The man jumped down from the carriage first, and the woman helped Jiang Li descend from the carriage. Jiang Li’s entire body was soft and weak, without a trace of strength. Even when walking, if no one supported her, she would fall.

The three of them entered the tavern, and everyone in the tavern couldn’t help but look toward Jiang Li. The woman gently adjusted Jiang Li’s veil for her, and Jiang Li began coughing. When she coughed, the veil was blown up slightly, revealing a terrifying face covered with red spots. Instantly, everyone in the tavern retreated to the side, afraid that Jiang Li would contaminate them.

The woman put on an apologetic smile and said, “My younger sister is ill. We’re truly sorry.”

“If she’s ill, sit inside. Don’t infect us,” a customer at the neighboring table said unceremoniously.

Jiang Li was then taken by the two to the innermost area.

This tavern was probably the nearest one within ten li. There were many customers inside, many conversing with each other, and their conversations thus reached Jiang Li’s ears.

“Hey, have you all heard? Prince Cheng has rebelled!”

“Heard about it. This Prince Cheng is really no good. Previously he even had an illicit affair with Consort Li in the palace. Talk about audacious!”

“Speaking of which, why would Consort Li have an illicit affair with Prince Cheng? Wasn’t Consort Li greatly favored in the palace? I heard that Ji family had risen to prominence.”

“Hahaha, this time they’ve truly ascended to heaven. My friend, don’t you know that the Ji family has already been raided? This Consort Li too—her greed was insatiable. Having His Majesty’s favor still wasn’t enough for her. She insisted on entangling herself with Prince Cheng. Now look what’s happened—she harmed herself and dragged down her family members too.”

“What do you all think—will Prince Cheng’s rebellion reach us here? Are we going to have a war?”

“I hope not. There’s no movement yet. Besides, if there really is a war, what does it have to do with us common folk? Better not meddle recklessly.”

The man and woman beside her maintained their usual expressions. The woman was even feeding Jiang Li, unmoved by all this. Jiang Li thus knew that it seemed these two had long known about these matters. Jiang Li’s heart couldn’t hide her surprise. Emperor Hongxiao actually moved this quickly? This truly exceeded expectations. Prince Cheng was caught completely off guard by Emperor Hongxiao’s sudden attack. He must be furious and flustered now.

But what these common people guessed wrong was that this war was inevitable. Though Jiang Li also knew that Emperor Hongxiao was not a simple monarch, warfare didn’t depend solely on the emperor’s wisdom, but also on the strength of generals and soldiers. Prince Cheng had been conserving his strength for so many years and likely wasn’t weak either. If this war truly broke out, who knew who would suffer losses.

While she was thinking this, she heard voices speaking outside the tavern. One person said, “This tavern has too many people. I’m not willing to squeeze in with them.”

Another person replied, “I’m not asking you to eat here. Just feed the horses and leave.”

The instant Jiang Li heard these two voices, she first froze, then immediately became excited. She hadn’t heard wrong—these two were clearly Zhao Ke and Wen Ji’s voices!

They were here!

In Jiang Li’s heart, infinite hope suddenly arose. As long as Zhao Ke and Wen Ji were here, didn’t that mean Ji Heng was also here? If so, she would have hope of breaking free from these people. Otherwise, once they continued south until she was delivered into Prince Cheng’s hands, she would have no chance to escape.

I’m here! Jiang Li silently cried out in her heart, but her mouth couldn’t make a sound. She wanted to blow a whistle, but her whistle was left at the mansion. Even if it were on her person, she didn’t have the strength to pick it up and blow it, and the first moment she did, it would be taken away by the woman beside her.

Zhao Ke’s voice rang out, “Fed them. Let’s go.”

The light in Jiang Li’s eyes extinguished.

The sound of horse hooves came from outside, and Zhao Ke and Wen Ji’s voices gradually faded away. Jiang Li couldn’t move, so she had no way to walk out and see whether Ji Heng was in this place. But never mind walking—even if she could just call out, she wouldn’t be sitting here unable to do anything.

That woman still patiently fed Jiang Li, and anyone who saw them wouldn’t doubt they were close sisters. Only sisters would treat a frightening patient so caringly without disgust. They naturally didn’t know that Jiang Li’s illness was fake, which was why the woman was so intimate with her.

Jiang Li obediently swallowed the food in her mouth. She could feel that the food at the inn during the day had no drugs in it. That drug, taken once, could make a person weak and powerless for twelve hours, so the woman only drugged the evening meals. Because it was fed bit by bit, Jiang Li had no way to refuse. If she spit it out, this woman would find a way to put it directly in tea and force it down her throat.

They had always been very cautious. Under these circumstances, Jiang Li could only behave very obediently. If she showed too intense resistance, she might provoke these two people. She had to know that right now she couldn’t even lift a single chopstick. If she truly confronted this man and woman, she would be completely helpless.

She wanted to carefully listen to exactly which direction Zhao Ke and Wen Ji were heading, but outside was really too noisy. Not only did she fail to hear Zhao Ke and Wen Ji’s footsteps, the voices of people talking at the neighboring table entered her ears instead.

