The clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, the setting sun slanted westward, and the light grew even brighter.

After Song Langsheng spoke those heart-wrenching words, I thought I would spurt out a mouthful of fresh blood, collapse to the ground dying, and say “What future is there… I’ve long been poisoned with deadly toxins and my end is near. Even if you want revenge, I’m afraid you cannot…” Then he would realize something and hesitantly embrace me: “Ah Tang! Without my permission, you’re not allowed to die!” And I would smile weakly with blood at the corner of my mouth: “…You, didn’t you say you’d never call me Ah Tang again cough cough cough, Song Langsheng, may we never meet again in the next life…” At this moment, my voice would stop at just the right moment, my delicate jade hand would fall, and I would finally breathe my last.

I figured that after my death, Song Langsheng would eventually learn the truth—knowing what pain and injustice I died with, and perhaps in his remaining years, he would keep a place in his heart for me.

Thinking this way, I held my breath and tried to cough up some blood to perform this act.

Unfortunately, heaven didn’t grant my wish. Before I could vomit this old blood, He Pingzhao behind me stole my lines first, his威严 voice shaking the heavens: “Audacious villain, how dare you speak of the future! You openly plotted to harm the Princess—even with wings, you cannot escape!”

Song Langsheng seemed not to hear, still looking at me with that decisive gaze. Those eyes were so cold they made my heart feel quite dejected. I couldn’t help but avoid his gaze, calculating in my heart that with the Imperial Guard Office blocking both front and back gates of the Princess residence, Song Langsheng alone would indeed find it difficult to escape. Yet he spoke this way, clearly confident he could get away. In this predicament, unless he took me hostage, what other method could there be…

In just that moment of distraction, a cool chill struck my neck. My body was suddenly bound by arms so I couldn’t move. Before He Pingzhao could draw his blade to stop him, a cold blade edge pressed against my neck. That sharp edge seemed ready to cut through my skin at any moment. I heard He Pingzhao roar in fury: “Song Langsheng! Release the Princess immediately! Do you think you can still escape!”

I was shocked by my own prediction coming true: “…”

But I heard Song Langsheng say coldly: “What fear is there in having the Princess accompany me on the road to the Yellow Springs?”

My heart ached. Song Langsheng’s current attitude of dragging me down even in death—where was any trace of his former sincere affection?

My body leaned in his embrace, my hands firmly restrained in his arms. I instinctively wanted to struggle, but my back inexplicably felt a rhythmic thumping. I was stunned—this was… his heartbeat.

Was it from fear, nervousness, or terror? Was he worried about accidentally cutting me to death with one stroke, or worried about not being able to escape from these thousands of troops?

Song Langsheng continued: “I only need the Princess to accompany me for a stretch of road. Once we leave the general’s encirclement, I’ll naturally release the Princess. If General He insists on delaying for time, I won’t show mercy either. General He wouldn’t want the Princess to suffer any harm, would he?”

I could no longer hear clearly what He Pingzhao was shouting. I wanted to turn my head to look at Song Langsheng, but with the slightest movement of my head, the cold blade at my neck pressed closer to my flesh. I stared blankly at the surrounding soldiers holding their bows high, arrows nocked and ready to fire, then woodenly looked at He Pingzhao, who was grinding his teeth in hatred but didn’t dare approach. I couldn’t help but sigh repeatedly.

The Crown Prince had ordered He Pingzhao to capture Song Langsheng, yet under his very nose, Song Langsheng had taken Princess Xiangyi hostage. The crime of failing to protect his lord was already hard to escape. If he stubbornly persisted in killing Song Langsheng while disregarding my life, that would be an even more capital offense.

If He Pingzhao let Song Langsheng escape like this, even if blamed for handling affairs poorly, the Crown Prince would mostly assume I was determined to save Song Langsheng’s life and wouldn’t blame He Pingzhao entirely.

Choosing the lesser of two evils.

Sure enough, no matter how unwilling He Pingzhao was, he still had to put down his long blade and order all soldiers to abandon their bows on the ground.

