My Princess Has Been Reborn: Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – Man proposes, God disposes

Lu Qipei left with no restraint in her steps. Other than the branch of apricot blossoms, she did not take anything else with her. However, this did not mean that she had no plans for her current plight. In fact, she was very clear that even though the imperial examination had passed, it was still best to avoid people from the Lu family.

Thus, after she left the courtyard, the first place Lu Qipei wanted to go to was the clothes shop —— she had already decided, this time she wanted to change into female clothes and wear a veiled hat[1] to cover her face completely! Like this, she would not have to fear being recognised, nor fear people like Qi Yang who had eyes sharp enough to see through her disguise. When the time was right, she would rent a horse-drawn cart to leave the city. Under this vast sky, where couldn’t she go?

As for after leaving the city…she didn’t believe that after so long there would still be people holding up the road for inspections!

Lu Qipei was right, in fact, ever since Lu Qicheng returned, most of the men and horses the Lu family had used to look for her had already withdrawn. And when Lu Qicheng’s face was disfigured because of the startled horse, half of the remaining few were split to investigate the incident instead.

As of this day, there were still people looking for Lu Qipei but it was only one to two tenths the original number of people.

In the capital, there were two or three people walking aimlessly. Outside the city, they had long since stopped pulling vehicles over to search people. Nobody felt that they could still find Lu Qipei who had disappeared for half a month without a trace. They did not think she was still in the capital either. Hence, as compared to the way they looked for this person half a month ago, it was outrageously lax now.

However, there’s a saying that no story is without coincidences. Applied to Lu Qipei, it was ‘Man proposes, God disposes’…

She exited the courtyard and stepped onto the road. She had planned everything clearly. However, when she was approaching the clothes shop and her cart had not even gone very far, it just had to be that a few paces away, two familiar-looking men suddenly rushed over and totally blocked her way!

These two people were the Lu family’s bodyguards. They had sent the two siblings of the Lu Family from Jiangnan[2] to the capital. They weren’t exactly familiar with the siblings but they could still recognise each other. These two people had been dispatched and happened to meet with some good luck, they could recognise Lu Qipei from far away with just a glance.

The two of them quickly moved towards her and agitatedly blocked Lu Qipei’s way, “Young Master, where have you gone these few days? You’ve worried us to death!”

Seeing these two people, Lu Qipei’s heart could not help but start pounding, and her right foot also subconsciously retreated half a step back —— if the two agitated men in front of her could notice this small movement of hers, they would be able to sense her vigilance and defensiveness.

However, they did not notice. In fact, considering their positions, they couldn’t possibly know much. They didn’t even know that the person in front of them was a woman. When they saw Lu Qipei, they still chattered on and on, “Young Master, you’ve appeared, quickly come back with us! Something’s happened to the young lord!”

Lu Qipei was still planning on how to escape right under their noses but hearing this news all of a sudden, she was stunned and even her movements of wanting to run away paused. She subconsciously blurted out, “What happened to him?”

As of now, asking this kind of question was naturally not out of concern. No matter how accepting Lu Qipei was, she would not care about those who had used and harmed her anymore. She really was a bit surprised, and at the same time, her mind was quickly thinking this over…

The two people opposite her didn’t feel that anything was off and immediately answered, “When he came out after the first round of the imperial examination, the horse drawing the carriage suddenly got startled and the young lord fell off the carriage, injuring himself. He couldn’t attend the remaining two rounds.” They sighed, then continued, “It will have to be delayed for another three years.”

Hearing this, Lu Qipei raised one eyebrow imperceptibly and immediately asked, “Then is he injured badly?”

The two bodyguards glanced at each other, then shook their head, saying that they weren’t sure.

However, seeing their reactions, Lu Qipei understood. It was likely that Lu Qicheng’s injuries were not light, otherwise it wouldn’t have to be covered up so tightly. She felt both sour and pleased about it. At the same time she subconsciously started to scheme, no longer experiencing that feeling of ‘going through the same thing’.

Of course, now she wanted to leave even more!

Sadly, while the two bodyguards opposite her were a bit slow mentally, they couldn’t possibly let Lu Qipei go with their eyes wide open when they had just found her. The two people pinned their gazes on Lu Qipei and after answering her question, they said, “Young Master, quickly come back with us.”

Lu Qipei remained silent for a moment, then tried to struggle, “I still have some things to do…”

The two bodyguards didn’t wait for her to finish speaking. They had already surrounded her, one on her left and another on her right. Although they had not made any moves, their attitude was very resolute.

In this short span of time, Lu Qipei had already weighed the situation. She could not win them in a fight nor run away, thus she instantly came to terms with them. In the end, she looked at the clothes store nearby and sighed, “Since A-Cheng has been injured, I’ll go back first. Other things will be dealt with next time.”

After she finished speaking, she started to leave, appearing very relaxed.

The two bodyguards did not continue speaking. They followed closely behind her, following her every step, seeming as respectful as usual. Only, now, Lu Qipei would never dare to let her guard down in front of the Lu family’s people again. She was completely alert. Once she turned to the front, her brows creased…

The most pressing matter at the moment was to think of an excuse. After returning, she had to be able to deceive Lu Qicheng.

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The moment she returned to the Lu household, Lu Qipei went to see Lu Qicheng. It wasn’t because she had some deep sibling ties with him but because she wanted to deceive the cruel and ruthless yet young Lu Qicheng. It would probably be a bit easier than deceiving the old and experienced Qi Bo.

