Female Consort Chapter 54: Lovers’ Tragedy

A strange calm settled in Qiu Che’s heart, her expression unchanged, almost as if she had known this moment would come.

Fu Feng was one of the elites of the Imperial Guard. For someone to injure him so severely was rare. But if it was Yuan Fu… then it wasn’t entirely surprising.

They had prepared against countless dangers, never expecting the true threat wouldn’t be a hidden scheme, but an overt act. Not a natural disaster, but a manmade one.

Qiu Che had assumed that since Yao Tai had been worried about their safety, her own side would remain unaffected.

She had let down her guard, her mistake.

Before Fu Feng could answer Wu Yiqi’s warning, a gust of wind swept past him. Qiu Che had already brushed by at lightning speed, heading in the direction he had come from, her qinggong light and swift.

She spoke crisply, snapping Fu Feng out of his daze: “Lead the way.”

Despite the blood still flowing from the wound in his chest, Fu Feng gritted his teeth and forced himself upright, worrying for Li Qingwu, lending him strength. He led the way without complaint.

Wu Yiqi started to follow but was halted by Qiu Che’s firm command: “You stay. Send word to Yu Ming and Yu Yan on my side, tell them to bring reinforcements at once.”

“And until this is over, not a word of this to anyone.”

On the way up the mountain, Fu Feng explained the situation in quick, clipped tones.

Li Qingwu had gone to see Yao Tai earlier that day. Yang Qiu had been there too.

He was one of the officials accompanying the autumn hunt, typically a civil official, rarely displaying any martial skill. His presence this time had seemed more symbolic than anything.

Given the need to avoid too much open contact between him and Qiu Che, Yang Qiu had waited for three days. When the emperor left the camp, he took the opportunity to visit Yao Tai. As luck would have it, he arrived just as Li Qingwu did.

The three ran into each other. Yang Qiu and Li Qingwu were stunned. Yao Tai, however, smiled as if nothing were amiss.

Naturally, once Li Qingwu arrived, Yao Tai took her hand and strolled with her near the temple on the mountain, chatting away, leaving Yang Qiu behind without a second thought.

What could Yang Qiu do? He silently followed at a respectful distance with Fu Feng, close enough to intervene if anything went wrong.

But the person they encountered was none other than Yuan Fu, the former commander of the Imperial Guard.

He had already knocked out Yao Tai and taken Li Qingwu hostage. Though disheveled and filthy, with tattered clothes, there was no mistaking those maddened eyes and that familiar voice, Fu Feng recognized him instantly.

Though Yuan Fu looked deranged, his martial skill remained sharp. Two throwing knives came at them the moment they met, Fu Feng dodged one but was hit by the other.

Yang Qiu quickly saw he was no match and calmly asked Yuan Fu what he wanted.

Yuan Fu laughed maniacally and screamed, “He’s the one who ruined me! That brat from the Qiu family, and you, you slut! You’re all to blame!”

With that, he stabbed Yao Tai in the arm with a gleaming dagger from who-knows-where.

The sudden pain shocked Yao Tai awake, her forehead slick with cold sweat.

Li Qingwu, held at knifepoint by his other hand, couldn’t move. Her pupils contracted. “Yao Tai!”

Yao Tai subtly shook her head to signal she was okay.

Then Yuan Fu's voice rose again:

“Bring Qiu Che here! Alone!”

It was hard to tell whether he meant it as a threat or just a rant. But either way, they needed help.

Worried that Yuan Fu might flee, Yang Qiu signaled to Fu Feng to leave and get Qiu Che. He stayed behind to delay as long as he could.

By the time Qiu Che arrived, the situation was already out of control.

They had originally been halfway up the mountain, not too far from the temple. Now, returning to the scene, the area was deserted.

Splattered blood on the ground and streaks along crushed foliage formed a trail.

At the end of it stood a cliff.

Fu Ling lay unconscious against a large rock. Yang Qiu stood further away, clutching his shoulder, blood seeping through his fingers. His gaze remained fixed, alert and anxious, on the edge of the cliff, but he didn’t dare get any closer.

Behind Yuan Fu, Yao Tai’s arm hung at an unnatural angle, her face pale as a sheet. Blood dripped steadily from her fingertips, her trail had led Qiu Che here.

Li Qingwu was bound at the cliff’s edge, only a single step separating her from the abyss.

Yuan Fu held a knife to her face, muttering to himself.

Qiu Che’s heart turned cold.

Li Qingwu spotted her first, eyes darting past Yuan Fu’s shoulder.

He quickly sensed something and pressed the knife to her neck, turning to look.

