Xiao Heng knew that someone had spotted him.

He hadn’t expected to run into pursuers right by the Nine-Curve Pool. It seemed his luck had truly run out.

At this moment, he could only swim desperately toward the other end of the Nine-Curve Pool, hoping that his pursuers wouldn’t catch up with him.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. His female attire was too complicated, and once he entered the water, it felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds, severely hindering his speed.

“Plop!”

The sound of someone jumping into the water reached his ears.

Xiao Heng’s brows furrowed tightly.

He realized his pursuer had arrived.

Xiao Heng swam forward as fast as he could, but the person still managed to grab onto his collar. Through the half-clear water, he recognized the person as the general who had raised a bow on the shore just moments ago.

He pulled out a hairpin from the back of his head, trying to cut his clothes, but his wrist was caught by the other person, and in the chaos, the hairpin fell into the muddy bottom of the pool.

The two of them struggled underwater. Xiao Heng finally couldn’t hold his breath any longer. Just as he was about to surface to get some air, he was dragged back underwater by his pursuer.

The person’s strength was almost entirely focused on him, as if clutching onto a piece of driftwood, pulling him with all their might.

What did this person want?

To drown him in the river?

Could it be…

A sharp glint appeared in Xiao Heng’s eyes, and he suddenly realized…

This person was trying to assassinate him?

Fortunately, Xiao Heng had practiced breath-holding and swimming techniques in water battles, so he was quite adept at swimming. Even though he had to drag the rather cumbersome “assassin” through the Nine-Curve Pool, struggling several times before finally managing to pull the person onto the shore, he succeeded.

“Cough—”

Xiao Heng threw the coughing “assassin” onto the shore, bracing himself on the person’s shoulders, gasping for air. The prolonged lack of oxygen made his vision darken.

He blinked hard, but the figure beneath him was growing increasingly blurry. Eventually, those few lingering shadows began to spin, and he felt another wave of dizziness hit him, with the wound on his forehead starting to throb painfully.

He wasn’t sure whether it was due to the previous blow to his head, the body of this foolish ruler, or the shock of getting into the water… but Xiao Heng felt his head spin and his ears ringing.

His vision finally focused on the “assassin’s” shocked expression.

Why at this moment… this is really maddening…

With that thought, Xiao Heng lost consciousness.

…

“Cough! Cough!”

Duan Yunfeng lay on the gravel, coughing up water, his chest heaving violently.

He felt somewhat disoriented. Who had pulled him to the shore?

The image of the red figure that had passed by him underwater earlier was still vivid in his mind, so beautiful it seemed unreal.

It was as if an immortal from the nine heavens had accidentally fallen to the mortal world, or like one of the alluring, soul-charming mermaids from strange, supernatural tales.

Duan Yunfeng lifted his heavy eyelids. In an instant, the dazzling sunlight poured down like heavenly light, making the red gauze appear dreamlike, breathtaking. The hazy figure in his memory seemed to overlap with the person in front of him…

He suddenly propped himself up on his arm and sat up from the gravel. The person in front was turned sideways, their long, wet hair covering most of their face. Their soaked clothes clung tightly to their shoulders, their skin as pale as jade, radiating an air of coldness. Thick droplets of water slid down their long, dark eyelashes, eventually falling onto Duan Yunfeng’s hand.

Duan Yunfeng felt a heat on the back of his hand, and instinctively flushed. It was like an electric shock, making him quickly avert his eyes.

“You… are you alright?”

The next moment, he felt a weight on his shoulder.

The other person’s pale face had passed out.

Through the wet fabric pressing against his chest, Duan Yunfeng felt a warm pressure. He froze for a moment, instinctively widening his eyes.

He lowered his gaze involuntarily, his eyes tracing the person’s tightly closed brow, the delicate nose like jade, and the thin lips that trembled slightly with each breath. Only then did he snap back to his senses, as if waking from a dream.

Duan Yunfeng reached out, groping blindly along the shore until he found his discarded cloak. He hurriedly draped it over the person, covering them completely from head to toe.

“General,” came a voice from behind as the silver-gun guards brought over a eunuch. “This person was just found near the Nine-Curve Pool. We asked, and they said their master had jumped into the river.”

The elderly eunuch, with reddened eyes, immediately dropped to his knees upon seeing Duan Yunfeng. He wiped his tears with his sleeve, his lips trembling as he struggled to say anything.

Duan Yunfeng furrowed his brows and asked, “Why are you crying?”

As he carried the person horizontally in his arms, he realized they were heavier than he had expected and surprisingly tall.

He glanced at the person in his arms, then looked back at Li Jinxi, instinctively asking, “Is it because of your princess?”

“Ah?” Li Jinxi wiped his tears, thinking, What princess? The Emperor was already discovered by the rebels. They were surely going to capture him and kill him, sobbing… he wouldn’t survive either… sob, sob…

Wait…

Princess.

