On this night, the moon shone brightly, and the lights were ablaze.
In a bustling street of a certain neighborhood in the prosperous capital, inside a gambling house, the rattling of dice and the hubbub were mixed with a heavy lash that echoed over the capital.
In the darkness, a flock of bats and crows fluttered by in a tree.
"Have you made up your mind, my lord! If you're not willing to pay up, then you'll have to leave your life here!"
"You... can't hurt him. He is..."
"Lu'er, don't say it. If you do, your lord won't be able to go back for real!" If the old master found out that he had shamed the Changping Marquis Mansion, he would surely drown him in the pond...
The matter reached the mansion of Princess Yuanyang.
Li Xinyue shifted her gaze from Jing Bai, who had come to report, to Hongxiu, who had informed her of this incident.
Surprisingly, Chu Junyi, who was most likely to get into trouble, was fine, while Xia Chengjie, who was least likely to, had an accident.
She blinked for a moment and then got up, ready to be the damsel rescuing the hero.
Hongxiu and Jing Bai wanted to help, but she refused.
Chu Junyi rushed over from the Grand Princess Mansion in a hurry. When he reached the door, he just saw a bright and valiant figure leap up. Like a nimble bird in the night, it flew towards the distance.
He sighed in annoyance and gasped for several breaths. The entanglement and agitation pent up in his heart collided randomly, but he suppressed them forcefully.
He steadied his mind and was about to turn around and leave. But halfway through, he turned back again and chased after the figure unwillingly.
Inside the gambling house...
The man with the whip raised his whip and lashed down hard at Lord Xia and his servant.
At the critical moment, Li Xinyue kicked open the door. She quickly drew out her dagger and threw it over.
The dagger spun in the air and cut the whip in half.
"Pa—"
The front end of the whip, cut off by the dagger, deviated from its original direction and just flew past the faces of Lord Xia and his servant. The other end fell to the ground prematurely, making a loud noise.
Li Xinyue was quick - witted. She grabbed the still - dazed Xia Chengjie and ran outside. Before leaving, she knocked over all the gambling tables to buy some time.
Just then, fireworks rose above their heads. After three blasts, dozens of black - clothed men flew out from the shadows.
When she turned around, she saw that the people in the gambling house were leisurely following from behind. In an instant, they surrounded Li Xinyue and the others in a circle.
"Cousin, how about..."
"No way!" Li Xinyue glared at Xia Chengjie. "If we reveal our identities now, it won't just be our own faces that will be shamed. It will be our fathers'! Unless you don't want to inherit the family title anymore!"
She still wanted to be Princess Yuanyang!
"Oh," Xia Chengjie shrank his neck and dared not say a word.
"Most of the gambling houses, restaurants, and brothels in the capital are private properties of noble families. To maintain order, these families will raise some highly - skilled martial artists. So..." Li Xinyue unconsciously tightened her grip on the dagger.
So, these people were not weak in martial arts and might be difficult to deal with!
This was bad! She had originally wanted to be the damsel rescuing the hero to catch Xia Chengjie's attention so that it would be convenient for her to ask the emperor for a marriage decree in the future.
But now, it seemed that she might end up with a post - humous marriage.
She had wanted to marry him to avoid trouble, but instead, she had gotten into more trouble.
Was it too late to regret now?
A green figure came riding on the wind and landed in the encirclement, standing in front of them.
Li Xinyue looked up and was surprised to see, "Chu Junyi!" This guy actually came to save her?
It should be to save her, right?
Could it be that like her, he also came to save this good - for - nothing?
"Watch out behind you. Don't just look ahead!" Chu Junyi tilted his head slightly out of the corner of his eye, and his handsome expression darkened slightly.
Before the people in front could make a move, he had already drawn out his long sword and rushed forward.
Li Xinyue felt that tonight was really strange.
First, she had dug a hole for herself to jump into. Then, Chu Junyi had come to her rescue at the risk of his own life. The most crucial thing was that he even had a sword!
Well, the six arts of a gentleman were not just about writing and ink. Those who could pass the imperial examination and become the number one scholar were naturally well - versed in both literature and martial arts. It was not strange to have a sword.
It was just because the owner of the sword was him that she felt strange. If it were someone else, she probably wouldn't have thought so.
"Don't be distracted!" Chu Junyi saw a sharp sword slashing past him towards Li Xinyue. He wanted to stop it, but several other long swords were stabbing at him. He roared anxiously.
Li Xinyue quickly blocked the long sword with her dagger and slid down along the blade. In the blink of an eye, in the shocked eyes of the sword - wielder, she had snatched the long sword from his hand and slit his throat.
The sword - wielder didn't even have time to react. When he fell, his eyes were still in a shocked state, reflecting the stars under the blood - red light.
Li Xinyue held the long sword in her hand and threw the dagger to Xia Chengjie.
Chu Junyi, who had just turned to look, let out a sigh of relief and then bit his lip angrily, feeling that he would surely be scared to death by her one day.
After that, the two of them stood in formation, one in front and the other behind, with the seemingly not - so - smart Lord Xia sandwiched in the middle. Lord Xia held Li Xinyue's dagger and waved it in the air a few times to bluff.
The moon was pale, and the evening breeze caressed gently.
The branches with budding flowers swayed slightly. The shadows of the trees and people on the ground were in a disorderly jumble, overlapping each other.
Among the shadows, countless blood droplets spattered. When the black shadows on the ground revealed their true nature, it was a patch of bright red.
On the bright red, two valiant shadows held long swords. They either crossed left and right or cooperated up and down. Wherever the swords passed, another shadow would fall to the ground, and blood droplets would splash.
In less than half an hour, most of the thugs and black - clothed men in the gambling house had fallen.
The remaining people were extremely afraid when they looked at the three of them.
Li Xinyue raised her head, took a deep breath, and then glanced at Chu Junyi.
Chu Junyi also turned his eyes towards her.
Li Xinyue smiled at him. After smiling, she suddenly realized that they seemed to have a feud, so she added a disdainful look.
Chu Junyi, "..."
Was he being too polite to her? Hmm?
Shua—
The two of them looked up and saw that the few who were still alive had run away.
So the large gambling house became an empty shell.
The two of them immediately decided to raid it!
They just didn't know which noble family was the real owner behind it.
There would probably be a lot of entanglement in the future.
But Li Xinyue wasn't afraid. After all, she was a princess. Who would dare to kill her? The only one who needed to be careful was Chu Junyi.
However, after he entered the officialdom, he would sooner or later become the target of the noble families. This could be regarded as an early adaptation.
Li Xinyue asked Lord Xia to report the case to the Supreme Court of Judicature and let the people from there come to raid the gambling house.
After Lord Xia left, the atmosphere became a bit awkward.
A gust of wind blew, making their hair flutter and their clothes flutter in the wind.
The crimson skirt was intertwined with the cyan long robe. Their black hair was twined together, and the hairpins rustled, echoing the cyan hairband.
Li Xinyue raised her head. For some reason, she always felt that the atmosphere was very strange. She turned to look at Chu Junyi, and he also looked back at her. A glint of emotion that she couldn't understand flashed in his eyes.
She decided to make a quick getaway.
But he suddenly called out to her, "I have something to say to you!"
The hairpins rustled again, but she was distracted by his fluttering hairband. Could this guy be about to confess his love to her?