“Catch them, don’t let that wench escape!”

Behind them came Ying Yan’s vicious voice, followed by a group of people chasing after them.

Suzhen had an idea and said to the tall, thin servant: “Young man, find a place to hide me. You go back to the courtyard to get reinforcements. Without me as a burden, you can run faster.”

“Madam, that won’t do,” the tall, thin servant immediately refused. Looking at the approaching pursuers, he suddenly put Suzhen down, felt around his waist, then reached to the other side and pulled out a bamboo tube. “At this point, I can only take a gamble. The two places aren’t far apart. I hope our people can see this daylight firework.”

As he spoke, a cluster of sparks flew into the air with a “pop” sound and burst apart.

“Look, these outsiders really had no good intentions. They have accomplices. We can’t let them ruin the mining.”

The pursuers arrived. The leader sneered at the sight, and twenty to thirty people surrounded the two, their swords sharp and murderous intent evident.

The tall, thin servant frowned tightly, protecting her in his arms with one hand while holding his sword against the crowd with the other. Suzhen didn’t particularly like this man, but facing this situation, she surprisingly wasn’t very afraid – perhaps knowing he was Lian Yu’s subordinate, and that capable generals have no weak soldiers, or perhaps for some other reason.

She whispered: “Get me a sword in a moment. I know some martial arts too.”

“This subordinate will risk everything to protect Madam.” The tall, thin servant had been completely focused on guarding against the enemy, but hearing this, he smiled somewhat impolitely.

As he spoke, his eyes moved sideways and his gaze suddenly brightened. “It seems this subordinate is lucky and can avoid a fierce battle.”

Hearing this, Suzhen’s heart also stirred. She turned to look sideways and saw several dozen black-clothed men several zhang away, their eyes carrying fierce light, approaching using lightness skills.

The tribesmen were shocked, seemingly not expecting these outsiders to have so many reinforcements, and clearly skilled fighters. However, at this moment, the tall, thin servant’s expression suddenly changed again. “Not good! Those aren’t our people…”

Suzhen was also startled: “Dressed all in black, you can still recognize them…”

Before she finished speaking, two black-clothed men came face to face, exhaling light smoke and blowing gently toward their faces. Suzhen’s head spun and vision blurred. In her confusion, she only vaguely saw a sword pass through the back of the man behind her from his shoulder blade, and another sword pierce through his abdomen…

“Don’t kill him!”

She sat up in a cold sweat, but was immediately startled by the scene before her eyes.

Her hands also trembled slightly as she touched the bright red silk covering the entire bed. Finally, she got up and looked around the room.

Why would… would she be here?!

Could everything before have been a dream?

But how could those experiences have been a dream?

She held her aching forehead and slowly pushed the door open to go out.

Moonlight was serene, the garden quiet. Before the flowers covered in silver light, a person stood quietly with hands behind his back, his profile deep and upright, devastatingly handsome. Wearing a plain bamboo-green robe with wide sleeves slightly billowing, in the hazy light and shadow, Suzhen was reminded of the deity that Sang Zhan and others had spoken of.

But clearly, this wasn’t some earth mother goddess, but a male deity.

“Prime Minister.” Something filled her heart completely, and she called out softly.

Hearing this, the person immediately turned around. Their gazes met, and his eyes showed changing expressions, somewhat deep and unfathomable. Seeing her, he didn’t show much joy. He slowly walked over, his steps extremely slow, like an elder who had long seen through the mortal world.

For a moment, Suzhen couldn’t describe what she felt.

She had never taken it for granted that upon meeting again, he would be particularly eager or excited. In fact, she had once not wanted to meet again, because this lifetime wasn’t over yet.

But the hidden distance in his eyes made her feel slightly cold.

“…” Finally, her lips moved lightly.

“My people only severely injured him, didn’t kill him. Consider it a lesson for Lian Yu and peace of mind for you.” He seemed to know the deep questions in her heart and spoke first.

That tall, thin man didn’t die… She breathed a slight sigh of relief. She wasn’t a bodhisattva, but she absolutely didn’t want anyone to die for her sake. Two words almost rushed from her mouth, but he showed a slightly bitter curve at his lips and once again lightly cut her off: “Lian Yu is also fine. That boy is clever – encountering dangerous situations repeatedly, he can always grasp the situation and turn danger into safety.”

“Of course,” his gaze captured hers, his tone somewhat understated, “if I had ambushed him, he would probably have been in trouble this time.”

“This was originally a good opportunity.” His gaze moved down, landing slightly on the ground. “In my heart, it’s not just…”

He stopped mid-sentence and stepped forward to take her hand. “It’s windy here, and you still have injuries. This cold – let’s go back inside to talk.”

As he approached, her nose was surrounded by his clear, elegant fragrance, and Suzhen suddenly lost her words.

The two returned to his bedroom and sat at the table. The steward entered, brought late-night refreshments and a hand warmer, then quietly withdrew.

