Su Zhen’s eyes lit up, “Marquis Huo, could you—”

“No.”

“I haven’t finished speaking—”

“This marquis knows what you want to ask.”

“And I thought I was being considerate by not wanting to implicate you earlier, but you—”

“This marquis absolutely cannot arrange for you to meet the emperor. Even if you did meet him, he wouldn’t want you.”

“Why?”

“Do you think the emperor would go against his own mother?”

Su Zhen quietly chewed the medicine pill and said, “Then could you please do me another favor and bail Wuqing and the others out of jail—”

Before the word “few” could leave her mouth, she heard horses neighing fiercely outside the curtain. Startled, Leng Xue and Huo Chang’an exchanged glances. Huo Chang’an leaped in front of them both, lifted the curtain, and several heads poked in. Leading them was indeed Wuqing, his shoulder blood-red with flesh gruesomely torn, looking much more serious than her injury.

His face was extremely pale. He threw something at her—a strand of hair tied in a small knot. She was stunned, “What is this thing?”

Iron Hand was not much of a talker, so Life Chaser dutifully explained, “It’s the princess’s hair. We had no intention of prolonged fighting and were looking for a chance to escape once you got away. If Wuqing hadn’t insisted on cutting off that woman’s hair, we wouldn’t have been injured by that General Chao. That man’s martial arts are formidable.”

Su Zhen looked at Wuqing in shock. The black-clothed youth pressed his pale lips tightly together and sat down with Iron Hand’s support. Seeing her staring at him intently, he coughed lightly, “Consider it repayment for the silver.”

Su Zhen was furious, “I wanted to make peace with her! When will this cycle of revenge end…”

Everyone was stunned. Huo Chang’an sneered, “Weren’t you going to oppose her to the end? So unprincipled.”

“Back then I hadn’t reached the end of my rope yet, had I?”

Su Zhen muttered. Everyone looked at her with contempt. Leng Xue gave her a rap on the head, “Why are you teasing Wuqing? With your terrible temper, even if you were beaten to death someday, you’d never beg for mercy.”

Everyone said in unison, “Don’t believe it.”

Su Zhen wasn’t angry, her attention already on Wuqing’s legs, “Wuqing, Wuqing, since you can walk, why do you still sit in a wheelchair?”

“He once fell from a high mountain and these legs are half-ruined. Usually he needs crutches to walk, but his excellent lightness skill wasn’t damaged. As long as he doesn’t use it for too long, he’s faster than a horse.” Life Chaser continued his animated explanation, looking proud that “Wuqing is our boss.”

Su Zhen’s heart leaped with joy as she looked at Wuqing and brought up the old topic again, “Crutches are fine, why do you keep sitting in a wheelchair?”

“Don’t you think sitting in a wheelchair is cooler?”

Wuqing spoke slowly.

Everyone collapsed upon hearing this.

Why were all the people she met such weirdos? Birds of a feather flock together. Zhaoting, she and his circle were always so different… Su Zhen laughed heartily, but her heart suddenly ached, and then she remembered a question: at the Imperial Academy, someone had called out “Li Huaisu” right after Mu San. Who was that?

The carriage disappeared into the forest path amid rolling dust.