When Fan Changyu saw that Sui Yuanqing was clearly at odds with this bandit chief—and that he even seemed to have a betrothal—she couldn’t help but curse him inwardly for his deceitfulness.

The bandit chief wanted him to kill her. If he refused, the bandit chief would strike personally, and then the fact that she had taken him hostage would be exposed.

For a moment, Fan Changyu’s palm holding the boning knife grew damp with cold sweat. She struggled to keep calm.

The worst that could happen was that people discovered she had taken him hostage. As long as she could take his life with a single strike before he revealed that there were still people hiding in the dry well, Changning and the others would remain safe.

She was alone, barefoot and fearless of those wearing shoes. Once she seized a horse, escaping would not be impossible.

Sui Yuanqing stood very close to Fan Changyu, and naturally could sense that her whole body was taut, like a wild beast poised to spring upon its prey and tear it apart at any instant.

If she truly decided to strike, he would undoubtedly be the first to die and descend to the Yellow Springs.

Sui Yuanqing, however, did not tease her at such a time. He gave a low laugh. “Elder Brother means to have me keep my body chaste for Thirteenth Lady, and belong to her alone for a lifetime?”

They were all bandits—how could they not know a man’s base nature?

The scar-faced man barked, “I’ve only got this one sister! What happens afterward, I don’t care—but you’re not even married to her yet, and you’re already bringing another woman back to the stronghold? What do you take my Qingfeng Stronghold for?”

Sui Yuanqing frowned, his tone—at first hearing—carrying a few traces of genuine sincerity. “Since I entered Qingfeng Stronghold and became sworn brothers with Elder Brother, it was never by relying on a woman’s skirts. I, Qin Yuan, am a wandering man of no restraint, truly unworthy of Thirteenth Lady. Elder Brother might as well choose another fine husband for her. From now on, I’ll regard Thirteenth Lady as my own younger sister—whoever dares bully her, I’ll be the first not to forgive.”

The scar-faced man ground his teeth. “So you look down on my sister that much?”

Sui Yuanqing lowered his gaze. “It’s that I, Qin Yuan, am frivolous by nature, unfit to be Thirteenth Lady’s good man. Today Elder Brother forces me to kill this woman—what about another day? If I fancy someone else, will Elder Brother make me kill her too? If this continues, it will only harm the bond between us. Better to speak it all clearly now.”

Though the scar-faced man’s heart was filled with anger, he knew Sui Yuanqing’s words were not without reason.

It was precisely this roguish air of his that had made Thirteenth Lady nearly lose her soul to him—but since his nature was like this, could one force him for a moment, or for a lifetime?

Yet he still felt injustice for his sister and shouted, “Thirteenth Lady saved you by the river. Never mind that life-saving grace—you and she have already had fleshly relations. If you don’t marry her, what place will you leave her in?”

Sui Yuanqing raised his eyes. “Elder Brother, to make me marry Thirteenth Lady, you would even resort to such worldly reasoning?”

The scar-faced man’s expression darkened. He too knew his words carried little weight.

Men and women of the jianghu were not bound by such trifles. If he were to make an issue of his sister’s life-saving grace and those few moments of intimacy, once the tale spread, it would only invite ridicule.

In the end, he made no further move, turned his horse around with a grim face, and shouted coldly, “Return to Qingfeng Stronghold!”

The bandits below followed in a noisy rush, while a few stayed behind to flatter Sui Yuanqing:

“Fifth Chief is truly a great man! Some even said before that Fifth Chief only won the Big Chief’s favor through Thirteenth Lady, but the Big Chief clearly admires Fifth Chief’s ability and wants to marry his sister to him. When Heilong Stronghold attacked us that day, it was all thanks to Fifth Chief’s single plan that the enemy was defeated…”

The wound beneath Sui Yuanqing’s ribs was still pressed by Fan Changyu’s knife, and he had no mind to listen to those lackeys flatter him. He interrupted coldly, “Do not speak nonsense, lest you harm the bond between me and Elder Brother. Elder Brother treats me like his own brother, he was merely too protective of his sister over Thirteenth Lady’s matter. Back to the stronghold.”

The few lackeys, scolded into sense, wore embarrassed looks and no longer dared to say anything ingratiating.

Fan Changyu stayed silent. From their exchange, she had already pieced together why Sui Yuanqing was mingling with these mountain bandits.

