The palace gates were opened wide, waiting for Wei An Ge's return. Jing Nu had been waiting there since the morning.
She scanned through the gate for the millionth time as she was finally able to see the Crown Princess's figure on her horse.
"Crown Princess has returned!" Jing Nu shouted, excited. She was jumping out of excitement as the guards rush to tell the King about her arrival.
Jing Nu furrowed her eyebrows in sudden confusion. "What is behind her? The Crown Princess couldn't have bought that much stuff. I didn't give her that much money,"
Trying to achieve a clearer image, her eyes were squinted. Her jaw dropped upon witnessing the tops generals and ministers fall, half-dead, being dragged by the crown princess herself by some rope.
"Open the gate!" Jing Nu shouted. She ran towards him followed by rows of guards with their spades. "Crown Princess, what happened?"
"Betrayers, Wei Zhuang" Wei An Ge replied, not even sparing the old maid a glance.
Her eyes were deadly staring at the road, full of anger. Her hair was messy, untied. however, her figure returned to normal. There was no wreath along her headland her pupil reappeared.
The Generals' faces and armors were covered in mud and dirt still with the arrows inside their body while Li Zhang Ke, the one on the horse was asleep, laying his chin on her shoulder.
The army of guards circled them, pointing their spears towards the half-dead generals.
"Hmph," the crown princess pulled the tip of her lips upwards, smirking. "Look at this, generals. They used to serve you and your needs. They willingly obeyed all of your orders. At whom is the spears pointed are now?"
"Li Zhang Ke!" Wang Xuan came running to them after jumping off the roof. Immediately she rushed to Li Zhang Ke and took over. She was deadly keeping her eyes on the Crown Princess in case she would stop her. Bringing him down from the silver horse to carrying him with her back.
"Where are you bringing the General?" Wei An Ge asked with her dead husky voice as the guards circled Wang Xuan and the general who was hanging on her shoulder.
"Li Manor, away from you" Wang Xuan continued walking away. Her tone of voice was a mixture of warning and annoyance.
Wei An Ge nodded, agreed.
"HIA!" she whipped the silver horse.
They went a single step through the black entrance gate, entering the castle. Wei An Ge fell down from the horse, hitting on the ground.
Her eyes were finally closed. The lips and eyebrows were finally relaxed. The cascading plants on her forehead and the ties on her left hand and the generals disappeared into green dust, flying away fully.
"CROWN PRINCESS!" Jing Nu and the guards shouted, surprised.
---
"Emperor, Queen," Wang Kuan, Sun Lai Zhe, and Li Zhi Jian bowed in front of the rulers of Da An and Wei Zhuang as soon as they escaped out of Hei An Guang. Their face was still covered in mud and their body was full of puncture of poisonous arrows. The arrows disappeared into dust when Wei An Ge fainted at Hei An Guang.
The lines of courts such as generals and ministers of Wei Zhuang were there to welcome the royal spies back to their hometown.
"Father, these are the royal spies I sent to Hei An Guang years ago" The Queen introduced.
"It has been hard on the four of you," the emperor apologized in a low tone. "We will have you heavily rewarded,"
"My Emperor, sadly we can't accept your kindness as we failed to get the Jade Ring back to Wei Zhuang" Wang Xuan bowed, not daring enough to look at the rulers.
"The crown princess is the Jade Ring? Is she still alive?" The Empress questioned, worried. Her furrowed eyebrows revealed her facial wrinkles.
Li Zhi Jian nodded "She's safe and sound when we had our attacks, Empress. But I am still unknown of my grandchildren condition until now"
"Grandchild?" General Gan Luo Yi interrupted.
"All of us has our own family at Hei An Guang," Wang Kuan claimed.
"Then we should make use of them," The queen recommended, smiling. "Have them to bring the Jade Ring back. She is still a royal of our Wei Zhuang. Which means she's ours to even start with."
The four royal spies nodded, "UNDERSTOOD!"
---
He opened his eyes, awake finding himself in his same old room the next morning. He could barely move his body hence turned his sight to the left side of the bed. No one was there.
"Huh," He sighed in relief, placing his head back on the pillow underneath his neck.
"As soon as he woke up, I'm going to skin him alive" he heard Wang Xuan's voice echoing to the room.
He shut his eyes, pretending to be dead again.
"Li Zhang Ke, Li Zhang Ke " Wang Xuan entered the room with a bowl of soup. "Always overestimate yourself. Finally, you can stay here, away from the unfortunate Crown Princess"
She walked to him holding the bowl, cautious.
"SHE'S DEAD?!" in a blink of an eye he woke up from his bed, enlarging his eyes looking at Wang Xuan with full curiosity.
Wang Xuan startled for a second, dropping some of the soup to the floor. She smiled, acknowledging Li Zhang Ke was still alive. Immediately she went for a hug.
"You're okay, we're okay" she whispered, smiling while petting his long hair.
She hugged him tighter, satisfied after all of those intense worries about whether he will survive or not. Li Zhang Ke held both of her shoulders, shaking them.
"Is the crown princess dead?" He asked, serious was pasted on his face. His heartbeat beat faster upon knowing the unrevealed truth.
Wang Xuan went silent, looking down.
"IS THE CROWN PRINCESS REALLY DEAD?!" He shook her shoulders that he had gripped once again. This time, he was scolding her with a shout.
