Female Consort Chapter 55: Vulnerable Spot

Qiu Che had reached her limit. Since falling into the water, she had lost consciousness.

No matter how strong her martial arts were, she was still only human. Falling from such a height, it was remarkable that she had held on until now.

She didn’t know how much time had passed.

Qiu Che awoke to the soft sound of flowing water and the faint vibrations she felt through her body.

Her mind was still hazy, and as her eyes fluttered open, she saw a familiar pale face from the side.

The other person’s hair was wet, clinging to their face, and water droplets slid down from their chin. Having been submerged for too long, the skin on their cheeks and lips had taken on a pale hue.

The tear mark at the corner of their eye was now particularly noticeable.

She was breathing shallowly, carrying Qiu Che on her back, step by step, toward some unknown place in the empty valley.

Behind them was the roaring flow of the Nanxi River.

Both Qiu Che and the other person were soaked, their bodies pressed together, and the heat of their shared warmth made everything feel especially intense.

Though she felt a little awkward, when she tried to speak, she found her voice had gone hoarse: “...Where are we going?”

Li Qingwu paused her steps and said softly, “You’re awake?”

Qiu Che hummed in acknowledgment and patted her arm. “Put me down. I can walk on my own.”

“You should listen to your voice first,” Li Qingwu slowly replied, not putting her down, but instead lifting her a bit higher with a little effort. “It’s getting dark. It’s not safe out here. We need to find a place to settle for the night.”

Qiu Che glanced up and finally realized that it had already gotten dark. They had fallen from the cliff at noon, and now the day was completely gone.

As expected, they had fallen into the river, barely managing to survive. Thanks to Qiu Che’s tight hold on Li Qingwu, the two hadn’t been swept away by the current.

But unfortunately, the current had carried them downstream.

They hadn’t been able to return to the capital, but instead, had been washed to a far-off, unfamiliar land.

The area around them was a vast empty valley, surrounded by sheer cliffs, desolate and uninhabited.

From a distance, the faint sound of wolves howling could be heard from the mountain peaks.

The land was covered in dense forests, making it difficult to discern direction.

Spending the night in such deep mountains was extremely dangerous. They needed to find shelter quickly to survive the night.

But Qiu Che could barely keep her eyes open. After a moment, she drifted back into unconsciousness.

When she woke again, the glow of a campfire illuminated the surroundings.

She was lying in a cave, resting on a bed of dry grass hastily arranged to provide some shelter from the wind.

Li Qingwu was nowhere in sight.

Instinctively, Qiu Che tried to sit up, but dizziness immediately overwhelmed her. As soon as she lifted her head, a sharp wave of vertigo hit her.

Looking down, she realized she was only wearing a white undergarment.

Touching her neck and shoulders, she confirmed that the padding and artificial Adam’s apple she had used were gone.

It seemed they had been washed away in the river.

From the narrow entrance of the cave came the sound of light footsteps.

Qiu Che immediately tensed, her body ready to spring into action.

At the dark entrance of the cave, Li Qingwu appeared, also wearing just an undergarment. She was holding a bundle of fruit and random herbs wrapped in a strip of cloth torn from her sleeve.

Upon seeing Qiu Che, she immediately relaxed.

Li Qingwu let out a quiet sigh of relief. “...Here, have something to eat.”

Qiu Che picked up one of the fruits wrapped in the cloth. It was clear that Li Qingwu was particular about even this, despite the circumstances, the fruit had been thoroughly cleaned, with water droplets still clinging to it.

Seeing Qiu Che stare at the fruit without eating, Li Qingwu paused before saying, “Don’t worry, it’s not poisonous.”

“...I know.” In her past life, while marching along the southern frontier, Qiu Che had often wandered through dense forests. On one occasion, she had gotten lost in the mountains, suffering quite a bit and learning the hard way about which wild fruits were safe to eat.

Thinking of this, she bit into the fruit and then looked up, asking, “I was just thinking... How do you know it’s not poisonous?”

Li Qingwu licked her dry lips and smiled. “I tasted it.”

Qiu Che: “...”

