Life for life
For the next ten days, Xu Ruoyan and Pei Jue received no further news from Pei An.
"No, we can't just sit here and wait to die." This was the umpteenth time Xu Ruoyan had stood up from her chair.
"What does Madam wish to do?"
"Let's march back to the capital!" Xu Ruoyan slammed her fist on the wall, and the hard, whitewashed wall crumbled and peeled off a layer of plaster. "We can't do anything here anyway, and abandoning our friends isn't our style!"
Pei Jue quickly pulled her hand down and blew on it, his eyes full of concern: "Does it hurt, Madam? Why did you use so much force?"
Xu Ruoyan only belatedly felt the pain when Pei Jue's fingers covered hers. She chuckled awkwardly, "Just a little bit, it's nothing."
Such a venting session was still useless. Pei Jue knew, of course, that Xu Ruoyan was right, but he couldn't let her act recklessly under any circumstances. After all, in his heart, Xu Ruoyan was more important than anyone else; he would sacrifice anyone's life as long as he could protect his wife.
However, his wife was very loyal and devoted, so he had no choice but to go along with her.
Logically speaking, as long as they can hide here, Qi Feng will eventually give up looking for them, and they will have a chance to start over. In any case, he is determined to achieve his plan.
However, this is under the premise that Xu Ruoyan has no worries.
Therefore, this idea is completely untenable.
He needs to find a compromise.
"If Madam can't wait any longer, we'll go back and fight our way back."
How confident are you?
Pei Jue sighed: "Although I sent a letter to Zhang Zizhi on the way here, asking him to immediately lead a small team of elite troops to the capital, if we can't wait for a large number of reinforcements from Jiangnan, there's a 50% chance..."
"So low?" Xu Ruoyan was somewhat unwilling to believe it. "With so many of us and so many experts in the Shadowless Pavilion, do we only have a 50% chance of winning?"
Pei Jue shook his head, extinguishing Xu Ruoyan's last glimmer of hope: "But Madam wants to protect too many people, and we can't take care of so many."
Despite Pei Jue's words, Xu Ruoyan was still unwilling to give up.
"But we originally planned to need at least six months to build up our strength, didn't we?"
She looked up at Pei Jue for help, only to find that Pei Jue's eyes were filled with emotions she couldn't understand.
What does he mean?
“That’s right. Qi Feng made his move too early; we didn’t expect it at all,” Pei Jue said quietly.
His tone and gaze were too calm, as calm as a stagnant pool, with no possibility of stirring up any waves.
No, that's not how it works.
She had anticipated this, but she hadn't prepared adequately, which led to the situation turning out this way...
Xu Ruoyan's fists gradually clenched. She pinched her palms hard, completely ignoring the pain, hoping that the pain would force her to come up with a solution that would satisfy both sides.
If they continue to hide here, their friends in the capital will most likely be in trouble, but if they rashly go back now, they will also likely end up in a bad situation.
Xu Ruoyan was unwilling to watch all the hard work she and her friends had put in for half a year go to waste, and even risk their lives. But her mind was blank; the harder she tried, the more confused she became, and she couldn't think of any solution.
In a flash, an idea suddenly popped into her mind.
She grabbed Pei Jue's arm impatiently and shook it: "I have a way that we might be able to try."
"We are indeed at a disadvantage if we face Qi Feng head-on, but we can use a feint attack!"
Pei Jue frowned, vaguely guessing what Xu Ruoyan was about to say.
Xu Ruoyan continued excitedly, "Look, Qi Feng is specifically asking for me, which means you're safe for now. I'll take a small team out first to draw their fire, and then you and the Shadowless Pavilion's secret guards will launch a surprise attack from behind and take down Qi Feng and Pei Huai directly. How about that?"
The next second, Pei Jue immediately shook his head: "No, I won't let Madam take that risk."
Xu Ruoyan immediately moved closer and sat on Pei Jue's lap, half-coquettish and half-pleading: "This is the only way at the moment. Besides, I am highly skilled in martial arts, and with the protection of your well-trained bodyguards, they can't do anything to me. At most, they can only deal with the situation."
Having spent so much time with Pei Jue, she understood him very well. She knew what Pei Jue was thinking, but she could never allow such a thing to happen, even if it meant risking her life.
Pei Jue loved her, that's true, but Pei Jue was still Pei Jue. It's hard to change a person's inherent thoughts. Pei Jue's cold-heartedness wasn't something he chose to develop. Xu Ruoyan couldn't blame him, but she couldn't bear to watch her friend die for her.
The capital is under heavy security now, and Pei An hasn't sent them any messages for a long time. The longer she stays here, the higher the chances of Pei An and the others getting into trouble. She really can't wait any longer.
She understood that Pei Jue's love for her was priceless, but he treated everyone else the same, always prioritizing mutual benefit over emotions. Therefore, she needed to find a way that Pei Jue could accept to get his permission to leave.
If she really couldn't persuade him, she could just threaten to kill herself. After all, if all her friends died because of her, she couldn't bear to live on.
While she was thinking, Pei Jue's gaze never left his little wife.
As husband and wife, since Xu Ruoyan could guess what he was thinking, he could naturally guess what Xu Ruoyan was thinking as well.
