Chapter 84: Chapter 84: Who Said There Was Nothing to Eat, Wild Pheasants Flying Amok

Chen Shaobei immediately tightened his grip on the rope, and the guards strained to pull.

He ordered sharply, "Pull back! Tie it to the carriage and have the horses run forward!"

That was the only way to pull them back up.

Before Shen Ningning could even react, she felt herself swinging in midair, held tightly in Mo Lingwei’s arms.

His voice was rushed. "Are you alright?"

Shen Ningning looked down. Below her was an endless, bottomless chasm.

The guard at the very bottom seemed to have been knocked unconscious by a falling plank, his limbs hanging limply.

The little girl’s voice trembled. "Brother..."

She came back to her senses and looked at Mo Lingwei. He had no safety gear on at all.

Shen Ningning’s little face went pale with fright, her dark eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Why did you come down too?"

Seeing that she was mostly unharmed, Mo Lingwei relaxed a little.

His pleasant voice replied, "I was afraid you would die just like that."

Chen Shaobei leaned over the cliff edge from above and shouted down to them.

"Crown Prince, are you two alright?"

Mo Lingwei called back, "We’re fine! Pull us up."

The rope began to move, and he held on tight.

Fearing he would fall, Shen Ningning clutched his clothes even tighter.

Pulled by the carriage, the rope slowly ascended.

But Chen Shaobei noticed that the rope was fraying against the edge of the cliff.

If there was any more weight, it would snap.

’This is bad,’ he thought.

"Lower another rope!" Chen Shaobei commanded.

He shouted down, telling Mo Lingwei to grab the other rope.

Otherwise, if the rope broke, all three of them would die.

Chen Shaobei didn’t dare to even imagine if something happened to the Crown Prince...

However, before they could react, the rope holding Shen Ningning and the others really did snap!

Ren Yu let out a piercing scream. "They fell!"

Chen Shaobei scrambled to his knees at the cliff’s edge and looked down.

Amidst the billowing dust of the vast mountain, their figures were gone.

A chill colder than snow settled in everyone’s hearts.

’Dead... The Crown Prince followed Shen Ningning to his death in the valley?’

Lu Shaoyuan collapsed to his knees right at the edge of the cliff, veins bulging on his neck as he screamed with bloodshot eyes, "Shen Ningning! Shen Ningning?!"

The empty valley offered no reply.

Qin Fangmei was ecstatic, almost delirious with joy!

’Shen Ningning is finally dead!?’

Xiang Qian was the first to burst into tears. Soon, a chorus of sobs echoed in the searing heat of the blazing sun.

...

Shen Ningning felt as if she had been asleep for a very long time.

In her dream, she seemed to be lying in a carved mahogany rocking cradle. By reaching out her little hand, she could grab the cloth doll tied to it.

She babbled and cooed.

A gentle voice came from beside her. "Ningning, my sweet darling, are you awake?"

’Mother?’

The little girl turned her head. She couldn’t see the woman’s face clearly, only sensing that she was very young, wore a purple blouse, and gently lifted her out of the cradle.

Her mother carried a wonderfully pleasant scent, though Shen Ningning couldn’t quite place what it was.

The golden hairpin in her hair was dazzling, and the sunlight outside the window was warm and gentle.

The room’s furnishings were elegant and quaint.

However, everything was shrouded in a layer of mist, allowing her to see only outlines but no details.

A piece of calligraphy on the wall caught the little girl’s attention. It was a four-character phrase meaning "A Peaceful Heart and Mind."

It was the only thing she could see clearly.

Seeing Shen Ningning staring at the characters, the young woman smiled, held the little girl close, and read them one by one. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Ningning, you like the words your daddy wrote, don’t you?"

"The first character is your mother’s name. The next two are your older brothers’. And the last one, ’Ning,’ is you."

"When Ningning grows up, your daddy will teach you calligraphy. His handwriting is the most beautiful of all."

’Older brothers...’

’I have older brothers?’

Shen Ningning tried to ask, but all that came out was the babbling of a baby.

"My lady, I’m home." A man’s gentle, laughing voice came from the doorway.

