Yao Youqing pleaded repeatedly and threatened that she would kill herself if they dared to kill Xiao Guaiguai, so they gave up and just drove Xiao Guaiguai away.
I never expected that it had been trying to follow her all this time, and now it has actually found her!
Yao Youqing hugged the little darling, then stepped into the stirrups, mounted her horse, and headed north.
Although she didn't remember all the roads she had traveled in the past few days, she knew that those people had been leading her south. Since that was the case, going north must be the right way, as that was the road she had come from!
When a person is riding on horseback, the wind is much stronger than when they are walking on the road.
Yao Youqing gritted her teeth and endured the biting cold wind, trying her best to lean close to the horse's back and use the warmth of the little darling's body to warm herself up.
She walked along hoping to encounter a kind stranger soon, preferably a woman, because her current appearance was truly inappropriate.
However, after riding for more than half an hour, she still hadn't encountered a single person. The chill had seeped into her bones, making it difficult for her to continue. Her vision gradually blurred, and her body swayed precariously, as if she were about to fall off the horse at any moment.
...
Liancheng led his men to follow Zhao Wu's trail. While they were examining the hoofprints left by the horses by a river, they heard the clattering of hooves coming from not far away, the sound neither hurried nor slow.
He subconsciously turned his head and saw a black horse traveling alone on the mountain road, carrying a petite woman on its back. The woman was soaking wet and looked disheveled, lying motionless on the horse's back.
"Princess Consort of Qin?"
Some of the people who turned around with him recognized Yao Youqing and said in surprise.
Lian Cheng's face darkened: "Turn around, all of you!"
The servants, upon receiving the order, quickly turned away and stopped looking. Liancheng then strode towards Yao Youqing.
Before Yao Youqing completely lost consciousness, she seemed to hear someone call her "Princess". She forced herself to open her eyes with the last bit of clarity and saw Liancheng's figure through her blurry vision.
Although she didn't recognize the people who had kidnapped her, she knew they were from Liancheng because the Jingyuan Army had mentioned it to them. So when she saw Liancheng, her eyes, which she had previously struggled to open, suddenly widened. She mustered her last bit of strength to straighten up and turn her horse around.
Liancheng was startled, then quickly cried out, "Your Highness, don't go! I'm a good person!"
After I shouted, I noticed the girl ran even faster...
Liancheng had no choice but to mount his horse and chase after it, catching up with it not far off.
It wasn't that his horse was fast, but rather that Yao Youqing had only taken a few steps after turning around when she completely lost consciousness.
The horse beneath her seemed to know that its owner was exhausted and gradually stopped. Just as it stopped, Yao Youqing swayed and fell off the horse.
If the horse hadn't stopped in time, it would have fallen quite hard.
Liancheng dismounted, strode to her side, turned her over, took off his cloak and covered her completely from head to toe, then called out, "Chengyu, come and take a look at her!"
...
"Young master, the princess's condition has improved."
In an inconspicuous little town, a servant named Cheng Yu spoke to Lian Cheng.
Liancheng looked at the woman who was still unconscious on the bed and nodded: "When will she wake up?"
"It's uncertain, but he should wake up once the fever completely subsides."
When they rescued Yao Youqing, she had been walking in the cold wind for an unknown amount of time, and her whole body was ice-cold. If Liancheng hadn't had a servant with medical skills by his side, she might have really been in mortal danger if they had lingered any longer.
Even so, Yao Youqing inevitably fell ill with a high fever, and her forehead temperature is only now beginning to subside.
Liancheng breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and said to the maid beside him, "Take good care of her, and make sure nothing goes wrong."
The maid nodded in agreement, and only then did he turn and leave the room.
After they left, Cheng Yu asked him, "Young Master, should we immediately send someone to inform the King of Qin that we have found the Queen Consort, so that he won't worry?"
Princess Qin is currently unwell and unable to move, so it is impossible to return her to Prince Qin immediately. However, it is still possible to send someone to inform her.
Liancheng shook his head upon hearing this: "It's too early. Let's wait a few days. Otherwise, how can we show that we went through countless hardships to rescue Princess Qin?"
Things that are too easy are not remembered, especially since his subordinates were among those who kidnapped the Princess Qin.
Sending him back so easily doesn't clear his name of suspicion.
Cheng Yu suddenly realized what was happening, and without mentioning it again, he bowed and withdrew to prepare medicine for Yao Youqing.
Yao Youqing woke up a day later, and was completely bewildered, not knowing where she was.
The maid was overjoyed to see that she was awake and ran out laughing, "Young master, the princess is awake!"
The title "Young Master" reminded Yao Youqing, who had just woken up, of the scene before she fainted. She felt a chill run down her spine and tried to sit up and run away, but she collapsed back onto the bed due to exhaustion.
At this moment, Liancheng had already entered, led by a maid. Seeing that she wanted to get up, he quickly said, "Your Highness has just been seriously ill and has not yet fully recovered, so there is no need for you to get up to greet me."
Yao Youqing: "..."
Seeing her bewildered expression, Liancheng chuckled and said, "Alright, I won't tease you anymore. You should rest now. I'm really not a bad person."
"The people who kidnapped you before, except for the leader, were not my men. It was my subordinates who betrayed me, which is why this happened."
"However, no matter what, it was my fault that made the mistake, so I also bear responsibility for this. That's why I followed their trail to find you and met you by the river."
