Xiao Junqi
The desert was covered in yellow sand and the sun was scorching. Gu Youan changed into a red veil and covered her face. She sat on a camel as it rode across the desert. She squinted, unable to open her eyes because of the bright sun.
A gust of yellow sand swept in, and Gu Youan covered her eyes with her arms. Ye Qingchen held Gu Youan and curled up in the desert. After a while, Gu Youan crawled out of the yellow sand. She shook her head, and the sand on her head fell to the ground. Ye Qingchen stroked her hair and gently patted the sand off her clothes.
Gu Youan pushed Ye Qingchen away, coughed violently, and suddenly spat out a mouthful of sand. She leaned back, and Ye Qingchen supported her.
Her eyes were unfocused. She took a deep breath. The road to Sheng Kingdom was so dangerous. Was this a warning from heaven, telling her not to go to Sheng Kingdom anymore?
Looking around, a huge storm had scattered everyone, and Gu Youan leaned against him.
A man and a horse approached from afar. As they drew near, the man suddenly tumbled off his horse, rolling several times until he reached her side.
Gu Youan walked over to look at him. Desert, wounded man—isn't this a classic scene?
She squatted down and touched the material of the man's clothes, pouting as she touched his delicate skin. He was a member of the royal family of Sheng Kingdom.
She stood up and kicked the man, leaving the main storyline of Dayong and arriving in Shengguo, but she still couldn't escape this fate.
Suddenly, the man on the ground looked up sharply and glared fiercely at Gu Youan. Gu Youan looked him in the eyes without fear and said, "If you glare at me again, I'll gouge your eyes out."
As she lifted her foot to leave, the man grabbed her ankle and gently pulled her, causing Gu Youan to fall violently to the ground.
"Miss!" Ye Qingchen kicked the man away, then scrambled to her feet, pulled out the gold hairpin from her hair, and plunged it into his chest. Blood splattered all over her face as she pressed the hairpin down and stabbed him hard.
Ye Qingchen held her hand, took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood off her face, then pulled out the gold hairpin from the man's chest.
"Tell me who you want to kill, and I'll kill them for you. Don't dirty your hands." He looked closely at Gu Youan, tidied her messy hair, and pulled her, still shaken, into his arms.
Gu Youan held Ye Qingchen's waist. She looked at the man rolling down and felt at ease. The only person in the Sheng Kingdom's royal family who met the age requirement was the Ninth Prince Xiao Junqi. Xiao Junqi was exiled three years ago. Why would he be here today?
Gu Youan silently looked ahead. She and Ye Qingchen exchanged a glance, their hearts trembling. The princess was to be married off, and he appeared in this desert covered in blood, which meant he must have been hunted down. Now they had become separated from Sheng Jingche, and bandits were lurking in the desert.
Gu Youan quickly took off her gorgeous outer robe and jewelry, buried them in the ground, and Ye Qingchen took off his outer robe and draped it over Gu Youan. After this dressing up, they were indistinguishable from ordinary civilians on the border.
The desert chase of the prince likely involves the internal affairs of the Sheng Kingdom, as a mere marquis like Sheng Jingche is able to propose marriage to a princess.
As the sound of horses' hooves drew closer, Gu Youan gripped Ye Qingchen's wrist tightly, her nails digging into his flesh.
Sheng Jingche sat on his tall horse. She looked up at him. Sheng Jingche smiled slightly, dismounted, and helped Gu Youan up, saying, "I'm sorry you were frightened."
He looked at the bloodstains on Gu Youan's sleeve, his eyes narrowed, and he asked, "Where is that man?"
Ye Qingchen stood in front of Gu Youan, but Gu Youan gently pushed him away. She looked up at him and said, "Sheng Jingche, are you hunting down members of the Xiao royal family?"
Sheng Jingche looked at her approvingly and said, "Gu Youan, I am an old friend of yours, I will not hurt you."
"You made everyone ride camels into the city, wasn't that part of your plan? And what's your reason for proposing to me, Sheng Jingche?"
Sheng Jingche looked at Gu Youan's pale face and gently touched her face: "You've been frightened today, go back."
The maid behind her stepped forward, and Gu Youan glanced coldly at the others. This was the border between Dayong and Shengguo. From the day she left Dayong and stepped into Shengguo, she had already lost all her advantages.
She released Ye Qingchen's arm, and the maid helped her onto the camel. Ye Qingchen wanted to follow her, but Sheng Jingche stopped him.
“He is my guard.” Gu Youan pulled out a dagger and held it to her neck, saying, “Does the young marquis want a corpse?”
Sheng Jingche waved his hand, and Ye Qingchen followed closely behind. Sheng Jingche turned around, snatched the dagger from Gu Youan's hand, broke it in two, and threw it on the ground, saying, "This is Sheng Kingdom. No one can be trusted except my princess. Don't try to coerce me with this kind of trick."
Gu Youan chuckled and said, "Killing a prince is a capital offense."
Sheng Jingche looked at Xiao Junqi not far away, smiled slightly and said, "It was the princess who wanted to kill him, not me!"
He patted the camel's rump, turned to his attendants, and said, "Send the princess back to the city."
