"Oh no!"

Upon seeing his master cast a questioning glance at him, Cheng Liang hurriedly explained, "Your Highness, that Uncle Shou has been hiding in the academy for many years, and he must know Miss Tianjiao quite well. Could it be that he..."

After a pause, Cheng Liang seemed to find it hard to believe his own thoughts, and continued, "Since that Shou Bo is the Empress Dowager's man, could it be that he has already seen through the secret in the portrait? If so... wouldn't Miss Yi be in danger?"

After a moment's thought, Xuanyuan Han hurriedly asked Lu Xian, "Where is that Shou Bo now?"

Lu Tianlin thought for a moment and said, "Someone saw him go into the back mountain alone early this morning, and he has not returned yet."

Upon hearing this, Xuan Yuanhan felt a sudden jolt in his heart, and a very bad premonition arose spontaneously.

He then frowned, quickly stood up, and prepared to go find the person himself.

Cheng Liang paused for a moment, then recalled the events and said dismissively, "It's not the back mountain."

Upon hearing this, Xuan Yuanhan glared at him fiercely.

“On the way here, I saw an old man with faltering steps and a robust man heading down the mountain outside the stone gate. They must be the master and servant.”

Cheng Liang already knew that he was only now realizing the truth.

So he, along with Lu Xian and his son Lu Tianlin, followed closely behind Xuan Yuanhan.

Yi Shangyun was heartbroken and almost cried all the way back to the Temple of the Old Man Under the Moon.

We walked to the doorway.

But fearing that Young Master Yi would find out she had been crying, she carefully wiped away her tears outside the door before lifting her skirt and stepping inside.

"Third Young Master..."

"Third Young Master..."

She searched inside and out several times, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find even a trace of Young Master Yi.

Perhaps she was too heartbroken and exhausted from crying and running all the way, because finally she collapsed weakly onto the stone steps in front of the door.

While clenching her fists and gently pounding her aching legs, she continued to gaze at the three-way intersection in front of the door, muttering to herself in confusion, "Where did Third Young Master go?"

After resting for a while, I felt much better, but Young Master Yi still hadn't returned.

As dusk fell, the sun began to set.

I also felt a bit hungry in my stomach, and it kept making rumbling noises.

She wanted to go out and look for him, but she was afraid that if she left, Young Master Yi might come back and not see her, and the two of them would miss each other again, so she simply decided to continue waiting there.

After some time, my gaze inadvertently fell on the prayer plaque that I had just hung up myself.

So she slowly got up and returned to her desk, recalling every little detail of her time with Xuan Yuanhan, from their first meeting to the present.

With tears in my eyes, I wrote: "Peach blossoms fall, the south wind is warm, I think of you but cannot see you, how difficult it is for your heart? My heart is full of love, my mind is full of hatred, I toss and turn a thousand times every night, where can I find peace? Our vows and sweet words are just a dream that has lasted for years, I would rather go home."

After writing these disheartened words, Yi Shangyun walked out the door in a daze.

As soon as I stepped out the door and down the steps, everything went black before my eyes, and then I collapsed heavily to the ground, completely losing consciousness.

On the other side...

Long En followed Shou Bo on his journey, but he couldn't figure out what was going on.

So he asked, "Uncle Shou, where exactly are you taking me?"

Despite the throbbing pain in his leg, Shoubo kept his head down and hurried on, urging, "Young Master, we must get to the Temple of the Old Man Under the Moon as soon as possible."

"The Temple of the Old Man Under the Moon... What are we going there for?" Long En asked in surprise, stamping his foot.

Shoubo explained, "Young master, you may not know this, but if we arrive late, that girl may have already left Western Qin, and we will have missed each other."

Long En asked in confusion, "The Temple of the Old Man Under the Moon... girl... who is that... what are we going to miss?"

“That is…” Uncle Shou hesitated for a moment.

However, he remained convinced that he was right: "That girl is the one you have been longing for, Young Master. Not only you, Young Master, but she is the descendant of the guardian of Western Qin who possesses mysterious power, and the entire Lingkong Continent is vying for her!"

"What did you say?"

Upon hearing this, Long En was instantly stunned.

"Young Master, Young Master..." Shou Bo called in his ear for a long time before finally waking him up.

He then hurriedly explained, "This Lu Xian is truly cunning. He dared to deceive the emperor and alter the portrait without permission. Fortunately, this old servant saw through his treacherous scheme in time."

Seeing Long En's continued confusion, Shou Bo said, "Young Master, you may not know this, but that girl seems to have experienced too many sad and painful things in Western Qin. She just said that she wants to leave Western Qin by boat tonight and never come back. The most urgent thing is to stop her, otherwise, I'm afraid we will never have this opportunity again."

"Why didn't you say something so important sooner?"

As Long En spoke, he grabbed Shou Bo's arm and used his light-footed skill to move.

However, when the two arrived at the Temple of the Old Man Under the Moon, they did not see the figure of Yi Shangyun as they had hoped.

