked up, “You’ve worked hard. I’m fine here. You can go back and rest.”
When Qi Jun turned around, his eyes lingered on the door of the neighboring room for a moment, and he sighed deeply. He had lived here for a while, disguised as Ning Jing. It didn’t seem like it had been a long time ago, but many things had changed. Every time he came to this courtyard, he felt a sense of inexplicable sadness.
Later, the Imperial Physician from Gao’s came, Lin Shuzhi and their wives came, and Xing Yusheng and Lin Xueqing also came.
Su Liang told the Imperial Physician that there was no definite lead on the antidote yet, but she had already sent someone to inquire about this poison and hoped for some news.
As for Man Ya, since Qiu Ming was already dead, if Su Liang were to reveal it, it would be like admitting that the person who had rescued Qiu Ming was related to her.
Moreover, at this point, Su Liang didn’t want to use the Qian Country royal family to deal with Man Ya, as it would involve a lot of external factors, making it harder to take action. Since Man Ya played dirty, Su Liang would deal with it in the same way.
Su Liang believed that as long as Gu Ling went there, Man Ya would not have an easy time.
Seeing Lin Shuzhi, he only comforted Su Liang not to be under too much pressure.
When Lin Bojun came, he informed Su Liang that last night, Qiu Ming was rescued by Han Su.
Although the person who broke into Heavenly Prison last night to rescue Qiu Ming did not leave any clues, Han Su’s disappearance from the military camp and his previous closeness to Qiu Ming led everyone to believe that the two were accomplices and that Han Su was responsible for the breakout.
This was good news for Su Liang, as she didn’t have to worry about anyone connecting “Han Sul‘ with Gu Ling or Ning Jing. Gu Ling’s fake identity was over.
When Liang was having breakfast, Xing Yusheng brought new information: Qiu Ming’s body was found at the bottom of the cliff on Wangxiang Mountain, and a prison officer’s outerwear was found at the top, thrown down by the person who had rescued Qiu Ming.
“It turns out that the accomplice rescued the spy not to take him away but to silence him!” Xing Yusheng’s face was grave, “Now all the clues are completely cut off!”
“What about Young Master Gao?” Lin Xueqing was worried, “Howcome people are always trying to harm little sister Su?”
We are not good people. ‘”‘ Xing Yusheng replied..
Lin Xueqing nodded, “Exactly, but it’s been so hard for Su not to get any peace, even Ning Senior Brother… Never mind, let’s not talk about it. Sister Su, after curing Young Master Gao, I think it would be better for you to resign from your position in the army. It’s too exhausting and dangerous!”
Su Liang nodded slightly, “I intend to do so.”
Knowing that Su Liang was busy, Xing Yusheng and Lin Xueqing left after accompanying her for breakfast, telling her that Qi Yan and Qi Jun would be temporarily at her command, and the two brothers’ main task now was to take turns taking care of Gao Jiabao.
Half a day later, someone from the palace came. As Su Liang prepared to enter the palace, she heard from Qi Yan that Gao Jiabao had woken up. She hurried over and gave him another acupuncture needle, causing him to fall back into a deep sleep. But this was not a long-term solution.
Seeing Gao Jiabao’s crazed appearance again, Su Liang went to the palace to perform the ceremony with a terrible mood.
Duanmu Yi asked about Gao Jiabao’s condition, and when he learned that Su Liang had no solution, he simply said he believed she would find a way and changed the subject, asking about Su Liang’s matters in Xunyang City.
Su Liang brought up the matter of Peng Qian and his son who had gone to Xunyang City to seek medical treatment from her, saying that it was one of the conditions she had agreed to during the negotiations with Peng Wei in Xuanbei
City.
Seeing Su Liang being honest, Duanmu Yi dismissed his suspicions and brought up another matter, “This morning, I received news from Liang
Country that Emperor Liang’s uncle, King Yue Situ Xie, will represent the Liang Country royal family and visit Qian Country as a guest to discuss the marriage alliance between the two countries. When they arrive, you will assist the crown prince in receiving them.”
Su Liang was slightly taken aback. Situ Xie? It was her first time hearing this name, but she knew of the King Yue of Liang Country, Gu Ling’s maternal grandfather.
Could Situ Xie’s visit to Qian Country have anything to do with Gu Ling’s request for assistance from Liang Uncle? Su Liang wasn’t sure, but it was possible.
As for the crown prince… Su Liang knew that the position already belonged to
Duanmu Chen. The imperial edict had been issued yesterday, and Xing
Yusheng had mentioned the date of the crown prince’s enthronement, but Su Liang didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. The enthronement was scheduled to take place soon.
Su Liang had initially decided, whatever Duanmu Yi asked her to do, she would try to refuse if possible.
But considering that Situ Xie’s arrival might have something to do with Gu Ling, Su Liang obediently complied, “Yes, I obey..”
