Pampered Consort of the Fragrant Orchard Chapter 108.1: Tell Him Why the Flowers Are So Red (1)

When Du Xiaoli came down from the mountain pass, Leng Yi had already put on a human skin mask. It was made exquisitely; he looked as if he were the real Han Mingyi.
“Xiaoli, let’s return.” Ji Liufeng said, mounting his horse and turning to Du Xiaoli.
Only then did Du Xiaoli realize they had also prepared a horse for her. She stepped onto the saddle and pulled herself up. Glancing back, she tugged on the reins, decisively saying, “Let’s go.”
Since you have something to take care of, leave this part to us!
After returning to the inn, Du Xiaoli did not tell Han Mingxiang about Han Mingyi’s departure. Rather, when she was in front of people, she continued to maintain that Leng Yi was Han Mingyi.
Departing, then resting, they went on like this for ten days, after which they finally came out of the valley. The weather was now much colder than when they had been inside the valley, snowing very often. The first day after they had left the valley, they encountered thick snow, having to slow their pace so that at times, they were travelling half as fast as they had been before.
The distance from the valley to the border was less than a quarter of the distance they had traveled across the valley, yet it took almost half the time. After seven to eight days of pushing on, they finally arrive at the border.
“This freaking Zhao Zhen, what is he playing at! Who would choose to have a marriage alliance in the middle of winter? This terrible weather, what the hell!” Liufeng-gege, will he come to the marriage send-off this time?” Du Xiaoli was now on horseback, cursing continuously. It felt like these horses were about to freeze to death.
“No, Zhao Zhen will send someone like their general. He has always liked competing with Prince Ding. Previously, when warring with Northern Yuan, although he never explicitly showed his face, he gave several of the commands in the war. If it hadn’t been for Prince Ding, we would have likely lost this war.” Ji Liufeng and Du Xiaoli were now side by side. “By setting the wedding date now, he is deliberately going against Prince Ding and simultaneously preventing us from backing out of this agreement.”
“This Zhao Zhen best not fall into my hands, or I’ll make sure he understands why the flowers are so red!” Du Xiaoli said viciously.
“Pfft—” Ji Liufeng was entertained by Du Xiaoli’s appearance. “What do you mean, why the flowers are so red? Tell me more.”
Du Xiaoli glanced at Ji Liufeng, lightly saying, “Do you want to try it out?”
Seeing Du Xiaoli like this, although he didn’t know what she meant, Ji Liufeng hurriedly waved his hand, “No, no, mystery makes things more attractive. I’ll cheer you on!”
“"We should be able to get to Lu City before dark today. Is the other side coming to pick you up in Lu City?" Du Xiaoli asked.
"No, we’re meeting twenty miles outside of Lu City," Ji Liufeng replied.
Lu City was a city on the northern border of Feng Ming, bordering Northern Yuan. Her mission of escorting the bride would be considered over when they reached Lu City.
"The conditions in this border place are truly quite difficult." Du Xiaoli looked at the vast snowy plains. Even if there were trees, they had been entrenched in snow.
"Yes, every year in the winter, disaster relief and aid have to be sent over to the borderlands," Ji Liufeng confirmed.
"If it's already this cold here for us, isn't it even worse for Northern Yuan since they’re further north?" Du Xiaoli asked.
"Not really, they are still warmer further north, it's just this area that is the coldest," Ji Liufeng said.
"So strange?" Du Xiaoli said in surprise.
"What's strange?"
"Nothing, I just thought it always got colder the further north one went," Du Xiaoli said.
This was true geographically speaking, but there were inevitably exceptions. As such, they had tall mountains in the north to block the cold northern winds. Thinking of it like this, Du Xiaoli felt this made sense.
"Stop…," Leng Yi, the fake Han Mingyi, suddenly brought his horse to a halt, and made a gesture for the people behind him to stop.
"What's wrong?" Ji Liufeng was chatting with Du Xiaoli and didn't notice the change in the atmosphere around him. Only after asked this did he he feel the strangeness of the atmosphere.
"It's too quiet." Leng Yi said in a low voice.
Du Xiaoli also realized now, the quietness of this area was somewhat unsettling.
Although everything was now blanketed in snow, they could still occasionally hear some sounds, like birds braving the cold, animals that weren’t hibernating, and so on, but now, they could hear no movement at all, as if there wasn’t anything living in this area except for them.
"Don't make a sound," Du Xiaoli squinted, quietly listening. Suddenly, her eyes flashed open, and she drew out the sword hanging on the saddle, slashed it in the air, and sent out a qi attack, directly towards the snowy ground about a hundred meters out in front of them.
“Woosh—”
The silent snow suddenly burst into a swirl of snowflakes. In the place where Du Xiaoli's sword qi attacked, a black figure flew out, narrowly dodging, and stopped after retreating a few meters.
“Woosh—”
“Woosh—”
With that first person, dozens of similarly dressed people flew out from the surrounding area, one after another.
“Princess Anle is indeed sensitive.” A few meters away from the first person, a burly man with his head shrouded in black spoke.
When Du Xiaoli heard that person's accent, she felt some familiarity. After searching her brain, she suddenly remembered the assassination she encountered when she first returned from taking Han Mingyi to the manor– those people had spoken with the same accent.
They weren’t from Feng Ming!
“Why are you bothering to chit chat, let’s go, kill Han Mingxiang.” A person adjacent to the first person spoke. That accent revealed he was from Feng Ming!
It appeared there had been collusion between their kingdom and a foreign kingdom, wanting to sabotage this marriage alliance! But she didn’t know who the traitor could be.
Although she also wanted to renege on this marriage alliance, she obviously didn’t want to do so by killing Han Mingxiang.
Before Han Mingyi had left, he must have expected someone would come to sabotage things, which was why he told her to protect Han Mingxiang.
Leng Yi sat on his horse silently, careful not to expose his identity. Given the other party was familiar with their route, there must have been someone on their own side who had contacted them, allowing an ambush in advance.
"Are you guys thinking that it’s not lively enough here to send off the bride, so you want to come and stir things up to celebrate with us?" Du Xiaoli said, looking at the other side.
"Hahaha, what an arrogant tone!" The burly man laughed twice and looked at Du Xiaoli flagrantly.
"Arrogant? I thought that was your intention." Du Xiaoli said thoughtlessly, "Otherwise, why would you want to come and send yourselves to death?"
“There’s a huge difference between sending ourselves to our death and coming to send you guys to death!" The burly man said, "If you are willing to go back with me, I will spare your life, how about that?"
"A toad lusting after swan meat!" Leng Er drove his horse to the front of Du Xiaoli, blocking her from the burly man's lewd gaze.
"With me around, do you guys think you have a chance?" Ji Liufeng said coldly. He had been stifled, with no place to vent the depression in his heart– these people had come just in time.MoonWhisperer, skyrise's Thoughts

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