Sharp pebbles pierced through Ye Wanmian's clothes and dug into her delicate skin. The pain made her tremble all over. The next moment, a strong big hand grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up.
A handsome face that took one's breath away appeared in front of her.
"Did you write this love letter to me?"
The man's pupils were a light amber color, like two fine gemstones. His eyelashes were long and thick, his nose bridge was straight and sharp. The bright yellow robe embroidered with four - clawed golden dragons on his body made him look even more noble and aloof.
At this moment, he was holding a love letter forged in her handwriting and looking down at Ye Wanmian with cold eyes, as cold as if he were looking at a dead object.
"Humph, a country bumpkin like you also dares to try to marry into the royal family. How stupid and ridiculous."
The man flung her to the side. The next moment, countless hands grabbed her and dragged her out. Ye Wanmian struggled desperately and stretched out her hand towards the bright yellow figure walking away with his back to her.
"Please, Your Highness, look into this clearly. I didn't write the love letter. Your Highness, Your Highness!"
It was pouring rain outside. She was unceremoniously thrown out of the door. The cold raindrops immediately soaked her body. Before she could stand steady, another group of people rushed up, held her down, and forcibly put a wedding dress on her and stuffed her into a sedan chair.
Her once - most - respected father looked at her with a gloomy face: "You've offended the Crown Prince and ruined the reputation of the Ye family. The Ye family can no longer tolerate you. The military commander in Chenzhou in the northern desert is a good destination for you. After you get married, serve the Commander Chen well and stop having wild fantasies!"
Ye Wanmian tried to break free from the restraints and shouted loudly: "I really didn't write that love letter. I really didn't mean to seduce His Highness. I'm innocent..."
The sedan chair instantly turned into a cage, trapping Ye Wanmian inside and preventing her from escaping. In front of her, an ugly middle - aged man was holding a barbed whip and walking towards her with a lewd smile.
"My dear wife, from now on, I'll be your husband. I'll take good care of you."
"No, don't—ah!"
Ye Wanmian suddenly opened her eyes, waking up from the nightmare, gasping for breath.
The surroundings were lush and green. The chirping of insects and birds could be heard from time to time. There was neither the fiery red wedding dress nor the ugly man.
It was just a dream.
Ye Wanmian sat up from the thick tree trunk and heaved a long sigh.
Since she was publicly humiliated by the Crown Prince with the words "stupid and ridiculous" in the capital two years ago, that experience had become a lingering nightmare for her.
Whenever she thought that life was starting to get easier, that experience would resurface and remind her not to be careless, for there were still crises all around.
She sat quietly for a while until her emotions calmed down, then Ye Wanmian jumped down from the tree trunk.
She picked up the bamboo basket placed under the tree and walked down the mountain, putting her fingers to her lips and whistling.
"Da Huang, it's time to go home!"
This was the back mountain of Dongli Town. Ye Wanmian had changed her name and appearance and hidden here since she eloped from her wedding in Xuanzhou two years ago.
Every few days, she would go up the mountain with her yellow dog to collect herbs. Then she would dry the herbs and sell them in the town to earn a little money to support herself.
Normally, when she went up the mountain to collect herbs, Da Huang would crawl into the bushes to catch rabbits, but it usually wouldn't go too far away from her. It would come back on its own when she whistled.
But today, for some reason, no matter how much she called, the familiar yellow figure never appeared.
Feeling something was wrong, Ye Wanmian called out while looking around.
She pushed aside a cluster of weeds and exclaimed, "Da Huang!"
The once - lively yellow dog was now lying in the grass with its eyes closed, and there was still some undried white foam around its mouth.
Ye Wanmian quickly stepped forward to check on the yellow dog's condition and found that it still had a heartbeat. She picked up the yellow dog and ran down the mountain.
"Da Huang, don't be afraid. I'll go find a doctor for you!"
Who would have thought that as soon as she got down the mountain, she saw a team of soldiers wandering around at the foot of the mountain.