Thus, when she saw Qi Bo upon returning to the Lu household, she did not wait for the other person to question her before saying, “How is A-Cheng? I heard that he’s been injured?”

Qi Bo glanced at her for a moment and didn’t hurry to ask her about anything else. He turned his head and had someone lead her to Lu Qicheng’s room. He himself did not go. Lu Qipei guessed that he was going to instruct people to investigate her whereabouts these few days. Would the princess be able to cover it up?

Her heart was full of anxiety and there was no need to act relaxed. Lu Qipei stepped into Lu Qicheng’s bedroom with a heavy heart. From afar, she could see the silhouette lying on the bed. Her emotions instantly became complicated. Her hands hidden in her sleeves subconsciously clenched into fists, yet she pretended to be concerned, asking, “A-Cheng, I’ve returned, are you…injured heavily?”

The bulging bedding on the bed moved slightly. The person who had been dazedly lying down was struggling to sit up.

Lu Qipei saw this and hesitated for a moment but still briskly walked over to help the person up —— she thought that Lu Qicheng was bedridden. In order to not show the disconnect she felt with the Lu family and not let anyone sense that there was something off, she went forward to help him up.

Who knew that when she lifted her eyes to look, she would realise that half of the other person’s face had been wrapped up with gauze. Evidently, the face was injured.

At that moment, Lu Qipei could not resist celebrating in her heart. Her gaze also could not help but linger on Lu Qicheng’s face for a beat longer. However she did not know that this extra beat was enough to cause Lu Qicheng, who was now especially sensitive, to go crazy!

In the next second, Lu Qipei’s wrist was forcefully grabbed by Lu Qicheng.

The person’s face that was half wrapped up by gauze twisted, his gaze crazy, “A-Jie[3], my good A-Jie, you’ve finally returned?!” As he spoke, the force of his grip kept increasing, “You’ve actually returned, but why did you only return now…”

If it weren’t for her disappearing without a trace, he would not have to come back, and if he didn’t come back, the incident of the startled horse crashing the carriage wouldn’t have happened to him! So it was all because of her, why did she have to disappear, why couldn’t she have obediently taken the exam in his place?

These few days, Lu Qicheng was thinking about this over and over again. He had now long since started feeling hatred for Lu Qipei.

Lu Qipei had never seen Lu Qicheng acting so crazily. Even though she had died because of him in the previous life, this person’s evil side had never really been outwardly shown. At this moment, as her wrist was fiercely grabbed and she was being questioned crazily, Lu Qipei met his gaze and inexplicably felt a bit fearful.

However, this fear only lasted a moment. Lu Qipei quickly calmed down —— she did not plan on explaining anymore because facing such a crazed Lu Qicheng, perhaps even a lazy excuse was not necessary. Hence, she simply frowned and started to struggle, wanting to shake off his shackle-like grip, “A-Cheng, calm down, hurry up and let go!”

But how could a crazy person be soothed with just the words ‘calm down’?

Lu Qicheng looked at Lu Qipei’s face that was ninety percent similar to his but still completely unharmed. He hated seeing it. His gaze was still crazed but his voice suddenly turned gentle, “A-Jie, you once said that it’s great that the two of us look the same.”

In a flash, Lu Qipei felt that something was off. She couldn’t be bothered with anything else anymore. She struggled and even yanked that person along as she retreated backwards.

The two siblings had studied liberal and martial arts together since young. Lu Qipei was born intelligent so she was naturally a bit better than Lu Qicheng at studying. However, at the same time, a woman’s constitution was naturally slightly weaker than that of men. Although she was excellent at equestrian archery, her martial skill was weaker than Lu Qicheng’s by a considerable amount. It was also because of this that despite having struggled for a while, she still hadn’t been able to shake off Lu Qicheng’s tight grip. She had to rejoice that the other party was currently injured…

Lu Qicheng was yanked off the bed and onto the ground by Lu Qipei. When he fell, the gleaming dagger in his hand also fell to the side. This had evidently affected his leg injury. His face twisted in pain but the fierce tyranny in his eyes grew stronger.

Lu Qipei did not see the look in his eyes but she saw that gleaming dagger and subconsciously took a step back.

As expected, in the next moment Lu Qicheng picked up the dagger. Even though he had fallen on the ground, looking extremely pathetic, he still stubbornly rushed towards her with the blade in hand, “Come here! Why must you escape? It was obviously you who said us two siblings need to look exactly the same, why is it that you’re not accompanying me now?”

His speech was a bit incoherent and his entire bearing was completely deranged. He was no longer as elegant as he was in the past. However, when Lu Qipei heard some bits and pieces of his words, she understood —— Lu Qicheng’s face was injured and he didn’t want her to live life well so he had to give even a scar to her, the exact same kind… perhaps it wouldn’t be just that, looking at the other person’s crazed appearance, she feared that he simply wanted to destroy her!

Lu Qipei looked at the ring of bruises on her wrist and her heart instantly chilled. She faintly regretted not staying in the other courtyard for a few more days.

The author has something to say:

Lu Qipei (serious face): I’m just naturally unlucky.

Qi Yang (smiling and nodding): That’s right, your luck was all used to meet me.

Lu Qipei (blushing):: What, what nonsense are you saying, where’s your sense of shame?!

Qi Yang (serious): I want my prince consort, I don’t need dignity anymore

Notes:

[1] ‘veiled hat’: Picture

[2] ‘Jiangnan’: Lu Qipei’s hometown.

[3] ‘A-Jie’: Affectionate way to call your elder sister (Jie meaning elder sister)