The Escape

After calling out, Afang stepped aside and lowered her head, saying nothing.

Everyone else looked utterly bewildered.

The Great King? The Queen?

The Great King was here, but where was the Queen?

Inside the palace hall, Dowager Empress Huayang and Zhao Ji, along with the Princesses of the Six States, all turned toward the entrance. The princesses stared at Ying Zheng and Verdant Green Maiden, whose arm he was gripping, their expressions stunned. They had asked around about the women at Ying Zheng's side as soon as they arrived.

They knew about Afang and the others, but not one of them knew where Verdant Green Maiden had come from!

The two empress dowagers looked at the Queen of Qin's robes Verdant Green Maiden was wearing and drew in a sharp breath.

Verdant Green Maiden came to her senses. She clenched her right fist and was about to strike Ying Zheng on the head.

"Master... help me!"

Ying Zheng whispered quickly.

Verdant Green Maiden's eyes widened even further. She swore, "Help you? Help you, Yellow Emperor's Grandfather! I've lived for over two thousand years, and you're the first to have such a death wish! You want help? I'll help you with a punch!"

She punched Ying Zheng's crown off, then turned and fled.

If Ying Zheng hadn't been the future emperor, the one she wanted to build up Dragon Qi by making him ascend the throne, she would've smashed his head in with that punch long ago!

Ying Zheng stood in place, hair loose, his expression wooden.

"Zheng, what's going on?"

Zhao Ji watched Verdant Green Maiden run off and Ying Zheng stand there, stunned and at a loss. Her brows knitted together.

Ying Zheng came to his senses, coughed lightly, and turned solemnly to Zhao Ji and Dowager Empress Huayang. "Empress Dowager, Mother, she is the Queen I have chosen!"

Dowager Empress Huayang's face changed. Outraged, she demanded, "How can this be?"

"Do you think Master is unworthy of being My Queen, Empress Dowager? If not for her, I would have died in Handan long ago. How could I be here today?"

Ying Zheng stared straight at Dowager Empress Huayang and delivered those words without the slightest hesitation.

His words didn't anger Dowager Empress Huayang most of all. The Princesses of the Six States exchanged uneasy glances, flustered and alarmed.

Had they traveled a thousand li to Qin just to witness this?

"But Master, she..."

Zhao Ji frowned. She had seen everything clearly just now: Verdant Green Maiden had punched Ying Zheng, and now she had run off.

He had chosen her?

What good was his choice?

Could a mortal make an Immortal do as he pleased?

Ying Zheng drew a deep breath and said gravely, "I will handle this matter. You have all come a long way from your states, and Great Qin cannot neglect you. Please, everyone."

How could anyone still enjoy the feast?

The Princesses of the Six States felt even more disheartened. The delicacies laid out before them tasted like wax. They watched Ying Zheng seated on the raised platform, each with her own thoughts, and many looked aggrieved.

Verdant Green Maiden raced back to the Jade Maiden Shrine. She kicked the door open and called to Hong Luan, "Hong Luan, we're getting out of here!"

"What's up?"

Hong Luan rolled over on the altar table and lazily lifted her head. Catching sight of Verdant Green Maiden's outfit, she gave a little cry of surprise. "Those clothes look pretty nice. Did Ying Zheng give them to you?"

Verdant Green Maiden flicked her on the head and scolded, "Get moving already!"

Hong Luan woke up a little more. Seeing how agitated Verdant Green Maiden was, she was even more baffled. "Stupid Snake! What happened?"

"If we stay any longer, I'll be sold off with the packing!"

"Wouldn't that be great? You're so lazy. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone look after you?"

Hong Luan muttered.

"I'm so sorry for being lazy!"

Verdant Green Maiden shot her a glare and snapped, "Get up! Hurry!"

Hong Luan didn't understand, but she did as she was told. The woman and the bird slipped out of Qin Palace in the dead of night and raced toward the outskirts of Xianyang. By the time Ying Zheng had finally gotten away and went looking for Verdant Green Maiden, they had already left Xianyang—Snake had vanished into the wilderness.