Ye Wanmian's scalp went numb, and she instinctively wanted to find a place to hide.
Back then, the incident of her hurting Commander Chen and eloping from the wedding had caused quite a stir. Commander Chen had even issued a wanted order for her, forcing her to flee from one prefecture to another. It had only calmed down a bit half a year ago.
Could it be that these people were here to arrest her and take her back?
But it was too late to hide now. They had already seen her. Remembering that she had disguised herself, Ye Wanmian steeled herself and walked forward.
Fortunately, the soldiers saw that she was alone and holding a comatose yellow dog in her arms. They didn't make things difficult for her. They just asked her a few casual questions and then let her go.
Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, when she got to the entrance of the town, Ye Wanmian was stopped by the soldiers again.
After a careful inspection, they confirmed that she was a local resident of the town, and a passer - by even vouched for her. Only then were they willing to let her through.
If these people weren't here to arrest her, why were they guarding Dongli Town so tightly? Could something big have happened?
Ye Wanmian was worried about the yellow dog in her arms. She suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and rushed all the way to the familiar medical clinic in the town.
"Doctor Wang, please take a look at our Da Huang quickly! I don't know what's wrong with it. It vomited a lot of white foam and didn't respond no matter how I called it!"
She called out as soon as she entered the door.
"You naughty girl. I'm a doctor for people, not a veterinarian!" Doctor Wang blew his beard in anger. Although he was complaining, he still waved at her:
"Bring it here and let me take a good look."
Ye Wanmian carefully placed the yellow dog on the ground. Doctor Wang stepped forward to carefully examine the yellow dog's body, then opened its eyelids and said, "It must have eaten something poisonous and got poisoned."
A little while later—
The yellow dog coughed and vomited a lot of stinky filth. Its body began to twitch, and it let out a "whining" sound.
Doctor Wang heaved a sigh of relief: "Its life should be out of danger. But after you take it home, you have to let it drink more water to flush out the poison in its body."
"Thank you, Doctor Wang!" Ye Wanmian was so overjoyed that she cried. She tightly hugged the revived yellow dog in her arms and gently stroked its body.
"Da Huang, don't be afraid. It's okay, it's okay."
Doctor Wang put away his acupuncture tools and snorted: "I've always told you to learn medicine with me. If you had, you could have saved it as soon as you noticed something was wrong."
Ye Wanmian pursed her lips and didn't answer. Instead, she changed the subject.
"By the way, what big event has happened in the town? Why are there suddenly so many soldiers?"
A person walked up from behind. It was Qi Wen, Doctor Wang's apprentice. He leaned over and whispered, "I heard that the Crown Prince of our Great Xia was assassinated on his way to inspect the southern regions in Cangzhou and is now missing. The soldiers are checking every town to find the Crown Prince. Now they've reached ours."
Ye Wanmian's heart trembled violently.
The Crown Prince...
Qi Wen nudged her arm and asked curiously, "Madam Jiang, you're from the capital. Have you ever seen the Crown Prince when you were in the capital?"
Ye Wanmian felt it hard to breathe. The memories that had long faded away seemed to resurface in front of her eyes, and the cold words still echoed in her ears.
She had not only seen the Crown Prince...
One could say that she had become a wanted fugitive, having to hide here under an assumed name and not show her true face, all because of this man!
Qi Wen didn't notice anything wrong with her expression at all and continued to gossip, "Madam Jiang, is the Crown Prince really as heroic and invincible as the operas say?"
Ye Wanmian's eyelashes fluttered slightly. She tightened her fists hard and then pretended to be calm and said:
"Completely wrong. The Crown Prince is extremely ugly. He's short and stocky, with pockmarks all over his face. There's even a bald patch on his head. He loves to forcibly abduct civilian girls. It's normal for him to be hunted down..."
Before she could finish her words, the quiet yellow dog in Ye Wanmian's arms suddenly struggled violently and barked like crazy:
"Woof! Woof woof woof! Woof!"