Dongfang Yi followed Helian Qi off the boat. Donghua was already waiting for them in a carriage on the shore.
Before getting into the carriage, she looked back at the Duoyu Inn. It stood quietly on the lake, as if it were just an illusion. Dongfang Yi shook her head to get rid of these thoughts and then immediately got into the carriage.
Inside the carriage, Helian Qi was sipping tea, looking calm. His eyes were drooping, showing no emotion.
Dongfang Yi silently sat opposite him, and the carriage rumbled into motion.
The carriage was extremely quiet. This suffocating atmosphere made Dongfang Yi recall the first time they left the palace. But back then, she was full of joy, while now she only felt desolate. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. Her head drooped even lower, and she still remained silent.
It was Helian Qi who first broke the silence. He asked, "Why did you try to escape?"
Hearing this question, Dongfang Yi thought it was rather ridiculous. Why did she escape? Didn't he know?
"There's nothing in the palace worth my nostalgia," she said coldly.
Helian Qi stared intently at the woman opposite him. He could sense the desolation in her tone.
Do you really hate the palace and me so much?
After that, there was a deathly silence. No one said a word.
It wasn't until after an entire day that Dongfang Yi noticed that the carriage seemed not to be heading towards the palace. She remembered that when she first arrived at the Duoyu Inn, she took a boat south. To return to the capital, they should be going north. But now they were still going south.
So Dongfang Yi asked, "Where are we going?"
Hearing the question, Helian Qi opposite her suddenly looked up and said, "I thought you'd never ask."
Dongfang Yi frowned and looked at the man opposite her. Of course, she wouldn't tell him that she just noticed and asked immediately.
Then she heard him look out of the carriage window and say, "To Dongguan."
At the mention of Dongguan, Dongfang Yi couldn't help but frown.
It was a city she was very familiar with. She once accompanied Helian Qi on an incognito tour there. They had many experiences, and she also met Situ Qing.
For Dongfang Yi, those days were the time when she truly integrated into this era. She not only made friends but also discovered her feelings for Helian Qi...
"What are we going to do in Dongguan?" she asked.
But the man opposite didn't respond. He still stared blankly out of the window. His drooping eyes made it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
After about two incense - burning times, their carriage arrived in Dongguan. It was already night, and the moon was hanging high in the sky. The streets were very quiet.
This place was different from Nanwu. In Nanwu, the local customs were more open, while Dongguan was just a typical feudal small town. As soon as night fell, every household bolted their doors and turned off the lights.
After getting off the carriage, they had to walk for a while. Dongfang Yi didn't understand why they didn't just stop in front of the place they were going to stay. But then she noticed that Helian Qi beside her walked with a bit of stiffness, and his hands were twitching at his sides.
Is he trying to hold my hand? Dongfang Yi thought. She then recalled a previous night, under the same moonlight, when Helian Qi walked side by side with her and said, "You walk too slowly. Let me hold your hand." And the warmth of his palm that night.
All the memories rushed into her mind at once. She shook her head, trying to forget them all. After all, they were just beautiful memories. Then she subtly moved away from Helian Qi beside her. She didn't want to fall in again.
The man beside her also noticed Dongfang Yi's action. His facial expression stiffened a bit, and his twitching hands returned to their original positions.
"Why did we come to Dongguan?" Dongfang Yi asked again.
But the only response she got was another bout of silence.
"Helian Qi, if you want to humiliate me, you don't have to go through all this trouble. Do you have to bring me to Dongguan just to make me fully recall all my past experiences? Does torturing me make you so happy?"
Dongfang Yi finally couldn't bear it anymore and said these words one by one, with a sob in her voice that she didn't even notice.
Helian Qi, who had silently listened to these words, still didn't answer. He just lowered his head even more, and his lips couldn't stop trembling. But he still walked forward, passed by Dongfang Yi, and stepped into the inn behind her.
"Helian Qi, you know how much I hate you," Dongfang Yi finally said harshly, looking at his back.
It was obvious that the man's back in the inn paused for a moment before returning to normal.
Did she really hate him? Dongfang Yi thought. She must hate him. She hated him for giving her so many illusions, for cruelly depriving her of her freedom, and for still making her... miss him uncontrollably.
This time, they rented two rooms in the inn. Donghua disappeared as soon as they arrived in Dongguan. Helian Qi knew that Dongfang Yi definitely wouldn't escape, so he was quite at ease leaving her in a room alone.
Lying in bed, Dongfang Yi found the surroundings extremely quiet. The tense nerve that had been taut all day finally relaxed.
Only then did she notice the pain in her neck. The oozing blood had stained the white cloth wrapped around her neck. The stabbing pain was enough to keep her awake on such a night.
It was really ridiculous. She, an independent young woman from the 21st century, had been tortured like this after traveling to this place.
Sometimes she felt very dazed, as if that modern world was just a fantasy, and this era was her real world, but she had been oppressed for too long.
Thinking of this, she shook her head and laughed bitterly. She must be crazy to think such nonsense.
After thinking this, she endured the pain and forced herself to sleep. After all, there would be another tough battle after waking up.
On the other side, Helian Qi also couldn't fall asleep for a long time. He couldn't even answer the question of why he brought Dongfang Yi to Dongguan.
Just seeing her made him recall the days they spent together in Dongguan. It seemed that as soon as they came here, that sunny - tempered woman would come back. But the truth was, all of this was just his wishful thinking. That woman already hated him to the core.
Helian Qi pursed his lips and thought about everything that had happened today, about the last words the woman said to him, "Helian Qi, you know how much I hate you." Just thinking about that desolate tone made him hold his breath.
What on earth had gone wrong? How had things turned out like this?