She was indeed tired.
But she genuinely couldn’t fall asleep.
Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see and feel was him.
His voice and smile, the last words he said to her in the cave, and that moment when he pushed her out with all his strength.
Whenever she thought of these, she wanted to cry.
"Zhao Junyao!"
"Tell me, you won’t die!"
"I don’t believe that was you!"
"That wasn’t you, right?"
So what if she saw the body? It was in such a state, maybe it wasn’t him?
Maybe Zhao Junqi had randomly found someone to replace him?
Who knows, considering how cunning father and son are.
At this point, Xia Ruqing still held a sliver of hope in her heart.
As she indulged in wild thoughts for a while,
she suddenly thought of something and with difficulty reached inside her clothes with her hands.
Disregarding chastity and shame, she clumsily fumbled inside with her bandaged hands.
After a moment, her eyes lit up.
’Found it!’
It was the three packs of medicine she’d previously asked someone to buy.
One pack was the Bewitching Drug, which could knock someone out for three days and nights.
Another pack caused temporary impotence in men, ensuring she wouldn’t have to worry about being violated.
The last pack was poison, for when there was no other option but death.
Xia Ruqing smiled contentedly as she held the three packs of powder.
’Fortunately, you’re all here!’
’With you, I’m not afraid of anything. At worst, there’s death, isn’t there?’
’Though it’s often said that a good death is better than a bad life, sometimes dying cleanly is more important than living.’
For the first time, Xia Ruqing was impressed by her own wisdom and foresight.
She originally bought them just in case, who would have thought she’d actually get the chance to use them?
What a twist of fate!!
She closed her eyes and breathed a big sigh of relief.
Perhaps her body was too weak and exhausted, she eventually couldn’t hold on and fell asleep.
As instructed by Zhao Junqi.
No maid came in to disturb her sleep.
So when Xia Ruqing woke up groggily again, it was already pitch dark.
There was a lamp lit in the room, but the maids were nowhere to be seen.
Only Zhao Junqi was sitting by the bed, staring at her with an indescribable gaze.
For some reason, Xia Ruqing felt a wave of disgust in her heart.
Not wanting to look at him or respond, she turned her head coldly to the other side.
Zhao Junqi didn’t mind and just smiled.
"Qingqing!"
"The wounds on your hands have reopened. I had someone bandage you up again!"
"Be good and don’t move around, otherwise it might leave you with lasting problems!"
Xia Ruqing chuckled coldly but said nothing.
Her heart had only one thought: The fox comes to greet the hen at New Year, with no good intentions.
Seeing that she said nothing, Zhao Junqi continued.
"Don’t worry, when I become Emperor, you’ll still be the Empress!"
"Even if I have a harem of beauties in the future, you’ll always be the most important one, no one will surpass you!"
"Isn’t that good?"
Xia Ruqing was so angry she could spit blood, turning her head to fiercely spit at him.
"I scoff!"
"Don’t get cocky, he won’t die!"
Zhao Junqi was taken aback for a moment, but wasn’t angry, only bewildered.
"You..."
"Don’t talk nonsense, you’ve even seen the body!"
"Rest assured, after all, he’s my first cousin, I will give him a proper burial!"
"If worst comes to worst..."
Zhao Junqi said with some difficulty.
"You can mourn him for a few days too, after all... you were once husband and wife!"
"Though I will do better than him in the future, I don’t want you to think I’m bullying others!"
"Qingqing, I am genuinely sincere with you!"
"What do you have to lose?!"
Xia Ruqing shook with anger at his smug demeanor, unwilling to engage with him.
But there was one thing she had to clarify, thinking for a moment, she asked.
"There’s something I can’t understand!"
"What?" Zhao Junqi appeared eager to please.
"Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you!"
"Those gunpowder on the mountain, where did you get them from?" Xia Ruqing asked directly.
Even though this was a completely fictitious dynasty, the structure of the Celestial Empire hadn’t changed.
Logically, gunpowder should have been invented by the Celestial Empire first, then gradually spread abroad.
But now... she hadn’t heard of it existing among the populace.
So those gunpowder shouldn’t exist!
However, Zhao Junqi raised an eyebrow at her words.
"Such things are not rare, why worry about getting them?"
Xia Ruqing frowned in confusion.
"Not rare?"
Zhao Junqi nodded smilingly.
"There have long been hunters using pellets to hunt, but those primitive ammunitions couldn’t be so powerful!"