Amidst the clash of swords and the swiping of spears, bandits disguised as refugees relentlessly surged towards them. Several even stood on the outskirts wielding spiked clubs, their swings sending blood splattering everywhere.

Liu Heng's horse was protected by the guards in the middle, and some of the soldiers from the Liyang Camp also caught up from the front, holding back a section of the horse.

Having changed clothes beforehand, Pengmo and his men turned their horses around ahead and charged towards the town to divert attention, taking most of their pursuers with them.

Lin Yuqiao closed her eyes, only hearing the sounds of clashing weapons and the whistling wind in her ears. She felt her mind was becoming numb, and bloodstains were splattered on her clothes.

The horse was moving too fast, and she felt as if her internal organs were about to be shattered by the jolting. She could only rely on her strong will to survive to hold on tightly to the brass rings on the saddle.

She didn't know how long she had been running, but when she opened her eyes again, the sounds of pursuit behind her were almost inaudible. Thanks to the fine horse General Zangong had given them, they had left everyone else firmly behind.

Lin Yuqiao felt the horse's belly trembling as she moved her arms, trying to change her position, but a sharp pain struck her.

It turned out that she was so stressed during her escape that she didn't even realize she had been slashed on the arm by a sword.

After Liu Heng reined in his horse, he staggered off and then pulled Lin Yuqiao off as well.

"Your Highness."

She tried to speak, but her voice was dry and hoarse.

"Don't make a sound, just go."

Liu Heng spurred the horse in the opposite direction by striking it hard with the hilt of his sword, then grabbed Lin Yuqiao and continued running into the deep mountains and dense forests.

The two trudged through the forest, their steps uneven, with dense thickets of shrubs on both sides, some even waist-high, and horizontal tree veins beneath their feet.

Lin Yuqiao gripped Liu Heng's hand tightly with one hand to keep herself from stopping, while also trying to clear away the bushes blocking her way with the other.

She knew she had reached her physical limit. She was panting heavily, her legs moving mechanically as if filled with lead, and blood was seeping from her chest, as if she could vomit blood at any moment.

They ran straight ahead, not caring which way they were going, until they themselves got lost. Liu Heng finally stopped by holding onto a tree, while Lin Yuqiao could no longer stand.

After resting for a while, she struggled to get up. Although her mind was not working very well, she still remembered that she couldn't stop after strenuous exercise and had to move around a bit.

In the past, every time there was a sports meet, the physical education teacher would pat each athlete on the back after their long-distance run, making them walk around for a while.

Now that so many years have passed, she can no longer remember most of her experiences in her past life; only these fleeting fragments occasionally blurryly pop into her memory.

After moving around a bit and feeling a little better, Lin Yuqiao quickly pulled Liu Heng, who was leaning against the tree and supporting his back, to take a few steps.

By the moonlight filtering through the branches and leaves, she noticed bloodstains on Liu Heng's arm, clearly deeper than her own wound. Lin Yuqiao guessed that he had probably blocked a swinging sword for her during the fight, but hadn't completely blocked it, and it had still grazed her arm.

Thinking that Liu Heng not only did not abandon her during this life-or-death crisis, but also did his best to protect her, Lin Yuqiao felt that Liu Heng had become even more radiant in her heart.

Even Liu Bang, a warlord who rose from humble beginnings to rule the world, feared being a burden to his wife and children when he was fleeing, and personally pushed his own child off the chariot.

Every woman longs for a hero rescuing her, and Liu Heng's actions towards her today have left her both satisfied and moved. How could she not love such a man?

As Liu Heng walked silently, he pondered the current situation.

Even he himself did not expect that someone would be so audacious as to disguise themselves as a refugee or bandit to assassinate him.

It seems that Yuan Wucheng survived the arrow wound, ruining the plans of those in Kyoto. Therefore, they launched another attack, determined to kill him. Although the bandits disguised themselves as refugees, their skills were clearly trained; every strike was aimed at a fatal point.