When he saw Qiu Che approaching calmly, alone, his eyes filled with hatred, and twisted joy, as if vengeance were finally at hand.

He shouted angrily, “Qiu Che!”

Yang Qiu turned.

As Qiu Che passed him, she gave him a barely perceptible nod.

Understanding, Yang Qiu took one last worried look at Yao Tai, then quietly lifted the unconscious Fu Ling and withdrew.

Yuan Fu watched all this happen but didn’t stop them. He even laughed.

He looked down at the barely conscious Yao Tai and sneered. “So you and that Yang brat were making eyes at each other. He looked so concerned for you just now… and yet as soon as you got hurt, he ran off without hesitation.”

“A filthy whore like you, no one would want you anyway.”

Yao Tai laughed coldly and spat in his face. “And whose fault is it you ended up screwing a whore, huh? You were the one who couldn’t keep it in your pants. Your lover died, you nearly died, lost everything, and now you can’t take it?”

Yuan Fu didn’t understand what “can’t take it” meant, but the mockery in her words was clear.

Infuriated, he slashed her other arm with the knife.

Yao Tai staggered, nearly fainting from pain, her face even paler.

Yet she still smiled. “I can’t stand scumbags like you, blaming women for your own lack of self-control.”

“You say rumors killed Yin Yiyi? No. It was your betrayal that did. You killed her, Yuan Fu. You did it with your own hands.”

Li Qingwu’s voice was choked with tears: “Stop… Yao Tai, stop talking…”

“You’re lying! Shut up, crazy woman!” Yuan Fu’s eyes were bloodshot. He grabbed Yao Tai by the collar and raised the knife again.

Qiu Che cut in at just the right moment: “Commander Yuan.”

Yuan Fu froze, turning to glare at her.

The wind on the cliff howled. Qiu Che advanced slowly, unfazed, her voice calm. “It’s been a while. I’m surprised you’re alive, though judging from your state, it hasn’t been easy, has it?”

Her steady tone pierced through him like a needle. He flew into a rage. “Yes, all because of you! My benefactor said it was all your fault! If it weren’t for you, if I hadn’t gotten involved with this slut… my Yiyi wouldn’t have gotten mad at me. We were so in love…”

He faltered, then raved again. “You’re the one who spread the rumors! You ruined everything!”

Qiu Che narrowed her eyes slightly. “...Who told you I was the one who spread them?”

Yuan Fu’s rambling grew more unhinged. “My benefactor! No one else knew but you… it had to be you!”

As he shouted, the knife trembled in his hand. A thin line of blood appeared on Li Qingwu’s pale neck, stark and vivid.

Qiu Che didn’t even blink. She chuckled softly. “So you believed your benefactor, and came all this way to get revenge?”

“To get revenge on all of you! You’re all my enemies! You all deserve to die!”

Then he suddenly quieted.

He eyed Qiu Che warily. “Your woman’s in my hands… yet you’re so calm. Still in the mood to chat with me?”

Qiu Che paused slightly.

Then, under the watching eyes of everyone present, she tugged at the corner of her mouth and gave a faint smile, one that was a somewhat strange smile.

It was as if she heard a joke, and she was a little puzzled.

She opened her lips and uttered: "Why do you think that holding her hostage can threaten me?"

"To be honest," she raised her hand and casually pointed at Li Qingwu, with a relaxed tone, "She and I are just a fake couple, I don't love her at all."

"It's better to threaten me with the maid beside me than to threaten me with her."

No one noticed that Li Qingwu's body stiffened slightly after hearing this.

Even though she knew that this was most likely Qiu Che's rhetoric to let Yuan Fu relax his vigilance, people are made of flesh and blood after all.

She couldn't help the dense pain that rose in her heart at this moment.

Yuan Fu glared at her: "Impossible! You are lying!"

"I clearly heard it. You are inseparable even when bathing. Meng is inseparable from Jiao Jiao. How can you be a fake couple!" He shouted without thinking, "You want to lie to me! Impossible!"

The air on the cliff seemed to freeze for a moment.

Even Yao Tai's uncontrollable gasp due to injury was paused.

...No.

This young couple had played so much without her knowing?

At that moment, Qiu Che suddenly thought of the childish "assassination" that he encountered in the bedroom more than a month ago.

Looking closely again, Yuan Fu's figure seemed to be almost the same as the assassin that day.

In this case, if it was him who fought with Qiu Che that day, it would be no wonder.

He had been eyeing Qiu Che at that time?

The Princess's Mansion was under martial law, and Qiu Che himself was not someone to be trifled with. He probably couldn't find an opportunity to attack, so he decided to go after Li Qingwu.

They had to wait for more than a month before they were completely free from the protection of the Princess's Mansion guards.