He explained the whole story, but the girl didn't believe him immediately and remained uneasy and wary.
"Since you were able to find my trail, why didn't you tell the Jingyuan Army and ask them to help you search for me?"
If he had told the Jingyuan Army, or anyone who could contact the Prince's Mansion, the people around her now would definitely be familiar to her, not Liancheng and the others.
Since none of those people are here, and only Liancheng's people are here, it means that he may not have notified the Prince's Mansion at all, so what he said is very likely to be false.
Liancheng was always full of wild and nonsensical talk, but he was caught off guard by the woman's quick reaction.
In fact, in order to prevent the Jingyuan Army from finding Yao Youqing before him, he not only did not contact them, but even deliberately destroyed the traces left by Zhao Wu and his men.
I didn't expect that after only a few words, the girl would almost expose me.
This was the second time he had been speechless because of her; the last time it was because of her straightforwardness, and this time it was because of her quick wit.
Lian Cheng sighed, thinking to himself how difficult it was to fool this woman, but he had no choice but to respond, saying, "You should have heard about my disappearance before, that's because..."
"I haven't heard of it."
Liancheng: "...Does Your Highness usually not tell you anything?"
"They'll tell me important things."
"..."
So that means he's not important?
Liancheng thought this woman was cuter when she was unconscious. She looked obedient and had a sweet fragrance about her. But as soon as she woke up and opened her mouth, she could drive people crazy.
How did the King of Qin usually interact with her?
He took a deep breath, too lazy to explain any further, and said directly, "In short, the innocent will be proven innocent. When you see the prince, you will know that the person who had you kidnapped this time was indeed not me."
After that, he left the room again, leaving only the maid to stay and serve him.
Yao Youqing couldn't tell whether Liancheng's words were true or false, but after she had recovered, Liancheng took her on a journey, saying he would send her back to Wei Hong. They were indeed heading north, but because they were being "chased" and had to find ways to hide their tracks, their journey was very slow.
...
"Your Highness, you're back so soon?"
Cui Hao had barely arrived in Cangcheng when Wei Hong returned.
He felt that he had been walking fast enough, and the fact that the prince hadn't taken much longer than him meant that the prince was walking even faster and had taken shorter breaks along the way.
Wei Hong didn't say much, getting straight to the point: "Is there any news about the princess?"
After listening to the servant's report, Cui Hao said to him, "Not yet, but it should be soon. They just told me that Little Cutie has been very anxious since the princess went missing. Later, someone suggested that it be used to find the princess's whereabouts, and it actually came in handy."
As he spoke, he placed a hairpin in front of Wei Hong: "This was found by my little darling. Someone has verified that it was indeed the hairpin the princess was wearing on the day she was abducted."
They also found a piece of clothing, but Cui Hao dared not show it to Wei Hong, or even tell him about it.
Since the hairpin could be interpreted as something the princess deliberately dropped along the way to make people find her, the clothes could not be.
Leaving her clothes behind means either she managed to change and escape, or... something untoward happened.
Before the outcome was certain, Cui Hao dared not utter a single word to Wei Hong.
Wei Hong nodded, then asked, "Where is the dog now?"
Since it was Little Cutie who found these things, she should be the one closest to Yao Youqing and the most likely to find her now.
Cui Hao told Wei Hong a place, and Wei Hong was about to leave when Cui Hao said, "Your Highness, please rest for a while. I will take some men and head over there first."
Wei Hong's face looked frighteningly pale, his eyes were bloodshot, and his chin was covered with stubble, clearly indicating that he hadn't rested for many days.
But he ignored Cui Hao's words and insisted on going to find her himself, rushing to where the little cutie was.
...
When Liancheng heard the sound of hooves again, his brows furrowed and his face showed impatience. As he went to lead his horse, he said to the person beside him, "Didn't I say that just going through the motions would be enough?"
To prove that he had indeed gone into hiding because he was being hunted, he had been having people pretend to be pursuers chasing him. This way, when he met Wei Hong, he could have Yao Youqing testify that he was truly forced to do this.
Who knew that not long after the play had ended, the sound of horses' hooves rang out again, and in order to avoid being discovered by Yao Youqing, he had no choice but to continue the play.
The servant also felt that the two plays were a bit too close together, and said to him, "I'll sneak to the back and tell them to just perform it twice today, so we can have a proper rest."
Liancheng nodded, but the servant never returned. Instead, the sound of horses' hooves, which should have been behind them, suddenly came from the front, as if they had taken a shortcut to block them.
Liancheng sensed something was wrong and tried to turn around, but it was too late; he ran right into the other person.
Wei Hong stared at him with bloodshot eyes and a sinister expression: "Is it really you?"
Liancheng: "...It's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding."
Chapter 81 Heartfelt Feelings
Yao Youqing followed behind Liancheng. When the group stopped, she saw Wei Hong on the other side, and her eyes immediately lit up.
"Your Highness!"
She exclaimed in surprise and spurred her horse forward.
Wei Hong's pupils contracted sharply, and her grip on the reins tightened, fearing that Lian Cheng might do something harmful to her.
Fortunately, Liancheng didn't seem to have this intention, and didn't stop her from running towards him. Yao Youqing rode over in no time, and dismounted as soon as the horse stopped.
Wei Hong dismounted before her and was already beside her horse when she stopped. She jumped into his arms as she dismounted and was held tightly by him.