Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 473 Relying on Favor (18)

Yan Zhen did not refuse this publicly funded trip and rested in the city for a few days.

After staying for three days, the group embarked on their journey back to Tingzhou.

On the return journey, Yan Zhen asked Zhao Yuan for a small horse and rode it slowly.

The journey that should have taken seven or eight days took twelve days.

When they were still a day's journey from Tingzhou, they passed a teahouse located by the official road, and Zhao Yuan suggested that they stop and rest.

So the group of more than ten people dismounted and entered the teahouse.

The tea stall also sold steamed buns, wontons, and sweet cakes. Yan Zhen and Fu Xue each ordered a serving of sweet cakes.

The woman making the sugar cakes was in her forties. When she served the sugar cakes, her gaze fell on Yan Zhen's face, and she was slightly taken aback.

Yan Zhen noticed and met her gaze openly: "Auntie, what's wrong?"

The woman quickly looked away and gave an embarrassed smile: "It's nothing, it's nothing. I've been running this stall for over ten years and I've never seen such a beautiful young lady before."

Yan Zhen smiled and said, "Thank you."

The woman picked up the empty plate, turned around, and left.

Once the woman left, Yan Zhen's smile faded, and he urged her in a low voice, "Eat quickly, and we'll continue our journey after we finish eating."

Fu Xue was taken aback: "Miss, why is that?"

Before Yan Zhen could answer, Zhao Yuan lowered his voice and said, "The people in this teahouse seem to know you."

After Zhao Yuan said that, Fu Xue realized that it wasn't just that woman who was staring at Yan Zhen; the bun and wonton vendors and the tea maker not far away were also glancing in their direction, intentionally or unintentionally.

Moreover, their gazes were all focused on Yan Zhen, and it was definitely not just a gaze of admiration for a beautiful woman.

Realizing there might be danger, the group didn't linger, quickly finished their food, mounted their horses, and left.

"There might be an ambush on the main road. Let's take the side road and detour back to Tingzhou."

Yan Zhen and Fu Xue boarded the carriage and drove away from the teahouse. Yan Zhen lifted a corner of the curtain.

From afar, they saw the tea-brewing and serving staff from the tea stall chasing after them, whispering amongst themselves as they stared in the direction they had left.

The team ran for twenty or thirty miles before Zhao Yuan slowed down.

As the sky gradually darkened, Zhao Yuan urged his horse to the carriage and knocked on the side of the carriage.

The next moment, Yan Zhen's head popped out from behind the carriage curtain: "What's wrong?"

Zhao Yuan said, "It's still more than seventy li from here to Tingzhou. To avoid any unforeseen complications, let's travel at night and rest when we get home, okay?"

"Row."

Seeing that she agreed, Zhao Yuan ordered the team to speed up and return to Tingzhou overnight.

The group hurried along, and late at night, as they passed through a grove of trees, Zhao Yuan caught a faint smell of tung oil in the air.

He immediately raised his hand to stop the line.

As soon as the group stopped, the woods became so quiet that only the rustling of the wind through the treetops could be heard.

The soldiers handed him a torch, which Zhao Yuan took. He dismounted, took a few steps forward, and swept the torch across the road. He discovered a thin thread, as thin as a hair, lying across the middle of the road.

Zhao Yuan's expression darkened.

He drew his sword and cut the silk threads. The next moment, a strange sound came from above, and a large net came crashing down on them.

Before Zhao Yuan could make a move, the four soldiers attending him drew their swords and leaped forward, tearing the net to shreds in just a few moves.

The trap was broken, and the people hidden in the night revealed themselves. Before long, hundreds of masked men in black surrounded them from all directions.

The leader of the men in black said in a deep voice, "Leave the princess behind, and you may leave safely."

Zhao Yuan showed his attitude with his actions—he drew his sword and threw the scabbard at the man in black.

The man in black was unable to dodge and was knocked away by the sword sheath.

The two sides started fighting as soon as they disagreed.

Yan Zhen sat in the carriage and lifted a corner of the curtain to look outside.

The men in black had a clear objective, and they charged toward the location of the carriage in waves.

With the leader of the men in black mentioning "princess," it's quite clear who these people belong to.

The princess sent for a marriage alliance disappeared in the middle of the night, and the people who escorted her were bound to report the matter back to Daliang.