At this moment, Cai Mi lying in the rain puddle made low moaning sounds. Those sounds were so mournful and painful, probably expressing something like “I blocked a blade for you—you can’t just run away and abandon me.” Song Langsheng, holding a hostage, had no energy to spare. He didn’t look back but called Butler Liu’s name: “Come help me support Miss Cai Mi and retreat with me to outside the residence gates.”

Butler Liu, who had long been frightened out of his wits, looked at Song Langsheng: “I, I…”

Song Langsheng said in a heavy voice: “If you want the Princess’s life to be safe, do as I say.”

Butler Liu walked forward helplessly. When he reached Cai Mi’s side and looked toward me, trying to seek my opinion, I couldn’t nod and could only say: “Just help her up. She’s not heavy anyway…”

Butler Liu: “…”

In fact, trying to escape safely by holding one hostage was extremely difficult.

First, hidden weapons from all directions could strike at any unknown moment. With the slightest carelessness, there were countless examples of the hostage surviving while the criminal died first.

But Song Langsheng was different.

Not to mention his high martial arts skills—even if he were stabbed full of holes in an instant, he would still have the ability to drag me down with him before dying. He Pingzhao couldn’t afford this risk. More importantly, he wasn’t afraid to die.

The brave fear nothing; those who don’t fear death leave no opening to exploit.

Song Langsheng held my neck like this, using my life to lead his Cai Mi step by step out of the Princess residence.

During this time, how the soldiers and generals dispersed to make a path, what distance He Pingzhao had to maintain—everything was at his disposal.

However, Song Langsheng’s action still had one fatal flaw—I also wasn’t afraid to die.

At this moment, I only needed to thrust my neck forward forcefully, and all these matters would be settled.

The successive blows over this long time had already made me lose any desire to survive, especially now, especially at this moment.

In the short distance of a few zhang, I felt my steps were as heavy as a thousand jin. With every step forward, I struggled once.

But ultimately, I still did nothing.

I suddenly became somewhat curious about what the situation would be if I did nothing, took no action.

Speaking of what happened afterward, it was all a matter of lightning speed.

I remember when we retreated to the residence gates, several agile figures cleanly dropped from the roof beams beside us, saying in unison: “Young Master.”

Song Langsheng behind me commanded quietly: “Bring Miss Cai Mi.”

Immediately, from the right side of this road came the urgent sound of hoofbeats accompanied by rolling wheel sounds racing toward us. Before I could react, I felt my body lighten and was brought by Song Langsheng into that carriage compartment.

I broke out in a cold sweat. Looking up again, I saw a young man who had already leaped into the compartment holding Cai Mi. After laying Cai Mi flat, the man nodded to Song Langsheng beside me, then lifted the carriage curtain to sit on another shaft position, helping the driver whip the horses together.

Everything happened too suddenly. Only when Song Langsheng slowly loosened his restraining grip did I feel the painful sensation of being bound all over my body and regain some thinking ability.

This carriage compartment was somewhat wrong.

No, rather than wrong, this compartment was too familiar. The seat arrangement, the velvet material—it was no different from the Princess residence’s usual carriages.

This was clearly… my carriage?

The carriage raced at full speed, bouncing up and down so violently I swayed back and forth. I barely managed to lean against the carriage wall and lifted the side curtain to look back. At this moment, no horses were pursuing yet. Probably He Pingzhao’s army, seeking the element of surprise for an ambush, hadn’t alerted the cavalry. Plus with nightfall approaching, pedestrians on the road naturally gave way upon seeing the Princess residence’s carriage, so this escape proceeded quite smoothly.

I noticed the people on the horses riding close alongside were all wearing Princess residence guard uniforms. I had never seen those men’s faces—they clearly weren’t real guards from the residence. They had descended from heaven to rescue Song Langsheng and called him Young Master. Could they all be former dynasty rebel remnants?

As I was thinking this, Song Langsheng suddenly spoke: “Xiu Zhu, come in.”

The young, refined-looking man who had carried Cai Mi inside earlier lifted the curtain again. This time I saw clearly—he also wore Princess residence guard uniform. “Young Master?”

Song Langsheng looked around the carriage compartment. His expression seemed as if riding this carriage was also beyond his expectations. He asked directly: “Who sent you to rescue me?”

