There were shouts and cries outside, and the carriage accelerated rapidly. The three girls were tossed back and forth in the carriage, and each of them found a protruding place to hold on to steady themselves.

Jingmei and Jinglan were so frightened that their faces turned pale, but they still tried to remain calm. Feather arrows hit the wall of the car one after another, as if they were about to pierce through it at any time.

"Your Highness," Jinglan trembled, "Will the carriage...will it be shot through?"

Just by listening to the sound of the arrows colliding outside, you can tell what kind of rain of arrows there is. If it weren't for the specially made carriage, they would have been shot into sieves long ago.

Li Rong supported herself, listened to the noise outside, and said calmly: "Don't panic, the carriage can't be tied through, it may overturn in a while, you hold it steady."

Just as she finished her words, she heard a scream from the horse outside, and the carriage was suddenly turned upside down. Li Rong used force on her hands to steady herself from being rolled around by the force of the carriage, but she was still hit by the huge force and slammed against the wall of the carriage.

Li Rong breathed a sigh of relief, and then she saw a guard lift the curtain and said anxiously, "Your Highness, please come out quickly."

Li Rong didn't have time to care about her manners and rushed out in a hurry, telling Jingmei and Jinglan, "Run somewhere else."

After saying that, Li Rong followed the guards to the side, jumped on the horse, and then galloped towards Butterfly Gorge.

Jinglan and Jingmei climbed out of the carriage and ran towards the other side of the woods.

Shangguan Ya had already ambushed people on the mountains on both sides of Butterfly Canyon, and they had to hurry to find Shangguan Ya.

Li Rong, under the protection of the guards, rode his horse wildly towards Butterfly Gorge. The guards and the assassins behind him fought and retreated, leading the assassins to rush in. Shangguan Ya stood on a high place, watching the assassins being led into Butterfly Gorge by Li Rong. Seeing that most of them had rushed in, Shangguan Ya shouted: "Falling rocks!"

As soon as he finished speaking, rocks came rolling down from both sides of the canyon, cutting the killer team in half.

Pei Wenxuan was tuning the strings of his zither when he heard the sound of hurried horse hooves. He looked up and saw Li Rong, dressed in red, running towards him with guards. Pei Wenxuan's pupils shrank, and then he heard a loud bang. The entrance to Butterfly Gorge was blocked by a huge rock, stirring up a cloud of dust. Then Li Rong rode his horse towards him, stepping on the stream and the peonies on the ground, and shouted, "Pei Wenxuan, get out of the way!"

The assassins and guards behind her were engaged in a battle, and the two groups of people fought all the way in the sea of ​​flowers. Pei Wenxuan only watched as they trampled over the peony plants one by one, slashing the flowers with their swords, and the petals flew all over the sky. Li Rong rode a red horse and galloped out from the sea of ​​flowers.

Pei Wenxuan's face turned pale. He looked at the peonies that he had spent a lot of money to search all over Huajing to find. He watched these peonies turn into petals flying all over the sky during the fight, while those people were completely unaware and were fighting hard.

He was so angry that he was shaking all over and could hardly speak.

Li Rong rode to his side, jumped down, pulled him up and said, "What are you still standing for? Run!"

As he spoke, Pei Wenxuan was dragged forward by Li Rong. The killer rushed over after Li Rong. The guards stood behind the killer. Li Rong turned to look at his guards and shouted, "Retreat! Retreat with your men!"

"Your Highness," Pei Wenxuan finally reacted. He realized what had happened. He looked up at Li Rong and wanted to say what he had prepared for a long time, "I am waiting here for..."

“Hold your breath!”

Without waiting for Pei Wenxuan to finish speaking, Li Rong pushed him into the icy lake.

Li Rong pushed him cleanly and decisively, as if she had used all her strength. Pei Wenxuan was caught off guard and was pushed down by her.

The lake water rushed into Pei Wenxuan's mouth and nose. Fortunately, he subconsciously listened to Li Rong's words and held his breath.

