Qin Yining held Xuan Ge’er in her arms, leaning against the soft large pillow in the carriage and frowning as she said softly: “No need to worry. We’ll just take our own actions first and observe the situation.”

“Yes.” Ji Yun nodded. Though uneasy in her heart, seeing Qin Yining so composed and thinking of the Elite Tiger Guards and secret agents beside them, she felt there shouldn’t be any major trouble and finally relaxed a bit.

However, Qin Yining actually had an ominous premonition. She had always been someone with keen perception. Living quietly in the mountains, she had clear awareness of danger and had relied on this sharp intuition to avoid many perils before.

This time, she had made the decision to immediately leave Jingang on the spot while talking with Magistrate Chen. Returning home, she had people make hurried preparations before fleeing with her group. Even now, her heart was still in turmoil, with a sense of oppression as if a blade hung over her head ready to fall at any moment.

She hadn’t experienced such a clear sense of crisis for many years.

Qin Yining simply didn’t want to show panic and disturb people’s hearts.

“Princess, where shall we go?”

Qin Yining pressed her lips together: “To find our warships.”

Ji Yun asked in surprise: “Does the Princess plan to go to Shuize Kingdom to temporarily avoid the limelight?”

“Whether or not we go to Shuize Kingdom, being at sea always feels safer than staying here. Choosing to temporarily reside in Jingang also took this point into account. The Prince has always arranged for people to watch over the warships, and the ships are stocked year-round with fresh water and dry provisions that can sustain us for a while.”

Bingtang laughed: “That’s a good idea. I don’t believe the Emperor’s people can fly over.”

Hearing her speak so lightly, Qin Yining couldn’t help but show a slight smile, and her tense nerves finally relaxed a bit.

However, they didn’t immediately head straight to their destination this time. After leaving Jingang, they took a circuitous route, planning to shake off their pursuers before boarding the ships.

The weather had turned cold. Jingang was located in the north, so winter naturally arrived more harshly. In the twelfth month, cold winds howled. Qin Yining held the children in the carriage while burning a small charcoal brazier, still needing to wrap herself in fox fur. Worried that burning charcoal might affect the air quality and harm Xuan Ge’er and Yun Jie’er’s health, she deliberately pushed the carriage window open a crack. Cold wind constantly seeped in, so she leaned sideways to shield the children from the wind.

After traveling for two days, the journey had been relatively safe and smooth, allowing everyone’s mood to relax somewhat.

“Princess, there’s a village ahead. It’s getting late today, so let’s temporarily stay here for the night and continue our journey tomorrow after resting.” Outside the carriage, Xie Yue said with a smile.

Qin Yining smiled: “That sounds excellent. Please arrange it, Master Xie.”

Xie Yue then ordered the Elite Tiger Guards to scout the village first. Qin Yining’s group slowed their advance.

Before long, the Elite Tiger Guards returned: “The village is called Yang Family Village, with only about twenty households. Because of the short winter days, there’s hardly anyone moving about in the village. We had to knock on someone’s door to inquire. After giving some extra silver, that household agreed to let us stay the night.”

“That’s quite good.” Xie Yue agreed. Seeing nothing unusual, he led the group toward Yang Family Village.

Just as the carriage had traveled about a zhang, the sky began dropping large goose-feather snowflakes. Carried by the cold wind, they scattered everywhere, causing Jingzhe, Liao Zhibing, and others following beside the carriage to involuntarily raise their arms to shield their faces.

The wind and snow blew directly through the window crack. Qin Yining quickly bent down to protect the children in her arms.

Ji Yun turned to close the window: “It’s suddenly started snowing heavily.”

“We can see we came at the right time – it didn’t snow at all along our way.” Bingtang laughed while gently soothing the infant in her arms.

Qin Yining smiled and nodded: “Indeed. Fortunately, even though we’ve encountered heavy snow now, we’ve already found lodging.”

Everyone couldn’t help but smile.

The group soon arrived in the village. Xie Yue got off the carriage first to negotiate with the family that had agreed to let them stay. He quickly returned with a smile: “Princess, please get off the carriage.”

Qin Yining nodded, wrapped the swaddling clothes properly, and got off the carriage with Ji Yun’s assistance. Bingtang followed behind, also holding a large red bundle, using her cotton cloak to shield the child in her arms as she followed Qin Yining forward.

“Later we’ll boil a pot of ginger soup for everyone to drink. It’s been truly hard traveling and sleeping rough all this way. In this cold weather, everyone should be careful not to catch cold.”

“Yes.” Bingtang smiled and nodded: “Rest assured. Among us all, you have the weakest constitution, so you…”

Before Bingtang could finish speaking, from the corner of her eye she suddenly glimpsed a flash of bright silver light, causing her to instinctively raise her sleeve to shield herself.

Before she could react further, Jingzhe and others had already turned around shouting: “Ambush! Princess, run quickly!”

Qin Yining’s heart lurched as she turned to flee while holding the child. But simultaneously, black-clothed masked men wielding blades emerged from all directions, their footsteps silent and movements agile – clearly all experts.

The Elite Tiger Guards, along with Jingzhe, Liao Zhibing and others, immediately surrounded Qin Yining, Xie Yue, Shopkeeper Zhong and the others in the center, cautiously observing these men.

Xie Yue’s face went white with anxiety: “Princess, this old fool failed to detect them earlier!”

“It’s not Master’s fault. First think of a way to break out!” Qin Yining held the swaddling bundle, standing back-to-back with Bingtang, hiding in the crowd.

