“Ah? Me go look?” Tan Dunzhi’s face showed surprise and difficulty.

Him, a powerless scholar, going into the forest alone?

Wang Shi whispered in his ear: “Earlier I saw that group of young masters gathering together, pointing at the forest. I quietly hid behind a tree and listened, and vaguely heard them saying they wanted to deal with the Crown Princess…”

Tan Dunzhi was startled: “Really?”

Were these people so audacious?

“Then we should quickly tell Imperial Uncle…” Tan Dunzhi urgently wanted to find the Emperor.

Wang Shi grabbed him and said with exasperation: “You child! No brain! If you tell your Imperial Uncle, putting aside offending those prominent family young masters, when your Imperial Uncle sends guards, what would any of this have to do with you?”

Tan Dunzhi blinked. Wasn’t any of this supposed to have anything to do with him anyway?

“Your cousin has such martial arts skills—how could these people possibly harm her? So this is actually a good opportunity for you to curry favor. You go into the forest, warn the Crown Princess, and she’ll surely be grateful to you. Then you escort her back slowly, preferably lingering in the forest for more time, reciting a few poems you’ve written to her…”

Tan Dunzhi looked back at the forest, which appeared increasingly dark as dusk fell.

Seeing his expression, Wang Shi knew what he was thinking and angrily slapped him: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained! The forest is surrounded by guards and has been cleared. What are you afraid of!”

Tan Dunzhi hesitated—there were many things he was afraid of.

Suddenly a voice interjected: “Aunt, how about I accompany Second Brother?”

Wang Shi turned to see Tan Xiuyue and, after thinking, said happily: “Good, you accompany your brother. You’ve always been clever—help bring your cousin and brother together.”

Tan Xiuyue smiled in agreement and mounted her horse first.

Xizhou bordered Yannan, where horses were famous for being good at mountain paths and having endurance. There were many skilled riders, and the Tan family was a prominent local clan whose children all knew how to ride.

Unable to refuse further, Tan Dunzhi also mounted his horse.

Wang Shi pointed them toward a secluded corner and watched them enter the forest with delight.

Seeing the Emperor waiting anxiously and the sky darkening with rising wind that looked like rain, just as he was about to order the ministers’ children back to camp, she hurried over and said with a smile: “Dunzhi just said he knows where the Crown Princess is and went to fetch her. Your Majesty, please wait a moment—they’ll return soon.”

Hearing this, the Emperor felt somewhat reassured and remained in the field to continue waiting.

The sky gradually darkened. The moon didn’t rise high in the sky as expected—clouds layered at the horizon with wind rolling from the cloud edges.

…

Feng Huan and the others entered the forest.

Not knowing which direction to search, Li Yuncheng reminded them: “Earlier there was a firework that went off, and the Crown Princess entered the forest then.”

Someone had seen that firework, so everyone headed in that remembered direction.

Walking along, they vaguely heard movement ahead. Everyone felt a surge of joy, thinking they were right.

They held their breath and followed the sounds, putting on face masks.

Feng Huan had discussed with Chang Qianmo and the others along the way—find a ready-made pit, set up a mechanism nearby, make some noise to lure the Crown Princess over, let her step on the mechanism and fall into the pit, then scatter some knockout powder or something to make her stay in the pit for half the night or a whole night to suffer, without them being caught red-handed.

This would also dampen her arrogance so she wouldn’t bully them too much when they went to Yannan later.

The movement ahead continued. Following it, everyone muttered to themselves that the Crown Princess was running quite far.

Where were they now? They were almost losing track of direction.

Li Yuncheng had been walking at the back of the group, still holding his book. Walking along, he stopped.

Feng Huan looked back and urged: “Hurry up, Old Li!”

“The weather doesn’t look good.” Li Yuncheng looked around and said slowly, “It’s going to rain. Maybe we should forget it—I’m afraid of getting wet. And this direction seems a bit wrong.”

“You’re also afraid of wind, thunder, lightning, hail, and snow!” Feng Huan rolled his eyes. “Hurry up. Good deeds or bad deeds, brothers should do them together for peace of mind!”

The young masters all turned back to look at Li Yuncheng intently.

