The ground was really too cold, so Zhao Xiheng curled up into a ball, trying to get as close to the stove as possible while ensuring her safety, attempting to draw some warmth.

She was used to being cold, and in the past, she would never have been able to sleep in this kind of environment. However, after months of traveling and being frightened today, she was exhausted and unexpectedly fell asleep very quickly.

The breathing nearby was steady and peaceful, barely audible. Wei Li didn't pay attention to it, but she unconsciously noticed that the breathing sounded really heavy.

He couldn't sleep, and listening to Zhao Xiheng sleeping soundly, he ground his teeth slightly.

He lay there stiffly for a while, but the scent of gardenia bath beans and perfume from Zhao Xiheng was so strong that he couldn't ignore it. Suddenly, he kicked off the covers.

"It's so hot!"

"Zhao Xiheng!"

"Hmm?" Zhao Xiheng frowned. She had been riding on horseback with Wei Li all day, and her already weak body couldn't take it anymore. Now, once she fell asleep, she was hard to wake up. Although she vaguely felt someone calling her, she soon became drowsy and lost consciousness again.

Wei Li waited for a long time, but she neither responded nor made a move. So he jumped up from the heated kang and stood quietly beside Zhao Xiheng.

Zhao Xiheng was seen leaning against the innermost side of the floor mat, curled up in a ball with the blankets, looking very comfortable, which displeased Wei Li, who was suffering from insomnia.

“Zhao Xiheng?” he asked coldly.

"Hmm..."

She still hadn't woken up, and Wei Li was losing patience.

Zhao Xiheng woke up suffocating. When she opened her eyes, she saw Wei Li's unpleasant face, his dark eyes fixed on her, and the silver ornament on his left ear gleaming in the moonlight.

He climbed onto his bed—no, onto his makeshift bed on the floor—and terrified people like a vengeful ghost.

And his hand...

He was choking himself.

Zhao Xiheng's slight drowsiness was completely scared away.

After a long day of running around, not only did she end up sleeping in the same room as a lunatic in the middle of the night, but the worst part was that this lunatic couldn't sleep at all and was choking her, as if he wanted to strangle her to death. There must be no one in the world more desperate than her.

However, as Wei Li's hand tightened around her neck, she coughed a few times, tears welling in her eyes, just as Wei Li had imagined.

"My lord!" Wei Li!

"Please let me go!" I'll kill your whole family!

Wei Li released her hand, wiped it on her blanket as if it were dirty, and then said, "Zhao Xiheng, I'm hot, go and put out the stove."

"Cough cough cough..." Zhao Xiheng covered her neck and lay on the bed coughing so hard that it hurt her heart. She needed to calm down, otherwise she was afraid she would lose control of the idea of ​​dying together with Wei Li and would do anything to kill him.

Her hands, tucked under the covers, clenched and unclenched repeatedly. "My lord, I can't."

"You won't? Will you learn after I strangle you?" Wei Li retorted, kneeling on one knee beside her bed and staring at her like a venomous snake waiting for its chance. The dim moonlight shone on his pale face, making him look like a dead man.

A layer of white sweat broke out on Zhao Xiheng's back. She stumbled out of bed and turned on the light. The warm yellow light somewhat calmed her unease. "I will, I will."

Wei Li tilted his head to look at her, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. His lips were thin, yet even redder than a woman's when she wore rouge. "Hurry up~"

His unpredictable moods were truly frightening. Zhao Xiheng was afraid that he would dislike him, so she couldn't help but glance at him a few more times, her gaze lingering on the collar of his undergarment.

The neckline, which had been tightly wrapped, had come undone at some point, revealing half an inch of skin on her neck, which had marks that looked like scars.

Zhao Xiheng narrowed her eyes, turned around and picked up the fire tongs. No matter how strange Wei Li was, it had nothing to do with her. The only thing she needed to think about now was how to save her life in Wei Li's hands and make her life as comfortable as possible.

If things were even better, it would be best not to sleep with him at all.

Even better, if Wei Li were to suddenly die one day, she could run away with the money, without having to return to the palace or marry into another family.

Zhao Xiheng used a stove hook to pry open the stove, and the iron scraped against each other, making a hissing sound.

The charcoal inside was burning brightly, with scarlet and orange flames licking the furnace walls and leaping higher and higher as they came into contact with the air.

Her face felt warm from the fire, and her whole body felt cozy and comfortable.

Zhao Xiheng took two steps back and saw Wei Li sitting on the couch, seemingly looking at his fingernails with a bored expression. She was slightly relieved.

If Wei Li could sneak into her bed in the middle of the night and choke her, it wouldn't be impossible for him to push her head into a stove.

Currently, this old beast's favorability rating in her heart is negative; even Zhao Mingxin is more likable than him.

The charcoal fire needs to be extinguished...

Zhao Xiheng felt dizzy and her spine was covered in cold sweat. She turned around, grabbed a pot of water from the table, and poured it into the charcoal.

"Sizzle~"

"Sizzle~"

...

The fire below was still burning, but because the charcoal above was damp, it was billowing with black smoke.

"Zhao Xiheng, are you sick?!" Wei Li coughed, choked by the thick black smoke that filled the room.

That face, which resembled a horror story, rarely showed a side that crumbled.

