nashuaworldcup Chapter 189 The Fisherwoman, the Empress, Qin Mu, and the Three People in the Carriage
Chapter 189 The Fisherwoman, the Empress, Qin Mu, and the Three People in the Carriage
The night was deep as the carriage traveled through the jungle, its wheels crunching over fallen leaves.
Inside the carriage, the charcoal fire in the incense burner emitted a faint heat, making the small space warm and dry.
The brocade cushions were soft and comfortable, but they made Xiao Yu, who was curled up in the corner, even more uneasy.
She had never ridden in such a fine carriage before, nor had she ever imagined that one day she would be sharing a room with two such people.
One is the Emperor of Qin, who could annihilate the Nujiang Gang with a wave of his hand and reduce even a master of the Finger Profound Realm to ashes.
The other one, although her identity was unknown, her aloof and unapproachable demeanor, as well as the way she was "invited" into the car by Qin Mu, all indicated that this woman was no ordinary person.
Xiao Yu dared not look, dared not think, and even dared not breathe.
She just hunched her shoulders and buried herself in the shadows of the corner, wishing she could turn into a wisp of smoke and disappear from the carriage.
"There's no need to be so nervous."
A gentle voice rang out.
Xiao Yu trembled and looked up, meeting Qin Mu's smiling eyes.
Moonlight streamed through the gaps in the carriage walls, casting dappled shadows on his face.
Those deep eyes appeared exceptionally gentle in the dim light, without a trace of the chilling pressure they exuded at the ferry crossing.
He looked more like an ordinary rich young master, speaking comforting words to a little girl he had picked up by the roadside.
"Look at this lady,"
Qin Mu slightly turned his head, gesturing to Zhao Qingxue, who sat opposite him, "Be calm. I'm not a bad person, why are you so afraid?"
Following his gaze, Xiao Yu quickly glanced at Zhao Qingxue.
Just one glance.
She was stunned.
What kind of face was that?
The moonlight slanted in through the car window, illuminating Zhao Qingxue's profile perfectly.
Her eyebrows resembled distant mountains shrouded in mist, yet possessed a sharper edge than those distant mountains.
Her eyes were like a cold pool reflecting the moon, yet seven times more unfathomable than the pool itself.
Those deep purple pupils gleamed faintly in the dim light, like the oldest pearl in the deep sea, holding too many secrets unknown to anyone.
Her skin was extremely white, not the kind of white that comes from being pampered, but a cool white that seemed to be formed from moonlight.
She sat motionless, her back ramrod straight, her gaze fixed on a spot on the car wall, her face expressionless.
Even just sitting there quietly, her aloof and unapproachable demeanor acted like an invisible barrier, isolating her from everything else in the carriage.
Xiao Yu had never seen such a beautiful woman.
She had seen the young lady from the wealthy family in town, dressed in silk clothes and with rouge on her face, who considered herself superior.
But in front of this woman, those young ladies wouldn't even be worthy of carrying her shoes.
Xiao Yu hurriedly lowered her eyes, not daring to look anymore.
A sense of apprehension crept into my heart.
Who exactly is this woman?
The fact that Qin Mu was able to "invite" her into the car like that suggests she must be of extremely high status.
However, the atmosphere between her and Qin Mu was strangely unsettling.
They didn't seem like ruler and subject, nor like enemies, nor even like ordinary adversaries.
That silence, that eye contact, that tense, unspoken confrontation that no one else could penetrate...
Xiao Yu didn't understand.
All she knew was that the atmosphere inside the carriage made her even more frightened.
"thump--"
She knelt down again, her knees hitting the carriage floor with a dull thud.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me!"
Xiao Yu's forehead touched the ground, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
"This humble woman...this humble woman..."
She didn't know what to say.
She had never seen anything like this before.
She was a fisherwoman from the Nu River. Her parents died early, and she was raised by her uncle and aunt.
The highest-ranking official I've ever met is the tax collector in town, whose most frequent question is, "How much is this fish per pound?"
