Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 411 Relying on Each Other at the Bottom of the Cliff
"Safety!"

"Wake up..."

"Look at me..."

Xue Sui's consciousness sank and ebbed amidst the cold and turbulence.

She felt like a fallen leaf, swept up by the wind, constantly tumbling and crashing, as if lying in an ice cellar, a suffocating feeling pressing on her chest, her soul trembling.

In her hazy consciousness, she vaguely heard anxious sounds, very close. There was also a strange warmth pressed tightly against her back…

She tried to open her eyes, but she didn't even have the strength to lift her eyelashes.

"Peace...Peace..." The man called her name over and over again, as if a drowning person was calling for help in vain.

It is Li Zhao.

Why is he here?

what happened?
"Your Highness..."

Li Zhao was trembling violently.

He lowered his head and carefully brushed away the bloodstains on her forehead, his movements as gentle as if he were touching a fragile treasure.

"It's me, Ping An, it's me! It's alright, Ping An, it's alright."

Xue Sui's eyelashes trembled as she struggled to lift them little by little.

What came into view was Li Zhao's disheveled face, covered in snow and soot. His jaw was taut, and his eyes, reflecting the white snow, churned with an almost helpless vulnerability.

"Your Highness...where is this?" Xue Sui's voice was weak, filled with confusion and uncertainty.

"We fell down the snow slope behind Jingbo Garden. But don't worry, Yuan Cang and the others will be here soon." Li Zhao's voice was terribly hoarse, yet he couldn't help but reassure them.

Xue Sui's consciousness slowly rose.

She remembered lying in the west wing of Jingbo Garden, sleeping soundly. Even though she dreamt of being engulfed in flames and then buried in ice and snow, she couldn't wake up...

That feeling of helplessness and numbness is highly suspicious.

Could it be that she... was ambushed?

The icy air filled her lungs, and she shivered, coughing violently. Each cough aggravated her wounds, and the pain brought her fully awake.

"Your Highness, we need to find a place to hide."

She looked around; the wind and snow were howling, and it was pitch black except for the steep snow slope overhead, which was outlined in a menacing shape under the sunlight.

"This is not a place to stay for long."

She has extensive experience in wilderness survival and never entrusts her life to others.

In this desolate wilderness, anything can happen.

If Li Zhao's men had arrived late, they might have truly frozen to death in the snowstorm...

"Okay, I'll take you away." Li Zhao said succinctly, carefully avoiding her wounds, and pulled her closer to his arms, using his body to shield her from more wind and snow.

“That way—” Xue Sui used his common sense about surviving in the snow to identify the direction in the howling snow wind.

Li Zhao believed her without hesitation, "Okay."

He was wearing only thin casual clothes, and his outer cloak was torn by the rocks as he rolled down the slope, leaving most of his body exposed to the cold wind. Yet, he stubbornly used his arms to create a relatively warm space for her, and then trudged forward through the wind and snow, his steps uneven.

"Are you... cold?" Xue Sui tried to get down and walk, but he held her tightly.

"Don't move." Li Zhao nuzzled her cheek. "It's warm to hold you."

He paused, then added, "You're warmer than the charcoal brazier."

This stubbornness, tinged with youthful exuberance, struck Xue Sui's heart hard, leaving it both tender and bittersweet. The coldness, pain, and fear all vanished before these passionate and sincere words.

She leaned obediently against Li Zhao's chest, listening to his steady and powerful heartbeat, her eyes gradually clearing.

The snow was knee-deep, making walking extremely difficult.

It's difficult to find your way in the wind and snow, but Xue Sui seems to have a natural talent for navigation...

After walking for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Li Zhao, guided by her, found a dark cave entrance at the bottom of a cliff.

It is ten feet deep, allowing only one person to bend over and enter.

He reached out and touched it; the cave was dry and had a faint warmth inside.

The space is small, but it can provide temporary shelter from the cold.

Fortunately, he had experience with two military campaigns and had a habit of carrying a tinderbox with him at all times.

He lit the tinderbox.

It was warmer inside the cave than outside, and by the faint light of the fire, one could see the pile of dry grass on the ground.

"It's like a hunter's temporary shelter."

"Wait for me." Li Zhao placed Xue Sui on the dry grass, then took off his own cloak and tucked it into her cold feet.

Then, he crawled out of the cave, gathered some dry branches half-buried in the snow nearby, brought them back, and carefully started a fire himself...

Once, twice...

Cold, damp firewood is difficult to burn.

Li Zhao held his breath, his focus so intense that beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Finally, on the fifth attempt, a tiny, orange-red flame struggled to lick the dry grass and stubbornly spread...

"It's on fire!" He breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes shining with joy.

This was, in fact, the first time Li Zhao had ever started a fire himself.

The firelight reflected on the cave walls, dazzling his reddened eyes with an astonishing brightness.

"Cough, cough, there's smoke..." Xue Sui coughed, choking on the smoke, and reminded him, "Leave a gap in the fire... for ventilation..."

