Zhao Xiheng squatted on the ground without saying a word. She was wearing too many clothes, so squatting down was too difficult, and she looked like a big, round ball.

She stared wistfully at the distant snowscape, lamenting that she was even more foolish than Zhao Mingxin.

As expected of cousins, they share the same lineage; even if one is stupid, the other certainly can't be much smarter.

She even began to wonder if, with her limited intelligence, she could really escape and survive unscathed.

Xiao Tao squatted down with her and sighed.

His Highness always felt that she herself was not thinking clearly and was very stupid.

But actually, if Your Highness were a little more ruthless, you would have come up with an absolutely perfect solution.

It can be used for both offense and defense.

They ran away, so be it; they were able to escape Wei Li's clutches and live a good life. Even if they couldn't escape and were caught, they had this fisherman's family as witnesses. His Highness didn't want to run away; he went to get reinforcements to save people. If Wei Li had a heart, he would not only not kill them, but would also be very moved.

But Your Highness is overthinking things and looking ahead too much.

"Why haven't you left yet?" The door opened again, and the man glared at her menacingly.

Zhao Xiheng slowly and laboriously stood up, "I'll get right now..."

Before she could finish speaking, a handful of vegetable leaves and potato peels were thrown out, covering Zhao Xiheng and leaving greenish-blue stains on her plain white jacket and red shawl.

"Get out! You're not welcome here!"

The woman poked her head out of the room, her eyes filled with disgust. "If it weren't for your good lover, why wouldn't we dare open the door, or go to the market? And with the New Year almost here, there's not a single festive atmosphere to be seen! He's just..."

Before she could say anything more, the man pulled her back. "Why are you saying so much to her? These people in power don't care whether we live or die."

The two of them slammed the door shut again.

Zhao Xiheng touched her nose and stood up, mentally cursing Wei Li. She felt that following Wei Li had brought her no benefit whatsoever; all she had done was be scorn.

The common people's wishes are very simple: to be able to eat their fill, dress warmly, and live a peaceful life is enough for them. Wei Li doesn't know what he did to make people hate him so much.

Fortunately, no one here knows she is a princess, so she doesn't need to carry too much of a princess baggage. Zhao Xiheng patted the vegetable leaves off her body.

Xiao Tao's eyes reddened with heartache. "Your Highness, they've treated us like this, should we still care about them?"

"It was my own fault for not thinking things through and dragging people into this mess. What's the big deal about it?" Zhao Xiheng didn't care much, but she was quite regretful. What a great opportunity to escape!

She should have just run away without looking back, as far as she could, even if she got caught and killed...

No, no, she can't die! She must live a long and healthy life.

Zhao Xiheng sighed, then comforted herself that going back was fine. Otherwise, in this chaotic world, where would she go? She had no relatives or home, and she didn't have much money. Besides, Wei Li provided her with food, drink, lodging, and clothing.

Besides, her dowry is still in Wei Li's hands. The money isn't important; what's important is that there's a box of things her father left her in the dowry. Those things aren't worth much, and Wei Li probably wouldn't care about them. It might be quite easy for her to get them back.

So what if Wei Li is a bit cruel? It doesn't matter, people like him don't live long anyway.

There's a line of people who want to kill him!

Zhao Xiheng patted her chest to comfort herself.

She pulled open her layered coat and pulled out a jade pendant from her bosom. The pendant was as big as a pigeon's egg and was carved with a coiled dragon pattern.

“Take this and the money, go to Lingcheng in Yongzhou and seek refuge with the Xie family. Zhao Mingxin has now married into Goguryeo. You are my person. If you return to Jinyang, you will also incur their wrath.”

The Xie family of Lingcheng was the family of Xie Qingyu, Zhao Xiheng's former fiancé. However, because Emperor Shunhe agreed to send Zhao Xiheng to Goguryeo for a marriage alliance, the marriage was naturally called off.

“When my father was alive, he often praised the Xie family for their kindness and upright family traditions. He also fought alongside the elders of the Xie family on the battlefield. In his heart, the Xie family was like a brother and sister family, so he felt at ease to arrange the marriage and let me marry into their family. When my uncle discussed my marriage, the Xie family also went to Jinyang to stop it. But the world is not easy. After my father passed away, the Xie family was already in a difficult situation. I did not want them to offend my uncle because of the marriage.”

"Even if I went to Lingcheng, I wouldn't dare ask them to take me in, but they could easily take you in."

As Zhao Xiheng spoke, she suddenly realized how difficult things had been for her.

At least Wei Li still has Pingzhou as his base. No matter how much everyone hates him, Pingzhou is indeed his territory, but she can't go anywhere else. Anyone who takes her in would be offending the emperor.

Although the emperor is now just a figurehead, he is the supreme symbol in the hearts of the people. Protecting the emperor's niece and not returning her is not something that the various feudal lords would do to cause trouble for themselves.

She wasn't blind to the kindness her uncle and aunt showed her. If they could send her to be the second wife of that old emperor of Goguryeo, they could send her to be the second wife of the emperor of Japan tomorrow.

The key issue is that not only is her uncle incompetent, but her cousin, the crown prince, is also a pushover. If the Great Zhou relies on this family, it probably won't rise for another eight hundred years. She can't just divide it into hundreds of parts and marry one off to each country and state.