But at this moment, she was kneeling in front of the Qin Emperor, and sitting opposite her was a woman of unknown identity but stunning beauty.
She felt her mind go completely blank, and she couldn't say anything.
All that remained was instinctive fear, causing her body to tremble uncontrollably.
Qin Mu couldn't help but chuckle softly as he looked at her.
The laughter was soft, yet exceptionally clear in the quiet carriage.
He suddenly realized that this little girl was quite interesting.
Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he had seen a girl so afraid in front of him.
When the concubines in the palace saw him, they either deliberately flattered him, pretended to be calm, or hid hatred in their eyes while showing respect on their faces.
None of them were so purely, instinctively, and without any attempt to conceal their fear.
That fear was like that of a frightened little animal, trembling, yet also tinged with a touch of silly cuteness.
"Get up." Qin Mu's voice remained gentle.
Xiao Yu didn't dare to hesitate and quickly got up, but she still kept her head down and didn't dare to look at him.
"Come here," Qin Mu patted the seat next to him, "sit next to me."
Xiao Yu froze.
In the past...sitting?
Sitting next to the emperor?
Her mind went blank again, but her body had already begun to act instinctively.
She dared not disobey, dared not hesitate, and dared not even keep the emperor waiting too long.
She moved her feet cautiously, step by step as if walking on a knife's edge, until she reached Qin Mu's side.
Then, very carefully and extremely slowly, he sat down on the edge of the brocade cushion.
It really is just "on the edge".
Half of her body was hanging off the cushion, supported only by her two legs.
His back was stiff as a taut bowstring, his hands were placed neatly on his knees, but his fingertips were slightly white from the force he was exerting.
Qin Mu glanced at her sideways and couldn't help but smile.
This little girl is really terrified of him.
"Raise your head," he said, "let me see you properly."
Xiao Yu's heart skipped a beat.
She took a deep breath and then slowly raised her head.
Moonlight streamed in through the car window, illuminating her face.
It was a pretty face.
Her eyebrows were curved, neither too thick nor too thin, just like a green streak on a distant mountain.
Her almond-shaped eyes were wide open slightly due to nervousness, and her long, thick eyelashes were blinking rapidly, like the wings of a startled butterfly.
Her nose was small and delicate, and her lips were slightly pursed due to nervousness, losing their color, which made her look even more pitiful.
Her skin wasn't extremely fair; it had a healthy, wheat-colored glow from years of exposure to the river breeze.
At this moment, due to nervousness, a faint blush rose on her cheeks, spreading from her cheekbones all the way to her ears, like rouge in the dim light.
Her hair was simply tied up with an old wooden hairpin, with a few stray strands falling down and sticking to her cheeks in the night breeze.
She was wearing new clothes prepared by Qin Mu's men, a light blue cloth skirt, made of ordinary material, but clean and tidy.
It was a world of difference compared to her previous tattered, coarse cloth dress.
Qin Mu's gaze lingered on her face for a moment, a hint of appreciation flashing in his eyes.
This little girl is quite pretty.
It wasn't the kind of meticulously crafted, powdery elegance of the concubines in the palace.
Rather, it is a natural, unadorned beauty, carrying the breeze from the riverbank, the smoke from the fishing boats, and the unique vibrancy of a girl of this age.
She lacked Xu Fenghua's elegance and poise, Jiang Qingxue's aloofness and indifference, and the stunning beauty of the empress opposite her.
But she possessed something they all lacked—
Reiki.
That kind of charm is something only girls who grow up by the river, run on fishing boats, and move through the streets can possess.
Her eyes held no scheming, no forbearance, no complex emotions that only women in the inner palace could comprehend.
There was only a crystal-clear, somewhat naive innocence.
This kind of ethereal beauty is something that the young ladies of noble families in the palace, bound by layers of rules and etiquette, will never possess.
Looking at this face, Qin Mu suddenly felt that this trip to the Nu River, besides catching the big fish, Empress Li Yang, and picking up this little girl along the way, was also an unexpected surprise.
