Upon seeing who it was, Sima Rui was so shocked that he was speechless.

Throughout the entire imperial city, not a single member of the royal family or nobles respected Gan Qiongying's husband.

Li Hua has always kept a low profile, never flattering any royal relatives or nobles, and even avoiding competing with them in business.

If Gan Qiongying hadn't taken him to the birthday banquet of the Grand Princess of Hui'an, there would have been very few people in the aristocratic families who even knew Li Hua.

At this very moment, the prince consort, who had never been respected by anyone, led a group of people into the house, directly confronting the regent's men.

Moreover, it was clear that Li Hua was employing a human wave tactic. Once all these people were crammed into the room, even if Regent Sima Rui's men had extraordinary abilities, they simply couldn't raise their arms or wield their swords.

Li Hua looked at Gan Qiongying, who was kneeling at the Regent's feet and holding onto one of his thighs. His eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps echoed down the stairs again, and soon a shrill scream shattered the dangerous atmosphere of the standoff.

Man Yue's voice came from behind the crowd: "Princess! Princess, how are you!"

Manyue was too small, and her view was blocked by these people. They would make way for Lihua, but not for Manyue, so Manyue couldn't squeeze through at all.

Gan Qiongying, however, was suddenly brought back to her senses upon hearing Manyue's voice.

Knowing that the situation was settled, Gan Qiongying quietly put the hairpin that was pressing against Sima Rui's private parts back into her sleeve.

After releasing Sima Rui's thigh, he looked at Li Hua and seemed like a completely different person in that instant.

Faster than a Sichuan opera face-changing act, she opened her mouth in a shrill voice: "Husband! Help, husband!"

Gan Qiongying reached out towards Li Hua, crying out, "Prince Rui is going to kill me! He's going to kill me!"

Sima Rui was so angry he laughed.

Li Hua just happened to push through the crowd and walk over. Gan Qiongying got up from the ground, her legs were numb from squatting for too long, and she rushed towards Li Hua as if she was stumbling and impatient.

It was as if the person who had just threatened the regent, saying she would destroy his manhood, and who was even thinking about which of his sacs to squeeze out, was not her at all.

Gan Qiongying quickly threw herself into Li Hua's arms, hugged him tightly, and said with tears streaming down her face, "I was waiting for you peacefully in the Phoenix Tower, but you didn't come, so I got anxious and went out to look for you."

"Then I saw 'you' limping out the door, and I thought you had run away again, unwilling to see me or forgive me!"

“I chased after you all the way into the clothing shop, and that’s when I realized that ‘you’ wasn’t you, but Prince Rui.”

"I forgot that he had injured his leg, and when I was about to leave, Prince Rui started to make trouble because I had accidentally shot him in the leg at the birthday banquet. He suddenly got angry and threatened to kill me and crush my head!"

This statement is utterly a distortion of the truth and a fabrication, yet some people still believe it.

When Li Hua entered just now, she did see the Regent clapping his hands as if to grab Gan Qiongying's head, his expression extremely fierce and filled with murderous intent.

The way Gan Qiongying was kneeling on the ground did indeed make it easier for the Regent to take her head.

However, what Li Hua saw was only one side of the story. Under the Regent's wide brocade robe, Gan Qiongying's evil hairpin was completely hidden.

The reason Gan Qiongying dared to speak recklessly was because the Regent would never explain it to Li Hua.

He was so proud that he felt ashamed to admit that his manhood was being held by a woman; he would keep it a secret.

For men, saving face is always the most important thing.

Sima Rui has truly suffered a major setback today.

Perhaps after leaving this room, Regent Sima Rui will kill all the bodyguards who witnessed him being threatened and helpless by a woman.

Li Hua was already in a very bad mood. Even without mentioning the previous quarrel with Gan Qiongying, when he heard that the people Chen Wa sent said that Gan Qiongying had actually run away with the Regent and that he needed to send someone back to the Princess's Mansion to get reinforcements, his heart felt like it was blocked by something, and even his blood could not flow.

The danger posed by the Regent made Li Hua very wary, so he quickly gathered some of his men scattered throughout Yindu. Because of their special way of gathering them, it was much easier than Gan Qiongying's men going back to fetch reinforcements.

These people are usually scattered around various docks or in places where they do manual labor, but in fact, they use such work to conceal their strong bodies, which are just like those of martial artists.

Li Hua originally intended to use these people only when he faked his death to escape, but today was too urgent, so he had to use them ahead of schedule.

Fortunately, Gan Qiongying is alright.

Li Hua held her waist tightly, feeling Gan Qiongying trembling all over from crying. She was clearly terrified, her arms wrapped tightly around him as if she were hanging on him.

Li Hua held her in his arms and looked past Gan Qiongyin at the Regent.

The two men met eyes. Sima Rui's face was full of gloom, but he didn't say anything to explain. He didn't care to explain at all, and he looked down on Li Hua in the slightest.

Sima Rui even felt that even if Gan Qiongying was truly hateful and deserving of death, she was at least a princess. The opponent in their power struggle, no matter how much of a puppet, was still an emperor. And what was this consort anyway?

