Traveling day and night...
Living outdoors and sleeping in the open...
Yi Shangyun rode alone, traversing mountains and valleys.
After overcoming numerous hardships, they finally crossed the "Dongning" boundary marker erected high on the border and entered the territory of Dongning.
"Hoo..."
Suddenly, she reined in her horse and stopped, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar place before her.
Everywhere was lush with fragrant grass and overflowing with the scent of flowers, yet I hesitated to venture further.
Even today, we still remember the bits and pieces that happened in Dongning Kingdom.
Everyone and everything.
Memories flooded back, one after another…
She couldn't help but sigh, "I thought I would never come back in this lifetime!"
But for some reason, tears suddenly started flowing down my face.
"The world is vast, the sky is wide, and the sea of people is boundless. Where should I go to find him?"
Looking back, a fiery red, lantern-like, seemingly enormous sunset hung in the sky behind her, as if it had always accompanied her, like a shadow.
Give her light, and give her boundless power.
Along the way, one could clearly see the numerous signs of Dongning Kingdom mobilizing troops in all directions and setting up camps as they marched toward Xiqin.
"It seems this news is already certain; they're probably about to besiege the city."
"But why?"
"Why is it that, even though it seems so obvious and everything is ready, the war is still not started?"
"What exactly is Dongning waiting for?"
As I thought about it, I suddenly became increasingly anxious.
"If this army really does number 200,000, then..."
"No, if the two countries go to war, the people will be displaced and lives will be lost."
With this in mind, I could not afford to delay any longer and immediately set off again.
"drive!"
However, when they arrived at the door of a farmer's house where wisps of smoke were rising from the chimney, they suddenly felt a wave of dizziness.
Yi Shangyun finally couldn't hold on any longer. She swayed a couple of times and then collapsed onto the horse's back.
The horse seemed to sense its master's unease immediately, and it slowly stopped, neighing several times at the farmer's gate.
Until that dilapidated wooden gate was finally opened from the inside.
A young woman appeared and, upon seeing the seemingly unconscious figure slumped on the horse's back, ran towards him.
The moment the woman saw her face clearly, her eyes widened, and she exclaimed in surprise, "Miss?!"
So they quickly helped him up and he stumbled inside.
That night.
A bright, clear moon hangs high among the branches outside the window.
Moonlight streamed through the window lattice, quietly illuminating a simple bed and Yun's sleeping face.
Inside the room, a dim candlelight was burning.
The woman seemed worried and stayed by the bedside without leaving for a moment. At this moment, she seemed to finally be unable to hold on any longer. At first, she was just dozing off with her chin resting on her hand.
At this moment, it had completely collapsed next to Yi Shangyun, seemingly asleep.
How could that be?
"How could I forget?"
"No, that's impossible!"
"return!"
"Don't go!"
Where are you going?
As a series of intermittent, nightmarish sounds emanated, fine beads of sweat gradually appeared on Yi Shangyun's forehead.
"don't want!"
"don't want!"
Finally, with a scream, Yi Shangyun suddenly sat up.
But her consciousness was still lingering in the dream she had just been in, and she couldn't help but ask herself in astonishment, "Your Highness, how could he have forgotten everything? How could he?"
My eyes suddenly darted around, and I finally saw the environment I was in.
The room was simply furnished, with nothing superfluous except for the daily necessities. Yet, it gave her a strange sense of peace and familiarity, as if she had returned to the Bright Moon Pavilion in the Yi Mansion in the west of the city.
Just then, a red cloak caught her eye.
She got off the bed and reached out to stroke the familiar red cloak embroidered with a few white plum blossoms, which seemed to still retain her scent.
She stammered, "This...this isn't...my cloak, how did it get here?"
Only then did he realize who had saved him earlier that day, so he moved back to the woman's side. Upon seeing her face clearly, he exclaimed in disbelief, "Yan'er?!"
The woman seemed to hear her call and gradually opened her eyes and woke up.
Finally, the woman saw the person she had been longing for. Tears streamed down her face as she rushed over and hugged Yi Shangyun tightly, sobbing with joy, "Miss! Yan'er has finally waited for you!"
