After the system set its sights on the dragon throne, the princess started courting death every day.

Xiang An was so excited that he almost blurted out the truth. After pinching his thigh hard, he held back for a few moments and swallowed the words that were about to come out.

Hearing the words she wanted to hear, she was secretly delighted and became even more serious about her role. After a moment of silence, her voice trembled as she said, "I was wrong to have failed the general's good intentions back then. Now I understand, but it's too late. I don't ask the general to help me escape; I only ask the general to give me a way to live."

She directly refers to herself as "I," no longer using the term "this empress."

People who cherish life and don't easily accept their fate, who are willing to humble themselves and lower their pride, live long lives. Since she wants to live, Fu Qingbai doesn't mind taking all the risks to help her again.

Looking away from her, Fu Qingbai asked, "Just a courtyard?"

Xiang An looked up, her eyes brimming with tears: "Yes, it's just a courtyard." Her pitiful appearance made it seem as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

This angle was exactly the most pitiful look she had imagined countless times in her mind.

Unexpectedly, Fu Qingbai remained unmoved and indifferent, coldly saying, "When there were secret guards in the Yuan Kingdom who could replace the princess for the marriage alliance, the princess refused to leave; now that there is no one to replace her in the Yan Kingdom, the princess is thinking of escaping. Princess, are you doing this on purpose? Or do you want to provoke conflict between the two countries?"

His tone was icy cold, and the pity that had finally surfaced in his heart vanished completely.

Xiang An went back and forth between Yuan Kingdom and Yan Kingdom before cautiously speaking: "General, you misunderstand. I did not do this on purpose, nor did I intend to use this opportunity to provoke a war between the two countries and take revenge on my father. I was afraid that after the marriage alliance, I would not even have a place to stay."

Fu Qingbai: "..." He didn't believe it.

Quiet, very quiet.

Finally, Xiang An gritted his teeth and asked, "Are you going to help or not?"

"...I have no silver notes." It was out of pity, and also because he wanted to save her.

"I brought it." Xiang An quickly took out a hundred-tael silver note from his wide sleeve. "It's not much money, but I hope the general can buy the best house possible."

"I will do my best." Fu Qingbai accepted the silver note. "Whether it succeeds or not, I will not take any responsibility."

The words were straightforward and literal, without any hints. Fu Qingbai had not forgotten why such a large force had gone to such lengths to escort the marriage alliance thousands of miles away.

Just as she was about to leave, a figure suddenly pounced, grabbing her wrist with a fair hand. Instinctively, Fu Qingbai twisted her wrist, instantly freeing herself from both hands. She took three steps back, quickly creating distance between herself and the figure, and said coldly, "What is the meaning of this, Princess?"

Xiang An crossed his arms and said with a faint smile, "Why do you never look at my face?"

Fu Qingbai had never looked directly at her. She had known this for a long time. Once or twice might be a coincidence, but if it happened every time, it must be deliberate.

Fu Qingbai replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, "The princess's status is too noble for her to be looked at directly." But he had seen her twice—she was beautiful, but it was irrelevant to him, so there was no need to look, nor to explain or make it clear.

"Is that so? What if I insist you look at it?"

"Men and women should not touch each other; I hope the princess will respect this."

"..."

With just a few words, Fu Qingbai effectively shut down Fu Qingbai's argument.

The weather was not good the next morning. There was neither wind nor rain, and the clouds were terribly gloomy. After the wedding procession had been traveling for an hour, a cavalryman from the Yan Kingdom, who was leading the procession, came and told them: "Third Princess, the sky is getting gloomy. The Third Prince is worried that it will rain halfway and there will be nowhere to take shelter. So he has suggested that we rest at the dilapidated house ahead."

Upon hearing this, Xiang An lifted the carriage curtain, peeked out, first looked up at the sky, and then gazed at the dilapidated house standing behind the roadside trees in the distance.

The walls of the house were peeling off, and most of the roof had collapsed. A large tree stood tall and straight out of the collapsed area, its not-so-lush branches and leaves covering the other half of the dilapidated but still intact roof. Although half of the house had collapsed, the dilapidated house was still quite large, and it could temporarily shelter the wedding procession from the wind and rain.

It's just bad luck.

Dilapidated houses or temples are the most likely places for accidents to happen in storybooks and TV dramas. They are either places where people die or where romantic love scenes between men and women are depicted. They are as unlucky as can be!

However, if we don't go in, it really starts raining heavily on the way. In this godforsaken place with no village or shop in sight, we can't even find a place to take shelter from the rain.

Gazing at the endless forest path in the distance, Xiang An pondered for a moment, then looked at Fu Qingbai, who had been riding alongside him on horseback: "Do you think we should rest?"

Fu Qingbai frowned slightly, glanced around, and said, "Your Highness, the trees on both sides of the road are all bright green, so there should be no shortage of rainwater here."

Despite the nonsensical nature of his words, Xiang An somehow understood what he meant—the rain was just a coincidence, and they could take a break.

Xiang An glanced once more at the dilapidated house, which looked ominous no matter how she looked at it, then stood up angrily and jumped off the carriage: "Rest now, rest now. Just say you want to rest. Why beat around the bush and accuse me of being paranoid?"

Fu Qingbai dismounted and clasped his hands, saying, "Your subject dares not. The journey to escort the princess is long, and it is only right that the princess is cautious due to her concerns."

"Humph! It's good to know!"

During a rare break, Xiang An was about to stretch his muscles when he noticed a sudden commotion in the Yan Kingdom's wedding procession ahead. Just as he was debating whether to go and check on the situation, Fu Qingbai, who was standing guard nearby, had already sent Ding Yinan to investigate.

Before long, the commotion in Yan Kingdom subsided, and Ding Yinan arrived with a message: "Your Highness, the Third Prince of Di has suddenly fallen ill with a chronic ailment and has been unconscious for unknown reasons. The accompanying imperial physician administered a few acupuncture treatments and he has now recovered and is out of danger."

"Old illness? What illness?" Xiang An asked anxiously, feigning concern, but secretly delighted: "Being sickly is good. Once I get married, no one can control me. If I die from the illness one day and become a widow, even if the mission is not completed and the system inexplicably kills me, no one will know if I am resurrected and start over."

It wasn't that she was cold-blooded or lacked compassion towards her patients. In fact, Xiang An never thought about getting married or falling in love with anyone.

"I don't know," Ding Yinan shook his head and said, "The Third Prince's carriage was surrounded by a dense crowd. When his men saw me going to investigate, one of the accompanying generals briefly explained the situation but refused to say anything else."

Xiang An frowned as he looked at the Third Prince Di's carriage, where carriages, horses, and people were all stuck together, but no one went into the dilapidated house.

Seeing that Xiang An kept looking in that direction, Ding Yinan mistakenly thought she wanted to go into the dilapidated house. He cupped his hands and said, "Princess, I will go and clean up the dilapidated house first." As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves.

"You're not allowed to go." Fu Qingbai, who was standing to the side, suddenly spoke up to stop him.

Ding Yinan immediately stopped in his tracks, looked at Fu Qingbai, then at Xiang An whose gaze remained fixed on him, unsure of what to do.

After a while, Xiang An came to her senses, turned around and got into the carriage, saying, "I'll listen to General Fu." Why would she go in if the sick aren't going in?