Online Game: Me, with Unparalleled Comprehension

The person on the paper was in his early twenties, with calm eyes and slightly pursed thin lips. He wore a suit of armor from the First-Class Hall, but did not look like a Western Xia person.

She stared at that face for a few moments, her gaze lingering on those eyes.

The person bore a striking resemblance to the one I saw outside the princess's palace that night.

She placed the portrait on the table and tapped the edge of the paper lightly with her fingers.

"Keep searching," she said. "Add more people to the city gates, and thoroughly check everyone going in and out. We need to find them alive or dead."

Helian Tieshu kowtowed: "Yes!"

He got up and left, his steps hurried, and soon disappeared outside the door.

Li Qiushui sat in the room, staring at the portrait for a long time.

into the night.

The palace was brightly lit, and one by one, the palace lanterns hanging under the corridors were lit, their dim yellow glow swaying in the night breeze.

Li Qiushui sat behind a table in the main hall of her bedchamber, with several palace maids and eunuchs standing in front of her, none of whom dared to utter a sound.

Helian Tieshu walked in from outside, his footsteps very light, but still making a faint thud on the floor tiles. He walked to the table and knelt down.

"Your Majesty, we've been searching all day, but we still haven't found it."

Li Qiushui looked at him without saying a word.

Helian Tieshu lowered his head, his forehead resting on the back of his hand, his voice muffled: "We've searched the city and its outskirts, inns, houses, temples, Taoist monasteries, even those abandoned, dilapidated temples. The brothers have gone door to door asking, but no one has seen him."

He paused, swallowed hard, and said, "We checked the entry and exit records at the city gate. A man who looked similar seemed to have left the city gate this morning with a girl and another man, and they haven't returned yet."

Li Qiushui leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

The room was so quiet that only the soft crackling of the candlelight could be heard.

After a long while, she opened her eyes and glanced at Helian Tieshu indifferently.

"Go down."

Helian Tieshu paused for a moment, then looked up: "Your Majesty, about the search..."

"Expand the search area and extend the wanted notices and rewards to other towns, and have people continue the search," Li Qiushui said calmly, "but there's no need for a big fuss."

Helian Tieshu opened his mouth, as if to say something, but then swallowed his words. He kowtowed, got up, and left.

The footsteps faded into the distance in the corridor and soon disappeared into the night.

Li Qiushui sat behind the desk, staring blankly at the candlelight on the table.

She reached out and picked up the teacup on the table. The tea had gone cold, but she didn't mind and took a sip.

The coolness of the tea slid down my throat, but it couldn't suppress the restlessness in my heart.

She put down her teacup and looked out at the night view.

The moon was mostly obscured by clouds, with only a few rays of cool light filtering through, casting a thin layer of silver frost on the courtyard tiles.

Night birds flew by in the distance, the sound of their flapping wings quickly fading into the depths of the night.

She looked away and her gaze fell on the neatly folded paper on the corner of the desk.

The names of the talented young people who have come from all over the country in the past few days are listed densely across several pages.

They came from the Song Dynasty, Dali, Tibet, Uyghur, and even a few from the Liao Dynasty.

She reached out and picked up the list, flipping through it page by page.

The names flickered in the candlelight, each one a strange name, each one a strange face.

She glanced at a few pages, closed the list, and put it back where it belonged.

The marriage proposal cannot be stopped.

The news has already been released, and the people have already arrived. If we announce now that the princess is missing and the marriage proposal is canceled, what will those who have been tricked think?

What kind of reputation will these people from the Song Dynasty, Dali, Tibet, Uyghur, and Liao Dynasty spread about Western Xia after they return?

What credibility can a country have if it can't even keep a princess in check, and a royal family that can mess up even a marriage proposal?

Moreover, this seems more like that woman's revenge for slapping her in the face. If that's the case, that bitch is probably watching and secretly laughing from some corner.

She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

His fingers tapped lightly on the armrest. He'd better find a stand-in to handle things for now.

Qinglu is a reclusive girl, and not many people have ever seen her face.

