Although the Great Xia Dynasty had a relatively open culture, unmarried women were still required to wear veils when going out. As a princess, Qin Guo'er naturally followed this custom.
Her face couldn't be seen clearly, but in the entire Great Xia.
There were very few women who could ride in a phoenix carriage and command Blue Phoenixes (Qingluan) to pull it.
Besides the Divine Sovereign.
There was only the exclusively favored Princess Anle.
"Princess?"
"You are Princess Anle?!"
Recognizing Qin Guo'er, Lin Hao, who thought he was doomed, seemed to catch a glimmer of dawn in the endless darkness. "Princess, it's me! I'm Lin Hao!"
He crawled excitedly toward Qin Guo'er.
Qin Guo'er covered her nose and mouth in disgust. "Don't let him get close."
As soon as her words fell.
Two green-robed female officials struck simultaneously, drawing their swords with the scabbards still on.
With a crisp Crack!
Lin Hao's legs were forcefully snapped. The blood-stained broken bones pierced through his flesh, exposed to the cold air. He curled up in the snow, shivering violently from the pain, covered in cold sweat, and let out a tragic, pig-slaughtering howl: "AHH!!!"
"So noisy. A'lan, make it quiet."
Qin Guo'er spoke again impatiently.
The green-robed official named A'lan acknowledged the order. She walked behind Lin Hao and expertly pulled a foot-long strip of white silk from her sleeve, wrapping it tightly around his throat.
As the white silk tightened.
A wave of suffocation surged up, and Lin Hao's wailing was cut off in his throat.
The surroundings instantly quieted down.
In just a few moments, the fear of impending death helped Lin Hao temporarily forget the agony in his legs. Tears streamed from his bloodshot eyes, and whimpering, pleading sounds leaked from his throat.
A'lan asked, "Calmed down now?"
Lin Hao blinked vigorously.
"You will answer whatever the Princess asks. Can you do that?"
Lin Hao was completely terrified out of his wits.
As long as he could live, even if he were told to kill his own father and mother right now, he wouldn't dare utter half a word of refusal.
Lin Hao pleaded, slapping A'lan's arm.
"Trash."
A'lan cursed, loosened the white silk, and retreated to Qin Guo'er's side.
Lin Hao lay in the snow, panting heavily.
Snot and tears smeared all over his face.
He heard Qin Guo'er slowly speak, "Recently, a certain matter has made this Princess very unhappy. Rumor has it on the streets that this Princess wants to recruit a filthy insect like you as my Prince Consort?"
"Heh!"
Bringing up this matter.
Qin Guo'er's anger flared up; she was utterly disgusted. "Hmph! Even cursing someone wouldn't be this insulting! Manman, don't you agree?"
Beside the phoenix carriage.
Manman, Qin Guo'er's personal little maidservant holding the umbrella.
Was so focused on gnawing her baked flatbread that she didn't even hear clearly what was said, but she cooperatively hummed "Mm-hmm" twice.
"Since ancient times, beautiful women have suffered tragic fates~"
"Sigh, this Princess is probably the one with the most tragic fate of all~"
Qin Guo'er sighed with self-pity. Resting her cheek on a delicate hand whiter than the surrounding snow, she was too lazy to spare Lin Hao another glance. With half-closed eyes, she said indifferently:
"You were the one who spread this rumor, weren't you?"
"And you wanted to kidnap this Princess to force the deed to be done?"
"Although you, insect, are stupid and lowly, you are as cowardly as a mouse. Such an audaciously bold idea is definitely not something you could come up with. So speak, who instructed you?"
With all his subordinates dead.
His legs broken.
And having just taken a stroll before the gates of hell.
After this entire process, the courage Lin Hao had accumulated from over a decade of doing evil had completely vanished into thin air before Qin Guo'er.
He didn't dare lie in the slightest.
Crying and begging, he said, "Princess, it has nothing to do with me! This matter was entirely... forced upon me by your father, Prince Jing, and your royal brother, the Heir Apparent!"
"They were the ones who said it!"
