Zheng Qianye, in his search for someone, grabbed a guide from among the small group of retreating men. Following the half-finished, hastily drawn map created by Li Fuxiang, he traveled for four days and finally, at dusk, came upon a yellow earthen city hidden amidst the wind and sand.
Zheng Yan shielded his forehead with one hand to block the sandstorm, squinting as he sighed, “Heavens, there really is always a way out…”
Zheng Qianye said gravely, “Give me the map.”
Zheng Yan handed over the crude map drawn by Li Fuxiang.
Zheng Qianye threw it back into his arms. “Not this one.”
Zheng Yan hurriedly pulled out a more detailed military map from his belongings. “What’s wrong, Grandpa?”
Zheng Qianye said, “There couldn’t possibly be an ancient city in the Hucha Sea. As expected, what lies ahead is a trade route.”
The yellow earthen city was marked on the trade route map. Due to the frequent arrival and departure of caravans, it was relatively prosperous.
Although it was called an ancient city, it wasn’t necessarily larger than a village. The guards outside the city gates were sparse, but the interior was bustling with activity. When the armored soldiers entered, the pedestrians on the streets were hardly surprised.
After enduring several days of sand in the desert, they finally had a place to rest.
Zheng Qianye had brought few men with him—at most, twenty-something soldiers. Compared to Li Fuxiang’s three thousand cavalry, they were inconspicuous. Zheng Qianye needed to let his men rest and also gather information, so Gao Yuexing and the others were arranged to stay at an inn.
Gao Yuexing wiped her face with a damp towel, removing a layer of sandy yellow dust. Among the Medicine Valley disciples traveling with her, only Langdu and Xia Tianwu remained. Gao Yuexing asked casually, “Senior Brother Langdu, do you know what this place is?”
Langdu also wiped his face and replied, “I don’t know what this place is, but I just saw a pharmacy outside. Places like this, frequented by caravans, often have many rare herbs. Would you like to take a look?”
Gao Yuexing was tempted.
Langdu said, “Let me inform Commander Zheng first, and then I’ll take you for a walk.”
Gao Yuexing couldn’t sit still in the room. As soon as Langdu left, she followed him out. At the inn’s entrance, she happened to see Zheng Qianye arguing with a portly merchant.
The merchant said, “You’re here to buy horses, right?”
Zheng Qianye asked, “Buy what horses?”
The merchant replied, “A few days ago, a young master left more than two thousand horses with me, saying that in three to five days, an elder surnamed Zheng would come to collect them. Are you surnamed Zheng?”
Zheng Qianye said, “I am.”
The merchant continued, “Then you need to pay me. That young master already took the money for selling the horses.”
Zheng Qianye asked, “…Where are the horses?”
As Gao Yuexing walked out, she overheard their conversation. After thinking for a moment, she understood what had happened. When Li Fuxiang released that group of people, he had anticipated that Zheng Qianye would chase after him.
He planned to use Zheng Qianye’s horses to extract a sum of money from him.
Gao Yuexing glanced back and saw that Zheng Qianye seemed ready to pull money from his pocket.
He had actually calculated this far ahead, even using Zheng Qianye.
Following her senior brothers and sisters, Gao Yuexing walked a few steps to a pharmacy. From across the counter, she observed the medicine cabinets behind it. The selection was not extensive, but as Langdu had said, there were a few medicines she had never heard of.
Still, the place was somewhat rudimentary.
Gao Yuexing moved closer to take a better look, unaware that she was standing near the side door of the pharmacy. The wind stirred the hemp curtain hanging on the door, and out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of a thin figure.
That familiar feeling of her heartbeat skipping a beat returned.
Gao Yuexing stared fixedly at the side door.
She had the impulse to step out, but for some inexplicable reason, her feet hesitated, and she lingered inside the door.
At that moment, Langdu and Xia Tianwu’s attention wasn’t on her.