The little girl looked over and saw her daddy standing in the doorway, backlit by a bright light that obscured his face.

She could only tell that he was tall and wore magnificent robes.

’Daddy...’

Shen Ningning reached out her little hands, whimpering continuously, "Dada..."

she called out indistinctly.

The man happily rushed over and carefully held her. "Daddy’s little sweetheart!"

She tried to open her eyes wide, wanting to see her parents’ faces clearly.

But just then, this blissful dream came to an abrupt end.

"Shen Ningning? Shen Ningning!" A frantic voice called out by her ear.

The little girl opened her eyes. Her cheeks were wet.

She reached up and touched them, finding streaks of tears.

Seeing her awake, Mo Lingwei finally let out a sigh of relief.

"You were crying and shouting. Were you having a nightmare?"

Shen Ningning slowly sat up, the aches all over her body completely dispelling the haze in her eyes.

"Brother, I think I dreamed of my mother and father. I was so, so small in the dream, I couldn’t even see them clearly."

This had never happened before.

She had never dreamed of her parents, let alone of memories from when she was a baby.

At this thought, Shen Ningning quickly lifted her clothes to check if her Ruyi was still there.

’Thank goodness!’

’Even though I fell, the Ruyi is still here, and the Jade you gave me isn’t lost either!’

Mo Lingwei calmly reassured her, "I’ve also sent people to search for your parents everywhere. I believe there will be news soon."

Shen Ningning nodded softly.

She looked around. They were in a desolate wilderness. They had fallen into a deep, old forest.

Looking at Mo Lingwei again, she saw scratches from branches on his cold, handsome face.

"Brother, you’re hurt!" the little girl said nervously.

Mo Lingwei, however, didn’t seem to mind. He pointed to Shen Ningning’s little cheek. "So are you."

"It would be strange if we weren’t injured after falling from such a height. Luckily, we landed on some branches. Otherwise, we’d already be dead and buried here."

Shen Ningning’s small body trembled with fear.

She clutched her chest with a small hand, relieved. "Thank goodness, thank goodness!"

But she didn’t see the guard who had fallen with them.

"Where’s the guard?"

"I don’t know. He might have landed somewhere else."

When Mo Lingwei woke up, the guard was nowhere to be seen.

The sky was nearing dusk as the sun slanted westward.

It seemed at least six hours had passed since they fell.

Mo Lingwei reached out and gently checked her joints to confirm she hadn’t suffered any serious injuries, then pulled her to her feet.

"Let’s head east before the sun sets."

The Capital City was to the east. If they kept walking, they would eventually find a way out.

Shen Ningning dusted off her clothes and quickly followed behind him.

The little girl held tightly onto Mo Lingwei’s hand.

After a moment’s thought, she said, "Brother, thank you."

Mo Lingwei glanced at her. "What are you thanking me for? I haven’t gotten you out of here yet."

"But because you came, so many of my classmates were rescued. Everyone will thank you," the little girl said, blinking her clear, dark eyes.

Mo Lingwei just smiled without a word.

Just then, the faint sound of a stomach rumbling could be heard.

The little girl looked down at her small belly.

’That’s strange, I shouldn’t be hungry.’

’While we were waiting for the bridge to be fixed this morning, I ate all the red fruits.’

Mo Lingwei’s expression turned slightly awkward. "No need to look. It was me. I’m hungry."

From the time he set out for Jingshan this morning until now, Mo Lingwei hadn’t had a single drop of water.

Only then did Shen Ningning notice his lips were pale and chapped.

"Brother, we need to find something to eat."

"The forest here is badly withered. Forget wild rabbits or pheasants, we might not even find any wild fruit."

The little girl blinked. "Really? But my grandma told me that you can find anything in the mountains."

Mo Lingwei, however, held out no such hope.

They might run into wild beasts, but they weren’t guaranteed to find food.

At that moment, he heard a "CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK" sound.

Shen Ningning’s face lit up with joy. "Brother, there’s a chicken over there!"

Mo Lingwei turned his head to look.

In a patch of grass not far away, a hen emerged, strolling leisurely!

It was plump and meaty, too.

He was slightly surprised.

’There are wild chickens in a place like this?’