"Great King, we can't find Master anywhere! The offerings at the Jade Maiden Shrine are gone too..."

Afang spoke to Ying Zheng anxiously, her brows tightly furrowed. Hesitantly, she asked, "Could Master have gotten angry with us and left?"

"Impossible!"

Ying Zheng frowned, his expression grave.

"We were so naughty when we were little, and Master forgave us then. How could she abandon us and leave?"

But no matter how many people Ying Zheng sent out to search, they couldn't find a trace of Verdant Green Maiden.

When he heard their reports, Ying Zheng suddenly laughed and murmured to himself, "Master left... Master really doesn't want Me anymore! Afang, was I wrong?"

"The Great King can do no wrong," Afang replied, lowering her head.

Ying Zheng fell silent and said nothing for a long time.

Verdant Green Maiden fled through the night. By dawn, Hangu Pass was already in sight.

After hearing the whole story from her, Hong Luan laughed the entire way.

Verdant Green Maiden kept muttering, "In over two thousand years, this is the first time I've been outsmarted by some brat! And one I raised with my own hands! Sigh, I suppose I've been too comfortable these past few years. My reflexes have gotten much worse!"

Hong Luan cocked her head. "Don't you get outsmarted all the time?"

It was just that in the past, she'd been able to rely on her own strength and fight her way through. This time, she couldn't.

As they walked, Verdant Green Maiden suddenly stopped and looked at Hong Luan with a wounded expression.

"Hong Luan, I forgot my clothes..."

Her green outfit was still in Ying Zheng's hands!

Hong Luan circled Verdant Green Maiden and said, "This outfit looks nice too! Why not use this chance to get some new clothes?"

"These are the Queen of Qin's clothes. I have to change!"

Verdant Green Maiden sighed. These clothes weren't as comfortable as her green outfit, and they made it awkward to move around. If she'd been wearing her green outfit, would she really have failed to reach Hangu Pass in a whole night? She would've been through the pass already!

After crossing Xiao Mountain, Verdant Green Maiden entered the lands of the Six States of Shandong.

But she still didn't feel safe. She kept heading east until she reached Qi State and the coast, where she finally stopped.

The Snake Girl disguised herself as a fisherman and settled on a small island by the sea.

But she hadn't chosen the island at random. Qi Kang Gong Lü Dai, Jiang Ziya's nineteenth-generation descendant, had died there. A clan shrine he had built still stood on the island, enshrining the thirty-one rulers of Jiang Qi. At the very top was an old acquaintance of Verdant Green Maiden's: Jiang Ziya!

Unfortunately, after Lü Dai's death, the Jiang Qi clan scattered in all directions, and no one had tended the shrine for ages.

Verdant Green Maiden carried a pole over her shoulder, with a long string of red sea bream hanging from its far end. As she passed the ruined shrine, she took one fish off the pole and tossed it onto the offering table.

"Don't go saying I forgot our old friendship down there!"

Hong Luan didn't know Jiang Ziya, but she thought that after eight hundred years, the fact that anyone still came to sweep his grave was reason enough to say thank you!

The next time she heard news of Ying Zheng was more than a year later.

He had married the Chu Princess but had not made her Queen. She also heard that he had established an organization called the Black Ice Platform. Its members were as terrifying as ghosts, monitoring the realm and gathering intelligence.

The Snake Girl shivered, instantly realizing what else the Black Ice Platform was for.

"You little brat, you're searching mountains and scouring seas to catch a snake!"

Clutching Hong Luan, Verdant Green Maiden sobbed as she lamented, "Poor Snake, what a miserable fate! Now someone's got their eye on me. I could get caught any day now, boohoo..."

Hong Luan wanted to roll her eyes. "Oh, please! He's trying to catch you so you can be his Queen, not make you into snake soup!"

"Queen? I'd rather be snake soup!"