But the autumn hunt was a royal activity, and the area around the hunting grounds had been cleared in advance to identify any people. After the emperor entered the hunting grounds, the Imperial Guards tightly guarded the entire mountain where people could go up and down.

It stands to reason that a "dead person" shouldn't be allowed to appear here.

How did he sneak in quietly?

Who was the benefactor he mentioned? How did he save Yuan Fu's life in the execution ground in full view of everyone, and not be discovered?

Would that person be related to the person behind the scenes that she had previously guessed?

What was the other party's purpose?

Qiu Che's thoughts turned around and around, and when she was in a stalemate with Yuan Fu, she suddenly heard a burst of dense footsteps behind her.

Yuan Fu's expression suddenly changed. He grabbed Li Qingwu's arm and said sternly, "Qiu Che! You didn't keep your promise!"

Qiu Che turned around and met the anxious, worried gazes of Wu Yiqi, Yu Ming, and Yu Yan.

Behind her stood dozens of elite guards from Yeming City, all highly skilled martial artists. As they stood in formation, their sheer presence was suffocating.

Even with reinforcements at her side, Qiu Che didn’t dare to relax for even a moment.

Outwardly, however, she remained calm and unbothered. She glanced over her shoulder at Yuan Fu and shrugged. “When did I ever promise I’d come alone?”

“Besides, Commander Yuan, you’re here for revenge. Surely you wouldn’t come empty-handed,” she said evenly. “Given the circumstances, it’s only reasonable that I bring some protection along, don’t you think?”

“Well, well, well,” Yuan Fu laughed in fury, his face twisting with rage. “Aren’t you clever! You really think I won’t kill her right here and now?!”

As he spoke, he pressed the blade tighter against Li Qingwu’s neck.

Qiu Che’s hand, hidden behind her back, clenched then loosened. But she forced herself not to let her gaze linger on Li Qingwu’s throat.

After a pause, she said coolly, “I’m not panicking, why are you?”

“Why don’t you tell me what it is you really want?”

“What do I want?” Yuan Fu sneered. “I want you dead!”

“That’s not going to happen,” Qiu Che replied calmly.

“Then she dies!”

He didn’t believe a word of Qiu Che’s emotionless nonsense. He knew he couldn’t kill her, but venting his rage by killing the woman she cared about was good enough.

With that thought, Yuan Fu completely lost his patience. As soon as the words left his mouth, he moved to plunge the knife into Li Qingwu’s abdomen.

But before he could, a sudden force from behind interrupted him.

No one had noticed when Yao Tai had crawled back to her feet. Her arms were covered in blood, but she lunged forward and sank her teeth into Yuan Fu’s ear.

Startled, Yuan Fu loosened his grip, then instinctively turned and stabbed her again.

This time, the blade sank into Yao Tai’s abdomen. It should have been enough to end her strength completely.

But she grit her teeth and held on. Her body stiffened for just a moment, but she didn’t let go.

Even as Yuan Fu screamed in agony, filthy and disheveled, she refused to loosen her bite.

Blood poured from his ear. With his frantic struggling, Yao Tai’s bite was so fierce she ended up tearing the entire ear off.

Yuan Fu let out a gut-wrenching scream. Enraged, he stabbed her twice more, shouting through the pain, “Bitch! You filthy bitch! Die already, !”

Everything happened in a flash.

Meanwhile, Li Qingwu had finally managed to quietly undo the ropes binding her.

Seeing that Yao Tai had passed out, her face covered in blood, and that Yuan Fu still seemed intent on stabbing her again, Li Qingwu and Qiu Che moved at the same time, both lunging toward him.

Qiu Che aimed for the weapon. But Li Qingwu, who was closer, slammed into Yuan Fu from behind without a word, knocking the grown man straight off the edge of the cliff.

Yuan Fu’s pupils shrank in shock. At the last second, he managed to grab onto Li Qingwu’s sleeve.

And just like that, both of them plummeted from the cliff together.

Qiu Che twisted mid-stride, and the moment she saw what had happened, her calm facade finally cracked. She shouted without thinking, “Qingwu!”

She no longer cared about anything else. All her hesitation vanished, her mind went blank.

All she knew was that the cliff was a hundred zhang deep.

Yuan Fu was as good as dead.

But if Li Qingwu was dragged down with him, there would be no way she could survive either.

Qiu Che didn’t know what she was supposed to think at that moment, and she didn’t want to.

Without a second thought, she leapt off the edge after them.

As shouts of alarm rang out behind her and the wind roared in her ears, Qiu Che reached out midair, trying to grab the fluttering skirt of Li Qingwu, who fell like a yellow butterfly ahead of her.

