In that moment, from another section of the ship’s deck, a scream rang out, followed by shouts of “Someone fell in the water! Someone help!”
Those shouts immediately drew people to rush and crowd toward that spot. Everyone naturally wanted to know who had fallen into the water, since only people from noble families were aboard this ship.
In the moment when everyone turned their attention to the same spot, Chu Huiru pretended to drag her husband along as she ran after the crowd gathering to watch the person who’d fallen in on the other side. Meanwhile, Yang Xiuying was violently yanked by a mysterious hand from outside the ship, sending her slender frame flying over the railing and falling into the river.
The sound ringing out like someone falling into the water from the side opposite the crowding guests made Jian Hantian—who’d nearly turned his attention to the first victim—quickly look back toward the area where his Wangfei should have been standing. But seeing her nowhere—even when he swept his gaze around—while Jian Chaohe and Chu Huiru had already run to the other side where people were crowding, he immediately understood the situation. He decided to jump into the water to search for his consort.
Some people caught sight of him jumping in, so they shouted, “Qin Wang jumped into the Liu Li River!”
That voice attracted attention very well, making those crowding the ship’s left railing rush over to the right railing instead, to see why Qin Wang had gone into the water.
“Did Wangye jump in himself?!”
“Why did Wangye jump into the water?”
“Someone go help Wangye quickly!”
“Has anyone seen Qin Wangfei?”
“Did Qin Wangfei fall into the water?”
Followed by another wave of uproar. Wen Chang and several imperial guards jumped in to search for Qin Wang and the missing Qin Wangfei, presumed to be the one who’d fallen in.
When Li Wang heard his former concubine had fallen into the water, he shook his arm free from Chu Huiru’s grip and hurried to crowd and watch from the other side of the ship with everyone else.
Chu Huiru, left alone, though displeased, allowed her husband to send off that lowly concubine’s corpse one last time. She’d been dragged down underwater in the middle of this wide, deep river to such an extent—she’d surely die. Because this time she’d already ordered her people that they must wait until certain that lowborn woman was truly dead and wouldn’t revive!
Little did she know that behind her at this moment, the demon who’d climbed up from the water was reaching out to grab her collar, then yanking her until she flew off the ship’s deck and fell into the water together—entirely unnoticed, as everyone had gone to stand and crowd on the opposite side.
Chu Huiru was dragged down into deep water so quickly she couldn’t gather her wits. By the time she registered what happened, everything around her was dark and cold. She tried to close her mouth to keep air from escaping no matter how much she wanted to scream.
Until whatever was trying to drag her underwater stopped and yanked her to face it. Naturally, in water this deep, she couldn’t see anything at all—if not for the fact that one of the creature’s hands held a ball of fire that could provide light underwater.
What she saw was a woman with an extremely familiar face, only those eyes glowed golden, and the long hair flowing out was also golden and glowing bright amid the pitch darkness all around. But what nearly made her lose consciousness was that wicked grin like a demon.
“Looks like you really love water. In that case, just stay here. No need to go back up—how does that sound?”
It should’ve been impossible to hear speech this deep underwater, but Chu Huiru clearly heard the demon before her as clearly as if on land—only that voice sounded ethereal, cold, and spine-chilling no different from her current surroundings.
“No answer means you agree. Very well then!”
Chu Huiru saw that figure extend clawed fingers to seize her throat and squeeze until she cried out in shock and fear, but instead of screams, only many air bubbles floated from her mouth, along with large amounts of water flowing in.
In all her life, this was probably the most terrifying moment she’d ever experienced. She’d never thought her end would be underwater—the very place where that lowly concubine was supposed to die. She hadn’t even gotten to fully enjoy being Li Wang’s primary consort, and she had to die like this already? Her heart filled with unwillingness and panic until finally everything went dark.
Yang Xiuying saw the woman before her lose consciousness, so she used her finger to draw a circle once, and a large air bubble appeared underwater. With another flick of her finger, that air bubble floated to envelop Chu Huiru’s head, making the water that had surrounded her head disappear, leaving only air that humans could use to breathe underwater within that bubble.
“Take her and dump her into the sea near Ling Nan City. Let some fishing boat find her and pick her up.” Yang Xiuying turned to order Tan Wu, who was swimming nearby, his lower half now a large fishtail.
Hearing the order, he grabbed one of Chu Huiru’s arms and dragged her away at a speed even ordinary fish couldn’t keep up with.
“Qin Wang is still searching for Miss. Miss should go up now.” Mo Fang, floating behind with her lower half also a fishtail, spoke up.
“Oh… really? In that case, I’ll go take a look.” Yang Xiuying darted forward, swishing her fishtail back and forth cheerfully, leaving Mo Fang to watch after her, resigned.