That was the logic, especially for bad deeds—if they didn’t do them together, who could feel at ease?

Chang Qianmo looked at the sky, somewhat hesitant, then at Feng Huan, but kept quiet.

Li Yuncheng smiled, waved at everyone, and lifted his leg again.

Only then did Feng Huan feel relieved and continue charging ahead.

Therefore, he didn’t notice Li Yuncheng walking slower and slower, falling to the back, with the distance between him and the group growing larger.

Feng Huan ran ahead.

The movement ahead was close.

Not far ahead was a large pit.

His eyes lit up. Just as he was about to tell everyone to choose this spot, suddenly his foot slipped and tightened—his foot seemed caught by something, and his whole body slid downward.

He cried out in alarm. Suddenly a dark object flew over and smashed into his wide-open mouth, immediately crushing his scream back into his throat.

His body was sliding down, his shoulders continuously kicked by something, causing excruciating pain and making him slide faster. After sliding into the large pit, he didn’t stop but crashed into a hole with a bang. The moment he entered the hole, his waist was struck—he was sure his waist was broken. He wanted to scream, but his mouth was full of mud, so foul and fishy he disgusted himself. Then with another splat, he was half-buried in mud—he had reached the bottom.

But it wasn’t over. The next moment, things kept crashing down with the wind. Mud flew, grass fragments fell like rain, muffled groans mixed with the slight bone-cracking sounds of limbs continuously colliding. In the blink of an eye, the hole was filled with body upon body, crashed into a pile.

Feng Huan at the bottom made no more sounds—he had been knocked unconscious.

The pile behind were naturally the young masters who had failed to trap others but were trapped themselves, stacked like acrobats in the narrow hole, all with mud in their mouths, screaming while spitting out mud that landed on their companions’ faces.

Chang Qianmo, who had fallen on top, had poor stamina and had been at the back, making him the luckiest now, though he was also dizzy from the fall with countless scrapes from sliding down. After recovering somewhat, he looked down—this seemed to be a hole below the pit, not deep, sloping downward. It was now filled with people, with mud and dry grass piled at the innermost part blocking the stone wall. Otherwise, sliding down like this and hitting the bottom would have meant instant death.

Chang Qianmo glanced outside—under the cover of long grass, half the sky was rolling with dark clouds. The hole entrance wasn’t far from him; he could barely crawl out.

But as soon as he extended his hand, he heard footsteps. There were sounds of heavy objects being moved on the ground. After a moment, with a thunderous crash, half the sky disappeared, leaving only darkness.

Someone above had covered the hole entrance with stones.

Only a crescent-shaped small gap remained, too narrow for even a rabbit to squeeze through.

Chang Qianmo struggled to crawl up and tried to lift the stone—it didn’t budge.

He spat out the mud in his mouth and tried calling out. He felt his voice was loud, but it only echoed in the hole. Since this hole was essentially underground, no matter how loud the voice, once covered by the stone, it was mostly muffled.

And soon there would be wind and rain. In the dense forest with swaying trees and bushes, even face-to-face shouting might not be heard.

Chang Qianmo looked down—a group of young masters almost filled this narrow cave, with Feng Huan at the bottom completely silent.

Enclosed narrow hole, dense crowd, tiny air vent… Chang Qianmo already felt the suffocating stuffiness in the hole. He couldn’t imagine—if they stayed here for a night… how many would die?

The wind overhead grew stronger. If there was also heavy rain and water poured in…

And the dense forest was full of such places—long grass and scattered rocks. Heavy rain would wash away all traces. Even an army of ten thousand couldn’t find them…

Chang Qianmo’s eyes widened with despair.

A malicious prank that hadn’t even been carried out would bury all these sons of dukes and ministers?

…

Two pairs of black boots stopped at the hole entrance.

One person said: “Is the headcount complete?”

Another replied: “Can’t count, should be complete. They all walked together—didn’t see anyone fall behind.”

The first speaker looked back—long grass swayed, the deep forest was silent, indeed no sign of people.

With that group of walnut-brained young masters, if anyone had really fallen behind and seen what just happened, they would have screamed and run wildly long ago.

That would have been discovered by their people immediately.