“Everyone, do you think there will be a war? This isn’t Yan Capital. Huangzhou is still so far from Yan Capital. If there’s a war and we suffer, when those soldiers come, we’ll probably all be killed already!”

“Nonsense. If there really is a war, of course they’ll attack Yan Capital. Why would they attack our Huangzhou? Huangzhou doesn’t have any…” The surroundings suddenly became quiet. The speaker seemed to realize what he had said and hastily swallowed back the words “Emperor” that were about to leave his mouth.

That Prince Cheng had fled, but up until now, he had only had an illicit affair with the Emperor’s consort and hadn’t yet raised troops in rebellion. If they were charged with spreading rumors and causing trouble, that would mean losing their heads.

Listening to these people talk, Jiang Li’s heart was shocked with alarm. Huangzhou? They had already reached Huangzhou?

These past days, Jiang Li had been in the carriage the whole time. Apart from this man and woman, she had hardly spoken with anyone. Even when staying at inns, whether the servers or other guests, everyone who saw Jiang Li avoided her like the plague. Jiang Li hadn’t been able to figure out exactly where they had gone. Only when she got off the carriage to eat each day could she see the scenery along the way, and it appeared they were heading south all along.

But in just these few days, they had actually run to Huangzhou?

Jiang Li suddenly remembered a rumor that Grand Consort Liu’s hometown was Huangzhou. Could Prince Cheng be planning to start from Huangzhou and stage his uprising there? Thinking about it this way, it was indeed possible. After all, Emperor Hongxiao’s sudden attack on Prince Cheng left him unprepared. With all of Yan Capital now on high alert, it would be impossible for Prince Cheng to proceed as originally planned. Retreating to Huangzhou and starting from there was indeed Prince Cheng’s style. Prince Cheng was both arrogant and cowardly. He believed he was far superior to Emperor Hongxiao, yet always felt things weren’t completely secure.

Though her heart was in tumultuous shock, her face showed no expression. She let that woman feed her, carefully adjust her veil, and help her onto the carriage. The man went to settle the bill.

Jiang Li was supported by that woman as they walked outside.

Just as she walked outside, she froze.

Outside the tavern, not far away, sat a black and gold soft sedan chair. Jiang Li’s throat tightened. She opened her mouth but no sound came out.

That was Ji Heng’s sedan chair. Ji Heng was nearby!

Jiang Li had once ridden in that sedan chair to the Duke’s mansion. She knew that only someone as delicate and particular as Ji Heng would be like this. She didn’t know how he had come to Huangzhou. Wen Ji and Zhao Ke weren’t around, and there was no one in front of the sedan chair either, so there was no way to know whether anyone was inside. Judging from Wen Ji and Zhao Ke’s earlier conversation, they had already left this place. So this was just an empty sedan chair with no one inside.

But for some reason, Jiang Li had an intuition that the person in the sedan chair was Ji Heng. He was inside.

Jiang Li couldn’t help wanting to stop. Her body was weak and she had been leaning on the woman the whole time, letting the woman support her. She couldn’t help biting through her own lip to make herself slightly more alert, as if this way she could gain some strength. Her body tilted to the right, wanting to escape the woman’s restraint.

That woman hadn’t expected that Jiang Li would still have the strength to break free. Startled, the moment Jiang Li broke free, she wished she could crawl to the sedan chair right now. But without the woman supporting her on one side, she was like a soft cloth bag and fell to the ground.

Jiang Li fell to the ground all at once, and people around looked over. The man who had just finished paying came out and saw this scene. He walked over and asked, “What happened?”

That woman hastily crouched down to help Jiang Li up, smiling, “Just stepped on a stone, didn’t stand steady, and my sister slipped.”

She pretended to be distressed as she patted Jiang Li’s body, and so Jiang Li coughed forcefully twice. Below her veil that was blown up by the wind, red scars were revealed. Those passersby who had been curiously looking this way immediately stepped back and covered their noses, afraid of being contaminated by Jiang Li, hiding far away. They no longer looked at Jiang Li even once.

That woman said, “Sister, this time you must watch carefully. Don’t slip again. Be more careful.”

Though the words were caring, they didn’t sound very kind.

Under her veil, Jiang Li silently called Ji Heng’s name over and over, but right up until she was sent onto the carriage, that soft sedan chair remained completely motionless. No one came down from it, and no one spoke out.

He hadn’t discovered Jiang Li and thus passed her by. Or perhaps he wasn’t in that sedan chair at all, and everything was just Jiang Li’s hopeless wishful thinking.

After getting on the carriage, the man immediately told the driver to depart. As the carriage began moving, the man asked the woman, “What happened just now? Why weren’t you more careful in your work?”

That woman said irritably, “This wretch still wanted to escape. Really won’t give up. I thought she’d been quite obedient these past days, but didn’t expect she’d still pull this stunt.”

“Escape?” That man’s features were very plain but had a certain evil quality that made people dislike him at first sight. He reached out and patted Jiang Li’s face, saying, “Where could she escape to? Since we’ve already come here, little beauty, you’d better behave. That way you’ll suffer less.”

“Don’t get any ideas about her,” the woman reminded. “This is someone His Highness wants.”