The Princess’ Shadow Guard – Chapter 69

How blind can lovers be

Before the autumn wind started blowing, Ming Qin, Murong Yan, along with Song Shuqing, left the capital city.

Although Ming Qin’s hearing had not fully recovered, for her, as a shadow guard, as long as she could hear her beloved crawling into her arms, passionately and affectionately calling out her name, it was already satisfying enough.

“Ming Qin, are you really leaving?” The teenage Emperor, with his voice hoarse from the period of voice change, reluctantly asked, his expression somewhat unwilling. “Is there someone in the capital who has upset you? Tell me…tell Us.”

“It’s not because of that.” The shadow guard smiled, Murong Wan’s bias towards Ming Qin, and thereby Murong Yan and the entire Shadow Guard Camp, was clearly seen by everyone.

If it weren’t for Murong Yan’s lack of interest in court affairs, and the Shadow Guard Camp being hidden in darkness yet loyal to the Emperor, perhaps several court officials would have beaten their chests, stamped their feet, and knocked on pillars to advise against it.

“The teahouse in Shu is managed solely by Cao Yun. I have to go back and help out, after all, I’m retired,” Ming Qin casually patted the young man’s head, completely unaware that the dynamic between them had long evolved from the typical lord-subject relationship. “You must work hard here in the capital, aim to become a famous emperor for all eternity, so that everyone will praise your name!”

“Don’t pat my head, it’s messing up my hair!” Murong Wan impatiently brushed away the woman’s hand, his face showing no signs of anger but his ears turning red. “I don’t need you to tell me, I will be a good emperor, governing diligently and fairly.”

“Great, great! Oh, and don’t have too many children, but if you do, make sure to take care of them,” Ming Qin said with a mischievous smile, speaking audaciously as she patted the young man’s back. “In a few years, you’ll be getting married. Time flies, I remember when I first saw you, you were still a crying child.”

Hearing such blunt words, Murong Wan’s face flushed, gritting his teeth as he struggled to speak, “Shut up! A girl like you shouldn’t be saying such inappropriate things… talking about getting married… having many children!”

Then, in a slightly somber tone, he continued, “Of course, I will take good care of them. There will be no hungry children in the palace ever again…”

The young man was about to say something, but his words were interrupted by the sound of a wooden cane tapping the ground from afar. Murong Chan, draped in a silk robe, was slowly walking along the willow trees.

Although she should not have been able to hear the sound from afar, Ming Qin seemed to sense something and turned back in an almost miraculous way. Upon seeing her beloved woman, she revealed a radiant smile and hurried towards her with big steps.

“Yanyan! You’re here?” Ming Qin couldn’t help but spin the woman around in her arms, then set Murong Yan down and held her hand, asking, “Have you finished your discussion with the General?”

Nodding, Murong Yan smiled, “There wasn’t much to discuss, just to give some information.”

Thinking of Murong Chan’s shock when he heard about his sister’s departure, if it weren’t for Murong Yan telling him that she would write back to the capital and welcome him to visit Shu, the dignified seven-foot-tall man might have burst into tears on the spot.

“Are you setting off tomorrow?” Murong Wan, who had followed Ming Qin, stood with his hands behind his back, trying to keep his voice steady as he asked, “If there is anything you need, please inform Us.”

“Yes, at the hour of Chen tomorrow,” Murong Yan looked at the young man as she slightly bowed, gently rubbing Ming Qin’s hand back with her thumb, “I thank Your Majesty, but this journey is already fully prepared, and there is nothing lacking.”

“Oh, you old fellow, don’t worry about me!” Ming Qin casually patted Murong Wan’s shoulder, “You just focus on doing well in the capital. When you have some free time, come to Shu for tea. Our tea may not be the best, but the snacks next door are quite delicious.”

Murong Wan clenched his fist, struggling to control his surging emotions, holding his forehead, “What old fellow? Go on, get out of here. Just go to Shu and brew tea, don’t come back to me!”

“Truly an old fellow, always with a stern face, remember to be a bit happier,” Ming Qin grinned and waved goodbye to the young man.

