Mu Zhuohua suddenly remembered a rumor.

Prince Ding was twenty-six years old, unmarried, and not interested in women. It was said that he was injured on the battlefield.

She thought the rumor was true. After all, her father said that there was no man who was not romantic and lustful, unless he was not a man.

So what was pressing against her now?

Ahhhh, it moved...

Mu Zhuohua's attention had now completely shifted from the man in black to the stick under her. Her temples were throbbing and her whole body was about to burn.

A sound of footsteps ran under the tree. Liu Yan breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly realized the tightness and heat of Mu Zhuohua in his arms.

Liu Yan leaned over and whispered in her ear: "Relax, they're gone."

Mu Zhuohua thought, how could I relax, you are in more danger!

Liu Yan noticed that Mu Zhuohua's cheeks were hot, and touched her face, thinking that she had a cold and fever.

Mu Zhuohua felt Liu Yan's slightly cool hand brushing her cheek, and her pupils shrank immediately - beast!

She subconsciously turned her face away and pushed Liu Yan away in resistance, but this slight movement made the branches that could not bear the weight make a clear sound - "crack"!

The man in black who was not far away stopped and ran back quickly.

Liu Yan was startled and reached out to grab Mu Zhuohua who was falling. The two fell from the treetops. Fortunately, Liu Yan hugged Mu Zhuohua's waist and they were not injured.

The two men in black had already come in front of them, holding up long swords and slashing at the two.

Liu Yan pushed Mu Zhuohua behind him and raised a hidden weapon to aim at the two.

"Don't move!"

Mu Zhuohua stood behind Liu Yan and saw what Liu Yan was holding in his hand. It was a golden tube that looked long and hard...

Mu Zhuohua suddenly realized what was pressing against him before. His head was confused for a moment, and indescribable emotions flowed in his heart. He couldn't help but feel guilty towards Liu Yan.

Alas, it was my dirty thoughts.

The two men in black stood there, looking at each other at the unfamiliar weapon in Liu Yan's hand, not knowing what to do for a moment.

Liu Yan said coldly: "This is the Torrential Pear Blossom Needle."

Mu Zhuohua widened his eyes, wanting to take a closer look at this legendary king of hidden weapons.

The two men in black were even more afraid to move after hearing this. Legend has it that the Torrential Pear Blossom Needle can kill a large number of people with one shot of a thousand needles.

Liu Yan held the syringe in his right hand and blocked Mu Zhuohua with his left hand. The men in black stared at Liu Yan's right hand, but did not see Liu Yan make any moves. Then they saw the two men in black fell to the ground one after another without even making a sound, and died.

Mu Zhuohua took a breath and lowered his voice to ask: "The rain of pear blossom needles, invisible and silent?"

Liu Yan breathed a sigh of relief and smiled: "What kind of rain of pear blossom needles are there? They are fooling them."

Mu Zhuohua looked at the syringe suspiciously, and then looked at the bodies on the ground: "Then how did they die?"

Liu Yan stretched out his left hand in front of Mu Zhuohua. Mu Zhuohua looked carefully and saw that his palm was white, his five fingers were slender and strong, and he wore a ring on his ring finger. It was neither gold nor jade, but no one knew what it was made of.

"This ring is a mechanism?" Mu Zhuohua saw the hole on the ring and suddenly realized.

"After I injured myself, I only have 10% of my strength left and I am unable to protect myself. So my royal brother commissioned the Tang Sect to develop a hidden weapon for me. This is one of them, named Meteor Thousand Changes, and it contains the wandering needle." Liu Yan retracted his left hand and raised the weapon in his right hand again, "This is another weapon called a musket."

Mu Zhuohua was puzzled and asked, "Why doesn't Your Highness use a musket to kill them?"

Liu Yan said, "Although the musket has great lethality, it can only fire one shot at a time. It takes ten breaths to reload, which is enough time for another person to kill us. Moreover, the musket makes too much noise and will attract other people."

Mu Zhuohua suddenly realized, "So Your Highness first scares them with the musket that looks intimidating, and then kills them with the Meteor Thousand Changes in his left hand while their attention is diverted to his right hand."

Liu Yan smiled and nodded.

Mu Zhuohua looked at the musket with a strange expression and muttered, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I thought..."

Liu Yan didn't hear clearly and asked, "What did you say?"

Mu Zhuohua said seriously, "I mean, if these two people don't go back, it will definitely arouse other people's suspicion. We must move immediately."

Liu Yan nodded and said, "I think so too. Can you still leave?"

Mu Zhuohua smiled bitterly and said, "Either leave or die. If you can't, you have to be able to leave."

Liu Yan took Mu Zhuohua through the forest and walked towards Dingjing until dawn, and then arrived at a relatively safe place.

