She had already lost Moping and didn’t want to lose Wu Laosan as well. Yunyi had made up her mind – even if… Li Shimin caught her, she would definitely save Wu Laosan!

As blood continued to flow, Wu Laosan’s body grew colder and colder, and his vision became blurred. Vaguely, he seemed to see a figure walking toward him, while a clear voice rang in his ears, “Father.”

“Meixue… Meixue…” After murmuring a few times, Wu Laosan looked at the anxious and tense Yunyi and said softly, “Yunyi, Meixue has come to take me away. Remember father’s words, take good care of yourself, live well, don’t… don’t kill… people anymore…”

After saying the last word, Wu Laosan suddenly dropped his head, his hands hanging motionlessly at his sides, and his breathing stopped as well.

Yunyi acted as if she hadn’t seen any of this, struggling to help Wu Laosan up while murmuring, “Father, don’t be afraid. Once we leave Honghua Prefecture, I’ll take you to see the best doctor. If that doesn’t work, we’ll go to the capital to ask for imperial physicians. Those imperial physicians have superb medical skills and the ability to bring back the dead. They’ll definitely be able to heal your wounds.”

She spoke while supporting Wu Laosan as they headed eastward. The latter had already passed away, no longer having consciousness or physical strength to support himself, so all his weight pressed on Yunyi. She was already exhausted, and after barely walking a few steps, she fell to the ground, got up, fell again, got up again, fell again…

After falling countless times, Yunyi finally didn’t get up again. She collapsed on Wu Laosan’s corpse and cried uncontrollably, her voice as mournful as a cuckoo’s blood-weeping cry.

Why, why did the people she cared about have to leave one after another? It was like this with Moping, and now with Wu Laosan too. If she hadn’t impersonated Meixue, then Wu Laosan would still be living well now, working at sunrise and resting at sunset, and when he didn’t need to tend those few acres of fields, he would carry his bow and arrows up the mountain to hunt…

It was her, she was the one who caused Wu Laosan’s death, just as she had caused Moping’s death. She came to Honghua Prefecture for the sake of the Great Sui people having peaceful days, to lighten her father emperor’s burden. In the end, she failed to kill Li Yuan and instead harmed one person after another around her. Perhaps… she really shouldn’t have come to Honghua Prefecture at all. That way, neither Moping, nor Wu Laosan, nor even Meixue would have died, and Caiping wouldn’t have suffered so much.

Now, except for her mother empress far away in Luoyang, everyone who cared about her and mattered to her was dead, leaving only her alone.

By the time she barely stopped crying, the sky had already brightened. Yunyi wiped the tears from her face and used her knife as a hoe to dig in the ground. After much effort, she finally dug a pit about as long as a person. After placing Wu Laosan’s body in the pit, she cupped soil in her hands but was reluctant to scatter it. This parting would truly be forever – she would never again see Wu Laosan’s face full of wrinkles, nor hear him call her “girl.” Their father-daughter bond ended here!

After burying Wu Laosan, Yunyi stroked the tombstone she had carved by hand and murmured, “Father, although we only had less than half a year of father-daughter relationship, your daughter will remember you, this good father, for the rest of her life and will never forget. If there really is a next life, I hope you can be my real father. I believe… this is also Meixue’s hope!” After gazing at the tombstone for a long while, she finally left, looking back with every three steps.

Yunyi headed in the direction where the sun rose. Wu Laosan had said that by walking continuously in this direction, she could leave Honghua Prefecture. She hoped… her luck would be good enough that those soldiers wouldn’t find her, because in her current condition, she had no strength to resist.

After walking for a while, Yunyi saw a tree with several wild pears on it. Just as she was stepping on a stone to pick a few to satisfy her hunger, an arrow suddenly flew and struck the tree trunk, with the arrow feathers still trembling.

Yunyi’s heart sank. She withdrew her hand and turned around to look, only to see Li Shimin standing five zhang behind her, his hands still maintaining the archery posture. Without asking, that arrow must have been shot by him.

After Yunyi and the others fled into the mountain forest, Li Shimin immediately sent all soldiers and constables into the mountains to pursue them, and even he himself entered the forest!

“Come back with me!” Faced with Li Shimin’s words, Yunyi shook her head, “You know that’s impossible!”

Li Shimin’s expression turned cold as he said icily, “You have nowhere left to flee!”

Yunyi said calmly, “I know, but even if I die, I won’t go back to the Governor’s Mansion with you!”

Li Shimin put away his longbow and slowly walked to her, gritting his teeth, “Don’t think I really won’t kill you!”

Despite being in a desperate situation, Yunyi suddenly laughed and said self-mockingly, “I killed Li Xuanba, and you hate me to the bone. How could I think you wouldn’t kill me!”

Li Shimin’s eye corner twitched slightly as he gritted his teeth, “After you discovered that Feng Chunxiu had killed Meixue, you disguised yourself as her and used her identity to lurk in the mansion, waiting for an opportunity to assassinate my father. Unfortunately, father has been recuperating in Songtao Residence all along, so you couldn’t find an opportunity. That’s why you settled for second best and went to harm my elder brother, isn’t that right?”

Yunyi nodded, “Correct. I was the one who switched the Tendon-Mending Muscle-Growing Powder. Zhang Chenyue just happened to become a scapegoat by coincidence. It’s a pity Li Zhiyun saved him.”

“When you failed to kill my elder brother, you turned to harm Xuanba?” To his words, Yunyi said coldly, “I killed Li Jiancheng because he tortured Moping in every way. A person with such a vicious heart deserved to die! As for Li Xuanba… he could have avoided death, but unfortunately, he happened to see Feng Li and learned my true identity. Under those circumstances, I naturally couldn’t allow him to live!”

“You deserve to die!” Li Shimin squeezed these three words through his teeth, gripping his longbow tightly until his knuckles turned white layer by layer.

Meeting his gaze that seemed ready to devour someone, Yunyi suddenly laughed, “Yes, in your eyes, I, this murderous killer, naturally deserve to die. But in my eyes, don’t you all deserve to die just as much? If it weren’t for you, neither Moping nor father would have died.”

Hearing her mention Wu Laosan, Li Shimin’s eye corner twitched. When he had pursued earlier, he had also seen Wu Laosan’s grave. He hadn’t wanted to kill Wu Laosan, but in the end, he still had…

After a moment of silence, he asked, “Why do you want to kill my father?”

“I have my reasons for wanting to kill him. You don’t need to know.” After a pause, she added, “If you want to kill me, go ahead and do it, but don’t expect me to go back to the Governor’s Mansion with you!”

“You don’t have a choice!” With these words, Li Shimin moved. By the time Yunyi came to her senses, a cold dagger was already pressed against her throat – the very one Li Shimin had confiscated from her earlier. Li Shimin’s cold voice rang in her ear, “Xuanba died under this dagger of yours, didn’t he?”

Yunyi said with a calm expression, “Correct. Now you can finally get your revenge.” Saying this, she suddenly laughed, “Should I congratulate the Second Young Master?”