Royal Princess Duanjia rubbed the corners of her eyes as she inwardly continued her outburst. “Chu Liu, you dummy! You’d better be alive after this! You still owe this princess a whole roast duck! You promised that we’ll make it together next time! You can’t go back on your promises! Otherwise, this princess will make trouble for the entire House Jing’an, especially that darn annoying husband of yours!”
Royal Princess Duanjia suddenly had something out for He Changdi. After all that happened, Chu Lian had already become her best friend. Furthermore, Chu Lian was such a nice person, but that He Sanlang actually dared to abandon her. He was definitely a wife-abandoning animal!
Chu Lian, still standing in the small courtyard, didn’t have the spare time to think of all that. Her heart was thumping rapidly in her chest. It was impossible not to be scared. However, she didn’t have a choice. Chu Lian quickly put on Royal Princess Duanjia’s coat and ran over to the pile of kindling near the entrance of the closed courtyard. She dove inside in a panic. Under the cover of some dried grass, Chu Lian didn’t dare to move an inch. She held the mental map of the courtyard in her mind and calculated the escape route she was going to take.
She pressed on her own chest with her right hand and felt the beating of heart. In her heart, she prayed for Wenlan to return quickly with reinforcements.
From the gaps in the grass covering her, Chu Lian could see the two pursuers carefully stepping into the courtyard. They were completely covered in black clothing. Even their faces were wrapped up in black, leaving only their sinister-looking eyes peeking out. The swords they held had been covered in blood at some point; beads of red were rolling down the sharp blades and dripping onto the tile-covered ground. Chu Lian felt like she could almost hear the pitter patter of the falling blood.
Her heart in her throat, she watched every movement that the assassins made. The two men swept the courtyard with their gazes once they entered, as if they were just about to find either her or Royal Princess Duanjia.
Chu Lian shut her eyes and took a deep breath. The next time her eyes opened, they were as bright as stars in the night sky.
She mentally counted to three before pushing aside the kindling covering her. Without any room for further thought, Chu Lian ran towards the entrance of the courtyard.
When the two assassins spotted the young girl appearing out of nowhere, one of them quickly followed after her while the other remained in the courtyard.
The remaining assassin walked up to the kindling pile that Chu Lian had just been hiding in and used his sword to poke through it. After pushing aside the grass and discovering that there was no one else hiding in there, he spat in anger. After that, he continued looking through the courtyard.
It seemed like the assassins weren’t stupid.
Eventually, the gaze of the remaining assassin landed on the only well in the courtyard.
He strode towards the well and lifted the wooden cover on top of it, scanning the inside. Although it was rather deep, the sunlight reached far enough that he could see the bottom.
Seeing that there was only a piece of wood floating on the water’s surface and nothing else, he harrumphed and turned to leave.
Hiding under that piece of wood was Royal Princess Duanjia. She waited until a few more moments had passed before she dared to come up for air. In her heart, she cursed the assassins a million times over, while worrying for Chu Lian’s safety.
As her lungs cried out for more air, Chu Lian’s steps grew heavier and heavier.
The footsteps behind her sounded closer and closer and it seemed like there wasn’t a shred of hope left for her. Under the wide sleeves of her clothes, Chu Lian gripped a golden hairpin she had removed from her head. If there was really no other choice, then she would choose death!
She took a deep breath. Death didn’t seem so scary in the midst of all this tension. She wondered if she would return to her original world if she died. If she could, the first thing she would do was write a five hundred long review to scold the author of this book!
The face of her pursuer seemed to carry a wretched smile behind the dark cloth wrapping around his face. His sword was just about to reach her; Chu Lian could almost feel the air being pushed towards her by the blade.
All her energy was gone. She was struggling to breathe. She purposely stumbled on her next step, miraculously dodging the assassin’s fierce strike.
Sprawled on the ground without any more strength to dodge the next attack, Chu Lian turned and stared at the assassin. She pressed her lips together tightly, determination clear on her face.
When the assassin finally saw the face of his target, a flash of annoyance passed through his eyes. He had been chasing the wrong person!
He angrily shouted, “You damned bitch! You tried to trick me! Since you’re not the princess, there’s no use in keeping you!”
Right as he finished speaking, his sharp blade began its descent, its target Chu Lian’s snow white nape.
The silhouette of the blade was reflected in Chu Lian’s eyes.
Her gaze sharpened. She refused to give up! Even at this critical moment, she didn’t want to give up. No matter where she was, nothing was more important than her very own life. The spark in her eyes brightened as strength gathered in her body from who knew where. She flipped over and actually dodged the man’s attack! At the same time, she rolled next to his feet.
She tightly gripped the hairpin in her hands and, without any hesitation at all, plunged it into his foot.
The man cried out in pain as his eyes flushed red. Even in his wildest dreams, he would never have thought that this fragile little noble girl could hurt him.
He punted Chu Lian away and increased the ferocity of his attacks.
That burst of movement has expended the last drop of energy in Chu Lian’s body. She didn’t have any power left in her to fight. The bloodstained blade flashed; it was going to fall upon her any second now. Chu Lian quickly shut her eyes.
However, the pain she had expected never came. Instead, she heard… a whoosh?
