sudden rain

It started raining again at some point. The dust kicked up by the horses' hooves in the mountains collided with the splashing rainwater, turning into a series of rolling pieces of jade.

Xiao Diting sat sideways on the horse's back, following Pei Wenjin's instructions, and tried to lift him up a little so that he could see the pursuers behind him clearly.

The rain soaked her blood-stained hair, washing away some of the bloodstains and revealing her striking eyes.

On the bumpy mountain path through the forest, amidst the interplay of trees, Xiao Diting could only subjectively deduce that there were many people on the other side, like a dark cloud surrounding them from all directions.

Xiao Di heard the muffled sound in Pei Wenjin's voice, so she simply rested her chin on Pei Wenjin's shoulder, her breath swirling around the outline of the commander's ear: "And then?"

Pei Wenjin pulled her back a little, and then fired an extra arrow. The horse was one he had casually requisitioned when he met up with Song Pingzhang, so it was naturally not as good as his own divine steed.

He pulled on the reins in frustration, trying to steer the horse through the mountain path, dodging the cold glint of light that seemed to be hurtling right in his face.

"Reach behind you, there's a quiver with a crossbow inside... not much stuff, Your Highness, take aim."

Xiao Diting laughed out loud in relief, readily doing as instructed, reaching out to hook the arrow and nock it, able to control his aim well without being taught.

She aimed at the nearest assassin, who noticed her intention and was already preparing to defend himself. Xiao Diting smiled coldly and shifted her aim, simply targeting the horse beneath the assassin.

Xiao Diting grinned and then pulled the trigger without hesitation!

The sound of the arrow cutting through the air as it left the bowstring gave her a familiar sense of control. Although the bow and crossbow couldn't compare to modern firearms, it was enough.

She swiftly and decisively dealt with the nearest pursuers, the neighing of horses echoing around them, stimulating the two fleeing individuals. Pei Wenjin, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, asked her, "Why aren't you facing anyone?"

Xiao Diting chuckled: "Horses are not something ordinary families can afford. Besides, we have a limited number of crossbow bolts. It's enough to force them back."

Pei Wenjin spurred his whip to accelerate, and the princess steadily helped him coordinate. He only needed to rush out of the encirclement without any worries and pay attention to the road conditions.

The sound of arrows whistling through the air filled Xiao Diting's ears. Clinging tightly to Pei Wenjin, she could feel his taut muscles rising and falling with the rhythm of his horse's saddle. Her finger rested firmly on the trigger; every arrow fired was a guaranteed kill.

"Left!" Pei Wenjin suddenly shouted.

Without hesitation, Xiao Diting changed the direction of the crossbow bolt, and one of the arrows flew past her hair.

Her eyes flickered slightly as she aimed at the man in black holding a bow from the jolting horse. The moment she pulled the trigger, the man fell from his horse.

"Of course, it's better to deal with the people first, since they have ranged attack capabilities."

She licked her lips, lowered her eyes, and quickly counted the arrows in her quiver. "Only five arrows left... Lord Pei."

Pei Wenjin responded, looking distressed: "We're at our wits' end."

Xiao Diting couldn't help but grumble inwardly, "Even at a time like this, our Commander still has the leisure to chat and laugh." She estimated and pulled the trigger, shooting down another assassin with a drawn bow: "Three left... Well, now it's one. Lord Pei, please have mercy and think of a solution."

"Should I think of a solution?" Pei Wenjin pondered these words for a moment, and finally, as if in resignation, he propped up Xiao Diting's aching arm and pointed it towards the sky.

Xiao Diting was under immense mental tension the whole way. His brain had just recovered from the oppressive feeling of death and hadn't even had a chance to rest before Lord Pei forcibly conscripted it into a state of intense calculation.

At that moment, she simply leaned against Pei Wenjin, letting him manipulate her elbows, and lifted her eyelids, urging softly, "Speed—up—".

Pei Wenjin placed his hand on the back of her hand and pulled the trigger.

"call out!"

The last arrow traced a small parabola in mid-air. Before Xiao Diting could even figure out the reason behind Pei Wenjin's actions, he saw the arrow traverse a crooked path and bloom in mid-air—

The firelight illuminated Xiao Diting's eyes, and his heart felt as if the clouds had parted and the fog had cleared, leaving everything bright and clear.