Swimming to the other side—the area where Chu Huiru’s people had yanked her into the water the first time—she saw several men, presumably imperial guards, diving and swimming searching for someone.
But there was one man trying to dive deeper underwater than the others, earnestly searching for the missing person. That sight made Yang Xiuying pause to watch with keen interest.
‘Never thought he’d look even more handsome in the water.’
She decided to swim slowly toward that man, while her golden hair and eyes changed back to dark brown, and her fishtail returned to human legs in a flash.
Jian Hantian felt a hand grasp his arm from behind. When he turned back, he saw it was a woman in elaborate light-colored robes, so he was certain it was his consort. She’d fallen in the water so long ago yet still had consciousness, and could even swim to find him—it was hard to believe.
But he had no time to think much, so he wrapped an arm around her waist and swam up to the surface together. When both their heads broke the water’s surface, everyone on the ship shouted and passed word along.
“Found Qin Wang and Qin Wangfei!”
Jian Hantian looked at the young woman in his arms, who was now using both arms to loosely loop around his neck, still staring at his face with a small smile, completely without any sign of shock or side effects from falling in the water for so long.
“You’re not hurt at all?”
“My husband went to such trouble to find this consort and bring her back up. How could I let him waste his effort?” She answered while giggling. This man really did look better when he was soaking wet.
“Hmph… very well then!” Jian Hantian used lightness skill to leap up from the water, reaching the ship’s deck in one step. Mo Fang, who’d just dragged Wen Chang—who’d gone down to clumsily search for her mistress—up from the water as well, quickly brought a cloak to drape over her mistress.
People around continued to stand and crowd watching with interest, especially Li Wang who wanted to go comfort the young woman who’d fallen into water twice now, making him feel guilty for not helping her both times.
He could only stand watching his Imperial Uncle carry her inside, having completely forgotten his primary consort. By the time he realized she’d disappeared, the sun had already set.
When news came that Li Wangfei had disappeared that evening, guards and soldiers who’d followed the pleasure cruise had to sail out in small boats searching for her all night, but found nothing.
***
Yang Xiuying reclined on the large bed in the cabin on the pleasure cruise, carefree and unworried, because she’d already had her fun. Now she merely had to wait and watch the consequences unfold over the next several days.
Jian Hantian entered the bedroom after the imperial physician left. Just as he’d expected, the imperial physician reported that Yang Xiuying had no abnormal symptoms whatsoever. She remained perfectly healthy in every way.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?”
He must mean what happened today. If she told the whole truth, he’d probably be too shocked to handle it.
“Nothing much. During the commotion, this consort fell into the water. After falling in, I found a way to swim up. But it seems I swam the wrong direction, so I swam back until I finally found Wangye.”
Her answer utterly lacked both credibility and logic. If she could swim back and forth, why didn’t she swim up to the surface to call for help from the start?
He’d already received word from Wen Chang that her martial arts were extraordinary. Would a woman with high martial arts like her really accidentally fall into water? More likely she fell on purpose. Connecting it to Chu Huiru’s disappearance, Jian Hantian could start piecing together many things.
“And what about Chu Huiru?”
“Oh… Li Wangfei? I heard she also fell into the water. Only she hasn’t been found yet. Sigh… I feel so sorry for Li Wang.” Her manner seemed sympathetic to others, but at the corner of those adorable dimpled lips, a smile emerged, making Jian Hantian nearly certain that Chu Huiru’s disappearance was definitely related to her.
Earlier, Le Qi had reported to him that not far away, someone had found the corpse of a Chu clan guard floating down the river. It reminded him of the previous time Wen Chang told him how she’d dealt with Chu Huiru’s people, so he knew she wasn’t someone cruel and vicious who killed people like insects without reason. But this time someone had died, which must mean that person deserved to die.
The truth of this matter—if Yang Xiuying made an issue of it and proclaimed it, it could terminate the Duanshen ore purchase agreement immediately. But she chose to keep quiet and handle everything her own way.
For Jian Hantian, when there’s a grudge, it must be settled. Moreover, her settling of grudges was done secretly, benefiting both herself and Jian Kingdom. He didn’t think it was wrong at all.
Jian Hantian looked at the young woman gently fanning herself with a round fan while reclining with eyes closed in a good mood—and felt something stir in his chest, because that image was so beautiful it was hard to look away. Especially as he recalled bringing her up from the water, the way she’d wrapped her arms around his neck and gazed at him just so—he couldn’t help but feel a sudden flush of heat.
“You rest. I’ll go bathe.”
Author’s Note:
So, what do you think? Starting to fall for the villain—I mean, our lovely protagonist—yet? If you want to see the full extent of her chaos (and trust me, there’s a lot more coming), you can grab the full story on Amazon.