The Prime Minister’s Darling-Chapter 1530: National Master takes action at 743

As dawn was breaking, Gu Jiao and her group finally made their way out of the forest.

Only then did they realize that they had emerged in the complete opposite direction from where they had entered.

Mu Qingchen gazed ahead and said, "Crossing the field ridge up ahead will take us to the Official Road, just keep heading south and you’ll come across a Post station."

Where there was a Post station, there were carriages and horses.

The horse that Gu Jiao had brought from the National Master Hall was so tired it barely resembled a horse anymore, so Gu Jiao wasn’t even riding it.

Mu Qingchen’s guard was leading the horse, Gu Changqing was carrying Little Jingkong, and Mu Qingchen was holding the Little Princess.

The group continued on their journey.

However, as they were crossing the field ridge, a little incident occurred; the Little Princess suddenly had difficulty breathing and couldn’t catch her breath. Soon her complexion turned pale and her lips went dark.

"Let me have a look," Gu Jiao approached, leaned in to listen to the Little Princess’s heartbeat and breathing. freēwēbnovel.com

Mu Qingchen’s breath hitched unexpectedly at the sudden closeness.

He glanced at the Little Princess in his arms, then at Gu Jiao’s face so close to his, and couldn’t help but let out a light cough, "How is she doing?"

"It looks like an asthma attack," said Gu Jiao as she unfastened her First Aid Kit from her waist, opened it up, and took out a bottle of Asthma Aerosol, "Little Princess."

The Little Princess opened her eyes, looking at Gu Jiao in distress.

Gu Jiao took her into her arms and found a place to sit down. After shaking the aerosol thoroughly, she removed the cap: "First, breathe out, hold this in your mouth, breathe in when I tell you, and after inhaling, don’t exhale."

The Little Princess weakly nodded her head.

They say illness fosters expertise; being asthmatic since childhood and always on medication, the Little Princess was more cooperative in treatment than other children.

"Exhale," instructed Gu Jiao.

After the Little Princess let out a long breath, Gu Jiao placed the mouthpiece in her mouth and pressed the aerosol’s button: "Inhale. I’ll count to ten and then you can breathe out."

The Little Princess obediently held the mouthpiece, uncomfortable but just watching Gu Jiao.

"...Ten, that’s it," said Gu Jiao.

The Little Princess released a long breath.

"Feeling better?" Gu Jiao asked her.

The Little Princess breathed a few times: "Huff~ Huff~"

Not noticing any discomfort, the Little Princess’s eyes widened in surprise.

Had she gotten better this quickly?

The imperial physicians regularly treated the Little Princess, and over the years, Lord Yun Shan and the monarch had taken great care of her, so her asthma rarely flared up anymore.

Gu Jiao suspected it must have been some allergen in the forest that led to the Little Princess’s acute attack.

"What kind of medicine is this, to have such good effects?" In the past, when the Little Princess had an attack, it would take a long time for her to recover. The physicians said it wasn’t possible to recover breathing every time, so the emphasis was on prevention, trying not to let her fall ill at all.

"This is a fast-acting medicine for asthma relief," said Gu Jiao.

Perplexed, Mu Qingchen asked, "You have this kind of medicine with you?"

Shouldn’t a martial artist carry healing ointments, Hemostatic Medicine, and detoxification pills?

"Didn’t you tell me the Little Princess has asthma?" said Gu Jiao.

Ever since Mu Qingchen mentioned it, she made sure to pack a bottle of asthma aerosol in her First Aid Kit.

Mu Qingchen looked deeply at Gu Jiao, then suddenly fell silent.

"Go fetch some water," Mu Qingchen told his guard.

"Yes."

A small stream they had passed earlier was likely the same one they had seen deep in the forest, winding its way nearby.

Mu Qingchen went to take the Little Princess from her.

The Little Princess clung tightly to Gu Jiao’s neck, refusing to let go: "I want my teacher to hold me! You’re all hard! Teacher is soft! Like—"

Gu Jiao covered her small mouth and said to Mu Qingchen, "I’ll hold her."

Little one, don’t take too much advantage when snuggling.

"Young Master! Young Master!"

The guard returned hastily.

Mu Qingchen, seeing he hadn’t fetched any water, knew something had happened.

"What’s wrong?" Mu Qingchen asked.

The guard said, "I was fetching water when halfway there, I encountered people from our Mu Family and the Su Family coming."

The Su and Mu families.

Gu Changqing had no love for the ten great feudal families—invite one and he was ready to slash one, invite two and he was ready to slash a pair.

Looking towards the forest behind, Mu Qingchen knitted his brows, appearing to struggle internally; eventually, he said to Gu Jiao, "You go ahead, don’t take the field ridge, it’s too open and easy to be discovered. Take a detour, leave from another side of the forest, or I can lead them away first, and you can come out later."

It wasn’t easy for him to say something like that.

Privately, he didn’t believe the Mu Family or the Su Family would do something like abduct the Little Princess, but... he couldn’t say why, he just felt it was right to have them leave first.

Perhaps deep down he already had a suspicion that he himself didn’t want to face.