She almost wanted to say, Are you out of your mind? Picking wild fruit in the deep mountains like that?

But seeing the exhaustion on Li Qingwu’s face, she silently swallowed her words.

Just as she was about to say something else, Li Qingwu suddenly paused and said, “Wait a moment.”

She set the fruit down, turned, and made her way back to the entrance, struggling to carry a pile of firewood into the cave.

Qiu Che was about to stand up to help, but Li Qingwu avoided her.

Turning to face Qiu Che, Li Qingwu’s eyes carried a look of reproach mixed with urgency. “Sit back down!”

Qiu Che: “...?”

Confused, she obediently sat back on the pile of grass.

Li Qingwu placed the firewood down and added a few more sticks to the fire. Then, she quickly moved around, digging through the pile of herbs, crushing some with small stones into a semi-liquid paste, and took Qiu Che’s hand, applying it to her wounds.

Only then did Qiu Che realize that her hand was injured.

During the fall, she had used her knife to slow the descent, and her right hand was nearly ruined. She had bled all the way down the river, and even after getting ashore, the blood had continued to flow along the bank.

Now, the blood had coagulated, leaving a sticky mess all over her hand.

It hadn’t hurt much at first, but now that she was more aware, the slightest touch on the wound brought excruciating pain.

Li Qingwu glanced at her, then lowered her gaze, continuing to apply the medicine with the same clean hands.

Her pale fingers scrubbed away the bloodstains and gently spread the dark green paste over the wounds. It was a simple action, but something about it made Qiu Che feel as though these hands should never be sullied by anything unclean.

Li Qingwu didn’t notice Qiu Che’s gaze, simply muttering to herself, “I think you’ve really lost your mind. Jumping down with me without a second thought, at least you didn’t fall all the way down with me, but you didn’t even notice you were burning up...”

Qiu Che snapped out of her trance and touched her forehead, sluggishly wondering: I have a fever?

How did she not notice?

But if that was the case, it would explain why she had fainted for so long.

It was probably due to blood loss.

Li Qingwu bit down on the other sleeve of her robe. Before Qiu Che could stop her, she pulled hard and tore off a strip of fabric.

Perhaps because she had never done something like this before, her movements were somewhat awkward. In the end, after much effort, she managed to bandage Qiu Che's hand, though the result was far from perfect.

Noticing Qiu Che staring silently at the odd and poorly made "bandage," Li Qingwu cleared her throat.

Qiu Che, understanding her discomfort, subtly shifted the topic. "What about our clothes?"

Li Qingwu gestured toward the outside. "They're hanging outside. They're soaked, so I thought I'd leave them to dry in the wind."

Qiu Che tilted her head slightly and glanced at the nearby bonfire. "But… there's fire here. The night wind is strong, though. If we leave them outside, they might blow away."

Li Qingwu’s face flushed again. She coughed softly and murmured, "I was worried they might catch fire."

In her haste to find herbs for Qiu Che’s wounds, she hadn't taken the time to worry about the clothes.

Qiu Che chuckled, amused. "Well, if that’s the case, then leave them outside."

"I couldn’t find any herbs to lower your fever," Li Qingwu said quietly, handing her a fruit and apologizing softly, "I'm sorry."

Qiu Che shook her head. "My health is fine. I can hold on. Maybe it will pass by morning."

"I've checked. It’s not far, but from what I can tell, there’s no one around," Li Qingwu said in a low voice. "By morning, if no one comes to rescue us…"

If Qiu Che were a bit less lucky, even with her martial skills and strong body, in this age where wind and cold could take half your life if untreated, she might not make it.

As Li Qingwu thought about this, her eyes involuntarily reddened.

Even though she knew that Qiu Che had done all of this for her, she couldn’t help but say, "You shouldn’t have jumped."

Amid the crackling sounds of the bonfire, Qiu Che straightened up, reaching out to ruffle her hair in an attempt to lighten the mood, to stop her from being so serious.

But her body was weak, and she lacked strength.

In the end, her hand gently landed on Li Qingwu’s face.

She squeezed it lightly.

