"Ugh!"
Li Jin let out a muffled grunt.
He rubbed his waist and stood up.
Wait!
He stood up?
Li Jin looked down at his feet in disbelief.
The mud in the pond from a moment ago was gone; beneath his feet was the dry bed of the pond.
Li Jin glanced around in astonishment.
The pond had vanished!
If it weren't for the waterweeds still lying flat on the ground, Li Jin would have thought he was dreaming.
Li Jin looked at the object he had just touched.
It was a wheelchair!
The Prince of Pingyang's wheelchair.
Li Jin hurriedly searched the surroundings.
Finally, near the edge of what used to be the pond, he spotted a figure.
He quickly ran toward the figure.
Seeing Li Jin's movements, Duoduo stood up and ran over from the edge of the woods.
"Your Highness?"
Li Jin reached the Prince of Pingyang's side.
He saw that the Prince of Pingyang had a hollow reed pipe in his mouth.
It seemed the Prince of Pingyang had relied on this reed pipe to hide underwater for so long.
However, the Prince of Pingyang appeared to have fainted.
"Father!"
Duoduo stomped her feet anxiously on the bank.
"Princess, His Highness has fainted."
"Wait up there, I will carry him up right away."
Li Jin bent down. "Forgive me, Your Highness."
Li Jin hoisted the Prince of Pingyang onto his back, grabbed a vine, and climbed up step by step.
Li Jin carried the Prince of Pingyang ashore, found a flat spot, and set him down.
"Princess, please watch over His Highness. I'll go bring the wheelchair up."
Li Jin turned around and jumped back down.
Duoduo squatted down and placed her hand on the Prince of Pingyang's head.
A faint golden light slowly descended upon the Prince of Pingyang's body.
Dragging the wheelchair, Li Jin finally climbed back onto the shore.
He took another look back at the pond.
He was still completely baffled.
Where on earth did the water in this pond go?
Li Jin pushed the wheelchair over to Duoduo's side.
"Princess, please step aside so I can lift His Highness into the wheelchair."
"We need to leave here quickly. If anyone comes back, we'll be in trouble."
Duoduo withdrew her hand and stepped aside.
Li Jin lifted the Prince of Pingyang into the wheelchair and then placed Duoduo on it as well.
"Let's go. We're heading back."
"Hold on tight, Princess!"
Li Jin pushed the wheelchair and quickly departed.
Soon, the three of them reached the foot of the mountain.
Li Jin hid the wheelchair in the bushes, then tied the Prince of Pingyang to his own body.
He picked up Duoduo and grabbed the vines to climb up.
The heavy rain poured down endlessly, washing down mud that completely covered the wheelchair tracks they had just left.
Li Jin placed the unconscious Prince of Pingyang on the back of the horse.
Then, he mounted the horse himself.
"Hyah!"
Li Jin squeezed his legs, and the horse broke into a gallop.
Duoduo buried her head in Li Jin's chest.
She could hear the steady thumping of Li Jin's heartbeat.
As well as the sound of the heavy rain falling on all of creation between heaven and earth.
The jolting of the horse gradually awakened the Prince of Pingyang, who was slumped over its back.
He quietly opened his eyes, and from the corner of his eye, he only saw a man wearing a bamboo hat hurrying along.
The Prince of Pingyang tested his limbs.
He realized he wasn't tied up.
It seemed this person believed him to be completely helpless and had thus let his guard down.
The Prince of Pingyang secretly waited for an opportunity.
He only heard the hoofbeats of one horse and no other voices.
Therefore, as long as he could subdue the rider, he could steal the horse and escape.
The Prince of Pingyang carefully felt his sleeve pocket.
Inside his sleeve was an exquisite dagger, capable of slicing through iron as if it were mud.
Sure enough, the Prince of Pingyang felt the dagger.
Fortunately, it wasn't lost.
Using the bumping of the horse to mask his movements, he swiftly grasped the dagger.
The horse happened to reach an uphill slope, slowing its pace slightly.
Now was the time!
The Prince of Pingyang slapped the horse's flank, then twisted his body.
He raised the dagger and lunged at the rider.
Li Jin grew alert the moment the horse suddenly swerved.
He saw the Prince of Pingyang wielding a dagger, thrusting it toward him.
He grabbed the Prince of Pingyang's wrist in a flash.
"Your Highness, it's me!"
The Prince of Pingyang froze for a second, released the dagger, caught it with his other hand, and continued his strike at Li Jin.
Hearing Li Jin's voice, Duoduo poked her head out from his embrace.
"Father! You're awake?"
Upon seeing Duoduo, the Prince of Pingyang's grip loosened.
Li Jin caught the falling dagger.
"Whoa!"
Li Jin pulled the horse to a halt.
Li Jin took off his bamboo hat and placed it on the Prince of Pingyang's head.
The Prince of Pingyang shifted his posture and sat up straight.
"Duoduo? Li Jin, why are you here?"
"Your Highness, it's a long story."
"We shouldn't stay here long. Let's talk when we get back."
After Li Jin finished speaking, he prepared to urge the horse onward.
"No!"
The Prince of Pingyang grabbed the reins.
"Li Jin, take a different route. We're going to the manor!"
"Why? That road is blocked; we can't get through."
"Besides, there are bad people over there. If we run into them, we'll be in trouble."
Li Jin could handle those few men on his own without a problem.
The difficulty lay in the fact that the Prince of Pingyang was crippled, and Duoduo was just a child.
It would be extremely difficult for Li Jin to fight off so many people while protecting both of them.
"I know a path. We can detour around them."
As the Prince of Pingyang spoke, he shifted his body on the horse.
Li Jin looked at the Prince of Pingyang, feeling that something was off.
"Hyah!"
The Prince of Pingyang squeezed the horse's flanks, and the horse began to gallop.
Li Jin suddenly realized what was wrong with the Prince of Pingyang.
"Your Highness, your legs... are they healed?"
The Prince of Pingyang glanced down at his legs.
"Yes. I fell into the water, and somehow, I could move them again."
"I just can't put too much strength into them yet."
Li Jin thought of the pond that had inexplicably vanished.
And now, he heard the Prince of Pingyang say his legs were inexplicably healed.
Li Jin felt as if he were listening to a supernatural ghost story.
"Li Jin, you must not breathe a word to anyone about my legs being healed!"
"Otherwise, you know what the consequences will be!"
The Prince of Pingyang's icy words instantly snapped Li Jin back to reality.
"Rest assured, Your Highness. I don't know anything."
The Prince of Pingyang flicked the reins, continuously urging the horse to speed up.
"Father, where did the guards protecting you go?"
Sandwiched in the middle, Duoduo felt a bit uncomfortable.
"Dead!"
The Prince of Pingyang dropped the cold reply.
"Then how did you fall into the pond?"
"Bad luck!"
The Prince of Pingyang seemed to have reverted to the way he was when Duoduo first met him.
Cold, unreasonable, and giving off an aura that kept everyone at a distance.
Li Jin gently patted Duoduo's shoulder.
Duoduo tilted her head up and looked at Li Jin.
Li Jin gave her a subtle shake of his head and gently pressed her head back down.
Duoduo shrank back into the rain cape.
Having found her father, she felt relieved.
Lulled by the jolting of the horse, the exhausted Duoduo unknowingly drifted off to sleep.
Li Jin held Duoduo securely, staring at the Prince of Pingyang's back in front of him.
Just what exactly had the Prince of Pingyang gone through?