Just as Gao Yuexing drew in a breath, the thin curtain was lifted by another gust of wind and flew straight toward her face. Instinctively, she stepped back to avoid it, but in the next moment, an arm wrapped firmly around her slender waist. Overbearingly and without explanation, it pulled her out. In that instant, her feet left the ground. She nearly let out a startled cry but managed to suppress it. The weightless sensation made her blood rush to her head, her eyes reddening.
—“Ah Xing!”
Langdu and Xia Tianwu immediately rushed outside, looking around in all directions, but all they saw was an empty back street. There was no trace of Gao Yuexing.
In the span of just a few seconds, she had disappeared entirely.
Gao Yuexing had been hidden inside a half-human-high bamboo basket.
The person hiding her had squeezed inside with her.
How could a single bamboo basket conceal two people? They were no longer children.
The two of them had no choice but to press tightly against each other. His arm clamped around her waist with such force that it hurt.
Gao Yuexing lifted her face.
Li Fuxiang was wearing a straw hat with a black veil draped over it.
Gao Yuexing reached out a finger to lift the veil, revealing half of the face hidden beneath it.
Last time, she hadn’t had the chance to look at him closely. He had truly grown up.
The sky was growing darker, and the dim light filtered through the gaps in the bamboo basket, as if marking the end of a long journey to reunion, just barely reaching the finish line.
Langdu and Xia Tianwu frantically searched the alley but never came back.
Four years ago, when she left, she hadn’t dared to look back at him.
Li Fuxiang had always been someone who held grudges, even since childhood.
Gao Yuexing’s heart was uneasy, unsure whether he still resented her.
Just as the thought formed, Li Fuxiang answered with his actions.
He lowered his head, baring his teeth, and bit her shoulder hard.
Even through the thick winter clothes she was wearing, Gao Yuexing felt the sharp pain clearly.
She endured it, waiting for him to finish venting his anger. When he finally let go, she raised her hand and lightly slapped him across the face. There was no sound, and she hadn’t used much force, but his face turned to the side from the impact.
In a hoarse voice, Gao Yuexing said, “How old are you now? Still biting people like some habit? After eating sand for days, aren’t you even disgusted?”
Li Fuxiang turned his face back and gently pressed his forehead against her hair.
—“Gao Yuexing.”
He called her name softly.
Gao Yuexing chuckled lightly. “Why won’t you call me wife anymore?”
Li Fuxiang didn’t respond.
Gao Yuexing asked again, “Are you angry?”
Their breaths mingled as Li Fuxiang replied, “You’re so good at scheming. Why don’t you calculate whether I’m angry or not?”
In that moment, Gao Yuexing suddenly realized that when they were young, Li Fuxiang had been the person closest to her. No one understood her cunning better than he did.
Li Fuxiang said, “I knew you’d follow me… And you must also know what I’m going to do.”
Gao Yuexing closed her eyes. “Take me with you.”
Li Fuxiang spoke almost at the same time, “Go back.”
Gao Yuexing asked, “Go back where?”
Li Fuxiang answered, “Return to the capital.”
Gao Yuexing remained silent, neither agreeing nor refusing.
Li Fuxiang’s hand slipped into her sleeve and found the white jade safety bracelet. The warmth of his touch made Gao Yuexing shrink back instinctively. Sensing her hesitation, Li Fuxiang grabbed her hand firmly.
“Which is more fun, Medicine Valley or the capital?” he asked.
“The capital has you, Medicine Valley doesn’t,” Gao Yuexing replied.
“The capital isn’t fun at all,” Li Fuxiang muttered, grumbling softly.
“What kind of life are you even living in the capital?” Gao Yuexing asked.
Li Fuxiang didn’t answer, and they both fell silent again. Li Fuxiang wouldn’t tell her how loathsome the heartless people in the capital were. Similarly, Gao Yuexing wouldn’t tell him how peaceful life in Medicine Valley was—so peaceful that she had already calculated every move and countermeasure for what was to come.
The space inside the bamboo basket was extremely cramped. After a while, the confined air left them feeling dizzy. At that moment, Gao Yuexing caught a faint, slightly metallic sweetness in the air.
