Scent Of Time

Chapter 15

Then I realized I was wrong. Ancestral ceremonies are nothing like raising the national flag.

Whose national flag rose for a whole morning? After standing for two or three hours, I couldn’t help but feel dizzy. Luckily, I had exercised my body in advance. Otherwise, I might have fainted at this moment.

When the sun rose to the top of my head, the ceremony ended. I didn’t know if I was wrong, but the people around me were relieved. It seemed I was not the only one who was suffering, ah.

But, at this time, I was instead spirited up because the show was about to go on.

When I just walked to the side with King Jing’s entourage, I heard the crowd cry in alarm and saw an arrow shot into the ground in front of Zhong Xiwu on the high platform.

“Protect the emperor!”

With the eunuch’s shrill voice ringing out, a group of soldiers quickly surrounded Zhong Xiwu, who frowned tightly and did not reveal any fear.

I couldn’t help but curl my lips. It was exactly like the novel. Wu Shuomo was taking advantage of everyone dispersing, and when the crowd was disorganized and lax, he struck out. His real purpose – naturally – was Mu Yao.

Then, dozens of black silhouettes poured in, hacking and slashing at the crowd, looking as if they were trying to kill their way to Zhong Xiwu’s side but slowly isolating the people of the King Jin Mansion.

Zhong Yelan held a long sword. His eyebrows were stern, while Mu Yao stood behind him worriedly.

I silently retreated to the very back. In the novel, they still had to fight for quite a while. Wu Shuomo saw Zhong Yelan keep preventing him, making him unable to get close to Mu Yao. Then, he hitched his arrow and shot.

Hence, I’ll stay on the periphery and watch the show. In the novel, Hua Qian didn’t receive any damage in this attack, so I’m confident to wait on the sidelines.

The black-clothed men in the crowd were not ruthless, and it seemed that they did not want to hurt anyone but just wanted to create chaos. The authority is confused, but as a bystander, I can see it very clearly.

People were shouting and crying, yet I was an exception.

Just when I wanted to search for melon seeds for me to crack to watch a child’s play, I saw a black man with a knife rushing toward me.

Why didn’t he follow the rules?

There were too many people. I was alone and remained in the back. So, when he attacked, no one was around me, and Zhong Yelan was still fighting in front.

I immediately turned cold, learning from the stern aura I learned from the Empress Dowager and the Emperor in the palace before, and roared at the man in black, “Stop!”

I don’t know if it was because my gaze was too vicious or my expression was too fierce, that man in black stopped with his knife raised.

I raised my hand and pointed to Mu Yao in front of me. The man in black also subconsciously looked over, and I said, “That’s your target.”

The man in black stiffly turned his head back. His uncovered eyes revealed a look of humiliation. Perhaps he reacted to why he had to listen to me.

With that, he chopped down again.

I wailed in my heart. Can you stick to the plot?

Just as I closed my eyes and prepared to run away with my head in my hands, I suddenly heard the sound of swords striking each other, followed by a muffled grunt.

I opened my eyes and saw the back of a teenager about the same size as me, dressed in the clothes of a King Jin’s soldier.

He blocked in front of me, slightly tilting his head sideways towards me, and I saw a few blood stains on the side of his face, which made me realize that he was securing me away from the bloody scene.

“Your Highness, are you alright?” The teenager opened his mouth.

I immediately put my heart down. Sure enough, in the novel, Hua Qian didn’t get hurt. So, she shouldn’t have gotten hurt. I moved forward and patted that soldier’s shoulder, “Promising, ah, young man, what’s your name?”

I felt a stiffness in his body and saw his lips move. The crowd was too noisy, and I didn’t hear it clearly. I was about to probe over when I suddenly noticed Muyao’s face turned decisive.

Not good. The female lead was going to block the arrows, and at that moment, I didn’t care to praise that family soldier. I pulled my legs and ran over to Zhong Yelan.

When I reached them, I saw a man in black in the distance holding a longbow and was about to draw it. With one look at his different clothing styles, I knew that he was #3, Wu Shuomo.

Seeing that Mu Yao raised her hand as if she wanted to hug Zhong Yelan, I immediately pushed her away, “Let me do it!”

I counted the right time.

I counted in the right direction.

I counted the right people.

But I only failed to calculate how stable a vigilant martial arts practitioner’s stance was.

I pounced on Zhong Yelan with all my might. However, he did not make a single move!!!!

