"Zhou Li, An Yi, what are you doing here?"
Upon hearing this, An Yi untied her with a cold face, but did not respond.
Instead, Zhou Liwen smiled and helped her out of the coffin, pointed to An Yi, and took the initiative to explain to her.
"It was An Yi. He hid in the shadows and entered the palace with you when you entered. Later, you took the drug to fake your death and fell into a state of suspended animation. The Empress Dowager then told An Yi the burial place."
He paused, then frowned, puzzled.
"We waited by your grave for a long time, but we didn't see you. We could only search everywhere."
"We searched for two days before finally finding you here. What happened?"
Upon hearing this, Su An felt a chill run down his spine.
She rubbed her stiff shoulders, snorted angrily, and complained through gritted teeth.
"It's all because of that madwoman Li Wanyue. She suggested to the Empress Dowager that I fake my death to escape. I just didn't expect her to take this opportunity to make it real and bury me alive in a coffin. If I ever meet her again, I'll skin her alive."
I see.
Zhou Li nodded knowingly and responded with a pursed lip.
"No wonder we couldn't find you, it turns out she kidnapped you!"
An Yi quickly sealed the coffin, threw it back in, and buried it.
After doing all this, he looked around and urged the two of them on.
"The capital is teeming with the Emperor's spies; we shouldn't linger here. We'd better leave as soon as possible!"
"An Yi is right. We shouldn't delay. Let's leave the city while it's still early!"
Su An nodded in agreement, and without hesitation, he patted the dirt off his clothes and turned to leave.
But before he could take a single step, Zhou Li stopped him.
He looked at Su An's fair skin, frowned, shook his head, and sighed.
"Wait, your appearance is too conspicuous. You need to disguise yourself a little, otherwise you might be recognized before you even reach the city gate."
As he spoke, he took out a cloth bag from his pocket and began to carefully draw on Su An's face.
About 15 minutes later, an old man dressed in patched coarse cloth clothes and a young man pushed a dilapidated wooden cart out of the alley.
The old man wiped away his tears and glanced around casually.
If someone familiar with the man were to pass by at this moment, they would surely recognize that the hunched old man was Zhou Li.
He stood beside the wooden cart, his white mustache gleaming, his eyes dark and swollen, weeping bitterly. No one would associate him with the pale-faced scholar Zhou Li.
An Yi, dressed in tattered clothes, pushed the wooden cart with his head down, hurrying towards the city gate.
Wherever they went, everyone covered their mouths and noses and gave them a wide berth.
Let alone passersby, if Zhou Li hadn't blocked Su An's sense of smell, she probably would have fainted from the stench herself.
However, precisely because of this, when they left the city, no one competed with them at all.
The city gate guards frowned, gave them a disapproving look, and asked them a question according to standard procedure.
"Who goes out of town?"
Zhou Li deliberately lowered his voice, leaned over the car, and said sorrowfully.
“We were just small vendors making a living in the city. My daughter was unfortunate and died of illness. According to custom, we must take her back to our hometown for burial. Please do us a favor, sir.”
The bulging things in this car were actually corpses!
The guard's eyes showed disgust, and he used his spear to poke at the straw mat on Su An's face.
But after only half of it was lifted, the stench emanating from the corpse assaulted his face.
He couldn't hold it in and vomited, then quickly waved to them to hurry up.
"What bad luck! Get out of here!"
Zhou Li lowered his head, exchanged a glance with An Yi, and quickly nodded and bowed in response.
"Alright, thank you, sir!"
Just as An Yi was about to push the cart and leave the capital quickly, he heard the sound of rapid hoofbeats coming from behind the crowd, and the people gathered at the city gate made way for him.
The newcomer, dressed in black, suddenly pulled on the reins beside An Yi, bringing the place to a stop.
Zhou Li glanced at the person on horseback and his expression changed instantly. He quickly lowered his head, afraid of being recognized.
Su Anxin, who was lying on the wooden cart, was also lifted up.
That voice belongs to He Cheng!
What a small world! I never thought I'd run into him here.
Unaware of their thoughts, He Cheng coldly took the token from his waist, held it up in front of him, and said in a deep voice, "By order of His Majesty, I am leaving the city on business. Allow me to pass immediately!"
The guard glanced at it once, then his expression changed drastically, and he waved to the people behind him to urge them on.
"Open the gates and let them pass!"
Upon hearing this, He Cheng casually hung the token on his waist and was about to whip his horse.
But unexpectedly, his gaze inadvertently swept over Su An, and a strange sense of familiarity arose in his heart.
The guards had only checked half of Su An's face, so only half of his face was visible. His face was deathly pale, and dark bluish-black lividity was also appearing, making him look quite terrifying.
He Cheng couldn't help but take a closer look, muttering to himself.
Why do this person's eyebrows and eyes look somewhat similar to Su An's?
Thinking of Su An's inexplicable suicide by poison, he became wary, immediately dismounted, endured the stench, and went to the wooden cart, reaching out to lift the straw mat covering Su An.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Su An became extremely nervous and couldn't help but dig her nails into her palms.
Just as He Cheng's hand was about to touch the straw mat, An Yi suddenly spoke up to dissuade him.
"Sir, please wait!"
Hearing the noise, He Cheng paused in his actions, looked at An Yi with displeasure, and his eyes turned sharp.
Fear appeared on An Yi's dark face, and he spoke in a trembling voice.
"It's not that I don't want you to examine me, sir, but... my sister suffered from the plague before she died. If you were to be infected and become ill as a result, I would be guilty even if I were to die a thousand deaths!"
As he spoke, he coughed a few times as if he couldn't help it.
The plague is an incurable disease!
He Cheng quickly withdrew his hand, covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, and angrily rebuked him.
"If that's the case, what are you waiting for? Get out of here!"
Zhou Li and An Yi bowed respectfully to He Cheng before pushing the wooden cart out of the city.
Watching them leave, He Cheng even fanned the air in front of him with a look of disgust.
After leaving the city, they headed north and easily entered a forest.
Seeing that no one was behind him, Zhou Li breathed a sigh of relief, straightened his back, lifted the straw mat, and said to Su An, "Alright, we have successfully left the city and should be safe now."
Su An then nimbly sprang up from the wooden cart, looking at himself with disdain.
To make the disguise more realistic, Zhou Li smeared her entire body with ash and even drew on corpse spots. No one knows how Zhou Li drew them, but the corpse spots not only smelled bad, but they also became sticky when touched, making people feel extremely uncomfortable.
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