Оutsidе, thе sоunds оf shouting and killing rоsе frоm аll dirеctions. Thе сarriagе acсеlеrаtеd rаpidly, tоssing the three young womеn insidе from sidе to sidе. Еасh of thеm fоund а рrоtruding pаrt to grip, trying tо stеadу themselves.
Jing Мei and Jing Lаn were аlrеаdу раlе with fright but still forcеd thеmselvеs tо rеmain сalm. Аrrоws struck the саrriagе walls one аfter anothеr, аs if thrеatеning to pierсе thrоugh at аnу mоmеnt.
"Yоur Нighness," Jing Lаn stаmmerеd, "will the сarriagе... will it be рiеrсed?"
Just frоm thе sоund оf arrows crаshing against the outside, thеy could tеll how heаvy thе rаin of аrrows was. If not for the specially reinforced carriage, they would have been riddled with holes long ago.
Li Rong steadied herself, listening to the commotion outside, and said calmly, "Don’t panic. The carriage won’t be pierced. It might overturn soon, so hold on tight."
No sooner had she spoken than a horse outside let out a pained cry. The carriage immediately tumbled over, turning everything upside down. Li Rong braced herself with all her strength, trying not to roll uncontrollably with the force of the carriage, but she was still thrown violently against the wall by the impact.
Catching her breath, Li Rong saw a guard lift the curtain and urgently call out, "Your Highness, come out quickly!"
Without a second thought for her dignity, Li Rong scrambled out. She instructed Jing Mei and Jing Lan, "Run in another direction."
With that, she followed the guard to the side, mounted a horse, and galloped toward Butterfly Gorge.
Jing Lan and Jing Mei crawled out of the carriage and immediately sprinted toward the other side of the forest.
Shangguan Ya had already stationed people on both sides of Butterfly Gorge. They needed to find her quickly.
Under the protection of her guards, Li Rong charged toward Butterfly Gorge on horseback. The guards fought a retreating battle with the assassins behind them, luring the killers into the gorge. From her vantage point high above, Shangguan Ya watched as the assassins were drawn in by Li Rong. Seeing that most of them had entered, she shouted, "Release the rocks!"
As soon as the command was given, rocks were pushed down from both sides of the gorge, splitting the assassins’ ranks in two.
Pei Wenxuan was just adjusting the strings of his zither when he heard the rapid sound of hoofbeats. Looking up, he saw Li Rong in her red robes, galloping toward him under the protection of her guards. Pei Wenxuan’s pupils contracted sharply. Then came a deafening roar as the entrance to Butterfly Gorge was sealed off by massive boulders, sending clouds of dust billowing into the air. Li Rong rode her horse through the stream and over the peonies scattered across the ground, charging straight toward him and shouting, "Pei Wenxuan, move aside!"
Behind her, the assassins and guards clashed fiercely. The two groups fought their way through the sea of flowers, trampling peonies underfoot and slashing at the blossoms with their blades, sending petals flying into the air. Li Rong, in her red robes, rode her horse swiftly through the flower-filled landscape.
Pei Wenxuan’s face turned deathly pale. He stared at the peonies he had painstakingly gathered from all around Huajing at great expense, watching as they were trampled and torn apart in the chaos of the fight, their petals scattering like snow. Yet the combatants seemed utterly oblivious, locked in a fierce struggle.
Trembling with rage, he found himself speechless.
Li Rong rode up beside him, dismounted, and grabbed his arm. "What are you standing there for? Run!"
With that, she pulled Pei Wenxuan along as they sprinted forward. The assassins pursued Li Rong, while the guards held them back from behind. Li Rong turned to her guards and shouted, "Retreat! Take everyone and retreat!""Your Highness," Pei Wenxuan finally snapped back to reality, realizing what had just happened. He looked up at Li Rong, urgently wanting to voice the words he had prepared for so long. "I waited here to—"
"Hold your breath!"
Before Pei Wenxuan could finish, Li Rong shoved him decisively into the icy lake.
Her push was swift and resolute, as if she had mustered all her strength. Caught off guard, Pei Wenxuan was sent tumbling into the water.
