Looking at the person above her line of sight, Qiao Zhao was momentarily stunned.

Shao Mingyuan?

Why would he appear here?

The young general wore a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, with rainwater streaming down from the brim to form straight lines.

He turned his head aside, removed the bamboo hat, and placed it on Qiao Zhao’s head.

Qiao Zhao maintained her expression of having seen a ghost as she stared at him blankly.

This person appeared and disappeared like a ghost!

Moreover, he was holding another strange young lady again!

Miss Qiao thought dazedly, her almond-shaped eyes full of bewilderment, as if covered by a thin mist carrying morning dew.

Shao Mingyuan thought: This little girl is light, seeming to weigh less than his usual broadsword, holding her was like holding a feather.

Walking to the open roadside, Shao Mingyuan asked: “Miss Li, are you injured? Can you stand on your own?”

“Of course.” Qiao Zhao came back to her senses and replied with complicated feelings.

She had only been knocked down by a corpse, not injured her feet.

Hearing this, Shao Mingyuan immediately put Qiao Zhao down. His gaze never fell on her body, but instead, he lowered his head to remove his raincoat and draped it over her.

The raincoat was also cold, as if she couldn’t feel the warmth of its original owner, only faintly catching the extremely light scent of soap pods that seemed to have been washed by ice and snow.

The raincoat completely blocked out the rain.

Qiao Zhao quietly watched as Shao Mingyuan’s white robe was instantly soaked through by the rain, clinging to his body and revealing his tall and strong silhouette. She gently averted her gaze.

However, Shao Mingyuan didn’t continue talking with Qiao Zhao, but instead turned his head and shouted to Long Ying, who was holding Princess Zhenzhen under the large tree: “Brother, you can’t stand under trees in weather like this.”

“Why?” Long Ying didn’t respond, but Binglu, who had come to her senses, instinctively asked.

The young general didn’t care who was asking and explained: “Because you might get struck by lightning—”

As soon as he finished speaking, a bolt of lightning split through the rain curtain, descending with thunderous momentum and striking a tree as thick as a bowl not far from everyone.

That tree sparked with fire, emitting white smoke as it crashed to the ground.

Qiao Zhao: “…” Just now, she thought she had a crow’s mouth, but she didn’t expect this person to be even worse!

Long Ying moved lightning-fast, carrying Princess Zhenzhen as he darted out from under the lush tree they’d been sheltering under. After standing firm, he looked back at the intact tree, his heart still pounding.

If that bolt had struck this tree just now—

Long Ying looked at Shao Mingyuan with surprise and spoke: “Thank you, my lord.”

A moan came from his arms, and Long Ying immediately looked down: “Your Highness, how are you?”

“It hurts—” Princess Zhenzhen’s face was snow-white, almost transparent.

Long Ying immediately looked at Princess Zhenzhen’s left leg wound, which was indeed seeping fresh blood again.

Unable to spare more words with Shao Mingyuan, Long Ying carried Princess Zhenzhen and rushed to Qiao Zhao in one swift step, his tone urgent: “Miss Li, Her Highness is bleeding again. Please quickly give her acupuncture!”

Qiao Zhao stepped forward to lift Princess Zhenzhen’s skirt, unwrapped the bandage to look at the wound, and shook her head gravely: “The golden needle hemostasis technique can only be used once on the same wound. Using it again won’t be very effective.”

“Then what should we do?”

Qiao Zhao raised her hand to remove the bamboo hat and stuffed it into Long Ying’s hands, instructing: “Cover Her Highness’s wound with this!”

The bamboo hat caught on the pearl chain in her hair, and the rain immediately scattered her hair bun. Her long black hair fell loose like seaweed.

Qiao Zhao raised her hand to smooth the hair falling over her forehead behind her ears, reached into the raincoat to take out a porcelain bottle, opened the stopper, and sprinkled the pale green powder on Princess Zhenzhen’s wound.

