“Which nasty critic stoned me?!”
This breed of horse can be said to belong uniquely to the Yang family in Huajing. Now that the Yang family gathered people and rushed towards the princess’s residence, there must only be one purpose—
They wanted to abduct Li Rong.
Given Yang Quan’s way of doing things, if he didn’t have a chance to marry Li Rong, then he would not think about it, but now that there was a chance, a madman like him could act on his thoughts.
In typical situations, Yang Quan should have someone pretend to kidnap Li Rong and wait for a chance to act out the hero saving the beauty at the most critical moment. Then, he would spend the night with Li Rong alone and perhaps Li Rong would be moved.
Even if Li Rong is not moved, Li Ming is an Emperor who values reputation. Li Rong and Yang Quan would have spent one night together, and even if the circumstances were unclear, Li Ming would bestow the marriage anyways.
If Li Rong resisted, then wouldn’t Yang Quan do something extreme? At that time, Li Ming would marry Li Rong off to save face for the Imperial family. Once they are married, he will destroy the Yang family and settle accounts at a more convenient time.
Once the Yang family is destroyed, if Li Chuan helped Li Rong, it would fall in line with His Majesty’s intentions. His Majesty will add the Yang family’s troubles onto the Crown Prince, using it as an opportunity to depose the Crown Prince.
If Li Chuan did not help Li Rong, Li Ming would demote Li Rong to a commoner or send her to a Taoist temple on the grounds of being a former wife of the Yang family. Only then could the Emperor rest assured that the Crown Prince will never be able to use Li Rong’s marriage to win over anyone else.
So for Li Ming, as long as Li Rong’s chastity is compromised, she will be married to Yang Quan anyways.
But where did Yang Quan get his courage?
Pei Wenxuan closed his eyes and recalled his previous life. In the previous life, not long after, the Yang family almost all died on the front line. If someone said that this was not the Emperor’s doing, he would not believe it.
Yang Quan must be very impatient because he probably knew that the Yang family was under the threat of a sharp blade. Whether or not he abducted the princess, he would still die.
At this moment, the Yang family urgently needs Li Rong to bind themselves to Li Chuan. Once Li Rong marries Yang Quan, Li Chuan and the Yang family will be in the same boat. Even if Li Chuan doesn’t want to be, Li Ming will not believe it, so Li Chuan will only be caught up in a struggle between father and son against Li Ming. This was precisely the best chance of survival the Yang family had.
The more Pei Wenxuan thought about it, the more disgusting he felt Yang Quan was. However, when faced with this problem himself, did he also need to help? And to what extent?
Help. He must help to some extent. He at least needed to go back and inform Li Chuan to send people to the rescue.
But what else?
If Li Chuan’s rescue didn’t arrive in time…
Pei Wenxuan thought about it, but then he couldn’t bear to. Li Rong was used to being proud, and if she was forced to marry after being humiliated like that, he was afraid she would bear that grudge for a lifetime. But if he wanted to help, how could he help?
He wasn’t some great hero that could save Li Rong from fire and water. His return has only one purpose, which is to stall for time and reduce the chances that Li Rong would be humiliated. However, what he would be putting on the line would be his life. If he wasn’t careful, Yang Quan could kill him.
Was it worth it?
Pei Wenxuan fell into deep thought.
His feelings for Li Rong did consist of some affection when he was young, but afterwards, those sentiments faded with time. The two of them hated each other. If there were any sentiments between them, it was because they had known each other for too long, and the other person had long become a part of one another’s lives.
They were just that. They were not considered lovers, nor did they count as friends. Risking his life for her was really not Pei Wenxuan’s style either. He would be able to help her by alerting Li Chuan, which would be considered fulfilling his fundamental duty.
Pei Wenxuan thought of this and turned his head. He looked at the small bowl on the table and shifted his gaze to the box next to it. This box had two-tiers. He looked at the bottom tier that had not been opened yet. After hesitating for a moment, he pulled the drawer open and was greeted with the sight of gleaming silver taels.
