Chapter 175: Luo'er sets a trap for the fake young lady!

Outside the window, a continuous snowscape.

Everywhere was a vast white expanse.

Even with the sun out, wherever you reached, it was still bone‑chilling cold ice.

A grand procession of carriages, under a massive escort, slowly and calmly headed toward Jinling City.

Li Qingluo cradled a hand warmer, listening to Nanping chatter on.

"Luo'er sister, it looks like horseback riding will have to wait until spring."

"Although I don't feel cold today, those Jinling ladies are all like birds raised in a warm room—really a buzzkill."

"Look, today only you, I, and four other ladies went riding; the rest came just to play chess, read, and chat."

"I really don't understand why they'd come if they're not even going to the horse grounds."

"It's a wasted effort, and it forces us to wrap up hastily as well."

Li Qingluo spoke bluntly: "They naturally can't avoid coming because of your status, right?"

Nanping princess burst out laughing, "Pfft," and fell into Li Qingluo's arms: "All this is thanks to my mother. Originally I only wanted to invite you and Nanjia, but Mother said if we're doing it, we should go big."

"Anyway, last time the princess mansion's winter banquet was ruined by Liu Qingzhu; this time she let me take full charge from start to finish."

"But my mother surely never expected Liu Qingzhu to show up today with such shamelessness."

"She caused the Fourth Prince Uncle to lose his heir, yet now she's become his favored concubine—absolutely ridiculous."

"My mother had even flared up over the Fourth Prince Uncle losing his heir, yet he went ahead and married a beauty. Just imagining Mother's face when I get back makes me burst out laughing—pfft—hahaha..."

Nanping held her belly laughing nonstop, while Li Qingluo occasionally tickled her sides, keeping her from stopping.

Suddenly the carriage jerked hard; if Li Qingluo hadn't grabbed Nanping, she would have rolled off the seat.

"What's going on? What happened?! You damned slave, dare to drive poorly—when we get back I'll punish you severely!"

The driver stammered, "Your Highness, I—I dare not, it's that everything ahead suddenly stopped."

Nanping sprang up angrily, muttering she'd go out to see what was happening.

Deng Mama and Que'er lunged forward, shoving the carriage doors shut.

"Miss, there's fighting ahead—don't come out."

"Please let this old servant go scout ahead; Que'er and Your Highness's guards will wait here—I'll be right back."

Nanping and Li Qingluo exchanged a glance, both instantly grasping the seriousness.

Li Qingluo quickly lifted the carriage curtain to look out; Deng Mama had already hurried away, and Que'er came over saying, "Miss, don't panic."

Nanping poked her head back: "You maid, at a time like this, why say 'don't panic' instead of 'don't be afraid'? I know Luo'er sister can shoot arrows, but if there's real danger, she'll need to protect her life—don't you guys have to fight for your lives?"

Que'er lowered her head: "Yes, Your Highness said so; I understand."

Li Qingluo shook her head: "No, in a crisis you just need to protect yourself; I can look after my own life. Nanping, listen—"

Faint sounds of fighting really came from ahead.

Nanping's face changed: "If something happens today, how will I explain it to my mother and the aristocratic families of Jinling City?"

Seventeen or eighteen ladies, at least from ten noble households.

Nanping felt a headache, then shouted at all nearby guards: "Go check ahead right now—if you need to act, don't report back; swear to protect every family's ladies!"

Since Li Qingluo's carriage was the last one and Nanping is a princess, the rear escort had twenty‑odd soldiers and guards.

The carriages up front each had four guards and their own household retainers, but if anything happened, those few would barely be enough to offer as sacrifices.

The more Nanping heard the fighting, the more anxious she became.

Li Qingluo couldn't calm her, but Deng Mama returned quickly.

She gasped, then reported: "Miss, it looks like government troops are capturing some rebels ahead; we just happened to run into them by bad luck."

Nanping exclaimed: "What?! Did any lady get frightened and dragged into this?"

Deng Mama: "There was fright, but thanks to Princess Qinyu holding the line ahead, our group is still safe for now."

As they spoke, a messenger from Princess Qinyu's guards galloped back shouting: "All convoys, turn about, return to camp! Return to camp—"

Li Qingluo: "For now our only option is to hurry back to the horse camp—we'll talk after we escape this."

Nanping: "What are we waiting for? We're the last, now we're first—hurry, driver—turn the carriage around, go back, hurry back!"

Li Qingluo took the chance to call Que'er over: "Our carriage—"

Li Qingluo whispered instructions to Que'er, who turned and vanished from sight.

Nanping paid no mind to Que'er; feeling like an ant on a hot pot and still uneasy, she sent a dozen guards ahead to join the escort.

"May the Buddha bless that this devotee avoids involvement, and keep us all safe—"

But just then, Princess Qinyu's people came to the rear and said: "Your Highness the princess, our princess says she seems to have seen Prince Su. May we borrow twenty of the princess mansion's guards to help Prince Su capture the rebels, if you're willing?"

Nanping startled: "Is that my fifth‑uncle prince?"

But the garrison troops had been scattered, and now Nanping only had a few nearby.