Chu Lian panted as she laid sprawled on the ground. When she slowly opened her eyes, she saw that the assassin had already fallen next to her, his eyes wide with an arrow through his throat.
Chu Lian pushed herself up with difficulty before she looked around. She immediately spotted the azure-eyed man on the second floor, sporting a bow in his hands.
That arrow was his.
Chu Lian let out a sigh of relief as her body softened into mush.
Without waiting for Chu Lian to catch her breath, that whoosh sounded again. She turned to look, a little stiffened, and saw that the second pursuer had also been shot to death with a single arrow…
By then, Chu Lian had finally regained her senses and realised that someone had just died right in front of her. Her pupils shrank and her face turned extremely pale.
Still leaning on her arms, she began to shuffle backwards, as if trying to get away from the dead men.
Not much later, a number of troops charged down from Defeng Teahouse. The azure-eyed man led them straight to Chu Lian.
She saw that the soldiers were wearing armour and carrying swords at their waists. These must have been the reinforcements from the city guards that Wenlan had sent for.
The azure-eyed man extended a hand to help Chu Lian up. “Sixth Miss Chu, are you hurt anywhere?”
Chu Lian felt like jelly all over, but she persisted in standing up. She took a small glance up at him before quickly lowering her gaze. Chu Lian pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Your Highness Prince Jin, I’m fine. I just suffered a shock, but I’m uninjured.”
Once he heard Chu Lian addressing him as Prince Jin, his extraordinary azure eyes narrowed slightly. Prince Jin waved two people forward, and two maidservants immediately came forth from behind him. They gently supported Chu Lian at either side.
By this time, Wenlan had also come charging out of the crowd. Seeing that Chu Lian was safe, tears spilled out from her eyes. “Third Young Madam, it’s good that you’re alright!”
Chu Lian tried her best to pull out a weak smile for Wenlan. Without waiting for her to speak, Wenlan knew what she wanted to ask. “Third Young Madam, please don’t worry. Xiyan is fine! She had a small injury, but the doctors are tending to her in the forecourt of the teahouse.”
Without waiting for the two to finish their conversation, another person rushed forward from the crowd.
Chu Lian turned to look and realised that it was Royal Princess Duanjia’s handmaid, Jinxiu.
The moment Jinxiu came over, she grabbed onto Chu Lian’s thigh. She cried out in anxiety, “Third Young Madam, what about our princess! Where has our princess gone?!”
Prince Jin glanced at the outer coat that Chu Lian was wearing. When he recognised it as Royal Princess Duanjia’s, a trace of understanding flashed through his mind.
Chu Lian blushed, the red evident against her pale face. After narrowly escaping danger, she had actually completely forgotten about the princess in the well…
She awkwardly coughed to hide her guilt and secretly glanced at Prince Jin. “Come with me.”
Wenlan quickly moved up to support Chu Lian. When Chu Lian led Prince Jin and the soldiers to that little courtyard, she peeked into the well and saw that there was no one there. Noticing that the piece of wood was still floating on the surface, she shouted loudly, “Princess! Come out quickly! Help has come!”
The tough soldiers surrounding them had constipated expressions on their faces.
Following that, ripples appeared on the surface of the water as a head suddenly popped up from under the wood, like a water ghost. Royal Princess Duanjia’s voice resounded with anger, “Chu Liu! You’re late!! Hurry and get someone to pull this princess up!”
Hearing the anger in Royal Princess Duanjia’s voice, Chu Lian was finally able to relax.
Actually, as Chu Lian reflected on her actions, she admitted it was a little too rough of her to have pushed the princess down the well. She had only been thinking of saving her life, but she hadn’t thought of the mental anguish that the saved princess would have been going through. Luckily, Royal Princess Duanjia wasn’t such a fragile person.
The soldiers quickly prepared some rope and threw it into the well.
Once they brought up the soaking wet princess, without waiting for Prince Jin to put the cloak he had prepared around the princess, Royal Princess Duanjia reached out and hugged the dazed Chu Lian tightly.
The princess’ voice sounded a little hoarse as she whispered into Chu Lian’s ear. “Stupid Chu Liu! Do you know how scared I was alone in that well?! If I have nightmares after this, I’m going to buy a puppet, paste your name on it, and stick a needle into it every day to relieve my trauma!”
Chu Lian froze up after hearing the princess’s words. As expected, this princess was really hateful. All she had were complaints after she had saved her life! Chu Lian was at a loss for what to do when she suddenly realised that there was something hot flowing down her neck.
Chu Lian’s heart immediately softened. She patted Royal Princess Duanjia’s back lightly and reassured her with a gentle tone. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault. If Princess has nightmares in the future, I’ll make something delicious for you to eat, okay?”
Royal Princess Duanjia was choked with sobs as she pushed Chu Lian away and wiped her tears. She stared at Chu Lian with reddened eyes before pursing her lips, “Chu Liu, are you serious? Don’t you dare lie to me! I want to eat that cat head cookie! And your handmade roast duck!”
Chu Lian: ……
My dear princess, could you stop changing moods so quickly? My delicate heart can’t take it.
Are you sure you weren’t crying so pitifully just to trick some food out of me?
Chu Lian wanted to roll her eyes at the princess.