"Yun Xi, don't be afraid of him. We'll protect you!"
Seeing Yun Xi compromise with this bad guy to save them, although Zhen Bao was also very afraid of Qi Rong, she still spoke up.
Hearing this, Yun Xi was deeply touched but also felt a twinge of guilt.
She pushed away Qi Rong's hand, walked up to Zhen Bao and Zhen Shaocheng, and said sincerely,
"I'm sorry. He might have hurt you because of me. I'll visit your place to apologize afterwards. You should go back and recuperate early."
"Zhen Bao, don't worry about me. He won't hurt me."
Seeing Yun Xi bidding farewell to everyone as if she was loath to part, Qi Rong felt annoyed. He grabbed her into his arms and said,
"Let's go."
His voice was cold, not allowing Yun Xi to care about anyone other than him.
After saying that, he leaped into the air, stepped on the wall, and disappeared gracefully from everyone's sight.
Watching the direction where Qi Rong disappeared, the Zhen brothers felt even more mixed emotions. They never expected that Qi Rong was not only highly skilled in martial arts but also so proficient in lightness skills. He could handle himself so effortlessly even while carrying a person!
Their Zhen family was martial - oriented and had served in official positions through martial arts for generations. Many of their ancestors were martial champions in the Liu Kingdom.
As descendants of the Zhen family, they considered themselves diligent and highly skilled in martial arts. However, in front of Qi Rong, they were so vulnerable. Being laughed at was truly embarrassing!
"Let's go back to the mansion."
After a long while, Zhen Shaocheng said to his younger siblings.
He didn't bear any grudge against Qi Rong for hurting him. He just felt that he was outmatched and that he needed to practice harder in the future to shoulder the heavy responsibilities.
"Okay."
Zhen Yuanfeng hung his head. Although he was reluctant to admit defeat after being severely deflated by Qi Rong, he still accepted the result.
Supported by his younger brother, he looked at the place where Yun Xi disappeared, and a trace of sadness flashed across his eyes.
By the way, Wei Xueming had been following Qi Rong from afar. But due to her slow pace and the large number of passers - by, it took her a long time to reach this place.
However, when she finally caught up and saw Qi Rong's figure clearly, Qi Rong picked up Yun Xi and flew away!
She was instantly heartbroken and sat motionless at the bridgehead for a long time.
Apart from Wei Xueming, Yuzhu, who was left behind again, also felt extremely lonely.
It seemed that everyone had forgotten about her existence. She stood in the corner, on the verge of tears, but she was already used to this kind of situation and no longer panicked.
Seeing Zhan Feng walking towards her in the distance, Yuzhu's eyes lit up slightly.
"Let's find a place to wait." Zhan Feng stepped forward and said to Yuzhu.
He was in his early thirties, about the same age as Yuzhu. They had met when he bought buns for the refugees at the city gate last time.
Although after what had just happened, he was even more convinced that Yun Xi was a femme fatale and disliked her even more. But he didn't have much aversion to Yuzhu, who was a maid.
Instead, he thought that a simple - minded woman like Yuzhu, who had wasted her youth on such a mistress, was extremely pitiful and even felt sorry for her.
"Okay. There's nothing else we can do."
Yuzhu nodded. Having Zhan Feng with her made her feel a bit more at ease. Otherwise, she wouldn't have known where to wait for her mistress!
After being taken away by Qi Rong, Yun Xi remained unhappy. Even when Qi Rong bought her a lot of snacks to tempt her, she was still cold and distant. When Qi Rong wasn't paying attention, she would take a few big bites, just to vent her anger.
She was really angry. She didn't understand why Qi Rong was always so violent.
The Zhen brothers should have no grudges against him, but he had seriously injured them with a single move, which made her both scared and angry!
She wondered how many more enemies he would make for her and what kind of situation he would drag her life into!
She yearned for a peaceful life, but he kept throwing stones at her, making her dizzy. She even couldn't figure out the purpose of his actions.
If Qi Rong hated her, she initially thought so because her father was the person Qi Rong hated, so it was inevitable that she would be disliked by association.
However, after getting along for a while, she felt that Qi Rong didn't hate her.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have saved her from danger again and again, and almost lost his life to save her last time!
But if it was as Yuzhu said that he liked her, she didn't think so either.
Because Qi Rong always loved to bully and tease her, watch her make a fool of herself, and wouldn't stop until he had annoyed her to the extreme!
"Qi Rong, what on earth do you want to do?"
Yun Xi took a big bite of the meat bun Qi Rong had offered her and looked at him with a sad and indignant expression.
"Do you just dislike me so much that you enjoy disrupting my life like this? Do you want to see my reputation ruined and me deserted by everyone before you're satisfied?"
Thinking about how Qi Rong had fabricated the lie that they had privately promised to marry each other in public before, deliberately tarnishing her reputation, and now had injured the people around her, after much thought, this seemed to be the only reason.
Hearing Yun Xi's words, Qi Rong squinted his eyes slightly, and his tone was a bit helpless.
"Is this really how you see me?"
He knew she was dull when it came to feelings. He also liked to tease her, thinking that as long as she cared about him, there would be plenty of time for her to figure things out.
But he never expected that her feelings towards him were completely different from his own!
"Isn't it?"
Yun Xi pouted and looked at Qi Rong with a confused expression.
Looking at her serious face intently, Qi Rong shook his head and laughed, but a trace of anger flashed across his dark eyes.
"Do you think I would spend so much effort on someone I dislike?"
"Would I be so affected just by her every frown and smile? Would I worry about her constantly even when I'm thousands of miles away? Would I rush back to the capital and then hurry after her tracks non - stop as soon as I heard she might be in danger?"
Looking at Qi Rong's suddenly cold face and listening to his stern accusation, Yun Xi was stunned and felt even more confused.
She never knew that she was so important in Qi Rong's heart!
But why? Did he really like her?
Suddenly thinking of Wei Xueming standing shoulder to shoulder with him on the mountain before, Yun Xi felt a tightness in her chest and got angry.
"You're lying!"
"You said on the mountain that you wanted to live in seclusion with me as a poor couple, but then you were flirting with Wei Xueming!"
"You always blame me for having contact with the crown prince, but you're the one who's always philandering. You're just being a hypocrite!"
The angrier Yun Xi got, the redder and rounder her little face became. She stopped eating the buns in her hand and threw them all at Qi Rong.
Seeing Qi Rong dodge and someone behind him getting hit, Yun Xi got even angrier. She stepped forward relentlessly, wanting to scratch Qi Rong's handsome face to vent her anger, but was easily grabbed by her hands and held tightly in his arms.
Watching her struggle, Qi Rong's black eyes suddenly brightened.
"Are you jealous?"
Qi Rong cast aside his previous coldness. His eyes were fixed on Yun Xi. As soon as the words came out, there was full certainty in his tone, and the arc of his smile gradually widened.
Like the melting of ice and snow and the warming of the spring breeze, the tenderness in his eyes was so strong that Yun Xi almost drowned in it!