By now, considering the time it took, the people sent by Daliang to find her should have arrived here.

The people in the teahouse must have seen the portrait shown by the people sent by Daliang to find her, which is why they looked so surprised when they saw her.

Fu Xue had obviously thought of that too. She clung to Yan Zhen's arm, trembling with fear: "Your Highness, Lord Xie has sent people to find us. What should we do?"

Yan Zhen watched as Zhao Yuan, who was guarding the carriage, fought ruthlessly, taking down one of the men in black with almost every move, and preventing the men in black from getting even a fraction closer to the carriage.

In just a short while, more than a dozen corpses lay dead beside the carriage.

"Don't panic, trust Zhao Yuan, he can handle these people."

As soon as Yan Zhen finished speaking, hundreds more men in black, armed with bows and arrows, emerged from the woods and began to shoot.

Yan Zhen: "..."

The man in black who was fighting Zhao Yuan immediately retreated when he saw the archer appear.

A dense rain of arrows shot towards Zhao Yuan and his men.

"Protect the carriage!"

At Zhao Yuan's command, a dozen soldiers surrounded the carriage, brandishing their swords to deflect the rain of arrows.

The clanging sound rang out outside the carriage. Yan Zhen pulled Fu Xue down to lie down, to prevent arrows from shooting in through the window and hurting them.

At the same time, Yan Zhen felt a strong sense of crisis.

They avoided the main roads and took detours along side streets back to Tingzhou, yet they still encountered so many men in black lying in ambush.

With so many people mobilized for the search, it seems that Daliang won't give up until they find her and bring her back.

Moreover, judging from this situation, Xie Ying might also be here.

Zhao Yuan's men were all highly skilled fighters capable of taking on ten men each, but they couldn't withstand the ranged attacks of arrows, and soon some soldiers fell to the ground, struck by arrows.

Zhao Yuan also saw the situation clearly. He hooked his toe, threw up the arrows that had fallen to the ground, and threw them with his backhand. With a few screams, he took down three archers.

Taking advantage of the lull, Zhao Yuan jumped onto the carriage and said to Yan Zhen inside, "Hold on tight!"

"it is good!"

Zhao Yuan stabbed the horse in the rump with his sword. The horse, writhing in pain, dismounted and neighed, dragging the carriage forward.

With soldiers covering the rear, the carriage broke through the encirclement and sped away.

After running for seven or eight miles, the horse slowed down more and more until it stopped and fell to the ground, causing the carriage to overturn.

Zhao Yuan quickly turned around and, before the carriage overturned, dragged Yan Zhen with one hand and Fu Xue with the other, pulling them both out of the carriage.

Only then did the group notice that the horse had been hit by an arrow and was lying on the ground, barely breathing.

Without the carriage, it's only a matter of time before the pursuers catch up.

Without saying a word, Zhao Yuan led the two into the dense forest via a side path.

With poor visibility at night, Yan Zhen and Fu Xue stumbled along.

Yan Zhen was held by Zhao Yuan's arm, and she held Fu Xue's hand tightly with her other hand. When the three of them passed a shallow cliff, Fu Xue slipped and slid down.

Caught off guard, Yan Zhen, who was holding onto Fu Xue, was pulled down by Fu Xue's weight, causing half of her body to fall. She clearly heard the cracking sound of her arm dislocating, and the pain made her involuntarily shudder.

Zhao Yuan immediately reached out to pull Fu Xue up.

Fu Xue, with Yan Zhen holding her arm, looked up at him and said, "Your Highness, please let go of me. You won't get far with me."

"What nonsense are you spouting!" Yan Zhen scolded, ignoring the pain of his dislocated shoulder, and desperately pulled Fu Xue upwards.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" Fu Xue heard the footsteps of pursuers coming from not far away and hurriedly said, "Please listen to me, the pursuers are Lord Xie's men. They won't do anything to me. At most, they will just take me back. My life will not be in danger."

But you're different. If you take me with you, all three of us will be captured. If you let me go, and I can escape the pursuers, I'll go back to Tingzhou to find you.

Even if I can't escape being captured by Lord Xie, I will preserve my life and wait for you and the lord to return to Daliang, where I will reunite with you.