When Li Hua leaned closer, he himself didn't know what he wanted.

It's unclear whether Gan Qiongying's constant praise made him lose his temper, or whether her repeated confessions and coaxing made him lose his mind.

In short, Li Hua, completely devoid of reason, approached them, her action extremely abrupt, even in the moving and swaying carriage.

Gan Qiongying had no idea what Li Hua was trying to do. As Li Hua suddenly approached, she didn't have time to dodge and just widened her eyes slightly.

However, just as Li Hua reached out and touched Gan Qiongying's cheek, cupping her head and leaning closer, a series of exclamations suddenly came from outside.

Chen Wa's voice was rough and urgent: "Steady the carriage shaft and protect the emperor!"

Gan Qiongying's body was thrown backward by the violent impact of the car, and then crashed straight into Li Hua.

Li Hua reacted quickly, using the hand that was supporting Gan Qiongying's cheek to press down on the back of her neck, pulling her into his arms. The two of them fell onto the carriage seat together.

Then they rolled onto the soft mat together. Li Hua protected Gan Qiongying, holding her head and face firmly, and letting her fall steadily onto him.

With a loud crash, the ice basin overturned.

The icy water spread throughout the carriage, instantly soaking Li Hua's back.

Startled by the coldness, Li Hua instantly snapped out of her daze.

What was he doing just now?

What is he trying to do...?

Li Hua looked at Gan Qiongying, who was climbing off him, and at that moment, his body and heart were chilled to the bone.

"Husband, are you alright?" Gan Qiongying anxiously touched Li Hua's body and asked, "Did you bump into anything?"

Li Hua was too cold, cold to the bone, so cold that he couldn't even open his mouth to answer her question.

"Full Moon, what's going on outside?" Gan Qiongying raised her voice and shouted towards the outside of the carriage.

Just then, Manyue opened the carriage door and said to Gan Qiongying, "Princess, it was Princess Xue'e's carriage that was startled and accidentally collided with our carriage."

Gan Qiongying raised an eyebrow. "Who? Princess Xue'e?"

The female lead?

“That’s right,” Manyue said. “Princess Xue’e’s carriage overturned in a ravine, and the guards have all gone down to rescue her…”

Gan Qiongying remained silent, frowning and racking her brains, but she couldn't figure out what kind of plot this was.

However, she didn't have time to pay attention to that. She grabbed Li Hua's arm and tried to help him up.

He called out to Manyue, "The ice basin has overturned. Someone, bring the prince consort a set of dry clothes."

"Yes." Manyue immediately went to get the clothes.

However, Li Hua did not immediately follow Gan Qiongying's force and let her pull him up.

He lay in the icy water, trying to wake himself up completely.

He recalled the letter he received last night from Zhongli Zhengzhen, who, upon learning that he would be going to Haoyue Villa in Xishan with Gan Qiongying, asked him to meet her when the opportunity arose.

Li Hua read the note and then burned it completely.

But no matter how cleanly it was burned, it couldn't stop him from trying to deliver a message to Zhongli Zhengzhen.

He married her with the intention of using her from the very beginning. No matter how intoxicating their relationship seemed, he was ultimately going to betray her.

She trusted him so much, entrusting him with the management of the entire princess's residence, yet he was about to reveal her entire network of connections to Zhongli Zhengzhen...

Only in this way could his subordinates who had followed him for many years and were detained in Jinchuan continue to live.

Only in this way could he manage to extricate himself after assisting Zhongli Zhengzhen in achieving his goal.

This was something he had planned long ago.

But when the moment came, Li Hua almost lost control.

He actually wanted to... actually wanted to be a real husband and wife with Gan Qiongying, actually wanted to hold her in his arms, to be intimate with her, and to greedily absorb the tenderness and attention he had never received before.

"Husband, husband, what's wrong?"

When Gan Qiongying saw him lying there motionless, she was quite frightened. She kept groping his head, face and shoulders, afraid that he had bumped into something.

Fortunately, although her hands were wet and sticky, it was all water from the melting ice, and there was no terrible bloodstains.

Soon, Manyue came in with her maids, and together they helped Lihua up and cleaned up the mess on the carriage.

Li Hua finally got up. There were no injuries on her body, but her mood was very strange.

Seeing that he was not injured and was changing his clothes with the help of the maids, Gan Qiongying breathed a sigh of relief, assuming that he was just frightened.

Thinking of how he protected her during the car crash, Gan Qiongying felt a slight pang of tenderness in her heart.

Li Hua is really a very good person.

Gan Qiongying took the dry handkerchief from the maid and wrung out his black hair, which was soaked in ice water. She secretly decided that when the plot reached an irreversible point, the iron hooves of Jinchuan were destined to trample into the land of Nanzhao, and the country would be shattered.

Even if she were to take Gan Lin away, she would do everything in her power to save Li Hua's life.

In the story, he died from the humiliation inflicted by Princess Duanrong and from the oppression of the plot. It seems that if he hadn't died, Zhongli would have lacked a valid reason to conquer the land of Nanzhao.