"We are still half a day's walk from the nearest town." Liu Yan said.

Mu Zhuohua sat on the ground listlessly, her face pale. Liu Yan leaned down and touched her forehead - she really had a fever.

Liu Yan frowned, seeing her pitiful appearance, thinking that she was innocently involved, he couldn't help but soften his heart, picked a leaf, and drew some clear mountain spring water to feed her.

Mu Zhuohua drank the water and said in a hoarse voice: "The water should be boiled before drinking, otherwise it will be bad for your health."

Liu Yan choked and did not know whether to laugh or cry: "On the way to escape, we can only make do with it."

Mu Zhuohua looked at Liu Yan with tears in his eyes: "I can't make it in time for the

imperial examination, what should I do?" Liu Yan comforted him: "It's still in time." Mu

Zhuohua sobbed and said: "I can't walk anymore...

" Liu Yan sighed, knelt down on his knees, and said: "I'll carry you." Mu Zhuohua blinked and looked at Liu Yan suspiciously: "You are the prince."

Liu Yan said: "Come on up quickly, since I promised to let you catch up with the imperial examination, I will not break my promise."

Mu Zhuohua hesitated for less than a breath, then climbed onto Liu Yan's back.

Liu Yan held up Mu Zhuohua's knees, and felt light on his back, without any weight. Liu Yan then remembered that Mu Zhuohua was not very old, not very tall, and small, like a half-grown child.

Liu Yan asked, "Are you really eighteen?"

Mu Zhuohua sniffed and said in a muffled voice, "Yes."

Liu Yan said, "I thought the information was wrong. You look only fifteen or sixteen."

Mu Zhuohua said pitifully, "My biological mother died early, and no one loved me. They all bullied me because I was a concubine's daughter and didn't let me eat enough, so I grew up thin and small."

Liu Yan laughed. With the wealth and power of the Mu family, they would not treat a daughter harshly in terms of food. Mu Zhuohua's words were always half true and half false.

Mu Zhuohua put her arms around Liu Yan's back. Seeing that his hair was black and long, she couldn't help but touch it a few times. It felt like satin. She carefully brushed his long hair and pushed it to one side.

"Your Highness, your hair is so beautiful." Mu Zhuohua flattered sincerely and quietly wiped her snot on the other side.

Liu Yan felt her rubbing against his shoulder. She spoke with a nasal tone when she was sick, which was soft and pitiful, and he couldn't help but soften his heart.

"You sleep for a while. I'll wake you up when we get to the town." Liu Yan said gently.

Mu Zhuohua was also very tired. She said "hmm" with a thick nasal tone, and then fell asleep with her head on Liu Yan's shoulder.

The weight on her back sank slightly, and she heard the unsmooth breathing sound in her ears. Liu Yan knew that Mu Zhuohua was asleep.

He turned his head to look, and only saw the skin that was slightly red and hot due to the fever, long and thick eyelashes that covered her eyes like crow wings, and a red nose, looking pitiful.

In fact, when she was asleep, she looked very pitiful. When she was awake, her little mouth was chattering, which made people angry and funny. She had an innocent and honest face, but why was she so cunning?

By the time Liu Yan found the nearest inn and settled down, it was already late. Mu Zhuohua's condition worsened again, his forehead was burning, and he started talking nonsense. Liu Yan quickly asked someone to find the best doctor, and after paying some money, the waiter ran very fast and brought the doctor in a short while.

The doctor took a look and said that it was an evil wind that had entered the body, excessive shock, and physical exhaustion. He prescribed some external and internal medicines, gave a few more instructions, and asked the waiter to go and get the medicine.

Liu Yan asked the innkeeper's wife to buy some clothes for Mu Zhuohua to change and wash, and applied medicine. Only then did he know that Mu Zhuohua had different degrees of abrasions on the inside of both legs, probably caused by riding a horse.

Liu Yan gave a signal, and estimated that his men would be able to find them soon, so he returned to the room to look after Mu Zhuohua.

The landlady fed Mu Zhuohua some medicine and covered her with a quilt to make her sweat. After a while,

Mu Zhuohua kicked off the quilt in sweat. Liu Yan had to sit by the bed and cover her with a quilt, and asked someone to get some hot water to wipe her sweat. Mu Zhuohua's sleeping posture was as dishonest as she was. In addition, she was uncomfortable with her illness. She groaned in a daze, tossed and turned on the narrow bed, and occasionally raised her legs to kick off the quilt, revealing a thin and white calf. Liu Yan put the quilt on her legs again. She frowned and twisted, then raised her hand to pull her collar, revealing her slender and beautiful neck. The soft black hair stuck to her cheeks and neck because of sweating. The sticky and itchy feeling made her raise her hand to scratch it. Her skin was delicate to begin with, and a light scratch left a red mark on her milky white skin. Liu Yan wrung out a cotton towel and wiped the sweat off her forehead. His eyes swept over the sweaty skin at her collar. He felt something was wrong, but as a temporary measure, he helped her wipe it and then quickly buttoned the collar.