Li Rong mocked him for borrowing a carriage from home earlier, so she must have known about his desperate situation. Although she laughed at him and they had parted ways, she still thought about him and prepared money for his sake.
The gleaming silver taels almost blinded Pei Wenxuan’s eyes. Before he could think about it, he shouted, “Tong Ye, stop the carriage!”
Tong Ye heard Pei Wenxuan yell out and stopped the carriage in a hurry and doubtfully asked: “Young Master?”
“Go back now. You run to the Crown Prince’s mansion and report that the Princess had an accident. Someone wants to kill the Princess. Have them quickly send people over.”
As he spoke, Pei Wenxuan jumped out of the carriage and quickly untied a horse for Tong Ye. He turned around and urged, “Hurry and go, there’s no time.”
“What about you?”
Tong Ye anxiously said: “The Young Master is not going with this servant?”
“I have to go back to find the Princess.”
Pei Wenxuan immediately said: “Don’t worry about me, quickly go!”
Tong Ye did not dare to delay. Although he was worried about Pei Wenxuan, he gritted his teeth and rushed back.
Pei Wenxuan looked at the remaining three horses pulling the carriage and jumped onto the carriage. He turned the carriage around and rushed back in the direction of the mansion.
After madly riding for his life for some time, he realized that this still would not be good. If he rushed over to the princess’s residence now, the Yang family forces would already be there. Even if he returned, he would not even be able to step foot into the residence.
Based on Li Rong’s habits when traveling back then, she must have at least twenty shadow guards by her side that the Empress had personally arranged. Including her maids and servants, it amounted to at least a hundred people.
The number of people from the Yang family earlier were about forty. Those people were extremely fast and had green etched tokens hanging from their waists. According to the Yang family’s conventions, the green etched waist tokens should belong to their reinforcements. Forty was typically half the total number of reinforcements with these waist tokens, so there may be nearly a hundred people in the Yang family’s ambush.
Given the shadow guards’ abilities, Li Rong could at least break out of the besieged residence if she encounters a surprise attack. The most he could help Li Rong with right now is to delay the Yang family’s pursuit.
After careful consideration, Pei Wenxuan stopped riding forward. He almost figured out where Li Rong might escape through and turned the carriage around a bit.
He quickly scanned the surrounding terrain. The roads were surrounded by reeds on both sides. Occasionally, there would be a few trees scattered among the reeds. The reeds were so high that nothing was visible beyond them.
Pei Wenxuan climbed into the carriage and rummaged around. He finally found some clothes, flint, a sword and some rope.
Pei Wenxuan untied the horses first and led them over to the reeds. He tied them to a tree and then turned back. He used the sword to split the carriage and cut it into several boards.
He used a rope to tie the boards together and put them on both sides of the road. Then he put a big rock under each board, picked up many stones, wrapped them in a clothing bundle, and placed them on one end of the board.
He set up several similar barricades and finally connected them in series with a rope. As long as he pulled the rope up, all the barricades would be up, and the horses would be tripped by the line. Once the horses were caught by the line, the line would be pulled by excessive force and send the stones on the other end of the board flying over.
After doing this, Pei Wenxuan relaxed a little. As long as Li Rong could smoothly escape the residence, he was sure that Li Rong could escape if he blocked Yang Quan, but he didn’t know if he himself could escape.
However, he didn’t think any further. He had nothing to think about now that he had made his decision.
He hid in the reed field, laid on the ground, clutching the rope for the traps in hand, and put his own reed and grass hat onto his head to disguise himself.
He was just waiting for Yang Quan to show up!
While Pei Wenxuan did his best to lie and wait, Li Rong was sitting in a rocking chair, rocking the chair while eating the grapes fed by Jing Mei: “Someone has set up an ambush outside?”
She closed her eyes and listened to the shadow guard’s report. The shadow guard knelt on the ground and respectfully said: “There are quite a few people. His Majesty’s people have already gone to seek help first. Please rest assured and wait, Princess.”