After all, the theme of avenging one's loved ones is always particularly moving in novels.

Gan Qiongying is now of dignified appearance, and she will certainly not let Li Hua lose her life in such a tragic way.

After Li Hua changed her clothes, the noise outside subsided.

Seeing that Li Hua kept his eyes downcast and looked depressed, Gan Qiongying patted his head and said, "Were you frightened?"

Li Hua slowly raised her eyes and looked at Gan Qiongying's genuinely concerned gaze, feeling a deep turmoil in her heart.

His eyes were unreadable. He pursed his lips and said in a low voice, "I was startled."

Gan Qiongying suddenly stepped forward, hugged Li Hua tightly, and patted him firmly, saying, "My husband is so timid, yet he still protected me when the car crashed. I am so touched."

"Then you stay in the car, I'll go down and check."

Li Hua kept his head down until Gan Qiongying got out of the car, his expression still blank from being tightly embraced.

The scales in his heart seemed to have tipped once again because of this simple hug.

Gan Qiongyu had no idea what Li Hua was struggling with.

If she knew, she would definitely tell Li Hua frankly that she didn't care if he betrayed or used her.

Just give me a little extra money.

When Gan Qiongying was helped off the carriage by Manyue, Wen Xueling had already been found in the ravine and was standing at the edge of the woods, surrounded by a large group of maids.

Chen Wa negotiated with Princess Xue'e's attendants. Gan Qiongying overheard a few words and learned that this car crash was a pure traffic accident.

Her expression was flustered, and her originally pure and innocent face was deathly pale, like a pear blossom in full bloom, making her look pitiful.

She was wearing a dusty pink tulle dress, which appeared to have been torn in two places, and the hem of her dress was swaying in the wind, making her look quite disheveled.

Gan Qiongying stood beside her carriage, watching as she was helped by her maid to walk this way, her steps seemingly a little unsteady.

The mountain forest was filled with the chirping of birds in the early morning, and the sunlight streamed through the gaps in the trees, making people squint involuntarily.

As Gan Qiongying saw her approach, she suddenly realized, amidst the dazzling sunlight that made her eyes blurry, that today's incident might not have been a simple traffic accident.

She said that transportation in ancient times was not well developed, vehicles did not travel fast, and the roads were very wide, so it was difficult to have a car accident unless it was intentional.

They were already several miles outside the city, and on this wide official road, it was quite a strange thing that the two groups of people could bump into each other.

This is clearly the effect of a great storyline.

Gan Qiongying vaguely remembered that Princess Xue'e had performed a dance at the birthday banquet of the Grand Princess of Huian, but she fell halfway through the dance.

Then, naturally, a large group of people anxiously gathered around. After the imperial physicians examined and inquired, they learned that Princess Xue'e was hit by Princess Duanrong's carriage on her way to offer birthday greetings.

Later, a maidservant by Princess Xue'e's side risked her life to speak up, asking Grand Princess Huian to do justice for her poor princess, pointing out that Princess Duanrong's crashing into the carriage was intentional!

They wanted to kill her princess by running her over, and also to expose a whole bunch of Duanrong's intestines, which were part of her intention to persecute Princess Xue'e.

Upon closer examination, Duanrong's evil deeds are simply too numerous to recount.

Moreover, every single charge against him was absolutely true, without a trace of injustice.

Although Princess Hui'an was Princess Duanrong's aunt, over the years, she had to clean up Duanrong's messes many times, and the two had little contact and were not close.

The birthday banquet was disrupted in this way, which made me very unhappy and I felt that Duanrong was extremely absurd.

Then he reprimanded Princess Duanrong, making her extremely embarrassed at the birthday banquet.

The subsequent plot naturally involves Duanrong being reprimanded by the only elder she still respects, causing her to feel wronged and sad, and naturally making her hate Princess Xue'e even more.

Then, naturally, she went on another spree of "vicious" behavior with no bottom line or limits, but the vicious female supporting character was bound to end up losing more than she gained.

Ultimately, Duanrong suffered quite a bit at this birthday banquet and accomplished nothing.

Why.

Gan Qiongying felt a pang of heartache when she thought of this.

She felt sorry for Duanrong. She was clearly not a gloomy and wicked person, but she forced herself into that state. It was a helpless act.

Otherwise, how could she have managed to hold out until the country was destroyed and her family perished, and even managed to get her younger brother out of the palace, when the royal family was surrounded by wolves and each of them was acting independently?

Unfortunately, Gan Lin didn't survive in the end.

Gan Qiongying quickly sorted through the plot in her mind and was speechless at the fact that the female lead was the one who bumped into her instead of the female lead herself.

But then she saw Princess Xue'e walking up to her, being supported by her maids. Just as she was about to speak, she immediately preemptively said, "Princess Xue'e, we have no grudges against each other. Under the clear blue sky, why do you want to harm my husband?"