The man called Xiu Zhu answered: “Master Feng.”

Master Feng?

Feng Li?

Song Langsheng frowned slightly. Xiu Zhu continued explaining: “Master Feng said Young Master would return to the residence recently, and this barbar—” He paused slightly, glancing at me with displeasure. “—the Princess would surely set an ambush to kill Young Master. Mao Lin and I disguised ourselves as Princess residence guards beforehand, waiting for the chance to help Young Master escape the encirclement.”

A chill wind arose in my heart.

Today’s series of events had too many unpredictable factors. Song Langsheng couldn’t have predicted the sleeping palace would explode, I couldn’t have predicted Song Langsheng would appear, He Pingzhao couldn’t have predicted Cai Mi would sacrifice herself to block the blade, and the Crown Prince certainly couldn’t have predicted Song Langsheng could escape by taking me hostage. The situation developed with lightning changes, yet Feng Li could make such comprehensive arrangements and preparations with perfect calculation. This deep scheming… was simply outrageous.

However, why he wanted to save Song Langsheng left me completely puzzled.

Song Langsheng didn’t immediately respond. He seemed to be pondering something. Seeing him like this, Xiu Zhu thought he had concerns and added: “This is the residence’s carriage. Now that the Princess also sits in the carriage, we only need to coerce the Princess to speak up as a signal, and we can naturally leave the city smoothly.”

These words didn’t sit well with me, so I couldn’t help but retort: “Coerce this Princess? How will you coerce me? Anyway, following you means death either way for this Princess. I might as well cry for help at the city gates—who knows, I might still have a chance at survival.”

“You—” Hearing this, Xiu Zhu jumped and immediately put his hand on the sword sheath at his waist. “You think our Young Master is as hard-hearted as you? You’re heartless, but our Young Master…”

“Xiu Zhu.” Song Langsheng lightly cut off his words. “Go outside.”

Xiu Zhu glared at me unwillingly, bit his teeth, but still obeyed Song Langsheng’s words, turned his head and crawled outside the curtain.

For a moment, only the three of us remained in the carriage compartment.

Actually, when speaking earlier, I had never dared look directly at Song Langsheng. Though I didn’t know what I was afraid of, at this moment he sat side by side with me like this. The carriage shook violently, his wide sleeves covering my hands and rubbing back and forth. Not looking at him seemed like even more torture.

After just a moment of standoff, I still couldn’t endure it. When I turned to look at him, I found he was also looking at me. That elegant face held thousands of emotions intertwined, his dark eyes seeming ready to overflow with something. I couldn’t help but hold my breath. Just as I was about to speak, he released me, moved his body slightly, and went to check on Cai Mi’s condition.

Following his movement, I finally saw clearly that Cai Mi’s injury was on her back shoulder. The blade cut was very deep, the skin and flesh split open revealing bone, blood flowing freely. However, though the wound looked terrible and she had lost consciousness, it wasn’t a fatal location. For the time being, she probably wouldn’t die.

Song Langsheng pulled out a palm-sized jade bottle from his sleeve. I recognized that jade bottle at a glance—it contained the finest healing treasures tributed from the palace, one of the many things I had given him. He carefully sprinkled all the medicinal powder on Cai Mi’s wound, and in no time stopped the bleeding.

Seeing that at this moment of uncertain life and death, his entire heart and mind were concerned with this “little sister,” my heart felt as if pierced by sour needle points, so sad I almost wanted to die. This sadness was even worse than when I learned he wanted to harm me.

However, at this moment, Song Langsheng suddenly spoke: “You’ve recovered all your memories…”

I was stunned, at first not realizing he was talking to me. Only when he sat back beside me, head lowered, playing with the jade bottle in his hands, did he say: “For two years, I’ve had one question I wanted to ask you…”

He said word by word: “Since you always had another person in your heart, why did you still force me to be this Prince Consort back then?”

I didn’t understand what he meant and cast a confused look at him. I saw him with eyes observing nose, nose observing heart, lowering his long lashes as he said flatly: “Two years ago that night on the mountain peak, I heard your confession to Young Master Nie.”

