When Qiu Xinran woke up, her head was still foggy and her eyes were covered with a black cloth. She moved slightly and discovered her hands and feet were bound. She struggled a bit and found she was tied quite securely.

“Don’t move.” Someone beside her ear gave a low warning. The voice sounded somewhat familiar. After a long moment she finally realized who was tied back-to-back with her. Before she could speak, the sound of footsteps came from outside, and both of them immediately fell silent.

Qiu Xinran felt someone lean over to check on them. A rough voice said, “After so long and he’s still not awake—how hard did you hit him?”

Another, shriller voice said impatiently, “We’re going to kill him sooner or later anyway. As long as he has a breath left, that’s enough.”

“That was before. The situation has changed now—we need to bring him back alive.” As the man spoke, he couldn’t help but kick Qiu Xinran, who was beside him, and said with disgust, “But this one—why did you bring her back?”

“If we left her body there it would alarm others. Bringing her back to kill and throw into these deep mountain forests is the same thing.”

“Tsk, you’re so troublesome.” The one with the rough voice cursed as he walked away a bit. “Just these two little brats, and they’ve wasted so much of my time. Last night I was almost injured by that guard beside him.”

“What happened to his guard?”

“Halfway through the chase, he probably realized it was a diversion tactic and turned back. Hehe, too late!”

The one with the shrill voice was still uneasy. “We need to move fast. As soon as the contact arrives at dawn, we’ll go down the mountain immediately. They can’t search the mountain well at night, but once it’s light, it’ll be too late.”

“Don’t worry, the message has been sent out. Just wait a few more hours and we’re done.”

The two talked as they walked outside, their voices gradually fading. When they spoke, there was an echo. Qiu Xinran guessed they must currently be in a cave. They also mentioned searching the mountain—it seemed the two hadn’t been taken out yet and were most likely in those mountains of Wanhe Palace’s hunting grounds.

After the cave became quiet again and they were certain only the two of them remained, the person behind her said in a low voice, “Did you hear what they just said?”

Qiu Xinran was startled. “What?”

“They won’t take my life for now, but you could lose yours at any moment.”

Qiu Xinran had naturally heard this. She swallowed lightly. “What does Heir Xia want to say?”

“Here, only I can save you.” Xia Xiuyan stated with certainty, completely forgetting what he himself had just done not long ago. Qiu Xinran silently rolled her eyes inwardly. In the face of great disaster, one must be flexible. “What method do you have?”

“First you must promise me that whatever I tell you to do in a moment, you’ll listen to me.”

“Even if you tell me to go die, I’ll go?”

“If you don’t agree, you’ll die right now.” Xia Xiuyan said coldly.

Qiu Xinran swallowed her anger. “Go ahead.”

The person behind her paused, as if weighing how much sincerity was in her words about cooperation. Unfortunately, there were only the two of them in this cave, and for the moment there were no other partners available for him to choose from. Time was pressing. He leaned his head back and said in a low voice, “There’s a soft blade on the right side inside my belt. Take it out and cut my rope.”

Qiu Xinran was shocked. “Why would you carry a soft blade on you?”

Walking through the palace, such sharp weapons were forbidden items. If discovered, one could even be charged with intent to rebel. But Xia Xiuyan said impatiently, “Do you want to wait for the people outside to come in so I can explain to you all together?”

When under someone’s roof, one must bow one’s head. Qiu Xinran pursed her lips and reached to feel for the right side of his belt as he’d said. The two were tied back-to-back. The kidnappers had probably seen that they were one woman and one sickly person and had relaxed their guard—they hadn’t even searched their bodies. But truly no one could have imagined that someone like Xia Xiuyan who walked before the Emperor daily would actually dare to carry a blade hidden on his person.

Qiu Xinran’s hands were bound behind her back, her eyes covered with black cloth. Her fingers groped around his waist for quite a while but couldn’t find that blade piece. Instead, the person behind her grew increasingly stiff all over. Finally he couldn’t help but rebuke in a low voice, “Have you found it or not!”

“I found it!” Qiu Xinran’s heart was flustered, and her temper also flared as she snapped back, completely forgetting their respective positions. The youth behind her forced himself to take several deep breaths, restraining his emotions as he directed in a low voice, “To the left—further left—down a bit—”

“Okay…” Qiu Xinran finally felt a hard piece at his waist. Before she could speak, she suddenly heard another round of footsteps from outside. The two hastily closed their mouths.

“Awake?” The one who entered was the one with the shriller voice from before. He sized up the two people tied together with their eyes covered. “Stop pretending. I heard voices.”

Hearing this, Xia Xiuyan said coldly, “Who are you?”

The man sneered. “That’s none of your concern. We’re just following orders.”

While the two were talking, Qiu Xinran quietly tucked the blade further into her palm and weakly said, “You… who are you going to kill?”

Only then did the man look at her and said unhurriedly, “Scared? When we start, I’ll make it quick for you.”

Hearing this, Qiu Xinran shuddered and shrank toward the person behind her, as if trying to hide behind him. Xia Xiuyan immediately understood her intent and indeed shifted his body to block her.

Seeing this, the man said sarcastically, “Still cherishing the fairer sex at a time like this? Don’t worry, neither of you can escape.”

