Li Hua placed her hands on the table, not even letting the person who came to report stand up. After figuring out the cause and effect, she began to chuckle softly.

The voice initially sounded pleasant, but it quickly became lower and hoarse, like a cuckoo weeping blood or a rotting crow.

"Hahahaha...hahahaha...hahaha..."

Li Hua smiled, but tears streamed down her face like broken beads from her bloodshot, cold eyes.

It's over.

Everything is over.

It was completely over between him and Gan Qiongying.

She discovered his true colors and, as expected, couldn't accept them at all. Just as Li Hua had imagined, things had gone too far, and she refused to have him anymore.

She couldn't wait to send everyone away, not daring to leave a single person under his watchful eye. She was probably terrified that she might cruelly kill them all.

Li Hua laughed uncontrollably, laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

Li Hua laughed so hard she collapsed onto the table, letting out a mournful wail that sounded like a mix of crying and laughing. In the empty princess's residence, it sounded so desolate and tragic.

He carefully protected it, gave it his all, and all his longing, his love, and his sincerity have now all come to naught.

The person who promised to stay with him for life, to travel all over the country, the person who promised to give him a home, the person who would be with him no matter what, abandoned him once again.

It's happening again.

This wasn't the first time Li Hua had been abandoned; he had been abandoned since birth.

No matter how hard he tried, no matter how cautious he was, no matter how selflessly he wanted to dedicate everything, he was still abandoned.

Even the reasons were similar: his biological parents abandoned him because he wasn't strong enough.

Gan Qiongying abandoned him because he... was not what she had imagined.

"Hahahaha..." Li Hua's laughter was more like crying, because he was not what she had imagined!

Li Hua clutched the thin sheet of paper—the one he used to deceive and delay—and slammed it hard against the table.

Because of him... because he wanted to use Jinchuan's power, he killed people and was no longer the weak and incompetent businessman she liked and protected.

Li Hua was in tears. He raised his head, his expression a twisted mix of crying and laughing.

But why doesn't she consider that if he were really just a simple businessman, if he were really weak and incompetent, how could Jin Chuan have pushed him in front of her and made him marry her?

How could someone who has been abandoned, hunted, wandered the world, and lived with such a crippled body until now?

Li Hua clearly intended to confess... He planned to tell Gan Qiongying everything once tonight's events were resolved.

Why can't we wait for him a little longer?

Why... why does her love always come so suddenly?

She suddenly became interested in him, but now, after witnessing him kill someone, she suddenly feels completely disgusted with him and refuses to give him a chance to explain.

Li Hua knew very well that if he obediently returned to the Prince Consort's residence and waited as Gan Qiongying had instructed in her letter, he would never catch up with her again.

Gan Qiongying is so clever. Once she escapes Yindu, she will have a way to hide her appearance, a method even taught to her personally by Li Hua... Li Hua will never be able to find her again in this lifetime.

She and her brother would stay away from power and the terrible oppression of imperial authority, and from then on fly freely among humans.

He wasn't there.

Don't take him.

I don't need him anymore.

Li Hua unfolded the letter again and looked at it over and over again until her tears blurred the words on it.

Li Hua reached out in vain, trying to wipe away the tears to prevent the writing from blurring and disappearing, but accidentally tore the paper...

Li Hua's heart is like this crumpled piece of paper, soaked with tears. It looks intact, but it will fall apart at the slightest touch.

He simply couldn't believe that he had been given up on so easily.

His life was like an absurd drama. He was killed by his own parents for being smaller than him at birth, and he survived by sheer luck but was left with a lifelong disability.

The woman who truly loves and cherishes him only loves his facade; she abandons him completely the moment he reveals a glimpse of his true self.

Why?

Gan Qiongying acted as if she loved him so much. The sweet words she uttered when she held him, the tender look in her eyes as she gazed at him, and the way she moaned and writhed beneath him, as if she wanted to become one with his soul.

Was it all a lie?

How could it be fake...?

How could everything be so fragile, like dust in the wind, that it would dissipate with a single breath?

So what about all that time they spent together, promising to stay together forever and never leave each other? What does everything between them mean?

It's not even as resilient as this sheet of paper soaked in tears.