"No matter what method was used, as long as I... I... I obtained you, they would do their utmost to push this marriage forward before the Divine Sovereign!"
"Princess, please spare me!"
The most ruthless of all are the imperial families.
Although she had guessed early on that her father and royal brother were involved, hearing it directly from Lin Hao's mouth still inevitably sent a chill through Qin Guo'er's heart.
"Truly this Princess's good father."
"And good royal brother."
Princess Anle let out a dry, emotionless chuckle, then continued interrogating Lin Hao. "One is a Prince of Great Xia, and the other is a Jiedushi holding tens of thousands of elite troops. Why would two such prominent figures go to such lengths to scheme against a weak woman like this Princess? What exactly are they planning to do?"
Lin Hao hesitated for a moment, then spoke, trembling.
"Prince Jing wants to win over my father..."
"They plan to dispatch troops to Chang'an on the day of the Princess's wedding..."
Lin Hao shrank his neck, his voice growing softer and softer.
He didn't dare continue.
Princess Anle said, "Speak or die."
Lin Hao shuddered and hurriedly said, "Princess, your father, Prince Jing, was the Crown Prince personally established by the late Emperor."
"Prince Jing should have been the Emperor of Great Xia."
"The Divine Sovereign lacks virtue. Not only did she depose His Majesty and kick him to the remote Jing Prefecture, but ascending the throne as a woman is illegitimate and unrighteous."
"Now, the Divine Sovereign favors you the most!"
"As long as you agree to this marriage, the Divine Sovereign will surely drop her guard while preparing for our grand wedding. At that time, using the wedding procession as cover and hiding experts within, as long as we can assassinate your grandmother, Chang'an will definitely fall into chaos. Then, it will only take two or three days for my father to lead the Yunzhou iron cavalry to the gates of Chang'an!"
"We will certainly help your father, His Highness Prince Jing, retake the divine artifact of the state!"
"Your royal father—no! His Majesty the Emperor promised that after the deed is done, he will grant my Lin family a kingship."
"At that time, our Qin and Lin families will share the world!"
"Wouldn't that be wonderful!"
Speaking of this grand blueprint.
Lin Hao actually gradually forgot his fear and grew increasingly passionate. By the end, his blood was boiling. Had his legs not been broken, he probably would have jumped up in excitement.
"I beg the Princess to help Prince Jing! Help His Majesty!"
Lin Hao kowtowed deeply, as if he had already foreseen the day he would marry the Princess and be crowned a King with a different surname.
She had seen stupid people, but she had never seen anyone this stupid.
Qin Guo'er actually laughed out loud at his words.
Only, there was not a trace of mirth in those distant, aloof eyes.
"Why should this Princess help him?"
Lin Hao said as a matter of fact, "His Majesty is the Princess's father! How can there be a daughter who doesn't help her own father?"
"Father?"
"A father who sells his daughter in exchange for troops and horses?"
Clang!
With a flick of her sleeve, Qin Guo'er threw a gleaming dagger that spun through the air and embedded itself in the bluestone right in front of Lin Hao!
"Kill yourself."
Having learned the truth of the matter, Qin Guo'er didn't want to waste another half a word on this idiotic insect.
"Kill... kill... kill myself!"
Lin Hao snapped out of his grand fantasy. He looked at the dagger in front of him, terrified by the cold gleam radiating from it, and collapsed back into the snow.
His face turned the color of ash.
He screamed in terror, "Princess, you said that if I confessed honestly, you would spare my life!"
"When did this Princess say that?"
Qin Guo'er sneered. "Either take the dagger and end it yourself, or this Princess will have someone help you. Pick one."
How could Lin Hao possibly have the courage to pick up the dagger?
He scrambled up, shaking like a leaf, kowtowing and begging Qin Guo'er for mercy. His forehead hitting the snow made muffled thud, thud sounds.
"I beg the Princess to spare me!"
"This matter has nothing to do with me! I was only following orders! You can't kill me! If you kill me, my father will avenge me!!!"
"Then let him come seeking revenge against this Princess."
