Mei Li felt her stomach being pressed down hard, a hot sensation in her throat, and she coughed up a large mouthful of water. Her nose was also filled with water that flowed backwards, making each breath painful and difficult to bear.

  She thought again of the terror and despair she had felt when she fell into the water earlier. Was she dead?

  "Better?" A calm and cold voice asked indifferently.

  She was so frightened that her whole body trembled, and she didn't even have the strength to hide. The struggle in the water had already consumed all her physical strength.

  She adapted to the dark environment, and the moonlight shone through a small and narrow opening into the water at the bottom of the cave, where the sparkling water reflected the light as the moon moved, becoming increasingly brighter.

  She saw Jingxuan's handsome but aloof face, the water droplets on his long eyelashes reflecting a weak light under the moonlight, making his dark eyes even more profound. He sat beside her with a relaxed attitude, seemingly mocking her fear and terror.

  "This...where is this?" She didn't want to look at him, she struggled to half-support herself, and looked around on the ground. This was a small horizontal cave less than two feet from the water surface of the pit, with many thick vines hanging down from the entrance, making it hard to discover.

  This natural pit is a gourd-shaped, the entrance is small, the middle abdomen is wide and large, the bottom of the pit is simply a small pool, fortunately they are not destined to die, on the wall of the pit there is such a horizontal hole, and... he actually found this hidden entrance, even with good physical strength treading water breathing would eventually be exhausted and drowned.

  She vigilantly caught a glimpse of him starting to strip off his soaking wet clothes, "Y...you what are you doing?!" She was both angry and anxious, the cave being low and narrow, she had nowhere to hide.

  "Aren't you cold?" He laughed with his sleeves rolled up, ignoring her embarrassed protests.

  As soon as he said that, she also felt the wet clothes clinging tightly to her body, exceptionally cold and uncomfortable. But she turned her face away from him, forcing herself to say calmly: "I'm not cold."

  He sneered and ignored her, wringing out the clothes he had taken off at the entrance of the cave and wiping away the water droplets from his body.

  Meili pretended to be calm and didn't dare look at him... But he, unexpectedly stripped down to just his long underwear, even removing his boots and socks, walking around barefoot with a very carefree expression. She was at a loss for what to do with him, so she simply closed her eyes, silently enduring the increasingly biting cold air alone.

  He leaned against the cave wall, watching her in the moonlight. Two years later, what moved him most was this silent and enduring appearance, strong-willed yet lonely, suddenly making his heart chaotic... moved (emotion).

  He frowned and quickly leaned over to pull her icy wet clothes.

  "What are you doing!" How could she not be on guard against him? But really, when he started to use force, she still felt that her strength was too weak. "Wang Ye..." She struggled but couldn't get away from him, grasping at her collar so hard that water was squeezed out of her clothes.

  He sneered, "Don't worry, I don't have the interest in it now either."

  His tone made her even more embarrassed and difficult to bear, after all, she couldn't win against him. The clothes on her body were roughly pulled off by him, and she could only tightly hug her knees, curling up into a small ball. He hummed and didn't try to force her anymore, instead using the dry clothes to carefully wipe away the water droplets from her back, arms, and calves... those places that even when curled up she couldn't protect.

  She bit her lip and said nothing.

  He suddenly exerted a strong force, easily pulling her into his arms, and his hands didn't hesitate to pull on her ankle, making Meili feel like he was going to tear off that leg of hers. The pain hadn't even passed when his long, powerful arms and legs wrapped around her, she was completely trapped in his embrace, unable to move.

  She wanted to struggle again, but he held her even tighter. "I don't have any ideas now, you keep twisting like this," he sneered evilly, "it's hard to say."

  She also knew it was futile, so she simply wrapped her arms tightly around her upper arm to protect her chest, and also opened his arms that were wrapped around her body. He didn't care about her either, holding her tightly for a long time without loosening up even a bit.

  Meili rested her head on his arm, her heart still resisting, but her body couldn't help relying on the warmth of his body. Her nose stung and before she could stop it, tears had already fallen from the corners of her eyes. This was once the warmth she had risked everything to get, but he had been so stingy in giving it to her. Now... even if it was warmer, her heart would still be icy cold.

  "You don't have anything to say?" After a long silence, he opened his mouth with some annoyance, and mischievously shook his arm, tossing her head. She closed her eyes tightly, he was now feeling uncomfortable all over, while she seemed comfortable enough to fall asleep!

  Meili frowned slightly, "Why are you here?" She said somewhat perfunctorily, under the current circumstances, she didn't want to provoke him.

  "What did you say?" He sneered coldly, knowing the truth but still intentionally slandering, "Didn't you ask me to come here?"

  "What?!" Her originally closed eyes suddenly opened, and she looked at him with a mixture of surprise and anger. Those clear and calm eyes, like a cold spring, sparkled under the glittering light, looking exceptionally beautiful. He felt his chest heat up, and the already swollen and painful place became even more unbearable. He gritted his teeth, maintaining a calm expression, he didn't want to get her in such a situation.

  Meili thought silently for a while, roughly figuring out the situation, and she knew that this prank wouldn't be as simple as just tricking her into going up the mountain.