“Rest assured?” Li Rong opened her eyes, “What does Bengong need to worry about? Those people won’t kill me anyway, right?”
The people around her did not speak. Li Rong straightened and calmly said: “However, if we stay here any longer, those people might go ahead and attack the residence. If we wait for His Majesty’s reinforcements, I’m afraid we will end up as turtles caught in an urn before that.”1
[1] turtles caught in an urn (idiom) — become easy targets; sitting ducks
“What does the Princess mean?” The shadow guard raised his eyes to look at Li Rong. Li Rong calmly said, “We need to get out now.”
“No.” Jing Lan immediately said, “It’s too dangerous to go out now.”
“Did I say that I will go out?”
Li Rong turned her head. Jing Lan frowned, slightly confused: “What does the Princess want to do?”
“In a bit, Jing Mei will disguise herself as me, sit in my carriage and leisurely go straight down the main road. When you go, Yang Quan will definitely chase after you, and then I will quietly escape with Jing Lan through the back door. Wouldn’t that be better?”
Hearing this, the people present suddenly came to a realization. The shadow guard nodded and said: “The Princess is wise.”
“Quickly get to work.”
Li Rong yawned: “It’s nothing serious anyways. If I do get caught, I’ll just have to spend the night, but I won’t suffer.”
“Yang Quan looks pretty good,” Li Rong looked at the maid standing beside her and raised her eyebrows, “Right?”
The maid was taken aback by her question. Then she hurriedly knelt down and anxiously replied: “What the Princess said is correct.”
Seeing her panicked like that, Li Rong had to laugh: “What are you so nervous about? It’s not like I eat people. Well, enough.”
She flatly said: “Get ready. The soldiers will be split between two directions. I will go through the back door.”
Having said that, Li Rong lifted her hand. She was supported by Jing Lan as she slowly walked outside.
Jing Mei hurried away to prepare, and within an hour, the first convoy of carriages set off from the residence in a majestic manner.
Nearing sunset, Li Rong was still seated on the small chair, reading a travelogue. Jing Lan saw her calm expression as if nothing was wrong and respectfully said: “Princess, we must prepare to set off.”
Li Rong gave an affirmative “hm” but did not move.
After a while, a shadow guard leapt in through the window, knelt on one knee and whispered: “Princess, the people in the ambush outside haven’t moved.”
“As expected,” Li Rong sighed, “I said that Yang Quan had the guts to kidnap me without any fear of trouble. It turns out that there is a spy on the inside.”
“Jing Lan,” Li Rong brought her eyes up to look at her and said with a smile, “You put on my clothes, take people and ride out through the back door. Go around the mountain in the back and stay away from the main road. Quickly go, and don’t get caught.”
Jing Lan was stunned. Then she heard Li Rong’s command to the shadow guard: “Call fifteen people out to protect Jing Lan and leave five for me.”
The shadow guard and Jing Lan responded to the order. After answering “yes”, Jing Lan changed into Li Rong’s clothes at once and led people out.
After going out for a while, she heard the cry of “Kill!” break out like a clap of thunder. Li Rong immediately got up. She changed into a set of guard uniforms that she had prepared earlier and put her hair up in a man’s topknot. She led the remaining five shadow guards out, taking advantage of Jing Lan’s detour around the back of the mountain. She rode away like a flying arrow, rushing towards the main road with urgency!
At this time, the night wind was strong, and the Huajing lights in the distance illuminated the night sky. Li Rong rode into the night like mad and could not even see her surroundings clearly.
Yang Quan led people to chase Jing Lan for a while before suddenly seeing figures galloping away on the main road. Yang Quan suddenly reacted and shouted: “Get back on the main road!”
At that moment, Pei Wenxuan was crawling through the mud, waiting.
Li Rong’s carriage had just passed by. It won’t be long before Yang Quan’s pursuing soldiers catch up.
His heart was beating fast, and he nervously tightened his grip on the rope in his hand. Then, he heard the sound of galloping horses!
