After seeing who it was, Xiao Jinglin was slightly stunned, then quickly resumed her expressionless demeanor. She stared at the approaching person who rode up to her, saying nothing.

“How did you discover me?” The person looked at Xiao Jinglin and sighed with a smile. “I thought I was well hidden.”

Xiao Jinglin said indifferently: “Your horse’s hoofbeats are different from ours.”

Hearing this, the person glanced at Xiao Jinglin’s horse and discovered that her horse’s hooves were wrapped in cloth, making travel more convenient with much less noise.

The person dismounted and held the reins in hand, looking up at Xiao Jinglin with a smile: “I’ve grown complacent from staying in comfortable environments too long.”

Xiao Jinglin frowned and, after a moment of silence, also dismounted: “Why are you here? Does the Yun family have matters requiring your attention?”

Instead of answering, the person counter-asked: “Are you returning to Jiajing Pass?”

The matter of Xiao Jingxi’s injury hadn’t been spread outside Yanbei Prince’s Manor, so only a few people in the manor knew about it so far.

Xiao Jinglin said indifferently: “Do you intend to interfere with military affairs?”

The person shook his head, looking at Xiao Jinglin seriously: “No, I only care where you’re going.”

Xiao Jinglin seemed not to have expected him to say such words. She was momentarily stunned, then frowned again: “So you plan to follow me to Jiajing Pass?”

“What if I said yes?”

Xiao Jinglin was somewhat impatient, but she still restrained herself and said indifferently: “I remember your wedding is set for just over ten days from now? A round trip to Jiajing Pass and you won’t make it back in time.”

The person—Yun family’s eldest young master Yun Wenting—showed some light in his eyes upon hearing this: “You know?”

Others might not understand Xiao Jinglin, but Yun Wenting was clear that she was always indifferent to such trivial matters, yet she knew his wedding was in just over ten days. This made Yun Wenting wonder if Xiao Jinglin cared about him even a little.

But Xiao Jinglin still showed no expression: “Mother mentioned it when I was leaving. She told me to save a congratulatory gift for you so as not to breach etiquette.”

Yun Wenting’s eyes dimmed again.

Xiao Jinglin looked at him and said, “I have military duties to handle. Stop following me.”

After saying this, Xiao Jinglin mounted her horse. Just as she was about to turn around to catch up with Hongying and the others, she saw Yun Wenting also mount his horse with no intention of leaving on his own.

Xiao Jinglin glanced at him and pressed her lips together, then whipped her horse. Her mount shot forward like an arrow from a bow at an alarming speed. Yun Wenting followed behind her without a word.

Xiao Jinglin’s horse was a warhorse that ordinary mounts definitely couldn’t outrun, but after running for about a quarter hour, Yun Wenting was still closely following behind her, not having been left behind.

Xiao Jinglin suddenly attacked without warning, fiercely lashing out with her riding whip—not at her mount, but toward Yun Wenting, who was only half a horse-length behind her.

She didn’t slow down when attacking, and the whip still carried fierce momentum. If it truly struck a person, it would certainly tear flesh. Yun Wenting also didn’t slow down. Just as the whip was about to land on his arm, he suddenly leaned back and nimbly avoided it.

Failing with one strike, Xiao Jinglin twisted sideways on her horse and swept her leg toward Yun Wenting. Yun Wenting had just been about to straighten up when he heard the wrong sound in the wind, he rolled sideways and barely avoided Xiao Jinglin’s kick.

Xiao Jinglin snorted softly and swung her whip again. This time, she wielded the whip powerfully and dazzlingly. Yun Wenting kept dodging on horseback. Though he looked somewhat disheveled, he wasn’t struck by Xiao Jinglin’s whip, showing remarkably agile skills.

The two rode at full speed while one attacked and the other dodged, yet their traveling speed didn’t slow down. Fortunately this road was remote with no one else besides them, otherwise innocent bystanders might have been caught in the crossfire.

Seeing that after prolonged entanglement, she still hadn’t knocked Yun Wenting from his horse, Xiao Jinglin suddenly kicked toward Yun Wenting’s mount while lashing her whip at him. Xiao Jinglin wouldn’t normally be so cruel to horses, but being pressed today, this kick was controlled to not truly injure the horse, but would certainly startle it enough that it couldn’t run.