Xia Xiuyan said calmly, “You know who I am and dare to kidnap me? If it’s for money, I can give you double.”

“You do know your own worth,” the man mocked. “But your value is much higher than you think. Keeping you alive still has great use.”

As he spoke, he glanced at the two people huddled in the corner, sneered, and went back outside the cave to lie down. The other one with the rough voice outside asked, “They’re awake inside? Why are you wasting words with those two little brats?”

The one with the shrill voice kicked the other, telling him to move over, and reminded him, “Stay alert. You go guard over there and see if anyone comes looking.”

The other stood up very reluctantly. “Always picking the easy work for yourself. It’s more comfortable here out of the wind.”

“Take your arrows with you.” The shrill-voiced one kicked his rear. “I’ll switch with you in a bit.”

One of them outside seemed to curse as he walked away. The two people in the cave seized the time to cut through the ropes binding them and pulled off the black cloths covering their eyes. The cave was pitch black—they could only make out their surroundings by the moonlight shining in from outside.

A figure sat leaning against the cave entrance, holding a knife, still wearing the eunuch’s palace clothes—it was the one who had been knocked unconscious earlier in Xia Xiuyan’s room.

Xia Xiuyan squinted his eyes. After his vision adapted to the light and his limbs recovered their strength, he picked up the hemp rope that had just been cut and made a gesture to Qiu Xinran to cover her mouth.

Qiu Xinran watched him carefully stand up, crouch low against the rock wall as he moved toward the cave entrance, not daring to breathe heavily. The cave floor was earthen soil—he didn’t make a sound stepping on it. Qiu Xinran’s heart hung suspended, feeling as if those dozen or so steps stretched for miles. When he stood one step away from the cave entrance, the person who had been sitting outside in a light doze suddenly seemed to sense something and abruptly opened his eyes—on the ground before him was reflected the shadow of a figure holding a stretched rope!

The man suddenly sprang up, but Xia Xiuyan’s movements were faster. Without hesitation, he looped the rope around the man’s neck and pulled it taut. Qiu Xinran had personally witnessed him drawing his bow and releasing arrows at the training grounds that day. With that small practice bow, he had used tremendous effort just to draw it, but this time after looping the rope around the man, she saw him lean back and drag with all his might—that tall man was caught completely off guard and was forcibly dragged into the cave!

Once inside the cave, the two instantly became tangled in struggle. Xia Xiuyan lay underneath, gripping the rope strangling the man and refusing to let go, veins bulging on his forehead, eyes bloodshot. The man whose neck was being strangled had his back against Xia Xiuyan’s body, both hands pulling at the rope around his neck, feet kicking at the ground. For a moment he couldn’t break free, like a fish on a chopping board, thrashing about incessantly.

But whether in terms of age or build, he had the advantage over Xia Xiuyan. Seeing that he was about to break free, Qiu Xinran didn’t think and scrambled forward, plopping down on his body. Afraid he would break free and afraid he would make too much noise and attract the person outside, she pressed both hands forcefully over his mouth and nose!

The other party pulled at the rope with one hand while reaching over with the other to grab her. Qiu Xinran’s mind went completely blank. She only knew to grit her teeth and put all her strength into her hands, not daring to loosen even a fraction. Finally she gradually felt the thrashing movements of the person beneath her weaken. His originally pale face had turned purplish-red, veins bulging on his forehead, those eyes opened so wide they nearly popped from their sockets, glaring at her like an evil ghost. Finally they completely lost focus, and he lay on the ground like a pile of rotten flesh, motionless.

Xia Xiuyan released the rope strangling his neck and leaned back on the ground. For a moment, only his irrepressible gasping could be heard in the cave.

Qiu Xinran felt as if she were dreaming. Only after Xia Xiuyan finally calmed his breathing and patted her shoulder did she instinctively shudder, then begin trembling uncontrollably.

“Is… is he dead?” The girl sitting on the corpse looked up at him with a snow-white face, her eyes filled with undisguisable panic and helplessness. This was probably the first time she’d seen a dead person—or rather, probably the first time she’d killed someone. Xia Xiuyan’s expression was somewhat complex for a moment as he gave a low “Mm.”

“Get up quickly. We need to leave here immediately!” He reached out to grasp her shoulder and pull her up from the corpse. Qiu Xinran stumbled as she followed him toward the cave entrance. Only when the night wind hit her head-on did she feel somewhat more clearheaded.

She didn’t know which mountain cave this was or which path led to the traveling palace. The moon hung high in the sky, making the ground snow-white. Human shadows had nowhere to hide.

Suddenly there was a sound of hurried footsteps not far away. Xia Xiuyan’s pupils contracted sharply. Knowing the commotion in the cave had ultimately alarmed the other person, he said decisively, “Run!”

Qiu Xinran immediately reacted as well. The two fled in panic down the mountain slope without choosing their path. The pursuing footsteps behind them paused, then immediately came the sound of an arrow breaking through the air, piercing through layers of tree canopy as it flew swiftly forward, embedding into flesh with a thud.

Qiu Xinran stumbled, and heard the person beside her give a muffled groan as he fell to one knee. An arrow shaft had pierced his left leg, blood instantly gushing out and staining his clothes red. Xia Xiuyan bit down hard on his lower lip, his eyes darkening, while the footsteps of their pursuer once again closed in from behind.