Fortunately, he swapped clothes with Pengmo amidst the chaos, and now that group of people should all be following Pengmo, he has a sliver of hope.

Since the other party has already gone to such lengths, they must have other tricks up their sleeve. They won't stop just because they haven't killed him yet.

Although his body was so exhausted that he could barely hold on, and his wounds, which had just healed, had reopened, he couldn't stop. He needed to find a safe place to hide for a while and wait until everyone had left before returning to Kyoto.

Lin Yuqiao glanced at Liu Heng, who was still walking forward calmly, but as she observed the vast, endless forest, she felt uneasy.

She looked up, trying to find her way by looking at the Big Dipper; it was the only piece of common sense she remembered.

However, the trees grew lush and verdant, their branches and leaves so tall and broad that they blocked out the sun, allowing only a few rays of moonlight to pass through the occasional gaps, making it impossible to see the stars.

It felt like they had walked into the depths of a dense forest. It was getting darker and darker ahead. There was no moonlight and no other sounds. Lin Yuqiao grabbed Liu Heng's hand. "Does Your Highness know the way?"

Liu Heng frowned. "We don't know the direction, but the terrain gradually rises. If we follow the higher ground, we'll eventually find a path."

Having no survival skills whatsoever, she found his words quite reasonable, and since she had no other choice, she could only continue to follow him.

As dawn approached, a loud rumble of thunder sounded, and within moments, raindrops began to fall, first slowly then rapidly, pattering against the leaves, which rustled in the wind.

Cold and exhausted, Lin Yuqiao leaned against Liu Heng's chest, looking around at the trees, her heart filled with fear.

Her biggest worry was thunder and rain, because it was said that you were more likely to be struck by lightning under a tree, and unfortunately, they couldn't escape the trees no matter where they went.

This predicament, compounded by hardship, made Liu Heng anxious. He patted Lin Yuqiao on the back, pulled her out of his arms, and took her hand as they continued walking.

"Don't stop, keep going and see if there's anywhere to take shelter from the rain."

The two supported each other for a long time in the rain before Lin Yuqiao noticed a row of dark places in the distance, which looked like caves.

"There's a cave, there's a cave."

Excitedly, she grabbed Liu Heng's hand and headed in that direction. When they reached the cave entrance, Liu Heng gripped his sword tightly, used his shoulder to shield Lin Yuqiao, and cautiously peered inside.

They couldn't sense any signs of life inside. After entering, they found themselves in complete darkness and dared not venture any deeper, so they took shelter from the rain at the cave entrance.

After a whole night of tossing and turning, Liu Heng could no longer hold on and slid down the wall of the cave to sit on the ground.

"Your Highness?"

Lin Yuqiao called out Liu Heng's name in a low voice in fear, and groped her way over, but felt an abnormal heat emanating from Liu Heng's body.

Lin Yuqiao felt even more frightened as she placed her forehead against Liu Heng's burning forehead.

Liu Heng was in a hurry to go back because he hadn't fully recovered from his injuries. Now, with old wounds and new ones, plus being caught in a heavy rain, he has developed a high fever and has no medicine. If he can't hold on, how will she survive alone in this deep mountain forest?

Outside, the wind and rain raged, and the sky gradually brightened. Lin Yuqiao felt extremely helpless and hated her own powerlessness at this moment. All she could do was hug Liu Heng tightly and shed tears.

"Don't cry."

With tears streaming down his face, Liu Heng barely opened his eyes and murmured.

His lips were pale, but his face was abnormally flushed. He struggled to raise his arm, wanting to touch her face.

"Qiaoqiao, you shouldn't have come to Yuanwu City. If you had been more obedient and stayed peacefully in the Prince's Mansion, you wouldn't have encountered such a thing."

Lin Yuqiao rubbed her wet face against Liu Heng's palm and listened to his words, crying even more uncontrollably.