After falling into the water, the most important thing is to stay calm. Pei Wenxuan was panicked for only a moment before he calmed down, adjusted his posture, and then he felt someone pulling him and dragging him forward.

Pei Wenxuan knew that this was Li Rong, and hurriedly followed Li Rong forward. The two swam forward for less than a hundred meters, and Li Rong pulled him up. As soon as he emerged, he felt a earthquake. Pei Wenxuan grabbed Li Rong and the shore, and then the two quickly climbed ashore.

It was a cold winter day, and as soon as the two men came ashore, they felt the biting cold sweeping over them.

Before Pei Wenxuan could ask what was going on, he saw Li Rong trembling and rushing to the side. She took out a package, took out some clothes, threw one to Pei Wenxuan, and said with a shiver, "Put it on."

Having said that, she didn't care that Pei Wenxuan was here and started to take off her clothes.

Pei Wenxuan turned around hurriedly, not daring to look at her. Things developed too quickly and unexpectedly. Pei Wenxuan had no time to think about it and could only change clothes quickly with Li Rong.

After changing clothes, her hair was still wet, but the warmth eased her tension a little. Li Rong turned around, looked at Pei Wenxuan, smiled and said, "Did I scare you?"

Pei Wenxuan didn't say anything. He pursed his lips and stared at Li Rong.

"Your people should be fine," Li Rong saw that he seemed dissatisfied and thought that he was worried about the safety of the people outside, so she comforted him, "I just asked someone to command your people to evacuate. There is a safe area for these explosives. When I came here before, I instructed that unless it is absolutely necessary, we must ensure that everyone is in the safe area before igniting the gunpowder."

Pei Wenxuan didn't say anything, he just nodded, looking a little embarrassed.

Li Rong saw that he looked strange, and couldn't help but ask, "What did you want to say to me just now?"

"Nothing."

Pei Wenxuan turned his head away, hiding his expression, and looked towards the light outside the cave: "Is this all arranged by Your Highness today?"

"Don't you know?" Li Rong laughed, "Don't be angry, I know everything. I have divided their people into two sides, and a small part of them are blocked outside. I asked Shangguan Ya to capture some of them alive, and the evidence of the Chen family's assassination is solid."

"Your Highness is using yourself as bait." Pei Wenxuan's voice was very low. Li Rong sneered: "I don't have the patience to waste time with them. They come out from time to time. I can't be on guard against them every day. It's better to lure them out and catch them all in one fell swoop."

"It's too risky."

Pei Wenxuan suppressed his voice. He seemed absent-minded and was trying to control himself. Li Rong also noticed it. She hesitated for a while and finally said, "I won't do that again in the future. Don't worry."

Pei Wenxuan looked outside the cave without saying a word. Li Rong took a look at his messy hair and his clothes. Only then did she notice that Pei Wenxuan was wearing white clothes today.

He hasn't worn white clothes for many years.

Li Rong didn't know why, but she felt a little nervous. She wanted to say something, but Pei Wenxuan remained silent, and she didn't know where to start.

The sound of chopping and killing outside gradually faded away. After a while, Shangguan Ya's voice came from outside, and she said loudly: "Your Highness, are you okay, Your Highness?"

"I'm here."

Li Rong immediately raised her voice, and Shangguan Ya followed the voice and led people in. She had a happy look on her face, as if she had encountered something good. She saluted Li Rong, then nodded to Pei Wenxuan and said, "Master Pei."

Pei Wenxuan returned the greeting silently, and Shangguan Ya turned to Li Rong and said, "Your Highness, we captured twelve people alive today. Ten of us were injured, but the others are fine."

"Take the man back for questioning first."

Li Rong immediately said, "Take all the bodies back and check them one by one."

"yes."

Shangguan Ya finished speaking and looked Li Rong up and down. "You should go back first, don't catch a cold, and I will take care of the rest."

Shangguan Ya looked at Pei Wenxuan and smiled, "Your Highness has made great contributions this time. His Highness said that he would reward you."

Pei Wenxuan's expression remained unchanged, and he only said respectfully, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Li Rong nodded, not knowing what to say, so she could only raise her hand and point outside.

