Reborn and Pampered

Chapter 245 Arrangement

The sudden plunge amplified Bai Qingqing’s fear to its limit. In the split second before she lost consciousness, only one thought managed to surface—

So this is how I die in this life? Falling off a cliff... Seems like an improvement, somehow...

Fainting felt like it lasted only a moment. As her senses slowly returned, she blinked in dazed confusion—she was still alive?

She was lying on Ning Yan’s back, being carried through a dense forest. The towering trees overhead nearly blotted out the sky, though beams of sunlight occasionally slipped through the leaves, scattering fragments of light like pieces of a dream. The unfamiliar scenery felt unreal, as if she were still dreaming.

“You’re awake? Hold on a little longer. There’s no path here—you wouldn’t make it on foot.”

Ning Yan didn’t look back. Instead, he tossed a net he was carrying into a hole by the side of the trail.

A… net?

Bai Qingqing frowned, wondering if she’d been unconscious for days. Everything felt out of sequence. “Weren’t we… falling off a cliff…?”

Her eyes widened as realization struck, and her voice took on a different tone. “So this was all part of your plan?”

No wonder. Ning Yan had headed straight for the cliff despite the danger. And those attackers tying up the Linjia Guards—was that part of it too? “The days you stayed inside the carriage without setting foot outside… were you already planning this back then? You meant to use this to send a message to Prince Ping, didn’t you?”

Ning Yan’s chest shook slightly with restrained laughter. His voice was warm with amusement. “That little head of yours turns faster than I thought. Shame it only works half the time. I told you to leave with Mu Shu, but no—you just had to be stubborn. How was jumping off a cliff with me? Fun?”

“I didn’t know it was all part of your plan…”

Bai Qingqing bit her lip, her voice tinged with remorse. “I’m sorry… Did I make things harder for you?”

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Ning Yan was silent for a long moment before he spoke, his voice so low it was barely audible. “When I saw you… I was actually a little glad.”

He was someone who hated having his orders disobeyed, especially during a plan that had taken so much time and effort to prepare—there could be no room for error. But when he saw Bai Qingqing recklessly charging toward the cliff for his sake, a strange feeling had risen in his chest, one he didn’t know how to handle.

That someone would care for him like that—disregarding life and limb, doing everything in their power to protect him—was a concept he found both foreign and remarkable.

Bai Qingqing lay quietly on his back, noticing the sweat gathering at the nape of his neck. Feeling guilty, she reached out with her sleeve to gently wipe it away. “Am I really that heavy? Maybe you should put me down—I can walk by myself.”

“You barely ate anything on the road. How heavy could you be? We’re almost there.”

They walked a bit further before reaching a sheer stone wall—smooth, steep, and unscalable. Bai Qingqing quickly slid down from his back and looked up at the cliff face. “This is where you were heading? But… it’s just a rock wall.”

“Go around to the side and take a look.”

She followed his instructions, and with a bit of guidance, finally spotted the trick—a narrow gap just wide enough for one person, hidden between two stone walls that were nearly identical in color. She slipped through, turned a few bends, and suddenly the view opened up before her—it was a hidden cavern!

Light streamed in from a high crevice near the ceiling, illuminating the space. Inside, the cave had already been simply outfitted. There were basic supplies, several water skins in the corner, and bundles of dried rations carefully wrapped in oiled paper.

Bai Qingqing stared in astonishment. “You were planning to hide out here? To make Prince Ping believe you’re already dead?”

But… it didn’t seem entirely necessary, did it?