The Princess’ Shadow Guard – Chapter 69
by Little PandaHow Blind Can a Couple Be
Before the autumn winds began to blow, Ming Qin and Murong Yan, together with Song Shuqing, left the capital city.
Although Ming Qin’s hearing still hadn’t fully recovered, for the devoted shadow guard, being able to clearly hear her beloved person nestled against her chest, passionately and fondly calling her name, was already enough.
“Ming Qin, do you really have to go?” The young emperor, whose voice was in the midst of changing, spoke with a hoarse throat, his expression somewhat reluctant. “Did someone in the capital displease you? You can tell me… tell Zhen1.”
“That’s not the reason at all.” The shadow guard smiled. Murong Wan’s favoritism towards Ming Qin extended to Murong Yan and the entire Shadow Guard Camp; everyone could see it as clear as day.
If not for Murong Yan’s lack of interest in court affairs, and the Shadow Guard Camp hiding in the darkness with a loyal heart and devoted devotion to the emperor, it was feared that several court ministers would have to beat their chests and stamp their feet2 and knock their heads against pillars to offer remonstrance.
“The teahouse in the Shu region only has Cao Yun managing it, so I have to go back and help. After all, I’m already retired.” Ming Qin patted the young man’s head as she always had, not at all realizing the sovereign-subject relationship between them had long since changed. “You have to work hard here in the capital and become a renowned emperor for all ages, so that everyone will praise your name!”
“Don’t touch my head, you’re messing it up!” Murong Wan brushed her hand away with an annoyed tone, yet his face showed no anger, and his ears were burning. “You don’t have to tell me, I’ll be a good emperor—diligent in my duties, loving the people, just, and incorruptible.”
“Great, great! Ooh… and don’t have too many children. If you have them, you must raise them well.” The grinning Ming Qin spoke words that were greatly rebellious and against the Way3 as she patted the young man’s back. “In a few more years, you’ll be able to marry a wife. Time flies so fast. When I first met you, you were still a crybaby.”
Hearing such blunt words, Murong Wan’s face flushed red, and he ground out through clenched teeth, “Shut up! For a girl, you speak such not three, not four4 words… What ‘marry a wife’… what ‘have many children’!”
Then, he added somewhat sullenly, “Of course I’ll raise them well. There won’t be any more children in the palace who don’t have enough to eat…”
The young man wanted to say more but was interrupted by the sound of a wooden staff tapping the ground in the distance. Murong Yan, draped in a silk outer robe, walked slowly along the line of willow trees.
Although she shouldn’t have been able to hear the sound from so far away, Ming Qin turned her head back as if she had sensed something, a brilliant smile spreading across her face upon seeing the woman she loved. She strode quickly towards her.
“Yanyan! You’re here?” Unable to restrain herself, she hugged the woman and spun her around once. Ming Qin then set Murong Yan down and, holding her hand, asked, “Have you finished talking with Lord General?”
Nodding, Murong Yan smiled. “There wasn’t much to talk about, merely to inform.”
She thought of Murong Can’s shock upon hearing that his younger sister was going on a long journey. If Murong Yan hadn’t told him she would write letters back to the capital and that he was welcome to visit the Shu region, the dignified, seven-chi tall man5 might have shed tears on the spot.
“Are you departing tomorrow?” Murong Wan, who had followed Ming Qin, asked with his hands behind his back, trying to keep his voice steady. “If there is anything you need, just tell Zhen.”
“Yes, at chen shi6 tomorrow.” Murong Yan looked at the young man and gave a slight bow, her thumb gently stroking the back of Ming Qin’s hand. “This subject thanks Your Majesty, but our preparations for this journey are complete, and we lack nothing.”
“Aiya, you little old man, don’t you worry about it!” Ming Qin casually patted Murong Wan’s shoulder. “You just stay here and do well in the capital. When you have time, come to the Shu region for tea. Although our tea isn’t that great, the snacks next door are quite delicious.”
