7 Block the knife
◎Love him to death◎
Dozens of masked men in black surged out of the cherry blossom forest, slashing at the Crown Prince and his guards with swords and knives. Over a dozen guards in silver armor retreated into a circle, tightly surrounding the Crown Prince and his wife.
For a moment, the sound of swords and killing shook the sky.
Cherry blossoms danced in the forest, their snow-white petals dyed red by the splattered blood.
Yan Qi was holding a long knife in his hand, his eyes sharp and murderous.
He brandished his long sword with ferocious moves, slashing down the invading assassins one by one. Soon, his armor and face were covered in bloodstains.
Outnumbered and surrounded, the guards fought hard to carve a path through the enemy lines. Yan Qi was protecting the Crown Prince and Crown Princess as they quickly retreated to the area outside the forest where the carriages and horses were parked.
The masked man in black pursued him relentlessly, all the way to the outside of the cherry blossom forest.
The carriage was not far ahead. Yan Qi was entangled with the three men in black behind him and asked a personal guard to take the prince and princess to the carriage first.
During the fight, several more men in black came after him. Yan Qi was trying to stop them, but they were trapped and pressed on with their swords.
At this moment, a horse neighing sounded out of nowhere, followed by a burst of rapid horse hooves.
At first Yan Qi thought it was the prince's carriage, but unexpectedly he turned around and saw two young men riding horses, rushing towards him one in front and one behind.
Wei Ziyan was terrified on horseback, but she couldn't stand by and watch Yan Qizheng being trapped. She followed Liu Yu'er and rushed towards the man in black, screaming and closing her eyes out of fear.
The men in black were scattered by the horses. Yan Qizhen took a breath, raised his knife and slashed the necks of the two men in black who were close to him, then his eyes quickly swept across the horses.
From the scream just now and this glance, Yan Qizhen recognized the person on horseback and quickly ran towards the man in black who was chasing her.
After Wei Ziyan finished charging, she found someone chasing her with a knife, and she was so scared that she almost fell off the horse.
The horse seemed frightened, holding its hooves and refusing to move forward. Wei Ziyan pulled at the reins, but no matter how hard she pulled, it wouldn't budge; it just kept circling.
The man in black caught up with her in the blink of an eye, raised his knife and slashed at her legs. Wei Ziyan hurriedly rolled off the other side of the horse, grimacing as she fell.
Just as she felt the pain in her internal organs dislocate, the man in black came around the horse and raised his big knife towards her.
"ah--"
Wei Ziyan held her head and screamed, but before the knife fell, the man in black fell heavily in front of her, with a big hole in his back and blood gushing out.
Wei Ziyan shrank back and looked up in horror, Yan Qizhen's furious face reflected in her terrified eyes.
Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he saw a man in black appear behind Yan Qizheng and quickly said, "Be careful——"
At the same time, Yan Qizhen had already heard the wind, turned around swiftly, blocked the opponent's sneak attack with his sword, and killed him with a backhand move.
The moment the man in black fell to the ground, the personal guards came galloping over in the prince's carriage.
Yan Qi turned around and pulled Wei Ziyan up to take her to the horse, but she screamed "Be careful!"
Yan Qizheng turned his head immediately, only to see a black shadow passing behind him, and Wei Ziyan, who was standing beside him, suddenly pulled him back. He lurched forward, and the knife that the man in black was about to use to strike him in the back landed on Wei Ziyan instead.
Yan Qizhen turned around quickly and stabbed the man in black in the chest with his sword.
"Yilan..." He freed his hand to help Wei Ziyan who had fallen to the ground, but he saw that the purple clothes on her arm had been stained red, and the wound looked quite deep.
"Am I... dying?" Wei Ziyan's eyes were filled with tears.
She had been pampered since she was a child, so how could she have endured such a knife attack? Now she was in pain and fear, thinking that she was about to die like those men in black.
She just turned sixteen!
There are still many unfulfilled wishes...
If only my parents knew that she died young, how heartbroken they would be to see her die...
Wei Ziyan was overwhelmed with grief, but Yan Qizhen had no time to comfort her. He stood up, picked up the knife and continued to kill the remaining assassins to prevent them from approaching the prince's carriage.
More men in black came chasing after them from the cherry forest, and Wei Ziyan was frightened out of her wits!
He wanted to get up from the ground and run to Yan Qizhen, but his legs were too weak to move, and he fell down with a scream as soon as he stood up.
Yan Qizhen saw it out of the corner of his eye, flew over, grabbed her other arm and helped her up, while swinging his sword with one hand at the attacking assassin.
Another wave of hot blood splashed out, spraying onto Wei Ziyan's dress, causing her to feel nauseous.
The moment she stood up, the wound on her arm was hurt again, and the pain made her feel like her soul was leaving her body. Wei Ziyan collapsed on Yan Qizhen.
Yan Qi stabbed the blade into the ground, slashing it with force, sending up a cloud of dust. Taking advantage of the moment the black-clad man dodged, he picked up Wei Ziyan and ran towards the carriage, handing her over to his personal guards.
When he turned around again, two men in black had caught up with him. He attacked left and right, slashing one man on the neck with a knife and kicking the other man away.
Yan Qizhen hooked two fingers and put them in his mouth, letting out a long howl, his murderous eyes glaring forward.
The number of the masked assassins had been decimated, and his own men had suffered heavy losses. Fewer than five of his personal guards had retreated following his signal, and a bloody and bitter battle was still to come.
All the guards were injured. They fought and retreated with the men in black, gradually approaching the carriage.
