Lian Xin was very excited. Su Zhen lazily instructed her to do work, and she was happy to comply. Before long, everyone returned with very abundant catches—wild rabbits, pheasants, sparrows, partridges… Meanwhile, the firewood and roasting racks had all been prepared.

Huo Chang’an was exceptionally brave. While others brought back two or three animals, he had more than ten, plus he dragged back a roe deer. Su Zhen watched with her tongue hanging out, saying, “Huo Chang’an, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were participating in a wilderness survival competition.”

At her words, everyone smiled. Lian Xin laughed so hard she held her stomach. Huo Chang’an swallowed back the words that had been about to leave his mouth: “There’s still a wild boar in the forest—send someone to drag it back.”

He secretly glanced over and saw Wu Yan’s face flushed red in the firelight, with the corners of her mouth seeming to lift slightly. His heart couldn’t help but stir, and he felt everything was worthwhile.

Everyone worked together cooperatively—the men responsible for gutting, the women for cleaning. Lian Jie was gutting a small bird when he suddenly stood up and said indifferently, “I’ll go hunt some more things.”

Lian Qin, being mischievous, grinned and said, “Seventh Brother, looks like you’ll have to bring back a tiger or leopard to compete.”

Lian Jie gave him a cold look. He shrugged and lowered his head, playing dead while fiddling with things. Everyone laughed unkindly.

Lian Xin walked over to Wu Qing’s side to tease him with conversation. Since she had helped Su Zhen in the palace hall, she could be considered as having done the Court of Justice a favor. Wu Qing wasn’t as cold as usual, answering whatever was asked, but still maintained his usual distance.

Xiao Zhou snorted coldly and automatically walked away, crouching beside Su Zhen to help her clean things. Su Zhen whispered, “Why did you come over? Go quickly and fight that little ancestor to the death.”

Xiao Zhou sneered, “Tell me which man could be interested in her boring chatter about what she ate today and what she did! This is what they call winning without fighting.”

Su Zhen gave a thumbs up and laughed heartily, then suddenly remembered something and stopped talking. Xiao Zhou looked suspicious. Seeing Lian Yu approaching, he fawned and struck up conversation, “Your Majesty, what interesting things do you and Chief Investigator Li usually discuss?”

Lian Yu was holding a pheasant, his bearing completely unlike his usual lofty demeanor—clearly in good spirits.

“Your Chief Investigator Li just loves talking about eating and drinking and what she’s been tinkering with at the residence. With that dog brain, what else could she say?”

Xiao Zhou’s mouth twitched and he walked away. Su Zhen was furious and stuffed the partridge in her hands into Lian Yu’s hands. “I’ll kill you!”

The Gathering

After all the busy work, under the starry sky, everyone sat on the ground using heaven as their canopy. On one side of the rough grassland was a clear river and village, while the other side was thick forest and mountains. Occasional beast howls could be heard. The firelight was warm, meat fat dripped fragrantly, and the atmosphere became increasingly pleasant.

Su Zhen brought wine and distributed cups with Xiao Zhou, pouring for everyone. Lian Yu raised his cup in toast, wishing Lian Jie and Wu Yan a smooth journey.

Wu Yan thanked them one by one.

Everyone also took turns offering good wishes. Finally, only Huo Chang’an hadn’t spoken. He had been drinking with his head down, not knowing how many cups he’d had, completely oblivious. Thus there was suddenly silence.

“Cousin, it’s your turn,” Lian Xin spoke up fearlessly.

Huo Chang’an was startled, looked up, raised his cup and smiled, “I wish you both safe travels.”

“Thank you,” Wu Yan said softly, quickly turning her head away.

“Please take good care of her.”

Huo Chang’an gave a low laugh. His final words were directed at Lian Jie, his gaze dark and penetrating.

“Lian Jie will definitely not disappoint expectations. Please rest assured, Marquis Huo.” The young Seventh Prince raised his cup and drained it, showing his edge while being very solemn.