My heart was instantly cold. It was really cold because after I failed to pounce, I looked down and saw an arrow stuck in my chest.

Good, it gave me a penetrating cold.

Zhong Yelan’s expression was no longer calm. His eyes were anxious, and he stretched his hand to me.

I opened my mouth to speak, but gurgling blood gushed out.

It hurt too much!!! My eyes went black, and I don’t know if I passed out from the pain or the shock.

I woke up again to find that I was lying on my bed in my yard again. The arrow in my chest was no longer there, and in its place was the pain that tore my lungs apart.

Good lord, these second and third male leads are really something else. They might have a grudge against me.

“Qian…hiss ……” I wanted to call Qian Zhi, but the wound in my chest was so painful that I almost felt like I was going to pass away.

When I heard the commotion, the first one to come in was Zhong Yelan. I was stunned. He hurried over, and his tone was gentle as water, “Ah Qian, you’ve finally woken up.”

I immediately felt my wound hurt even more. Am I considered ‘stealing a chicken but losing the rice’? No, it should be losing the wife and the army.

“I ……”

“Don’t speak, recuperate well. The doctor said that if this arrow is a little more off — I’m afraid I won’t be able to see you again.” He interrupted me just after I said a word and then looked at me with eyes full of love.

—– Is the heroine’s plot resting on me? I felt that I couldn’t hesitate any longer and hurriedly made a quick cut.

“I ……”

“Anything can wait until you’re better.” My words were interrupted by him again.

“No, I ……”

“Ah Qian, don’t worry, in the future…I will not neglect you.” Zhong Yelan opened his mouth once again.

I rolled my eyes and felt a breath blocked in my chest, almost driving me to death.

Enduring the pain, I reached out and tightly grasped Zhong Yelan’s hand that fell on the corner of my quilt, and I spoke once again, “Zhong Yelan, there is something I have to say to you now.”

Zhong Yelan looked at me with a puzzled expression. Nonsense, I need to take advantage of my half-dead time to say this. Even if you are angry at me, there is nothing you can do with the current me.

“The girl …… who accompanied you to guard the grave at the temple when you were a child is not me, but Mu Yao.” I gritted my teeth and endured the pain to say it.

Zhong Yelan’s face turned white, “What are you talking about?”

Sure enough, this matter was too important to him.

I took a deep breath and continued, “Does Your Highness still remember the jade pendant you gave to that girl? I lied before and said that my elder brother broke it, but I’ve seen it on Mu Yao.”

Noticing that the hand I was holding steeply turned cold, my wound seemed to hurt more.

“Also, there is nothing between me and you. There has never been an actual activity of husband and wife. When that — accident happened, I was the one who drugged you. Because I sensed that you treated Mu Yao differently, plus I was an impostor. So, I did these wrong things to try to marry you in panic.”

I loosened my grip on his hand. Tears were coming out of my eyes from the pain of the wound. It looked like I had truly repented.

“This time, after walking in a life-and-death situation, I realized how wrong I was. I don’t ask Your Highness to forgive me for my faults. I only ask that you don’t implicate my family in the future.”

“I am the only one who bears the burden of my mistakes, and if Your Highness wants to repudiate me, I will not complain. My self-righteous love has blinded me. It is only right that Your Highness should be angry.”

Saying so much in one breath, I felt so much pain that my eyes blurred with tears, and I couldn’t see his expression at all.

Eventually, I fainted again. Why is there no strong anesthetic in this world?

When I woke up again, there was only Qian Zhi left beside me, and I wasn’t the least bit surprised that there was no Zhong Yelan’s figure.

“Qian Zhi, bring me some Menghan Medicine,” I ordered softly.

Qian Zhi brought it over to me with red eyes, and for the next long period, I relied on Menghan Medicine to survive.

I am a person who was very afraid of pain, so I chose to be unconscious than to be awake and face the pain of my wound.

Falling asleep and passing out like this, the things I experienced and the people I saw in the past half year appeared in my dreams. At one point, I didn’t even know if I was awake or unconscious.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Zhong Xiwu sitting beside my bed.

“I saw a ghost.” I closed my eyes again. How could this little emperor still haunt me in my dream?

“Oh? Do I look that — bad?”

A familiar voice rang out, and I snapped my eyes open. As soon as I tried to sit up with all my might, my chest hurt so much that I instantly came to my senses.

This is not a dream!!!