"From now on," he said, his tone casual yet authoritative, "you will come back to the palace with me."
Xiao Yu was stunned.
Back to... the palace?
Her mind went completely blank for a moment.
Follow the emperor...back to the palace?
What does that mean?
Does this mean she is no longer the unwanted fisherwoman by the Nu River?
Does this mean she can leave that dilapidated little house where she lives under someone else's roof and is constantly scolded by her aunt for "eating for nothing"?
Does that mean... from now on, she belongs to the emperor?
Xiao Yu's breathing became rapid, and her eyes had become slightly red without her noticing.
She knelt down again with a thud, this time even harder than before, her knees hitting the floor with a dull thud.
"This humble woman...this humble woman is willing!"
Her voice trembled, yet it was clearer than ever before.
His forehead touched the ground, and tears finally welled up and dripped onto the carriage floor, spreading out in a small, dark stain.
"Thank you, Your Majesty! This humble woman...this humble woman is willing!"
She didn't know what the palace looked like, what it meant to follow the emperor, or what fate awaited her.
All she knew was that from now on, she would no longer have to eat at her aunt's mercy, and she would no longer have to shiver in the dilapidated house and endure every cold winter.
For this reason alone, she should kneel here and kowtow ten thousand times.
Qin Mu looked at her and nodded slightly.
"Get up," he said. "From now on, you will serve me."
Xiao Yu got up, wiped the tears off her face haphazardly, but still kept her head down, not daring to look at him.
However, his stiff back seemed to have relaxed a little at this moment.
Qin Mu withdrew his gaze, leaned against the car wall, and adopted a lazy posture.
The carriage continued on its way, crunching over fallen leaves, and heading into the depths of the night.
Throughout this entire process, one gaze remained fixed on them.
Zhao Qingxue.
She sat upright at the very back of the carriage, remaining silent throughout.
Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the carriage walls, casting dappled shadows on her face, making her stunning beauty appear and disappear in the light.
She looked at the fisherwoman, at her trembling before Qin Mu, at her tears of joy upon learning she could be taken back to the palace, and at her face, slightly flushed with excitement.
Her eyes were complicated.
It was so complex that even she herself couldn't discern what was hidden inside.
There was indifference; the fate of a stranger was none of her concern.
She was scrutinizing him, observing Qin Mu's attitude towards the girl, trying to glean more about the man's true nature.
There was something subtly...unusual.
The anomaly was very faint, so faint that it could almost be ignored.
But when the girl knelt before Qin Mu, crying and saying, "This humble woman is willing,"
Zhao Qingxue suddenly remembered someone.
Jiang Qingxue.
The woman who was also "brought" into the palace by Qin Mu.
The woman who sat on the phoenix throne at the grand wedding ceremony, her eyes filled with emptiness and despair.
that……
With that thought in mind, she cut off her train of thought.
Pointless.
She is the Empress of Liyang, a prisoner, and a captive sitting in Qin Mu's carriage, being taken to an unknown place.
She has no right to judge other people's fates.
Furthermore, one should not have any unnecessary emotions towards Qin Mu's behavior.
But that strange feeling still lingered in my heart, like a very fine thorn.
It's hard to say what it is.
Perhaps it is a subtle lament about the capriciousness of fate.
Perhaps it was because they shared a similar fate, as they were both women controlled by this man. However, the young girl was still unaware of it, while she had already seen it all too clearly.
Or perhaps...
It was a kind of envy for that "purity" that she herself was unwilling to admit.
I envy that girl, who can tremble when she's scared, shed tears when she's excited, and express her emotions in the most direct way when she learns that her fate has been changed.
But Zhao Qingxue, since she was eight years old, has never had such a privilege.
Qin Mu seemed to sense her gaze.
He turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on Zhao Qingxue's face.
Those deep eyes gleamed eerily in the dim light, and the half-smile on his lips deepened even further.
"Your Majesty," he began, a hint of amusement in his voice, "having observed for so long, is there anything you wish to say?"