Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 95 The Invisible Kindness

"Tick, tick..."

In a daze, she felt something cold, drop by drop, falling on her face. What was happening? Wasn't she on her way? How could this be…?

wrong!

Jiu Que suddenly woke up, but she didn't open her eyes immediately. Instead, she tried her best to keep her breathing steady and listened carefully to the sounds outside. The environment she was in seemed very quiet, extremely cold and damp. She felt as if she were lying on the cold ground and could feel endless dampness flowing into her body, but she vaguely heard noises coming from a distance.

It seems she has been kidnapped.

Suddenly, footsteps approached from afar. They were a series of light, hurried steps, and the owner of the footsteps seemed weak, walking with an unsteady gait. It appeared to be an ordinary person who didn't know martial arts, but was taught by Senior Cui. People who don't know martial arts walk with a heavier gait, while those who have learned martial arts walk with a lighter gait.

She smelled a mixture of sweat and stench.

Immediately afterward, Jiu Que found herself being lifted up, and something cold and hard pressed against her mouth. The next moment, cold, not-so-clear water slowly fell into her mouth. Only then did Jiu Que realize that the cold, hard thing she had just been holding was probably a bowl.

She was helped to drink about half a bowl of water. The person helping her must have been a woman, because Jiu Que could sense that this person's physique seemed somewhat thin. Moreover, it seemed that she hadn't bathed in a long time, as her body scent wasn't fresh.

But overall, this person doesn't seem to have any malicious intent.

So Jiu Que moved her fingers and slowly opened her eyes. The person who had been feeding her water had been closely watching her condition, since she had been brought here for a day and was still unconscious, perhaps because she had inhaled too much of that kind of drug. If too much of that drug was inhaled, it could kill a person.

Sure enough, the next moment, the woman who had been captured slowly opened her eyes. Actually, this woman who came to take care of him had seen many people, especially in this godforsaken place, where she had seen even more—people from all walks of life, from farmers to merchants. But strangely, she had never seen such dark, such pure eyes on anyone's face. Was it innocent clarity or the weariness of life?

She took care of Jiu Que all day. Although this woman wasn't particularly beautiful and was excessively thin, her eyes were breathtaking.

Jiu Que also immediately recognized the person who had just helped him.

It was a woman whose face was almost unrecognizable. She hadn't washed in a long time, and thick layers of grime had formed on her face and neck, completely obscuring her features. Her hair was a tangled mess, mixed with yellow dirt, grass, and tree leaves. Her clothes were also a dull gray, making it impossible to discern her original appearance.

All that could be seen were a pair of numb eyes.

"Cough cough cough, cough cough, excuse me, excuse me, who are you? What's wrong with me? Where am I? Have you seen my friend?"

Jiu Que's throat felt a little uncomfortable. She didn't know if it was because of the white powder she had inhaled earlier. She hadn't felt anything when she was unconscious, but now her throat felt burning.

The silent woman glanced at her indifferently, then pulled out a dark, palm-sized object from her bosom, and said succinctly.

"eat."

"what?"

Jiu Que paused, noticing the other person's furrowed brows, and hurriedly took the half-eaten cornbread. To be honest, this was the first time she'd seen such cold, hard food since arriving in this world. Whether in the manor, the Lin residence, or the palace, her food had always been of high quality, if not the finest, so Jiu Que hadn't really noticed any difference between the food here and in her original world. It wasn't until she saw this dark, seemingly mixed-up lump of grain in front of her that Jiu Que realized she'd been living a life of excessive luxury. This thing must be called cornbread, right? She'd heard about it from the children from afar; it was supposedly made from a mixture of coarse grains and wheat bran. It was said to be hard to swallow and difficult to digest. But Jiu Que thought the cornbread they described was better than this. Because she saw bits of unchopped leaf stalks and sand in the cornbread in her hand.

"..."

She's not a picky eater, nor is she delicate. But when she saw the food in her hand, she couldn't help but wonder, "Is this really edible?"

But she had been lying down all day and was indeed a little hungry. Under the other person's gaze, she carefully took a bite of the steamed bun.

"!"

It's so hard! She almost broke her teeth. How did she bite into a pebble on her very first bite? And why would there be such an unscientific thing as a pebble in the grain?

Carefully spitting out the pebble, Jiu Que chewed it forcefully and swallowed it with difficulty. In the past, she definitely wouldn't have been able to eat this, but looking at her surroundings, Jiu Que wasn't so ungrateful; she'd eat her fill first.

She forced herself to eat the cornbread, though she felt she wasn't full at all. But obviously, no one would give her a second piece. It was at this moment that the woman who had been silently watching her spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Come out with me."

Jiu Que obediently stood up and followed the woman out, swaying slightly. If he had taken a closer look, he would have realized that the place where he had been lying for who knows how long was actually a simple cave, with a jumble of odds and ends piled haphazardly on the ground. He wondered what had been there before, as a putrid stench emanated from all directions.

It was at this moment that she realized she also had an unpleasant odor. Reaching up to touch it, she was shocked to find a layer of black grime scraping off her fingers. Wait, how long had she been unconscious?

"do not move!"

The woman noticed Jiu Que's actions and sternly stopped him. She then grabbed a handful of mud from under her feet and smeared it directly onto Jiu Que's face, neck, and all other exposed skin, covering him with a thick layer.

Only when Jiu Que, who was already filthy and whose face was so dark that he could not be seen, and who reeked of a foul odor, did he release his grip with satisfaction.

Jiu Que was almost suffocating at this moment, but she keenly sensed the woman's kindness and therefore did not resist.

"Don't get rid of this filth if you want to live."

Jiu Que nodded hurriedly, like a little chick, and followed the woman cautiously outside. It was at this moment that Jiu Que noticed something was wrong. It was bright outside, but everything around was too desolate. There were clanging and banging sounds. In the distance, people were digging with something like pickaxes, and others were transporting baskets filled with stones.

This is an……

Mine?

(End of this chapter)