"Your Majesty?" Bilian looked at the dark-skinned Guan Zhiyue and called out uncertainly.

Guan Zhiyue, with a pained expression, looked at the crowd that had gathered around her and said, "Bilian, I've finally seen you."

"Help!!!"

Guan Zhiyue's entire face was white except for her teeth, and her hair was all frizzy. Li Qiji, standing next to her, wasn't much better off; his once handsome face was now as black as charcoal.

Su Xu and Guan Chengzhuo ran over and saw the two of them looking like this. They really wanted to laugh, but the occasion was inappropriate!

The person they had been searching for for five days suddenly appeared today; it's simply unbelievable.

"Your Majesty, where are you going!"

We've all been looking for you for so long!

"Are you in pain?"

Bilian quickly helped Guan Zhiyue up, and Jiwu also helped Li Qiji up.

Guan Chengzhuo stepped forward, carried Guan Zhiyue on his back, and said with a pained expression, "Yue'er, it's my fault for not taking good care of you. You've suffered these past few days."

Guan Zhiyue nestled against Guan Chengzhuo's broad back, feeling warm and cozy inside; it was incredibly comfortable.

"Brother, don't worry, the Emperor and I are both fine."

“We fell down the mountain and got stuck in the tree. There were also a lot of men in black that night, so we didn’t dare to move or make a sound. We could only tie ourselves to the tree with our belts at the top.”

"To prevent falling from the tree while asleep."

"On the second night, we finally slid down from the tree, but there were people everywhere, people we didn't know, so we had to avoid you and hide here and there."

When Guan Zhiyue said these words, she looked at everyone's reactions and breathed a slight sigh of relief when she saw that no one said anything.

Li Qiji didn't speak at the moment because it hurt too much, like being struck by lightning, and his whole body felt numb and tingly.

Fortunately, he managed to avoid it and didn't take the full force, otherwise he would probably be a rock-hard corpse by now.

Anyone who says lightning can't kill you, step forward! I'll let you get struck by lightning and see what happens!

——

"Your Majesty, you have no idea how hard I've searched for you these past few days. I was afraid I would never see you again."

“This servant prays to the gods every day, hoping that Buddha can hear my prayers and that Your Majesty can find it soon.”

"But it took five days to get there. Fortunately, by the grace of God, Your Majesty, you have finally found it."

Bilian followed Guan Chengzhuo, rubbing her small eyes, and chattered to Guan Zhiyue all the way about how they had been searching for the two of them.

In her heart, Guan Zhiyue apologized to these people, saying that they had worked too hard.

"Bilian, don't cry. We're back safely, and we'll never leave you again!"

A group of people returned to Matuan Town. Many people in the town had been killed by that group of men in black. Now there are very few villagers left in the town. The original villagers all felt that the town was unlucky and left one after another.

Those who remain are mostly elderly people who are unwilling to move. They have lived in this place for generations and certainly do not want to leave.

"Your Majesty, how are you feeling?" Ji Wu brought Li Qiji a cup of water, made him drink it, and then cautiously asked.

Li Qiji nodded, inwardly complaining, "As expected, the spiritual spring water in the space is much better than the Empress's!"

"I am fine! I'm just a little hungry. Just have someone bring some food for me and the Empress."

"Shall I fetch a doctor to examine you and the Empress?"

"No need, I'm perfectly healthy. Just have someone go and check on the Empress!" Li Qiji refused. He didn't want a doctor to see him; if they found something wrong, he would be in even more trouble.

He hadn't figured out how to cover up his lie yet! How could he convince the doctor that he wasn't injured? That would only make things worse.

"Your Majesty, your health is of utmost importance! I have been sending people to search for you these past few days, but we have searched the entire mountain, and we still could not find you and the Empress. Now that you have finally returned, it would be best to have a doctor examine you!"

Ji Wu continued to persuade him, saying that although he didn't know why his emperor refused to see a doctor, he could imagine that the emperor must have been injured this time.

Because they saw bloodstains along the way, he concluded that one of the two must have been injured.

Li Qiji didn't know what else to say, so he said instead, "Prepare water for my bath first. I'm not in the right state to see a doctor right now, so you should go and wash up too!"

"Thank you for your hard work these past few days. Everything is settled now, we can talk about it later!"

Li Qiji dismissed the person, and Guan Zhiyue asked Bilian for bathwater. She was originally smelling nice, but Lei had ruined her like this.

Recalling the thunder just now, Li Qiji pushed himself away a distance, and the lightning only affected him a little. If it was just a little, he was already like this. If it had hit him all over, he would have been dead.

When Guan Zhiyue thought of this, she felt extremely terrified!

This is absolutely terrifying! But how can I cover this up? My explanation just now definitely doesn't hold up to scrutiny. It seems I'll have to rely on Li Qiji to solve this problem.

Bilian looked at Guan Zhiyue, who was lying on the edge of the bathtub, lost in thought, and felt a little melancholy. What was wrong with her empress? Had she been struck by lightning and gone mad?

"Your Majesty, what are you thinking about?"

"Your Majesty~"

"Your Majesty, what are you thinking about? You seem so engrossed in your thoughts."

Bilian called out three times before Guan Zhiyue finally came to her senses.

"Ah, oh, no, I was just thinking about what we've been through these past few days, and who sent those men in black. Were they there to kill the Emperor, or to kill me?"

“These days, the Emperor and I have been hiding. We have seen people all over the mountains and fields, but we don’t know if they are good or bad. We dare not show our faces for fear of being caught by bad guys.”

Guan Zhiyue lied without thinking, reciting lines she had already practiced several times in her online space.

"Later, we found out that after you searched for the place where we fell off the cliff, no one went to look for it anymore. The Emperor said that the most dangerous place is the safest place, so we went back to the place where we first fell."

"We struggled to climb the tree, but suddenly there was a thunderstorm, and we were struck down by lightning."

"And then, you saw us~~"

Guan Zhiyue lay in the bathtub, while Bilian gently wiped her down, listening to her mother recount how the past five days had passed.

Tears were streaming down my face!