Just as they were about to form an encirclement, another wave of shouting and killing suddenly sounded out of nowhere. More than ten men on horseback rushed in from the direction of the mountain, led by a young man, and rushed towards them.
The person in the lead was Liu Yuer, a woman disguised as a man, and following behind her were the family guards sent by Madam Wei to find her daughter.
Liu Yu'er had just been chased by two men in black, so she had no choice but to flee on horseback. Not long after she ran away, she ran into the family guards who were looking for Wei Ziyan.
The leader among them was the housekeeper Wang Xing.
Before they set off, Madam had explained that the young lady was traveling with another girl named Liu, disguised as a man, and told them not to focus solely on the girl. So, upon seeing the young man-looking Liu Yu'er, Wang Xing took notice, and upon asking, he discovered it was indeed Miss Liu.
Wang Xing immediately introduced himself, and Liu Yu'er was overjoyed and quickly brought them up to rescue people.
Even though they are just guards of a mansion, they are all strong men who are wielding swords and guns. They are riding horses with murderous aura on their bodies. At first glance, they are quite intimidating.
The black-clad assassin was unaware of the situation and was caught off guard by the collision.
The momentum suddenly reversed. Yan Qizheng and his personal guards rallied, their attacks becoming increasingly fierce and deadly. Meanwhile, the family guards, relying on their cavalry advantage, hacked and killed several men in quick succession.
After a fierce battle, the remaining assassins saw that the situation was hopeless, gave up fighting and fled.
"Don't chase!" Yan Qizhen stopped Wang Xing who was trying to catch up.
The situation on the mountain is unclear at this time, so it is not advisable to pursue them relentlessly. It would be wise to evacuate down the mountain as soon as possible.
"Master Yan, where is the young lady?"
Hearing the man's question, Yan Qi was certain that his guess was correct. These people were from the Wei Mansion. He turned back to look at the carriage, but he didn't see Wei Ziyan, whom he had put down earlier.
Yan Qizheng walked over quickly and found that she was lying in the carriage with her eyes closed, seemingly unconscious.
"She's fainted," the prince said quickly. "The princess just bandaged her wound, so she shouldn't be moved. Let her lie there."
The carriage was covered in blood, and Wei Ziyan's injured arm was completely stained red with blood.
Yan Qizhen glanced at her pale face, and his throat tightened a little.
"Thank you, Your Highness, and thank you, Your Majesty."
The ground was covered in blood and corpses, a gruesome sight that was terrifying. Without further delay, Yan Qizheng ordered everyone to mount their horses. They quickly retreated down the mountain, fortunately avoiding any further ambushes.
The carriage headed straight for the city gate. Yan Qi was riding his horse behind the carriage, looking forward from time to time.
The thought of a delicate young lady rushing to his rescue even though she was clearly terrified—even blocking the knife for him—made him feel upset.
The scenes of her acting unreasonable around me in the past are still vivid in my mind.
He thought it was just a willful rich girl who was determined to get something she couldn't have, so he thought it was childish and annoying. He didn't believe in the idea of infatuation or admiration at all!
But if she risked her life to save me just now, if it wasn't out of love, then what was it?
Yan Qi was thinking back to when he carried her onto the carriage just now. She was sweating profusely, barely breathing, and almost fainting from the pain.
She actually...
Love him to death!
Yan Qizheng suddenly felt that the pity she had shown him before wasn't just an act. She had been so infatuated with him for so many years, yet he had only treated her coldly and heartlessly in return. How could she not feel wronged and pitiful?
She apologized to him in the garden, but he was still determined to break off the engagement and kept saying that he didn't even want her as a concubine.
On her birthday, he went to meet the girl, and she came to him eagerly hoping that he would go back with her. But what about him? Even when she threatened to jump into the river, he did not relent.
At that time, when she asked, "Brother Yan, will you marry me in the next life?", she was filled with such a sad and desperate sorrow...
Yan Qi closed his eyes sadly...
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's carriage stopped outside the Wei Mansion. Before Master Wei and his wife could come out to greet them, they saw Yan Qi, covered in blood, walking quickly inside with his daughter in his arms.
"She has been stabbed. Call a doctor."
Upon hearing this, Master Wei and his wife were immediately terrified. One of them hurriedly sent for a doctor, while the other quickly brought Yan Qizheng into the boudoir.
Yan Qizhen carefully placed the unconscious person on the soft bed and then took a closer look at the injury on his arm.
Obviously, the wound that the Crown Princess had roughly bandaged did not stop the bleeding completely, and a large area of her clothes was stained red. Madam Wei took a look and almost fainted.
"Ask the doctor to stop the bleeding as soon as possible and prescribe painkillers." Yan Qizhen instructed one by one.
"If she wakes up, don't let her move around and let her get more rest. As for what happened, Qi Zheng will come back later and report to Madam."
"Aren't you going to stay?" Mrs. Wei was already confused, afraid that he would leave at this critical moment.
Yan Qizheng lowered his eyes to look at the unconscious petite face on the bed, his chest felt heavy as if something was pressing on it.
He should have stayed, but the assassination of the prince was of great importance!
The Crown Prince and his wife were escorted back to the palace by the city's garrison. Considering that his fiancée was injured, the Crown Prince allowed him to send her home first. Now, he had to lead his men back to the cherry blossom forest to track down the assassin...
As if possessed by some mysterious force, Yan Qizhen bent down and gently wiped away the traces of tears on her cheeks with his fingers.
Zi Yan......
He muttered to himself.
It's ok, I'll be back soon...
【Author’s words】
She loves me so much [burst into tears]
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