Pei Wenxuan carried Li Rong on his shoulders as he ran into the reed marshes. Taking advantage of the dark guards and Yang Quan’s men still fighting each other, he cut the horses’ ropes and gave them a smack. The horses fled in two different directions. Pei Wenxuan then threw himself flat on the ground with the unconscious Li Rong, remaining completely motionless.

By the time both sides reacted, Li Rong had already disappeared. They only saw something moving rapidly through the reeds. The two groups immediately chose different directions and gave chase. Seeing them pursue the horses, Pei Wenxuan quickly got up and carried Li Rong toward the distant dense forest, running with all his might.

He usually didn’t have this much strength, but in this life-threatening moment, he surprisingly didn’t find Li Rong heavy at all. He ran incredibly fast carrying her, not daring to stop.

Li Rong slowly regained consciousness on his shoulder. The moment she woke, she felt something poking her stomach painfully.

She hissed. Pei Wenxuan heard her and hurriedly asked, “You’re awake?”

The jostling made Li Rong want to vomit. Her stomach hurt, and the bouncing made her dizzy and disoriented. She quickly said, “Put me down!”

After Pei Wenxuan confirmed she was awake, he immediately set her down. Before Li Rong could react, he grabbed her and rushed forward, saying as he ran, “Hurry up and run!”

“Pei Wenxuan…” Li Rong couldn’t make sense of the situation at all. Being dragged through the dense forest, she said in a trembling voice, “I… I feel sick…”

“Swallow it!”

Pei Wenxuan decisively replied and explained, “There are still pursuers behind us, we…”

Before he finished speaking, Li Rong suddenly vomited toward Pei Wenxuan with a “blech” sound. With quick reflexes, Pei Wenxuan let go and jumped to the side, watching as Li Rong knelt on the spot and threw up.

Pei Wenxuan was startled by Li Rong’s condition. He quickly scanned the surroundings and, after confirming there were no pursuers, walked to Li Rong’s side. He handed her a handkerchief, frowning as he asked, “Are you alright?”

Li Rong wiped her mouth with the handkerchief and elegantly stood up. She surveyed their surroundings before asking, “Where is this?”

Pei Wenxuan fell silent. Seeing him not speak, Li Rong’s heart sank. She frowned, “You don’t know.”

“I ran too hastily earlier,” Pei Wenxuan spoke calmly. “I didn’t pay attention to the path. We should currently be in the forest.”

“Nonsense!” Li Rong shouted angrily. “Does this palace not know we’re in a forest? I’m asking you how we get out!”

“We wait for people.” Being yelled at like this, Pei Wenxuan immediately became unhappy. He turned his head away and walked straight ahead, saying, “First let’s find a suitable place to rest. Yang Quan’s men might still find us.”

Hearing this, Li Rong felt there was some logic to it. However, seeing Pei Wenxuan’s sullen face made her unhappy. Thinking about how she got injured while he didn’t made her even more upset. So she stood in place without moving. After Pei Wenxuan walked a few steps and saw Li Rong not following, he turned back to look at her, frowning, “What kind of nonsense are you up to now?”

“I have a headache.”

Li Rong raised her hand to her forehead, sighing, “I can’t walk anymore, alas.”

“Your head hurts, not your legs,” Pei Wenxuan instinctively replied. However, after saying this, he remembered where the head injury came from. Feeling somewhat guilty, his attitude changed one hundred eighty degrees. He coughed and said, “But it’s not a minor matter either. I’ll carry you on my back.”

With that, Pei Wenxuan walked in front of Li Rong and crouched down halfway.

Seeing Pei Wenxuan’s sudden good attitude, Li Rong couldn’t help but feel suspicious. She looked around Pei Wenxuan warily, and after confirming there were no traps, carefully climbed onto his back. Pei Wenxuan carried her and chose a direction to walk forward. Seeing that he seemed to have a direction in mind, Li Rong couldn’t help but ask, “Where are we going?”

“First find a water source.”