The lake flooded his mouth and nose, but fortunately, he instinctively obeyed Li Rong's command and held his breath.
After falling into the water, the most important thing was to stay calm. Pei Wenxuan panicked for only a moment before regaining his composure, adjusting his posture. Then, he felt someone pull him forward.
Pei Wenxuan knew it was Li Rong and quickly followed her lead. They swam less than a hundred meters before Li Rong tugged him upward. As soon as they surfaced, the ground shook violently. Pei Wenxuan grabbed Li Rong with one hand and the shore with the other, and the two quickly scrambled onto the bank.
The winter chill was biting. As soon as they emerged from the water, a piercing cold swept over them.
Before Pei Wenxuan could ask what had happened, he saw Li Rong shivering as she hurried to the side, retrieved a bundle, pulled out clothes, and tossed a set to him. Trembling, she said, "Change into these."
Without waiting for his response, she began undressing, paying no heed to his presence.
Pei Wenxuan hastily turned away, not daring to look at her. Everything had happened too quickly, leaving him no time to think. He could only follow Li Rong's lead and change clothes as quickly as possible.
Once dressed, their hair was still wet, but the warmth eased some of the earlier tension. Li Rong turned to Pei Wenxuan and smiled. "Did I scare you?"
Pei Wenxuan didn't reply. He pressed his lips together tightly, staring at her.
"Your people should be fine," Li Rong said, mistaking his silence for concern about his subordinates. "I had someone lead them to safety earlier. The explosives were set with a safe perimeter. I gave orders before we arrived: unless absolutely necessary, the gunpowder wouldn't be ignited until everyone was within the safe zone."
Pei Wenxuan remained silent, nodding slightly, looking somewhat disheveled.
Noticing his odd expression, Li Rong asked, "What were you trying to tell me earlier?"
"Nothing."
Pei Wenxuan turned away, hiding his expression, and looked toward the light outside the cave. "Was all of this arranged by Your Highness?"
"Didn't you already know?" Li Rong chuckled. "Don't be angry. I had everything under control. I split their forces earlier, trapping a small group outside. I ordered Shangguan Ya to capture some of them alive—that will be solid evidence of the Chen family's assassination attempt."
"Your Highness used yourself as bait," Pei Wenxuan said quietly. Li Rong let out a cold laugh. "I have no patience to drag this out. If they keep pulling stunts like this, I can't be on guard every day. It's better to lure them out and deal with them all at once."
"It was too risky."
Pei Wenxuan's voice was low, his tone distracted, as if he were struggling to restrain himself. Li Rong noticed this and hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "It won't happen again. Don't worry."Pei Wenxuan gazed out of the cave, remaining silent all the while. Li Rong glanced at his disheveled hair and the clothes he had taken off, only then noticing that today, Pei Wenxuan was dressed in white.
He hadn’t worn white for many years.
For some reason, Li Rong felt a pang of unease in her heart. She wanted to say something, but with Pei Wenxuan silent, she didn’t know where to begin.
The sounds of fighting outside gradually faded. After a moment, Shangguan Ya’s voice rang out from beyond, calling loudly, “Your Highness, are you alright, Your Highness?”
“I’m here.”
Li Rong immediately raised her voice in response. Shangguan Ya followed the sound and led her people inside, her face bright with joy as if something good had happened. She bowed to Li Rong and then nodded to Pei Wenxuan, saying, “Lord Pei.”
Pei Wenxuan returned the greeting in silence. Only then did Shangguan Ya turn back to Li Rong and say, “Your Highness, we captured twelve alive today. Ten of our people were injured, but everyone else is fine.”
“Take them back for interrogation first.”
Li Rong responded promptly, “Bring the bodies back too, and investigate each one.”
“Yes.”
After replying, Shangguan Ya looked Li Rong up and down and said, “You should go back first. Don’t catch a cold. Leave the rest to me.”
Then, Shangguan Ya turned to Pei Wenxuan and smiled. “The Imperial Son-in-Law has rendered great service this time. Her Highness said she will reward you handsomely.”
Pei Wenxuan’s expression remained unchanged as he respectfully replied, “Thank you, Your Highness.”
