By the time they reached the village, the group of West Liang people were still unconscious.

The trusted aides easily tied them all up.

Si Yun and He Qiuwen were also rescued.

The moment she saw Prince Zhao and his wife, Si Yun burst into a loud WAIL.

"Waaaah, it’s so wonderful that you’re all right, Princess Consort! Your Highness, you’ve finally come to save us!"

Hua Manman wanted to take out a handkerchief to wipe her tears. She fumbled around on her person but came up with nothing. Only then did she remember that she was wearing someone else’s old clothes and didn’t have a handkerchief with her.

She could only lift her cloak to wipe Si Yun’s tears.

"We’re all safe now. You should be happy, what are you crying for?"

Si Yun said through her sobs, "I’m crying tears of joy."

He Qiuwen didn’t dare to speak, but she was also wiping away tears, clearly shedding them out of joy as well.

After she’d had her fill of crying, Si Yun realized that the thing she had used to wipe her tears was actually the Princess Consort’s cloak.

Judging by the material and style of the cloak, it must belong to Prince Zhao.

’I actually used the Prince’s cloak to wipe my tears! This is a great disrespect!’

Si Yun’s face turned pale with fright.

Hua Manman comforted her, "Don’t be scared. This cloak will have to be washed when we get back anyway. It’s fine if you use it to wipe your tears."

Despite her words, Si Yun’s heart was still filled with apprehension, terrified that Prince Zhao would blame her for this.

However, Li Ji was in no mood to pay any attention to Si Yun at the moment.

His gaze swept around the room. He saw a pair of red candles and neatly arranged fruit platters. Most conspicuously, a large, red "double happiness" character was pasted on the central wall.

Even though the decorations were crude, one could tell at a glance that there was a wedding celebration tonight.

Li Ji asked abruptly.

"Is someone getting married tonight?"

In an instant, Hua Manman, Si Yun, and He Qiuwen all froze.

Si Yun and He Qiuwen, in particular, trembled with fear, nearly falling to their knees.

Hua Manman was slightly better off.

She forced herself to remain calm and answered steadily.

"One of the West Liang men took a liking to Si Yun and wanted to marry her. I had Si Yun pretend to agree so we could take the opportunity to poison the food at the wedding feast and take down the whole group."

Li Ji looked at Si Yun and asked grimly, "Is that so?"

Si Yun nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes! That’s exactly what happened!"

’She absolutely could not let Prince Zhao know that the person Ah Qi truly wanted to marry was the Princess Consort.’

Li Ji, who seemed to have heard her thoughts, was silent. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

In that instant, it was as if he saw a green light descending from the heavens.

He stood bathed in that green light, his face devoid of expression as he asked.

"Where is that man?"

Si Yun didn’t understand at first and asked blankly, "Which one?"

Li Ji: "The one who wanted to marry you."

Hua Manman wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but as Prince Zhao said this, his gaze flickered toward her.

That glance was incredibly piercing.

It was as if it saw right through her lies.

Hua Manman: "..."

’This is so nerve-wracking!’

Si Yun glanced at the Princess Consort first before speaking cautiously.

"You mean Ah Qi? After he drank the poisoned wine, Aunt He and I left. We haven’t seen him since."

In reality, after Ah Qi discovered her true identity, not only did he not harm her, he even drank the entire cup of wine.

He Qiuwen had already taken advantage of a moment of inattention to squeeze the juice of the Xiangma Fruit into the wine.

After Ah Qi drank the wine, the poison began to take effect in his body.

The moment they saw him drink the poisoned wine, Si Yun and He Qiuwen were both stunned.

They never expected him to do that.

Knowing he had been deceived, he still drank the poisoned wine without a change in expression.

’What in the world was he after?’

Ah Qi tossed the wine cup aside and said to them.

"You can go."

Si Yun and He Qiuwen exchanged a glance.

In any case, Ah Qi had already drunk the poisoned wine. It was only a matter of time before the poison took effect, so there was no need for them to stay.

So they unhesitatingly left Ah Qi behind and fled quickly.

During their escape, they happened to run into the trusted aides who had come to rescue them, and thus they got to safety.

The trusted aides searched the entire village but could not find any trace of Ah Qi.

No one knew where he had gone.

Furthermore, they discovered many bodies in a pit on the back mountain.

Upon examination, they found that the bodies were all villagers who had originally lived here.

After the West Liang people occupied this village, the villagers were inhumanely slaughtered.

The entire village, more than a hundred people including the old, weak, women, and children, had all been massacred.

Hua Manman had the trusted aides move all the bodies out and rebury them one by one.

Li Ji ordered his men to cut off Xiao Hong’s head and hang it from a tree branch next to the graveyard as an offering to the innocent, wrongfully deceased villagers.

Seeing this, Hua Manman couldn’t help but once again marvel at the power of the plot.

Even though the plotline had been disrupted, even though Xiao Hong had been killed ahead of schedule.

His ending remained unchanged.

In the end, he still paid the price for the crimes he committed.

By the time all this was done, the sky had already brightened considerably.

Chen Wangbei was waiting anxiously at the foot of the mountain, craning his neck in anticipation.

Just as he was about to lose his patience and head into the mountains to see for himself, a sharp-eyed trusted aide suddenly shouted.

"The Prince is back!"

Chen Wangbei quickly stretched his neck to look and indeed saw a group of people emerging from the forest.

The person in the lead was none other than Prince Zhao!

And on the Prince’s back was a woman.

Wasn’t that the Princess Consort Zhao, who had been missing for days!

Seeing them return safely, Chen Wangbei let out a long sigh of relief.

After returning to the Prince Zhao Mansion, Feihua Zhenren treated all of Hua Manman’s wounds.

She had many wounds, but thankfully none were fatal. Coupled with her youth and good constitution, she should make a full recovery after a period of rest.

Li Ji stayed by Hua Manman’s bedside to care for her, and was forced to leave only when the Emperor sent someone to summon him to the palace.

While feeding her, Si Yun recounted everything that had happened in the bridal chamber the night before, not forgetting to add with a sigh at the end.

"It seems Ah Qi really did like you a lot."

Given the situation at the time, Ah Qi had likely already guessed the wine was poisoned.

But he still chose to drink that cup of poisoned wine.

He would rather be poisoned himself than ruin Hua Manman’s plan.

Hua Manman chewed her food slowly, saying nothing.

She felt guilty about Ah Qi.

But she did not regret anything she had done.

Even if she could do it all over again, she would still choose to use him to achieve her goal.

Not to mention her heart already belonged to someone else, even if she were still unmarried, she could never marry a foreigner.

Especially one whose hands had been stained with the blood of Great Zhou people.

National enmity and personal hatred were not things that could be resolved by love alone.

Between them lay an insurmountable chasm.

Si Yun suddenly lowered her voice and said uneasily.

"When we first returned to the Prince Mansion, the Prince questioned me privately."

Hua Manman snapped out of her thoughts. "What did he ask you?"

Si Yun: "He was asking me about Ah Qi."

Hua Manman: "..."

Si Yun was so nervous her palms were sweating. "Do you think he knows what happened between you and Ah Qi?"