Qiu Duo sat in the carriage with a heavy heart, feeling the bumps along the way, presumably from the rapid journey outside. They had already left the city gate and were now heading straight for Jinling.

Suddenly, a faint moan came from beside him. Qiu Duo turned his head and saw that Mingde had woken up and was rubbing his eyes, letting out a small yawn.

In the south of the Central Plains, with its beautiful mountains and rivers, the people were so delicate that they seemed untouchable. Qiu Duo was stunned to the side, feeling a rush of blood to his face, not daring to say a word or move an inch. He just watched blankly as Mingde finished rubbing his eyes, stared at him for a while, and then asked softly, "Where is this?"

Before Qiu Duo could respond, he had already started making a fuss, "Where is Li Ji? Where is he?"

At first, Qiu Duo didn't react to who Li Ji was, but after a moment of confusion, he realized that it was the name of the Emperor of the Celestial Dynasty. Seeing Qiu Duo's unfamiliar face, Mingde became even more agitated and crawled towards the carriage door, stumbling, "I want to go back! Let me go back!"

Qiu Duo pulled him over and held him tightly in his arms, "Don't, don't shout. Do you want to go out and play? I'll take you out to play, okay? We won't go back to the palace. We'll go to the frontier, to the foot of the Tianshan Mountains to play, alright?"

Mingde was extremely panicked and suddenly broke free from him. His claws were fierce and forceful, leaving a long bloody scratch on Qiu Duo's arm. "Let go! I want to go back! Let go!"

Qiu Duo held onto him tightly, "Don't go! Come back!"

But Mingde was not listening. He had gotten used to Qingzhen Palace, and even a slightly too bright light could make him uncomfortable, let alone being in a completely unfamiliar environment.

Mingde couldn't stop crying, sobbing uncontrollably. Qiu Duo tried to comfort him while also preventing him from rushing out. Just then, an urgent voice came from outside, "Your Highness, bad news! The Celestial Dynasty's army has caught up!"

Qiu Duo abruptly stood up, "Where?"

Looking out from the carriage door, he saw rolling smoke and dust in the distance on the official road. Upon closer inspection, he realized there were quite a number of people. Even from such a distance, the banner of the Imperial Guards was extremely eye-catching. It turned out to be the most elite cavalry of the Celestial Dynasty.

"Don't mind them!" Qiu Duo ordered sternly, "Tell everyone to gallop at full speed!"

At this time, Mingde didn't know what was happening and insisted on squeezing out from the carriage door, craning his neck to look behind. Qiu Duo pulled him back inside, but Mingde refused and struggled while crying, "Let go, I want to go back..."

"Be good, don't cry, don't cry," Qiu Duo held him with one hand and desperately tried to close the carriage door with the other. The wind howled past his ears, as if sharp knives were cutting his eardrums. Mingde wouldn't listen at all. Although he was pulled back, he was still unwilling and sobbed, "Li Ji... Where is Li Ji..."

Qiu Duo firmly grasped his shoulders, "Do you like Li Ji?"

Mingde stopped crying and looked at him in confusion. Qiu Duo emphasized, "Do you like Li Ji?"

As if it was a difficult question to answer, Mingde bit his fingertips and thought for a long time before shaking his head in confusion.

"Then why do you want to go back? Come with me. We'll freely herd cattle and sheep on the vast grasslands of the frontier, following the migration of water and grass. How about it?"

Not to mention Mingde's current state, even when he was clear-headed, he had no clear concept of the vast grasslands. In the eyes of the people of the Celestial Dynasty, it was a place of barbaric wilderness, where only exiled officials would go, never to return to the capital in their lifetime.

Perhaps because Qiu Duo used too much force, Mingde glanced at him, frowned, and shook his head vigorously, "No! Let me go back! I want to go back!"

He crawled towards the carriage door using both his hands and feet, but Qiu Duo forcefully pulled him back. After a few struggles, the carriage door was opened, and the strong wind and dust brought on by the speeding carriage rushed in, causing Qiu Duo to cough several times.

In that brief moment when his vision was unclear, the two of them wrestled at the carriage door several times. In the end, Qiu Duo lost his temper and didn't hold back. He felt his hands suddenly empty, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that the spot where Mingde had been curled up at the carriage door was now empty.

Qiu Duo was so shocked that his hands and feet went limp. He crawled to the carriage door and looked back, only to see that Mingde had already lost his footing and fallen from the speeding carriage!

"Stop! Stop!"

Qiu Duo's roar was almost heart-wrenching. "Stop! Everyone stop!"

The attendants urged the horses forward, desperately blocking him, "Calm down, Your Highness! If the Imperial Guards catch up, it doesn't matter for us servants, but you will never be able to return to Yuezhi!"

Qiu Duo wanted to push these people away, but they all desperately blocked him. Some people were ordering the coachman to speed up, while others crowded in front of him, making it impossible for him to see what was happening on the road. He only felt that he was getting farther and farther away from Mingde, and he could no longer feel that person's body temperature or whether he was alive or dead.

He finally realized that they were just passing by each other and would never intersect. The carriage was still racing on the road, and the rolling smoke and dust obscured the sky, already getting farther and farther away from that person, almost out of sight.

The Qianwan Emperor suddenly pulled on the reins, then almost fell off the horse. He staggered forward a few steps, then suddenly knelt down and hugged Mingde.

Mingde, who was originally timid, immediately started crying and complaining as soon as he saw him, "It hurts! ...Scared! ...You guys are so bad, no one came to save me! ...It hurts, it hurts!"

The Qianwan Emperor desperately held him in his arms, continuously kissing his fine hair on his forehead, "Yes, yes, it's not good, didn't protect you well...Good boy, let's go home, good boy, let's go, we'll never be apart again, it's my fault, it's my fault..."

By the end, this emperor who had been dominating the battlefield since his youth couldn't hold back his tears. He held him so tightly that Mingde couldn't help but hit his arms with force.

This little bit of strength was really too insignificant for the Qianwan Emperor. Moreover, Mingde had fallen from the carriage and injured his lower leg bone. Under the intense pain, his struggle was even weaker, like a little kitten's paw desperately hitting this emperor in his prime.

Mingde felt that he was about to be squeezed to death in this man's arms. Fortunately, Zhang Kuo arrived, rolling and crawling to kneel on the ground and shouted, "Your Majesty, please let go! The little noble is injured! Quickly summon the imperial physician!"

The Qianwan Emperor kissed Mingde while carefully holding his bloody lower leg, and asked softly, "Let's go back, okay?"

Mingde stared at him blankly, as if he didn't understand what he was saying at all.

"Are you willing to come back with me? You're willing to come with me, right?"

Mingde bit his fingertip and thought for a long time, shook his head, then nodded, and then started crying loudly, "It hurts! Be gentler! Be gentler!"

The Qianwan Emperor picked him up horizontally in his arms and mounted the horse. Zhang Kuo came to the horse and asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty, do you still want to chase?"

The Qianwan Emperor looked back at the rolling dust that was about to disappear at the end of the official road in the opposite direction. If he had been a step later, the person in his arms might have left him forever. That possibility made him tremble with fear, and he didn't even dare to think about it.

"...If they are caught," the Qianwan Emperor said slowly, "—execute them on the spot."

Zhang Kuo bowed his head and retreated, "Your servant receives the decree."

Mingde curiously stretched his head to look back. The Qianwan Emperor gently tucked him back into his arms, holding the reins with one hand and gently covering his eyes with the other.

"Don't look, be good, killing is not a good thing, you shouldn't watch..."