Lu Wenhan had just returned in a hurry. Without even changing out of his court robe, he heard the news that his daughter had run away from home. He nearly lost his balance.
"Madam, don't deceive me. Would the Assistant - Regent allow Xi'er to leave the city?"
Lord Lu had planned to send his daughter away from the capital years ago. If it were really that easy, he wouldn't have let his daughter live a hard life in the manor for more than a decade later while pretending not to care.
Ignoring his失态, Lady Lu replied, "I sent someone to ask the soldiers guarding the city. You should know whose men they are. Do you think those people would lie to me?"
The defense of the capital had always been in the hands of the imperial guards around the emperor and was difficult to be bought by the Assistant - Regent. This meant that Xi'er had really left the capital!
After learning the truth, Lord Lu didn't know whether he felt more joy or worry.
"Did Xi'er leave home alone?"
"Those two maids around her should have gone with her." Unusually, Lady Lu was calmer than Lord Lu at this moment.
"Just now I wrote a letter and gave it to Lu Hu. Do you have any other instructions? If not, I'll send him to look for Xi'er all the way and lead her to Longxi."
Xi'er's only uncle was in Longxi, and the roots of the Su family were also there. If she could settle down there, Lady Lu in the capital would be at ease.
"Madam's arrangement is very good. But for Lu Hu, ask him to take more people on the way to prevent..."
The second half of the sentence was swallowed by Lord Lu himself. With Shang Mozheng's all - powerful abilities, he couldn't not know that his daughter had run away from home.
Now, Xi'er had clearly shown that she wouldn't be used by him. If he knew the news, she was afraid to have only one end. In this way, the more people Lu Hu took, the more secure his daughter's safety would be.
Speaking of which, although Lu Wenhan was a scholar, there were quite a few good hands in his mansion.
When General Su's family had an accident back then, Lu Wenhan had done his best to save many of the Su family's advisers and bodyguards.
Most of these people had secretly returned to Longxi with Xi'er's uncle from the Su family. The remaining few had stayed in the capital incognito, waiting for the day when the Su family would be rehabilitated.
"Okay, I'll go and make the arrangements right away."
Almost at the same time, a five - man team appeared in the Assistant - Regent's mansion without any warning.
Each of them covered their faces, only showing a pair of cold and ruthless eyes. Even the summer sun would probably turn cold when meeting such a gaze.
Shang Mozheng was very satisfied with these five people. Only the ruthless could become the knife in his hand, and that was the meaning of the Wolf Guards' existence.
He casually threw a portrait in front of them and the Assistant - Regent spoke.
"Find the person in the portrait and kill her! By the way," the old voice paused, "preserve her body well and bring it back."
He had only been a bit careless for a moment, and this little girl had escaped from the capital! But it was okay. Without the protection of so many people in the capital, it should be easy to take her life.
Lu Yinxi suddenly felt as if she had returned to the end - times. It was extremely hot in summer. Even the dense tree branches couldn't block the scorching sun.
Therefore, they had to travel in the morning and evening and rest during the day.
The only two things better than the end - times were that they had enough food and there was no threat of zombies around.
"Miss, look. If we were still in the Prime Minister's mansion at this moment, we would surely be eating ice - cream, fanning ourselves, and not be exposed to the sun. Why do we have to suffer like this?"
Seeing her young miss's little face flushed from the sun, Hongmei began to persuade her earnestly again. She had hardly stopped saying such things along the way.
However, the young girl was extremely determined and remained unmoved: "Hongmei, it's already the fifth day since we left the capital. It's too late for you to say such things."
In five days, they had already left the scope of the capital and reached the territory of Jizhou.
She found a tree with a relatively large shade area. Lu Yinxi found a comfortable position at the root of the tree and leaned back contentedly: "I'll rest for a while. You two can do as you like."
The two maids looked at each other helplessly and resignedly calculated the remaining food in their hands.
They had passed by a town yesterday and replenished three days' worth of dry food and water there. So they didn't have to worry about food for the next few days. As for silver, they also had plenty, and it would definitely be enough to reach Yangxian.
The only thing the two maids were worried about was the problem of washing...
Thinking of this, Hongrui couldn't help but put her hand on her forehead. Seriously, she had never thought that Miss Four would be more informal than herself.
If she couldn't take a bath every day, she would just wipe her body with cold water; if there were no clean clothes to change into, she would just wear the clothes from the previous day again, after all, it wasn't obvious where they were dirty.
Many times, she could hardly imagine that the person in front of her was a young lady from a prominent family, and the future princess!
If Lu Yinxi knew what Hongrui was thinking, she would probably just smile calmly. This was nothing. In her previous life, the living environment was even harsher.
After packing up their things and planning the direction they were going to take next, Hongmei and Hongrui also planned to find a place to sit down and rest.
It was windy today. The rustling sound of the leaves was like a lullaby, making people feel drowsy.
Suddenly, Hongrui's bending motion paused, and Lu Yinxi also slowly opened her eyes.
Something was wrong. It was too quiet here.
Apart from the wind and the sound of the leaves, there was hardly any chirping of insects or singing of birds.
Hongmei didn't know martial arts and wasn't as alert as Hongrui. Even so, she also noticed the strangeness around them.
Lowering her eyebrows, the young girl stretched and got up, patting the dust off her dress: "I've rested enough. Should we travel a bit further?"
Hongrui understood what she meant and smoothly continued, "That's good. It's windy today, so it won't be too hot when we travel."
As she said that, she had already hung the things on the saddle and was ready to mount the horse at any time.
Just then, an arrow broke through the summer wind and the green leaves, and rushed straight towards Lu Yinxi.
It was extremely fast. When the young girl noticed it, the arrow was already in front of her, and she only saw a vague shadow in her eyes.
There was no time to react at all!
"Miss!"
"咔嚓!"
It was the sound of something breaking.
Lu Yinxi only felt a pain on her face. When she looked again, the arrow was gone, and there were only five masked strangers in front of her.
The way they looked at her was as if they were looking at a dead person.
"Miss, are you okay?"
Coming back to her senses, Hongmei quickly ran to the young girl's side and wanted to check if she was injured. Hongrui blocked the two of them behind her and stared warily at the five people who had suddenly appeared.
"I wonder what grudge we have with you that you would use such a ruthless hand?"
Hongrui had seen clearly just now. If the arrow hadn't suddenly broken, Miss Four would surely have died!
"Don't ask," Lu Yinxi casually wiped the wound caused by the arrow fragments, then pulled Hongmei behind her and faced the five people who hadn't spoken yet.
"You were sent by Shang Mozheng to kill me, weren't you?"