This arrow was very special. When she picked it up, she felt that it was very light, much lighter than other arrows of the same size. Leaving aside the killing power, an arrow that is too light is lucky if it can even snag the hem of an enemy's clothes within a certain distance.

So she kept this "half-finished product" until the very end, as much as possible.

At first, I thought it was some defective product, but now I realize that Pei Wenjin had prepared everything in advance.

This is a hollow arrow, filled with half a piece of gunpowder. When it leaves the bowstring, it will generate heat through friction and spontaneously combust, making a piercing sound like a rocket.

Before long, amidst the rustling wind, Xiao Di heard a more intense sound of horses' hooves—not from behind, but from around the bend in the mountain path ahead.

The sound initially resembled muffled thunder rolling across the ground, orderly and rhythmic. The embroidered spring knife flashed with a bright, cold light in the rain. Xiao Diting craned his neck to look over, as if he had seen the dawn—the leader was none other than Song Pingzhang and his group, who had been missing for a while!

"Commander!" Song Pingzhang shouted angrily, as if sending some kind of signal, and the rain seemed to fall even harder.

Like a war drum, like a blade.

The arms around her waist tightened suddenly, and Pei Wenjin abruptly reined in his horse and turned it around. Xiao Diting instantly understood his command. As the horse reared up, she saw the man's chin arch sharply: "Gentlemen, listen to my command! We swear to protect the princess with our lives! Anyone who obstructs official business—"

Pei Wenjin hesitated for a moment, then curled his lips into a mocking smile: "Kill without mercy!"

The Imperial Guards' iron cavalry surged past them like a tide. Although there were only about twenty of them, they appeared to be a formidable force and well-trained.

Xiao Diting was held by the back of her neck and protected against her chest by Pei Wenjin. The sound of metal clashing was incessant. A stray arrow grazed the saddle and embedded itself in the ground. She reflexively reached for her quiver, but found nothing.

The air was thick with an unsettling stench of blood, but the Imperial Guards rode through it with ease, their blades flashing and the rain washing away the bloodstains.

Completely different from the situation where he was being overwhelmed in the post station, Ji Chuan, who was at a slight disadvantage, moved nimbly among them and dealt with the assassins surrounding him in a few swift moves, as if cutting vegetables.

"Watch me closely."

Pei Wenjin's voice, mixed with the smell of blood, entered her ears. Xiao Diting came to her senses slightly. Pei Wenjin was satisfied with the reins, and his other hand had already drawn the Embroidered Spring Blade again, looking ready to strike.

Rainwater rolled down the blade as an assassin broke through the defenses and pounced. Pei Wenjin raised his blade high; the imperial sword was no mere decoration, it was incredibly sharp—blood splattered onto half of Pei Wenjin's sleeve, but he casually swerved the blade to avoid getting Xiao Diting on it.

"Lower your head!"

The instant she instinctively bent down, Song Pingzhang's arrow grazed the top of her hair, pinning the attacker to a tree trunk three steps away.

More and more Imperial Guards worked together seamlessly, gradually seizing the initiative. The assassins' formation began to crumble, and a short, sharp whistle blew from afar, which Pei Wenjin keenly caught.

"No need to pursue them too far!" Pei Wenjin still had someone in his arms, and that was an extremely precious master. He tried his best to avoid the assassins and moved to the edge of their encirclement.

Upon receiving the order, Song Pingzhang's first reaction was to ride his horse close to one of the assassins' horses and throw him off.

By this time, most of the assassins had retreated. He simply grabbed the assassin's neck with his whip, and with the momentum of the horse's charge, the man was dragged and thrown into a group of Imperial Guards.

The smell of blood grew stronger and stronger, so strong that even the rain couldn't dispel it.

Pei Wenjin leisurely rode his horse around nearby, maintaining a certain distance for Xiao Diting's safety.

The Northern Garrison Commander, who seemed the most approachable member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, now had a frosty expression. He dismounted, dislocated the prisoner's jaw in a few swift movements, and then struck his kneecap with the back of his blade.

