mtl008 Chapter 392 It turns out she's a woman.
Chapter 392 It turns out she's a woman.
"What are you afraid of? You're not just anyone," Cheng Zhian said matter-of-factly.
Li Shuchen looked at Cheng Zhian with the expression of someone admiring a hero.
"I hope you'll still be just as arrogant during the final imperial examination."
The next day, no news came from Princess Changning.
News of the palace examination arrived first, scheduled for March 15th, with the Emperor himself setting the questions.
On March 14th, Cheng Zhian bid farewell to Li Shuchen, saying he needed to return home to prepare for the palace examination.
Li Shuchen naturally wouldn't stop him.
No sooner had Cheng Zhi'an left than his maidservant came running to the inn.
With a thud, he knelt down before Li Shuchen again.
"Miss Li, please, I beg you, save my young master! An assassin has broken into our house. My young master has suffered severe injuries to his abdomen and chest and is dying. Before he lost consciousness, he said he wanted to see you one last time."
The situation was urgent, and despite having many questions in his mind, Li Shuchen didn't say much. He mounted Li Wanbai's horse and rode at full speed to the Cheng residence.
The main gate of the Cheng residence was wide open, and the windows of the main house were scattered on the floor, as if they had been forcibly broken open. There were also bloodstains near the windows, suggesting that the assassins had escaped from there.
Li Shuchen strode into the house and saw Cheng Zhian lying on the ground covered in blood.
The young man before them was deathly pale, with black blood continuously gushing from his chest and abdomen.
His clothes were soaked
The young man's dark lips made Li Shuchen realize that he had not only been stabbed in the heart and abdomen, but had also been poisoned.
"Cheng Zhi'an, Cheng Zhi'an, wake up!"
The young man on the ground did not reply.
Li Shuchen placed her trembling hand on his neck, where he felt his pulse.
Plain as water
No pulsation
The person before me had a calm face, no chest rising or falling, and no breath coming out.
It's like, dead
How could this be? He was perfectly fine just an hour ago...
She panicked, tore off her dress, and pressed it tightly against his most severely injured chest, hoping to stop the bleeding and hoping he could still breathe.
The soft touch made her momentarily stunned.
How could a man be so weak?
Li Shuchen pulled back the blood-soaked clothes and saw an unbelievable scene.
Cheng Zhi'an... she's actually a woman?
No wonder she said she wanted to marry me; she only trusted herself, and only I could help her.
She had no idea how strong the will of the frail-looking woman before her was to disguise herself as a man and participate in the imperial examinations. She was so devoted to the examinations; she wanted to become an official.
She wanted to become an official.
She can't die; she has to live.
The Resurrection Pill—yes, she still has the Resurrection Pill she got from completing a mission. Cheng Zhi'an can still be saved.
regain your composure
Li Shuchen immediately took out the Resurrection Pill, which he himself had been reluctant to consume even when poisoned, from his system space and placed it in Cheng Zhian's mouth.
He then spent 1 taels of silver from the system shop to buy a bottle of top-grade wound medicine, and sprinkled it all over Cheng Zhi'an's chest and abdomen as if it were free.
Then wrap it up in her dress and wait quietly.
After several tens of seconds, the person on the ground finally stirred.
She twitched her hand slightly, then slowly opened her eyes, surveyed her surroundings, looked at the person in front of her, and weakly spoke.
"How can I still see you in heaven?"
"I'm sorry, as your friend I've been keeping something from you, but I didn't mean to. I had my own reasons," Cheng Zhi'an said, a bittersweet smile playing on her lips.
"But now I can tell you, I'm a girl too, you didn't expect that, did you?"
"Thank you for always helping me, thank you for not stopping us from being friends because of my gender."
"In this way, I can die without regret."
After saying that, she slowly closed her eyes.
Li Shuchen shouted loudly
"No, you have regrets. You haven't become an official yet, you haven't wielded great power, you haven't helped the girl obtain her due rights and create a better tomorrow. You still have things to do, Cheng Zhi'an, you have important things to do!"
Upon hearing this, Cheng Zhian tried to open his eyes again to look at Li Shuchen.
"Those were my goals, I wanted to achieve them, but now I'm dead, I have no chance. I can only continue in the next life. Goodbye, my best friend."
Li Shuchen immediately pressed his hand on the wound on her chest and asked...
"Does it hurt? If it hurts, it means you're still alive. If you're alive, you have to get up and do things."
Cheng Zhi'an clutched his wound, his face filled with disbelief. What happened? I was just... how...
"Shu Chen, you saved me again. How can I ever repay such a huge favor?"
"Become the top scholar. As long as you become the top scholar, you can repay this favor to me."
"In my current state, I fear I would be unable to meet the Emperor."
"Eat it," Li Shuchen said, taking out another pill and handing it to Cheng Zhian, who immediately put it in his mouth.
The decisiveness surprised Li Shuchen somewhat.
"Aren't you afraid I'll poison you and kill you?"
"I'd even take a poison pill," Cheng Zhian replied quickly.
"This is a Qi-Strengthening Pill. Taking it will restore your physical condition to its peak. Although the injuries to your heart and abdomen will never be fully healed, it will at least allow you to move freely."
After explaining, Li Shuchen stood up and sat down on the stool; her knees were a little numb from kneeling for so long.
Cheng Zhian tentatively got up and sat down on the stool like Li Shuchen.
"It's really good! I can sit up now, and the wound isn't bleeding anymore and it doesn't hurt as much."
"Who hurt you? Did you see clearly?"
"He was wearing a veil, so I couldn't see him clearly, but he wasn't in much better shape than me. He fell into a trap I set; even if he didn't die, he'd be crippled."
After pausing, he continued...
He had a black jade thumb ring on his left thumb.
"A thumb ring? Another black jade thumb ring, and in the same spot."
"What? You know about this black jade thumb ring?"
"I know. There was a man wearing a black jade thumb ring who assassinated three artisans in the military camp who designed weapons, preventing Yu Ying's army from designing stronger weapons. Otherwise, how could Bo Yu Kingdom be making such a fuss now?"
"So, it seems they've got my eye on me too."
"But why would they want to kill you? What business is it of yours, an unarmed scholar?"
"You'll find out eventually; the truth will always come to light."
Li Shuchen nodded, then glanced down at Cheng Zhian and noticed a large bulge in his crotch. He asked with a strange expression.
"Where... did you come from?"
Cheng Zhian followed Li Shuchen's gaze downwards, then chuckled.
"This one's fake. I made it out of clay. It's big, isn't it?"
"So you're bringing this thing with you to the palace examination tomorrow?"
"Of course, if the officials discover that I am a woman, it is a capital offense!"
"Now that I know you are a woman, is that also a capital offense?"
"Of course, deceiving the emperor is a capital offense, but this is something you should keep to yourself and not tell anyone else."
"What a joke! You want me to tell anyone? I won't. It's not a good thing. I'll take the blame for losing my head. They'll be safe as long as they know nothing."
"Besides what you know, Linglong also knows."