Liu Yan was a prince and had never taken care of anyone like this in his life. He was just thinking that Mu Zhuohua was also sick because of him, so he was more patient with her. What's more, Mu Zhuohua was young and looked even weaker and more pitiful when she was sick. He couldn't help but feel more distressed and soft-hearted when he saw her.

This went on until midnight, and Mu Zhuohua finally slept soundly and her fever subsided.

Liu Yan hadn't slept for two days and one night, and finally couldn't hold on any longer and closed his eyes beside Mu Zhuohua.

Mu Zhuohua woke up in the middle of the night and saw Liu Yan's handsome face in front of her.

Her first reaction was to shrink back, widen her eyes, and grab the quilt to make sure her chastity was fine.

No, no, I can't be so dirty-minded. From the current point of view, Liu Yan may have been injured in that aspect as rumored...

Mu Zhuohua quickly calmed down, looked around, and confirmed that she had arrived at a safe place. There was a basin of water next to the bed with a towel in the water. Mu Zhuohua thought about it and was a little bit unbelievable. Could it be that the prince condescended to take care of her?

The face was too big...

Mu Zhuohua looked at Liu Yan's sleeping face with mixed feelings. The royal family has married the most beautiful people from generation to generation, so naturally there has been no ugly person from generation to generation. Liu Yan is even more extraordinary, like a majestic jade mountain, a standout green pine, elegant manners, and a noble status. What's more rare is that he doesn't have any airs, which is completely different from the arrogant and cruel rumors. Although she has always claimed to be his person, Mu Zhuohua knew that it was just her words to fool him. Before, I was fawning on Prince Ding because I believed that the eldest prince Liu Chen was the only candidate for the next emperor, and Prince Ding was a member of the eldest prince's family. Following Prince Ding, I was on the right side. Now I accidentally heard the royal family secrets. Emperor Zhaoming was most likely the mastermind behind the murder of Liu Yan. But Prince Ding was soft-hearted and had unrealistic fantasies about brotherhood. If I followed such a person, I would probably be implicated to death...

If Emperor Zhaoming was worried about raising a tiger to cause trouble, he would definitely do whatever it took to eliminate this hidden danger for the eldest prince before he died. Should I change my ways and choose another good tree?

If Liu Yan had abandoned her in the woods at that time, she would have turned around and betrayed Liu Yan without hesitation, but Liu Yan never left her, and he carried her for such a long way and took care of her personally...

Mu Zhuohua patted her face and shouted silently: Woman, your name is soft-hearted...

Liu Yan was finally awakened by the noise, and slowly opened his eyes and looked at Mu Zhuohua, staring at Mu Zhuohua with misty eyes, making Mu Zhuohua's heart skip a beat - he shouldn't have noticed that she wanted to betray him.

Liu Yan coughed lightly and asked, "Are you feeling better? Are you hungry? I'll ask someone to bring some porridge."

Mu Zhuohua nodded.

Liu Yan got up, pushed open the door and shouted twice, and a waiter came forward to greet him attentively. Liu Yan gave a few instructions, and the waiter ran downstairs again.

Mu Zhuohua asked, "What time is it?"

Liu Yan said, "It's three o'clock in the morning."

Mu Zhuohua frowned and said, "Tomorrow is the imperial examination."

Liu Yan said, "I have asked people to prepare the carriage. We will set off at dawn. I have also asked people to prepare the things needed for the examination."

Mu Zhuohua huddled in the quilt and looked at Liu Yan aggrievedly: "Your Majesty, what if I fail the exam?"

Liu Yan said seriously, "You are still young. It is normal for you to fail the exam. You can come back in three years."

Mu Zhuohua snorted coldly and frowned.

"Your Majesty, have you heard of a folk legend about Xu Xian and White Snake?"

Liu Yan said, "I have heard of it."

Mu Zhuohua said, "Your Majesty, have you heard of a legend about Mr. Dongguo and the wolf?"

Liu Yan said, "I have heard of it."

Mu Zhuohua snorted, "Your Majesty, you understand one thing. Saving people will not end well."

Liu Yan couldn't help but chuckled, "If you fail the exam, I will support you for three years."

Mu Zhuohua was sulking, "What if you fail the exam for a lifetime?"

Liu Yan said, "It's okay to support you for a lifetime."

Mu Zhuohua was stunned for a moment and looked at Liu Yan straight.