She held the hand warmer to warm herself for a while. He pushed a bowl of hot milk from the various bowls and dishes toward her. “Drink some to ward off the cold.”

Suzhen set the hand warmer aside and began eating and drinking with her head down. Since Lian Yu was safe, she was somewhat relieved. But the current situation made her very uncomfortable. For some reason, he had erected a barrier toward her.

Although having experienced life and death several times, her mindset was already different from before, she had never liked cold silences and still tried to make conversation: “How did you know I actually hadn’t died? How did your people get there? Do you know what happened to Sang Zhan in the end?”

Quan Feitong fiddled with the spoon on his bowl. “I don’t want to talk much about it. If Lian Yu has ways to take people from my side, I also have methods to snatch people from beside him. In short, between him and me, neither can underestimate the other, or we’ll lose badly.”

Suzhen suddenly felt somewhat ironically amused. He seemed unwilling to see her again, yet didn’t understand why he had brought her back.

Perhaps it was her previous actions, and her letter, that had hurt him…

She took a breath, stood up, and smiled: “Prime Minister, I’m very happy we could meet again in this lifetime. Take good care of yourself. I’m leaving. I hope we’ll have the chance to meet again.”

She looked at him once and walked toward the door.

“Feng Suzhen, were your promises of renewed friendship just to toy with me? But I took them seriously.”

Behind her came his slightly hoarse voice.

“Do you think that because this lifetime isn’t finished, it doesn’t count? Well, indeed it shouldn’t count—”

She stood at the door, hearing him laugh softly, immediately followed by his rapid footsteps. Her heart jumped as he embraced her tightly from behind.

His two arms were like iron brands across her chest.

“I know that because I didn’t save you, you actually hate me in your heart. The promises in the letter – I lost the right to them.”

“I brought you back, but I myself was hesitant about how to face you.”

“At that time, I didn’t know Lian Yu intended to let you go. If I wanted to save you, I’d be sacrificing not just my own life. As a man, I’m willing to take risks for you, but as Quan Feitong, I cannot abandon the ambitions I’ve cultivated for so long, and some people’s expectations.”

“If the situation then had been different, if someone wanted to harm or kill you, I would have risked my life to stop them. Do you understand?”

“Though you were only gone for a short time, I felt the days were hard to bear. The words you left for Lian Yu – I minded them, but I also secretly rejoiced at what you said about hoping to meet me early. Give me a chance. I want to take care of you for a lifetime, just like your father did for your mother. I won’t be like Lian Yu with three palaces and six courtyards. I only want you alone. You’ll be my eternal head of household. Is that good?”

His warm breath puffed at her ear – not the urgent confession of a young man, but the mature promise of a man who had seen through everything and thought deeply.

Suzhen’s heart was filled with mixed feelings. That day, seeing him finally just kneel there without taking another step forward, she felt no blame, yet still some bitterness. Now, this trace of bitterness slowly disappeared.

She grasped his hands and slowly turned around. “Prime Minister, I ask you – if there were another time, would you still choose as you did that day?”

Quan Feitong’s brows furrowed tightly, his lips curved in thin mockery, but his eyes showed undisguised cruelty.

“Yes, I would still do the same. So you’ll never forgive me in your heart?”

Suzhen shook her head, suddenly reached out to lightly brush his tightly furrowed brow, then stepped back several paces, looking at him gently.

“When I wrote the letter, I guessed this would be the result. And I always thought I wouldn’t blame you, but at that moment, I still felt sad. This is my selfishness, so how can I not allow you to be selfish too? People will be selfish – where in this world is there a truly perfect person?”

“I understand what you mean. You can pay a price for me, even yourself, but when that cost becomes too great – your ambitions, your promises to others – you can only stop there. Prime Minister, you’ve always lived clearly and plainly. You’re bad with principles – that’s the Quan Feitong I admire. If you had fought fiercely with Lian Yu then, I would have felt I’d run into the wrong drama.”

“I once thought to come back to see you before leaving, but then felt that with old memories still present in this lifetime, meeting again might be worse than not meeting. But today, I think this meeting was actually good…”

She looked at him, from the corners of his eyes to his lips, all showing a relieved smile.

Quan Feitong had previously wondered why he had developed feelings for this girl who always opposed him. She had never risked life and death for him, never helped solve his problems, but today he vaguely understood why he liked her!

“Don’t go! This time I won’t let you leave again with clever tricks.” He strode in front of her.

“Everything here I haven’t changed – it’s all arranged as it was on our wedding day…” He looked at her deeply. As his words paused, moved with emotion, he lifted her horizontally and walked toward the bed…

“Go away, get out! You came to laugh at me, to laugh at how foolish I was that day, choosing what I shouldn’t have chosen, haha.”

In another private residence, someone was drunk but saying completely opposite things.

With black hair and snow-white skin, this was a heavily intoxicated woman, but the wine flush like peach blossoms seemed to apply the most beautiful rouge to her cheeks.