He knew that Xu Ruoyan was a very opinionated person, and once she made up her mind, she would do it no matter how difficult it was. He knew in his heart that he couldn't stop her, but he still couldn't bear to let her take the risk.
He had already witnessed his loved ones being drawn into a vortex of killing twice, and he didn't want to experience it a third time.
If he could, he wouldn't care about being infamous or hated by Xu Ruoyan; he just wanted her to be safe.
But he also wanted her to be happy, didn't want her to be sad, and didn't want to see her constantly blaming herself, or even unable to sleep at night.
So, the moment Xu Ruoyan looked over, he slightly opened his mouth and said, "Okay."
If things don't work out this time, he'd rather die with Xu Ruoyan. At least the road to the underworld wouldn't be so cold if he had someone he loved by his side.
However, Heaven is always so hateful; it seems to find pleasure in collecting the wishes of mortals and then destroying them one by one.
...
That morning, just as the two had packed their luggage and were preparing to leave Wuying Pavilion, Zhuying suddenly pushed open the door and entered.
"Master, our scouts have reported that a group of soldiers have entered the territory of the Shadowless Pavilion."
Xu Ruoyan's heart tightened.
Is it too late?
"Don't panic," Pei Jue's voice rang out at the right moment, bringing a soothing force to Xu Ruoyan's body, gently stroking her rapidly beating heart, "They can't get in."
Xu Ruoyan closed her eyes, forcing herself to calm down.
How did they find this place?
After saying that, she shook her head, already having the answer in her heart.
It seems Qi Feng discovered her transmigrator identity early on. Perhaps her every move has been under Qi Feng's surveillance since they entered the capital. Therefore, it makes sense if he sent people to follow them all the way to the Shadowless Pavilion. The reason these people didn't appear recently was likely because they were unsure of the Shadowless Pavilion's strength and dared not act rashly. Now they're probably getting impatient and want to storm in.
Not to mention that the Shadowless Pavilion is full of experts, capable of taking on ten opponents at once, the Shadowless Pavilion's mechanisms are already extremely ingenious and highly lethal. If they were to force their way in, they would surely not return alive.
But Xu Ruoyan didn't believe that Qi Feng was such a brainless person.
The people who come must have something to offer in exchange for their services.
Sure enough, just as she figured this out, Zhu Ying came in again.
“Madam.” As soon as he entered, he looked at Xu Ruoyan.
Xu Ruoyan's heart skipped a beat.
really.
"I went to check and found that the leader of the group was Sun Yutao, the eldest son of the Sun family, followed by... Sun Yulin, the second son of the Sun family."
"Brother Yulin?!"
Xu Ruoyan jumped up from the chair with a "whoosh".
"Take me to see this quickly!" She pushed open the door and ran outside.
"Be on guard." Pei Jue instructed Zhu Ying and then followed.
When the two emerged from the thick fog in front of the Shadowless Pavilion, the Dragon Tiger Army, led by Sun Yutao, had already reached the edge of the cliff on the opposite bank.
The Dragon Tiger Army was a newly established force after Pei Huai took office. This army only obeyed Pei Huai's orders, or more precisely, Qi Feng's orders. It was similar in nature to the Imperial Guards but different in some ways. The Imperial Guards of the Daqing Dynasty were responsible for protecting the entire palace area and were managed by the Bingjun Academy, but the Dragon Tiger Army was more like Pei Huai and Qi Feng's private force, and they rarely went into action.
Although Xu Ruoyan had not learned the specifics, she had heard from others that the people in the Dragon Tiger Army were all elites selected from various armies, and they underwent rigorous training every day, making them all highly skilled in martial arts.
Looking at the menacing Dragon Tiger Army, she realized that Qi Feng was about to unleash a deadly attack.
Killing her in this remote place and then claiming that she was murdered on her way to escape back in the capital is tantamount to admitting her crime and sparing Qi Feng and his group from public condemnation. It's a win-win situation.
When Xu Ruoyan saw Sun Yulin, who was sitting on horseback with his hands and feet bound behind Sun Yutao, her eyes burned with murderous intent.
She sneered and said, "Young Master Sun, we meet again."
Sitting on horseback, Sun Yulin was still fanning himself with his ever-present folding fan, looking down at Xu Ruoyan with a fake smile: "Miss Xu, how have you been these days?"
Xu Ruoyan had no interest in exchanging pleasantries with him. The mere sound of Sun Yutao's voice made her want to vomit.
"This is not good. I'm disgusted by Young Master Sun's attitude."
Sun Yutao laughed twice, his expression gradually turning cold: "Miss Xu, can you still be so arrogant now?"
He clapped his hands, and two soldiers grabbed Sun Yulin and brought him forward, pushing him toward the edge of the cliff.
"Brother Yulin!" she cried anxiously, turning sharply to Sun Yutao.
"He's your own brother too, how can you disregard brotherly affection like this?"
Sun Yutao scoffed, "Keeping such a stupid younger brother around is just a disgrace to the Sun family. What's the point of keeping him around?"
“However, I’ll give you a chance,” he said, narrowing his eyes dangerously. He closed his folding fan and tapped it in his hand, leisurely sizing up Xu Ruoyan. “If Miss Xu comes over obediently now, I’ll spare his life.”
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