The days spent at the Jiuhua Palace were extremely carefree. Previously, Liao Tingyan had rewarded the palace maids who had presented her with those melons, causing all the palace maids in the entire palace to rack their brains to please her, hoping that they too could be lucky enough to receive generous rewards.

The mountains were always more relaxing than the palace, and there were more interesting things. The palace maids caught a beautiful little bird one day and sent a fawn the next, sparing no effort to amuse her.

Liao Tingyan couldn't get enough fun herself and wanted to share it with Sima Jiao. She couldn't tell if he liked these things, but she could see that he at least didn't dislike them.

Since coming to the Jiuhua Palace, it was actually Sima Jiao who spent most of his time lounging and resting, while Liao Tingyan ran around the palace with enthusiasm.

The nights in the mountain palace were tranquil. With the windows open, it felt cool even without an ice basin. The couch they slept on was lined with a jade bamboo mat, which was cold and very comfortable.

After bathing, Liao Tingyan would lie on the couch with her hair down, with various iced fruits beside her. Sima Jiao would be by her side, slowly stroking and combing her long hair with his hands - this was his new hobby recently.

Often, Liao Tingyan would fall asleep in a daze like this. When she woke up in the morning, she found that Sima Jiao was still asleep and hadn't woken up yet. For several consecutive mornings, Liao Tingyan found Sima Jiao still asleep when she woke up.

She felt something was amiss. You should know that in the past, she basically went to bed earlier and woke up later than Sima Jiao. It was extremely rare for her to wake up in the morning and find him still sleeping.

She speculated that Sima Jiao's body might have some abnormalities during this season. Thinking about it, he was said to have come here to avoid the summer heat in the past without bringing any beauties, which could also infer that he indeed had something unusual. But if Sima Jiao didn't say anything, she would just pretend not to know.

What was gratifying was that Sima Jiao's temper had improved a lot these days, at least he didn't want to kill people at every turn.

Discovering this point, Liao Tingyan felt much more at ease. Coupled with the freedom in the Jiuhua Palace, she simply became an unbridled wild horse, even doing things that didn't fit the identity of a noble consort, like climbing trees to pick fruits.

Sima Jiao never cared what she did. Apart from Sima Jiao, Liao Tingyan had the highest status here. As a result, Liao Tingyan simply did as she pleased.

She caught fish in a mountain stream near the palace. Her skirt and sleeves were soaked through before she caught a small fish with the help of many female attendants and palace maids.

In the end, this small fish was offered to Sima Jiao for him to eat.

Jin De still reported to Sima Jiao for the first time seeing a harem beauty like this, whispering, "Your Majesty, the noble consort has been playing in the shallow beach every day recently. Is it a bit...?"

Sima Jiao leaned on the couch with his eyes closed to rest and waved his hand, "Let her be happy, send more people to guard her."

Jin De only said this one sentence and didn't dare to say more after all.

However, since ancient times, there has been a saying: extreme joy begets sorrow.

The happy and carefree days didn't last for a few days before something happened. On this day, Liao Tingyan was playing in the shallow water to cool off as in the previous days, with more than a dozen palace maids serving beside her.

Further away, a team of guards surrounded the woods. The sudden change occurred in an instant.

A group of masked assassins broke through the guards' defense line and rushed towards them, scaring the palace maids to flee and tremble in all directions. Two palace maids pulled Liao Tingyan and ran into the woods, trying to avoid the assassins. Because the scene was too chaotic, everyone quickly scattered.

Liao Tingyan had never thought that assassins would come to assassinate her.

Everyone, let's talk sense. Normally speaking, isn't it more normal to assassinate the emperor?

After running in a panic for a moment, getting more and more remote, Liao Tingyan began to feel that something was wrong. She stopped and looked at the two nervous-looking palace maids, "Where are you taking me?"

A palace maid tightly grasped her with great strength, "Noble Consort, this servant is just taking you to avoid those assassins."

Liao Tingyan looked around and wanted to pull her hand out, "Then why are you running farther and farther away from the Jiuhua Palace?"

The two palace maids looked at each other. One tightly held Liao Tingyan with both hands, while the other was about to cover her mouth.

Seeing that things were not right, Liao Tingyan struggled and bit the palace maid's hand. Taking advantage of the other party's pain, she shouted out loud. There was a rustling sound of leaves rubbing against each other in the woods. A few people dressed as assassins appeared not far away.

The palace maid covered Liao Tingyan's mouth again and threatened in a low voice beside her ear, "Noble Consort, you better think carefully. Those assassins want to kill you, but we can temporarily ensure your safety. Don't be ungrateful!"

Liao Tingyan: Holy sh*t, you guys aren't even on the same side?

She originally thought it was strange enough that two parties wanted to harm her. Who knew that the two palace maids held her hostage and ran out of the woods, only to encounter an ambush. The two palace maids were caught off guard and were pierced through the chest by two cold arrows, dying on the spot.

Liao Tingyan was also hit by an arrow, but she was slightly luckier. The arrow didn't hit a vital spot and only pierced her arm. However, it still hurt so much that she turned pale and fell to the ground.

A few burly men with a very uncouth appearance jumped out from the bushes. Liao Tingyan had just raised her head to look and hadn't had time to run before a sturdy man rushed over and grabbed her. The big man yanked her arm and pulled her up, causing her to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.

