Sakurai’s thin body trembled as fresh blood gurgled and pooled beneath her.

Qin Yining’s pupils contracted sharply, her voice trembling as she said in panic: “Sakurai, Sakurai…”

The remaining four assassins saw Qin Yining close at hand and noticed that this lame, one-armed cripple had been struck in a vital spot and posed no further threat. They quickly seized the opportunity to charge forward.

Sakurai pushed Qin Yining away and, with the steel blade still piercing her abdomen, fought desperately against these four.

Only her vision had long since blurred—she was relying purely on instinct.

She was someone who placed great importance on keeping promises. Having acknowledged this woman as her master, she could not watch her lose her life before her own ended. For the kindness shown to her, for the genuine gratitude, for not betraying her…

Unfortunately, she hadn’t had time to ask her name, nor had she been able to stay by her side as her guard.

The four assassins, seeing victory within reach, attacked with even greater ferocity.

Exhausted, Sakurai could no longer resist.

The assassin’s blade pierced her chest. The snow-bright steel flashed in the moonlight, followed immediately by spurting blood.

“Sakurai!” Qin Yining crawled and tumbled to Sakurai’s side, pressing both hands against the bleeding wounds, tears streaming down her face. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault for dragging you into this…”

Sakurai lay on the cold ground, finally releasing her most cherished bamboo sword. She grabbed Qin Yining’s wrist with great effort and squeezed out: “Your… name.”

“Yining, my name is Qin…”

The strength in her wrist loosened.

“My name is Qin Yining. Thank you for protecting me. I’m sorry to you.”

The assassin’s steel blade brought a cold wind as it came chopping down. Qin Yining raised her tear-filled eyes, suddenly feeling exhausted and desperate.

She couldn’t escape.

Just as she closed her eyes to await death, she heard a sharp “clang!” of metal collision, followed by several “whoosh” sounds, after which the four assassins cried out in agony and fell.

Looking down, she saw the steel blade had been knocked away by a feathered arrow, and each of the four assassins had an arrow piercing through their thighs, injuring major blood vessels. Blood spurted out as if under pressure.

“Yining!” Pang Xiao carried a longbow on his back, moving as nimbly as a swift cheetah, reaching her side in the blink of an eye.

But upon arriving and seeing Qin Yining sitting dazedly in a pool of blood, covered in gore, Pang Xiao suddenly stopped in his tracks, unable to approach.

“Your Highness, how should we handle the assassins?” Tang Xiu led the Elite Tiger Guards in capturing the assassins while simultaneously dislocating their jaws.

Xu Weizhi, who had run until he was gasping for breath, saw that both Pang Xiao and Qin Yining looked wrong and quickly said: “First take them away for interrogation. Make sure they don’t die!”

“Yes.” Tang Xiu immediately complied and led the assassins away.

Both Xu Weizhi and Xie Yue stood to the side panting heavily, watching the princess consort sitting motionless and the prince standing frozen, unsure what to do.

Pang Xiao looked down at Qin Yining’s hands, still pressed against Sakurai’s chest and stained with blood. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he said slowly: “Yining, you…”

Pang Xiao’s words stopped abruptly before he could finish.

Because he watched his precious treasure begin to sob with choking sounds, her shoulders heaving up and down, then her suppressed crying turned into loud wailing.

Pang Xiao felt as if his internal organs were being crushed!

His Yining was a woman who was gentle on the outside but strong within. He had never seen her cry like this, as aggrieved as a child.

Her crying made his own nose sting with emotion. His heart ached unbearably as he quickly crouched down and gathered Qin Yining into his arms, holding her tightly.

“It’s my fault. I came too late. Don’t cry anymore, my Yining, don’t cry.”

Qin Yining shook her head, grasping Pang Xiao’s shoulders: “I killed him! If not for me, he wouldn’t have died!”

“It’s not your fault. This can’t be blamed on you. It’s clearly the assassins’ fault. I will definitely avenge him. Be good, stop crying, all right?” Pang Xiao soothed her gently, kissing her eyelids repeatedly. His heart ached to the point of madness—he wished he could immediately flay alive whoever was responsible!

Qin Yining buried herself in Pang Xiao’s embrace and cried until the world went dark. Pang Xiao knelt there holding her tightly, continuously comforting her.

Seeing this, Xu Weizhi and Xie Yue quietly withdrew to arrange other matters.

Qin Yining cried until her vision darkened. When her fingers accidentally touched Pang Xiao’s abdomen, she felt something warm and sticky. She was immediately shocked: “What’s wrong with you! You’re injured!”

“It’s nothing, nothing. This is just a superficial wound. I did it on purpose—to put on a complete act, otherwise I still wouldn’t have been able to shake off those ignorant people.” Pang Xiao lifted his damaged outer robe to show Qin Yining: “Look, the wound isn’t large or deep. It just opened up from running too hard earlier. It doesn’t hurt at all. I’ll just apply some medicine later and it’ll be fine.”

A three-inch-long bloody gash on his abdomen was bleeding. Just looking at it, one couldn’t tell how deep the wound was.

Qin Yining hadn’t yet escaped from the fearful shadow of Sakurai’s death. Seeing Pang Xiao had lost so much blood made her feel both anxious and heartbroken. Grasping his sleeves, her lips trembled and she couldn’t speak.

“Yining, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me!”

Seeing Qin Yining’s complexion growing worse, Pang Xiao panicked and lifted her up, hurrying toward the nearest room.