  She saw him and didn't speak again, he shook her with an even more unpleasant feeling, "I saved you, where's the thank you? Can't say it out loud, actions are better." He let out a disgusting light laugh.

  "How long have you been here?" She cut off his smile coldly, "Were you here when Silver and I were fighting?" He should have arrived a long time ago, hiding in the dark to watch everything with a smile.

  He didn't say anything anymore.

  This time she changed to a low, cold laugh, and it seemed that watching her suffer was his pleasure.

  Enraged by her laughter, he flipped over and pressed down on her delicate body. "I didn't expect to find a hole like this when I jumped down to save you!" Indeed, after escaping danger, he was secretly shocked and regretful of his impulsive behavior. If it weren't for the fact that he had accidentally shaken the vines on the wall while struggling, he might not have discovered this hole. His grand ambitions, his wild aspirations, might all be ruined because of this little woman with a cold face who was thinking of another man beneath him.

  Her expression changed slightly, and her sarcastic smile gradually faded away.

  "Thank you." She turned her face away and said softly.

  He glared at her with a ferocious expression, his arms wrapped tightly around her as they had been just before. He was really angry enough to strangle her to death, she didn't thank him, he got angry, she thanked him and he got even angrier!

  Is what he did for her worth just this one sentence of perfunctory words?!

  Feeling his anger, she smiled and said, "You don't have to save me."

  "You!" His arm muscles bulged out.

  "Meili——!" A sudden urgent cry came from above the cave entrance.

  Meili was overjoyed, just as she was about to respond, Jingxuan quickly covered her mouth with his hand. He used his hands and feet to tightly restrain her, preventing her from making any noise that might attract Yonghe's attention. Jingxuan even freed up one of his hands to swiftly pull down some vines hanging outside the small cave entrance to block it.

  Meili's heart was about to burst, the entrance above was illuminated by the torches, and Yonghe's mournful cries made her heart ache. She's here! She's here! She hated that she wanted to bite Jingxuan's hand covering her mouth, but he had anticipated it, pinching her cheeks hard, causing a sharp pain in her jaw, rendering her powerless.

  In the small horizontal cave, it was dark and black. The vines blocked the light, but after being illuminated, the cave became very bright. With a splash, Yonghe jumped down from the entrance of the cave with a long rope tied around his waist. He repeatedly dived underwater to search, and finally, his voice calling out her name became hoarse, even choked with sobs.

  Two guards also jumped down to help him search, because they were all holding the ropes at their waists and didn't pull on the vines. They really couldn't think of any other tricks in the cave wall and completely ignored this dark corner.

  "Yonghe!" A cry of wailing came from the entrance, "Come up, Yonghe."

  "No, no!" Yonghe wailed in despair. As ordered by Princess Yu, the people above forcibly pulled him up, and Yonghe frantically even thought of using his dagger to cut off the rope and jump down with him, but was stopped by the guards who jumped down with him and helped the people above pull up a crying and shouting Yonghe.

  "What are you doing?!" It wasn't until the silence above that Jingxuan let her go. Mei Li was stunned for a long time before she burst into tears, her heart shattered by Yonghe's earlier shout!

  "What's going on?" Jingxuan's smile was unusually cold, "Don't let them find you!"

  "Ah!" Meri was furious, how far did he want to torment her? She rushed over like a madwoman, wildly hitting him with both hands, and was easily caught by him.

  "Why? Why?" she hissed, her hair scattered and disheveled, clinging to her thin cheeks as if to emphasize her helplessness. The desperate cry still seemed to echo in her ears.

  "Why are you doing this?! Why won't you let me go!" Tears gushed out like a dam breaking, all the grievances and anger of the past few days bursting forth. "I've given up on you, I'm just someone you don't want! What do you want from me? How do you want me to be?" She seemed to be questioning him, yet also questioning the fate that had repeatedly brought her pain.

  He was moved by her loud crying and shouting, this beautiful Luli gave him a familiar feeling, he was stabbed by her last sentence, his hands tightened.

  "Meili......" He waited until she had cried herself out before speaking in a low voice, "Are you willing to see me like this forever?"

  She stiffened, her dull and numb brain unable to think.

  "In a little while my personal bodyguard will find you here, I'll take you out, you can say you rolled down the slope and didn't fall in here, Yin Di will be so scared to death that she won't argue with you."

  She was stiffly wrapped in his arms, and unexpectedly, her current desperate crying appearance would crush his heart like this.

  He held her tightly, "You ask me why... I just can't bear to be that kind of heartless person for no reason." The one he abandoned was not the one in his arms!!!

  "Are you really going to take me out?" She seemed to have not heard his emotional words at all, and was stubbornly fixated on his promise.

  He was taken aback with anger, and in her eyes, in her heart, is there only that man now?

  "Will you keep today's secret?" She didn't trust him!

  He released her, sat up straight and gazed at her with a gloomy expression, his eyes fixed on the tear-stained face, her mind already taken away by the man who had called out her name just now.

  Not resigned! He is not resigned!

  The man in her heart was originally him! Should be him!