Then she simply removed the raincoat, signaling Long Ying to take it to shield Princess Zhenzhen from the rain, and began forcefully tearing at the hem of her dress.

Her strength was small, and after several attempts, she accomplished nothing, so she bit her lip in frustration.

A pair of well-defined, large hands suddenly reached over and efficiently tore off a strip from the dress hem.

Qiao Zhao looked up and met Shao Mingyuan’s dark eyes, saying lightly: “Thank you.”

She took the cloth strip and quickly bandaged Princess Zhenzhen. The blood soon soaked through the pale blue cloth.

Seeing this, Shao Mingyuan immediately tore several strips from his white clothes and handed them over.

Without looking up, Qiao Zhao took the cloth strips and bound layer after layer around Princess Zhenzhen, finally tying a beautiful knot.

Throughout the entire process, Princess Zhenzhen bit her lips tightly, her hands gripping Long Ying’s shoulders so hard her nails dug into his flesh.

She looked at Qiao Zhao, then at Shao Mingyuan, and finally fainted.

“Your Highness!” Long Ying’s face changed dramatically.

“Guard Long.” Qiao Zhao called to him with a solemn expression, “You must get Her Highness the Princess back to the palace as quickly as possible!”

Long Ying held Princess Zhenzhen tightly and looked toward the roadside.

The overloaded carriage had collapsed sideways on the ground, and both the old horse and coachman had long since disappeared, obviously the horse had bolted in fright and the coachman had chased after it.

In that moment, despite being extremely urgent, Long Ying inexplicably had a stray thought: Miss Li’s family must be very poor—what kind of broken carriage was that?

“Take my horse.” Shao Mingyuan had somehow led over a white horse and thrust the reins into Long Ying’s hands.

Long Ying’s eyes lit up.

As the princess’s guard, he had seen many fine horses, and Marquis Guanjun’s horse was undoubtedly a superior thousand-li steed.

“Thank you!” Long Ying couldn’t spare more words and mounted the horse while holding Princess Zhenzhen.

The horse was quite unwilling, standing in place without moving, nuzzling Shao Mingyuan’s hand with its face, full of grievance.

The young general’s expression became gentle as he lightly stroked the horse’s face and coaxed in a low voice: “Be good, Flying Shadow. I’ll give you sugar when you return.”

As his words fell, he gently patted the horse’s belly, and the white horse galloped away carrying Long Ying and the princess.

The rain continued, blurring people’s vision, and soon the white horse’s figure could no longer be seen.

Qiao Zhao withdrew her gaze and breathed a slight sigh of relief.

As long as Princess Zhenzhen could hurry back to the palace, everything would be fine.

With her mental tension relaxed, the cold rain falling on her body made Qiao Zhao finally feel the cold, and she couldn’t help but shiver.

“Young lady—” Binglu took Qiao Zhao’s arm, full of heartache, “You gave both the bamboo hat and raincoat to the princess. What about you?”

The young lady had been frail since childhood. Getting caught in the rain like this would surely make her ill when they returned.

“It’s nothing.” Dizziness struck, and Qiao Zhao bit the tip of her tongue to regain consciousness, gently comforting Binglu.

She reached into her pouch to feel around, but there were no more cold-dispelling pills.

The pouch was divided into many hidden pockets, containing various emergency items, though each type was in small quantities, just for emergencies.

She could only wait until she returned to the residence to treat her body. Qiao Zhao thought while enduring the discomfort.

“The carriage is broken, we can’t shelter under trees, and there’s nowhere to take shelter from the rain!” Binglu was extremely anxious.

“Wait a moment,” Shao Mingyuan spoke up.

Qiao Zhao couldn’t help but look at him.

The young general walked to a tree and suddenly leaped up, his legs alternately stepping on the trunk. When he landed, his hands were full of large, broad leaves.

He lowered his head, his long, slender fingers working swiftly, and soon wove a large hat, raising his hand to place it on Qiao Zhao’s head, then lowering his eyes to continue weaving.