Chapter 15

Escape

Before Yun Yi could react, another arrow was shot at her. This time, her luck ran out. Despite her efforts to dodge, the arrow struck her already injured left shoulder, and she fell from the horse. Taking advantage of the moment, Li Shimin reached out to grab her. Afraid of being caught, Yun Yi hurriedly jumped off the horse and rolled several times on the ground. At this moment, Li Jiancheng quickly rushed to Li Shimin’s side, his face filled with worry as he asked, “Second brother, are you alright?”

Li Shimin touched his neck and replied, “Thanks for your rescue, brother. It’s just a flesh wound, nothing serious.”

Li Jiancheng sighed in relief and patted his brother’s shoulder. “As long as you’re fine. If anything happens to you, I won’t know how to explain it to father.”

While they spoke, Yun Yi gritted her teeth and forcefully snapped the arrow shaft from her shoulder. Her face contorted in pain. “You plotted against me?!”

She had been on high alert, yet still fell for their trap. This Li Jiancheng was truly detestable!

“Plotting? You’re in no position to talk!” Li Jiancheng snapped, swinging his hand forcefully. “Take this woman down! Whoever captures her will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver!”

The gates of the manor were tightly closed, and the surrounding stone walls were several meters high. Before she was injured, escaping would have been possible, but now, with her wounds, it was impossible. Yun Yi gritted her teeth and retreated while fending off the attacks, but arrows continued to rain down from both sides, fired by archers hidden on the walls—orders from Li Jiancheng.

Soon, Yun Yi was covered in wounds. If this continued, she would die here. No, she still didn’t know whether the poison on the dagger had killed Li Yuan. She absolutely could not die here. She had to find a way to survive!

With that thought, she gritted her teeth and picked up a fallen arrow from the ground, throwing it toward the group. Though it didn’t hit anyone, it caused a bit of chaos among Li Jiancheng and his guards. Taking advantage of their distraction, Yun Yi ran toward the rear courtyard as quickly as she could, blood dripping from her wounds as she fled.

“Chase!” Li Jiancheng barked with a cold expression, and his guards followed the blood trail. They chased her all the way to the Moonlight Pond in the rear courtyard, where the blood trail abruptly stopped, and there was no sign of her.

The lead guard turned to Li Jiancheng, who had just arrived. “Report, young master. There are no traces of the assassin here. She must have jumped into the water.”

“Then go after her!” Li Jiancheng ordered angrily.

“No need,” Li Shimin, who had arrived with Li Jiancheng, took a lantern from one of the guards and shone it on the surface of the pond. He shook his head and said, “This woman is seriously injured and has lost a lot of blood. If she had entered the water, the water would have turned red. I think she’s hiding somewhere.”

After a brief moment of thought, Li Jiancheng said, “Send people to guard the area closely. If there’s anyone in the pond, arrest them immediately. Also, search the entire manor thoroughly. We must catch this audacious assassin and not let her escape.”

Under Li Jiancheng’s orders, the manor was tightly guarded, not a single person or bird could escape. He hated Yun Yi to the core and swore to capture her!

Yun Yi disappeared near the Moonlight Pond, and the guards intensified their search around it. They combed every inch of the area. Just past the Moonlight Pond was a woodpile and some servants’ quarters. A servant was chopping wood in front of the woodpile. Nearby, there was a large pile of neatly chopped wood, half the height of a person, and some scattered pieces from unfinished chopping. When the servant saw so many armed guards approach, he was taken aback and stood still, unsure of what to do. After a long moment, he cautiously asked, “What’s going on, gentlemen?”

After searching the woodpile and finding nothing, the lead guard glared at the servant. “Why are you chopping wood so late?”

The servant quickly replied, “A few days ago, I wasn’t feeling well, and there’s still a lot of wood left unchopped. The kitchen has already come to urge me a few times. I’m feeling better today, so I decided to finish it up, so I don’t fall behind.”

The guard said nothing in response, but instead asked, “Have you seen a woman who’s badly injured?”

The servant shook his head in confusion. “No, I haven’t seen anyone before you came.”

After a pause, he cautiously asked, “Is something wrong?”

The guard coldly shot him a glance. “Don’t ask about things that don’t concern you. If you see this woman, report it immediately. There’s a reward for you.”

The servant nodded hastily. After the guards walked away, he turned and walked a few steps toward the direction they had gone, listening intently. After confirming they hadn’t turned back, he returned to the woodpile and began moving the wood around. Underneath, he found a person hiding there. In the moonlight, he could see the bloodstains on her body—this was Yun Yi, the very person the guards had been searching for. This servant, as it turned out, was Shen Moping, the same person who had entered the manor with Yun Yi.

“Master, they’ve gone. It’s safe now. Master?” Shen Moping called out several times, but there was no response. Upon closer inspection, he saw that Yun Yi had fainted.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he quickly helped her into the woodpile and rushed back to his dormitory. There, he took out some spare clothes he had hidden in advance. Fortunately, he had one or two old outfits that Yun Yi had used before. He quickly grabbed one of his own old shirts to use just in case. After making sure everything was prepared, he returned to the woodpile and tore the shirt into strips to bind Yun Yi’s wounds. The wound on her left shoulder, however, was troubling. The arrow had already been broken off, leaving only a small piece protruding, making it difficult to remove. He had neither a doctor nor proper medicine, and if he pulled the arrow out, there was a risk of excessive bleeding, and Yun Yi’s life could be lost.

Just as he was at a loss, Yun Yi slowly regained consciousness and weakly asked, “Did they… leave?”

Shen Moping quickly answered, “Yes, they’ve all been sent away, Master. Don’t worry. But Master, why didn’t you let me know when you were planning to act? If I had helped, you wouldn’t have gotten so badly injured.”

He spoke with teary eyes. Though he hadn’t witnessed it, Yun Yi’s wounds were enough to prove how dangerous the struggle had been. If the arrow had been aimed just a little lower, it could have taken her life.

Yun Yi weakly shook her head and said, “If you had gone with me, we wouldn’t even have a place to hide right now. Besides, since we decided to do this, I... expected this outcome. It’s just a pity that I couldn’t kill Li Yuan with a single strike. The poison...”

Shen Moping understood her worry and said, “The poison we coated on the dagger is a rare toxin from the Western Regions. Ordinary doctors don’t even know its name, let alone how to counteract it. Li Yuan will definitely die. Once we confirm his death, we’ll return to Luoyang immediately.”

“Then it can only be like this,” Yun Yi replied. After saying this, her face grew even worse than before—pale with a tinge of green, and her body trembled slightly.