“Take care of yourself, I will come back to see you.”

Murong Yan nodded towards the Emperor, and then the two held hands and left.

Standing alone by the fish pond, Murong Wan watched the smiles and affection exchanged between the two as they looked at each other, simply blinking his eyes, calming his mind, and turning to look at the towering palace walls.

A few crows flew overhead, cawing loudly, making the solitary figure left behind appear especially desolate.

“Senior Sister, is it necessary for you to leave so sneakily?”

After passing through the gate, Ming Qin lifted the curtain and said to Song Shuqing, who was driving the carriage, “You didn’t tell Doctor Wang you were leaving. He will definitely be furious when he finds out.”

“Qinqin, you don’t understand. Senior Sister has gone through the years of being dissected and peeled by the professors. I really don’t want to experience the feeling of being in the lab every day again.” Song Shuqing’s face turned pale, tightly gripping the reins, her hand trembling slightly. “I need to quickly return to Shu to live freely.”

“Alright… but I have a feeling Doctor Wang won’t let it go easily.” Seeing the murderous look in her senior sister’s eyes, Ming Qin obediently changed the subject, “If you’re tired, let me take over driving. I’ve rested a while.”

Rolling her eyes, Song Shuqing replied irritably, “Just stay put in the carriage. You lack tact.”

She would rather drive alone outside than stare blankly in a carriage with Murong Yan alone, feeling like she was soaking in icy water every second, even the furry tiger under her feet was no exception.

This journey was different from the last time she escaped the city, with a letter personally written by the emperor and a literary spy. The carriage was pulled by four spirited horses, traveling on an official road. The carriage was extremely luxurious, not only allowing the tiger to roll around three times, but also equipped with several boxes of silver bills and clothes belonging to Murong Yan.

Ming Qin, bored, rested on Murong Yan’s lap, looking up at the serene woman reading, and suddenly smiled happily, looking silly.

“What is Ah Qin laughing at?” Murong Yan asked curiously, without taking her eyes off the book page, reaching out a hand to gently touch Ming Qin’s cheek.

“Just thinking about how beautiful Yanyan is.” Ming Qin said without any hesitation, with a look of nonchalance.

“Even though I am now gray-haired and thin, does Ah Qin still think I am beautiful?” Murong Yan asked, unconsciously touching her thin and no longer full ribs and chest.

“Of course!” Ming Qin sat up, looking straight into the eyes of the woman beside her, and said firmly, “Yanyan is the most beautiful!”

Inadvertently looking at the place where her lips had once lingered wildly at night, she couldn’t help but blush, “I like Yanyan in every way. If I didn’t like you, how could I… um, anyway, Yanyan is like a celestial being to me.”

Hearing these words, Murong Yan couldn’t help but pick up the book in her hand to cover half of her face, then laughed lightly as she looked down at the person beneath her, “If I am truly a celestial being, then it’s only Ah Qin who appreciates a fallen person like me in this world.”

“That’s because those other people are blind.” Ming Qin shrugged, speaking confidently, “There’s no need for others, Yanyan has me! Everything about me belongs to Yanyan.”

Setting down the reading material she could no longer continue with, Murong Yan motioned with her hand for the person beside her to lean forward. She brought her lips close to Ming Qin’s left ear and whispered something quietly at a distance where she could hear.

The few short sentences sparked a gulp from the daring Ming Qin, who responded blankly, “…alright, as long as Yanyan wants it.”

Seeing the endearing reaction of the person in front of her, Murong Yan moved back slightly and merely mouthed, “This time, Ah Qin can be a bit more assertive, I like it.”

Just as Ming Qin’s brain was overheated and her mind had crashed, her senior sister tapped on the wooden board of the carriage.

“Hey, sorry for interrupting you two so rudely, uh…you can continue this at night, I promise to stay far away and not be a third wheel, but can you please let Qinqin come down for a moment, Princess? However, Princess, it’s best for you to stay in the carriage for now.”

Chattering away and apologizing profusely, Song Shuqing finally dropped the bombshell, “Um…it seems like we’ve been surrounded by bandits.”