Li Rong nodded, unsure of what else to say. She could only raise her hand and gesture outside.
“Let’s go.”
Pei Wenxuan nodded and walked straight out. Shangguan Ya also sensed something amiss. Walking beside Li Rong, she whispered, “Your Highness, the Imperial Son-in-Law seems very unhappy.”
Li Rong hummed in acknowledgment, watching Pei Wenxuan’s slender back as she gently tapped her small fan against her palm, seemingly lost in thought.
Once outside, Li Rong saw a scene of devastation. Bodies lay strewn across a sea of flowers, the stream stained red with blood. The table, chairs, and qin that Pei Wenxuan had prepared were smashed on the ground, and the stove that had been warming wine lay overturned nearby.
Pei Wenxuan paused at the sight, then, without a word, tucked his hands into his sleeves and strode forward through the sea of flowers.
Clad in a black cloak with his hair loose, the wind blew shattered peony petals toward him. Li Rong looked up and saw his figure walking toward the mouth of the valley, growing farther and farther away.
“In the middle of winter,” Shangguan Ya remarked in surprise, “where did he get so many peonies?”
Li Rong’s gaze fell on the peonies nearby. After a moment of dazed silence, she walked over to the qin table.
She reached out and touched the ancient qin, noticing the characters “Lütan” carved on it. In an instant, she remembered—this was Pei Wenxuan’s favorite qin.
A mountain full of peonies, his most cherished qin—if he had only been cooperating with her to lure the enemy, why would he have gone to such lengths?
Li Rong stared blankly at everything before her. After a brief moment of surprise, Shangguan Ya suddenly understood. She hurried to Li Rong’s side, thrust the qin into her arms, and urged anxiously, “Your Highness, what are you waiting for? Hurry and go after him!”
“Go after him…” Li Rong looked up in confusion. “Go after him?”
“Yes, go after him! Otherwise, the Imperial Son-in-Law will be heartbroken.” Shangguan Ya pulled Li Rong up with a serious expression and pushed her forward. “Hurry! I’ll disperse the people for you. You can speak freely.”Li Rong held the qin, momentarily at a loss. Shangguan Ya kept pushing her, and only after a moment did she snap back to reality, her voice cold as she said, “Stop pushing. I’ll go over.”
With that, Li Rong cradled the qin and made her way through the crowd.
She walked swiftly yet with restraint, like a tightly drawn string, exerting immense effort—wanting to catch up to that person yet afraid of losing her composure. She hurried to Pei Wenxuan’s back and called out loudly, “Pei Wenxuan.”
Pei Wenxuan halted but did not turn around. Li Rong pressed her lips together and said softly, “Your qin.”
Pei Wenxuan remained silent for a long time, his voice slightly hoarse. “Since the qin is broken, let it go.”
Li Rong couldn’t quite describe what she felt—only that it was as if this broken qin had struck her heart.
What Pei Wenxuan meant by “let it go” didn’t seem to be about the qin, but rather…
Li Rong didn’t allow herself to dwell on it. She simply held the qin tighter, her voice icy. “This qin has been with you for a long time. It can still be repaired and used.”
“I’ve repaired it too many times,” Pei Wenxuan said slowly. “There’s no need.”
Li Rong gripped the body of the qin tightly. Pei Wenxuan turned slightly, his gaze settling on her. Li Rong’s expression remained blank. He studied her intently for a long while before finally smiling. “Your Highness, today I prepared for a long time. The peonies were bought at great expense, the clothes were ones Your Highness once praised—everything was arranged according to Your Highness’s preferences, all for fear that Your Highness might not like it.”
As he spoke, he seemed to find it embarrassing, lowering his eyes to look at the petals on the ground, a faint smile on his lips. “Your Highness should have told me earlier.”
“I thought you knew.”
Li Rong spoke calmly. “You’ve always been clever and perceptive. You just survived an assassination attempt, and I took you out. I thought you had already sensed something and secretly investigated me, which is why you went along with my grand display of moving these flowers to Butterfly Gorge.”
Pei Wenxuan said nothing. Li Rong lowered her gaze and murmured, “You lost your usual rationality.”
