The next morning, Ji Heng prepared to depart.

Wenren Yao had the most luggage. Lu Ji and Jiang Li had very little, not to mention Lin Yao.

The carriage was sent by the Wuwei General. Knowing that Ji Heng was in Huangzhou, he specially found a large carriage and asked if they needed troops to protect their safety along the way. Lu Ji politely declined.

The carriage was very spacious. Jiang Li and Wenren Yao sat inside, with Wenren Yao still holding Lin Yao. Lu Ji and Ji Heng were outside. Not knowing what they said to the Wuwei General, when Wenren Yao lifted the carriage curtain, the Wuwei General curiously glanced inside the carriage. He probably knew there was a woman sitting inside but didn’t know her identity or her relationship with Ji Heng, and was simply curious.

Wenren Yao lowered the carriage curtain. Soon Ji Heng and Lu Ji also boarded the carriage. Zhao Ke and Wen Ji served as drivers, and the carriage headed out of Huangzhou City.

After Wenren Yao coaxed Lin Yao to sleep, he lifted the carriage curtain, and Jiang Li also looked outside following his gaze. She remembered when they first arrived at Huangzhou City, the area outside the city had been lively and clean, with many commoners entering and leaving the city. Now there wasn’t a single person, and even the earth seemed to have turned charred black. The ground was scattered with arrows and swords, as well as human corpses carelessly piled to the side—who knew whether they were from the city garrison or Prince Cheng’s troops.

The bloody smell lingered for a long time, and the air was filled with a heart-palpitating odor. Through what lay before their eyes, one could almost see the tragic brutality of that night when Prince Cheng’s troops attacked the city. Although Huangzhou City had ultimately been defended, it certainly hadn’t been easy.

The atmosphere became somewhat heavy. Wenren Yao then lowered the carriage curtain, seeming to want to find a more cheerful topic. He looked at Jiang Li and said, “Huh? Second Miss Jiang, your face seems much better.”

Jiang Li reached up to touch her own face and said, “It does seem so.”

The medicine that couple had given her—after so much time had passed, the red spots on her face had gradually faded. Apart from when looking closely, where faint red marks could still be seen, from a distance there was no major problem, and they were almost invisible.

Hearing this, Ji Heng also looked at Jiang Li. He was smiling, but his gaze made Jiang Li quite uncomfortable. He sat directly across from her, as if he could see through everything. Jiang Li avoided his gaze and pretended to lower her head casually.

“That’s wonderful,” Wenren Yao said with animation. “Seeing Second Miss restored to her former beauty, I am truly and sincerely happy for Second Miss.”

Such smooth-talking words—if they came from another man’s mouth, he would probably be scolded as a libertine. But having spent time with Wenren Yao, one knew this person was just rather talkative, couldn’t keep his mouth shut, but had a good heart. Jiang Li could only respond with mixed feelings.

“However,” Wenren Yao looked outside again and said, “We shouldn’t encounter Prince Cheng’s troops along this route, right?”

Jiang Li asked, “Didn’t they already leave?”

“They didn’t necessarily all leave together. We might encounter scattered soldiers or the like,” Lu Ji said. “Zhao Ke and Wen Ji are taking small roads, so the possibility of encountering them is not great.”

“No matter, no matter,” Wenren Yao said. “You’re the ones who asked me to come along, so you must take responsibility for my safety… and Second Miss Jiang’s safety too, right?”

Lu Ji rolled his eyes at him: “We know.”

After that, the four had nothing more to say. Jiang Li could feel Ji Heng’s gaze landing on her, carrying a scrutinizing quality that made her extremely uncomfortable. But there was only one carriage, with no way to avoid it. She couldn’t help but regret a bit—if she had known, she should have strongly insisted they needed two carriages. It didn’t matter who she rode with, as long as it wasn’t in the same carriage with Ji Heng. Ji Heng’s eyes were too sharp, and he saw through things too thoroughly. No matter how much Jiang Li concealed, she probably couldn’t hide it for long. When he learned of her secret feelings, she didn’t know what he would do.

Moreover, feelings were like a flower that a butterfly perched on—the fragrance couldn’t be suppressed no matter what. When others passed by, they could immediately smell the flower’s scent. How could it be concealed?

Fortunately, Ji Heng was a clever person, and his thoughts wouldn’t be easily known by others. If he didn’t speak of it, Jiang Li would pretend not to know. Wenren Yao was carefree, and after a while began talking about other matters. Lu Ji turned out to be more conversational than Jiang Li had imagined, full of witty remarks. Even Lin Yao, who woke up later, was attracted by Lu Ji’s words.

The journey back to the capital was smoother than imagined.