Qin Guo'er lazily lifted her eyes, resting her cheek on her hand, looking utterly bored. "Qiu'er, Dong'er, go help this Young Master Lin."
"Yes!"
The two green-robed female officials acknowledged the order, drew their swords, and approached Lin Hao with graceful steps.
It was real!
Princess Anle was really going to kill him!
With both legs broken, Lin Hao dug his hands into the snow, desperately trying to drag himself away, screaming as he crawled. "My father is Lin Yeping! The Military Governor of Yunzhou! You can't kill me! Stay back, don't come any closer!"
"Father! Come save your son quickly!!!"
"Somebody help! Anyone, please save me!!"
Listening to his throat-tearing roars.
Qin Guo'er didn't care in the slightest, nor was she afraid he could actually summon any rescue. Although Lin Hao was a fool, Lin Yeping commanded troops and could not be underestimated. That was why, before making up her mind to kill Lin Hao, she had made a meticulous plan.
She chose this Yunling Mountain, which had been sealed by heavy snow for half a month.
Within a hundred miles of the mountains, it was completely uninhabited; even birds were hard to find. No matter how loud he screamed, not a single soul would hear a word.
Furthermore, this Lin Hao had outsmarted himself.
Wanting to kidnap her, but afraid of blowing the matter out of proportion, he had secretly traveled with only a dozen men.
If Lin Hao hadn't been stupid to this degree.
With Lin Yeping around, killing him inside Yunzhou City would truly not have been easy.
Qin Guo'er sneered, toying with her long hair.
If this insect can still call someone to save him, this Princess might as well just get married.
Just as that thought crossed her mind.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
A string of a man's screams suddenly struck from the sky above!
Qin Guo'er snapped her head up!
She saw a pitch-black mass plummeting rapidly toward her at extreme speed! Before she could even dodge, it crashed like a meteor into a snowbank just a few feet away from her with a massive BANG!
The impact of the landing blasted a huge crater in the snow, sending a flurry of white powder several meters into the air!
Outside the snow crater.
Qin Guo'er's eyes were filled with blank bewilderment.
Inside the snow crater.
Yang An clutched his back, hissing from the pain.
Even with the [Fated Against Tai Sui] talent activated, boosting his defense tenfold, and using the black eagle as a cushion before landing, the fall still left his back numb. His internal organs felt as if they were going to shatter. He coughed violently twice, spraying bright red bloody froth from his nose and mouth.
Lying on top of the black eagle.
Enduring the agonizing pain of a body that felt close to breaking, Yang An pulled out the Black Jade Lotus. Seeing that it wasn't damaged, he let out a sigh of relief.
He carefully tucked it back into his shirt.
The medicinal properties of the two eagle eggs he had eaten seemed to still be lingering. After resting for a moment, the pain lessened, and Yang An struggled to his feet.
"You damned feathered beast!"
"I just ate a couple of your eggs! Was this really necessary?! Was it?!"
"I'm absolutely carrying you home and stewing you in a pot!"
Cursing and swearing.
Yang An climbed out of the snow crater. While still squatting in the snow and before fully standing up, he spotted the glittering gold phoenix carriage next to the crater, and the palace-dressed woman on it, whose face was obscured.
Princess Anle also saw Yang An.
Their eyes met.
Both saw utter astonishment in the other's eyes.
Never expecting there to be anyone else on Yunling Mountain, Yang An was startled. Before he could figure out what was going on.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Wind and snow rushed at his face, and in the blink of an eye, eight long swords flashing with cold light were pointed directly at his face!
Yang An was shocked!
He hurriedly took a step back, nearly falling back into the snow crater behind him.
The other party came with ill intent, drawing swords the moment they met.
They didn't look like good people!
How could Yang An just sit and wait for death?
He reached for the iron bow on his back, ready to fight against the approaching sword tips!
Just at this explosive, hair-trigger moment.
"Hold."
Princess Anle called out to stop the eight female officials—Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum. She sized Yang An up with a look full of amusement and asked, "Are you... here to save him?"