So, one early morning before dawn, Wei Dongling was sound asleep, hugging Cui Huan's waist, when she heard someone pounding on the door.
The maid dozing beside the charcoal brazier woke up with a start and hurriedly went to open the door.
There stood Jing Zhe, dressed thinly, pushing the door open and shouting urgently at Wei Dongling on the bed, "Miss Wei! Wake up quickly! Your man has run away!"
Wei Dongling flipped up with a start. A gust of cold wind hit her face, making her shiver. Cui Huan quickly covered her tightly with the quilt. Wei Dongling stared blankly at Jing Zhe and asked, "What's going on?"
Jing Zhe said speechlessly, "When I relieved Cheng Hao for night watch, I saw a candle lit in your man's room. So I quietly followed to take a look. Before long, I saw your man and his several confidants packing up their things and getting on the carriage and running away. Miss Wei, what shall we do now? Should we go after him?"
"What does he mean? Is he not going to marry me? This won't do!" Wei Dongling quickly got up and fumbled to put on her clothes. The maids beside her rushed over to help.
Wei Dongling led everyone wandering around the empty room where Li Mingyang had lived. What did he mean by this? Was he scared away by her initiative?
Even if you were going to leave, you should at least say goodbye! What's the meaning of sneaking away in the middle of the night? Is that polite?
A servant came forward to salute. Wei Dongling recognized him as the leader of the Xiliang servants. He stepped forward respectfully and said, "Princess Consort! Prince Mingyang has left an important item behind and must return to the capital in person to retrieve it."
Wei Dongling asked in surprise, "So my husband ran away without even saying a word and left me behind?"
The leader trembled and lowered his head, saying, "Princess Consort, please don't be impatient! Prince Mingyang will be back soon."
The group had been traveling for a full nine days. Now they had to wait for Li Mingyang in place? It seemed that she might really have to spend the New Year on the road with everyone. Wei Dongling said speechlessly, "His so - called 'coming back soon' will probably take more than half a month. It's not appropriate for everyone to spend the New Year outside in the cold winter, right?"
The leader then said, "Your Highness, Prince Mingyang has instructed us to go ahead to Xiliang without waiting for him. Once we cross the mountain in front, we will reach the border of Xiliang. The great general of our Xiliang army has been waiting there for a long time, looking forward to welcoming the princess consort back to the capital to celebrate the New Year as soon as possible!"
Wei Dongling was dumbfounded.
Seeing that Princess Wu remained silent, the leader of the Xiliang envoys quickly added, "Princess Consort, rest assured. Our Prince Mingyang is traveling light and day and night. He will surely be able to come back before New Year's Eve to marry you!"
Wei Dongling darkened her face and said nothing. She went back to catch up on her sleep.
Today was the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. Even if Li Mingyang rode his horse as fast as he could to the capital and then rushed back to Xiliang day and night, it would be really difficult for him to come back before New Year's Eve.
Moreover, this guy was full of tricks. It was very likely that he had other intentions and deliberately avoided her, rather than really leaving behind an important item.
Jing Zhe wanted to follow and track him all the way, but Uncle Li waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. Let him go. It's more important for us to protect the girl all the way safely." After all, that guy was full of bad ideas. If there were still traps on the way to Xiliang, Jing Zhe staying behind could at least help a little.
Wei Dongling thought simply. Since they were already here, they might as well go ahead. Anyway, the group was almost at the border of Xiliang. It would be better to go there earlier to avoid the inconvenience of staying at the post station.
So, when it was fully dawn, everyone packed up their things and continued on their way to Xiliang.
On a distant mountain, Li Mingyang and several of his confidants were looking out in the direction of the post station from afar. Seeing everyone set off westward, Li Mingyang then turned around and left.
He had been very worried these days because this woman had made him lose his composure and disrupted all his plans.
The nearly three hundred elite bandits that day were all carefully trained and lurking there by him, waiting for the moment when Princess Wu passed by to kill her with one blow. Who would have thought that Princess Wu's relatives would show up in time, and all of them were extremely skilled! Just a few of them not only protected the two teams of imperial guards but also beat the bandits to death and injury, scaring them to flee in a hurry.
This left Li Mingyang stunned. Li Lang was really as powerful as his reputation. It seemed that he had seriously underestimated their strength.
As for Princess Wu, since she risked her life to save him, he had started to soften his heart and couldn't bear to harm her. In fact, there were many opportunities to kill her openly or secretly in the heavy snow, all of which could have been done without Li Lang and the others knowing. But he just softened his heart! At that time, she was seriously ill and clearly unsteady on her feet, but she still insisted on reaching out to catch the blade regardless. Every time Li Mingyang thought of this, his heart ached. After that, the affectionate look in her eyes when she looked at him made Li Mingyang even more flustered and scared. He didn't know what to do.
Seeing that the border of Xiliang was just around the corner, was he really going to marry her? Thinking of her gentle and charming appearance, Li Mingyang thought it might not be a bad idea to marry her. But once he married her, he would have to keep his promise about the one hundred thousand troops and immediately send them to support Hanzhong City according to the contract. This really gave him a headache! From the very beginning, this was just a plan to lure the tiger out of the mountain. Even the sky - high betrothal gifts he had arranged later were just a preparation for swallowing the Great Celestial Dynasty.
Prince Ten, Murong Yunqian, was still waiting for him in the capital to plan. Since he couldn't bring himself to do anything to Princess Wu, he might as well put it aside for the time being.
Li Mingyang waved his hand and ordered the confidants behind him, "Immediately send a secret letter to the great general of the army, telling him not to touch a single hair of this king's princess consort. As for the others, let him handle them as he sees fit!"
The servant took the order and left.
Li Mingyang secretly thought that he would return to Xiliang to marry her after he had handled everything in the capital. He just hoped that by then, Princess Wu wouldn't be angry with him. As long as she was willing, he was willing to give up all his wealth just to see her smile.
As for how the elusive Flying General had appeared within the territory of the Celestial Dynasty, he had to send someone to investigate in detail.
Since Princess Wu had just recovered from a cold and was still injured, the Xiliang envoys were ordered to make things convenient for her. Every hour of travel, someone would come to ask if she needed to take a rest before continuing.
Wei Dongling walked and stopped as she pleased. Anyway, Li Mingyang wasn't here. It didn't make much sense for her to rush to Xiliang alone. Instead, she might as well take this opportunity to relax and enjoy the snow scenery.
At noon, when they stopped to make a fire and cook, Cui Huan and Luo Xunlong went aside to whisper sweet nothings to each other. Wei Dongling sipped the bitter Chinese medicine while looking at the two figures huddled closely together. She pouted unhappily.
Alas! She was almost sick of this kind of romantic display.
Ruan Niang saw her jealous look and couldn't help laughing and teasing, "Well, actually Prince Mingyang is quite good - looking. How about we just make do with him?"
Wei Dongling: What are you talking about? That little scoundrel had been scheming to kill me! Fortunately, I'm smart enough to escape. How can I just make do with him?