Only after dodging Xiao Jinglin’s thunderous whip strike did Yun Wenting realize her intention. By then, it was too late to make his horse avoid it. Yun Wenting suddenly released the reins, pushed off the horse’s back with his hands, and leaped nimbly. Before Xiao Jinglin could react, he had jumped onto her horse’s back, sitting behind her.

Xiao Jinglin was startled and instinctively tried to push Yun Wenting off, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and called out helplessly: “Lin’er, stop making trouble! Someone could die!”

Xiao Jinglin gritted her teeth and said in a low voice: “Get down!”

Yun Wenting was silent for a moment, then said: “My horse has already been scared away by you. This is wilderness—even if I were to get down, I’d have to wait until the next town.”

Xiao Jinglin said coldly: “If you don’t get down, don’t blame me for being impolite!” She was about to strike.

Yun Wenting said, “Lin’er, if you keep making trouble, I’ll injure this horse. I don’t mind walking to Jiajing Pass with you.”

Xiao Jinglin was stunned, as if unable to believe Yun Wenting would say such shameless words.

Xiao Jinglin had known Yun Wenting for over ten years. Even if Yun Wenting couldn’t be said to obey her every word, he had always accommodated her in everything and was even more careful about propriety and etiquette than she, a girl. But today’s Yun Wenting made Xiao Jinglin feel like a stranger—whether he determined to follow regardless of consequences, sharing a horse with her, or even threatening her.

When they were young and spent several years together almost inseparably, even then, Yun Wenting was mindful of proper conduct between men and women and never did anything improper.

At that time, Xiao Jinglin liked Yun Wenting and was racking her brains over how to confess and make her beloved willingly become her prince consort. Seeing some frontier men and women riding together in beautiful scenes that made her heart yearn, she arranged to go riding outside the city with Yun Wenting, then deliberately let her horse run away while he was picking wild fruit for her…

The young Princess Xiao solemnly told the handsome youth returning with fruit, “Cousin, my horse just got startled and ran away by itself. Take me back.”

The handsome youth immediately came forward to check if she was injured. Seeing she was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief, had her mount his horse, then…

There was no “then.”

The well-behaved, good youth Yun Wenting had Xiao Jinglin ride the horse while he led it back on foot.

The princess whose confession failed maintained a cold expression for three straight days and kicked a large tree outside Jiajing Pass’s west gate until it grew crooked, eventually becoming a crooked-necked tree.

The Princess Consort always complained that her daughter was so grown up yet still didn’t understand matters of the heart. The Princess Consort truly misunderstood Xiao Jinglin. Having grown up in the frontier where customs were bold, Xiao Jinglin knew from childhood that matters of the heart should follow one’s own feelings. So Xiao Jinglin wasn’t slow to understand—she understood too early.

As Xiao Jinglin’s thoughts drifted, she forgot to struggle.

Yun Wenting gently held Xiao Jinglin from behind, his arms couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

After Xiao Jinglin came back to her senses, she no longer struggled. She said indifferently, “Let go of me and sit properly. Your shaking is making it hard for me to hold the reins.”

Yun Wenting: “…”

Exposing people’s shortcomings and hitting where it hurts—this was what Princess Xiao had always insisted on and practiced.

Yun Wenting loosened his grip somewhat without completely letting go, his hands hovering at Xiao Jinglin’s waist.

“I’m not returning to Jiajing Pass for now. When we reach Da’an City ahead, find yourself a horse and go back.”

Xiao Jinglin stopped paying attention to Yun Wenting. Though his closeness made her feel somewhat awkward, it wasn’t unbearable. When she fought, she had also sparred with men and had physical contact.

But Yun Wenting asked: “Where are you going?”

His breath was right behind Xiao Jinglin’s ear, making her want to shrink her neck from the tickling sensation, but she still restrained herself.

“This is military business. I can’t tell you,” Xiao Jinglin said coldly.

Yun Wenting didn’t mind and just said quietly: “Then I’ll go with you. My skills haven’t grown rusty—I can always help you.”