Zhao Xiheng was terrified, never expecting this uncle to appear here.

If this uncle could kill Wei Li with a single fork, Zhao Xiheng would not stop him at all; she would even make room for him and say, "Please, go ahead."

But judging from the current situation, Wei Li can still kill a hundred of these people by himself. How can his skin be so thick? How can he have so much blood? Doesn't he feel any pain? Won't he die?

The uncle tightened his grip on the harpoon. Although he was terrified of Wei Li, he still mustered his courage and said, "Your little lover begged me to save you, but she's picked the wrong person! Everyone in Pingzhou wants you dead. Today, I will rid Pingzhou of this scourge and give the people a peaceful life!"

Wei Li was suddenly startled. The middle-aged man was still looking at him indignantly. He released his hand from Zhao Xiheng's face, picked up the moon blade from the ice, and looked completely relaxed, not at all like someone who had been seriously injured.

The fisherman, with his eyes closed, thrust his harpoon fiercely, but Wei Li raised his hand to block it and knocked the harpoon out of his hand.

The fisherman felt his hands trembling; was he going to die like this today?

Wei Gouzei isn't...isn't he already seriously injured?

So be it. To die for the sake of punishing the treacherous Wei dogs is a glorious death!

"You're given five numbers to run. If you can't escape, you'll stay here."

Wei Li even had the leisure to twirl the moon blade, creating a white, swirling pattern on the ice as he began the countdown.

"five……"

The lieutenant had already stood up, intending to let Wei Li get rid of this person, but upon hearing that Wei Li had given him five seconds to escape, he sat back down on the ice.

When my lord decides to kill someone, he never wastes a word.

This gave him five seconds to escape; they didn't intend to kill him at all.

He had known his lord for nearly five years. To call his lord's character tyrannical would be an exaggeration. If anyone dared to speak disrespectfully or offend him, he would make sure they met a terrible end.

Now...

He felt that either his lord had changed his ways or had become stupid, but his lord couldn't possibly be stupid; it was most likely him who was stupid.

Zhao Xiheng glanced at the distance and felt that Wei Li was making things difficult for her. In five seconds, before she could even run two steps, Wei Li would swing his moon blade and take a life.

The fisherman saw that Wei Li was not as weak as he had thought, and wanted to run away, but he was unwilling to give up.

But then he thought of his wife and children at home, and realized that as long as he was alive, there was a future; if he died, he would have nothing left. The New Year was just around the corner, and his wife was still waiting for him at home…

But Wei Li had already counted to one.

Zhao Xiheng gritted her teeth and threw herself into Wei Li's arms, crying, "My lord, I'm so afraid you'll die. If you die, where will I go? I'll have no home, I can't go anywhere. I'm young and beautiful, but I don't know anything. I'm afraid I won't be able to survive wandering around."

She tried her best to hug Wei Li's entire body, but she was dressed too thickly, round like a ball. Instead of binding Wei Li, she opened her arms wide, as if she were grabbing his arms.

She suddenly threw herself into his arms, catching Wei Li off guard. He was even knocked back two steps by the ball. His eyes glistened with something beautiful, which was quite touching. Wei Li pulled away from Zhao Xiheng's hand and put a little distance between them. Zhao Xiheng was terrified, afraid that he would raise his knife and hurt her.

He plunged his pair of moon blades into the ice and asked her, "So you went to find reinforcements?"

Zhao Xiheng nodded and quickly bought time for everyone to escape.

"The reinforcements refused to rescue me because they heard I was trapped? You're lying because you're afraid I'll kill them for refusing to help you."

Zhao Xiheng didn't nod, but that was probably the gist of it.

She heard footsteps; the fisherman had already run far away and entered the reeds, so Wei Li probably wouldn't chase after him.

Zhao Xiheng breathed a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping.

She seemed to be watching the door with the word "freedom" written on it slowly closing in on her.

Wei Li suddenly laughed, startling Zhao Xiheng.

His smile was different from his usual sinister and terrifying threat. In the past, when he smiled, Zhao Xiheng always felt that he was like a wolf baring its teeth, cold and ruthless, about to bite someone's throat.

Now his smile seems genuine, coming from the bottom of his heart. Even though he is covered in blood and filth, he inexplicably becomes radiant, like the rising sun breaking through the haze, and even that unpleasant feeling is diluted.

He was just like a real teenager.

Zhao Xiheng saw something gleaming in his eyes, and the ferocious red in the whites of his eyes became less terrifying.

But he only smiled for a moment. Suddenly, he stretched out his uninjured arm and pressed Zhao Xiheng hard into his arms. Zhao Xiheng smelled the blood even more strongly and could even see the heat rising from his shoulder and the wet red stains.

The two collided with a loud thud, and although Zhao Xiheng was dressed in thick clothes, her chest still felt a buzzing pain from the impact.

Damn it, you old dog!

Zhao Xiheng cursed inwardly.

You deserve to cry from the pain!

Wei Li was covered in blood—his, others', and the vicious dog's. It smelled awful, like billowing yellow smoke in the dust, hot and choking.

He strangled Zhao Xiheng with his arms, as if he wanted to suffocate her in his arms.

"That's true, Zhao Xiheng. We're both like stray dogs. Where can you hide if you leave me?" Wei Li's voice was low and hoarse. He was quite ruthless when he cursed himself.