"Your Highness, I can't abandon you to enjoy comfort all by myself," Xiao Tao cried.

"Who told you to go and enjoy comfort?" Zhao Xiheng patted her head. "I'm in the lion's den. Don't just eat and drink all the time after you go out. Find out which vassal states in the Great Zhou have peaceful and prosperous people and show signs of being wise rulers. Send me a message to put my mind at ease."

Xiao Tao was stunned. Her lips trembled, and after a long while, she managed to stammer out a few words, "Your...Your Highness, the world belongs to the Zhao family..."

Zhao Xiheng gave a faint "oh".

The previous emperor's surname was Bai, and they believed that their family line could last for thousands of generations.

Wei Li swung his sword, the sharp blade slicing across the dog's belly, splattering blood all over him.

He had to guard against both the attacks of these mad dogs and stray arrows.

In a brief moment, he turned around and saw that only a few horses were standing alone in the reeds; Zhao Xiheng and her maid were nowhere to be seen.

Wei Li's heart skipped a beat, and she ground her snow-white molars together fiercely.

Damn it, I was risking my life up there, and she took the opportunity to run away. She has no conscience. When he catches her, he'll skin her alive.

In the chaos, his arm was ripped open by canine teeth, and blood gushed out, steaming hot in the cold winter.

Before it even hit the ground, it had already turned into blood-red ice shards.

Zhao Xiheng's escape clearly spurred Wei Li into a more ferocious attack, displaying a reckless and desperate spirit.

With his right hand, he cleaved aside a dog that pounced on him, and with his left hand, he swung the crescent blade forward fiercely. A white light swirled around, and two of the men on the middle-aged man's side were instantly beheaded. Wei Li was also hit by an arrow in his left shoulder, but he seemed not to feel any pain at all, and his movements did not falter in the slightest.

His frenzied energy clearly inspired the others, and the two sides fought even more fiercely.

Wei Li's side had less than three people left, and he was seriously injured; the middle-aged man's side was not much better off, with some dogs dead and others wounded, and the survivors not daring to pounce, only retreating with their tails between their legs, and they had almost run out of arrows.

Seeing that the situation was not good, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and prepare to escape.

No one could have imagined that Wei Li, at such a young age, would possess such ruthlessness.

They had initially learned that Wei Li had only brought fewer than thirty men to Bu Xian City, and they were absolutely confident they could kill him, but...

Wei Li pulled the crescent blade he had thrown out from the icy ground and charged forward with fierce force, the blood that had stopped flowing from his arm gushing out again.

When Zhao Xiheng returned, this was the scene she saw from afar.

She thought that if her father were still alive, he might really like someone like Wei Li, who was a good fighter, fearless and reckless.

The premise is that it can truly be controlled.

All the chaos was over. The lieutenant, supporting himself, went to count the number of casualties. The ice was covered with corpses, blood flowing out and sticking the people to the ice, making them impossible to cut off.

He knelt on the ice, unable to stand up.

"My lord..." the lieutenant said in a hoarse voice.

Wei Li ignored it. He silently pulled the arrow out of his shoulder, the barb tearing out a large chunk of flesh.

Zhao Xiheng felt sorry for him even from afar.

Wei Li turned around, holding the crescent blade, ready to search Pingzhou thoroughly, find that fool Zhao Xiheng who dared to escape, and then skin her alive.

When Zhao Xiheng saw him turn around, she stiffly raised her arm and waved slightly at him.

Wei Li's pupils contracted slightly as he thrust the pair of moon blades into the ice, and both blades stood firmly in place.

Zhao Xiheng swallowed hard; his weapon could pierce ice as easily as piercing tofu.

Hopefully, Wei Li hasn't gone mad with bloodlust and still retains his rationality.

Wei Li may still have some sense left, but he used his blood-stained hand to pinch Zhao Xiheng's face with great force, as if he wanted to tear a piece of flesh off her face.

He grinned, "Didn't you run away? What are you doing back here? Coming back to collect my corpse?"

Zhao Xiheng shed a few crocodile tears, "I didn't, I just went... went to relieve myself..."

"Really? Whose house did you go to for a break, and you came back covered in rotten vegetable leaves?" He tore a piece of potato peel off Zhao Xiheng's body.

Zhao Xiheng froze.

“Since I dared to let you out of my sight, I can definitely bring you back. At worst, I’ll tie you up and question everyone in the neighborhood. If anyone says they’ve never seen you, I’ll kill them all. Surely someone has seen you.”

Wei Li's laughter made Zhao Xiheng believe that he was truly capable of doing such a heinous thing.

Zhao Xiheng's initial regret quickly turned into relief.

Thankfully, no one else was implicated.

"Who?" Wei Li turned his gaze sharply and looked into the reeds.

"I...I'll kill you!" A middle-aged man emerged, brandishing a harpoon; he was none other than the man who had driven Zhao Xiheng out.

He truly hated Wei Li. When Zhao Xiheng told him that Wei Li had been ambushed and assassinated, he followed him. If Wei Li was still alive, he would find an opportunity to finish him off!

Now is the perfect time.