Her tone was casual, as if she was just mentioning that she might need to use the restroom.

This luxurious carriage had no accompanying guards or a wandering escort team. It was only being driven by a woman. Even on the official road, such a conspicuous sight inevitably attracted some ignorant criminals.

Although she had anticipated it, Song Shuqing was still taken aback by encountering these bandits less than a half day after leaving the capital. Looking at the dozen or so people holding knives surrounding the carriage, she sighed deeply.

“I advise you to put down your weapons and leave immediately…” Song Shuqing comforted the horse, her eyes looking at the group of bandits, her face full of pity. “Otherwise, you’ll really die.”

But her pitiful expression only seemed to provoke the men, and a burly man wielding an axe, who appeared to be the leader, bellowed loudly, “You little girl, you have quite the courage to still dare to advise us brothers, when clearly your own safety is at stake!”

With a malicious smirk, the man showed his yellow teeth, “This is a rare good carriage. I’ll bring you and your miss back to our village, and I’ll…”

“Wait!”

Reaching out to stop him, Song Shuqing hurriedly opened her mouth to try to interrupt the man’s vulgar words, with a pained expression on her face, “Take me away if you must, but for your own sake, you better not involve the lady inside. She’s a mad dog trigger. Once activated, even I can’t stop it. You don’t want to know…”

“What did you just say?”

Before Song Shuqing could finish her sentence, she saw Ming Qin lower her head, push open the half-open door panel, and jump down, followed by the snarling Hu’er.

“Who did you say you were going to take back to the village? And what are you planning to do to her?”

Ming Qin’s voice was icy cold as she took out two daggers from who knows where, flicking the sharp weapons expertly, emitting a powerful aura of killing intent.

“It’s over…”

Song Shuqing sighed and felt a headache coming on, raising her hand in resignation, “I told you to leave quickly, but you didn’t listen? You just had to go and activate the mad dog trigger. Do you know that I’ll have to write to the authorities to deal with your shattered corpses? It’s exhausting!”

“You, you stinky woman, what are you…” Before the leader of the men could finish his sentence, a figure like a gust of wind swiftly moved behind him and instantaneously severed his neck.

Ignoring her senior sister’s nagging, Ming Qin just glanced at the group of people in front of her, squinting slightly as she assessed the situation. Then, in a blink of an eye, she leaped into the crowd of attackers like a fierce wolf among sheep, wielding her hands to pierce several men’s throats.

“I’ve warned you a thousand times, not to provoke people in the honeymoon period, and now, there’s no turning back.” Muttering to herself, Ming Qin noticed a person attempting to escape by horse in the distance. Without a second thought, she casually removed a hairpin and threw it at the escaping figure, causing them to fall off the horse and cry out in pain on the ground.

The cries of men in the forest echoed back and forth, but Song Shuqing remained indifferent, simply crossing her arms and waiting. “Wait, Hu’er, don’t eat that one, it’s dirty.”

Seeing the tiger about to tear into the fallen body, she quickly spoke up to stop it.

After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the once arrogant bandits were silent. Song Shuqing, who was feeling drowsy, looked at her clean-faced junior sister with surprise and sighed, “It’s rare, Qinqin is not covered in dirt and blood.”

“Yanyan is very afraid of blood,” Ming Qin explained lightly, wiping the daggers clean. “Although it took a bit longer, I couldn’t let Yanyan see me so bloody, it would scare her.”

Hearing this, Song Shuqing was dumbfounded, but she didn’t dare say much, just pursing her lips in disbelief.

Qinqin was saying, the woman in the carriage is afraid of blood?

That woman had once ordered the prince to be torn to pieces by a thousand cuts in front of her. Her cold and cruel expression from back then was still vivid in her mind.

The woman Ming Qin mentioned and the woman she knew are probably not the same person at all, right?

Rubbing her temples, Song Shuqing looked at the chaotic scene on the ground, feeling that she had gained a new understanding of 『how blind people in a relationship can be towards each other』.

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The next chapter will conclude the main text~

LP: Re-translated on April 14, 2024