Suddenly, Li Hua grabbed the paper and tore it to shreds like a madwoman.

The paper crumbled into several pieces in his hand. Li Hua stood beside the table and slowly raised his eyes.

The pain, the warmth, and the despair in his eyes all vanished in the blink of an eye.

He looked at the subordinate who remained kneeling before him, and the earlier madness, crying, and screaming all came to an abrupt end, like the final act of a play.

When he spoke again, even his voice was steady: "Notify Sanjiu to mobilize everyone he can to find all the carriages, caravans, even pedestrians and refugees that left the city tonight. Go after them! Don't look at their faces, just find a pair of people, one slender and one tall. Once you find them, detain them and bring them back."

"Yes!" The subordinate acknowledged the order and quickly disappeared into the room.

Li Hua stood by the table and reached out to touch the flickering lamplight.

He seemed oblivious to the pain, his fingers lingering on the fire for a long time until the smell of burning wafted out, at which point he seemed to finally find complete peace amidst the agony.

Gan Qiongying abandoned him.

She abandoned him without hesitation.

She left this letter hoping to trick him into letting her leave...

Li Hua couldn't just let her go like that. In her whole life, there was nothing she couldn't get—nothing she wanted to do, no path she wanted to take, no matter what she wanted to achieve.

He could hide his true self for Gan Qiongying for his entire life; he could even wear a mask and act as someone else to please her.

He could be his brother's substitute, he would do anything... but he could never let her go.

She promised to give him a home, and she said she loved him. She said it herself. Li Hua never forced her. How could she take back the love she had given him?

Li Hua wouldn't allow her to take it back.

How could she leave? How could she leave alone?

They promised to walk together, they promised to be together for life.

Even if we die, we'll die together.

Li Hua raised his sleeve and flicked it, causing the lamp on the table to fall over. A pool of bright red candle wax spread across the table, just like Li Hua's own heart, which had slumped and melted, never to be reconstituted.

The enlarged flames leaped and danced, reflecting on Li Hua's twisted and crazed face, so handsome yet so terrifying.

The fallen candle could not continue burning. Soon the flame grew weaker and weaker until it became the size of a bean, no longer able to reflect a person's image, until it was completely extinguished in the wax and turned into a wisp of smoke.

Li Hua's face also disappeared completely into the darkness; he did not light a lamp.

He stood there, like a lifeless stone statue.

He stood quietly for a long time before finally moving. After leaving the princess's residence, he mounted his horse and headed straight for Zhongli Zhengzhen's mansion.

He urgently needs manpower and must find a way to mobilize Zhongli Zhengzhen's private army, which is hidden outside the city for any eventuality.

If he doesn't agree... Li Hua will make him crawl on the ground from now on!

As long as Gan Qiongying comes back, she can do whatever she wants, as long as she comes back... and take him with her.

At this very moment, in the carriage that had already left the royal hunting grounds and turned onto the official road, and was speeding along the official road towards Qingshan Temple outside the city, Gan Qiongying looked at the pitch-black night outside and felt inexplicably depressed.

When they finally arrived at the foot of Qingshan Temple, Gan Qiongying and Gan Lin helped each other down from the carriage, and something cold landed on her face.

Gan Qiongying looked up and saw the snowflakes falling silently from the sky, both delicate and magnificent.

A snowflake landed right in Gan Qiongying's eye, making her shiver slightly from the cold.

Gan Lin put the hood on her head, and Gan Qiongying then looked away, grabbing Gan Lin and saying, "Quickly tell them to drive the carriage away, let's go up the mountain."

"The road ahead will be fraught with difficulties. The Empress Dowager will soon realize what's happening, and if the Regent can't find us, she'll search frantically for us. Changshengnu, we're back to how we were before..."

They were penniless and had no one to rely on but each other for survival.

The two looked at each other and smiled, both understanding what the other meant.

At this moment, the spoilsport, Physician Xiao, suddenly barged in, carrying a large pile of odds and ends—the luggage of the two of them.

It's like the second brother from the Journey to the West who always carried a shoulder pole.

"Young Miss, Second Young Master, please look at me. Is there anything else you need to take?"