“Miss—” Tong Xi cried out in alarm.

Hong Ying turned to look, let out a delicate shout as she forced back the assassin attacking her, and while running toward the carriage at extreme speed, said: “You hold them off first.”

Hong Ying moved extremely fast. Seeing the horse’s head was already not far from her, she accelerated and ran, then used a slender willow tree by the roadside as leverage, pushing off with her foot and leaping onto the horse.

The frightened horse was gradually calmed by her soothing, and Hong Ying immediately asked: “Miss Ren, are you injured anywhere?”

Ren Yaoqi’s relatively calm and steady voice came from inside the carriage: “Don’t worry about me, nothing happened to me. Are any of you injured?”

Although she had been startled just now, Ren Yaoqi was someone who had experienced great storms, so she quickly calmed down. Fortunately, Hong Ying was skilled and bold, quickly catching up.

Hong Ying said, “We’re fine too. Miss Ren, these people came suspiciously—I’m afraid there might be other ambushes. We only have a few people, so it’s better not to separate.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded: “You decide.”

Hong Ying then turned the horse around to go back.

But they had only gone back a short distance when four people suddenly jumped out from the side, wielding knives and charging at Hong Ying, who was sitting on the carriage shaft.

Hong Ying gritted her teeth, controlling the carriage with one hand while wielding her whip with the other to fight. But with one hand, she really couldn’t fend off the attacks of four pairs of hands.

One assassin seized the opportunity and violently severed the connection between the horse and carriage with his knife. The pulling horse neighed and ran away. If this carriage hadn’t been specially made and extremely sturdy, it would have nearly overturned.

Seeing this wasn’t good, Hong Ying gritted her teeth and was about to fight desperately.

At this moment, another person flew over to join the battle circle. Hong Ying looked and saw it was Tong Xi.

Tong Xi came from the Prince of Xian’s mansion and felt additional concern and responsibility for Ren Yaoqi’s safety. Seeing that Ren Yaoqi and Hong Ying hadn’t returned for a long time, fearing something had happened, he left those few people to the other two guards and chased after them himself, just in time to help Hong Ying out of her predicament.

Tong Xi took on most of the attacks while saying to Hong Ying, “Quickly take the young miss away from here to hide. I’ll hold them off.”

Hong Ying frowned, but the situation didn’t allow her to hesitate. If other enemies appeared, it would be terrible. She turned to lift the curtain and helped Ren Yaoqi out: “Let’s go first.”

Ren Yaoqi looked toward Tong Xi.

Tong Xi, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, said without turning around: “Miss, please leave quickly. You know this servant’s specialty—only when you’re gone can I escape easily.”

Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi hesitated no more and followed Hong Ying with Pingguo.

Tong Xi’s specialty was running fast. When he ran, few people could catch up with him. On the contrary, Ren Yaoqi staying here would only hinder him.

Even after Ren Yaoqi had gone far, she could still hear Tong Xi fighting while cursing: “You bunch of stupid assassins! Are you blind? Haven’t you noticed you’re killing the wrong person? What are you still fighting for?”

Unfortunately, those men completely ignored him.

Hong Ying pulled Ren Yaoqi onto a small path. The path was relatively narrow—even if a large group of assassins pursued them, they couldn’t deploy effectively. Dealing with them one by one would be much easier for her.

On both sides of the summer path grew grass as tall as a person with small serrated edges. Ren Yaoqi’s hands were scratched in several places, burning with pain, and even her chin was scratched. However, Ren Yaoqi didn’t make a sound.

After running for who knows how long, Hong Ying finally stopped. She carefully observed the surroundings, then lay on the ground and listened carefully with her ear. Hearing no movement, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This was an area of farmland, with a village not far ahead. It should be safe. However, Hong Ying didn’t dare take Ren Yaoqi to the village—farming families usually kept dogs that would bark when they discovered strangers. Hong Ying was afraid the barking would attract the assassins. After thinking carefully, she decided to take Ren Yaoqi to hide behind that pile of thatch first and wait for people from the Prince’s mansion to find them. Even if someone pursued them, they could both defend and attack.

At this time, Ren Yaoqi was very cooperative with Hong Ying’s decisions. Whatever she said was what they’d do—after all, Hong Ying was experienced.

After hiding, Hong Ying finally relaxed temporarily. But when she saw the scratches on Ren Yaoqi’s hands and chin, she was still startled: “How did you get hurt so badly?”

Ren Yaoqi instead smiled to comfort her: “Being scratched by grass—how serious could it be? It won’t even leave scars.”

Hong Ying looked at Ren Yaoqi’s peaceful and calm smile, thinking she finally understood why, among so many young ladies in Yunyang City, her arrogant Princess had become close friends with only Fifth Miss Ren.

If it were any other young lady encountering today’s events, forget about following her silently for such a long distance—they would probably faint at the sight of knives.