So—it turned out that after he was injured by Yan Zheng that day and fled into the river, he had been rescued by the people of Qingfeng Stronghold.

She noticed among the flatterers one man who quietly went ahead, not saying a word. She guessed that he must be one of the Qingfeng Stronghold leader’s men—and that Sui Yuanqing, aware of this, had deliberately spoken those words for him to hear.

Fan Changyu thought to herself that this man’s mind truly had more holes than a lotus root.

The knife still pressed against his chest, Sui Yuanqing walked with her toward the horse as if nothing were wrong. Only when they reached it did he slightly lower his head and ask in a quiet voice, “With your knife pressed against me, how am I to get on the horse?”

Whether he mounted first or she did, once either of them was up, Fan Changyu could no longer continue holding him hostage.

The few lackeys only thought Sui Yuanqing was flirting. Their hearts itched as they cast a few glances over, but not daring to be presumptuous, they muttered a few lewd jokes under their breath and rode on ahead.

One of them said, “This time’s haul is a big one. Once we’re back at the stronghold, we can rest for a good while. Last time the Big Chief led us to ambush that escort master to find that so-called treasure map, and it turned out to be fake…”

Fan Changyu, who had been focused solely on dealing with Sui Yuanqing, suddenly heard this and felt the blood in her whole body surge backward.

Ambushing an escort master… a treasure map…

Hadn’t the officials concluded their case saying her parents were killed by bandits for the sake of a treasure map?

Such coincidence—could it be this same gang who killed her parents?

She could barely suppress the murderous intent that burst from her.

Sui Yuanqing noticed her silence, yet her killing aura suddenly thickened. He immediately grew alert, thinking Fan Changyu meant to kill him here and then escape on horseback alone.

He said, “Killing me here would not be wise, unless you plan to face hundreds of men all by yourself.”

Fan Changyu’s hand tightened on the knife hilt. She knew this was no time to act rashly. There would be another chance to avenge her parents. For now, Changning and Aunt Zhao were still in the dry well—drawing the bandits away was what mattered most.

After a brief thought, she said, “Remove the sword at your waist and give it to me. You mount first, then pull me up.”

Sui Yuanqing thought he had persuaded her and smiled faintly, doing as told.

Just as he turned sideways to grasp the saddle, Fan Changyu suddenly slashed at the back of his neck. Sui Yuanqing had suffered once before and was on guard this time. The instant her palm wind fell, he dodged aside, then struck back like lightning—seizing her wrist and twisting hard. Fan Changyu gave a muffled groan, feeling her entire arm go limp; she knew at once that it had been dislocated.

Looking at the cold sweat beading on her temple, Sui Yuanqing said slowly, “I don’t fall in the same place twice…”

Fan Changyu’s round almond eyes glared at him, filled with fierce determination.

As Sui Yuanqing pulled her dislocated arm forward toward him, reaching to seize her other hand, Fan Changyu kicked viciously between his legs.

This time it was Sui Yuanqing’s turn to give a muffled groan. His face twisted in pain as he bent down sharply, gritting out, “You—”

He clearly hadn’t expected Fan Changyu to use such a low and underhanded move.

Fan Changyu couldn’t care less about honor or fairness. While he was doubled over, she struck hard with her elbow twice at the back of his neck. Sui Yuanqing’s vision went black in waves, and at last he staggered and collapsed to the ground.

The commotion drew the attention of the lackeys walking ahead.

They lifted their torches—and froze at the sight of Fan Changyu hauling the unconscious Sui Yuanqing like a dead dog.

Fan Changyu had no time to think. She quickly hoisted Sui Yuanqing onto the horse’s back.

She wanted to kill him right there, but what he’d said earlier wasn’t wrong. Even at her best, she might not be able to handle this entire band of mountain bandits; now, with one arm already dislocated, the situation was even more perilous. Better to take him along—at a crucial moment, he could serve as a hostage to protect her life.

All this happened in the span of a heartbeat.

The lackeys finally came to their senses and shouted, “That woman’s taken Fifth Chief hostage!”

A mob of men raised their torches and weapons, rushing to block Fan Changyu’s way—but she was already astride the horse. She clamped her legs tightly against its sides, and the horse surged out of the alleyway. The lackeys, fearing to be trampled to death, stumbled aside or were slammed against the walls. None managed to stop her.