Seeing the prince carrying the princess consort in such panic, Xie Yue, Xu Weizhi, and others couldn’t help but worry and follow. Xie Yue turned and ordered someone to fetch a physician.

Qin Yining was laid flat on the warm kang by the window. She still grasped Pang Xiao’s sleeves, feeling a breath stuck in her chest that wouldn’t rise or fall. Her vision darkened and her heart palpitated severely.

Pang Xiao crouched beside her, repeatedly smoothing her chest to help her breathe: “Yining, take deep breaths. Calm down a little. It’s nothing. Look, I’m fine now, aren’t I? I’m very healthy—a little superficial wound is nothing. I’ll just bandage it up later. Relax, don’t be anxious, don’t be nervous.”

Qin Yining nodded and closed her eyes, but tears flowed out once again.

Pang Xiao’s heart ached as he got up to wring out a cloth and clean the blood and dirt from her face and hands. He had to change the hot water three times before finally getting her clean.

“Jiyun and Jingzhe were both slightly injured. I had people take them to the camp outside the city to settle them. I’m clumsy—if I’m not serving you properly, you must tell me.”

Qin Yining shook her head and finally recovered somewhat, saying in a hoarse voice: “You should go get bandaged quickly. I’m fine now.”

Pang Xiao sat sideways beside her, his large hand stroking her long hair. His fingers encountered quite a bit of blood congealed in her hair strands, showing just how much danger she had experienced.

Now wasn’t the time for questions.

Pang Xiao comforted her: “I’m really fine. I already used wound medicine before coming.” To distract Qin Yining’s attention, Pang Xiao continued: “When I saw the message you had sent, I was wondering why you didn’t use paper and brush but used such a method instead. Now I completely understand.”

Qin Yining looked at him questioningly.

“Master Xie and Master Xu also thought of a solution that coincided with your method, so I deliberately let myself get slightly injured during the conflict. Those people surrounded the government office mainly wanting me to write a guarantee that we wouldn’t use people from Danfu County as laborers anymore. But since they injured me, they also knew they had made things serious and feared everyone involved would be prosecuted. So without much persuasion from me, those people all scattered.

“We took the opportunity to lead people away from the government office. Because you informed me in your letter of Tao Hanshan’s emergency measures, we wanted to immediately notify Tao Hanshan to change strategies. But my people couldn’t contact Tao Hanshan—the manor said it was completely empty. I felt something was wrong and hurried over.”

Pang Xiao found it hard to continue.

If he hadn’t arrived in time, he probably would have arrived only to see a corpse.

Qin Yining said slowly: “It was Sakurai who saved me.”

“Jiyun and Jingzhe said she was that poor person you rescued in Danfu County before.”

“Yes. I didn’t know she possessed such martial skills. She probably wanted to repay the kindness of a meal from me. She was someone who greatly valued gratitude and loyalty.”

Qin Yining told Pang Xiao about the experiences of these past two days and the entanglement between Wang the Kind Benefactor and Sakurai.

“She saw me being attacked and wanted to save me, so she killed many common people. Not to mention the matter of her killing people—just speaking of her motives, her intentions were entirely good. Moreover, she had countless opportunities to leave along the way, but she never did. After coming to this manor and meeting Master Tao, she probably sensed something was amiss. Despite being so severely injured, she insisted on keeping watch at night. Without her, I could never have survived being surrounded by twenty assassins.”

Qin Yining sat up, and Pang Xiao immediately put his arm around her shoulders, placing a large pillow behind her back so she could lean comfortably.

“Though she was Japanese, she was a good person. Regardless of what she did before, for someone like me who had only treated her to a few flatbreads, her repayment was truly complete and generous.”

Qin Yining lowered her eyes as teardrops again hung on her eyelashes.

Pang Xiao felt somewhat jealous. He knew how shocking it would be to watch someone sacrifice their life for you after sharing hardships together. That Sakurai would probably remain in Qin Yining’s heart for life.

But beyond these emotions, Pang Xiao was even more grateful to Sakurai.

If she hadn’t fought with all her might, how could his Yining be completely unharmed?

Although she was Japanese, in Pang Xiao’s heart, she was a truly spirited warrior worthy of respect. Moreover, he had wanted to repay a life-saving debt, but now that the person was gone, he didn’t know how to repay it.

“Your Highness.”

Just then, Xie Yue and Xu Weizhi brought in the physician.

Seeing the physician enter quickly, Pang Xiao hurriedly stood and made way.

After examining Qin Yining, the physician said tremblingly: “The Princess Consort’s body has no serious problems. It’s due to excessive fatigue and emotional extremes of great joy and sorrow. This humble one will prescribe two doses of calming medicine. After the Princess Consort takes them and rests well for two days, she’ll be fine.”

Pang Xiao quietly breathed a sigh of relief and nodded: “Thank you for your trouble.”

“I wouldn’t dare, wouldn’t dare.”

Xie Yue and Xu Weizhi smiled as they invited the physician to write the prescription in the side room.

Qin Yining said: “Your Highness is also injured. Please have the physician examine him too.”

Pang Xiao looked at Qin Yining indulgently and immediately cooperated in having his wound examined and freshly medicated and bandaged.

After the physician left, Tang Xiu’s interrogation also yielded results.

“Reporting to Your Highness, those four are all tough men. At first their mouths were shut tight as clamshells, but after applying torture, Master Xie went to provoke them a few times, and they all confessed. They came on Tao Hanshan’s orders. They don’t know the specific details very clearly either.”