After a long while, she managed to control her emotions, pressed her cheek against Liu Heng's, and kissed his pale, chapped lips and high nose repeatedly. She said firmly in his ear, "I have no regrets. No matter life or death, I want to be with Your Highness. We will get out of here together. I am waiting for Your Highness to get better and take me back to the capital."

Upon hearing her words, Liu Heng let out a soft laugh, his long eyelashes trembling as they slowly covered his eyelids.

Seeing that he had closed his eyes and his breathing had become heavier, Lin Yuqiao quickly shook him, "Your Highness, don't sleep."

"Liu Heng, Liu Heng, hang in there!"

Given the current conditions, if Liu Heng falls asleep with a high fever, at best his brain will be damaged, and at worst he won't wake up.

"Don't make a sound."

Liu Heng weakly leaned his head against Lin Yuqiao's chest, trying to stop her from chattering any longer. His body felt like it was soaking in hot water; he had no strength at all, his joints ached, and the arrow wound in his heart was throbbing with pain.

Lin Yuqiao tore a piece of Liu Heng's clothes, soaked it with the cold rainwater from outside, and covered it on his forehead.

"Liu Heng, I've been through thick and thin with you, you can't just abandon me, you have to get better as soon as possible."

"Liu Heng, why can't you like me?"

"I don't ask for much. Even with the princess around, you won't give me much, but at least keep your heart for me."

"Is it really that difficult for me to live with hope in the days to come, so that I don't end up feeling utterly worthless?"

"Don't I deserve you to treat me better, even better?"

"Liu Heng, you've trapped me with the rules and boundaries you've set, aren't you also trapping yourself? Why do you have to keep me so far away? What's the point of that strange bamboo flute you gave me? A person can't be without a heart, and you're not really made of bamboo."

With her arm around Liu Heng's shoulder, Lin Yuqiao kept talking in his ear, until her voice gradually choked up and turned into a murmur.

“If we can’t get out and end up dying here, how heartbroken my mother and brother will be. My mother has suffered injustice all her life and has never been able to stand up straight and live with confidence. My second brother is still with you. He has offended my father and eldest brother terribly. What will he do if you’re not here?”

"I've lived all these years and I've never truly loved anyone. Now that you don't like me either, how can I accept this?"

In a daze, Liu Heng listened to her words, feeling a strange mix of emotions.

My chest felt a soft, aching sensation, as if it were overflowing with rainwater. Seeds that had somehow fallen in were swelling and struggling to break free of their confinement.

He lifted his heavy eyelids and looked at the person in front of him. Lin Yuqiao's hair was messy, her face was covered in tears, there were small scratches from the bushes on her cheeks, and her eyes were red and swollen.

This is the kind of person who could calculate human nature but not fate, and who lived a life of aloofness and self-restraint, yet still could not escape the endless red lines that seemed to run over him.

Bringing her into the family was unplanned, but she wasn't the type to give him peace of mind.

She possesses an inexplicable passion, is naive, and quite troublesome and clingy. She relies on her beauty as a weapon, and sometimes she is unruly, making her a handful for him. He is soft-hearted, feels pity, hesitates, and ultimately cannot avoid or push her away, thus sacrificing the emotional connection he has retained for half his life.

If Liu Heng still had the strength at this moment, he would have helplessly admitted to Lin Yuqiao, "In the end, you won."

This life-or-death crisis exposed his emotions. He saw her sincerity, and he couldn't bear to disappoint her.

If all she truly wanted was a heart, he had already given it to her.

The words caught in his throat, and before Liu Heng could say anything, he lost consciousness.

Lin Yuqiao, who knew nothing, watched Liu Heng become unresponsive. When she could no longer wake him by holding his hand, she felt as if she had lost her pillar and could no longer hold on.

After sitting blankly for a long time, Lin Yuqiao suddenly wiped away her tears. She thought to herself that she had to do something.