Li Qingwu was stunned for a moment, turning to look at her.

Qiu Che smiled. "Life and death are fate. It’s fine. I don’t mind."

If the end of her life meant Li Qingwu would be by her side, it would still feel like a form of completeness.

Li Qingwu immediately shot her a glare and said, "Peh, peh, peh! Don’t say such nonsense!"

For once, Qiu Che seemed to shed her "princess" identity, breaking free of the chains it brought, and the various rules that bound her. She seemed so lively.

Qiu Che smiled, her eyes curving as she followed Li Qingwu's words. "Alright, let me rephrase."

"Yao Tai once said, I’m a person with great fortune, I can’t die," Qiu Che said. "So don’t worry."

Even though Yao Tai had said this in her past life, she still inevitably died by her own father’s hand.

But it was good enough to calm Li Qingwu’s heart.

Li Qingwu, eyes reddened, asked, "Is it really true?"

Qiu Che nodded firmly, swearing, "Really."

The two stared at each other for a moment before, almost as if by instinct, they both looked away.

Li Qingwu wasn’t sure if she believed it, but she didn’t ask further.

After a moment, she turned back to her, calling out softly, "…Qiu Che."

Qiu Che leaned against the stone wall behind her, trying to use its coldness to wake up her drowsy mind.

She responded with a soft "Mm," her tone calm and steady, just like always.

As if she were still invincible.

Li Qingwu stayed silent for a while before curling up, hugging her knees, and resting her head on them, her eyes red as she looked at her.

Qiu Che then asked, "What’s wrong?"

Li Qingwu spoke in a soft, trembling voice, "Am I your weakness?"

Qiu Che froze.

Earlier on the cliff, when Yuan Fu had bound her, Li Qingwu had thought of many things.

She knew that Yuan Fu had bound her most likely to use her as leverage to threaten Qiu Che.

And because she lacked martial skills, she couldn’t even protect herself, let alone protect her companions.

Had it not been for Yao Tai provoking Yuan Fu time and time again, the knives meant for Li Qingwu would have ended up in her own body.

She had even needed to rely on the only real friend she had, besides Qiu Che, to protect her life.

Looking at it this way, her marriage to Qiu Che seemed to have brought nothing but trouble.

She brought with her the emperor’s suspicion, the ministers’ wariness, the enemy’s watchful eyes, and danger everywhere, all the time.

Because of her existence, Qiu Che, who should have been invincible, now had a weakness.

It made Li Qingwu feel a deep, suffocating sense of collapse.

By the time she asked the question, she had already made up her mind, knowing there was no other answer. All the unexpected events up to now had been brought about because of her.

Guilt and the suffocating feeling of helplessness nearly overwhelmed her.

Even her voice trembled ever so slightly, betraying her emotions.

But to her surprise, Qiu Che gazed at her for a moment, her expression still calm and composed.

Qiu Che stretched out her uninjured left hand, seemingly trying to comfort her by gently squeezing her face.

But as her hand came down, it turned into a soft caress.

It brushed across Li Qingwu’s cheek, like the wind.

"You’re not a weakness," Qiu Che said seriously. "You’re my soft spot."

Li Qingwu bit her lip, not understanding what this meant. She stubbornly insisted, "There’s no difference between the two."

She had become the means by which others could constrain Qiu Che.

Qiu Che smiled. "I don’t mind."

Li Qingwu suddenly felt a wave of immense powerlessness and sorrow.

She didn’t speak again. Instead, she turned and calmly added another log to the fire, quietly thinking:

Qiu Che said she didn’t mind, but how much of it was to comfort her, and how much was truly sincere?

Li Qingwu felt, deep down, that Qiu Che should be looking down on the world, standing tall and untouchable, free from all dirt and hardship.

She didn’t want Qiu Che to lower her head, to shed tears, or to fall from her pedestal.

A hero can’t have a soft spot.

Li Qingwu knew her own nature was passive and hard to change. But if she couldn’t be the blade in Qiu Che’s hand, killing and conquering, then she would become the strongest and most reliable shield for her.

She didn’t want this to happen again.