Pei Wenxuan replied directly. Li Rong couldn’t help but laugh, “You even know where the water source is?”

“There are methods,” Pei Wenxuan was quite patient when facing proper questions, explaining, “For example, looking at the types of plants, their density of growth, the high and low terrain, and also the clouds…”

As he spoke, Pei Wenxuan paused, then said, “Why do you need to know these things? This kind of matter won’t fall to you anyway.”

“You’re right,” Li Rong nodded. “This kind of thing is only something you commoners would enjoy.”

“Li Rong,” Pei Wenxuan took a deep breath, “Would it kill you to speak properly?”

“Not with others,” Li Rong said with a giggle, “but not with you. I just think Lord Pei looks better when he’s angry.”

“Then you’re sick.”

Pei Wenxuan retorted directly, “Blind.”

“How insolent,” Li Rong said lazily while lying on his back. “Am I someone you can speak to like this? Quickly apologize to this palace!”

“You’re already out of the palace yet still so arrogant,” Pei Wenxuan sneered coldly. “Believe it or not, I’ll throw you here. When Yang Quan finds you, let’s see what you’ll do.”

“You say it like I’m very scared,” Li Rong raised an eyebrow. “Can he kill me? At most he’ll just marry me. With his short life span, can he survive past this winter? He probably won’t even see New Year before meeting Lord Yama in the underworld. By then I’ll be a widow. Once my father dies, I’ll immediately keep ten or twenty retainers. Won’t I be happy?”

“Still thinking about keeping retainers now,” Pei Wenxuan scoffed. “That’s really something.”

“Of course, I’m optimistic,” Li Rong said, then sighed. “But speaking of which, I didn’t expect Yang Quan to be this clever. I sent out two groups of people, yet he could still guess my real route and set an ambush on the road. He’s quite a remarkable person. How did he die so easily in the last life?”

Pei Wenxuan fell silent.

He didn’t quite dare to speak. Li Rong wrapped her arms around Pei Wenxuan’s neck and suddenly looked at him, asking somewhat strangely, “Speaking of which, how are you here? Didn’t you go back?”

Pei Wenxuan remained silent.

He never lied in front of Li Rong, but right now he didn’t have the courage to tell the truth either. Seeing him not speak, Li Rong couldn’t help but laugh, “You came back to save me, didn’t you? Pei Wenxuan, you dog, you’re actually not bad.”

“Say a few less words,” Pei Wenxuan said awkwardly. “Save your energy.”

“I didn’t see you at first. Where were you hiding? Wait, you came to save me alone? No way, you’re so…”

The word “stupid” hadn’t left her mouth when Li Rong suddenly realized something was wrong.

Was Pei Wenxuan such a stupid person?

Even if he was currently powerless and without influence, if he rushed over alone, would he really come without any preparation and confront Yang Quan head-on?

Moreover, there was something off about Yang Quan too. If Yang Quan had guessed her plan from the start and set an ambush on the road waiting for her, then why didn’t he station people directly in front, but instead had to circle back from the rear mountain to chase her?

Li Rong figured it out. She couldn’t help but tighten her grip, saying with a cold laugh, “Lord Pei, there’s one thing I’d like to ask about.”

“It was me.”

Pei Wenxuan knew Li Rong had understood. He immediately said, “But I can explain. I really wanted to help you. Those rocks…”

“All hit me.”

Li Rong laughed in anger. “Pei Wenxuan, tell me the truth,” she took a deep breath, “Did you come for revenge?”

Pei Wenxuan fell silent. Li Rong’s anger surged up at once. She made herself try to stay calm, restraining her voice as she said, “Put me down.”

Pei Wenxuan quickly set her down. Li Rong stormed forward angrily. She wanted to distance herself from this person. She was afraid of losing her composure.

Pei Wenxuan knew he was in the wrong and hurried to catch up, saying as he followed, “If I said I didn’t want revenge, would you believe me? You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”

“Is there any reason for me to believe you? I think you had no other options, no way out. You definitely wanted to marry me but couldn’t swallow your pride, so you came up with this scheme to profit from others’ conflict!”