Even if someone was clever enough to hide, this place was already deep in the dense forest. They had been leading this group in circles—they should have been lost long ago.

A thunderclap accompanied a flash of lightning, and the first raindrop finally fell.

No one liked getting wet. The two exchanged glances, made a gesture to the forest, and hurried away.

Raindrops pattered down, slowly flowing from deep green branches and leaves, streaming into lines, curtains, and crystal screens in front of the dark brown tree trunks.

The mountain forest gained another layer of misty color.

After a while longer, until shallow puddles formed on the ground and fallen leaves, several shadowy figures emerged from hiding places around the pit and quickly left.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the ghostly tree shadows.

It also illuminated the pale face of a person lying in a puddle of fallen leaves.

The person was Li Yuncheng.

He had been lying near that hole the entire time, three zhang from the entrance, motionless under the cover of long grass.

Walking at the back, when Feng Huan fell, only he wasn’t near the mechanism.

As soon as Feng Huan’s body dropped, he lay down, prostrate in the cold, damp, insect-ridden fallen leaves and long grass.

He watched his companions ahead slide down one by one, then heard the heart-stopping continuous crashing sounds. He saw mud balls flying through the air, accurately blocking everyone’s mouths.

Just from the skill of throwing those mud balls, he knew he absolutely could not make any sound.

Later two people appeared, moved stones, counted heads—he didn’t move.

Those two left.

All around was quiet.

He still didn’t move.

Rain fell, hitting his body with cold, gradually accumulating in puddles beneath him. His whole body was freezing, with earthworm corpses floating in the muddy water before his nose.

He still didn’t move.

Until the last few dark figures appeared and left.

Only then did Li Yuncheng get up.

He went to the hole entrance and tried to move it—couldn’t budge it.

He knelt down and called softly to those below: “Are you all dead?”

Chang Qianmo below heard and was overjoyed: “Old Li? Old Li, you didn’t fall in? Great! Quickly get us out!”

Li Yuncheng outside sniffled and said unclearly: “I can’t move the stone.”

“Then quickly go get people to save us…”

“Do you know how far we came in? Do you know which direction we’re in now?”

Chang Qianmo was speechless.

“Besides, it’s raining,” Li Yuncheng said, still slowly. “Even if I find the way and find rescuers and come back… your hole would have been filled with rainwater long ago.”

Silence below, then someone started crying.

“Stop crying and listen to me,” Li Yuncheng said. “This opening can’t be blocked even in rain—you need to breathe. But if too much water gets in, you’ll drown eventually. Anyone who’s awake now should start trying to dig at the stones. Don’t dig earth—there’s nowhere to move the earth.”

“How could stones possibly be dug…”

“Did you forget the Deep Iron dagger Feng Huan just got as a reward from the Crown Princess? Use that to dig.” Li Yuncheng pulled out some dry rations from his clothes and stuffed them through the hole entrance. “Try to drag the injured people outward and give them something to eat. I’m leaving.”

Chang Qianmo’s hopeful eyes showed through the gap. Li Yuncheng was too lazy to look: “Hurry up. Race against time to dig out more breathing and living space before the hole fills with water.”

He didn’t tell Chang Qianmo to dig at the stone at the entrance—first, the distance and position made it hard to apply force and dig, and the digging speed couldn’t match the water filling speed. Second, if they dug it bigger, water would pour in faster. Better to seek survival inside.

He turned to leave. Looking around, all the scenery appeared the same. He looked down and found a white something on a bush.

Following that bush forward, before long he found another white piece in a tree trunk crevice.

These were markers he had left by tearing his book along the way.

Not because he had discovered anything, but out of his habitually cautious nature.

Following these book fragments back, he rushed, but wasn’t very confident. It was raining now—the Crown Princess must have returned, and the main force outside the forest must have returned to camp and the traveling palace. Could he make it in time rushing back now?

…

“It’s raining.”

Murong Yi, sitting on a different branch, reached out to block a raindrop about to fall on Tie Ci’s head.

“Let’s go back. It’s dark now. If we return too late and Father finds out, it won’t be good.”

Tie Ci thought the Emperor’s party had long returned to the traveling palace. She only worried about being discovered, not knowing that a group of people were still foolishly waiting in the field while another group had already fallen into a pit.