The noise and shouting made the scar-faced man, who was riding in front, turn back to look.

Through the leaping torchlight, he saw a strong horse bursting out of the alley, carrying two figures. The woman holding the reins was unmistakably a stranger.

That woman also saw him—she hesitated for a heartbeat, then quickly turned the horse’s head and fled in the opposite direction along the main street.

The lackeys chasing out of the alley shouted, “Fifth Chief’s on that woman’s horse!”

The scar-faced man recalled how, earlier, that woman had clung limply to Sui Yuanqing’s arms, nothing like a proper lady. Realization struck him—something was wrong. He spurred his horse forward. “Stop that woman!”

Fan Changyu led the pursuit for over ten li beyond Lin’an Town. Among the bandits were skilled horse archers who loosed arrows at her the entire way. Fan Changyu simply pulled the unconscious Sui Yuanqing behind her, using him as a human shield. The bandits, fearing to hit their own man, shot wide, their arrows whistling harmlessly past.

But her horse, burdened with two people, couldn’t run as fast as the ones chasing behind. The longer it went on, the closer the bandits drew. The pounding of hooves on the official road merged with Fan Changyu’s heartbeat into a single, relentless rhythm.

She judged that by now Aunt Zhao and Changning should have escaped from Lin’an Town. Once she reached the bend ahead in the mountain path, she could just keep the horse running straight to lure the bandits onward—then leap off and hide, shaking off their pursuit for the time being.

She glanced at the man behind her—the one serving as her human shield—and, remembering the chaos in Qingping County and all the innocents who had died tonight, drew the boning knife at her waist.

But before she could strike, the man who had been jolting along behind her regained consciousness. The moment he caught sight of the cold glint before him, instinct took over—he grabbed her wrist with all his strength.

Having already suffered one dislocated arm, Fan Changyu reacted swiftly this time. She used his own force to throw herself backward, her elbow slamming hard into the wound on his chest.

Sui Yuanqing, gasping in pain, released her wrist. When Fan Changyu turned the knife again to stab, he couldn’t dodge in time—but he lashed out with one kick, striking the crook of her knee where it pressed against the stirrup.

Fan Changyu’s balance broke; she tumbled from the saddle—and her knife struck instead into the horse’s hindquarters.

As Fan Changyu fell, the horse gave a shrill, agonized neigh, then bolted forward in a frenzy.

Sui Yuanqing had just dodged the knife when he was nearly thrown off the horse. With the beast now running wild at full speed, a fall would mean shattered bones if not instant death. He cursed under his breath and gripped the reins tightly, forcing himself to stay steady on the saddle.

The ground was blanketed in a foot of snow. When Fan Changyu hit the ground, she rolled several times before her momentum was spent. She didn’t suffer any new injuries, but her dislocated arm had been crushed beneath her during the tumble, sending waves of stabbing pain through her body. Her shoe had been scraped off by the stirrup as she fell.

Fan Changyu ignored the cold and the pain. She quickly got up, grabbed the fallen shoe, and flung it toward the riverbank below the main road, before diving headlong into the snow-laden forest on the inner side of the road.

Soon, the thunder of hooves drew near, pursuing straight after the madly galloping horse without stopping.

The snow kept falling thickly from the sky. Fan Changyu exhaled a long, shaky breath of relief.

She had thrown her shoe toward the river so that when the bandits came back searching, they would think she had escaped through the river.

Then she walked deeper into the pine forest. Snowy weather was the worst for hiding—every step left a clear trail of footprints. Luckily, it was night, and without torches it would be difficult to notice them.

Even so, Fan Changyu snapped off a pine branch and swept over her tracks in the snow.

The snowfall was heavy enough that the traces she brushed away would soon be covered again by drifting flakes.

After dealing with the prints near the forest’s edge, Fan Changyu discarded the pine branch. Using the Big Dipper above as her guide, she pressed onward.

With one foot bare but for a felt sock, she trudged through the snow—each step sinking deep, each step stabbing cold through the sole into her bones. The felt quickly grew soaked, the icy damp seeping up until her entire leg was numb, her lips pale, and her body shivering uncontrollably.

But Fan Changyu dared not stop for even a moment.

Changning was still waiting for her.