She knew she'd get through this; she couldn't give up without even trying. She clenched her fist and lightly tapped it against her face, making up her mind.

Carefully releasing Liu Heng and letting him lie down, Lin Yuqiao ran out of the cave in the pouring rain.

Afraid of getting lost, she carefully made marks as she walked. Her clothes were soaked through, each layer feeling incredibly heavy, making it hard for her to breathe, and the cold wind chilled her to the bone.

She dared not go far. She searched everywhere nearby, but there was no firewood to start a fire, nor any wild fruit to fill her stomach. She only found a clump of lush wild grass and vegetables under a tree.

Lin Yuqiao had already walked past a clump of wild vegetables when she suddenly stopped, then turned around and went back.

The wild vegetables growing underground looked somewhat familiar, like sorrel.

In modern times, she had seen her at her landlady's house.

What did the old lady say back then?

“You young people don’t understand. Sorrel is a good thing. During the ten years of famine, everyone was starving and survived only by eating sorrel. Moreover, its leaves can reduce fever. Back then, when there was a lack of medical care, this folk remedy could save lives.”

At that time, she was ignorant and fearless, and didn't take the old lady's words seriously. A cold and fever is nothing to worry about; it's just an aspirin. Who would go around digging for wild vegetables?

Now, it really came in handy. Lin Yuqiao squatted down and carefully examined the wild vegetables on the ground.

The tender, green wild vegetables, washed clean by the rain, swayed gently in the breeze. Their root-like stems and leaves were short and thick, with numerous fine fibrous roots that were yellow in cross-section. The leaves were oval-shaped and brittle.

Lin Yuqiao dug up a large handful of sorrel, took off her coat, stuffed it inside, and ran back to the cave in the rain.

Fearing she might be mistaken, Lin Yuqiao decided to take a bite first to confirm if it was poisonous.

Holding a leaf of vegetable, she gritted her teeth and shoved it into her mouth. It tasted slightly sour, with a unique plant aroma.

Holding Liu Heng and kissing his cheek, Lin Yuqiao looked at his long eyelashes and said earnestly, "If I die, Liu Heng, you will owe me a life. In the next life, you are not allowed to marry anyone else. You must remain chaste and wait for me."

In the evening, the torrential rain that had raged all day finally stopped. Feeling that she had no adverse symptoms, Lin Yuqiao chewed up two sorrel flowers and fed them to Liu Heng.

Tired, cold, and hungry, Lin Yuqiao couldn't bear it any longer and cuddled up to sleep with Liu Heng.

The bright morning light shone into the cave, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that there was no one around her.

"Liu Heng!"

Lin Yuqiao screamed in panic, not knowing whether he had gotten up on his own or had been taken away.

Did he leave alone?

Lost in thought, Lin Yuqiao stepped out of the cave and saw a figure in green robes walking towards her in the distance.

"Where did you go? I thought you left me behind and ran away!"

She lunged forward and crashed into Liu Heng's arms, tears streaming down her face as she said aggrievedly.

The impact struck her wound squarely, and Liu Heng groaned as he touched her disheveled and dull hair.

"Let's go find something to eat."

Has your fever subsided?

It seems the sorrel is quite effective; Liu Heng is much better than last night, at least he can walk now.

Lin Yuqiao tiptoed to touch his forehead and frowned. His forehead was still burning hot, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"It's okay, let's keep going after we finish eating."

Liu Heng handed her three or five small wild fruits, which they swallowed despite their sourness, and then continued to support each other as they walked deeper into the mountains.

They walked and rested intermittently, enduring hunger and thirst. Lin Yuqiao could feel Liu Heng's hot, rapid breathing, knowing he was forcing himself to keep going. She didn't know what lay ahead; if the end was a sheer cliff, Liu Heng would definitely not be able to make it down the mountain.

"Liu Heng, what exactly happened last night? Who gave everyone laxatives?"