Hearing that, Li Qingluo's heart gave a sudden hard thump for no reason.

What a coincidence—again it's Prince Su?

Thinking of that face, she thought: If it really is Prince Su, with his skill likely only the rebels would fear him—there's no need for the princess mansion's guards at all.

But Nanping was frantic, quickly sending someone to fetch her token ahead.

"Go, assign twenty of the princess mansion's guards to this princess, and hurry to support my fifth‑uncle prince!"

Li Qingluo: "Your Highness, actually…"

Before she finished, the carriage convoy suddenly erupted in chaos.

Outside, horses neighed wildly; one seemed to have gone mad, charging back and forth through the convoy.

Li Qingluo hurriedly pushed the door out and saw—sure enough—her empty carriage in the rear, lurching about as if gone mad.

"Whose horse is this? What's going on? Quick, someone stop this beast!"

Ah—

The household retainers and maidservants all shrank back in fright, and those who reacted quickly hurried to pull their own carriages aside to hide.

Strangely enough, the runaway carriage only barreled madly toward one spot.

The young lady inside the carriage screamed in panic, "Ah—help, help—"

Que'er, however, did not rush forward, but covered her mouth and chuckled softly.

Princess Nanping instantly sensed something amiss.

"What's happening? Sister Li Qingluo, isn't that your carriage? Ah—! The carriage that was hit, the one inside, is Liu Qingzhu, right?"

Li Qingluo gave a cold smile, "Exactly. She wants to harm me, so let her suffer this hardship first."

Princess Nanping, curious to the point of desperation, asked, "What on earth is going on!? What did she do?"

Li Qingluo raised her hand and lightly tapped Princess Nanping's head, "Little fool. She went to the horse grounds earlier; Cui Jiuniang's horse may not have been killed by her, but she definitely tampered with my horse."

Princess Nanping blinked, "How do you know?"

Li Qingluo replied, "Don't worry about it. She has ill intentions toward me, so I kept a watchful eye on her and didn't ride my own carriage."

Otherwise, at this moment, the one who would be tossed around in the carriage and get injured would be me.

After catching Lu Ying's glance, Li Qingluo immediately sent Que'er to check the horse's condition.

Que'er grew up beside Pei Lao Furen and was personally taught by her grandmother Deng Mama, so she has long mastered these harmful tricks.

She also knows a bit of pharmacology.

She found some medicinal powder in the fodder of Li Qingluo's black horse.

Que'er made no sound and quietly approached Li Qingluo.

"Miss, should we change the fodder?"

Li Qingluo replied, "It's already been eaten; changing the fodder now is too late. Do you know exactly how this medicine works?"

Que'er said, "I happened to see this powder when I was young; any horse that eats it goes mad. I just asked my grandmother, and she said the medicine won't kill the horse, but it's dangerous for a person riding it."

"At worst it could cause injury, at best it could fling someone off and kill them."

"Moreover, even if it's used for a carriage, the person sitting in the carriage is still in lethal danger."

Li Qingluo sneered, "She wants my horse to go mad, so let it go mad."

Que'er, puzzled, asked, "We could switch carriages, but if it goes mad and harms the other girls, what then? Should we just kill the horse?"

Li Qingluo replied, "My grandmother chose this horse; I can't bear to part with it."

Li Qingluo asked, "Is there a cure for this medicine? Or is there anything that can trigger or suppress it?"

Que'er answered, "Yes! There's a herb nearby that both generates and counteracts it."

"Both generating and counteracting?"

Que'er said, "Yes, miss. If the horse merely eats it, it's just fodder. But if it's ground up and mixed with a bit of vinegar, the scent will provoke the horse to go mad instantly."

"If a touch of angelic root is added, the horse will avoid it entirely, not even come near."

Li Qingluo curled her lip into a smile, "That would be perfect."

Princess Nanping brought a cook today, so finding some angelic root and vinegar is easy.

Deng Mama personally went to gather that herb, ground it, and made several scented sachets.

After Li Qingluo deliberately boarded Princess Nanping's carriage, Liu Qingzhu also chose a spot in her own carriage.

Deng Mama seized the chance to pull an empty carriage from Jiangjun Fu in front of Liu Qingzhu's carriage.

Then she quietly hung several sachets containing angelic root on the carriages ahead and behind, except Liu Qingzhu's carriage.

She then placed the sole sachet infused with sour vinegar on Liu Qingzhu's carriage.

Deng Mama acted swiftly.

She smiled and chatted with others, deliberately mentioning Li Qingluo's soon-to-open gourmet soup and wine restaurant, and invited the girls in the carriages to come and enjoy the bustle.

In fact, she used the opportunity to hide the sachets in inconspicuous spots.

The girls each sneered inwardly, muttering: Sending an old maid to invite us—who gave her the face? Even if she's the legitimate eldest daughter of Jiangjun Fu, what of it? Their Jiangjun Fu has no prestige now.

They had no idea that the old maid was there to save them.

After the carriage turned its head, Liu Qingzhu's carriage arrived in front of the Jiangjun Fu carriage.

The horse smelled the increasingly pungent odor; the effect that should have required an incense stick to trigger was instantly activated early…