He's just a despicable businessman.

This was exactly what Gan Qiongying wanted.

Gan Qiongying hugged Li Hua tightly, smelling his clean soapberry scent, which made her feel very at ease.

Moreover, Gan Qiongying only realized at this point that she wasn't completely fearless; her legs were starting to feel weak.

The soreness and numbness from squatting on the ground had subsided, but her legs were still a bit weak, and she couldn't muster any strength, so she could only hang on Li Hua's body.

It's all just empty whining and pretending to cry, all bark and no bite.

The two of them started to smell the same, though I don't know when it happened.

Perhaps because they eat and live together, and are usually inseparable, there is a clean and refreshing sweetness about them.

Li Hua protected Gan Qiongying. When he was checking the accounts, he changed into a wide robe. He raised his hand and the wide sleeves fell down, almost covering Gan Qiongying completely in his arms.

He met the Regent's gaze without flinching or avoiding it. His eyes were neither humble nor arrogant, nor did they harbor any aggression. Instead, a dark glint shone from the depths of his eyes, like a dormant volcano or an unfathomable abyss.

Neither of them spoke, yet there was an inexplicable sense of a king not meeting king.

However, Li Hua was just a merchant.

Seeing this, Sima Rui frowned even more deeply. In his view, Li Hua should treat him with utmost respect.

But he didn't say anything, his chin slightly raised in a very arrogant manner.

Li Hua didn't say anything.

No one is immune to the fear of those who wield power. Li Hua has always kept his distance from these so-called powerful figures, but he has never been afraid of them.

Moreover, Li Hua was, after all, a prince consort. Normally, a prince consort would have to pay his respects to a prince, but the regent was a prince of a different surname. Even though he held power, he was not as noble as a prince who had been granted a title.

Moreover, the real princess is still here, in Li Hua's arms. If we really want to investigate, Sima Rui won't gain any advantage.

After exchanging glances for a moment, Li Hua and Sima Rui looked down at Gan Qiongying, lifted her face from their arms, tidied her hair, and wiped away the dried tears from her face.

After that, Li Hua took Gan Qiongying's hand and walked slowly toward the door without saying a word.

Sima Rui felt extremely frustrated. Throughout his life, he had been a powerful figure in the court, and everyone treated him with utmost respect in private.

He had never faced a situation like this before, where he couldn't explain why he couldn't take action.

His men were still waiting for his orders, but Sima Rui did not dare to actually order them to harm anyone.

He quickly realized after the group entered the house that they were ordinary people.

He was the regent, wielding a sharp blade that could stir up the entire court. He was second only to the emperor and enjoyed immense prestige, but the sword he held was a double-edged sword.

If he were to actually order the killing of civilians here today, this double-edged sword would soon wound him.

Although the Kou family wielded immense power in the imperial court, and their people were spread throughout the court and the countryside, there were always some who remained forever loyal to the emperor and the court, considering themselves noble and aloof, and not to be compared with anyone else.

These people are the most difficult to deal with. Most of them are censors or even historians. Their pens and words are sharp blades, and they can easily stand on the high ground and hurt anyone who dares to cross the line.

Therefore, the regent could only watch helplessly as Gan Qiongying was taken away by her husband.

Today, not only did he fail to threaten Gan Qiongying, he was even threatened by her in return.

This was the first time he had ever tried to steal a chicken but ended up losing the rice instead.

However, Sima Rui was not in a hurry. The Mid-Autumn Festival banquet was coming soon, and he did not believe that Princess Duanrong would not come to the palace.

Once inside the palace, it would be like entering his prison. At that time, Gan Lin would be right in front of Gan Qiongying, and Sima Rui would have plenty of ways to make her submit.

Sima Rui walked to the window, opened it, and looked down.

Just then, Gan Qiongying and her husband came out of the door.

The prince consort, who had been holding Gan Qiongying tightly inside the house, shook off her hand as soon as he stepped out the door and limped ahead.

Gan Qiongying jogged after him, twice trying to grab the prince consort's hand, but was dodged both times.

Gan Qiongying, with a fawning smile, followed behind the prince consort like a lackey.

Sima Rui narrowed his eyes.

Thinking of Gan Qiongying's completely different attitude towards him and the imperial son-in-law, an unspeakable anger ignited in his chest.

To fawn over a lowly merchant like this—where is the dignity of royalty?

However, Gan Qiongying didn't care about royal dignity at all. All she knew was that her God of Wealth had come to rescue her, riding on auspicious clouds and leading "heavenly soldiers and generals"!

Li Hua got into the carriage first, and Gan Qiongying, her eyes red from pretending to cry, was helped into the carriage by Manyue.

However, the master and servant exchanged a glance beside the carriage, their eyes flashing with electricity as they quickly exchanged signals.

Soon, Manyue retreated to the side and hid behind the carriage, pretending to go and explain things to the still-shaken Chen Wa, while Gan Qiongying stood at the carriage door by herself.

She cried pitifully through the carriage curtain, "Husband... my legs hurt so much, and my back hurts so much I can't bend over. Could you help me?"