As they walked, Lin Yuqiao remembered her earlier question and asked.

Hearing her call him by his name made Liu Heng feel extremely awkward. Even friends and elders wouldn't address someone by their first name so directly, let alone a spouse.

"This is so rude. How can you address someone by their first name?"

"What should we call each other? Now it's just the two of us, so how about you call me Qiaoqiao and I'll call you Hengheng?"

After saying it, Lin Yuqiao laughed, which sounded like a "humph".

"Let's call him Ziping."

With a helpless smile, Liu Heng revealed his courtesy name.

"Ziping, was it the shopkeeper and his men who did what happened last night?"

"No, it's that girl you brought along. She's quite capable. Is she from the Zhang family?"

When Liu Heng mentioned September, Lin Yuqiao was also surprised. It turned out that September wasn't a stupid girl trying to seduce Liu Heng, but a spy.

"She said she was from the Zhang family. After she redeemed herself, she signed a contract of servitude and followed me. What did she do in September? Last night, I was angry with her for not knowing her place, so I went to serve her in the back."

It was she who had sent September along, and someone had taken advantage of the situation. Lin Yuqiao lowered her head, feeling uneasy.

Noticing her expression, Liu Heng squeezed her shoulder. "It's none of your business, don't worry. Even without you, they would have found another way to let people in. Besides, Peng Mo saw Jiu Yue walking towards the front yard earlier, so he locked her up. Otherwise, only half of the people would have been drugged, leaving us with this glimmer of hope."

"What's wrong? The food? Or the tea?"

Lin Yuqiao was puzzled as to why only a little over half of the people were infected.

"It was in the wine. She kept going back and forth to the front yard under the pretext of helping the waiter serve wine. She drugged the wine pots she touched. Before the other wine pots were finished, Pengmo discovered her. Seeing her lingering in the front yard under the pretext of doing something wrong, he ordered someone to take her away and lock her up. There were also some people who didn't drink."

"Thanks to Pengmo, it must have been Jiuyue who wanted to lure you into an assassination attempt. When one plan failed, she came up with another. I wonder what happened to the others."

Her last words silenced Liu Heng. The inkstone, the sword, and the flute were all people he had personally trained and who had served him for so many years. Now, the inkstone was likely to perish here.

As night fell, they persevered and reached the deepest part of this rarely visited, dense mountain forest.

Leaning against a thick tree to rest, Liu Heng was completely unable to move once he stopped. Lin Yuqiao looked at him and knew that he could no longer walk, and to make matters worse, he had developed a fever again.

"Qiaoqiao, I'm sorry for what happened before. All that you asked for, and all that I could give you, is here."

While he still had the strength to speak, Liu Heng took her hand and placed it over his heart.

He had never felt he had wronged anyone before, always acting with a clear conscience. But now, because his heart had changed, after giving his heart away, he couldn't help but feel that he had indeed been too harsh on Qiao Qiao. Her request wasn't wrong in itself; it was just that he hadn't dared to accept it.

Upon hearing Liu Heng's words, Lin Yuqiao was stunned for a moment, then burst into tears of joy.

Is this a confession of love?

Under such circumstances, the sudden feeling of happiness was enough to overwhelm all her worries and fears, and she finally felt like she had made it through.

The past is no longer worth dwelling on. Lin Yuqiao desperately wants to find a way to survive, to live with him, and to live a new life called "the future".

Just as she was hugging Liu Heng, crying and laughing, she suddenly heard faint singing coming from afar.

"Get up early on the first day of the lunar new year to visit my husband"

My son is sick and sleeps on his gums.

Going to see my lover with rice in my pocket

Left hand holding my lover's hand, but he doesn't respond.

Right hand holding my lover's hand, but I don't taste it.

I then asked Lang what he wanted to eat.

Lang agreed: I don't want any of the most delicious food.

I just want to shake hands until dawn.

On the second day of the lunar month, she said, "I'm going to see my lover..."