Meili woke up Jiangliu who was sleeping beside her, she was still young and in a sleepy state. Meili was afraid that she would scream again in her dream, but couldn't bear to let Jiangliu stay up all night after running around with her all day, so she suppressed her own sleepiness and persisted until dawn.

  She knew that Cheng Yi and Jing Xuan were going to Fengtai this morning, so she urged Jiang Liu to get up early too, lest they delay their journey.

  She had finished washing and dressing, thinking that Cheng Yi and Jing Xuan were still not up, but when she pushed the door open, she found that the two of them had already finished a set of fist techniques. The thin short shirts on their chests and backs were all wet with sweat. Both of them were slightly panting, and they stopped as soon as they saw her come out.

  Jingxuan's servants brought two basins of water to serve them for washing and changing, Meili felt a bit embarrassed, retreating back to her room seemed too artificial, so she had no choice but to lower her head and pretend to take a stroll outside the courtyard. Fortunately, it wasn't long before the soldiers arrived with breakfast, and she followed them back to help with the arrangements.

  Cheng Yi had changed into his uniform and was standing under the tree, lost in thought. Mei Li looked at him, still taciturn as ever, but the defeated look he had when they first met had dissipated somewhat, and there was a glimmer of light in his originally dull eyes. She felt a pang of sadness; he must have been pinning all his hopes on that battle with Junghar. In fact, over the past two years, Cheng Yi had suffered more than she had... at least she knew she would one day be able to leave, but he didn't know when he would be able to break free.

  "Let's eat." She softly called out to him, but unguarded, sadness seeped into her voice, and it was almost choked with sobs. She had once thought that Cheng Yi's heart was harder than... Jing Xuan's, she bitterly smiled, she would never be able to see through people, forever unable to see into others' hearts.

  With the experience of yesterday, Jingxuan's attendants did not dare to make a fuss, and the soldiers sent whatever they had. Because Wangye was coming, the chef specially prepared several dishes of cold dishes. Jingxuan ate his buns in silence, without even touching them. Meili slowly savored her food, she understood his feeling of being unable to swallow at this moment, she had experienced it too. Without thinking much, she moved the pickled vegetables in front of her to his side, compared to the terrifyingly flavored mixed dishes, the pickled vegetables were much more refreshing than the buns. Jingxuan looked at her coldly, Meili lowered her eyes to avoid his gaze, he wouldn't think that she was trying to curry favor with him, would he? Her heart knot with him was too deep, it's best to ignore each other, she had been reckless again.

  Jingxuan didn't say anything else and ate half a plate of salted vegetables and two steamed buns.

  After hastily finishing his meal, Cheng Yi ordered the soldiers to prepare the horses, and Mei Li also quickly got up to find her own carriage driver.

  "Ride on, hurry up." Cheng Yi patted the saddle.

  Meili hesitated for a moment, thinking of the bumps and speed on the way here, and nodded.

  Mei Li sat in Cheng Yi's arms, the horse's speed was not too fast, the spring breeze was warm and the sunlight was soft, she had another sleepless night, drowsiness slowly invaded her, she unconsciously hugged Cheng Yi's waist tightly, found a comfortable and safe posture and fell asleep soundly.

  Jing Xuan gradually couldn't hear the sound of horseshoes behind him, and he looked back in confusion. Cheng Yi had already fallen far behind, and he stopped his horse with some impatience. Cheng Yi slowly caught up, and only then did Jing Xuan see Mei Li sleeping.

  "What a nuisance!" He muttered with a frown.

  Cheng Yi didn't care, and continued to move forward at a steady pace. The two attendants behind Jing Xuan couldn't overtake Cheng Yi either, as one of them was carrying Jiang Liu, so they could only slowly follow from behind.

  "She..." Jing Yi lowered his head to look at Mei Li, who was hugging him, her sleeve slightly pulled back to reveal the scars on her arm. He gently lifted her sleeve and examined the ugly scar and the arrow wound that had not yet healed. "You must have suffered a lot."

