The mountain path grew ever more secluded, and Li Wanming quickened her pace involuntarily.
The towering ancient trees blotted out the sky. Vines twined around the branches, and the hanging roots brushed against her shoulders and neck from time to time, but she was oblivious.
The sun was slanting westward, and the light in the forest dimmed bit by bit.
In the distance came Gao Yong's faint shouts, but they were muffled by the layers of tree shadows.
Li Wanming couldn't respond. She just clutched her sweat - soaked handkerchief tightly and anxiously searched ahead. If she couldn't find anyone, in this deep mountain forest after dark... it was really likely that someone would lose their life...
The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became. She stumbled through the dense forest, and the decaying leaves made a fine cracking sound under her feet. Suddenly, a weak voice drilled into her ears—
"Help... help me..."
It was Xiao Yuanjie's voice!
Li Wanming's heart skipped a beat. Regardless of the thorns tearing her sleeves, she pushed aside the overlapping branches and rushed forward.
Suddenly, a dirt pit about ten feet deep appeared before her eyes. Xiao Yuanjie was lying on his back at the bottom of the pit. His robe was torn and covered in mud, and even half of his topknot had come loose askew.
"Uncle!"
Hearing the noise, Xiao Yuanjie raised his head with difficulty. His cloudy eyes suddenly lit up when he saw Li Wanming: "Princess... Princess!"
"Princess, quickly... pull me out!"
He struggled to get up, but grimaced in pain as he pulled at the wound on his leg. Big beads of sweat immediately oozed from his forehead.
Seeing that he was in a sorry state but not in mortal danger, Li Wanming finally felt relieved.
"Uncle, wait a moment! I'll figure out a way to pull you up!"
She looked around. All she saw was a dense forest, with the dim light filtering through. She had already lost sight of Gao Yong and the others. It was obviously impossible to find someone to help at this time.
Fortunately, Li Wanming had grown up in the mountains since childhood and was quite familiar with the jungle environment. She quickly found a kind of thin vine with small leaves and deep - rooted stems. She cut off the vine branches with the black - sheathed dagger she carried and quickly wove a strong and tough rope.
Li Wanming threw the rope into the deep pit and also tossed in a few relatively flat big stones before saying, "Uncle, step on the stones, wrap this rope around your waist, and I'll pull you up!"
Hearing this, Xiao Yuanjie got up with difficulty. He propped one hand against the pit wall and grabbed the rope with the other. It took him a long time to clumsily wrap the rope around his waist.
Then he dragged his injured leg, groaning in pain. He stepped on the biggest stone, pulled the rope down, and looked up pitifully, "Okay... okay..."
Li Wanming glanced at him, nodded, and then stepped on the gnarled roots of an old tree beside her. She rolled up her sleeves to her elbows, revealing her well - defined forearms.
She gritted her teeth and exerted force. The green vine dug deeply into her palm.
"Ah!"
Unexpectedly, although Xiao Yuanjie looked thin, he was quite heavy. Li Wanming had to exert all her strength to pull him out of the pit.
"Uncle... why did you come here..."
Li Wanming was soaked in sweat. She leaned against the old tree and gasped for breath.
Xiao Yuanjie was even more weakly slumped on the ground, hugging his injured leg and wailing. His face was ashen, looking extremely unlucky.
"I... I just came in to pick a flower. Who would have thought I'd fall into this! In this desolate mountain, I didn't expect there to be such a big pit. It's really immoral!"
"This is a trap set by the hunters in the mountains to catch wild boars," Li Wanming gasped slightly and pointed to the sharp wooden thorns inserted on the pit wall for him to see. "You're really lucky not to be stabbed by these thorns. Otherwise, it might not just be a leg injury."
As she was speaking, she suddenly felt something was wrong. She suddenly opened her eyes wide: "What did you just say? What did you come in for? Pick... pick flowers...?"
It couldn't be what she thought, right...
She never expected that this thick - browed and big - eyed Xiao Yuanjie would do such a sordid thing?
"No... no!"
Xiao Yuanjie blushed and shouted with his neck out.
"Then what is it?"
Under Li Wanming's questioning, Xiao Yuanjie blushed and stammered for a long time before finally explaining the matter clearly.
It turned out that since childhood, he had a rather strange taste. He neither studied literature nor practiced martial arts. He didn't like the piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting, nor was he fond of swords and halberds. His greatest hobby in life was raising flowers!
To some extent, he was the most good - for - nothing descendant of the Xiao family.
After all, a flower enthusiast, how could he amount to anything?
This incident stemmed from the fact that "flower - crazy" Xiao Yuanjie had heard some time ago that there was a rare Changyang flower growing deep in the Banshi Mountain. It had a cold and delicate appearance and was extremely rare. So he was eager to get one to raise.
However, the Changyang flower grew in the deep mountains and only on the cliffs. It was very difficult to pick. Therefore, none of the flower farmers in the capital dared to come. No matter how high a price Xiao Yuanjie offered, they just shook their heads and advised him to give up.
Seeing this situation, Xiao Yuanjie became even more eager.
Could he give up?
If he could give up so easily, he wouldn't be a flower - crazy!
So, taking advantage of this opportunity to go to the villa, Xiao Yuanjie specifically didn't let the prince of Ning's guards escort him back to the capital. Instead, he turned halfway and led his horse quietly into the Banshi Mountain.
But unexpectedly, although the Banshi Mountain looked gentle on the outside, it was actually quite difficult to walk inside. Soon he lost his horse and accidentally fell into the hunter's trap. He had been lying there until Li Wanming came.
"Uncle... loves flowers?" Li Wanming frowned in confusion. "Why have I never heard Auntie mention it...?"
Hearing this, Xiao Yuanjie sighed dejectedly, looking even more pitiful.
"She has always disliked my flower - raising... She even wishes she could lock me up in the western courtyard. How could she tell you about it?"
Li Wanming scratched her head. After a little thought, she felt it was understandable.
Mrs. Kang had always been an ambitious woman, always coveting the position of the heir apparent.
In her eyes, a man like Xiao Yuanjie, who was neither good at literature nor martial arts and only loved taking care of flowers and plants, was naturally a useless and idle person who indulged in his hobbies.
—He had the status of the second young master of the prince's mansion, but had no means, no ambition, and no ability... It was simply a waste of his status and unforgivable!
Such a Mrs. Kang naturally looked down on such a Xiao Yuanjie and was ashamed to talk about his "hobby" to others.
"Having a hobby... is a good thing," Li Wanming leaned against the old tree and murmured.
She had always thought Xiao Yuanjie was very mysterious, but she never expected it to be in this way.
Since she married into the Prince of Ning's mansion more than a month ago, she had rarely met Xiao Yuanjie. They even rarely had meals together.
Now that she thought about it, it made sense.
He had to water the flowers in the morning, weed at noon, and mix fertilizer in the evening.
Xiao Yuanjie spent most of his time and energy taking care of the flowers and plants in his yard. Coupled with Mrs. Kang's subtle obstruction and concealment—how could she possibly meet him?
Li Wanming finally understood why Xiao Yuanjie, a second young master of the prince's mansion, was thin, dark, and looked like an old farmer.
—Staying under the sun taking care of the flowers every day, how could he not get dark?