She immediately realized, “You’re injured?”
His body was radiating heat as well.
Gao Yuexing reached out to pull at his collar.
Li Fuxiang pushed her hand away and said, “You should go back.”
Gao Yuexing retorted, “Do you think that’s possible?”
Li Fuxiang said, “I’m leaving.”
Gao Yuexing insisted, “Let me see where you’re hurt.”
Li Fuxiang lifted the bamboo basket off their heads.
Gao Yuexing grabbed his sleeve. “Don’t think about slipping away.”
Li Fuxiang was now significantly taller than her. When they both stood upright, she had to tilt her head up to look at him.
Gao Yuexing asked, “Do you still have the medicine that Sister Yaonu specially prepared for you?”
Li Fuxiang tried to pull his sleeve out of her grasp, but Gao Yuexing followed him a few steps, shouting, “Don’t go!”
Her shout actually stopped him.
Li Fuxiang spun around abruptly and pressed her against the wall.
Meeting Gao Yuexing’s startled gaze, Li Fuxiang calmly said into her ear, “Everyone hopes I can be a pampered pet, raised in the palace, relying on the protection of others to live a safe and peaceful life. Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with that…”
That kind of life was fine. He had known since childhood how to protect himself.
Initially, he hadn’t wanted much—just to survive.
Li Fuxiang continued, “But it wasn’t until the day you left me that I realized: protecting myself isn’t any real skill. Being able to protect you, that’s true ability.”
He knew Gao Yuexing was forced to leave.
There were people in the palace who wanted her dead, and society wanted to lock her away in a boudoir, making her a dodder flower—a fragile plant that could only cling to others for survival. She refused to resign herself to that fate, so she had to leave.
During those years, although he had left the palace physically, his heart remained cowering at the bottom of the well in the Xiaonan Pavilion. Ah You had died unjustly, Consort Xu had passed away in sorrow, and Gao Yuexing had left him too. Yet, he was still trapped in that palace of red walls and green tiles.
What difference was there between being trapped in the palace and being trapped in Xiaonan Pavilion?
One was big, the other small; one was luxurious, the other desolate.
Both were cages.
Li Fuxiang said bitterly, “The Medicine Valley is not your destination. I am.”
Gao Yuexing couldn’t help but lift her hand, teasingly hooking his chin. She suddenly laughed, “You know, your soldiers were tricked, your money was swindled, but your words sure carry a lot of confidence.”
Li Fuxiang turned and walked away.
Gao Yuexing called out, “Don’t go.”
He didn’t look back.
Left with no choice, Gao Yuexing shouted loudly, “Hey—I’ll be waiting for you to come back!”
Li Fuxiang lowered his head, patting the bulging pocket at his side. It was filled with various medicines Gao Yuexing had stuffed into it when she got close to him.
As she watched Li Fuxiang’s figure disappear around the corner, Gao Yuexing leaned against the wall, looked up, and covered her face, letting out a muffled laugh.
By the time Langdu and Xia Tianwu rushed back to the inn, Zheng Qianye was preparing to follow the local merchant to inspect the horses. Hearing Langdu recount the incident in a panic, Zheng Qianye frowned, sensing something amiss. “Miss Gao was taken?”
Langdu said, “Yes, that person was very fast. None of us could get a clear look.”
Zheng Qianye asked, “What was Miss Gao’s reaction?”
Langdu was puzzled. “Reaction?”
Zheng Qianye pressed, “Did she scream? Shout? Did she leave you any messages or signals?”
Langdu shook his head. “No, the moment she left, she disappeared. The streets were empty. Ah Xing might have been so scared that she froze; we didn’t even hear a cry for help.”
“Scared stiff…”
Zheng Qianye nearly laughed out loud at that. It seemed this Medicine Valley disciple didn’t understand the Second Miss of the Gao family at all. He turned and ordered, “Quick, station guards at the city gates. That little rascal has left his burrow.”