  Jingxuan pursed his lips and didn't respond.

  "Even if......" Cheng Yi looked at Mei Li's pale face, her eyes sunken with fatigue, a faint dark circles under them, making her look even more frail and weak. "You should be nicer to her too, after all she used to like you."

  Jing Xuan hummed coldly, glanced at the scar on her wrist, and frowned in annoyance, turning his face away. Although he had a detached expression as if being dragged along, he never urged her to speed up their journey again.

  After all, it's on horseback, and the strong fatigue has passed, but I still can't sleep soundly.

  Meili woke up, apologetically loosening her arms that were tightly wrapped around Chengyi's waist. She had fallen asleep, and Chengyi's arm, which was holding the reins, must have been aching from bearing her weight for so long.

  "Sorry." She guiltily went to rub Cheng Yi's arm, "Must be sore to death." She scolded herself.

  Cheng Yi's lips curled into a gentle arc, and he shook his head.

  "Right ahead is the fork in the road for Beijing City and Fengtai!" Jingxuan, who was walking alongside him, suddenly said in a cold voice, seeming somewhat abrupt.

  Meili was stunned for a moment, then understood his meaning, looked up at Chengyi and smiled, "I'll go back to the capital myself, you have official business to attend to."

  Cheng Yi hesitated, it was already afternoon, although they were on the official road back to Beijing, with many people coming and going, after all, two young girls from a good family, their carriage had been left behind for half a day's journey, which made people uneasy.

  "There's a relay station ahead, let her hire a carriage to go back." Jingxuan looked at the sky, "We should hurry up too, otherwise when will we arrive in Fengtai?!"

  Meili jumped off the horse, and Jiang Liu was also carried down by his followers. He walked to Meili's side with an unhappy face, secretly scolding this good-looking but inhumane King Qing who wasn't a good thing at all.

  "Here, take it!" Jingxuan tossed a small package over with a cold face. Mei Li was startled and instinctively caught it. The things inside the package hit her fingers painfully, and she could tell by the weight in her hand that it was probably silver.

  He sat high on his horse, tossing silver coins at her... a sense of humiliation spreading in the depths of her heart.

  "I have money," she said softly, holding out a small package to return it to him. He thought she didn't even have the silver for hiring a carriage. The bitterness gradually covered up her humiliation, making her heart ache. In his eyes, she was indeed humble and embarrassed.

  "Take it if you want." He was quite unhappy, and a few hints of annoyance crept into his originally indifferent tone.

  Meili bit her lip, why bother arguing with him. She swallowed hard and forced a smile, withdrawing her hand to bow to the high-and-mighty him, "Thank you, Your Highness."

  "You!" Jingxuan was so angry that he pointed at her with his whip.

  Jiang Liu was really afraid that King Qing would lash out at her, and his face looked even more frightening than before. "Princess, let's go quickly!" She grabbed hold of Mei Li and pulled her in the direction of the post station.

  As they disappeared around the bend of the official road, Jingxuan's face turned iron-green as he glared at his two attendants, their faces dark and bitter, and sternly ordered: "Follow them, don't let them discover! Ensure they are not killed or injured!" He was practically cursing.

  Having said that, he also felt embarrassed, a whip was cracked on the horse's body, and the horse let out a long neigh and galloped wildly.

  Cheng Yi followed closely behind with an expressionless face. Jing Xuan ran for a while, and her anger finally dissipated. She had done many things that didn't make sense after coming out of the cold palace, and this was just one of them! He was asking for it!

  Seeing him slow down, Cheng Yi also pulled on the reins.

  "Why don't you just say it properly." Cheng Yi said calmly, his tone flat and even.

  "What if she comes after me again?! " Jingxuan hummed in annoyance.

  "I don't know anymore."

  Jingxuan was taken aback and didn't say another word.

  This book is first published on 17K, read the genuine content at the first time!