He hooked the corner of his mouth, but there was no smile in his eyes: “You said you had long set your heart on him, and when you reunited with him, you thought that as long as you could live, even abandoning your Princess identity, you would be with him…”

I was completely stunned.

Only then did I remember that night when I mistook Xu Fang for him and poured out my heart. So he had truly heard it and believed it was true?

This was truly the most absurd thing in the world!

Song Langsheng’s hand absent-mindedly stroked the jade bottle: “During the year you disappeared, I never left the residence. I originally wanted to ask you this question, but when I saw you again, you had already lost all memory and didn’t even recognize who I was…”

My mind was in complete chaos. I heard every word Song Langsheng said clearly, but stringing them into this sentence took me great effort to understand. Seeing me stare wide-eyed for a long time without answering, he said: “Never mind. Things have come to this point—I was meddling unnecessarily.”

I couldn’t tell if his words were another false sentiment, or if this was his reconciliation strategy to induce me to help them leave the city gates smoothly. Just then, Xiu Zhu’s voice came from outside the carriage: “Young Master, after passing one more road, we’ll reach the city gates.”

Song Langsheng made a sound of acknowledgment. His expression didn’t seem to change much. He didn’t use force to control me again, instead leaning leisurely against the chair back as if he didn’t consider himself a fugitive at all. I couldn’t help asking: “Aren’t you afraid I’ll jump out of the carriage and report you?”

He remained unperturbed: “Please do as you wish.”

The carriage’s speed gradually slowed. After the hour of Mao, the city gates were closed. When the gate guards saw a carriage stop before the gates, they would naturally come forward to question. I couldn’t help but sit up straight. Perhaps the city gates had already received news to block Song Langsheng, so He Pingzhao had let people go so easily?

While alarm bells rang loudly in my mind, the gate guards, seeing it was the Princess residence’s carriage, became respectful in attitude first. I heard Xiu Zhu methodically say something intimidating like “Princess Xiangyi and the Prince Consort have urgent business leaving the city—open the gates quickly.” The gate guards didn’t even ask many questions and opened the city gates as instructed.

Not until the carriage had smoothly driven out of the city for some distance did I suddenly come to my senses, looking at Song Langsheng in shock and suspicion: “Even the city gate guards are your people. Song Langsheng, just how far does your reach extend?”

Song Langsheng didn’t answer my question. He just reached out to remove the dagger tied at his waist, extending it toward me: “Princess, now that we’re out of the city, let’s part ways here. This dagger…”

I had no mind for any dagger and directly interrupted his words: “The question you asked me earlier—at this moment, don’t you want to know the answer?”

Hearing my words, Song Langsheng’s wrist froze in mid-air. He said slowly: “No need.”

What was this?

What was this!

Did he want to leave like this?

Without explaining anything, without listening to any explanations?

I took a deep breath: “You say you never did anything to wrong me, but what am I seeing now? If you had no rebellious intentions, how could you associate with these rebels, with Feng Li?”

He said: “You never believed me from beginning to end. What is there for me to say?”

Though I had prepared myself mentally, hearing such words still made me feel miserable. At this moment, I didn’t know where the carriage was traveling. Just as I was about to retort, I suddenly felt the entire carriage shake violently, followed by the horses in front neighing miserably.

My heart jumped in alarm. Just as I was about to look out to see what was happening, before I could sit steady, I was pressed down by a pair of hands. I heard several “thud thud” sounds, like multiple arrows being shot and embedding in the carriage boards. Looking up again, several arrows had simultaneously pierced through the windows and were stuck firmly in the carriage wall where I had just been sitting!

Song Langsheng, maintaining his protective position over me, turned back: “Mao Lin! Xiu Zhu!”

The front curtain was suddenly lifted. Xiu Zhu looked panicked: “Young Master, there are pursuers chasing us from behind, and they’re shooting arrows directly without caring that the Princess is in the carriage. One of the horses pulling this carriage took an arrow to the back—Mao Lin can barely control it.”