"Let's go."

Pei Wenxuan nodded and walked out directly. Shangguan Ya also noticed something was wrong. She walked beside Li Rong and whispered, "Your Highness, the Prince Consort looks very unhappy."

Li Rong responded and looked at Pei Wenxuan's thin back, tapping her small fan lightly on her palm, as if she was thinking about something.

After walking out, Li Rong saw a mess on the ground. A corpse fell in a sea of ​​flowers, the stream was dyed red with blood, the tables, chairs and piano that Pei Wenxuan had prepared were smashed to the ground, and the stove that was warming the wine rolled to the side.

Pei Wenxuan paused when he saw this scene. After a moment, he said nothing, clasped his hands in his sleeves, stepped into the sea of ​​flowers, and walked forward.

He was wearing a black cloak, his hair was loose, and the wind blew the chopped peony petals towards him. Li Rong raised her eyes and saw the man's back walking out of the canyon, gradually going farther and farther away.

"In the middle of winter," Shangguan Ya was a little surprised, "where did he get so many peonies?"

Li Rong's eyes fell on Shaoyao beside her. After being stunned for a moment, she walked to the piano table.

She raised her hand to touch the guqin and saw the words "Green Sandalwood" engraved on it. She immediately remembered that this was Pei Wenxuan's favorite guqin.

A mountain of peonies and the most precious guqin, if he wanted to cooperate with her to lure out the enemy, why would he waste so much time and effort?

Li Rong stared at all this in a daze. Shangguan Ya was briefly surprised, then reacted instantly. She hurried to Li Rong's side, stuffed the zither into Li Rong's arms, and said anxiously, "Your Highness, why are you still standing there? Hurry up and catch up!"

"Chase..." Li Rong raised her head blankly, "Chase?"

"Catch up with them, or the prince consort will be so sad." Shangguan Ya pulled Li Rong up seriously and pushed her, saying, "Hurry up, I'll help you get everyone out, and you can talk without worry."

Li Rong was holding the zither, and was a little overwhelmed for a moment. Shangguan Ya pushed her hard, and after a moment, she finally reacted and said coldly, "Don't push me, I'll go over."

As she spoke, Li Rong held her zither and walked through the crowd.

She walked very fast, but very restrained, like a taut string, wasting a lot of strength, wanting to catch up with the man, but afraid of losing her composure, she walked quickly behind Pei Wenxuan and called him loudly: "Pei Wenxuan."

Pei Wenxuan stopped walking. He did not turn around. Li Rong pursed her lips and whispered, "Your piano."

Pei Wenxuan was silent for a long time, his voice a little hoarse: "The zither is broken, so let's not use it anymore."

Li Rong couldn't describe her feelings. She just felt like she was hit in the heart by this broken piano.

Pei Wenxuan's "no" didn't seem to mean he didn't want the piano, but...

Li Rong didn't let herself think further. She just held the piano and said coldly: "This piano has been with you for a long time. It can still be used after repairing it."

"I've done it too many times," Pei Wenxuan said slowly, "It's not necessary."

Li Rong held the body of the zither tightly. Pei Wenxuan turned his head gently and looked at Li Rong. Li Rong had no expression on her face. He looked at her seriously. After a long time, he smiled and said, "Your Highness, I have prepared for a long time today. I bought the peony with a lot of money, and the clothes were praised by Your Highness in the past. Everything is according to Your Highness's preferences. I am afraid that Your Highness will not like it."

As he spoke, he seemed embarrassed, lowered his eyebrows, looked at the petals on the ground, and smiled: "Your Highness should have told me in advance."

"I thought you knew."

Li Rong said calmly, "You have always been smart and can see the big picture from the small details. I took you out right after you were assassinated. I thought you had already noticed it and secretly spied on me, so you cooperated with me to move these flowers to Butterfly Gorge in such a grand manner."

Pei Wenxuan said nothing. Li Rong lowered her eyes and whispered, "You have lost your usual rationality."