The prisoners were powerless to resist and screamed incoherently.

This efficient and ruthless style of operation made her belatedly realize that this was the real Embroidered Uniform Guard, the fangs that Pei Wenjin had deliberately hidden.

Xiao Diting knew that the previous arrest at the restaurant was just a joke, and that the other party had deliberately let her off the hook because they were afraid of really hurting her.

With these thoughts in mind, Xiao Diting couldn't help but feel that Pei Wenjin was burning hot. The rain had soaked through their clothes, and their body heat seeped through the fabric little by little. Xiao Diting moved away imperceptibly.

Pei Wenjin raised an eyebrow, suddenly released the hilt of his sword, and sheathed it. His blood-stained fingertips dangled in front of her eyes, and finally he simply rubbed her shoulder lightly: "If you keep dodging, you'll fall."

He spoke very softly, just enough for Xiao Diting to hear. Xiao Diting suddenly felt embarrassed, and slightly shifted her gaze to Song Pingzhang. She pondered for a while before speaking: "...That's against the rules."

Pei Wenjin sneered: "You actually have a day when you say something is against the rules? I've never seen anything like it before."

Xiao Diting didn't respond. She looked around and saw corpses scattered throughout the forest, a sight that was hard to bear.

Amidst a multitude of thoughts, she found her own voice: "Should we consult Father Emperor about today's matter?"

"No need." Pei Wenjin lowered his eyes, his expression unreadable. "Someone will handle it—"

Before he could finish speaking, the sound of a mechanism suddenly came from the woods.

Xiao Diting's pupils shrank suddenly—twenty paces away, in the pile of corpses, an assassin who was pretending to be dead was raising his crossbow!

Time seemed to stretch out.

She saw a crossbow bolt hurtling through the air, and faster than her reaction, she grabbed Pei Wenjin's shoulder and pulled him to the side—

"Clang!"

Sparks flew as Ji Chuan's Embroidered Spring Blade cleaved through the air, slashing down the crossbow bolts, while arrows from two other Imperial Guards pierced the throats of the attackers.

Xiao Diting touched the ground with her toes; she landed sideways and only needed to absorb the impact to regain her balance, but Pei Wenjin could not.

Faced with this sudden turn of events, Xiao Diting had no choice but to pull the man off his horse and kindly act as a human cushion.

Xiao Diting gasped as his back slammed into a muddy puddle.

She looked at Pei Wenjin's face, which was so close to hers, his hair hanging down her neck, damp and making her feel a little cold: "You hurt me."

She began to complain vaguely.

Pei Wenjin suddenly laughed, a crack appearing on his face, revealing more obscure emotions: "I didn't ask you to meddle in other people's business."

The Imperial Guards rushed forward and pulled their superior and the princess up. Xiao Diting, supporting Ji Chuan's arm guards, barely managed to stand up when suddenly everything went black, his knees went weak, and he collapsed to his knees.

Before the expected pain could even reach her, she was lifted up in familiar arms once again.

Himekawa's shouts sounded very distant in the rain and mist, but one person's voice was particularly clear.

Consider it something I owe you.

That was Pei Wenjin's inner voice.

The relentless pursuit eroded Xiao Diting's last shred of clarity, leaving her completely defenseless and at the mercy of the man, while she herself fell into a coma.

The rain showed no signs of stopping. Pei Wenjin picked up the Third Princess and found that the person in his arms was not heavy. He checked her over and over again and confirmed that Xiao Diting had no obvious external injuries. She must have just collapsed from exhaustion.

The chaos just now not only affected Xiao Diting, but also silenced the prisoner captured by Song Pingzhang.

“My lord,” Song Pingzhang’s voice drew Pei Wenjin’s attention, “we should find a place to take shelter from the rain.”

Pei Wenjin looked down at the unconscious person in his arms. If it weren't for her unconsciously clutching the fabric on his shoulder, she would have looked completely lifeless.

Pei Wenjin accepted the raincoat sent by Song Pingzhang. Song Pingzhang wisely refrained from looking at it inappropriately, showing no surprise at all.

Pei Wenjin carefully wrapped Xiao Diting up tightly, and couldn't help but feel anxious—

"Walk!"