At this moment, a guard suddenly appeared from the bushes in the shadows, apparently having something to report. Seeing this, Black Tortoise immediately rose and went with Azure Dragon to listen. Everyone tensed, fearing something had happened. Since the mausoleum assassin incident, everyone had become increasingly cautious.

Soon the two returned. Black Tortoise whispered a few words in Lian Yu’s ear. Lian Yu gave instructions, Black Tortoise nodded, and left with Azure Dragon.

“Sixth Brother, what is it?” Lian Qin couldn’t help asking.

Lian Yu said, “Just some villagers who saw the firelight and came looking. I ordered them to take people to handle the matter and not let anyone randomly come in to disturb us.”

Seeing his relaxed expression, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiao Zhou suddenly spoke up, “Seventh Prince, you’ll be setting out with Her Ladyship the day after tomorrow, and you still need to return to the residence tomorrow to pack. There’s a medicinal formula I’d like to consult you about regarding Wu Qing’s foot. Could we go over there and talk quietly?”

Seeing Lian Jie was in excellent spirits, indeed, he smiled and agreed.

Wu Qing was pulled along by Xiao Zhou, and several people walked out. Seeing this, Lian Xin immediately followed like a dog-skin plaster.

Su Zhen coughed lightly, “I still want to hunt some more delicious things. Zhui Ming, Tie Shou, you come help too.”

“I’ll accompany you. Little Chu, White Tiger, Lian Qin, provide escort.”

Lian Yu’s casual remark made Su Zhen secretly smile. Everyone retreated quickly, leaving only Wu Yan and Huo Chang’an at the scene.

The two stared at each other for a moment. Seeing Wu Yan’s gaze lowered, Huo Chang’an smiled bitterly, “If you don’t want to see me, I’ll leave.”

Upon hearing this, Wu Yan looked up. The candlelight made her eyes misty and unclear. “Given Huaisu’s thoughtfulness, we should at least sit together for a while.”

Though her answer was affirmative, Huo Chang’an felt infinitely desolate. He almost wanted to leap up and grab her shoulders to demand whether she had any heart at all.

But he had made up his mind not to force her to do anything anymore, so he only smiled and asked, “If it weren’t for Huaisu’s thoughtfulness but purely your own will, you wouldn’t want to spend even a moment with me, would you?”

“It was wrong of me to force you that day, but am I truly so irredeemably evil? Wei Wu Yan, don’t you know that even if you wanted my life, I could give it to you? But even if I offered it with both hands, you would dismiss it with disdain, wouldn’t you?”

He had earlier noticed the fire weakening and picked up a wood branch to stoke it. Now, asking urgently, his hand reached into the fire without realizing it. Wu Yan saw this and reached out to push him away, but he pulled her over with one grab. His eyes were like fire, burning intensely—full of obsessive love, full of madness, and full of sorrow.

Wu Yan was forced to bend down, her hair falling onto his head. She looked at him indifferently, as if he were an unworldly youth. “It’s not that you’re not good—you’re very good. The one who’s not good enough is me! Huo Chang’an, don’t you understand yet? I could abandon you for Lian Yu. When I killed that assassin, it was also for myself. I truly wanted you to feel guilty. You think I’m deceiving you, and I thought so too, but after waking up, I realized I wasn’t. Young Master, I don’t love you enough. Why do you force me to say it out loud? Leaving it ambiguous like this—wouldn’t it be nice for you to think in the future, whether I live or die, that you didn’t love the wrong person? Naked truth is always ugly.”

“I still have some conscience and feel I’m not worthy of you, so I don’t want to have any more entanglements with you.”

Upon hearing this, Huo Chang’an felt his stomach cramping with pain, but he pulled her into his arms. “I know. That day at the Court of Justice, I heard you talking with Huaisu and the others. I don’t mind. As long as you’re willing to be with me, even if you don’t love me as much as I love you, it doesn’t matter.”