In her eyes, only that flash of bright yellow remained.

Everything else faded.

As if hearing her voice, or sensing something, Li Qingwu, who had been falling with her eyes closed, slowly opened them and met Qiu Che’s gaze.

Their eyes locked. Li Qingwu saw her desperately reaching out, and after a brief pause, reached back. Their fingers touched.

They clasped hands, wordlessly, with a resolve stronger than ever.

And the moment Li Qingwu’s fingers closed around hers, she seemed to find peace, immediately losing consciousness in Qiu Che’s arms.

If someone had told Qiu Che a few months ago that she would one day risk her life for someone else, she never would have believed it.

She had been given a second chance at life. There was no way she would waste it before her revenge was complete.

But fate never let them walk a straight path. Every step forward turned unexpectedly.

Qiu Che had never understood why she was drawn to Li Qingwu, an introverted, traditionally beautiful woman with no special traits, seemingly born to live out her days within the confines of a courtyard.

She’d given herself many reasons.

Because she saw her own pain and struggle mirrored in Li Qingwu.

Because guilt from her past and present lives made her pay too much attention.

Because it was affection born from time, from familiarity.

All of these were true.

But there was one explanation that summed it up best.

With the wind howling past her ears, Qiu Che gripped Li Qingwu’s cool hand tightly, pulling her into her embrace mid-fall.

The wind made it impossible to keep her eyes open or see Li Qingwu’s face clearly.

But Qiu Che could hear her own deafening heartbeat as she thought to herself:

Love and hate make no sense.

They make cowards brave, and the rational lose control.

Love is a mystery.

And Qiu Che admitted it, she was a fool. She hadn’t understood it in her past life, and she couldn’t grasp it in this one.

, but that was fine.

Until the very end, she would never give up.

As long as they were alive, 

As long as they survived, they would have all the time in the world to figure it out together.

So what if Li Qingwu had been pretending? So what if she’d been affected by some poison?

Qiu Che had never expected the things she wanted to fall into her lap anyway.

She was done being the “noble one” in this relationship.

If she wanted Li Qingwu’s love, then she would fight for it, steal it if she had to, but it would be hers.

Squinting against the wind, Qiu Che struggled to spot any tree branches jutting from the cliff that she could use.

She quickly adjusted her posture, using one branch to slow their fall.

Then she pulled out her engraving knife from her sleeve pouch and slashed it against the cliff wall, carving a deep groove.

The force sent stones tumbling.

But with both of their weight and the speed of the fall, it only slowed them by half.

The impact tore her palm open.

Yuan Fu wasn’t so lucky, he vanished into the abyss below.

Gritting her teeth, Qiu Che scanned their surroundings, kicked off the wall, and stabbed into another rocky outcrop to brake again.

Their descent slowed further.

Good news: it worked.

Bad news: the cliff was so deep it made her dizzy, and Li Qingwu was unconscious in her arms, she couldn’t keep this up for long.

After doing this a dozen times, Qiu Che was close to collapse.

She was thankful that when Li Qingwu had that knife custom-made, not a single corner had been cut. It was durable.

Even so, the knife was now worn down and barely effective. It wobbled under their weight and could snap at any moment.

Was this really the end?

Qiu Che refused to accept that.

In the silence of the deep valley, she paused and listened intently.

After a moment, she exhaled.

There it was, water.

There was a water source below the cliff.

And judging from the sound, it wasn’t just a trickling stream.

The largest river beneath the hunting grounds of South Garden in Jinzhou was the Nanxi River, which connected all the way to the capital’s moat.

Qiu Che took a deep breath and looked down at Li Qingwu’s pale lips.

There was no other way.

She’d bet everything on this.

If they lived, then they’d live well.

She’d give Li Qingwu all the answers she ever wanted.

…And if they didn’t make it, then that was simply fate.

After a long moment, Qiu Che let go, tucked away the now-dull knife, and held Li Qingwu tightly.

Then she closed her eyes and let them fall once more.

Back at the cliff’s edge, Wu Yiqi stared into the abyss where no figure remained and muttered, “You’ve got to be kidding, Brother Qiu… Now’s really not the time to be pulling a star-crossed lovers stunt…”

He glanced back at Fu Feng, unconscious from blood loss, and Yao Tai, lying unmoving on the ground and her life or death was unknown, and Yang Qiu who had gone to the Taoist temple to report the news, and was almost shaky and fainted when he saw the miserable state of Yao Tai after returning.

Wu Yiqi and the pale-faced Yu Ming and Yu Yan beside him looked at each other for a moment, and wailed in their hearts, almost scratching their ears and cheeks.

Someone come and save him.