Zhao Ke said that traveling during the day, if they didn’t rush, they could arrive in about seven days. The first two days passed safely without incident. On the third day, the carriage continued forward, no different from before.

From Huangzhou to the capital, apart from the city gates, the households afterward became fewer and fewer. Moreover, to avoid Prince Cheng’s troops, Zhao Ke and his companion took small roads, practically heading into the mountains. By the third day, it had become almost entirely wilderness, with no villages ahead or behind, and nothing at all.

After looking outside for a while, Wenren Yao said, “I’m afraid we’ll have to spend the night in the mountains today.”

Jiang Li didn’t have much of a reaction.

Seeing her indifferent appearance, Wenren Yao asked, “Second Miss Jiang, we have to stay in the mountains tonight. How are you not surprised at all?”

“There are no other inns here. There are households in the mountains, but we might not necessarily find them. Blindly searching for households can lead to getting lost. In comparison, staying in the mountains is actually a good choice,” Jiang Li answered. “It’s just that lighting a fire at night is too dangerous—we’d be afraid of attracting bandits. It’s better to rest in the carriage.”

She didn’t find it particularly difficult and spoke quite naturally, which made Wenren Yao look at her strangely, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Ji Heng, however, smiled, as if understanding completely. Previously in Tong County, Xue Fangfei had gone hunting in the mountains with Xue Zhao. Sometimes when it got late and they couldn’t return home, they would light a fire and sleep under a tree for the night. There were no bandits in Tong County’s mountains, only wild beasts, and the fire was only to drive away those beasts.

Just then, Lin Yao’s stomach gurgled. Lin Yao said, “Sister Jiang, I’m hungry.”

Jiang Li pulled out some dry cakes and water from her bundle and handed them to him, saying, “Eat a little.”

It was now around noon, but there were no inns ahead or behind. It looked like even if they continued for a long stretch, there wouldn’t be any. Today they definitely couldn’t eat at an inn and could only eat dry rations. Jiang Li distributed the dry rations to Lu Ji and the others as well. Zhao Ke and Wen Ji also stopped the carriage to rest here for a while and eat something.

Everyone got off the carriage.

Ji Heng also held a dry cake in his hand. Jiang Li had originally thought that someone as fastidious as him, who lived so refinedly, probably wouldn’t touch such dry rations. Jiang Li wanted to see what he would actually eat, but to her surprise, he directly picked up the dry rations and brought them to his mouth, eating slowly.

Jiang Li was stunned.

This person’s elegance was truly ingrained in his bones. Even eating a dry cake, he was calm and unhurried, methodical, as if he were eating some delicacy of the world. Jiang Li stared at him, forgetting to eat what was in her own hands. Ji Heng noticed her gaze and looked over, paused for a moment, then suddenly smiled. He said, “Why are you looking at me?”

“It’s nothing.” Jiang Li lowered her head to eat her own food.

Wenren Yao ran over from the bushes, complaining, “These dry cakes are really too hard to eat. Isn’t there anything else to eat?” He suddenly thought of something. “Hey, Second Miss, don’t you know how to roast venison and make beggar’s chicken? There are plenty of rabbits and birds in these mountains. Why don’t we go hunting and you can roast something?”

Wenren Yao was probably the pickiest eater among them all, even more so than Lin Yao, the child. Single-mindedly thinking about eating something better, Jiang Li said, “We don’t have bows and arrows for hunting here, and besides, we’re traveling right now.”

“Wen Ji and Zhao Ke are very skilled. I’ll go ask them. Or I’ll go raid bird nests myself and catch some sparrows. Good sister, your cooking skills are so excellent, it would be a shame not to use them.”

He could even say “good sister”—clearly he had abandoned all shame. Jiang Li was helpless. Lu Ji sat under a tree, leisurely eating his dry rations while giving Wenren Yao a disdainful look. Ji Heng didn’t acknowledge him at all. Wenren Yao tossed out “I’ll take that as your agreement” and ran over to Zhao Ke and Wen Ji. However, the two guards didn’t seem to intend to go along with Wenren Yao’s plan. Jiang Li watched as Wenren Yao pestered them there for a long time, then finally stood up dejected. Seeming unwilling to give up, he headed toward the nearby bushes.

Was he going to catch birds himself? Jiang Li looked at Ji Heng: “Will he be in danger alone?”

Ji Heng smiled: “No.”

He seemed quite trusting of Wenren Yao. Jiang Li didn’t know what there was to trust about Wenren Yao, after all, Wenren Yao didn’t seem to have any martial arts skills.

However, since Ji Heng said so, Jiang Li naturally had nothing more to say. Lin Yao was crouching on the ground, eating his dry cake while watching ants on the ground. A child from a commoner family, he wasn’t picky like Wenren Yao, and was actually very sensible and well-behaved.

