Reborn as Powerful Minister's Beloved
Chapter 441 - 420: Second Update

Chapter 441: Chapter 420: Second Update

"Don’t move, trust me—" Ju Nanyi said with effort, feeling a piercing pain in his shoulder blade. As they were falling, Ju Nanyi had already figured out where on Weixing Mountain they were; beneath them was half stream and half very tall shrubbery. If they were to land in the shrubbery...

However, the speed of the fall didn’t allow for a perfect decision. With a thud, Ju Nanyi instinctively pressed the cloth bag and himself against the softest part of the horse’s belly. Then came a massive impact, but the man didn’t wait for the collision to stop before he grabbed hold of the thick branch.

"Ah—" A girl’s piercing scream rang in his ear, its shrillness somehow comforting to Ju Nanyi in this moment.

"Don’t move. We’ve landed on a tree. If we move, falling would mean certain death." Ju Nanyi wasn’t exaggerating. Only then did he realize that they were still some distance above the ground, the stream was far away, and it was impossible for them to fall into it. Ju Nanyi turned his head and saw a line of several thick and large trees on the cliff. Because of their fall, one of the trees was already leaning.

Ju Nanyi, ignoring the pain in his body, painstakingly moved Zheng Nianru in the bag toward another tree trunk. Nianru, who didn’t dare to move even a bit, waited until Ju Nanyi finally freed his other hand and untied the bag. Only then did Zheng Nianru get a clear view of the situation.

They...

Indeed, Ju Nanyi hadn’t lied. They were hanging in mid-air, at least a dozen meters from the ground atop a cliff. Three large tree trunks had roots sticking out with soil because of their fall, and that doomed horse kept kicking, ready to fall at any moment.

Ju Nanyi gestured with his eyes toward the safest tree. Zheng Nianru nodded, crawling carefully and slowly towards the tree’s roots. Ju Nanyi took a deep breath and followed Zheng Nianru’s lead.

However, before they could reach the tree’s roots, the horse kicked, and two trees were uprooted, sending a cloud of dust and noise plummeting down.

Zheng Nianru, trembling with fear, watched the scene, clinging tight to the tree trunk, only to realize that half of Ju Nanyi’s body was still below the tree trunk.

Zheng Nianru hurriedly reached out to pull him up.

Ju Nanyi looked at Zheng Nianru. He couldn’t find any of the emotions he hoped to see in the girl’s eyes and could only give a wry smile and shake his head.

"Climb forward, try to get as close to the cliff face as possible. I’m afraid this tree could fall at any moment," Ju Nanyi said. Zheng Nianru was startled by his words and also realized that Ju Nanyi’s concerns were valid. The huge holes left by the uprooted trees next to them meant that the roots of this tree were also half exposed.

Seeing this, Zheng Nianru didn’t dare to act willfully and slowly crawled towards the cliff face.

"Crack—" The tree trunk made a huge noise, and the entire tree tilted halfway down. Zheng Nianru screamed, grabbing onto a nearby rock.

But there was no room for a person on the rock. Zheng Nianru looked around frantically—should she save him, and if so, how? Even if she did manage to save him, it was uncertain if they would survive.

"Crack—" Another piece of the tree’s roots was pulled away. Zheng Nianru didn’t have time to hesitate and tore off her coat to tie one end into a crevice in the rock, throwing the other end towards Ju Nanyi.

Ju Nanyi looked at Zheng Nianru, his left shoulder in severe pain and unable to exert any strength. Nevertheless, he still couldn’t believe that Zheng Nianru would want to save him. After all, she had always been extremely protective of her own life and surely wouldn’t risk it to save someone else.

"Hurry up. If you die, I won’t be able to live either," Zheng Nianru said resignedly. She still believed in Ju Nanyi’s strength; she couldn’t think of any other solution.

Ju Nanyi stared blankly at the girl in front of him. Although the girl’s hair was messy and her face was covered with mud, far from the everlasting delicacy and nobility he remembered, even her posture was very...

"Hurry, do you not want to live?" Zheng Nianru urged anxiously, watching as the tree root could no longer hold. Ju Nanyi took a deep breath and without hesitation, he wrapped the sleeve of the woman’s coat around his waist, leaping toward the rock.

Crash— The tree trunk, strained by the man’s force, ripped out the last of its roots, taking with it soil from the entire crevice in the rock and plummeting down the mountain. Ju Nanyi immediately pushed Zheng Nianru, rolling her into the gap where the roots of three trees were.

The narrow, low crevice barely fit the two of them. Zheng Nianru exhaled in relief; this must be what they mean by a lifesaving straw, because the last tree uprooted and took away the soil from this cliff crevice, revealing such a hole.

Then, Zheng Nianru realized that the narrow, cramped cave was larger than she had thought, as her hand felt a void.

Zheng Nianru sat up, feeling as if her stomach was still in turmoil, as though she had been severely beaten.

Ju Nanyi propped himself up and quickly scanned the surroundings, kicking the remaining soil out of the cave and clearing away the dry branches, dead leaves, and roots. The space inside the cave instantly doubled, and the entrance sloped upwards; there was a protruding rock above. Their luck was not too bad, at least those people would not find this place for the time being.

Zheng Nianru cradled her stomach, her face pale, now recalling the pill that villain had forced her to swallow. Poison?

Eight or nine out of ten, it was poison.

"Uncomfortable?" Ju Nanyi saw through her discomfort. He had already carefully stowed away Zheng Nianru’s clothes earlier; he tried to make the place as comfortable as possible, because he knew that the woman in front of him was fastidious about cleanliness.

Zheng Nianru did not answer. Her stomach was churning, but at this moment, there was no one besides Ju Nanyi.

"That man fed me a pill," Zheng Nianru finally spoke.

Ju Nanyi was slightly startled, then he understood what Zheng Nianru meant. The problem was, they couldn’t get out now.

Ju Nanyi stepped forward. The height of the cave entrance was not enough for him to stand up, but he quickly grabbed Zheng Nianru’s arm.

"What are you doing?" Zheng Nianru frowned. What was he pulling her for? She did not feel like getting up. Ju Nanyi did not answer, the pain in his left arm was becoming more numb, and he was losing more sensation.

"You—" Zheng Nianru was about to speak when Ju Nanyi already pulled her out of the cave entrance.

"Spit it out, whether you do it yourself or I help you, the pill’s effects haven’t fully been absorbed yet," Ju Nanyi said, knowing that she was very reluctant to do this.

Zheng Nianru instinctively shook her head. Ju Nanyi immediately extended his hand, and although she tried to block it unwillingly, she reluctantly nodded her head.

"I’ll do it myself." She understood the reason, but she would rather die than do this— without water to rinse, without spare clothes to change into.

Although Zheng Nianru said this, she had no intention of vomiting. As she stepped backward, Ju Nanyi grabbed her, his forehead creased with a headache; he knew it would be like this.