Murong Wan clenched his fists, trying hard to restrain his raging heart. He held his forehead and said, “What little old man? Go, go, go, scram! Just go to the Shu region and brew your tea, and don’t you ever come back!”
“You really are a little old man, always pulling a long face. Remember to be happier.” Grinning, Ming Qin waved at the young man.
“You must take care. I’ll come back to see you.”
Murong Yan nodded towards the emperor, and then the two of them left, hand in hand.
Standing alone by the fish pond, Murong Wan watched the smiles and love revealed in their gazes as they looked at each other. He simply blinked, collected his thoughts, and turned to look at the towering palace walls.
A few crows flew overhead, making a caw caw sound, making the small, thin figure left alone seem particularly desolate.
“Shijie, was it necessary for you to leave so secretly secretly7?”
Once they were past the checkpoint, Ming Qin lifted the curtain and said to Song Shuqing, who was driving the carriage, “You didn’t tell Imperial Physician Wang you were leaving. He’s definitely going to fly into a rage later.”
“Qinqin, you don’t understand. Your Shijie is past the age of being scraped to the bone and flayed alive by her professor. I really don’t want to experience the feeling of being soaked in a laboratory every day again.” Song Shuqing’s face was pale, and her hands, gripping the reins tightly, couldn’t help but tremble. “I have to get back to the Shu region and be free and unfettered as soon as possible.”
“Alright… but I have a feeling Imperial Physician Wang will not be good and let it rest.” Seeing the murderous look in her senior sister’s eyes, Ming Qin obediently changed the subject. “Shijie, if you’re tired, let me drive. I’ve rested for a long time.”
Rolling her eyes, Song Shuqing said irritably, “You should just stay obediently inside the carriage. I’m not that tactless.”
She would rather drive alone outside than be in the carriage staring blankly with Murong Yan. Every second felt like being submerged in ice-cold water, even with the furry Hu’er lying at her feet.
This journey was completely different from the last time when they fled the city like refugees. They had documents and travel permits personally written by the emperor. The carriage was pulled by four fine horses along the official road, and the carriage itself was incredibly luxurious. The interior was large enough for Hu’er to roll around three times, and it also held several boxes of silver notes8 and clothes belonging to Murong Yan.
Utterly bored, Ming Qin rested her head on Murong Yan’s lap. She looked up at the woman who was reading quietly, her eyes crinkling in happiness as she suddenly let out a silly laugh.
“What is Ah Qin laughing about?” Without taking her eyes off the page, Murong Yan reached out a hand to gently stroke Ming Qin’s cheek, asking curiously.
“I’m thinking about how Yanyan can be so beautiful.” Ming Qin spoke her thoughts without any reservation, not the least bit shy, wearing an expression that suggested it was only natural.
“Even now, with my white hair and emaciated body, does Ah Qin still think I’m beautiful?” Murong Yan subconsciously touched her own bony ribs and no-longer-full chest as she asked.
“Of course!” She sat up with a start, her eyes fixed on the woman beside her as she said, cutting nails and chopping iron9, “Yanyan is the most beautiful!”
She unconsciously glanced at the places where her lips had once madly lingered in the night, and she couldn’t help her ears turning red again. “I like Yanyan no matter what. If I didn’t like her, how could I… hmm, anyway, to me, Yanyan is like a heavenly fairy.”
Hearing these words, Murong Yan couldn’t help but lift the book in her hand to cover half her face, then she chuckled softly and looked at the person below her. “If I were truly a heavenly fairy, then in this world, only Ah Qin would cherish a fallen being like me, banished to the mortal realm.”
“That’s because those other people have eyes but no pupils10.” Ming Qin shrugged, her tone with justice on her side and confidence in her breath11. “It’s fine if there’s no one else. Yanyan has me! My everything is Yanyan’s.”
