The situation was becoming chaotic and tense.
Outside, the army led by Fu Chengyuan was closing in step by step. Inside, after the bandits and unscrupulous merchants realized there was no hope, they started to frantically hunt down Chu Junyi and Li Xinyue.
So, the tighter the outside army pressed, the fiercer the inside bandits attacked.
Fu Chengyuan's scheme of killing with a borrowed knife was seamless.
At this moment, Chu Junyi and Li Xinyue realized that dragging the bandit leader along was a burden.
Li Xinyue decided to kill him as quickly as possible, but unexpectedly, Chu Junyi acted even faster.
The bandit leader was quite capable. He barely managed to dodge this sword strike and then tried to turn around and flee.
Chu Junyi chased after him with his long sword, slashing at his back. The bandit leader turned around and blocked with his broadsword, but after just a few moves, he was overpowered by Chu Junyi.
Chu Junyi's attacks were fast and ruthless, each one aimed at a fatal spot.
Li Xinyue had never seen such a crazy Chu Junyi before. She couldn't help but be slightly stunned. Then, as if thinking of something, she rushed towards the main hall.
"Yuanyang! Where are you going?"
Chu Junyi roared anxiously, but the surrounding cannonfire was so deafening that his roars were completely drowned out. Not far from the stockade, several large craters were blasted out. Mud splashed high into the air. Flames ignited in the craters and then quickly turned into a raging fire.
Thick smoke began to spread in this direction.
The stockade was in danger of collapsing at any moment, but Yuanyang still wanted to rush in. Chu Junyi was already in a complete panic and couldn't think about the reason for her actions. He stabbed the bandit leader a few more times to vent his anger, and then rushed straight into the stockade.
"Yuanyang!"
Just as Chu Junyi rushed in, the stockade collapsed with a thunderous roar.
At this moment, a fast horse appeared at the foot of the mountain.
Murong Xiu dismounted in a hurry and looked up at the mountain with a worried expression. The mountain was billowing with thick smoke, and the fire had already reached the sky. After learning that Fu Chengyuan had launched a surprise attack without caring about the people inside, he angrily punched him in the face.
"Do you know that Princess Yuanyang is still inside!"
"Wh, what? Bu, but she, she..."
Fu Chengyuan covered his swollen face, too shocked to say a word.
How could she be Princess Yuanyang!
This couldn't be true!
Murong Xiu was extremely angry. No wonder the Emperor had always disliked the Fu family. They were really useless!
"This, this, this..." Fu Chengyuan felt wronged. He didn't know any princesses. He didn't even recognize this young master.
If it weren't for the fact that Deputy General Xiao, who led the troops, was from the capital and had served in the Murong family's military camp for a few years, and confirmed that this was the young master of the Dingguo Duke's Mansion, he wouldn't have believed it.
Now that the young master had also confirmed that Miss Chu, no, Miss Li, was Princess Yuanyang, he was completely devastated.
He had just kicked away the ladder to success.
He was finished!
The Fu family was finished!
"Immediately withdraw the troops!" Murong Xiu came to his senses, glared at him coldly, and knowing that he was useless, simply went directly to Deputy General Xiao to take over.
Fu Chengyuan thought of Chu Junyi, who was also trapped in the bandit den. If he managed to survive and get out, then he would be even more finished.
"Young master, if we withdraw the troops now, the bandits who manage to survive by luck will escape."
"Do you want Princess Yuanyang to be buried with those bandits?"
"I dare not, sir!"
"Quickly withdraw the troops! Deputy General Xiao, you immediately lead your men to ambush at the foot of the mountain! As soon as the troops withdraw, those bandits will run down the mountain. It won't be too late to capture them then."
In this way, at least it could give Chu Junyi and Yuanyang a glimmer of hope. Otherwise, they would really perish together.
"Yes!"
The mountain was now ablaze with a sea of fire. Coupled with the large number of trees and the hot sun, once the fire started, it was impossible to put out.
Just when all the bandits thought they were going to die here, someone noticed that the army had withdrawn.
Everyone was very surprised. This was the perfect opportunity to encircle and suppress them. Why did they let them go?
But no matter what the reason was, even if there was a trap ahead, at this moment, the only thing they could do was to run down the mountain to save their lives.
After all, there was still a glimmer of hope if they ran down the mountain, but staying on the mountain was definitely a dead end.
So everyone ran down the mountain, and Bai Hong was no exception.
"Chu Junyi!"
Li Xinyue had already jumped out of the window and escaped before the house collapsed. But unexpectedly, just as she managed to escape, she heard Chu Junyi's voice running towards her.
She turned her head. Before she could see where Junyi was, she first saw a large house collapse with a thunderous roar.
Then Chu Junyi's call suddenly stopped.
Her heart seemed to stop beating, and her whole body froze.
It took her a long time to come to her senses. She threw the fake imperial edict, which could take her life at any moment, into the fire, and then threw herself on the ground, desperately digging at the ruins with both hands.
"Chu Junyi! Where are you! Answer me. I'm Yuanyang!"
"Chu Junyi!"
Li Xinyue never thought in her life that this man with a sharp tongue and a black heart would just disappear like this. Didn't they say that bad guys live a long life? Then why did he disappear after just a few years?
Wasn't he going to rise steadily in his official career? Wasn't he going to soar to great heights? Wasn't he going to follow her around? Then why did he disappear so quickly?
"Chu Junyi!"
Tears blurred her vision. Self - blame and pain were tearing at her heart like a thousand knives. Her hands that were digging at the ruins were already covered in blood and dust.
But she still kept digging, as if this was the only thing left in her life. If she stopped, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to hold on.
She wouldn't be able to hold on.
She wouldn't be able to hold on.
"Chu Junyi!"
A pair of strong arms crossed under her armpits, picked her up, turned her around, and then bent down to kiss her lips wet with tears.
"I'm here."
Li Xinyue's pupils dilated in shock. She opened her eyes in disbelief and stared blankly at the somewhat disheveled face in front of her.
His face was covered in dust, his hair was in a mess, and his forehead was broken by something, with faint blood oozing out. But this was still the face she was familiar with, and this person was completely unharmed.
Chu Junyi was still alive!
She was so excited that she shed tears and snot.
Chu Junyi's heart was breaking with pain.
"Your Highness, I've made you worry."
After saying this, he kissed her deeply again, their tongues entangled tightly in each other's mouths.
The dusty blue shirt was intertwined with the light yellow skirt. In the ruins, they fluttered in the wind, as if a different kind of peony had bloomed.
At this time, the army at the foot of the mountain had already wiped out all the bandits and started to go up the mountain to put out the fire.
Murong Xiu came up the mountain with the army to look for people. As a result, he saw this scene. In his line of sight, it stabbed his eyes sharply.
He clenched his fists tightly, not knowing whether he should go up and interrupt them or not.
After a long, long time, he finally took heavy steps down the mountain.
Li Xinyue's nose was so stuffed from crying that when he kissed her like this, she could hardly breathe. She anxiously pounded on his chest, asking him to let go.
Chu Junyi then let go of her. His smiling eyes traced the outline of her eyebrows and eyes again and again. Looking at this tear - streaked face, he both loved and felt heartache. He wished he could hold her in his arms and blend her into his bones and blood.
"Your Highness, I beg for your punishment. I just committed the crime of deceiving the Emperor."
"You, you, stop talking!" Li Xinyue's ears instantly turned red when she thought of that kiss. She wiped away her tears randomly and rushed down the mountain in a hurry.
Chu Junyi quickly followed behind her.