Yi Shangyun clearly never expected that Yan'er would appear here.
So he gently patted her back and asked, "Yan'er, what happened? How did you get here?"
Yan'er slowly released her hand, helping Yi Shangyun to sit down while sobbing, "Ever since the incident in Lu County, Master, Madam, Second Miss, and the Qin Prince's Mansion, everyone said that Miss was dead, but I don't believe it... Miss was such a good person. She was in a coma for a year at the Yi Mansion and she was able to wake up. How could she die so easily?"
Looking back on those heartbreaking days, Yan'er felt extremely sad.
She paused, then continued reminiscing, "But later, for some reason, Master wanted to move the whole family. I begged him not to move, afraid that Miss wouldn't be able to find us when she returned, but it was no use. I had nowhere to go, and I was afraid that Master would insist on taking me with him, so I secretly hid near the Yi residence. Later, His Highness Prince Qin actually married a new princess. I thought that when Miss found out, she would definitely not stay in this sad place anymore. So she came to Dongning alone! Here, Yan'er often wears Miss's cloak when she goes out, thinking that if Miss sees it, she will definitely come looking for me!"
Looking at the silly girl in front of her, Yi Shangyun didn't know what to say to her for a moment, but felt very sorry for her: "But you're all alone, it's too hard for you..."
Yan'er shook her head, then laughed and said, "Yan'er isn't one person, but three!"
Yi Shangyun was puzzled: "Three?"
Yan'er got up and went over to pick up the candle, leading the way as she said, "Miss, please follow me."
Following Yan'er, Yi Shangyun arrived at another room.
But what she saw startled her so much that her pupils dilated instantly, and she exclaimed, "Yan'er, how could you..."
Yan'er quickly explained, "Miss, have you forgotten? These are General Wang's two children!"
Yi Shangyun finally remembered and realized, "So they are General Wang's two orphans. I thought they were..."
As they were talking, Yi Shangyun suddenly noticed that one of the children's faces was flushed, and something seemed wrong. She stepped forward and reached out to touch the child's forehead: "Oh no, the child has a fever!"
Yan'er rushed forward anxiously, checking on him as she said, "It rained heavily yesterday, and I took him to the mountains to pick mushrooms. We got caught in the rain on the way back, and that's probably why it caught fire. What should we do in the middle of the night?"
Yi Shangyun calmly said, "Don't worry, the child is still young, and will definitely be afraid of strangers if he wakes up. Go and get some water to cool the child down, and I'll go find some medicine right away!"
Yan'er was a little worried: "But Miss, you just woke up and your body is still weak. You're also unfamiliar with this place."
Yi Shangyun assured him, "Don't worry, I'll be fine!"
Soon, Yi Shangyun returned, limping.
When Yan'er saw this, she was so distressed that she cried: "Miss, what happened to your leg?"
Yi Shangyun disregarded her own injuries and instructed Yan'er, "Quickly go and get these herbs to brew medicine for the child!"
Sure enough, the medicine cured the disease.
Soon, the child's fever subsided.
After a period of chaos and turmoil, peace was finally restored.
Yan'er was extremely relieved: "Luckily, Miss is here, otherwise Yan'er really wouldn't know what to do?"
Suddenly remembering that Yi Shangyun was injured, he hurried over to check on her: "By the way, let me see Miss's injury?"
Yi Shangyun quickly stepped in to stop him: "It's nothing, I just tripped and fell on the way down the mountain and scraped my skin a little. I've already applied medicine when I got back."
Yan'er asked him again to confirm, "Are you really alright?"
Yi Shangyun gritted her teeth, then smiled and shook her head: "It's really nothing, don't worry!"
Yan'er gently patted the two children to sleep while tentatively asking, "What exactly happened between Miss and His Highness? Prince Qin, does he... know that Miss is still alive? I never imagined he was that kind of person, marrying a new woman in the blink of an eye. I really misjudged him."
Yi Shangyun thought for a moment, then said with a somber expression, "The King of Qin... he has disappeared!"
Upon hearing this, Yan'er paused in her work and exclaimed in alarm, "What? The King of Qin has disappeared?"