Putting down the book she could no longer focus on, Murong Yan crooked a finger, signaling for the person beside her to lean in. She brought her lips close to Ming Qin’s left ear and whispered something at a volume only she could hear.
Those few short sentences made the usually carefree Ming Qin swallow hard and respond dazedly, “…Okay, as long as Yanyan wants it.”
Watching the endearing reaction of the person before her, Murong Yan pulled back and mouthed the words, “This time, Ah Qin can be a little rougher. I like it.”
Just as Ming Qin was frozen on the spot, her head buzzing and her brain having crashed, her Shijie knocked on the wooden plank of the carriage.
“Eh, sorry to be so tactless and interrupt you two lovebirds. Um… you can continue tonight, I promise I’ll stay far, far away and absolutely will not be an electric lightbulb12. But, Commandery Princess, could I trouble you to let Qinqin come down for a moment? But Commandery Princess, you should probably stay in the carriage for now.”
After chattering on and apologizing for ages, Song Shuqing finally got to the point. “Um… it seems we’ve been surrounded by horse bandits.”
Her tone was casual, as if she were merely saying, “I think I need to go to the latrine.”
This luxurious carriage had no accompanying guards, nor was there a caravan of escorts traveling alongside. It was driven by a single woman. Even on the official road, such a conspicuous sight would inevitably attract some villains who don’t know good from bad.
Although she had expected it, Song Shuqing hadn’t thought they would run into these bandits so soon, less than half a day out of the capital. Looking at the dozen or so men with blades surrounding the carriage, she heaved a long sigh.
“I’m advising you right now to put down your butcher knives and leave immediately, okay…” Song Shuqing soothed the horses, her gaze falling upon the group of bandits, her face full of pity. “Otherwise, you’ll really die, you know.”
But her compassionate expression only provoked the crowd of men. A burly man carrying an axe, who looked like the leader, roared in a coarse voice, “You little girl have some nerve, daring to advise us brothers when it’s clear you’re in a state where self-protection is difficult!”
With a malicious grin, the man revealed his yellowed teeth. “This is a rare, high-quality carriage. Watch me take you and your young miss inside back to our stockade and do her…”
“Wait!”
Holding up a hand to stop him, Song Shuqing hurriedly opened her mouth, wanting to prevent the man’s vulgar words, her face a mask of anguish. “Taking me is one thing, but for your own sake, you’d better not get the one inside involved. That’s the mad dog switch. Once it’s flipped, even I can’t stop it. You don’t want to know…”
“You, what did you just say?”
Before Song Shuqing could finish, she saw Ming Qin, head lowered, push open the half-open door and jump down, followed by Hu’er baring its teeth.
“Who did you just say you were taking back to the stockade? And what were you going to do to her?”
Ming Qin’s tone was ice-cold. From somewhere, she produced two daggers, twirling the sharp weapons deftly as a torrential killing intent surged forth.
It’s over…
Song Shuqing held her forehead, a headache coming on. She spread her hands with a helpless expression. “I told you all to leave, but you wouldn’t listen, would you? You just had to flip the mad dog switch. Do you have any idea how tiring it is for me to have to write to the authorities to deal with your shattered corpses?!”
“You damn woman, what the hell are you talking ab—Ah!” Before the leader could finish his sentence, a figure like a gust of wind circled behind him and instantly slit his throat.
Ming Qin paid no attention to her senior sister’s rambling mutterings. She simply glanced at the group before her, squinting slightly to size them up. Then, with a push of her feet, she was like a fierce wolf pouncing into a flock of sheep, her hands a blur as she pierced the throats of several men.
“I gave them a thousand warnings and ten thousand exhortations13, don’t provoke people in the honeymoon phase. Now look, there’s no way out alive.” She mumbled under her breath. But when Song Shuqing saw a man in the distance trying to escape on horseback, she pulled out a hairpin and, with a casual toss, knocked him off his horse to lie wailing on the ground.