“But I mind. I have a problem with it,” Wu Yan said coldly. “I don’t want to owe you. Apart from Huaisu’s friendship, I have nothing left now. The only thing remaining is my self-respect. I don’t love you enough, yet if I’m with you and you treat me well, I would owe you. I don’t want to owe you anything.”

Her words were like a basin of cold water poured over his head, extinguishing all the fire in his heart!

Huo Chang’an slowly released her and smiled dejectedly. “I apologize—it was Huo Chang’an who overstepped.”

He looked at her one last time and turned to leave. After walking several steps, he suddenly turned back and laughed coldly, “To hell with your precious self-respect! You always put that ghost self-respect first—it was so back then, and it’s still so now. Wei Wu Yan, you’re absolutely right—you truly don’t love me much.”

After cursing, he resolutely turned and left her again.

Wu Yan stood by the fire, her heart cold but her tears hot.

She stared intently at his tall retreating figure, thinking that if he turned back, she would follow him and never mind life or death again.

He never turned back.

She lowered her head and smiled, quietly sitting back down.

The Confrontation

Huo Chang’an walked for a while and gradually saw the village—the direction they had come from.

Just as he was about to enter the village, he heard a voice say indifferently, “Marquis Huo, please wait.”

His hearing was sharp, and his gaze immediately fell on a large tree ahead.

Sure enough, someone slowly emerged from behind the tree.

This person had extremely wicked-looking eyes—it was Xiao Zhou.

Huo Chang’an was skilled and bold, naturally unafraid. However, since he and Xiao Zhou had no great friendship usually, seeing this made him suspicious. He asked indifferently, “What instruction does Master Zhou have?”

Xiao Zhou wore an ambiguous smile and said, “Marquis Huo, our Chief Investigator Li said that if I saw you on the return journey, I should ask you—though Miss Wei has a hundred wonderful qualities and a hundred faults, do you plan to abandon her from now on, no longer be with her, no longer love her, no longer protect her?”

Upon hearing this, Huo Chang’an actually burst into loud laughter. After laughing, he said coldly, “Please tell your investigator that I know there’s absolutely no possibility of that person and me being together anymore, but I will still protect her—I will definitely protect her.”

As he spoke to leave, Xiao Zhou suddenly blocked him. “Our Chief Investigator Li said that if you truly decide this, then at least you’re still a real man, and she didn’t misjudge you. She wants you to go to the forest grove—she has a few words she wants to tell you personally.”

“She still wants to persuade me? The problem isn’t with me. Since things have come to this, why does she bother playing the good person?” Huo Chang’an gave a self-mocking smile and narrowed his eyes at Xiao Zhou, a dangerous glint appearing. “Just based on you, you think you can stop me?”

He leaped up, passing over Xiao Zhou’s head. Xiao Zhou was startled, then sneered, “Li Huaisu is indeed playing the good person needlessly. She arranges and considers everything for you, but when you’re unhappy, you won’t even meet her once.”

Huo Chang’an’s steps paused. After a long moment, his thin lips pressed tight, he said coldly, “Where is she?”

Xiao Zhou smiled and stepped forward. Huo Chang’an only felt her body carried an elegant orchid fragrance, and his heart actually stirred slightly.

The Setup

Wu Yan broke off several branches and threw them into the fire when she heard a clear voice above her head say, “You two have fallen out again indeed.”

She looked up to see Su Zhen standing nearby, frowning with some helplessness as she looked at her.

She said guiltily, “I’ve failed your good intentions.”

“No, you’ve failed yourself, Wu Yan,” Su Zhen said slowly.

Wu Yan said nothing, but heard Su Zhen ask, “I’ll only ask you one last question. Answer me honestly—if Huo Chang’an were in danger, would you save him like you saved Lian Yue?”

“Yes,” she answered indifferently but without hesitation.

“Even if it cost you your own life?”

“Yes.” Still crisp and decisive.

Su Zhen sighed, “But you just can’t be with him, can’t love him?”