Zhao Xiheng was shoved into his arms, feeling suffocated and lacking oxygen to her brain. She spoke without thinking, "Yes, they are all stray dogs, they can't escape."

Wei Li suddenly grabbed her neck hard. "Can I say I'm a stray dog? Can you?"

Zhao Xiheng rolled her eyes in his arms. Wei Li's pride was hundreds of times greater than hers, a princess. She also realized that Wei Li was the kind of person who could berate himself as worse than a pig or a dog, but wouldn't allow anyone else to say a bad word about him.

As she was thinking, she suddenly felt warm water dripping onto her neck. She was a little disgusted; could it be blood seeping from Wei Li's wound and dripping onto her?

Ugh, this is really uncomfortable.

Zhao Xiheng suddenly felt a heavy weight on her body, lost her balance and fell onto the ice, her tailbone going numb from the fall.

Wei Li, his face deathly pale, fainted.

Zhao Xiheng went crazy! How could that old dog have been so good at putting on an act just now! Standing so steadily! She really thought he was completely unharmed!

She looked back in the direction the fisherman had fled, wondering if it would be too late to call him back and stab Wei Li with a fork.

The lieutenant quickly sprang up from the ice, limped over and helped Wei Li up. He hesitated for a moment, then looked at Zhao Xiheng, "Princess, the lord's wound needs to be bandaged."

Zhao Xiheng turned around. "Hmm, I won't look."

The lieutenant was a little embarrassed. "No, I just wanted to borrow a piece of clothing from you. Our clothes are all dirty."

Zhao Xiheng touched her three thick coats; she really didn't want to take any of them off!

The lieutenant looked at her expectantly. She was really afraid that Wei Li would wake up and find out that she had let him die and would fall ill again. So she took off the thick coat in the middle and handed it to him, saying, "It's not worn under the skin or on the outside. It's clean."

On this devastated, icy ground, only three people remained alive, panting for breath.

Living people need to eat to continue living.

The lieutenant cut a bunch of reeds and spread them on the ice. Although they didn't provide much warmth, it was better than nothing.

A fire was lit on the ice, and it burned for a long time, but Zhao Xiheng did not see the ice melt.

She sat on the reeds with her arms crossed, glanced at the moon blade firmly embedded in the ice, and silently moved away, intending to get further away from it.

Wei Li collapsed on the reeds, and the deputy general seemed certain that he would not die in such harsh conditions.

Zhao Xiheng curiously touched Wei Li's forehead; it was a little cool, but he didn't have a fever.

Wei Li suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed her hand.

Zhao Xiheng murmured to herself, thinking to herself, "What a scourge that lives on for a thousand years."

Dogs lay sprawled on the ground. The lieutenant asked, "My lord, shall we skin them, roast them, and eat them?"

Wei Li frowned. "You're going to eat it?"

The lieutenant remained silent. "I'll go find some food right away."

This dog belongs to an enemy; it might have some kind of disease.

He had barely left when Zhao Xiheng squatted by the fire, intending to close her eyes and take a nap. She had only just closed her eyes when the deputy general returned, limping, carrying two pheasants with long tails.

"So fast?" Zhao Xiheng was slightly surprised.

The lieutenant said in a measured tone, "Although Pingzhou is short of vegetables in winter, it has no shortage of wild game..."

Wei Li threw the branch he was using to start a fire onto the ground and coldly looked at his deputy, "If you won't kill the chicken, you expect me to?"

The lieutenant sheepishly went to the riverbank, dug a hole, and began to process the pheasant.

“Pingzhou is not only full of pheasants, but also wild boars and black bears, each weighing at least 500 jin…” Wei Li threw a handful of firewood into the fire.

“Occasionally, when pedestrians pass by, they might tap you on the shoulder. At that moment, you can’t turn around.” Wei Li’s long eyelashes drooped slightly as she stated the statement slowly and deliberately.

Zhao Xiheng's legs felt a little unsteady. She felt that compared to Hei Xiazi, Wei Li was safer.

She shifted closer to Wei Li and asked, "Why can't I turn around?"

"Because the one who patted your shoulder wasn't human, it was a black bear." After Wei Li finished speaking, Zhao Xiheng felt a heavy pat on her shoulder.

She was so frightened that her body went numb and her face turned deathly pale. Combined with the story Wei Li had just told, the frightening effect was doubled.

Wei Li suddenly burst out laughing and pinched her cheek, "You're such a coward."

The paw that was on Zhao Xiheng's shoulder just now was just a prank by Wei Li.

Zhao Xiheng's eyes reddened, and she wiped them with her sleeve.

Wei Li, I'll kill you one day, or I'll change my name and I'm not a Zhao!

She hadn't met many people with a Pingzhou accent, but the Pingzhou dialect seemed to have a natural, lingering quality; even now, when she swears, a Pingzhou accent occasionally pops into her head.

Zhao Xiheng was truly angry; she wouldn't even shed a tear. Wei Li also stopped smiling, lowered his lips, glanced at her, then lowered his head and continued adding firewood to the fire.

At this moment, he should have pinched Zhao Xiheng's face and mocked her, "I'm already being generous by condescending to tell you a story, don't take advantage of my kindness."

Wei Li took a breath, wanting to curse, but felt listless. He thought it must be because he was too badly injured, which was why he had no energy.

Considering that Zhao Xiheng still knew to call for help for him today, he should treat her a little better.