The sound of blocking arrows with swords came from outside the carriage. It seemed those accompanying riders couldn’t hold out much longer either. Song Langsheng glanced outside the carriage window several times, then looked at Cai Mi, and said to Xiu Zhu: “When the carriage reaches the second corner, I’ll jump from the carriage with the Princess. You jump with Miss Cai Mi. The high slope ahead has dense trees, and it’s already dark—the pursuers will have difficulty detecting us…”

Song Langsheng then called to the driver: “Mao Lin, after Xiu Zhu and I jump down, drive the carriage toward the cliff direction for a stretch to lead the pursuers away. When the pursuers catch up, cut the horse ropes and abandon the carriage!”

Mao Lin replied concisely: “Yes, Young Master.”

Xiu Zhu nodded and immediately said to the people outside the carriage: “Young Master orders all to continue following the carriage!”

“Yes.”

Fierce wind rushed into the carriage compartment. Xiu Zhu turned back again and picked up Cai Mi. Song Langsheng inserted the dagger at his waist and smoothly grasped my wrist, saying in a muffled voice: “Don’t be afraid.”

Don’t be afraid?

I looked at him anxiously. The moment before, we were still in cold farewells, almost being pushed away thousands of li by him. Why, at this life-and-death moment, was he stepping forward to protect me again? Compared to me, shouldn’t he be more concerned about protecting his Cai Mi?

However, there was no time to think more. The two swift horses ran faster and faster, the carriage seeming to climb an even steeper slope. When we turned that corner, Song Langsheng immediately embraced me and leaped outward—

Like being flung out, the world spun dizzyingly. The terror of weightlessness was especially obvious in the pitch-black night. I closed my eyes tightly, feeling the arms holding me tighten, and the heavy sensation of landing struck me.

This was a long, steep slope. I had originally thought jumping from the top would surely result in injuries all over my body. However, when I felt myself land, though my body was numb from shock and kept sliding down, there wasn’t the expected pain. My heart trembled. When I opened my eyes, I found Song Langsheng holding me tightly with one hand while gripping the dagger with the other, scraping against the grassy slope, always maintaining the position of landing on his back as we moved.

Grass, bushes, sand, and stones ground against his clothing and flesh, making subtle sounds. That was a human body of flesh and blood—once the skin was broken, it would hurt the sinews and bones. Moreover, his shoulder and back had just been burned by fierce flames, his body already at the end of its strength. How could he still endure this kind of pain?

“Let go quick—” Before I could finish speaking, the hand encircling me pressed my head into his embrace, until everything stopped, and only then did he slowly release me.

In the distance on the road atop the mountain, a group of soldiers on horseback thundered past, chasing that carriage which was already empty.

My mind was completely blank. Realizing the person beneath me hadn’t moved, my chest filled with waves of fear spreading through my entire body. Without time to think, I touched his neck area, feeling his skin was frighteningly cold, as if he were no longer alive.

Cold wind scattered my hair flying in the air. Just as I was trembling and about to call his name, he opened his eyes and said slowly: “I’m still alive.”

I stared blankly at him.

Under the moonlight, Song Langsheng’s face was pale to the extreme, his eyes reflecting my panicked, helpless face.

Very slowly, he raised his hand and brushed my scattered hair from my forehead to behind my ear, gentle as a drooping willow brushing past. His palm pressed against the back of my ear, terrifyingly cold, yet his expression was incredibly tender: “I was wrong.”

I couldn’t understand, couldn’t see clearly what he meant by “wrong.”

“Young Master.”

Just then, Xiu Zhu found us. He limped from the nearby bushes, struggling to carry Cai Mi. Song Langsheng slowly stood up and asked: “Are you injured?”

Xiu Zhu shook his head. When he came closer and saw Song Langsheng’s back covered in wounds, his whole body shook: “Young Master, you…”

“It’s nothing serious.” Song Langsheng placed his gaze on Cai Mi. Her shoulder wound had started bleeding again profusely, her blood-soaked clothes also torn beyond recognition. Without thinking, one could tell Xiu Zhu hadn’t protected Cai Mi the way Song Langsheng protected me. But then again, if Xiu Zhu had also used that life-risking method to protect Cai Mi, how would he have had extra strength to protect Song Langsheng?

Xiu Zhu looked me up and down, seeing I was completely unharmed, his eyes ignited with hostility again: “It’s because of you again! Those soldiers were also sent by you to hunt down Young Master, weren’t they!”