Seeing the two children wriggle their little bodies together, Yi Shangyun quickly raised a finger to make a shushing sound.
Yan'er immediately covered her mouth tightly with both hands.
Yi Shangyun continued, "I came to Dongning to find him. I heard that he disappeared within the territory of Dongning. Dongning has dispatched 200,000 troops to attack Xiqin. Without him, Xiqin would be leaderless, and this continent would soon be engulfed in a bloodbath."
"His Highness the King of Qin has actually disappeared in the Kingdom of Dongning!"
Upon hearing this, Yan'er was shocked, then suddenly remembered something and murmured to herself, "Could it be that the person who fell into the sea a few days ago was...?"
Hearing her faint voice, Yi Shangyun asked to confirm, "What did you say? What sea? Who?"
Yan'er grew increasingly frightened as she thought about it, so she looked into Yi Shangyun's eyes and timidly said, "Miss, I think I know where His Highness Prince Qin is?"
Yi Shangyun urged anxiously, "What did you say? You know?! Where is he now?"
Yan'er swallowed hard, thinking she should lay the groundwork first, and tentatively asked, "Miss, you no longer like His Highness Prince Qin, right?"
Yi Shangyun clearly doesn't have an answer to this question yet, and has no idea how to respond.
So he said angrily, "Yan'er, what time is it? If the two countries go to war, the consequences will be unimaginable. Stop being so mysterious and tell me where he is. I'll go find him right now."
As he spoke, he stood up and prepared to go out.
Yan'er had no choice but to obediently and hesitantly begin to speak.
"Miss……"
"possible……"
"possible……"
"You may never see him again."
As Yan'er spoke her last words with her eyes almost closed, Yi Shangyun was completely stunned.
"What did you say?"
Yan'er recalled, "That day, I went out wearing Miss's cloak as usual. On the way back, I felt like I was being followed. I finally managed to shake them off. When I turned around, I saw the person who was following me. It seemed that he was being chased by another group of people with extraordinary skills. The man being chased looked very similar in build and temperament to His Highness Prince Qin."
Yi Shangyun clenched his fists and anxiously asked, "Did you see who was chasing us?"
Yan'er shook her head and thought about it carefully again.
Suddenly, she walked over, picked up something from the table inside the room, and handed it to Yi Shangyun: "By the way, after those people left, Yan'er found this where they fought."
After taking it and examining it, Yi Shangyun suddenly understood everything.
"This is a secret token used by a special group of guards in the Western Qin Imperial Palace. I've seen it in the palace before. I heard that they use this token to secretly carry out some special missions personally assigned by Emperor Jing."
Yan'er said, "No wonder I've never seen this before!"
Yi Shangyun was furious: "As expected, Emperor Jing was scheming against His Highness! He actually chose to attack His Highness within the borders of Dongning Kingdom. In this way, His Highness's death can be conveniently framed for Dongning's fault, and he will have nothing to do with it. No wonder the Crown Prince and Empress kept their mouths shut so tightly!"
Upon realizing this, Yi Shangyun hurriedly asked, "And then what happened to His Highness Prince Qin?"
Yan'er suddenly stopped: "Your Highness, he...he..."
Seeing Yan'er stammering and finding it difficult to speak, he realized that Yan'er was hesitant and unable to speak.
Yi Shangyun suddenly had a very bad premonition: "Is His Highness injured?"
Yan'er could no longer hide it: "His Highness had already single-handedly repelled the group of pursuers. But one of them discovered me hiding behind the rocks. His Highness, in order to save me, was forced off the cliff by their reinforcements who arrived, and fell into the sea..."
Yi Shangyun was shocked: "What did you say?"
At this point, Yan'er clearly dared not continue: "His Highness...he has already..."
"impossible……"
"This is impossible..."
In an instant, a mouthful of blood gushed out from Yi Shangyun, who then placed a hand on his chest and fainted again.
"Miss……"
On the other side...
As Lu Yuan expected, just one night later, early the next morning, someone came to report.
"Reporting to the young city lord, someone has discovered what appears to be the princess at a hunter's house nearby!"
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