Li Rong turned around, pointing at Pei Wenxuan and angrily saying, “You just can’t stand to see me marry Lu Yu!”

“How can I not stand it?” Pei Wenxuan frowned, seriously explaining, “You and I have no relationship. Who you marry is none of my business. Do I need to care?”

“No relationship?” Li Rong laughed coldly. “You think I don’t know you? You simply can’t bear to part with me!”

“You’re talking nonsense!” Pei Wenxuan was enraged by the words “can’t bear to part.” Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, he jumped up. “I don’t have you in my heart at all. If I can’t bear to part with anyone, it’s Zhenzhen. Don’t you have any self-awareness?!”

“Good, you even dare mention Qin Zhenzhen to me?” Hearing him say “Qin Zhenzhen,” Li Rong immediately stopped caring about concealing identities or not. She said directly, “If you like her, go marry her! But didn’t you still marry me in the last life? Yes, you looked down on me, but you couldn’t bear to part with my princess status! Pei Wenxuan, you’re truly the most shameless, most spineless, most despicable gigolo I’ve ever seen!”

“I’m a gigolo?” Pei Wenxuan laughed in anger. “Am I as much of a gigolo as your retainer Su? Li Rong, you calculate for yourself. Other than relying on you a bit at the very beginning after we got married, when did I ever rely on you for food later? And at the start, we relied on each other mutually. You gave me an official career path, and didn’t I help your brother ascend the throne? And later, did you use me less? Not to mention anything else, just talk about the food, clothing, and expenses of your princess manor—whose money was used?”

“Well, I really thank you for that,” Li Rong laughed. “Thank you for spending money every year to support men for me. You’re so generous. Don’t you know in your heart why you spent money on me? If you weren’t my consort, do you think my imperial brother would trust you so much? I beg you not to glorify yourself. You weren’t giving me money to support me—that was buying resources from me. Lord Pei, please be clear-headed, alright?”

“Oh, if I was buying resources from you, then when you used my intelligence network, used my covert agents, you didn’t pay a single cent, did you?”

“Then when you used my name to pressure people, when you asked me to persuade my imperial brother, you didn’t mention that, did you?”

“Heh, didn’t His Majesty ever suspect you? When His Majesty argued with you, saying you had poor conduct and wanted to send you back to your fief, who came to beg me to mediate and put on an act?”

“His Majesty is my own younger brother no matter what. When His Majesty had people drag you out to beat you with boards, who went to the imperial study to beg for you?”

“You still have the nerve to mention that? That year…”

The two of them went back and forth, cursing at each other, comparing old grievances one by one. They argued for most of the night until both were panting heavily.

Pei Wenxuan had carried Li Rong on his shoulders for so long earlier, then carried her on his back for a long stretch. He had long since run out of strength.

And Li Rong was a woman to begin with, plus she was somewhat injured. She had also long lost her energy.

The two were like fighting cocks, looking at each other. Though they had no strength left, neither was willing to admit defeat.

After a long time, Pei Wenxuan’s stomach began to growl.

He had crawled through the dirt for so long and hadn’t even eaten dinner.

When this growling sound arose, Pei Wenxuan immediately froze. Li Rong finally found a way to step down. She rarely refrained from mocking him and turned around, saying, “Forget it. This palace is tired. Let’s go rest first. You find something to eat. After we eat, we’ll continue arguing.”

“This humble subject thinks that’s very appropriate.”

Pei Wenxuan nodded and followed behind Li Rong.

The two walked quietly one in front of the other for a moment. Then Li Rong sighed, “I didn’t expect you would really come too.”

Pei Wenxuan paused, stunned. After a moment, he lowered his head and softly responded, “Mm, came back.” As he spoke, he couldn’t help but call out in a low voice from between his lips and teeth, “Your Highness the Princess.”