The two of them had truly, fully made up.

They spent a sweet while talking together, and then Fu Miaoxue had to leave for her piano lesson. Before she went, she threw him a coy glance and said she had a surprise coming for him.

Du Lai spent two days living the life of a “dog” in the golden cage, then finally received what she called her surprise.

A fire.

At first he heard commotion outside — a clamor of voices, and scattered footsteps echoing through the corridor. Then a woman in servant’s clothes came running in, threw open the cage, and urged him: “We need to go — quickly!”

Du Lai stared wide-eyed at the sight of Fu Miaoxue in that disguise and was momentarily stunned. Stepping out with her, he saw thick billowing smoke rolling through the air outside — and was even more speechless.

Fu Miaoxue grabbed his wrist and ran toward the main gate, her voice excited and jubilant: “I’ve arranged everything! They think I’m trapped by the fire on the third floor — almost everyone’s gone over to find me. And my grandfather’s treasury — everything inside needs to be transferred too, so right now the outer gate is unguarded. This is our best chance to get out!”

Du Lai stared at her in disbelief. “You — you burned your grandfather’s treasury?!”

“Of course — how else was I supposed to draw all the bodyguards away?” Fu Miaoxue ran with boundless energy, feeling not the slightest hint of guilt. “Run, run! Ha ha — we’re going to be free!”

Du Lai: “……”

It had come too easily, too smoothly. But then again, Fu Miaoxue always did things in ways that defied expectation, so perhaps it wasn’t too hard to accept.

Her hand was still clasped tightly around his.

Watching the side of her face as she ran, Du Lai slowly began to feel that this was real. Unbelievable as it was… it seemed like he might actually, truly be able to take her away.

She’d already set the place on fire. What was he waiting for?

Du Lai inhaled deeply, gripped Fu Miaoxue’s hand hard, and suddenly quickened his pace. He had been running behind her — now he pulled her along and pushed out in front.

Several convertibles were parked outside. Du Lai scooped Fu Miaoxue up in his arms, placed her in the passenger seat, leapt behind the wheel, started the engine in a flash, and drove straight toward the outer perimeter of the estate!

Fu Miaoxue was delirious with joy, so excited in the car she was practically bouncing off the seat, laughing and almost singing: “WAHAHAHAHA I’M FREE!!!”

They sped past fragrant flower beds, past the sweeping expanse of lawn, and as the electric gate ahead slowly rose to reveal a straight tree-lined avenue beyond it, Du Lai felt like this was a scene straight out of a film.

Usually when a hero drives off with his girl, there’s a long line of pursuers behind them.

Du Lai checked the rearview mirror. Only rolling clouds of smoke rose behind them — not a single person in pursuit.

Impossibly smooth.

A vast estate, heavily guarded, hundreds of security personnel — and not one of them had noticed the two of them leaving. That already counted as out of the ordinary.

Du Lai couldn’t help wondering: had Fu Lisheng deliberately played along with his granddaughter’s little scheme? …There was no way to know — he certainly couldn’t turn around and ask, so he kept his eyes fixed straight ahead and drove on, without hesitation.

“Du Lai.” Fu Miaoxue turned her head to look at him, her long hair whipping free in the wind, eyes warm with laughter. “Do you think you’ll regret this? My grandfather is Fu Lisheng.”

Du Lai glanced at her from the corner of his eye and said: “Shut up.”

“Hey! What kind of attitude is that?!” Fu Miaoxue immediately glared. “Don’t think just because my grandfather’s gone, you can bully me! I’m telling you — not a chance! ……mmph——”

Du Lai reached one arm around her neck, turned his head, and sealed her lips, cutting off any more chatter.

The sun shone over the white road. The red convertible swept past like the wind. The road ahead was long — and so was theirs, very long…

……

……

Du Lai didn’t dare take Fu Miaoxue back home. Fortunately, the children were all settled — they could take care of themselves. So he simply took Fu Miaoxue and left their original city behind.

He had plenty of friends from his old world of unsavory connections. Getting Fu Miaoxue a false identity was no great difficulty. After lying low and moving around for a while, with the Fu family showing no signs of any reaction whatsoever, the two of them relaxed and started enjoying themselves outside — treating it like a honeymoon trip.

This honeymoon lasted a while. Before they knew it, winter had arrived. The streets of a small European town were blanketed in white snow, and pigeons occasionally fluttered down to peck for food around tourists.

Fu Miaoxue spotted a pink ice cream cart parked by the road and gave Du Lai a playful nudge. “I want ice cream!”

Du Lai: “You’re out of your mind. It’s freezing. Ice cream?”

“Are you going or not?!” Fu Miaoxue pouted unhappily.

“Such a nuisance.” Grumbling as he was, he still walked toward the ice cream cart and joined the queue among a group of children.

Fu Miaoxue’s heart was warm and sweet. She raised her hand high, just about to call out and tell him she wanted vanilla — when a familiar figure appeared on the other side of the street.

Her expression shifted slightly, and her whole body went rigid.

“Miss.” Qiao Na, dressed all in black, watched her with a blank expression, her voice soft but carrying just far enough to be heard. “Mr. Fu asked me to pass along a message: if you come back now, there’s still time.”

Fu Miaoxue’s face had gone pale. She shook her head.

“Miss — are you truly not going back?”

Fu Miaoxue bit down hard on her lip and kept shaking her head, shaking it with all her might.

“Miaoxue! What flavor do you want?”

Du Lai’s voice came suddenly. Fu Miaoxue startled and looked over in a hurry, just in time to see Du Lai running back with two ice cream cones — one white, one pink.

“What’s wrong? Your color’s off — are you cold?” Du Lai frowned. “I told you, don’t eat ice cream in this weather. Whatever — both of these are mine now.”

Fu Miaoxue’s heart was still churning. Her gaze swept back to where the figure had stood — Qiao Na was gone.

Had she left?

Fu Miaoxue came back to herself and watched Du Lai take bite after bite, alternating between the two cones.

“Don’t eat mine!” She quickly snatched one of them back.

Du Lai smiled, draped one arm around her shoulder, and strolled forward while eating his ice cream — completely unaware of what had just happened.

A few days later, Fu Miaoxue and Du Lai returned to the country and saw a news report: a fire had broken out at the Fu family estate; the Fu family’s young heiress had perished in the blaze.

She stared at the words in the news and the blurry accompanying image, for a long, long time…

She knew: this time, she was truly free.