The commotion inside was probably too loud, which woke up the maids on night watch outside. The black smoke billowing out from the crack in the door startled them.

"Quickly, go and report to the prefect and his wife!"

Just as the group was frantically trying to pry the door open, it was kicked open with a bang.

Wei Li grabbed Zhao Xiheng by the collar and came out of the inner room with a murderous look on his face.

The maid left the door open, and a cold wind rushed in from outside. Zhao Xiheng shivered from the cold, and this time her tears were genuine, not feigned.

It's too cold.

"What, are you scared now?" Wei Li wanted nothing more than to strangle her.

"My lord, I really didn't mean it, sob sob sob." She cried pitifully, but with her dark little face, she didn't look beautiful at all.

In his heart, he had already whipped Wei Li's corpse a thousand times.

If this beast hadn't been unable to sleep in the middle of the night and woke her up to turn off the stove, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

So all those experienced maids outside are just for show? They even threatened her with their lives, ugh!

Wei Li pinched her cheek.

The prefect and his wife lived not far from each other. They were fast asleep when they heard someone report that Wei Li's residence seemed to be on fire. They quickly put on their clothes and ran over, their hair disheveled.

The prefect quickly handed the clothes he was holding to Wei Li and put them on.

The prefect's wife wore a cloak over her shoulders and held another purplish-black animal fur coat in her arms. It was shiny and smooth, looking very valuable and warm. Zhao Xiheng, who was wearing only a thin undergarment, couldn't help but take a few more glances at it.

It seems that Jinyang doesn't have this.

She stepped forward to drape the item over Zhao Xiheng's shoulders, saying, "I was in a hurry before leaving, so I brought my own. Please don't mind, young lady." The prefect's wife spoke with exceptional clarity, enunciating each word distinctly, something Zhao Xiheng had noticed earlier.

Halfway there, Wei Li raised his hand to stop her. He was wearing a cloak and looked coldly at the prefect's wife. "She's not cold, she doesn't need it."

Zhao Xiheng's bright, expectant eyes dimmed instantly. Wei Li is a fucking beast!

"You've done something wrong and you still have the nerve to ask for a mink coat? You might as well freeze to death naked." Wei Li added.

The Prefect's wife hesitated, her gaze shifting between Zhao Xiheng and Wei Li. The young lady was too young and might not be able to withstand the cold. The weather in Pingzhou was so cold; the lord was being too cruel.

The prefect tugged at her clothes, shook his head, and told her not to offend Wei Li.

"And who is the young mistress?" Wei Li's mind cleared, and he tilted his head, asking in a sinister tone.

The prefect's wife panicked and quickly knelt down to explain, "This, please forgive me, Your Majesty, I was ignorant and foolish..."

“My wife and I are foolish and ignorant, and we did not understand your intentions. We acted on our own. Please give us a chance to make amends.”

The prefect felt he was a man and couldn't let his wife bear the burden alone, so he knelt down side by side with his wife.

The two men humbled themselves greatly, quickly apologizing and admitting their mistakes. They didn't dare ask Wei Li to punish them, but only asked him to give them a chance to make amends.

Given Wei Li's personality, if they were to actually ask for punishment, he would probably pause for a moment and then say, "Punishment? Then drag him out and beat him to death."

"Aren't you going to prepare a room?" Wei Li rubbed his temples; his forehead throbbed with pain.

Having endured this long, and then Zhao Xiheng's antics, he's now on the verge of exploding in rage, barely managing to control his emotions.

Pressure can be a motivator. The prefect of Ji'an handled things quickly and well this time, and did not arrange for the two of them to stay in the same room.

Zhao Xiheng finally had her own heated kang bed, and although she was freezing, it was all worth it.

The maid helped her wash up again and then withdrew.

Zhao Xiheng collapsed onto the steaming kang (heated brick bed), the heat making her body feel numb and tingling, as if she had been soaked in hot water.

Wei Li's face suddenly popped into her mind again, and she felt a jolt. She dragged herself to fasten the inner door, as if only in this way could she feel at ease.

Zhao Xiheng left Jinyang to get married in mid-November. The journey took a month, and it is now mid-December.

People along the way began preparing for the New Year and buying New Year's goods. Even the poorest people had radiant faces, and there were lively scenes everywhere. Even when resting at the inn at night, fireworks could be seen exploding in the sky.

However, Pingzhou was excessively deserted. From Dandong to Ji'an, the streets were deserted, without laughter or cheerful voices, and without any festive decorations. It was not at all like the atmosphere that should be present during the Spring Festival; in fact, it was excessively quiet.

If she hadn't heard the muffled crying of a baby coming from a house on the way, she probably would have thought Pingzhou was an empty, ghost town.

Even in the residence of the Prefect of Ji'an, there were no colorful decorations or lanterns; it was as plain as if they didn't celebrate the New Year at all.

As she pondered, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until she finally drifted into a dream.

Zhao Xiheng wished the night would be longer so she could see that beast Wei Li even later.

If she were to encounter him a few more times, she might shorten her lifespan.

The maid on night watch couldn't sleep, so she lit a small lamp, held scissors in her left hand and red paper in her right, and carefully cut out words.

The other person was shocked and snatched the paper cutout from her hand, whispering a warning, "Are you crazy? Doing this under Wei Ze's nose?"