Wang Xuan took a deep breath, traveling deeper into his eyes that were filled with sorrow and disappointment. She herself had a pool of tears in her eyes as she nodded.
Li Zhang Ke blinked, dropping his tears. Slowly releasing the grip on Wang Xuan's shoulder as he cries.
"She's dead, we don't have any worries anymore" She took turns, holding his shoulders. She was smiling and crying in happiness.
"I don't need that," He held his head shaking it, shutting down his eyes.
"The crown princess doesn't like you, it's you who like her" Wang Xuan stood up, walking away from him. Her face was blank, hiding the pain of losing someone losing to another.
--
The night was foggy that it's hard to be able to see anything. Wang Xuan and Sun Ai Er were waiting nervously at the Wang manor training base.
"Xuan Er!" Wang Kuan appeared out of the fog, running to her.
They held a warm hug in the cold Night as Wang Kuan held her daughter tight out of love and miss.
"Father," she smiled as they untangle the hug.
"General," Sun Ai Er bowed.
Wang Kuan laughed. "Miss Sun, please do not bother calling me a general anymore"
Sun Ai Er nodded. "Uncle Wang, how is my father?"
"All of us are well. We had another poison called nightshade that neutralize the foxglove poison" his voice turned low. "But it's not a permanent solution."
"If then, how are you feeling now? "
"Im fine, Xuan Er," he explained. "I'm here to tell you that you, General Li, Miss Li, and Miss Sun are Wei Zhuang's new royal spies. You have a mission to start working on already,"
Both Wang Xuan and Sun Ai Er nodded, determined.
"The crown princess will suspect that you guys are related to me and the elder's plan as Hei An Guang betrayer. So we need you to gain her trust." Wang Kuan explained briefly. "This way she won't hurt any of you or any of our family members"
"Make function of Li Zhang Ke. Use him to have a grip on the Crown Princess."
The girls nodded.
--
Wei An Ge's room was crowded with maids, physicians, generals and The King himself is counting seconds for her to reach consciousness.
"USELESS!" The King shouted after none of the imperial physicians made use of their ability to wake the crown princess up.
the physicians beg for mercy, kneeling. "Your Majesty, please spare my life"
the king took a glance at the crown princess, breathing deeply. breathing his head in disbelief and walked out of the manor, planning to return with an empty hand.
"Wait, Jing Nu. Summon Jing Nu" he stopped his journey.
Jing Nu rushed to him from the manor's kitchen, bowing. "What can Jing Nu help the King with?"
"Follow me back to the castle"
Jing Nu bowed. She didn't dare to question the king hence she can only follow him. They arrived at the king's study room
"Get me that one roll of drawing labeled with a purple marking" He pointed at a specific corner of the shelf as he sat on the chair. It was the exact area that Li Zhang Ke and Li Hua Rong unrevealed the secret of the Garden of Cure.
"Unroll it,"
Jing Nu witnessed a moving drawing of a very familiar plant. Her eyes were enlarged, exchanging gazes between the king and the drawing.
"Pluck that plant and make medicine out make sure not to add anything else except water. Make sure the medicine is medicine and the crown princess finish it" He instructed. The plant was called the foxglove poison. "I can't help you, I still have to pack for my trip this morning to Xin Jia"
Jing Nu nodded, understanding. She rushed back to Chang Ge manor and went straight to the kitchen with the roll of painting inside her long sleeve.
She inserted her hands inside the painting as she plucked the foxglove leave with a glove to protect her hands. After half an hour of evaporation, finally, the medicine was concentrated enough. Jing Nu ran to the crown princess's room.
Li Zhang Ke was standing beside Wei An Ge's bed, staring. he himself was not in his best condition. He was holding onto his recent stab by his own grandfather.
"General Li," Jing Nu bowed in respect.
He stepped backward, allowing Jing Nu to proceed to walk towards Wei An Ge. She put the bowl of medicine to the table at her side as she sat beside An Ge's head, trying to make her in a seat position.
"I'll help," Li Zhang Ke offered, placing her on Jing Nu's shoulder. Voluntarily he took the bowl and helped make the crown princess drink the dark medicine.
As the medicine hit her tastebud, her relaxed sleeping face turned hideous. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she shrugged each of her muscle faces.
She opened her eyes. Looking upwards it was Jing Nu while in front of her was Li Zhang Ke, placing the spoon of medicine in her mouth.
"General, it's too bitter" she complaint.
Li Zhang Ke was shocked, he held her shoulders, smiling wide. "You're not dead,"
He couldn't stop smiling in joy and relief.
"Jing Nu, is the general cursing me?"
Jing Nu smiled in reply as the general continued shoving the bitter medicine into her mouth.
"Finish this, then we can take off to training" Li Zhang Ke promised, excited.
She nodded, obeying drinking the whole medicine in one take.
"Jing Nu let's change outfit," she stood up, healthy. "General, get out"
She pointed towards the door, kicking him out.
"Crown Princess, what actually happened yesterday?" Jing Nu asked, getting a piece of cloth her red training clothing.
"Yesterday? Weren't we here enjoying lotus beef soup?" She replied, confused. She sounded innocent.
"You came home with generals tied on your hand. Even General Li was hurt"
She stares blankly for a minute. "Jing Nu, something doesn't feel right. I can't remember but I understood what you're saying. How does that even make sense?"
"It's okay, take your time"
---