Cui Xun had started taking the virility-enhancing medicine again.
The difference this time was that he wasn’t hiding it from Li Ying.
However, whenever he took it, he would still avoid Li Ying, never consuming it in her presence. Yet precisely because of this, Li Ying felt even more saddened. She looked at Cui Xun’s slightly improved complexion, then shifted her gaze to the verdant grass on the ground, feigning lightheartedness as she said: “The day we left Chang’an, you told me that if you angered me, you would fold a thousand grasshoppers to earn my forgiveness. But now, without folding even one, I’ve already forgiven you. Thinking about it this way, you’ve gotten quite a bargain.”
Hearing this, Cui Xun lowered his eyes, plucked some wild grass, and folded it into a lifelike grasshopper, offering it to Li Ying. Li Ying shook her head: “I don’t want it.”
She paused: “I said I’ve forgiven you, so you don’t need to fold any.”
Cui Xun clutched the grasshopper in his palm. He lowered his head, and a phrase that had been circling in his mind for a long time finally escaped in a murmur: “Pearl of Bright Moon, I always feel that heaven has shown me mercy.”
“Oh?”
“Because it allowed me to meet you.” Cui Xun said softly, “In this world, no one has been better to me than you.”
Among all people in the world, some hated him, some despised him, some desired him, some wanted to kill him, some wanted to use him, some wanted to possess him. Only she dared to explore him, approach him, and save him. Her goodness toward him was without the slightest selfishness or possessiveness. Her love was the purest and cleanest.
How fortunate was he to have met her?
He lowered his head and said, “But the better you are, the more unworthy I feel. I still deceived you, making you sad…”
Hearing this, Li Ying merely smiled faintly. She opened his palm, took out the grasshopper, and then twirled it by its wings. The corners of her eyes and brows were filled with the liveliness and innocence of a sixteen-year-old girl. Looking at the swaying grasshopper, she suddenly said: “Seventeenth Young Master, before leaving Chang’an, I had wanted to ask you if, after clearing the Heaven’s Might Army’s name, you could resign from your position as Assistant Minister of the Investigation Bureau and travel throughout the Great Zhou with me. But now I think I shouldn’t say that. Whether you resign or not should be your own decision. You are an independent person, and I shouldn’t use your affection for me to coerce you.”
She paused, then sighed slightly: “Seventeenth Young Master, you and I are both experiencing love for the first time. In the process of being together, we’re bound to make mistakes. But time is so precious—why waste it dwelling on right and wrong?”
Hearing this, Cui Xun slowly raised his head, staring at her in amazement. Li Ying smiled gently: “I don’t have the energy to dwell on these matters. Are you sure you still want to? Let me advise you—overthinking is harmful to the spirit.”
In Cui Xun’s pitch-black eyes, ripples of tenderness finally appeared. He nodded slightly, but his gaze was fixed on the gold-inlaid phoenix hairpin adorning Li Ying’s black hair. The hairpin was exquisitely crafted, with a bright pearl set in its center. Cui Xun stared at that pearl, somewhat entranced. Li Ying followed his gaze and touched the hairpin: “Why are you looking at this hairpin?”
Cui Xun shook his head: “I’m not looking at the hairpin.”
“Then what are you looking at?”
“Looking at… the bright pearl.” Cui Xun paused, then said: “Just now, I recalled a passage from ‘Records of the Search for Spirits’ describing the bright moon pearl.”
That passage described the bright moon pearl as a pearl measuring a full inch, pure white, glowing at night with light as bright as the moon’s reflection—truly the world’s greatest treasure.
Every word perfectly described her.
And that he could possess such a treasure—how could he not feel overwhelmed and immensely fortunate?
Li Ying had also read “Records of the Search for Spirits.” She naively understood his meaning and then felt somewhat shy. She didn’t think she was that special. Every word she said to Cui Xun simply came from her heart.
Her ears turned slightly red. To ease this embarrassment, she changed the subject: “By the way, that day at Yunze Altar, I saw my sachet fall from your body. Didn’t you say you had lost it?”
Although Cui Xun had anticipated her questioning, when she asked, he became tongue-tied. Li Ying had a sudden realization: “Could it be that you didn’t want to return my sachet, so you said you lost it?”
Cui Xun lowered his head without speaking, clearly admitting it. Li Ying put her hand to her forehead: “You… really…”
If he wanted the sachet, he could have just asked her. Perhaps too embarrassed to ask directly but still wanting it, he had claimed to have lost it.
So awkwardly twisted in this way…
She wondered if he had been this awkward when he was with the Heaven’s Might Army…
Cui Xun was visibly nervous. He stammered: “Does this… count as deception?”
He feared Li Ying would view this matter as seriously as his concealment of taking the virility-enhancing medicine. Seeing his anxious demeanor, Li Ying burst into laughter: “I don’t consider this deception.”
Cui Xun hurriedly looked up. Li Ying smiled sweetly: “Let’s just call it a small trick of Assistant Minister Cui’s heart in matters of love.”
Cui Xun’s cheeks grew slightly warm, but he also felt somewhat relieved. Li Ying playfully extended her hand, asking him to return the sachet: “However, you should still return it to me.”
