"The antidote!"
Hu Biao's voice was cold.
But only he knew that his heart was being ripped apart at that moment.
That was their most beloved daughter!
How could that woman, Luola Zhen'er, be so heartless!
Looking at Hu Biao, who was so close and wanted to kill her.
Luola Zhen'er panicked even more.
"Hu Biao, listen to me. Our daughter, she'll be fine. It'll just hurt for a few days, it won't harm her body. This is the antidote. I'll give you the antidote, and you hurry and give it to her when you get back. She won't hurt anymore after a while."
Luola Zhen'er retreated. In her panic, she tried to use their daughter to make Hu Biao calm down.
But at this moment, Hu Biao's mind was filled with the image of his daughter suffering.
"Mmm!"
The moment the dagger pierced Luola Zhen'er's heart, Hu Biao took the antidote from her hand.
"Hu Biao... you...!"
The blood from her chest spread, painting a Lycoris radiata on her dress.
Crimson and vibrant.
As her body fell, she used all her strength to tightly grasp Hu Biao's arm.
Unwillingness and heartache were clearly displayed on her face.
The moment Hu Biao withdrew the dagger, his hands trembled as he held her as she fell.
"I hate you!"
These three words seemed to use all her remaining strength.
Hu Biao held her, the eight-foot man weeping uncontrollably.
Gu Qianying watched quietly.
By the time she arrived, the inside and outside of the prison had been replaced by her people.
She wasn't worried that Hu Biao and she would be discovered here.
Looking at Hu Biao's pained expression.
Gu Qianying turned her face away.
She had given Hu Biao a choice.
If Hu Biao wanted to continue "playing dead," she would have complied.
Now, Luola Zhen'er no longer posed any threat to her.
It was not impossible to disguise a foreign princess as someone who committed suicide by poison to make a clean escape.
She had the ability to do it.
Luola Zhen'er was dead.
She died in Hu Biao's arms.
After Gu Qianying left the prison, the prison caught fire.
According to the original plan, Hu Biao took advantage of the chaos and left with Luola Zhen'er's corpse.
Outside the city.
Hu Biao buried Luola Zhen'er next to the small thatched cottage where they had lived before.
The house was simple, but it was where he had experienced his happiest times.
Not far away, Gu Qianying, sitting on horseback, watched Hu Biao kneeling before Luola Zhen'er's tombstone.
She gazed intently, remaining silent.
Her red clothes fluttered, and in the faint sunlight, her figure was slender and delicate.
"He is also a devoted person, but unfortunately, his wife's ambition was too great, wanting too much. Otherwise, they would have been a loving family."
Beside her, Ouyang Qinglin sat on another horse.
He wore a crimson python robe, his bewitching eyes dark and unfathomable.
Gu Qianying turned to look at him and said earnestly, "You can too."
Ouyang Qinglin suddenly smiled, his smile captivating everyone. "With whom? With you? If it were you, I would be overjoyed. If it were anyone else, I would rather remain unmarried for a lifetime."
His words were too heavy.
Gu Qianying felt she couldn't bear it.
"It's not worth it, I'm not worth it. Why are you like this?"
A hint of heartache flickered in Gu Qianying's eyes. She felt sorry for Ouyang Qinglin, but she couldn't love him.
"Whether it's worth it or not, I decide. You don't need to care."
Ouyang Qinglin's lips still held a bewitching smile, but only he knew how bitter his smile was, as if it had been stained with bitter herb juice.
Gu Qianying remained silent, only looking at him.
"If possible, in the next life, I choose to love you."
Gu Qianying could not give him an answer to his devotion, nor could she give him what he desired.
But for everything he had done for her, she could not pretend to be blind and ignore it.
Gu Qianying clearly saw and felt how much Ouyang Qinglin had sacrificed for her.
And for all of this, she had no way to repay him.
If there was a next life, she thought, out of gratitude, she would fall in love with Ouyang Qinglin first, making up for his debt in this life.