The white-robed man slowly stood up, frowning as he looked at her, his eyes showing undisguised heartache and suppressing a trace of cold anger. The maid beside the woman was anxious beyond measure. “Lord Li, please don’t take our miss’s words to heart. She cares about you in her heart, otherwise she wouldn’t have invited you to drink with her. She was also driven to this state by that Lian Yu—”

She spoke with hatred showing in her eyes, gritting her teeth: “Driven to this by him. In her heartbreak, she would say such nonsense.”

“I’ll go get some sobering soup. You keep her company.”

She sighed and went out.

Li Zhaoting looked at the woman lying drunk at the table, silent for a long moment, finally stepping over to lift her up, place her on the bed, and cover her with bedding.

“I’m not drunk! Don’t treat me like a corpse.” Aluo suddenly sat up, roaring at him.

Li Zhaoting said coldly: “If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t want to stay here a moment longer, as if I were so lowly, coming each time only to see your cold face.”

“Cold face?” Aluo laughed with a sneer. “Then go find Feng Suzhen. I heard she treated you extremely well before. No wait – she also fell for Lian Yu. She fell for my Lian Yu.”

Li Zhaoting’s temple twitched, anger simmering in his heart. He wanted to leave in a huff, but this was after all the first woman he’d fallen in love with, and this time she had actively sought him out, her face full of tears. He truly felt pity seeing her like this, and ultimately stayed, once again covering her with the blanket.

At this moment, another face floated in his mind.

The owner of this face had later fallen in love with Lian Yu.

He had always believed she still loved him, but after seeing Quan Feitong’s letter, he finally understood she had truly changed her heart.

Before this, he had even wanted to retrieve her corpse for burial, even knowing Lian Yu would only humiliate him!

But at the moment she died, his heart ached terribly.

Perhaps, as she said, she was after all the younger sister who had lived with him for so many years.

But he didn’t know when she seemed to have grown up, and he could no longer understand her…

Had he become someone only worthy of taking her remains back for burial?

If so, why did she risk her life to save him in that underground chamber that day?

Had she truly changed her heart, or… did she still love him and want to use this method to take revenge on him, to attract other people and make him suffer?

Thinking of the contents of her letter, his heart grew cold, and something he had tried hard to suppress seemed about to burst out.

If he could succeed in the future, even if he had to dig three feet underground, he would dig her out and find a sorcerer to ask what exactly she had been thinking!

This sudden thought startled even himself. He walked to the table, took the wine she had left, and drank deeply.

“I mention her and you’re unhappy, aren’t you?” Aluo laughed softly behind him. “You wanted to retrieve her corpse that day. Li Zhaoting, you love her. You only realized it after she died, didn’t you?”

“If we really need to use life and death to prove, I can prove my love too!”

He suddenly turned around, looking at her with a cold laugh. “Why must you repeatedly vent on me the grievances you suffered with Lian Yu? Whether I love you or her in my heart – you know very clearly!”

He spoke these words that seemed somewhat familiar – someone had once said similar things to him.

“I’m leaving. I’ll wait for you. If I follow Senior Brother Quan to success in the future, I’ll use what I can give you…” He stopped mid-sentence, set down the wine cup – half a cup, slight intoxication was enough.

Seeing him push the door to leave, Aluo got up from the bed and ran behind him, leaning against his back.

She wasn’t completely unmoved by him – her heart was twisted in knots.

“Think it over carefully. Although you don’t love me, I still like you – I like your persistence in love and inability to tolerate even a grain of sand. My love is just more than Lian Yu’s.”

Being embraced by her soft, tender body, Li Zhaoting wasn’t unmoved either. He slowly turned around, took her into his arms, and his kiss lightly fell on the top of her head.

“Gu Xiluo, don’t return to the palace. Stay here.”

He reached out to wipe away the tears at the corners of her eyes, then slowly lowered his head to kiss her lips.

Aluo didn’t refuse.

Because he truly loved her.

Because Feng Suzhen had once loved Li Zhaoting most, and because she didn’t receive Li Zhaoting’s love, she fell in love with Lian Yu. Well then, if she was with him, she would make sure that woman would never rest in peace even in death!

She didn’t tell him that Lian Yu and Feng Suzhen had already been intimate. She only told him she couldn’t bear that Lian Yu had also developed true feelings for Feng Suzhen.

Everyone had seen the moment he wrapped his robe around her corpse.

But how could she admit in front of him that she had lost to that woman?

She wanted Lian Yu to regret!

She wanted Li Zhaoting to love her more.

Outside, snow began falling again. At this time, a large carriage was driving through the city gates.

Everyone in the carriage looked worriedly at the person sitting in the center. His face was waxy yellow, yet he still insisted on sitting upright.

“Sixth Brother, please rest.” Lian Qin and Lian Xin’s eyes reddened.

“No, I must go to the Quan residence to see if she was taken away by Quan Feitong. I need to confirm whether she’s currently safe.” Snowflakes flew in through the slightly raised curtain, landing on the man’s dry, cracked lips.