Gu Youan and Ye Qingchen exchanged a glance. The gold hairpin she had just plunged into Xiao Junqi's chest was unique to the Dayong royal family, and the wound was shaped like a plum blossom. She stared at Sheng Jingche in astonishment, her eyes wide, and said, "You plotted against me?"
Sheng Jingche didn't turn around to look at her, but just smiled calmly: "Princess, we are now in the same boat. If Xiao Junqi doesn't die, you and I will both be held responsible. I'm cleaning up your mess!"
Cunning and ruthless, a smile appeared on Sheng Jingche's lips. Gu Youan and Ye Qingchen exchanged a glance. She sprinkled some sleeping pills, dismounted, and punched Sheng Jingche in the face. Ye Qingchen threw a curved knife at her, and Gu Youan picked it up and slashed at Sheng Jingche.
Sheng Jingche knelt on one knee, his curved sword pressed against Sheng Jingche's shoulder, and said, "Young Marquis, you have good skills. Bandits roam this desert. Why don't you stay here today?"
Enraged, Sheng Jingche, even though he had lost his memory, still acted when the time was right. In the world of martial arts, speed is the only way to break through. As the two were fighting, Xiao Junqi, who had become a blood-soaked figure, stood beside them.
The two turned to look at Xiao Junqi. Blood was slowly seeping from the gaping hole in his chest, and his eyes were bloodshot. This didn't seem like a normal person. A terrifying thought crossed Gu Youan's mind. In an instant, Gu Youan sheathed her knife, and the two of them rushed to Xiao Junqi, hand in hand. Ye Qingchen threw out a rope, which Gu Youan caught, and the two of them used the rope to bind him tightly.
Xiao Junqi bared his fangs, and Gu Youan was stunned. This was...
Sheng Jingche knocked him unconscious with a single slap. Gu Youan composed himself and said, "You didn't kill him."
He turned his head and placed Xiao Junqi on the ground, sighed deeply and said, "This is the Sheng Kingdom, he is a prince, why should I kill him?"
He helped Gu Youan up, asking, "Why did you hurt him?"
Gu Youan looked at the wound on his chest and said, "I was just panicked when I saw a stranger like this and acted on my own."
He took the gold hairpin out of the yellow sand and stuck it in Gu Youan's hair, saying, "Don't use hairpins to kill people in the future, it will only expose your true identity."
Gu Youan touched the hairpin on her head. The words seemed familiar. She suddenly looked up at Sheng Jingche and said, "I feel like I know you and you are strangers at the same time."
Sheng Jingche paused for a moment, then pulled her into his arms and said, "I will find your previous memories."
Why did the Emperor of Dayong choose not to perish with the Xie family? What were their reasons that made them willing to die together with the Xie family?
Gu Youan wrapped his arms around her waist, and a familiar feeling washed over him, as if they had always been this close.
"Why is Xiao Junqi here?" Gu Youan asked calmly.
Sheng Jingche pulled open Xiao Junqi's clothes, revealing a striking plum blossom mark on his chest. He took out some medicine and sprinkled it on the mark, causing it to disappear instantly.
Gu Youan looked at everything in front of her in surprise and said, "Are you covering for me?"
Sheng Jingche's hands did not stop. He dislocated his jaw, gently inserted a pill, and then straightened his clothes.
Gu Youan squatted down and said, "Why is he here? You and I got separated, and he just happened to appear here. What do you want?"
Sheng Jingche placed his finger under Gu Youan's nose, breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "I'm not covering for you, I'm covering for us. The Ninth Prince fell into the Emperor's medicine pool when he was young, and these past few days have been his illness period. You encountered him and stabbed him. Gu Youan, you only have amnesia, not that you have lost your judgment."
Gu Youan touched the back of her neck and looked at him somewhat awkwardly, saying, "I understand. I didn't mean to hurt him."
He followed Gu Youan's hand and saw a scar on the back of her neck. He yanked Gu Youan's hand away and touched the wound with his other hand, exclaiming in surprise, "You fought with Xiao Junqi?"
Gu Youan nodded, and Sheng Jingche gasped and asked, "Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
Gu Youan looked at him in confusion, "What do you mean?"
“His blood is highly poisonous,” Sheng Jingche said calmly.
Gu Youan suddenly smiled mockingly. So this was where the main storyline was waiting for her. The original owner of this body had become a nun, while she had been married off to the Kingdom of Sheng. Before her eyes was a smear of crimson blood. She blinked and suddenly fainted.
“Miss!” Ye Qingchen stepped forward, lifted her head, and held her hand, continuously channeling his internal energy into her. Sheng Jingche glanced at him and said lightly, “She has toxins in her body. If you rashly channel your internal energy, the toxins will transfer to your body.”
Ye Qingchen said calmly, "I only want to save her."
Upon hearing this, Gu Youan suddenly looked up at Sheng Jingche and said, "Explain yourself more clearly?"
Sheng Jingche smiled, glanced at Ye Qingchen, and said, "You really do care about him the most."
Ye Qingchen's ears flushed a blush, and he lowered his head shyly. Gu Youan didn't notice his movement; her entire attention was on Sheng Jingche.
"What do you mean by that? I'm already deeply poisoned. Since you can save him, why don't you save me? Do you think my life isn't worth it?"
Sheng Jingche chuckled and said, "I hadn't even finished speaking before you fainted, Gu Youan. Do you really care about Ye Qingchen?"
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