Find a woman of similar age and build, dress her up a bit, teach her manners for a few days, and it's not hard to fool her.

As for those who came to participate in the marriage proposal, what they wanted was the position of imperial son-in-law, the support of Western Xia, and the benefits that this marriage alliance would bring.

Whether the princess is real or not, who cares?

She opened her eyes and her gaze fell on the candlelight on the table.

The flame flickered slightly, dancing in the lamp.

"Someone come here."

A palace maid immediately pushed open the door and entered.

"Go and summon the steward of the Imperial Household Department."

The palace maid responded with a "Yes" and withdrew.

Before an incense stick could burn, a slightly plump middle-aged man with a short beard strode in, knelt down and bowed: "Your Majesty the Empress."

Li Qiushui looked at him and said calmly, "Find a woman who is about the same age and has a similar figure to the princess. She must be properly trained and taught proper etiquette, and there must be no mistakes."

The steward paused for a moment, then looked up: "Your Majesty, do you mean...?"

Li Qiushui's gaze fell on his face, but she didn't say anything.

The steward shuddered and immediately lowered his head: "Understood, I will take care of it right away."

He got up and left, his steps hurried.

Li Qiushui sat behind the desk, staring at the door that had closed again, a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

As for Wu Qianyu—no, whatever his real name is, and that bastard Wu Xingyun, and Qinglu, she will find them eventually.

There is no one in this world that Li Qiushui cannot find.

She picked up the teacup and took another sip of the now-cold tea.

He grabbed the teacup and smashed it hard on the ground.

"boom--"

Porcelain shards flew everywhere, and tea was spilled all over the floor.

Li Qiushui stood up, her deep purple skirt sweeping across the floor tiles, stepping over the shards of porcelain, and walked to the window.

The night outside the window was as dark as ink that couldn't be dissolved. The moon was obscured by clouds, letting in only a few rays of cold light, which spread a thin layer of silver frost on the paving stones in the courtyard.

She stared at the night sky, her chest heaving violently.

Wu Xingyun and that reckless little thief.

She took a deep breath, suppressed her turbulent emotions, and went back to her bedroom.

She will find them. And then she'll show them what happens when they mess with Li Qiushui.

Meanwhile, deep in the dense forests hundreds of miles away from the Western Xia.

The night was deep. Moonlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

A bonfire burned in a clearing in the woods, the flames flickering and casting shadows on the trunks of the surrounding old trees.

Sparks would occasionally crackle and pop, shooting upwards before falling back into the fire.

Wu Feng sat on a fallen, dead tree trunk, holding a sharpened branch with several pieces of roasted mutton skewered on it, slowly turning and heating it over the fire.

The grease dripped onto the charcoal fire, sizzling and sending up a plume of smoke carrying a fragrant aroma.

Li Qinglu sat beside him, the hem of her moon-white long robe spread out on the withered leaves, her hands wrapped around her knees, her chin resting on her knees, her eyes staring blankly at the flames in the fire.

The firelight shone on her face, casting it in shifting light and shadow, with the edges of her fake beard slightly upturned above her lips.

Wu Xingyun sat opposite, leaning against the trunk of an old tree, her small face glowing a faint orange-red in the firelight.

She closed her eyes, as if resting, but her ears twitched slightly, listening to the sounds around her.

Wu Feng turned the twig in his hand, and the mutton sizzled as it roasted, the aroma growing stronger and stronger.

He tore off a small piece, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and it was warm.

He took out a few naan breads from his backpack and handed one to Li Qinglu.

Li Qinglu took it and took a small bite.

Wu Feng tore off another piece of mutton and handed it to her.

She took it and ate it slowly with the naan bread; the three of them ate in silence.

The only sounds were the soft crackling of the campfire and the occasional cry of night birds in the distance.

Halfway through her meal, Li Qinglu looked up at Wu Feng.

"Wu Lang," she said softly, "where are we going?"

Wu Feng chewed the mutton in his mouth, swallowed it, and then said, "Great Song Dynasty, Kaifeng Prefecture."