The cries of men rose and fell in the woods. Song Shuqing remained unmoved, simply waiting with her arms crossed. “…Wait, Hu’er, don’t eat that, it’s dirty.”
She quickly spoke up to stop Hu’er as it began to tear into the corpse of the fallen man.
After the time it takes for one stick of incense to burn14, the once-arrogant horse bandits had all fallen silent. A drowsy Song Shuqing looked at her junior sister, who was completely clean, her face full of surprise. She marveled, “How rare. Qinqin isn’t covered in filth.”
“Yanyan is very afraid of blood,” Ming Qin explained faintly while wiping her daggers clean. “Although it took a little longer, I can’t let Yanyan see me this bloody. It would scare her.”
Hearing this, Song Shuqing was dumbfounded. But she didn’t dare say much, only pressing her lips together in disagreement.
Is Qinqin saying that the woman inside the carriage is afraid of blood?
That woman once personally ordered me to give the deposed crown prince a thousand cuts and ten thousand slices. Her cold expression at that time is still vivid in my mind.
The woman Qinqin speaks of and the woman I know are probably not the same person at all, are they?
Rubbing her temples, Song Shuqing looked at the carnage on the ground and felt that she had once again gained a whole new understanding of the matter of 『just how blind a couple can be to each other』.
The author has something to say:
The main story will be finished next chapter~
LP: Re-translated on September 19, 2025
Footnotes
- Hanzi: 朕. Pinyin: zhèn. The royal or imperial “we/us/I,” used exclusively by the emperor.
- Hanzi: 捶胸顿足. Pinyin: chuí xiōng dùn zú. A four-character idiom (chengyu) describing a state of extreme grief, anger, or frustration.
- Hanzi: 大逆不道. Pinyin: dà nì bù dào. A four-character idiom (chengyu) meaning treasonous, heretical, or utterly outrageous, especially when speaking to a superior or about a sensitive topic.
- Hanzi: 不三不四. Pinyin: bù sān bù sì. A four-character idiom (chengyu) that literally means “not three, not four.” It is used to describe something or someone as shady, improper, dubious, or indecent.
- Hanzi: 七尺男儿. Pinyin: qī chǐ nán’ér. A common phrase describing a tall, respectable man. An ancient ‘chi’ was about 23 cm, making ‘seven chi’ over 161 cm or 5’3″, which was considered tall for the period.
- Hanzi: 辰时. Pinyin: chén shí. One of the twelve traditional Chinese two-hour time periods, corresponding to 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM.
- Hanzi: 悄咪咪. Pinyin: qiāo mī mī. A modern internet slang term meaning to do something quietly, stealthily, or on the down-low.
- Hanzi: 银票. Pinyin: yínpiào. A form of paper currency used in imperial China, representing a certain amount of silver.
- Hanzi: 斩钉截铁. Pinyin: zhǎn dīng jié tiě. A four-character idiom (chengyu) that means to be resolute and decisive.
- Hanzi: 有眼无珠. Pinyin: yǒu yǎn wú zhū. A four-character idiom (chengyu) meaning to be blind or unable to recognize a person or thing of value.
- Hanzi: 理直气壮. Pinyin: lǐ zhí qì zhuàng. A four-character idiom (chengyu) meaning to be bold and confident because one is in the right.
- Hanzi: 电灯泡. Pinyin: diàndēngpào. Modern slang for a “third wheel,” someone who is present when a couple would prefer to be alone. The imagery is of a bright lightbulb ruining the romantic atmosphere.
- Hanzi: 千叮万嘱. Pinyin: qiān dīng wàn zhǔ. A four-character idiom (chengyu) meaning to repeatedly and earnestly warn or urge someone.
- Hanzi: 一炷香. Pinyin: yī zhù xiāng. A traditional Chinese way of measuring time, roughly equivalent to 30-60 minutes, though it can vary.
i love Song Shu Qing
i love Song Shu Qing