Princess…

Princess!!!

Li Jinxi suddenly widened his eyes. Slowly, he lifted his eyelids, and his voice seemed to drift away from his body as it slowly squeezed out from his throat. “It is…”

They were treating the Emperor as a “princess”?

“Yes… yes, yes, yes!” He snapped back from his overwhelming relief and joy of surviving and immediately knelt down to kowtow to Duan Yunfeng. His voice trembled with near sobs as he said, “I have served the ‘princess’ in the palace since I was young… The princess… the princess… she…”

Seeing how genuinely emotional Li Jinxi was, Duan Yunfeng felt his guess was likely correct. He said, “The princess must have been in a moment of despair.”

Li Jinxi wiped away his tears and said, “Thank you for saving her, my lord!”

He silently prayed to Buddha in his heart, thinking, Your Majesty, please don’t blame me. This was a forced measure; just endure being a “princess” for now. Nothing is more important than keeping your life safe!

When Duan Yunfeng heard the words “saving,” the awkward memory of almost choking on water returned to his mind. He remained silent and didn’t respond to Li Jinxi.

Li Jinxi waited for Duan Yunfeng’s instructions, but when he looked up again, he found the man had already turned and was walking away.

Li Jinxi froze and quickly rushed after him. “My lord, where are you taking… the p-princess?”

Duan Yunfeng: “To my camp.”

After walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered something and turned to ask his deputy, “What happened to the body wearing the dragon robe?”

Seeing the deputy silent, Duan Yunfeng frowned. “It’s not still in the pool, is it?”

“It should still be…”

“Then what are you waiting for? Pull it up!”

“Yes, sir!”

…

Duan Yunfeng brought the person back to his military camp and found an empty tent to settle them in. He then called for the military doctor and a few women to come in. He had intended to accompany them to take care of the person, but Li Jinxi stopped him.

Li Jinxi said he had served the “princess” in the palace since childhood, so it would be better for him to take care of her. If the princess woke up, he would send someone to notify Duan Yunfeng.

Duan Yunfeng considered it and agreed. After all, he was a man, and when he saw the person near the Nine-Curve Pool earlier, he had acted out of urgency to help her, thinking she wanted to commit suicide. Although it seemed that it was actually the princess who dragged him out of the water, it didn’t matter. Now, he wasn’t suitable to enter the princess’s quarters.

He agreed to Li Jinxi’s request, asking him to notify him immediately if there was any news, and then returned to his tent to handle military affairs.

Li Jinxi let out a sigh of relief, sending a few women to boil water and find some clean clothes, then led the doctor into the tent.

“My lord, this letter was sent by the prince from Taiyuan.”

When Duan Yunfeng returned to his tent, his personal guard handed him an urgent letter.

“He must be asking about the emperor’s condition…” Duan Yunfeng said with a slight headache as he placed the letter on the desk. He walked to the screen behind it and began to undress his wet clothes.

He dried his hair a few times, put on a simple robe, and opened the letter sent by his father, Duan Yu. Sure enough, the first thing the letter asked was whether the emperor was safe.

Duan Yu had mainly conveyed two things:

First, to kill the eunuch An Youliang, who had control over the court, and to clear the court of corruption.

Second, to ensure the safety of the emperor, not to be disrespectful to the emperor, and that as long as the court ordered the removal of the eunuch faction, the various military districts in Hedong would still listen to the imperial orders.

But both of these tasks were impossible to achieve now…

Duan Yunfeng furrowed his brows.

He had searched the capital but couldn’t find any trace of An Youliang. People said he and some court officials had fled to Fengxiang overnight, and the emperor was still missing. The body floating in the Nine-Curve Pool had yet to be identified.

Flipping the rice paper over, Duan Yunfeng found that his father still had more to say.

“Yunfeng, your mother and I both think you should consider your future marriage. If it weren’t for the war, this matter should have been settled already!”

“Recently, King Chu mentioned it to me. His eldest daughter is about the same age as you, and King Chu intends to marry her to you. Your mother and I discussed it and think she has a good temperament. This marriage seems good. How about we settle this now? Your mother will send a matchmaker tomorrow to check your horoscopes…”

Duan Yunfeng’s heart skipped a beat when he read this part.

No, no, no! This is absolutely not possible!

He and King Chu Li Jichang’s daughter were most definitely incompatible!

Duan Yunfeng immediately picked up the brush and calmly wrote a reply to his father about the current situation in the capital. Then, almost in a dramatic flourish, he wrote a line:

“Marriage must not happen!”

As he wrote, the image of the “princess” by the Nine-Curve Pool, with her immortal-like beauty, filled his mind, and he felt as though his heart was stolen…

So, he added another embellishment to the letter:

“Today, I met an old immortal in the palace who calculated my marriage…”

And the conclusion:

“I will only marry a princess in this life.”