Li Zhao immediately did as instructed.

"Ping An knows so much." Xue Sui smiled slightly.

These survival skills were ingrained in her bones, honed through years of hardship in the old imperial mausoleum. But the Crown Prince, born into a life of luxury and privilege in the palace, might never have known them unless he personally went to the battlefield.

"Am I... stupid?" Li Zhao asked hesitantly when he saw her silence.

Xue Sui slightly tugged at the corners of his mouth, revealing a very faint smile.

"Every inch has its advantage, and every foot has its disadvantage... What Your Highness knows, I don't know... What's so stupid about it? It's just... a skill for survival."

"The ability to survive is the greatest ability," Li Zhaodao said.

The candlelight illuminated his earnest eyes, making them appear soft and tender...

At this moment, he cast aside his princely honor and became just an ordinary man who had survived a calamity and whose heart was captivated by the woman before him.

"Your Highness..." Xue Sui looked at his handsome face, which was injured by Xiao Dingshan's elbow and blackened by smoke, yet appeared exceptionally resolute, and called out softly.

"Hmm?" Li Zhao looked up and gave her a soothing kiss on her cold forehead.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine soon..."

Xue Sui raised his uninjured right hand and gently touched the bloodstain on his chin.

"I just had a very long dream."

"What did you dream about?" Li Zhao asked softly.

Xue Sui's eyelashes trembled, and she whispered, "I dreamt... Your Highness rushed into the fire... The beams buckled, and you never came out again... I called for you, but you wouldn't answer. The fire was so big, I couldn't find you..."

Li Zhao was taken aback.

Fear gripped him once again.

Her dream was exactly what he had experienced.

"Silly girl," he whispered, his voice filled with lingering fear and heartache. He carefully sat down, pulled her into his arms, and gently and tenderly kissed her forehead...

"The King of Hell dares not take me."

As he spoke, he slowly moved closer to her ear, his voice low and resolute, and said with a smile, "He's afraid that Xue Ping'an will come knocking on his door and burn his Book of Life and Death."

Xue Sui was amused by his silly love talk.

"What nonsense is Your Highness talking about..." She stopped pretending and buried her face deeply in the crook of his neck.

Li Zhao sighed, "Why are you so troublesome? You were perfectly fine staying in the capital, but you had to travel all this way to this bitter and cold place to suffer like this."

"Your Highness... didn't you catch up too?" Xue Sui's muffled voice came from the crook of his neck, with a rare, coquettish nasal tone, as if she were pleading.

Li Zhao's heart fluttered, and he tightened his grip on her arm, without answering.

The wind and snow roared and raged outside the cave, emitting a terrifying wail.

This small cliff cave seemed to isolate the world from all the cold and malice.

"So thirsty..."

Xue Sui's sudden voice broke the silence.

Li Zhao was startled and hurriedly responded.

"Water? Oh right, I'll go find some water right now..."

He rushed to the cave entrance and scooped up a large handful of clean snow.

But looking at the cold snow, I couldn't bear to let her eat it directly.

How to do?
As the crown prince, he was surrounded by servants, but even when he was on military campaigns, he never personally did these mundane tasks. It can be said that Li Zhao had never served anyone so meticulously before.

He searched everywhere...

Finally, they found half a broken earthenware pot in the corner.

He hurriedly wiped the snow clean, then found some stones to build a makeshift stove, placed the earthenware pot on it, and let the snow slowly melt from the heat...

Xue Sui watched him clumsily but earnestly doing all this and couldn't help but smile, "Your Highness learns so quickly..."

"It's all thanks to Ping An's excellent teaching."

Li Zhao answered without looking up, his eyes fixed on the melting snow water in the earthenware pot.

After the water dissolved a little and tiny bubbles appeared, he carefully moved the earthenware pot away. He waited for the temperature to drop slightly before bringing it to his lips to test its warmth, and then patiently fed it to her lips little by little.

"Be careful of the burn."

"Hasn't Your Highness already tried it?"

"I'm rough around the edges and have a sharp tongue..." he said, gently stroking her short hair with his fingertips as if coaxing a child.

The newly grown hair was soft and fluffy, making his palms itch.

Xue Sui sipped the drink slowly, moistening her chapped lips, but her face flushed an unnatural red, even hotter than before...

"What's wrong, are you shy?" Li Zhao teased.

Xue Sui glanced at him indifferently, her thoughts drifting back to before the incident.

"Your Highness, how did you... arrive so quickly?"

Even if the villa caught fire, the main camp at Shili Slope might not receive the news so quickly, given the distance of ten miles...

“I sense you are in danger.” Li Zhao touched her face, then suddenly his gaze sharpened, and he reached under the back of her neck again.

It's terribly hot.

His heart sank.

"Ping An, do you have a fever?"

　Li Zhao: Ping An, you have a fever!
　　Reader: I think it's you who's being horny—

　　(End of this chapter)