When everyone had finished eating their dry rations, Wenren Yao still hadn’t returned. Jiang Li felt somewhat uneasy and asked, “Should we go look for Young Master Wenren? It’s been so long…”

Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly saw Ji Heng’s expression change slightly. Startled in her heart, she heard rustling sounds from the bushes. Wenren Yao appeared before them covered in sweat. As soon as he saw Jiang Li and the others, he shouted, “Run quickly!”

But before he could finish speaking, louder sounds came from the bushes—someone had followed him!

Wenren Yao ran frantically to Lu Ji’s side. Lu Ji, Ji Heng, and Zhao Ke didn’t move at all, as if they hadn’t seen Wenren Yao’s state. Immediately after, several people emerged from behind the bushes, all dressed as soldiers. They were far from Huangzhou City here—they couldn’t be the Wuwei General’s people, nor the city garrison. They must be Prince Cheng’s troops.

They had thought Prince Cheng’s troops took the main road and traveled faster than them, and hadn’t expected to run into them here. By the looks of it, these were stragglers who had fallen behind, probably people who had lagged behind Prince Cheng’s main force.

There were five people in total, all built large and tall, carrying the murderous aura that only came from having killed before. Seeing Jiang Li’s group, the leader asked, “Who are you people? What are you doing here?”

“Soldier sir,” it was Lu Ji who spoke. He smiled and said, “We’re merchants traveling from Yongzhou, happening to pass through here. We originally wanted to go to Huangzhou, but who knew the city gates wouldn’t open, so we had to return to Yongzhou. Hearing that it’s very chaotic outside, we took the mountain roads.”

When Lu Ji spoke these words, his face bore an ingratiating smile. There was no trace of the resourceful scholar’s demeanor at all, as if he truly were a timid, fearful merchant. Zhao Ke and Wen Ji didn’t speak—they were dressed as drivers, so naturally there was no problem.

“Leave the carriage,” the lead soldier said. “Everyone else, scram!”

Jiang Li breathed a sigh of relief in her heart. These people fortunately hadn’t drawn their weapons. They were currently traveling with a child, and both Jiang Li and Wenren Yao had no martial arts. If they really confronted these people, they would be at a disadvantage. This wasn’t even the most important thing. Most importantly, if these people attracted Prince Cheng’s troops who hadn’t gone far yet, and so many came together, no matter how capable Ji Heng was, two fists couldn’t fight four hands.

Those people’s gazes measured the several of them—a child, a young gentleman, a seemingly timid and fearful merchant, and two drivers. Ji Heng’s appearance was too outstanding, but when he restrained his dangerous aura, he was just an excessively handsome young man, nothing special.

Those soldiers’ gazes stopped on Jiang Li, and one person said, “Leave the woman too!”

Jiang Li’s heart sank. Following that person’s words, the gazes of several soldiers became sticky as they fixed on Jiang Li. The spotted red marks on her face had now almost completely healed, making her appear to be a graceful and delicate young woman. Falling into these people’s hands…

Wenren Yao was the first to cry out. He said, “Soldier sir, that’s not good. If you want silver… we have plenty… please show mercy.”

One of the soldiers suddenly drew his blade and shouted at Wenren Yao, “If you don’t want to die, get lost!”

Wenren Yao was startled. Lin Yao, hiding behind Lu Ji, burst into loud tears with a “wah.” The crying made these soldiers irritated and vexed. One of them revealed a murderous look and walked toward Lin Yao and the others with his blade. The other two walked straight toward Jiang Li.

Their gazes were greedy, staring at Jiang Li like wolves looking at prey. Jiang Li’s hand reached for the scissors in her sleeve—the ones she had found in the basket on the dressing table that day when Ji Heng had saved her and she was staying in Huangzhou City, probably left behind by the previous owner of the residence. Those scissors were delicate, and she had kept them hidden in her sleeve all along. She had thought she wouldn’t need them, but hadn’t expected to use them here.

She couldn’t help but look toward Ji Heng. Ji Heng still wore that smiling expression, only watching her, with no intention of taking action. Jiang Li knew he wouldn’t let what was before them actually happen, but her heart still rose slowly with these two people’s approaching footsteps.

Just as one of the soldiers walked up to her side with a lecherous smile, his hand almost touching Jiang Li’s face, Jiang Li suddenly pulled out the scissors from her sleeve and stabbed viciously toward the person before her. However, in the next moment, she only saw a flash of red before her eyes. That long red robe wrapped around her, and someone spoke by her ear.

His voice was low and gentle, yet carried a hint of coldness. He said, “Don’t be afraid.”