Their Princess, being such a strong person, definitely wouldn’t look favorably upon such friends.

Ren Yaoqi sat quietly behind the haystack, worrying about Tong Xi, wondering if he had escaped.

She also didn’t know which faction today’s assassins belonged to. If they were from the southern court, they wouldn’t have sent such a small force, and those killers didn’t seem to have very high martial arts skills—at least Hong Ying or Tong Xi could hold them off for a while if fighting desperately alone. They also didn’t seem very organized—at least when they had killed the wrong person, they still didn’t make timely adjustments.

The Xiao family’s carriages all looked similar from the outside. Why did the assassins only pursue this one of Xiao Jingxi’s? Could someone identify that this was Xiao Jingxi’s carriage? Could it be people from the Yanbei Prince’s mansion?

Or had Xiao Jinglin’s side also encountered the same assassination? Ren Yaoqi began to worry about Xiao Jinglin, too.

Seeing the sun was about to set, the assassins hadn’t caught up. Just as Ren Yaoqi was about to ask Hong Ying whether they should continue waiting, she heard some movement from the direction they had come.

Hong Ying, who had been sitting on the ground with eyes closed resting, immediately opened her eyes, made a silencing gesture to Ren Yaoqi and Pingguo, touched the whip wrapped around her waist, and watched their path alertly.

Ren Yaoqi also looked at that road. She wasn’t too nervous—someone who had died once always had more composure when facing death’s shadow than others, not to mention she might not necessarily die.

When a piece of ink-colored robe hem came into Ren Yaoqi’s view, she knew she indeed wouldn’t die so easily.

Hong Ying also recognized the identity of the newcomer and immediately called out: “Young Master!”

Xiao Jingxi, hearing the voice, immediately walked over quickly. When he saw Hong Ying bringing Ren Yaoqi out from behind the grass, his ice-cold expression finally began to warm.

Xiao Jingxi had only brought Tong De with him. Ren Yaoqi immediately went over and asked: “Did the Princess encounter any danger? What about Tong Xi?”

Xiao Jingxi shook his head and was about to answer when he saw the red mark on Ren Yaoqi’s chin. His eyes darkened involuntarily, and he raised his hand to touch it: “You’re injured?”

When Xiao Jingxi’s hand touched Ren Yaoqi’s face, she stared at him in a daze, momentarily forgetting to react.

When Xiao Jingxi discovered that the wound was very shallow and didn’t look like it was made by a sharp weapon, he realized he had acted like a libertine in his moment of anxiety.

But Xiao Jingxi’s hand still paused on the side of Ren Yaoqi’s face for a moment before he casually lowered it, looking at her and saying, “Jinglin is fine. She’s already at the Prince’s mansion. I was afraid she’d make a fuss about coming out, so I didn’t tell her about what happened here. Tong Xi runs fast—no one could catch up with him. He only has some minor injuries on his arm.” He paused before continuing: “Everyone is fine, except you were missing.”

This last sentence had a special tone from Xiao Jingxi. Ren Yaoqi’s heart trembled hearing it, and she lowered her eyes softly saying: “I’m fine too.”

Xiao Jingxi said nothing more, only: “The carriage is parked ahead. Let’s go out first.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded and followed Xiao Jingxi outside without a word.

Tong De led the way ahead, while Hong Ying and Pingguo followed behind with lowered heads, a few steps back.

Walking on the small path, Xiao Jingxi suddenly said quietly: “I’m sorry.”

Ren Yaoqi quickly said, “This matter isn’t your fault.” Xiao Jingxi also didn’t know they would encounter assassins.

Xiao Jingxi didn’t speak.

Seeing his expressionless face, Ren Yaoqi thought he was blaming himself and feeling bad, so she was thinking about what to say to comfort him. Being distracted, she forgot to watch her footing and accidentally kicked a slippery large stone, swaying unsteadily.

Xiao Jingxi immediately grabbed her hand to steady her.

Ren Yaoqi’s hands had been cut by thatch grass in several places earlier, deeper than the wound on her chin. She hadn’t felt pain then, but now, when Xiao Jingxi gripped so hard, she couldn’t help but hiss.

Xiao Jingxi sensed something was wrong and immediately looked down, seeing the crisscrossing wounds on the back of her hand. Looking at the other hand, it was the same.

Xiao Jingxi remembered the thatch grass they had passed through and immediately understood. He sighed softly and said gently in a low voice: “It won’t hurt after we go back and apply some medicine.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded and wanted to withdraw her hand. Xiao Jingxi also released it accordingly.

When they reached that patch of thatch grass, Xiao Jingxi glanced at Ren Yaoqi: “I’ll have someone bring you a cloak.”

Ren Yaoqi quickly said, “Earlier, we were in too much of a hurry and didn’t pay attention. Being careful won’t cause injury.”

Seeing Xiao Jingxi remain silent, Ren Yaoqi immediately promised: “Really won’t get hurt.”