“Correct.”

“Why?”

“Why do you ask when you already know?”

“Why?” Su Zhen’s voice was slightly cold.

“I told you long ago.” Wu Yan bit her teeth slightly.

“Why?”

Su Zhen’s voice grew colder.

Wu Yan’s voice also turned cold as she suddenly looked up, “Because I don’t want to owe him, because I don’t love him enough. How many more times do you want to ask?”

Su Zhen gave a self-mocking curl of her lips, “I won’t ask again. I was meddling unnecessarily.”

As she spoke, she turned and ran.

Wu Yan saw her eyes were slightly red and felt terrible. She meant well, and seeing herself like this would naturally make her angry. But why couldn’t she control her temper?!

“Huaisu!” She immediately got up to chase after her.

Su Zhen was also extremely angry and had lost her reason, running toward the deep forest. Wu Yan saw her disappear in a flash into the woods and chased in after her. After running for a while, she suddenly saw the path ahead was pitch black, and the person had vanished. She immediately realized something and was greatly alarmed. Earlier with company it was fine, but this forest had wild beasts roaming about—what if she encountered one? Her martial arts were just amateur level at best!

Lian Yu and the others said they were going hunting, but how could they really be hunting? They must have gone toward the village. She wanted to turn back and get help but feared something would happen to Su Zhen if she left. Gritting her teeth, she chased forward, “Huaisu, I was wrong! Come out! Sister will apologize to you. It’s dangerous inside—come out quickly!”

The forest was thick with branches and leaves, the path ahead dark and ghostly, frightening. The deeper she went, the more worried she became. Just as she was anxious and parched, she saw a white shadow flash to the side with leaves rustling. Delighted, she ran over quickly.

Suddenly she heard the sound of flowing water by her ear. She emerged to feel a cool breeze on her face. Before her was a clear lake with stars and moon reflected on the blue waves like a dream. On the empty ground by the lake, several steps away, was a white tent with its entrance slightly open. Outside the tent were two candlesticks on either side, with a piece of paper pressed under one of them, containing several lines of writing.

She couldn’t help being surprised and suspicious. She walked over, picked up the candlestick, and pulled out the paper. Just as she was about to examine it, she heard a cold, hoarse voice from behind, “Li Huaisu, I’m here! What exactly do you want to say!”

Another person looking for Li Huaisu!

She turned around in surprise and saw someone emerge from the woods on the other side.

His stunned gaze reflected her same appearance.

“We’ve both been deceived by Huaisu—deceived by her again,” Wu Yan sighed silently.

“I’ll leave,” Huo Chang’an smiled faintly and immediately turned around.

He had only taken a few steps when his mind was filled with her beautiful face. Something stirred restlessly in his heart. He was greatly alarmed, remembering that when talking with Xiao Zhou earlier, his mouth had been dry and his tongue parched. He had thought then that he had drunk too much—otherwise, how could he have improper thoughts about a woman other than her?

At this moment, he suddenly understood—someone had drugged him!

Who else could have done such a thing!

Faced with Xiao Zhou, he could naturally suppress this aphrodisiac, but now with the drug taking effect and the person behind him being the one he loved and hated with intertwined emotions, his self-control began to rapidly collapse.

Li Huaisu had gone too far this time! He was furious in his heart but dared not linger any longer.

Wu Yan naturally also realized the purpose of the tent before her. Embarrassed and not knowing whether to laugh or cry, seeing his cold gaze, her heart was filled with mixed emotions.

After this parting, they might never meet again.

“Take care,” she said after some back and forth.

She was so eager for him to leave! Huo Chang’an’s blood surged, his whole body burning with desire, going mad with wanting her! He wanted to make her truly his woman so she would never again speak such cold words.

Wu Yan saw his face flushed red, his handsome features twisted for a moment as if in great pain. Not knowing what had happened to him, she was secretly alarmed and was about to go check on him when Huo Chang’an’s brow darkened and he shouted sternly, “Li Huaisu drugged me! If you don’t want to be raped, get lost!”

