The Crown Prince nodded, remembering Old Fang’s reminder to be wary of Bai Qingyan. He suddenly felt guilty, pressed his lips together, and spoke with a melancholy tone: “Old Fang is indeed mature and prudent, it’s just that sometimes he’s overly cautious.”

“Caution is a good thing. His Majesty is unwell and has entrusted all government affairs to Your Highness without reservation. Your Highness is busy from dawn to dusk, and many matters are inevitably difficult to attend to. Having someone as cautious as Old Fang by Your Highness’s side… to help you stay alert and guard against dangers, even when I return to Shouyang, I can rest assured.” A faint smile curved at the corners of Bai Qingyan’s lips.

Rainwater washed over the precisely crafted elm wood roof of the carriage. The Crown Prince’s hand at his side tightened slightly. Old Fang constantly urged him to guard against Bai Qingyan, yet Bai Qingyan spoke well of Old Fang in front of him. The difference in character was immediately apparent!

Quan Yu, kneeling at the side, serving tea to the Crown Prince and Bai Qingyan, felt anxious for Bai Qingyan in his heart. Old Fang kept telling the Crown Prince to guard against Bai Qingyan, yet Bai Qingyan spoke favorably of Old Fang… Princess Zhenguo was still too kind-hearted. He should find an opportunity to remind Princess Zhenguo about this!

Just as he was thinking this, the carriage suddenly lurched violently, and outside there were sudden sounds of horses neighing and people crying out in alarm.

The Crown Prince quickly raised his hand and gripped the carriage window firmly, barely managing to steady himself.

Quan Yu, kneeling in the carriage, lost his balance and crashed headfirst into the wooden panel, immediately becoming dizzy and disoriented.

The Crown Prince, having just experienced the palace upheaval, suddenly heard the anguished cries of the personal guards protecting the carriage. His face turned completely pale. Today, the capital was in chaos, and the common people were all hiding in their homes, not daring to come out. The long street was so quiet that not even two ghostly shadows could be seen. For the carriage to suddenly stop like this, they must have fallen into an ambush.

The sounds of clashing swords came from all directions outside the carriage. Before the shouts of the Crown Prince’s mansion guards calling to protect the Crown Prince had even faded, they heard the “thud, thud, thud” of arrows whistling through the wind and rain, viciously embedding into the wooden panels of the carriage. The Crown Prince was so frightened that his legs went weak.

The previously calm and peaceful long street suddenly erupted into chaos, with flashing blades and terrifying battle cries.

“The arrowheads are on fire! Your Highness, be careful!” came shouts from outside.

Bai Qingyan turned to see the azure silk curtains of the carriage suddenly ignited by fire arrows, faintly catching the scent of oil…

The fire arrows had cloth strips wrapped around them, soaked in oil. When the rainwater washed over them… it flowed downward along with the rain, and wherever it went, there were flickering dark flames. The flames slowly devoured the carriage in the rain.

“Fire! Your Highness, it’s fire!” Quan Yu’s eyes widened in alarm.

“With such heavy rain! Fire won’t work! We can’t go out!” The Crown Prince’s voice trembled.

Bai Qingyan had already lifted the carriage curtain to look outside, seeing the hidden guards standing on rooftops on both sides in the rain, shooting arrows at the Crown Prince’s carriage. She nodded calmly.

That hidden guard immediately straightened up, raised his bow, and aimed in the direction of the carriage…

Through the gap in the curtain that Bai Qingyan had lifted, the Crown Prince saw the dark flames winding with the rainwater, clinging to the outside of the carriage compartment. They didn’t extinguish in the rain, nor were they stubbornly resisting – wherever the rain flowed, the fire followed, and he watched as strips of fire wrapped around the carriage compartment like ropes.

The fire arrows kept coming!

Bai Qingyan’s gaze swept outside, and she made a decisive decision, shouting: “Go ram open that shop! Quickly!”

The Crown Prince’s mansion guards heard this and immediately rushed to ram the door of a shop on the street.

“Whoosh—”

Bai Qingyan suddenly turned her head to dodge. A sharp arrow broke through the rain and shot straight into the carriage from outside. Without regard for the distinctions between ruler and subject, she grabbed the Crown Prince and pressed his head down to protect him.

The feathered arrow embedded into the elm wood panel inside the carriage compartment, its tail quivering. Fire oil dripped onto the seat cushions in the compartment, and flames immediately shot up high.