In the night, a group of people in plain clothes chased after Li Rong’s carriage with sharp blades in their hands. Although the night obscured their appearances, there was no doubt that that was Yang Quan!
Pei Wenxuan silently calculated the distance between them. Three, two, one!
Pull the rope!
Pei Wenxuan abruptly pulled the rope. Li Rong’s horse tripped over the rope and frantically neighed. Li Rong fell to the ground, and the shadow guards cried out in alarm: “Your Highness!”
Countless stones wrapped in cloth bundles simultaneously rained down, directly hitting Li Rong and the shadow guards.
Li Rong was hit on the head by a small stone, and her eyes went dark on the spot.
Before losing consciousness, Li Rong couldn’t help but think that she had underestimated Yang Quan indeed. She hadn’t expected that this individual with a one-track mind still managed to set up an ambush here.
As for Pei Wenxuan, when he heard them cry out “Your Highness,” he knew it was not good. He looked at Li Rong who had fainted, and his heart dropped. A few moments later, he heard Yang Quan and the pursuers arrive, indignantly shouting, “Don’t run, Princess!”
Hearing this, the shadow guards drew their swords at once and charged at Yang Quan.
During the chaos, Pei Wenxuan hurriedly crawled out of the reed field and picked up Li Rong, who had fainted, and rushed back into the reed field with her on his back.
When the shadow guards reacted and turned around, preparing to run away with Li Rong, they were surprised to find that——the Princess was gone!
The author has something to say:
Li Rong: “I used to think that Pei daren was a clever, dangerous, and cunning man, but now Bengong knows she was wrong.”
Mo Shu Bai (author): “How do you feel now?”
Li Rong gracefully stroked the white cloth on her head: “Bengong thinks he is a nasty critic.”
Pei Wenxuan: “I can actually explain this…”
Li Rong: “Then explain.”
Pei Wenxuan: “Actually, things aren’t as messy as you think. If it went according to my plans, there would have been no problems.”
Li Rong: “If you didn’t come, Bengong would not have problems.”
This is actually a story of things being reduced to nothing. The hero saves the beauty? There is no such thing.
Autumn: Pei Wenxuan might raise some eyebrows while he’s weighing out the pros and cons instead of immediately turning back. He’s genuinely concerned, but he knows his limits and the risks while asking himself why he should even directly involve himself. Once he’s made his decision, he doesn’t have second thoughts about it, and that’s respectable. But… In the end, it was Pei Wenxuan who technically abducted the Princess…
Autumn Pond Reflection 
Thank you for updating!!!!
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This chapter was actually rather funny lmao…PWX building that ambush / trap, then it changes to a calm LR planning her escape, I… 😂😂😂
And then PWX ruins her plan with his own and ends up kidnapping her in the end, just great!
Also, personally, I think it was totally in character for PWX to weigh the pros and cons and it didn’t make me dislike him. I feel that had LR been in his place she would’ve done the same. At this point I feel they both do care about each other, no matter how much they try to disguise it, BUT they’re still not at the point that I would say they’re either in love or even aware of how much they do care for each other. They’re both still in the mindset of viewing each other as a former enemy / ally with some fond / nostalgic memories there.
Thank you for the chapter 💖💖💖 Can’t wait to find out what the consequences will be from this twist!
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Hahahahahaha tf is this farce. Just when I was touched and praising Wenxuan to high heavens for his selflessness/disregard of his safety then the trap happened hahahaha im dying 🤣
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I was laughing my backside off when I figured out what happened. This is what happens when you have Xanatos Gambit Pile-up: too many people have A Cunning Plan at hand that sooner or later some of them are going to get snarled. It’s _hilarious_, and I bet Li Rong is going to run her mouth at Pei Wenxuan soon enough, somewhere between annoyed and amused.
I don’t think bad of Pei Wenxuan for only setting the trap against possible Yang forces, though. He knows his own limitations. It’s better to help a little but at strategic points than to rush in just to be a burden to others.
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This was amazing, it was everything. XD
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