Meng Qingluan's hands were trembling, and her stomach was churning.
She always viewed this world as just a game world.
All death happens in the blink of an eye. But when a living person dies before her eyes, she can no longer deceive herself…
They are all human beings, flesh-and-blood, living people.
This also includes her and... Shen Yan??.
Although Meng Qingluan has an omniscient perspective, the entire story revolves around the battle of wits between Shen Yan and Li Zhanjue in the imperial court, as well as their intertwined love and hate.
The massacre of the village had never appeared in her memory.
This was the first time she had ever witnessed such a bloody and cruel scene.
"Close your eyes."
Chen Yan spoke up, tightening his grip on her hand even more.
Meng Qingluan then realized that her arms had started trembling involuntarily, and cold sweat was seeping from her palms and sticking to them.
Trying to calm myself down, I tried to banish the image from my mind.
The two ran wildly, their feet sinking into the snow accumulated the previous night, their clothes becoming muddy.
Suddenly, a cloud of snow rose from the ground, and the clatter of horses' hooves seemed to be approaching.
Meng Qingluan's waist was embraced, and then the world spun around her, making her dizzy.
Shen Yan wrapped one arm around her waist and the other around her head, shielding her completely in his embrace.
They rolled down the slope with all their might, and the two of them rolled down the hillside together, kicking up snow.
The tenacious branches that had survived the winter tore his clothes and slammed against the cold, hard stones, causing him to wince in pain.
He clenched his teeth and didn't even let out a muffled groan.
Meng Qingluan curled up in his arms, not yet understanding what was happening, when a pair of large hands covered her mouth.
Meng Qingluan reacted quickly by shutting her mouth, only staring wide-eyed at the slope.
The clatter of horses' hooves grew louder as they approached, making her eardrums tremble, while flames blazed across the hillside.
A man's rough voice rang out.
Where are they?
“I didn’t see it. I went to his house to look for it but couldn’t find it,” another man replied.
"Did you search carefully? Don't let it be that you guys just searched aimlessly and slipped away right in front of you."
"Boss, we really searched carefully. We even checked the ant holes in their yard. We didn't find a single person, we killed almost everyone, but we still didn't see the two of them."
The man cursed, "You bunch of idiots! Do you think those two can grow wings and fly away?"
"..."
"What are you standing there for? Get up and go find them! Those two have seen what we look like, do you want to die?"
"yes!"
"..."
Suddenly, I heard the sound of footsteps on snow overhead, a soft, rustling sound that sent chills down my spine.
"Where are you going?" someone seemed to be asking.
“I’ll go down and look for them. What if they rolled down the mountainside while they were escaping? I need to find them alive or dead.”
"Tsk," the man clicked his tongue impatiently, "Are you stupid? We're all in the village, how could those two frail people dare to run away from us?"
"Let's go, let's go search the village again."
"……oh."
The man hesitated for a moment, then glanced down again out of the corner of his eye and vaguely saw two dark figures.
But then he remembered his companion's words, so he only glanced at her before turning away and leaving.
The two bandits left together, and one of them, truly puzzled, couldn't help but complain.
"The boss is really something. So what if they've met? What trouble could those two little sprouts possibly cause? Why make such a fuss, keeping everyone up at night?"
"You don't know anything," another bandit cursed, then lowered his voice.
"I heard that those two are no ordinary people. It's a woman from the palace who wants to get rid of them. Once they're dead, the court won't be able to suppress the bandits anymore, and we can be recruited by the government."
One of the bandits asked curiously, "What is 'recruiting a government official'?"
"How would I know? Just listen to the boss. Who knows how those two were so unlucky as to offend such a big shot?"
"..."
As the footsteps faded into the distance, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.
Meng Qingluan asked, "Where are we going?"
Shen Yan: "To get to the capital, getting out of the town first is the most important thing."
"..."
Meng Qingluan nodded, letting him lead her by the hand and walk outside.
Everything around was pitch black.
Meng Qingluan only knew the way from the village to the town; she knew nothing else and could only follow in Shen Yan's footsteps.
The mountain forest was covered with thorns, and Chen Yan walked ahead, clearing a path.
Meng Qingluan followed behind him, unharmed except for her shoes and socks being soaked by mud and snow.
I don't know how long we walked, but the sky was already turning a pale white.
The two were still in the mountains and forests, where white mist was spreading in the early morning.
I don't know how long we walked...
Meng Qingluan spotted a dilapidated temple not far ahead and pointed in that direction.
"Chen Yan? There's a dilapidated temple there where we can take refuge."
"Okay, let's go in."
Shen Yan also saw the dilapidated temple ahead, and the two went into the temple.
Spiderwebs had already formed inside the temple. Pushing open the door stirred up dust on the ground, and Meng Qingluan was choked by the dust and couldn't stop coughing.
Shen Yan approached and saw a kneeling cushion, patting off the dust that had settled on it.
"Please sit here first."
Meng Qingluan sat down on half of the cushion, leaving him half, and patted the remaining half of the cushion next to her bottom.
"You sit down too. How can we travel if we don't rest properly?"
"……good."
Shen Yan hesitated before agreeing, and the two sat on the same kneeling cushion, deliberately keeping a distance between them.
Meng Qingluan had barely sat down and hadn't even had a chance to catch her breath when a strong smell of blood hit her.
Ever since what happened last night, Meng Qingluan has become exceptionally sensitive to the smell of blood.
Turning his head to look at his side, he looked Chen Yan up and down and sure enough, he found a wound on his arm.
You won't believe it until you see it, and what you find will shock you.
Shen Yan's body had been covered in wounds, his clothes torn, revealing the injuries underneath.
Although it had scabbed over overnight, it still looked extremely frightening.
Looking up, I saw that Shen Yan's complexion was also terrible, almost ashen.
Cold sweat beaded on his brow and eyes, his eyelashes drooped, and there was not a glimmer of light. He had endured this alone for an unknown amount of time.
Meng Qingluan suddenly understood when she recalled how the two of them had tumbled down the hillside the night before.
Shen Yan shielded himself in his arms; there must have been pebbles and withered branches on the hillside, and he must have been scratched there.
Meng Qingluan seemed to calm down instantly, her anger subsided considerably, and she still whispered an apology.
The smell of blood at the tip of my nose was so strong it was almost overwhelming.
If he hadn't tried to protect himself, he wouldn't have suffered so many injuries...
Shen Yan raised her hand, ruffled her hair, and said gently, "No need to apologize, it's all my fault."
"I clearly spotted those thieves with you that day, but I wasn't capable enough to get you away..."
"Luanluan, I'm sorry."
Meng Qingluan was worried about his wound, but unfortunately neither of them had brought any medicine.
"Does it still hurt?"
Meng Qingluan didn't ask any other questions, but just looked at him and asked softly.
Shen Yan noticed her worry and comforted her, "It doesn't hurt, my wound has already scabbed over."
Meng Qingluan glanced at him, not believing his words, after all, his face looked so unpleasant.
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