Having faced life and death twice in one day, the Crown Prince’s heart was about to jump out of his throat.

“Your Highness! I’ll protect you as we get off the carriage! The horses are still controllable now, but the arrows keep coming. If one should hit the horses and the carriage catches fire and can’t stop, then we’ll truly be at a dead end!” Bai Qingyan spoke extremely rapidly.

In this crisis, the Crown Prince could currently only trust Bai Qingyan, and he nodded vigorously.

“Eunuch Quan Yu!” Bai Qingyan looked toward Quan Yu.

Quan Yu summoned his courage: “Princess Zhenguo, rest assured. This servant will protect His Highness!”

Without delay, Quan Yu went first, took a deep breath, and opened the carriage door…

Bai Qingyan pressed down the Crown Prince’s head and, together with Quan Yu, protected the Crown Prince in the middle as they jumped down from the carriage, rushing quickly toward the tavern whose door the guards had rammed open.

They had barely run a few steps when the Crown Prince suddenly heard a shrill horse’s neigh. Turning back, he saw the fine horse had been hit by an arrow. It reared up on its hind legs, frantically shaking its head and tail, dragging the burning carriage as it rushed out at high speed, knocking down and trampling the Crown Prince’s mansion guards along the way. It crashed straight into a breakfast stall by the roadside that hadn’t yet been set up, and the carriage overturned on the ground with flames shooting skyward.

The Crown Prince’s breathing stopped. If Bai Qingyan hadn’t decisively pulled him off the carriage just now, he didn’t dare think what the outcome would have been.

Bai Qingyan grabbed the back of the Crown Prince’s collar with one hand, almost dragging the weak-kneed Crown Prince up the steps and rushing into the tavern.

In the rain, Quan Yu stepped on the corpse of a Crown Prince’s mansion guard and slipped in his panic. With arrows whistling around him, he was so frightened that he crawled up the steps using both hands and feet. A sudden arrow wind whistled past his ear…

Quan Yu looked up to see Bai Qingyan push the Crown Prince aside, and a feathered arrow came with the force of thunder and lightning, viciously piercing through Bai Qingyan’s heart. The force was so great it made Bai Qingyan stagger back two steps and trip over the threshold…

Pain, so intense that only a sharp ringing remained in Bai Qingyan’s mind. It seemed as if all the sounds and people around her became slow, and her consciousness nearly plunged into darkness in that instant.

But she hadn’t forgotten that this was a trap she had set, that she was the key figure in it… If she fainted, the trap would be set in vain, and the people Xiao Rongyan had risked his life to help her set up would have died for nothing.

She clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging into the tender flesh of her palms. She opened her bloodshot eyes wide and gritted her teeth to hold on.

“Princess Zhenguo!” Quan Yu’s eyes widened in terror.

The Crown Prince, who had been pushed aside by Bai Qingyan and then helped up by the guards, also widened his eyes. He took refuge in the tavern in a disheveled state, shouting shrilly: “Quick! Quick, close the door!”

The guards quickly closed the tavern door, shutting out the rain of arrows.

“Princess Zhenguo!” Quan Yu crawled on his knees to Bai Qingyan’s side as she was pulled into the tavern. Seeing that Bai Qingyan’s newly changed clothes were covered in fresh blood, his hands also stained with Bai Qingyan’s blood, his throat constricted. “Princess Zhenguo… How are you?!”

Bai Qingyan bit her teeth tightly, covering her chest without making a sound.

With every breath, her heart felt as if it were being torn apart, the pain so severe that veins bulged on her forehead, cold sweat poured down, and waves of dizziness clouded her vision.

Quan Yu couldn’t help but cry out. Today, even during the fierce battle with thousands of troops, Bai Qingyan hadn’t shed blood, yet now someone had shot an arrow straight through her heart.

The Crown Prince, still in shock, backed away two steps. When he saw no more arrows being shot, he heard Quan Yu calling for Princess Zhenguo.

The Crown Prince hurried back, kneeling beside Bai Qingyan in panic, looking at the shocking fresh blood on Bai Qingyan’s chest, his pupils trembling.

Fresh blood surged from Bai Qingyan’s chest, and her palm was filled with her sticky, scalding blood. Her fingers moved slightly as she looked toward the Crown Prince.