—Even if it cost you your own life?

Wu Yan’s heart shook, immediately remembering Su Zhen’s words. She quickly picked up the paper to examine it carefully—it was indeed Su Zhen’s handwriting.

Wu Yan, don’t underestimate this drug. This was prepared by Xiao Zhou, who says this stuff is absolutely amazing. If no one makes love with him, just wait and watch Huo Chang’an become disabled if he doesn’t die. Anyway, you only love him that much. Don’t think I’m joking—we’ve all left. If you want an antidote, no chance.

Wu Yan clutched the letter, bit her teeth, and walked tremblingly toward Huo Chang’an.

Huo Chang’an stared at her greedily, his mind filled with scenes of their two intimate encounters—once in Minzhou, once at the Court of Justice. That tender white body, the taste of passion, the woman he loved most in this life… Seeing the panic mixed with determination in her eyes, his heart was wildly joyful! She was willing—she cared about his life.

He was almost about to rush to her, lift her up, and push her into the tent—

But the lake’s reflection and candlelight illuminated the pallor and tear tracks on her face so clearly. He suddenly remembered that night years ago in the military tent when he was drunk and Lian Yue had entered disguised as a camp prostitute. That night, he had naturally received pleasurable release. Young and vigorous, he hadn’t planned to tell her, thinking that even if she found out later, perhaps after making a scene it could be settled…

Thinking of this, he was so remorseful and pained he wanted to kill himself! Li Huaisu’s well-intentioned matchmaking, but for him, it was like retribution.

“Li Huaisu wouldn’t really mess around. She may not know proper limits, but surely Lian Yu knows them? Don’t be afraid. Wait here for me. There must be someone watching secretly—they won’t let you be harmed by forest animals. I’ll go find them.” He spoke awkwardly and fled as if escaping.

“Huo Chang’an!” Wu Yan called, but saw him bite his lip hard, using pain to slightly distract his attention, then flash into the deep woods.

“Huaisu, come out, stop fooling around.”

Her voice was hoarse as she called Su Zhen’s name again and again. She was only afraid that Su Zhen might really…

The Attack

Huo Chang’an was blazing with fury, thinking that he mustn’t let them find him, otherwise even Lian Yu couldn’t protect them! His memory was excellent, so he quickly retraced his path.

However, looking from afar, he saw the fire on the grassland ahead had been completely extinguished. In the moonlight, there were several pools of blood red on the ground. His heart immediately sank—the bloodstains left from slaughtering game had been cleaned up earlier to avoid frightening the villagers later.

Just then, two black shadows suddenly leaped from the bushes ahead, rushing toward him. His eyes darkened as he prepared to face the enemy, but heard one of them say, “Marquis Huo, trouble! A large group of assassins attacked! They first pretended to be villagers to trick away half our men, then when Lords Black Tortoise and Azure Dragon hadn’t returned and the Seventh Prince, Lord Wu Qing, and Master Zhou had left, they suddenly struck. We also had to protect Chief Investigator Li and the Princess, so we weren’t a match. We had no choice but to retreat into the village. The assassins pursued, and His Majesty ordered us two to secretly return and notify you and Her Ladyship to leave first.”

“Chief Investigator Li was wounded saving His Majesty, but fortunately the injury isn’t serious. His Majesty is furious though. Time is of the essence—we two still have the task of getting reinforcements and must leave first. Marquis, please be careful too!”

Huo Chang’an knew this attack was likely connected to the mysterious assassins from the mausoleum, but he never expected the assassins’ intelligence to be so well-informed that they even knew in advance about Lian Yu leaving the palace!

Wu Yan was alone! He suddenly shuddered, terrified out of his wits, and used his lightness skills to race frantically back to the grove.

Under the moonlight, he saw Wu Yan sitting quietly on the ground. Without a word, he pulled her up and crushed her into his arms.