Gu Qianying's words were like a sweet candy, firmly wrapping around his heart.
This time, Ouyang Qinglin, in front of Gu Qianying, let down his usual pretense and showed her his most sincere smile.
"Good! It's a deal!"
Watching him smile happily like a child.
Regarding Ouyang Qinglin's debt.
Gu Qianying felt that if it meant exchanging lives, she would be willing to trade her life for his, sacrificing herself to protect Ouyang Qinglin.
It had nothing to do with love, but only with his devoted affection.
He knelt for a long time before Luola Zhen'er's tombstone.
When he got up, his legs were a bit numb. Hu Biao leaned against a tree, turned, and came before Gu Qianying.
He held his sword and knelt on one knee. "Miss, Hu Biao's life belongs to you from now on. Do as you please, kill or torture."
As he spoke, he took out the antidote Luola Zhen'er had given him from his sleeve and offered it with both hands. "This is my daughter's antidote. I implore you, Miss, to take it back. Hu Biao will not return. From today onwards, there is no more Hu Biao in the world, only a loyal dog by your side."
For his daughter, he was willing to put down his dignity and be trampled underfoot by others.
Hu Biao knew very well that with his own strength, he was not enough to protect his daughter as she grew up.
His wife, Luola Zhen'er, had shed her disguise and become a criminal of the Eastern Victory Kingdom.
And Emperor Nan Rongqi would not let him go.
If he were alone, he could disregard everything. The world was vast, and there would always be a place for him.
But now, it was different. He had a daughter.
His daughter had just lost her mother. He couldn't bear to take his daughter and live as a fugitive, constantly on the run.
And at this moment, the only one who could protect his daughter was Gu Qianying, the eldest daughter of the Gu family, the former Ninth Princess, and now the Imperial Noble Consort!
Seeing Hu Biao kneeling at her feet.
Gu Qianying's face turned cold. She dismounted and walked up to Hu Biao.
Hu Biao was still kneeling.
"No need to change your name. You are still Hu Biao. However, you are someone who betrayed me before. Using you again, if I don't test you, I will never use you again."
Gu Qianying took the antidote from Hu Biao's hand.
She did not let Hu Biao rise. After hiding the antidote on her person, she took out a poisoned dagger from her sleeve.
She handed the dagger to Hu Biao and said to him, "You have two days to go into the palace and find out where the former emperor is being held captive. If you are caught by Nan Rongqi, you can choose to commit suicide, or resist. If you endure, I will send someone to rescue you. If you cannot hold on, then it is your fate."
"This is your mission, and your test. If you return alive from this test, I will let bygones be bygones and allow you to continue to be by my side. If you die outside, before you die, I hope you can pass on the information about the former emperor's place of confinement."
With that, Gu Qianying personally helped Hu Biao up and looked at him. "If you die, I will not avenge you. This is what you owe me."
"However, I can guarantee with my life that from the day you entrust your daughter to me, as long as I am here, she is here. If I die, she will live. Moreover, I can also promise you that your daughter will never be a pawn for others in this life, nor will she become a sacrifice between monarchs of various countries. She will live a carefree life as an ordinary person, get married, and I will treat her as I would my own daughter."
Luola Zhen'er was a princess of another country, and her daughter was a郡主 (junzhu - a title for a princess or noble lady) of that country.
If another country wanted to use marriage alliances to gain benefits for itself, these junzhu, princesses, and the like were the best "hostages" and the best "pawns" for marriage alliances.
Hu Biao entrusted his daughter to her, wasn't it because his commoner status was insufficient to protect his daughter?
For this reason, Hu Biao had come to her with his daughter.
She was not a saint. Protecting someone of such a special status as Hu Biao's daughter would inevitably come with a price.
And Hu Biao was someone who had betrayed her before.
How could she just let Hu Biao entrust his daughter to her so easily?