The black-clothed masked men surrounding them numbered over a hundred, quickly encircling their few dozen people tightly.

Pang Xiao had arranged ten Elite Tiger Guards, plus four silver-masked secret agents and several brothers brought by Liao Zhibing. In their group, these were the only ones capable of fighting. Against over a hundred opponents, how could they possibly have any chance of winning?

“Attack!” One of the black-clothed men gave the order, and the rest immediately charged forward.

Jingzhe, Liao Zhibing and others immediately clustered around Qin Yining, while the Elite Tiger Guards roared as they raised their blades to meet the enemy: “Quick, find a chance to escape!”

The opponents coldly commanded: “Our master has ordered that not one person be allowed to escape – capture them all!”

“Yes!”

The black-clothed men showed no intention of yielding, surging forward en masse.

In the wind and snow, vision was blurred. Qin Yining was protected and surrounded in the center, seeing only chaos before her eyes as everyone fought desperately.

Perhaps frightened by the shouting and fighting sounds, both Xuan Ge’er and Yun Jie’er were awakened and began wailing loudly. The children’s cries were piercing and clear, echoing throughout the quiet village.

Qin Yining’s heart ached terribly. In this freezing weather, with the children crying so loudly in the heavy snow, she truly feared they might freeze and fall ill. She hurriedly used her fox fur to shelter the child in her arms.

Hearing the children’s cries, the Elite Tiger Guards and silver-masked secret agents became even more frenzied, fighting desperately as if they didn’t care about their lives.

But this time they could all see that their opponents were experts who had come prepared. In terms of skill, they were evenly matched or even had some who were superior to them. Though they were already exerting all their strength, the opponents also advanced and retreated in coordination with perfect teamwork, determined to capture them all.

Jingzhe’s eyes immediately turned red: “Fight them to the death!”

“Right!” The other secret agents and Elite Tiger Guards all voiced agreement.

Everyone fought desperately, actually carving out a bloody path from the encirclement and retreating while fighting as they protected Qin Yining in their attempt to break out.

But who would have thought that after running just a few steps, they would encounter another group of armored cavalry charging toward them. They all wore the uniforms of the Capital Guards, their horse hooves trampling the snow on the ground into muddy slush.

Hearing that the opponents wanted to capture them alive, Qin Yining already knew they must be Li Qitian’s people who had pursued them. Now seeing the Capital Guards who could only have come here on the Emperor’s orders, what was there left to understand?

She quickly led her people running toward a nearby alley.

Just as they turned around, a group of young men dressed as ordinary citizens charged forward, blocking the pursuers’ path.

“Princess, run quickly!”

Qin Yining didn’t recognize these people.

But several Elite Tiger Guards beside her looked familiar with them: “Princess, these are those newcomers with unfamiliar faces we discovered in the city earlier!”

Those young men fought the Capital Guard cavalry with their bare hands. Hearing this, their leader couldn’t help but say: “Our master ordered us to protect the Princess’s safety. Princess, please go quickly!”

Qin Yining was even more puzzled.

Master?

Among the people she knew who could be addressed as “master,” besides Lu Heng there was only Qiu Feishan. And Qiu Feishan’s relationship with Qiu Yuanqing still wasn’t clear, so she couldn’t yet be legitimately called the Qiu family’s master. So these people were sent by Lu Heng?

Qin Yining had no time to be surprised and immediately turned to flee while holding the child.

Bingtang and others followed closely behind her.

The Elite Tiger Guards, silver-masked secret agents, and people arranged by Lu Heng did their utmost to block the pursuers.

But Qin Yining’s group was ultimately outnumbered. The Capital Guards had come with over a hundred men, all cavalry. They only needed to deploy a portion of their forces to outflank Qin Yining.

Looking at the Capital Guard cavalry sitting tall on their horses before her, Qin Yining couldn’t help but tighten her embrace. The child cried even louder.

The person sitting on horseback was expressionless: “Men, capture them!”

“Yes!”

Everyone dismounted and surged forward.

Jingzhe, Liao Zhibing, the Elite Tiger Guards and others had already been tied up in fighting. Outnumbered by their opponents, they watched helplessly as Qin Yining was cornered, but they were powerless to help.

Qin Yining held the swaddling bundle tightly, retreating step by step.

But the opponents showed no mercy. Dozens of Capital Guards surged forward, immediately restraining Qin Yining’s group with their arms twisted behind their backs and pressed to the ground. The swaddling bundles in Qin Yining’s and Bingtang’s arms were also snatched away.

“Give me back my children! Let them go!” Qin Yining suddenly raised her head, her eyes blood-red as she stared at the swaddling bundles.

The Capital Guards turned a deaf ear. One man held each large red bundle very casually.

Bingtang also had her bundle taken, tears of fright streaming down her face as she cried and roared: “If you have the ability, come at us! What kind of skill is it to harm children in swaddling clothes!”

“Those are Prince Zhongshun’s children. If you harm them, the Prince will never forgive you when he returns!” Ji Yun also roared.

Qin Yining shouted herself hoarse, her blood-red eyes looking particularly frightening. The opponents, showing no pity for women, pressed her cheek into the snow so they wouldn’t have to see her fierce expression.

But Qin Yining still wouldn’t give up, like a fish that had jumped out of a pond, desperately struggling and thrashing on the ground, her voice breaking from shouting.

“Let me go! Return my children! Give me back my children!”