Murong Yi was somewhat reluctant, but he hadn’t brought rain gear and couldn’t bear to let Tie Ci get wet, so he had no choice but to follow her down the tree, sighing inwardly.

Since her identity was revealed, there were always crowds around her. Arranging a private meeting was harder than climbing to heaven.

Today he had deliberately stayed in the forest. Sure enough, when she saw the fireworks, she came to meet him. Getting this brief moment together was already satisfying.

He jumped down from the tree, wanting to pick some large leaves to shield Tie Ci from rain on the way back, when he suddenly saw something grayish-white ahead and made a curious sound, bending to pick it up.

“What are you doing? Let’s go back quickly.”

“Wait, there are Heaven Silk mushrooms here. These mushrooms are rare—let me gather some to make soup.”

“Gathering mushrooms in the rain.” Tie Ci didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, thinking he was such a foodie.

“Don’t you like them?” Murong Yi bent down and continued picking as he walked forward.

Tie Ci fell silent, suddenly remembering how many times before Murong Yi had made things for her to eat. He actually ate very little himself, mostly watching her eat with a smile—quite kindly.

So was she the real foodie?

She smiled, picked some broad leaves to hold over Murong Yi’s head, and accompanied him gathering mushrooms.

Murong Yi took off his outer garment to wrap the mushrooms. Seeing it was about enough and preparing to leave, he suddenly saw more white ahead and walked over.

It turned out not to be mushrooms, but a piece of white paper caught between grass blades. With green shade overhead, the paper wasn’t wet yet.

Tie Ci came over and saw words printed on the paper—it looked like it was torn from a book. The paper wasn’t exactly new, but the tear was fresh, and the surface was very clean.

This was strange.

The imperial hunting ground normally didn’t allow entry and was cleared three days before hunts. Moreover, there had been wind just days ago. If this paper had been torn earlier, it couldn’t possibly remain clean until now.

If it was torn today, who would bring books hunting and tear them? Tear such small pieces for what? It didn’t look like fire-starting material either.

“There’s more here.” Murong Yi had found a second piece seven or eight steps away.

Tie Ci and he looked at each other—both thinking “markers!”

The question was, why leave markers? Fear of getting lost?

Murong Yi said: “Today’s dandy young masters entering the mountain—I’ve been watching them, so they wouldn’t get lost.”

Having received intelligence from Lan Xian and fearing trouble today, he had not only been following Tie Ci’s trail but had also used schemes to keep that group of young masters and Tan Dunzhi within his sight, with people hidden all around watching—they wouldn’t let those people get lost.

Tie Ci said: “Let’s keep looking.”

She had wanted to set off fireworks to signal she was fine, since they would be delayed again, but if these paper pieces were really problematic, now wasn’t the time to set off fireworks and expose her position.

Murong Yi found several more pieces, then straightened up.

Tie Ci also heard the huffing and puffing breathing sounds and muddy, labored footsteps—urgent yet difficult.

“Who’s there!”

The breathing and footsteps stopped abruptly.

Murong Yi stepped back, blocking Tie Ci, his fingers already gripping the chain of the iron fan at his waist.

But Tie Ci’s gaze penetrated the obstructing trees and bushes ahead, seeing the person hiding behind a tree.

After a moment of confusion, she said: “I’m Tie Ci. Come out.”

With a “thud,” the person behind the tree suddenly tumbled out, accompanied by a heavy gasp that seemed both joyful and relieved.

He lay in the muddy water, desperately pointing backward: “Quick—quick—save people—”

Li Yuncheng’s eyes burst with wild joy. Originally calculating that a round trip couldn’t possibly make it in time, he had grown more panicked as he ran, already considering fleeing for his life at this moment. He hadn’t expected to encounter the Crown Princess who had come looking!

Heaven hasn’t abandoned me!

Facing the confused looks of the two before him, he wiped the rainwater about to flow into his mouth, just about to explain the urgent matter in the most concise language, when he saw the Crown Princess charging toward him.

Li Yuncheng: …What does she want to do! Why is she running so fast! Is she angry and going to kill me?!