Uncle Shou asked, full of doubt, "That girl did say she would rest here, so how could she not?"

"Could it be that they've already left?" Long En asked, having searched inside and out. He then approached Shou Bo.

Uncle Shou thought about it carefully and said, "That girl doesn't seem like the type to break her word. Let's wait a little longer; perhaps she's gone out on something else."

For a moment, Long En seemed to have no better options.

The only person who has seen him in person is Shoubo himself, so he can only wait here with him for a while.

Looking around the hall, Long En suddenly noticed some writing on the table, so he went over to take a look.

"The handwriting is elegant, clearly written by a woman. The ink is still wet, so it must have been written recently. But why does this handwriting look so familiar?"

Long En pondered for a moment, then picked it up and looked at it, only to exclaim in surprise, "Oh no!"

Upon hearing the sound, Uncle Shou came forward to take a look. The two men looked at each other in bewilderment and hurriedly went out the door together.

Following the traces left on the mountain road after the rain, Xuanyuan Han and his group finally found the Temple of the Old Man Under the Moon.

By this time, it was completely dark, but Yi Shangyun was no longer there.

Xuanyuan Han stood tall and imposing before the hall, looking up at the statue of the God of Marriage high above.

The others continued to busy themselves inside and out, trying to find some clues.

Suddenly, Cheng Liang saw the words left by Yun Fang on the clothes that Long En had accidentally left behind when he left, hidden under the table. He picked them up and was instantly stunned by what he saw.

Once she came to her senses, she hurriedly handed it to her master: "Your Highness, Miss Yi did indeed come."

Upon seeing the familiar handwriting, Xuan Yuanhan's eyes widened in surprise.

But in an instant, he seemed unable to even stand, and staggered back two steps.

"Your Highness!" Upon seeing this, Cheng Liang hurriedly stepped forward and reached out to support him.

He comforted her, saying, "Miss Yi has always been strong and brave; she would never have such suicidal thoughts."

Xuanyuan Han was clearly extremely flustered: "It's all my fault. If I had known she would be so heartbroken, I shouldn't have kept all this from her."

Cheng Liang said, "Your Highness is doing this for Miss Yi's own good."

Xuanyuan Han felt extremely guilty: "Perhaps, only I think so."

Cheng Liang sighed inwardly: "Now that things have come to this, what should we do?"

Xuanyuan Han said firmly without hesitation, "Find her for me, even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, you must find her for me."

"Yes!" Cheng Liang accepted the order and quickly went down to gather men and make arrangements.

Xuanyuan Han stared at the words in his hand and said, "Yun'er, it's all my fault. You must live, you must live. I beg you, you must give me another chance. This time, I will definitely not let you go again."

After speaking, he slowly raised his head and looked at the statue of the Old Man Under the Moon in front of him again.

The man who was usually so brave and decisive in battle now seemed to have no choice but to place his hopes on the cold statue before him...

Not far away, there is a remote little village.

At night, when the moon rises above the treetops.

In a farmer's house, Yi Shangyun finally opened her eyes slowly, and to her surprise, she saw Yi Shangkun's face.

Ignoring her weakened state, Yi Shangyun hurriedly got out of bed and knelt at his feet, crying and apologizing profusely, "Father, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault for dragging the entire Yi family down with me. I know I shouldn't have lived in this world anymore, but even death is so difficult."

After saying that, he began to kowtow repeatedly, saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

“Good child, you haven’t recovered yet and are still very weak. Get up, get up quickly. If it weren’t for Young Master Yi’s timely return to find you after settling me in, I would never have peace of mind for the rest of my life if anything had happened to you.” Yi Shangkun said, quickly reaching out to help her up.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

Now, besides kowtowing and apologizing, Yi Shangyun clearly didn't know what else to say or do. It seemed that no matter what he did, he couldn't make up for the mistakes he had made and the enormous disaster he had brought to the Yi family.

"Get up, get up first, get up and listen to what your father has to say."

It took Yi Shangkun a lot of effort to help him up.

"Don't say that. I've had enough of the scheming and backstabbing in the palace all these years. It's better to leave. Now, I only blame myself for not taking good care of you and for failing to live up to the trust placed in me by my benefactor."

Yi Shangkun helped Yi Shangyun to her feet, saying as he did so.

Yi Shangyun said, "No, Father, please don't say such things. I was ignorant before and made you sad. If it weren't for your protection all these years, I would probably be dead long ago."

"Sigh..." Yi Shangkun let out a heavy sigh.

At this moment, Yi Shangyun suddenly said, "Father, tell your daughter about my mother."

"Your mother..."

As Yi Shangkun recalled, he said, "Your mother, she was a woman just like you—brave, strong, and kind. But I never imagined that her benefactor would be the esteemed Empress of Dongning Kingdom. That year..."

As Yi Shangyun listened to Yi Shangkun recount how his birth mother had struggled to give birth to him and then died, tears streamed down his face silently.