Untouchable Lovers

Chapter 165: Chapter 148: The Sunset is Endlessly Beautiful

When he told her to take care, Chu Yu felt an ominous premonition rise in her heart, as if he was bidding farewell.

There was no time to think further; Chu Yu had already grasped Rong Zhi’s wrist, only to feel his hand was frighteningly cold, like a piece of ice in her palm. Rong Zhi’s body temperature seemed naturally low, and at this moment, it was terrifyingly cold, probably a sign of excessive blood loss.

“Knowing you’re about to die, what are you spacing out for?!” Chu Yu gritted her teeth and pulled out the longsword stuck in the carriage wall, intending to hand it to Rong Zhi.

Wouldn’t chopping off that damned wooden piece solve everything?

However, Rong Zhi didn’t take the sword, but smiled helplessly, “Princess, I can’t move it.” His voice was neither sad nor happy, just calmly stating the facts. Chu Yu recalled that after He Jue left, Rong Zhi had dropped his sword, clearly unable to hold on any longer.

Why has it come to this? Chu Yu felt somewhat flustered, a moment ago she was immersed in anger, almost beginning to hate, yet now she didn’t know how to alleviate his pain.

The carriage was still speeding, each jolt grinding the wooden bar against Rong Zhi’s ankles, blood continuously dripping down. In her panic, Chu Yu remembered she should first stop the carriage; if this continued, both of them would be thrown to their death. But while easy to think of, it was difficult to execute in practice.

The first thing Chu Yu thought of was to kill the horses, as Yue Jiefei had done before.

The two wildly running horses were about a meter away from the carriage. If it were on flat ground, it would be manageable, but on a speeding carriage, it was hard for her to maintain balance to get close to the horses and successfully kill the mad horses… she’d be lucky not to be killed by them.

The second option was to chop down the carriage, to sever the connection between the carriage and the horses, removing the driving force. This option was more feasible and what Chu Yu now planned to do.

Seeing her intention, Rong Zhi shook his head and said, “Princess, this isn’t going to work.” His eyes gentle, he smiled and urged her to give up, “Princess, I’ve calculated it already. With your strength, to separate the carriage from the horses, you would need to strike at least forty times. These forty strikes include those that might miss due to the carriage’s bumps. However, after about twenty strikes, you would be exhausted. If you tried to rest to recover, the carriage would have already fallen off the cliff.”

His tone was calm and clear, dispassionately analyzing the situation for Chu Yu at this crucial moment of life and death, still seeming indifferent, calmly discussing his fate as if the person about to die was not him, remaining so composed.

Chu Yu ignored his words, both hands tightly gripping the longsword, striking again and again at the junction, not able to calculate as clearly as Rong Zhi. Even if she could calculate, she wouldn’t escape alone.

This carriage was specially made by the Princess Mansion, very sturdy, excessively so. While usually advantageous, now it had become their deadly burden.

Every weak spot was reinforced with either sinew or iron copper sheet, the horizontal bar trapping Rong Zhi’s foot was the same, and all the carriage’s wood was chosen for its utmost sturdiness, only increasing the difficulty for Chu Yu in achieving her goal. But Chu Yu had no time to care about these minutiae; it wasn’t the time to sweat the small stuff, she just focused on hacking away, stroke by stroke.

If he was giving up, she was determined not to.

The fierce wind howled, blowing Chu Yu’s hair and clothes wildly about. Her hair was completely disheveled, dancing madly in the air, her face turned pale by the wind, her lips lost all color, yet caught a gentle gleam in the light of the sunset.

Her gaze was intensely focused, her dark pupils showing fear, yet she remained stubbornly resolute, such contradiction.

Rong Zhi slightly closed his eyes and softly said, “Princess, aim an inch to the upper right, it’s easier to exert force there.”

Chu Yu followed his instructions without hesitation and indeed, the next few strokes were somewhat lighter, each cutting deeper than before. However, even though it improved, by the twenty-third stroke, Chu Yu had stopped, just as Rong Zhi had predicted.

It wasn’t merely as simple as feeling drained. Each time she swung her longsword, the jolting of the carriage and the rebounding force would transmit through the blade to her hands, causing both her hands and arms to ache terribly. The joints at her shoulders seemed as if they were about to dislocate, the pain was unspeakable. Although she initially wanted to endure it through sheer will, she didn’t realize that there were some things in the world that couldn’t be achieved just by being resolute. The body always reaches a limit, it can go out of control, it can refuse to obey.

Chu Yu’s hands were numb, almost devoid of sensation, and she could only barely clutch the hilt of her longsword to prevent it from slipping from her grasp. Her arms felt as if they were no longer her own. She could only lean against the carriage wall, barely maintaining her balance.

The carriage still did not stop; on the contrary, because of Chu Yu’s earlier act of attacking the carriage, the horses in front became even more frightened, causing the already frantic pair of horses to lose even more control.

Chu Yu was so anxious she didn’t know what to do, yet Rong Zhi was extremely calm. He leaned against the side of the carriage, his smile inappropriately serene, “Princess, jump off the carriage.” This was not the first time he had said this, but Chu Yu had not listened even once.

She didn’t want to.

Last time, also on a mountain, also at a critical moment of life and death, she subconsciously grabbed Huan Yuan, who was heading over a cliff, and she didn’t let go afterward because she couldn’t bear to. But this time, she clearly had many opportunities to weigh the pros and cons. She clearly did not want to die. Even Rong Zhi had more than once urged her to escape alone; she did not leave, but why?

It was not just because she couldn’t bear it, and it certainly wasn’t out of pity or sympathy. It was something much more complex and even harder to part with.

It was a slight joy and melancholy, entwining like threads. It felt as if her chest was swelling up, yet also as if it had been hollowed out, full yet void. Yet she knew clearly that she could not leave. It had nothing to do with rationality, and not even with weighing the pros and cons. It was simply because she did not want to.

This was her own choice.

There was even a moment in time which allowed her to completely abandon rationality, to not even think about the future of life and death. Amidst the howling wind, on the desolate mountain peak, she stubbornly stayed, locking eyes with this person.

The jolting of the carriage seemed to vanish. The two were surrounded by a brilliant glow of twilight. His clothes and face were all enveloped in this tender light.

Sitting against the side of the carriage, her arms felt weak, and suddenly she didn’t feel like moving her legs either. Chu Yu steadily gazed at Rong Zhi, and after a while, she smiled and said, “Let it be then.” This life was originally one that was retrieved, returning it now was not too significant.

A strange ripple surfaced in Rong Zhi’s dark pupils, and after a moment, he sighed softly, “Princess, I won’t die, you don’t have to do this, staying here to take risks with me.”

Chu Yu didn’t believe his words, “Do you have a way? Let’s hear it.” If he could have freed himself earlier, why didn’t he use it before?

Rong Zhi quietly said, “In a little while, I should be able to regain some strength. Then, by severing my leg, I would be able to free myself.” Seeing Chu Yu’s face change, he smiled again and said, “Just joking. But I really do need some time to gather strength.”

Chu Yu was silent for a moment, then said, “Okay, I’ll wait.” Given Rong Zhi’s previous bad record, she decided she would only believe it when she saw it with her own eyes.