Li Chuan looked at Ji Yunshu’s hand gripping his arm. The coldness in his eyes actually diminished somewhat. If it were before, he would have coldly pushed this woman away. But coming all the way from the Nansai Desert, they had spent half a month together day and night. During that half month, Ji Yunshu had told many, many stories about her and Jingrong. Although he had no impression of those memories at all, for some reason he didn’t reject those stories in the least. Even though he often didn’t respond, he would always listen quietly as she finished speaking. So he understood how deeply Ji Yunshu loved that person called Jingrong, how much she missed him…

Therefore, at this moment of pushing Ji Yunshu away, he hesitated.

The tears in Ji Yunshu’s eyes welled up more and more. This time, no matter what, she would not let him leave.

“Miss, you can see that many people are searching for me now. Once I’m discovered, I truly won’t be able to leave.”

“My purpose in coming to Yanjing was to find you. I stayed by the Wen brothers’ side waiting for you. Having finally waited for you to appear, how could I possibly let you go again? I don’t care where you’re going now or what you need to do—I cannot be separated from you again!” She spoke with utmost seriousness, the strength in her palm increasing as well.

Hearing these words, Li Chuan’s chest grew heavy with an indescribable feeling he couldn’t express. He looked into the distance. The patrol group that had just passed was already far away, but if they couldn’t find him, those people would very likely return. He had to leave quickly, otherwise it would become known throughout the entire estate.

Thinking this, he immediately pushed away Ji Yunshu’s hand gripping his arm and told her in cold, harsh words: “We are not the same kind of people. If you truly want to find the person you’re looking for, hurry and search elsewhere.”

With that, he left the rock formation, preparing to depart.

Ji Yunshu quickly blocked his path, the lake right beside her.

She couldn’t care about danger or rationality anymore. She loudly demanded: “Jingrong, how much longer are you going to hide from me?”

This hoarse, choked cry made Li Chuan’s chest suddenly ache!

His face suddenly froze, his brow tightly furrowed. Cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead. One large hand clutched desperately at the clothes on his chest, his body bending slightly several inches.

Pain!

Just like someone was cutting out his heart inch by inch—the pain was bloody and raw.

Ji Yunshu hadn’t expected this. Her face showed concern, her voice trembling nervously: “Jingrong, you… what’s wrong?”

His footsteps staggered backward powerlessly several steps. His head throbbed in waves of pain. It seemed countless images were flashing past one after another, scene after scene, like knife blades cutting through the depths of his mind again and again. Those images seemed very clear yet also very blurry. His entire being was stirred until he nearly collapsed. His vision weakened. He could only see Ji Yunshu’s thin figure swaying hazily before his eyes. He tried to say something, but it felt like someone was choking his throat—he couldn’t speak a single word.

At this moment, only the intense pain in his head was something he could perceive!

“Jingrong? Jingrong…”

He gradually lost consciousness, his body uncontrollably pitching forward.

Ji Yunshu spread both arms wide, catching his heavy body. She didn’t know why Li Chuan was suddenly like this. Her heart was incomparably worried. Her shoulders exerted force to support that body “toppling” toward her.

At this time, the distant patrol had already turned back this way. Lantern after lantern approached from far to near, beginning to search one by one behind the rock formation. In Li Chuan’s current condition, there was absolutely no way to escape. If caught, the consequences would be unthinkable. She looked around—naturally they couldn’t hide behind the rock formation. The only option was…

She fixed her gaze on the lake beside them.

Then—

Holding Li Chuan, she jumped in.

A “splash” attracted the patrolling people from over there. But when those people looked closely, there was nothing on the lake’s surface. Still uneasy, they searched the surroundings—in the pavilion, behind the rock formation, not missing any corner.

“Search carefully, everyone. If something goes wrong, we’ll all suffer for it.”

“Yes!”

At this time in the water, Ji Yunshu originally couldn’t swim. Years ago she had nearly died in water once. Now, she had no choice but to hold onto Li Chuan while forcibly holding her breath.

She glanced at Li Chuan. Li Chuan seemed to move a few times. Seeing this, Ji Yunshu immediately cupped his face and kissed him.

Li Chuan’s consciousness still wasn’t clear, but hazily, he saw that face so close at hand—so familiar, so clear, so… He only now discovered this woman was kissing him. Her soft lips mixed with the ice-cold lake water pressed against his lips. For that moment, he actually felt greedy. His hands unconsciously slowly moved toward Ji Yunshu’s waist, but at the moment of contact, his consciousness reached its limit and he fainted.

Ji Yunshu’s lips left his lips. With her last breath, she brought him up from the water.

Fortunately those patrolling people were already gone!

Ji Yunshu gasped in great gulps. Just a little bit more and she might have drowned. She looked at Li Chuan’s pale face, gently shaking him a few times, softly calling: “Jingrong? Jingrong?”

No response whatsoever.

She quickly struggled to pull Li Chuan from the water. In this current situation, she had to find a way to hide Li Chuan. But she wasn’t familiar with Ning’an Estate—where could she hide someone? Finally, she could only first bring him to the courtyard where she was staying.

She used almost all her strength to carry Li Chuan back to her room, placing him on the bed. Then she removed his soaked clothes piece by piece. However… when removing the last piece of clothing, her hand suddenly froze. Because she clearly, clearly remembered that Jingrong’s body had several scars—one scar from blocking the black-clad men for her at Jinjiang, one scar from saving her at Liangshan, and an arrow wound on his chest… Every single one, she remembered.

But on Li Chuan’s body… there were none of these wounds. Even if there were wounds, they weren’t in the original positions—they were all new wounds.

Her eyes couldn’t help but redden. Her hands trembled terribly as she shook her head saying: “Impossible, impossible…”

How could this be possible?

He clearly was Jingrong!

Clearly was!

Her mind was in chaos. Finally she locked her gaze on that mask. Several times she had wanted to remove it to look, but was stopped by Li Chuan each time. At this moment, with an anxious heart, she reached out bit by bit to grip Li Chuan’s mask.

In this moment, she thought many, many things…