Chapter Forty-One: The Big Pig's Hooves

The next morning, Gu Li opened her eyes, her head still heavy and clouded. It was only after she saw the white tent overhead that she realized where she was.

“Princess, you’re awake?” Jasmine entered, carrying a bowl of warm porridge she’d managed to keep hot outside. Seeing the princess awake, she hurried to fetch water to help her wash her face.

“How did I end up here?” Gu Li’s memories lingered on the previous night: she’d returned to her room, unable to sleep for the ache in her heart, and finally drifted off after cursing Lie Chang’an thoroughly in her mind. How had she awakened in a tent?

Jasmine quickly recounted the events of the night. Gu Li’s heart tightened as she grabbed Jasmine’s hand and anxiously asked, “Is my brother, the Crown Prince, alright? What about General Chang’an?”

“Don’t worry, Princess, both are safe.” Jasmine wiped the princess’s hands with a damp cloth as she chattered on. “We really must thank General Chang’an again. He risked his life, rushed into the flames, and saved you. I’ve lost count of how many times he’s rescued you now…”

As Jasmine spoke, it was no wonder the princess found it so easy to fall for General Chang’an. A man who rescued her time and again from dire peril, with such courage and excellence—who wouldn’t be moved?

Gu Li listened quietly, her head bowed, saying nothing.

Yes, he had saved her life yet again.

She had promised herself to forget, to avoid him, but fate always seemed to pull them together when she least expected it.

She owed him more than she could count—debts of gratitude as vast as the heavens. How could she ever repay such kindness? She finished her porridge in silence, dressed, and stepped out of the tent.

Regardless of how she might repay him, the words “thank you”—essential as they were—had to be spoken face-to-face.

But as she exited, she spotted the veiled woman emerging from a nearby tent. Gu Li frowned and asked, “Why is she here?”

Jasmine replied, “Princess, don’t you remember? I told you last night—she saved His Highness the Crown Prince. Since she had nowhere else to go, His Highness let her stay in the tent overnight. I heard she’ll be traveling with our caravan to the next checkpoint.”

“Why travel with us?”

“They say it’s along her way.”

Along her way?

Gu Li didn’t believe it. Their route to Lihuai County was treacherous—how could it be so coincidentally convenient? She found the veiled woman highly suspicious, and had no fondness for her, but remembering that she’d saved her brother’s life, Gu Li suppressed her displeasure.

“Princess, weren’t you looking for General Chang’an?”

Jasmine tugged at the princess’s sleeve and pointed toward a man standing not far away. “He’s right there.”

Gu Li turned, and indeed saw Lie Chang’an, lifting his sword and moving toward a patch of open ground, apparently seizing the early morning to practice.

Tall and straight as a flagpole, his healthy, pale skin, sharply defined brows, prominent nose, thin but firmly pressed lips, and those pitch-black eyes—he gripped his sword, standing against the wind, his movements swift and unstoppable.

She was about to walk over when the veiled woman stepped ahead of her, heading toward Lie Chang’an.

Gu Li halted, biting her lip, glaring resentfully at the deep blue figure’s back. She stamped her foot, flung her sleeve, and stormed off in a fit of shame and anger, muttering, “Who said I was looking for him? Ridiculous!”

Indeed, male beauty was a menace—always attracting attention!

Big pig’s foot!

Heartless carrot!

“Princess…” Jasmine watched as the princess, fuming, rushed back into the tent, left bewildered and following her inside.