Cui Xun was taken aback, then shook his head. Li Ying said, “I initially lent it to you to use in court. Now that your court appearance is over, you’re refusing to return it, which is quite unreasonable.”
Hearing the words “refusing to return,” Cui Xun’s cheeks reddened again. He mumbled, “I don’t want to return it to the Princess.”
“It’s of no use to you.”
“It is useful.” Cui Xun suddenly corrected her: “The Princess once said that the hair token represents the Princess. As long as the hair token remains, it’s as if the Princess is with me.”
Li Ying smiled brightly and asked: “So?”
Cui Xun lowered his head helplessly, hiding the faint blush that appeared on his face. After fumbling for words, he finally said softly: “So… I want the Princess to stay with me…”
This answer matched exactly what Li Ying had thought, but she had wanted to hear it from Cui Xun’s mouth. The corners of her eyes and brows were filled with smiles, like summer flowers in full bloom. She cleared her throat, no longer teasing him, and said with a smile: “Very well, then you may keep it.”
After crossing Mount Wanhe and reaching Gongzhou City, the two continued their journey at full speed toward Lingnan.
By the time they reached Hengzhou, they were getting closer to Lingnan. Cui Xun estimated that in a few more days, they would reach Lingnan.
But the closer they got to Lingnan, the more tense he became. Reaching Lingnan wasn’t the challenge—safely escorting Shen Que back to Chang’an was the true challenge.
He was so preoccupied with planning the next steps that he was somewhat absent-minded. While fetching water by the stream, he almost let the leather water pouch float away.
When he finally came to his senses, he retrieved the pouch, plugged it, and walked toward Li Ying.
After days of traveling, Li Ying was extremely tired. She lay under a tree and fell into a deep sleep. Cui Xun smiled gently and was about to quicken his pace when he suddenly heard the urgent sound of hoofbeats.
Besides hoofbeats, there were also shouts of reproach and the sound of arrows. Cui Xun frowned slightly and followed the sound. It was coming from an abandoned official road. He pushed aside the tall wild grass and saw a person fleeing on horseback on the official road, with several people in pursuit.
The fleeing person had a wooden box tied to his back. Though the box could have shielded him from arrows, he quickly tore off the cloth strap binding the box and cradled it in his arms. During this movement, the pursuers seized the opportunity—an arrow struck his arm. In pain, he rolled off his horse, but even as he fell, he still clutched the box tightly.
The pursuers also dismounted, each drawing a waist knife and rushing toward the fleeing man.
Outnumbered and with an injured arm, the fleeing man instantly received several cuts. The men fought in a chaotic mass. In the past, Cui Xun wouldn’t have cared whether the man lived or died—he would have simply turned away with disinterest. There were too many pitiful people in this world for him to save.
But since meeting Li Ying, he had constantly been trying to become a better person, more worthy of her.
So this time, the Assistant Minister of the Investigation Bureau didn’t turn away but instead did the good deed of saving someone. He observed the fighting parties intently, trying to discern the reason for their conflict, when his gaze suddenly froze.
The style of those waist knives didn’t resemble Great Zhou weapons—they looked like Turkic knives.
Cui Xun, having been imprisoned in the Turkic royal court for two years, knew Turkic knives better than anyone. He recognized them at a glance.
These pursuers were Turkic people, and judging by the knife style, they weren’t of low status, at least royal guards or similar.
Turkic royal guards in the Great Zhou?
Cui Xun pressed his lips together. He quickly went to his luggage to retrieve a crossbow, then returned to the abandoned official road. Pushing aside the tall wild grass, he loaded the bow and arrow, then gripped the curved handle at the back of the crossbow, rotating it to tighten the bowstring. He aimed the bolt at a Turkic man, triggered the mechanism, and the bolt flew forward rapidly.
The bolt instantly pierced one Turkic man’s throat. The rest of the Turkic men were stunned—there were ambushers here?
As they looked around, Cui Xun had already calmly loaded another bolt, triggered the mechanism, and killed another Turkic man.
The remaining Turkic men anxiously scanned the surrounding tall grass, which completely concealed the shooter. They couldn’t see where the hidden arrows were coming from.
Just then, a third bolt was shot, piercing another Turkic man’s heart.
With three out of five down, the fleeing man seized the opportunity. His sword flashed like a fierce tiger, and in an instant, he dispatched the remaining two Turkic men.
Having finally survived the ordeal, the man protected the wooden box with one hand, breathing heavily, while using his sword to prop himself up with the other. He looked around at the surrounding grass and called out loudly: “Which benefactor has saved me? Please show yourself so I can express my gratitude properly.”
Cui Xun didn’t care about his gratitude at all and was about to leave, but Li Ying had somehow awakened and followed the path to this place.
Through the swaying grass, she saw the man standing on the abandoned official road. He was a man of about forty, with bright eyes untainted by worldly matters. Li Ying asked Cui Xun beside her: “Why don’t you go accept his thanks?”
Cui Xun shook his head: “There’s no need.”
“Why is there no need?” Li Ying gave him a gentle push: “Go on, you deserve to accept someone’s gratitude.”