Damn it, how could it hurt so much? And the arrowhead might not be clean. If it got infected and inflamed in this era, it could really kill someone!

"Hey, we brothers are really lucky. We've been wandering around here for so long without a chance, but today someone lent us a hand and delivered the person right to us," the man laughed loudly and carefully examined Liao Tingyan, who was pale-faced and frowning in pain.

"Seeing how beautiful this lady is, she must be that Consort Liao. Such a beautiful woman who has been slept with by the emperor, it would be too much of a pity to just kill her like this. Why don't we take her away first and let us brothers sleep with her? We can kill her after we've had enough."

The other men were also somewhat tempted and looked at the thin, leading man. However, the leading man shook his head and said decisively, "No, don't complicate matters. Hurry up and do it. Cut off her head and go deliver the goods. Getting the reward as soon as possible is the main thing."

The man holding Liao Tingyan was still a bit reluctant and called out to his big brother.

Just at this moment, the masked assassins from earlier caught up to this place. The two sides froze for a moment after seeing each other, then started fighting without a word.

Liao Tingyan: ...So you're not together. Just how many people are trying to kill me?! Damn, my arm hurts!

And to be honest, if both sides wanted to kill her, why not do it together? Why fight each other first to decide who gets to do it? This is too ridiculous. Amidst the perilous situation with her life hanging by a thread, Liao Tingyan couldn't hold back her surging exasperation. Being fought over and killed like this, it really doesn't disgrace her status as the female lead.

If she had known earlier that she would encounter assassins in broad daylight while catching fish near the palace, she would have just stayed inside and slept in with Sima Jiao!

Liao Tingyan cursed inwardly as she was dragged away by a man while fighting.

"Old Third, take the woman away first, meet at the usual place!"

The man holding Liao Tingyan responded loudly and pulled her into the bushes. Not many of the assassin brothers chasing them made it over, temporarily blocked by these few men. Meanwhile, on Liao Tingyan's side, as she was dragged in escape, the thorns in the forest scratched her skin, and the wound on her arm kept bleeding, staining half her clothes red.

The mountain forest here was lush, with many thorn bushes. But the big man seemed very familiar with the terrain, looking like he had walked through here many times. He practically dragged Liao Tingyan around, and in no time emerged from the jungle onto a remote mountain path.

Liao Tingyan's body was originally that of a noble lady. After entering the palace, she was pampered by Sima Jiao and became lazy. Now after this ordeal, injured and running, she nearly fainted, collapsing to the ground as soon as they stopped, her vision going black.

This really won't do. Comfort makes one degenerate. Without exercising, she doesn't even have the strength and stamina to run away. But is this brother really right in the head? They agreed to kill her, so why not just chop off her head directly, instead of painstakingly bringing her, an injured person, along to run?

When she looked up and saw the big brother's lewd smile, Liao Tingyan understood. Oh, tempted by beauty.

To be honest, looking at his face, she'd rather sleep with Sima Jiao.

"Beautiful consort, obediently come with me. If you serve me well, when I kill you, I'll make it quick, so you suffer less." The man chuckled lecherously. If this place wasn't still unsafe, he probably would have started right away.

Liao Tingyan was panicking inside but showed no expression on her face, not saying a single word.

Hang in there, believe I can make it! Usually in this kind of scenario, there's always a way to escape death... Ow, anyway Sima Jiao, save me! If you're any later, I'll really die!

As Liao Tingyan sincerely called out, a person miraculously descended from the sky. But it wasn't Sima Jiao, it was Chen Yun.

Chen Yun, the original male lead, professional savior of damsels in distress.

"Lady Liao, are you alright?" Chen Yun appeared on this desolate mountain path leading a horse for some reason. After swiftly taking out the big man, he reached out to support Liao Tingyan.

"You..." Liao Tingyan only uttered one word before her vision blurred.

Chen Yun held her, his face full of concern, "I am Chen Yun. I don't know if Lady Liao still recognizes me. We've met before. Lady is injured, but don't worry, I'll take you to find a doctor right away."

Liao Tingyan fainted before he even finished speaking.

......

Sima Jiao sat in the seat of honor, his expression cold and stern as he listened to General Zhi Jin report, "The entire mountain forest has been searched again, but there is still no trace of the Noble Consort. We only found the corpses of two palace servants, a few jianghu ruffians, and a few assassins..."

Sensing the Emperor's rapid breathing, General Zhi Jin didn't even dare raise his head. From yesterday when the Noble Consort went missing until today, who knows how many people have been implicated and lost their lives.

The one in charge of guarding the Noble Consort, due to lax security allowing the villains to kidnap her, had already been dealt with. There were also those palace servants who tried to escape in the chaos but were caught. The assassins who were captured - in the hall in front, various screams of agony had been ringing out all day, making one's hair stand on end.

He really feared that now the Emperor would act out again and directly have him executed too.

Fortunately, Sima Jiao only coldly ordered, "Keep searching."

After General Zhi Jin left, an eunuch hurriedly entered and presented a document. "Your Majesty, someone has confessed that four palace servants were bribed. Someone wanted them to take the opportunity to abduct the Noble Consort."

"What about those assassins?"

The eunuch lowered his head even more, "None of the assassins have confessed yet."