"Your Highness is right." Pei Wenxuan laughed, "In the past, I never understood why Your Highness was so resistant to love. Now I understand."

Pei Wenxuan raised his eyes and looked at Li Rong. "If there is someone in my heart, I will inevitably lose my composure. I have already noticed that Your Highness is different, but I thought that Your Highness was showing kindness to me. I lost my sense of propriety and almost disturbed Your Highness's plan."

Every word Pei Wenxuan said pierced Li Rong's heart. Li Rong hugged the zither tightly. For the first time, she realized that ordinary words could hurt people so much.

But she couldn't show it. She listened indifferently as Pei Wenxuan spoke: "It's my fault. Your Highness, don't worry. It won't happen again in the future."

After Pei Wenxuan finished speaking, Jin Ya bowed and turned to walk out.

Li Rong saw Pei Wenxuan leaving, her fingers clasped tightly on the piano. Seeing him walk away, she finally couldn't help herself and called him, "Pei Wenxuan!"

Pei Wenxuan didn't look back, he continued to walk forward, Li Rong gritted her teeth and shouted: "On what basis do you have the final say? You said you want to be friends, so we are friends. Now you say you don't want to be friends, so you don't want to be friends. It's up to you to come and go, what qualifications do you have to be so irritable with me?!"

"Yes," Pei Wenxuan stopped, turned around, and cursed like Li Rong, "I don't have the qualifications, I never have the qualifications, I wasn't in your heart before, and now no matter what I do, I won't stay in your heart. I'm not in your heart, so I don't even have the right to like you, accompany you, and pursue you, right?"

Li Rong's eyes widened. Pei Wenxuan looked at her expression and laughed sarcastically, "Are you surprised? Didn't you know this a long time ago?"

Pei Wenxuan came forward, clenching his fists and restraining himself. He spoke in a low voice within the range where only the two of them could hear: "You clearly know everything, but you hide it in your heart and pretend not to know. You just hope that I can still maintain the so-called friendship with you like before and continue to treat you well."

"You don't want to be with me," Pei Wenxuan's voice was a little trembling, "but you can't bear to give up my talent and my kindness to you. So you show me kindness to keep me, and reject me when I get close to you. But Li Rong," Pei Wenxuan's eyes were red, "you can't be so tampered with feelings. You can say you don't like me, but you should at least respect this love."

"If you had paid a little attention to what happened today, you wouldn't be so ignorant."

"I can't guess your conspiracy. It's not that I'm stupid, but I prefer to believe that you asked me to come out because you really wanted to go to a place with me to relax, and it has nothing to do with these conspiracies and tricks."

"You know my movements but you can't guess what I do. It's not that you don't understand, but in your heart, you prefer to believe that I am playing tricks instead of..." Pei Wenxuan paused. He stared at the woman in front of him, whose expression did not change at all after listening to everything he said.

He suddenly felt tired and embarrassed. He even felt that if he said this, he would be completely defeated and would lose even the last bit of his dignity.

"Instead of what?" Li Rong raised her head and looked at him quietly.

Pei Wenxuan received this pair of extremely calm eyes, and he couldn't help but smile: "Your Highness is still one step ahead."

As he spoke, he turned his head and said in a hoarse voice, "Your Highness has important matters to attend to. I will take my leave."

"Pei Wenxuan." Li Rong's voice was a little tired. She looked at the ground and whispered, "I have never said these words to you before."

"You are not the only one who has felt that your feelings have been trampled on, and you are not the only one who has felt that you have been pitied."

Pei Wenxuan was stunned. After Li Rong finished speaking, she felt that she had lost her composure. She took a deep breath, turned around with her zither in her arms, and tried to calm herself down: "You go back first. I still have things to do."

“Your Highness…”

"go back!"

Li Rong shouted loudly, but Pei Wenxuan said nothing. He just stared at Li Rong's proud and lonely back. After a long time, he raised his hand and saluted Li Rong.

"Your Highness will be home soon."

His voice was low and pleading.

Li Rong stopped walking, and after a long while, she finally responded, "Yeah."