Oops! My Inner Thoughts Are Ruining The Plot

Chapter 171: Chapter

Outside in the dark, Yueqing’s breath hitched. Her hands clenched tightly around her cloak.

[Exiled?!] she panicked. [Strip him of his title?! Xiao Chen won’t survive that! Once he loses his royal protection, his enemies at court will tear him apart before he even reaches the borderlands!]

Her mind raced as she quietly backed away from the tent.

[I can’t let him walk into this trap,] she thought, hurrying back to her quarters. [Whatever issue exists between him and Wenzhe, I can’t just stand by and watch Xiao Chen’s life be completely ruined.]

An hour passed inside her quiet tent.

Yueqing was just settling back under her blankets when the side flap moved without a sound. Her hand instantly reached beneath her pillow, fingers closing around the hilt of her dagger.

"Who’s there?" she whispered sharply.

A tall figure wrapped in a dark cloak slipped inside, pulling back his hood to reveal Prince Xiao Chen’s pale face.

"Keep your voice down," Xiao Chen said softly, offering a faint smile. "I came to see you before you leave for the capital tomorrow."

Yueqing lowered her weapon, glaring at him. "Are you insane? You snuck into Wenzhe’s military camp just to see me?"

"Would you have preferred a formal letter?" he teased lightly, stepping over to the small wooden table beside her bed. He placed a silk-wrapped box down, opening it to reveal fresh lotus pastries and candied plums. "I brought you these. I know how much you hate camp rations."

Yueqing looked at the pastries, a slight warm feeling touching her chest. "You remembered?"

"I remember more than you think," Xiao Chen replied softly. He reached deeper into the box and pulled out a single pastry wrapped in delicate golden paper, placing it right on the table. "This one is for Wenzhe."

Yueqing frowned. "For him?"

"We were friends once, long ago," Xiao Chen said casually. "He used to love honey-plum cakes. Give it to that stern blockhead... or don’t. It’s up to you."

Yueqing stared at the golden sweet, completely unaware of the truth. Xiao Chen had secretly laced that specific pastry with an odorless, slow-acting drug that dulled muscle strength and slowed physical reactions. He didn’t want to kill Wenzhe; he just wanted Wenzhe’s reaction time slowed so his own men could escape tomorrow’s ambush.

Before Xiao Chen turned to leave, Yueqing reached out and grabbed his sleeve, her voice dropping to a serious whisper.

"Xiao Chen, listen to me carefully," she warned, looking straight into his eyes. "Whatever you do tomorrow... do not take the Northern Pass. Stay away from the valley roads."

Xiao Chen’s eyes flared with sharp surprise. "Why?"

"Just trust me," Yueqing urged. "Do not send your men through that pass."

Xiao Chen’s gaze narrowed as he stared at her, his brows pulling together in frustration.

"Trust you?" he echoed, his voice dropping into a harsh whisper. "Yueqing, my logistics team spent three weeks mapping that route! The Northern Pass is the only shadowed trail that keeps my men hidden from the imperial scouts. If I reroute an entire division tonight, we lose momentum, we waste supplies, and we risk getting spotted out in the open!"

"I don’t care about your logistics!" Yueqing hissed back, her eyes flashing with anger as she gripped his sleeve even tighter. "If I tell you the pass is unsafe, it is unsafe!"

"You’re not giving me a single reason!" Xiao Chen argued, shaking his head. "Did Wenzhe put you up to this? Is this some trick to mess with my head before the crossing? I am not a child who runs away just because you—"

Thwack!

Yueqing raised her free hand and knocked him hard right on the forehead with her knuckles.

"Ow!" Xiao Chen gasped softly, stumbling back half a step as he instinctively brought a hand up to clutch his stinging head. He stared at her in complete shock, his royal dignity utterly shattered in a single second. "Did you just... hit me?"

"Yes, I did, you stubborn brat!" Yueqing growled quietly, leaning in so close her eyes practically burned into his. "Do I look like I’m playing games with you? Stop asking stupid questions, stop arguing like a mule, and change your path! If you march into that valley tomorrow, you won’t make it out with your title or your life!"

Xiao Chen rubbed his forehead, his mouth opening and closing as he processed the sudden lump forming under his bangs. The sheer absurdity of being struck by her, combined with the absolute, terrifying dead-seriousness in her eyes finally broke his resistance.

He let out a defeated, bitter sigh, dropping his hand from his head.

"Fine," Xiao Chen muttered, glaring at her with a mix of annoyance and quiet, grudging respect. "I will redirect the troops toward the eastern ridge tonight. But if my horses freeze on those rocks, I’m holding you personally responsible."

"Go before I hit you again," Yueqing threatened softly.

Xiao Chen studied her face for a long moment before giving a firm nod. "Very well. I will remember your warning. Take care of yourself, Yueqing."

He slipped out into the dark night as quietly as he had arrived. Exhausted, Yueqing left the golden sweet sitting on the table, closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep.

Late into the night, the tent flap opened again.

Wenzhe stepped inside, fresh snow dusting his dark cloak. He had come to check on his sleeping wife, but as he approached her bedside, her clear, lingering thoughts echoed directly into his mind.

[Thank goodness Xiao Chen listened to me... at least he won’t walk into that Northern Pass trap tomorrow...]

Wenzhe went completely still.

The blood in his veins turned to ice.

’She knew,’ Wenzhe thought, his dark eyes locking onto her peaceful face. ’She overheard our military strategy... and she betrayed me to warn him.’

A cold, bitter anger replaced all the tiredness in his body. His gaze drifted to the table beside her bed, falling directly on the golden-wrapped pastry sitting next to the box of royal sweets. He recognized the royal bakery wrapping instantly.

’He came here,’ Wenzhe realized, his jaw clenching tight. ’The Third Prince walked into my camp, entered my wife’s tent, and left her gifts. And she chose to protect him over me.’

Driven by raw heartbreak, bitter jealousy, and a dark anger that wiped away all clear thought, Wenzhe reached out and picked up the golden sweet. Without taking his bloodshot eyes off Yueqing, he unwrapped it and ate it in one single bite.

He did not know the pastry was laced with a slow-acting muscle drug. He only knew that the betrayal burned too deeply to care.

’If this is the choice you have made, Yueqing,’ Wenzhe thought, his chest tight with bitter resentment, ’then I will stop expecting anything from you.’

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