“It wasn’t her.” Song Langsheng answered before I could speak. “However, having the Princess follow us like this isn’t a solution either… perhaps…”

Song Langsheng’s voice suddenly stopped. He suddenly lowered his head to check his waist, then examined his sleeves and hem all over, his face gradually showing tension.

Xiu Zhu and I didn’t understand: “What’s wrong?”

Song Langsheng’s eyes darkened: “The dagger sheath is missing.”

The dagger sheath was missing? I was confused: “If it’s missing, it’s missing…”

Before I could finish, Song Langsheng suddenly turned around, bent down to search. Xiu Zhu couldn’t help saying: “Young Master, we must leave this place now. When the pursuers realize something’s wrong, they’ll definitely turn back. Then—”

“I know what I’m doing. You stay here to protect the Princess and Miss Cai Mi. I’ll go and return quickly.”

After dropping this sentence, Song Langsheng climbed back up along the path they had rolled down, clearly determined to find that dagger sheath no matter what. With Song Langsheng’s personality, once he decided something, no one could stop him.

My feelings were mixed: “What kind of dagger is that? Is it very important to your Young Master?”

Xiu Zhu glared at me, extremely impatient: “How would I know?” He thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth, put Cai Mi on the ground, and said to me: “You, you stay here. I’ll go accompany Young Master to search together.”

Then he ran off toward Song Langsheng’s direction in a flash.

The night was deep, cool wind making the trees rustle. I watched Song Langsheng’s distant figure, the thick unease in my heart growing ever more intense.

I had always prided myself on being clever, able to assess situations and deduce one or two things in any harsh environment. Even when facing Feng Li, I could quickly formulate responses. But along this journey, this series of unreasonable situations had already completely disrupted my composure and made me lose direction.

What exactly did Song Langsheng want to do?

If he hated me, why would he still save me? If he didn’t hate me, why would he say such heartless words to me?

And that earlier phrase “I was wrong”…

Waves of bone-chilling wind swept over me. I couldn’t help but shiver. Looking up, Song Langsheng had now climbed to mid-slope, still carefully searching for his dagger sheath. He was never such an unwise person. Xiu Zhu was right—these pursuers had shot through the carriage regardless of my life or death, so they definitely weren’t the Crown Prince’s people. If they delayed further and the pursuers returned, that would truly be disastrous.

Thinking of this, I couldn’t care about Cai Mi’s life or death—in fact, I had never cared. Seeing Song Langsheng and the others about to leave my line of sight, I quickly lifted my skirts to chase after them. I hadn’t taken many steps when I saw Song Langsheng suddenly straighten up and turn around, meeting my gaze exactly.

Seeing I had also followed up, Song Langsheng’s eyes showed a trace of surprise, but it was only momentary. His gaze became peaceful, and his mouth curved up in an almost imperceptible arc: “Found it.”

I looked at the dagger sheath in his hand, thinking he must be crazy. Could this broken dagger hide some treasure map to make him value it so much? So when he wanted to give me the dagger earlier, was it perhaps a generous severance pay? Thinking this way, I felt I was the crazy one. Why was I being mesmerized by his smile at such a time? Didn’t we agree to be irreconcilable enemies?

Song Langsheng walked toward me step by step, the distance between us growing closer and closer, not even ten steps apart.

His gaze never left me, his expression incredibly gentle. I suddenly realized that my reason for helping him escape all this way wasn’t because of his threats.

Perhaps it was simply that I didn’t want to leave his side.

However, the next moment, his steps suddenly stopped—

With a “cha” sound, the unexpected sound of a blade piercing flesh and skin drilled into my ears.

I saw a section of bright arrowhead protruding from Song Langsheng’s right chest.

————(End of Chapter)————

Author’s Note: Oh, I know that besides wanting to ask me why the Princess doesn’t speak, what exactly is the Prince Consort thinking, you also want to ask when the next update is?

Let me tell you the next update will be tonight or tomorrow—are you happy O(n_n)O~~

I want to see lots of comments!!!

Also, now I’m proudly recommending Zhihuo Yixia’s new novel for everyone:

This isn’t a friendship recommendation—it’s genuinely good. I’m following it too!