“Your Highness is right,” Pei Wenxuan said with a smile. “In the past, I never understood why Your Highness was so resistant to matters of love. Now I understand.”
With that, Pei Wenxuan looked up at Li Rong. “When there’s someone in your heart, it’s hard to remain composed. I had already noticed Your Highness’s unusual behavior, but I thought it was a gesture of goodwill toward me. I lost my judgment and nearly disrupted Your Highness’s plans.”
Every word Pei Wenxuan spoke pierced Li Rong’s heart. She clung to the qin, realizing for the first time that even plain, unadorned sentences could wound so deeply.
But she couldn’t show it. She listened indifferently as Pei Wenxuan continued, “It was my mistake, Your Highness. Rest assured, it won’t happen again.”
After speaking, Pei Wenxuan performed an elegant bow, then turned and walked away.
Seeing Pei Wenxuan leave, Li Rong dug her fingers into the qin. As he grew farther away, she finally couldn’t hold back and called out to him, “Pei Wenxuan!”
Pei Wenxuan didn’t turn around. He kept walking. Li Rong gritted her teeth and shouted, “Why do you get to decide everything? You said we should be friends, so we were friends. Now you say we’re not, so we’re not. You come and go as you please. What gives you the right to throw such a tantrum with me?!”"Right," Pei Wenxuan stopped walking, turned his head, and cursed just like Li Rong, "I have no right, I never had any right. In the past, I wasn't in your heart, and now, no matter what I do, I can't stay in your heart. Since I'm not in your heart, I don't even have the right to like you, accompany you, or pursue you, do I?"
Li Rong widened her eyes. Pei Wenxuan looked at her expression and smiled mockingly: "Are you surprised? Didn't you already know?"
As he spoke, Pei Wenxuan stepped forward. Clenching his fists, restraining himself, he lowered his voice within a range only the two of them could hear: "You clearly know everything, but you hide it in your heart, pretending not to know, just hoping I can still be like before, maintaining so-called friendship with you and continuing to treat you well."
"You don't want to be with me," Pei Wenxuan's voice trembled slightly, "but you can't bear to let go of my talents, nor can you bear to lose my kindness toward you. So, on one hand, you show me favor to keep me, and on the other, you reject me when I get close. But Li Rong," Pei Wenxuan's eyes reddened, "feelings cannot be trampled on like this. You can say you don't like me, but at least you should respect this affection."
"If you had cared even a little about today's matter, you wouldn't have known nothing."
"I couldn't guess your schemes and plots, not because I'm foolish, but because I'd rather believe that when you asked me out, you genuinely wanted to go somewhere with me, to relax, unrelated to these schemes and intrigues."
"And you, knowing my movements, couldn't guess my actions—not because you don't understand, but because in your heart, you'd rather believe I'm playing schemes and intrigues, rather than..." Pei Wenxuan paused, staring at the woman before him who showed no change in expression after hearing everything he said.
He suddenly felt exhausted, humiliated. He even felt that if he spoke these words, he would truly lose completely, stripped of his last shred of dignity.
"Rather than what?" Li Rong lifted her head, looking at him calmly.
Meeting those utterly calm eyes, Pei Wenxuan couldn't help but laugh: "Your Highness is still one step ahead in this game."
With that, he turned away, his voice hoarse: "Your Highness still has important matters to attend to. This humble official takes his leave."
"Pei Wenxuan." Li Rong's voice sounded weary. She looked at the ground and spoke softly, "I have never said these words to you."
"You are not the only one who has felt their feelings trampled upon, nor are you the only one who has felt pitiful."
Pei Wenxuan was stunned. After saying this, Li Rong felt she had lost her composure. She took a deep breath, picked up her qin, turned around, and tried to calm herself: "You should go back first. I still have matters to attend to."
"Your Highness..."
"Go back!"
Li Rong shouted. Pei Wenxuan said nothing, quietly watching Li Rong's proud, sword-like back. After a long while, he raised his hand and bowed to Li Rong.
"This humble official awaits Your Highness's return home."
His voice was very low, carrying a hint of pleading.
Li Rong stopped in her tracks. Only after a long time did she respond: "Mm."
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