Chapter 4: Despair

"Stop!"

"It's already dark, where are you going?"

A guard at the Gongmen shouted angrily.

The killing staves alternated, colliding with a "Bang—", blocking Wan Tang's way.

Wan Tang felt a tremor in her heart, remained composed, and produced Li Defu's waist badge.

"Grandfather Li's people?"

"Why such an unfamiliar face, never seen before!"

"It's so late, where are you heading?"

Even when speaking with a strained throat, a woman's voice is ultimately different.

How many fools can actually serve in the Imperial Palace?

She said nothing, but her gaze sharpened, coldly landing on the two guards.

From her elevated position she looked down on everyone, and especially at the leader, she hooked her finger.

This aura indeed frightened the crowd into bewilderment.

The on‑duty guard walked over.

Just as she was about to speak, Wan Tang slipped a small cloth pouch into his hand.

Throughout, Wan Tang was cold and ruthless, her breath haughty.

In the Imperial Palace, Ladies of Grace are as numerous as cattle hair; a person's conduct is closely tied to their patron, so the guard naturally dared not be negligent.

The guard opened the bag, weighed it, and couldn't help but lift the corner of his mouth.

It was a bag full of golden pumpkin seeds.

Within the Imperial harem, only the Emperor and a few Ladies of Grace could use golden pumpkin seeds.

Only the Emperor's closest confidants could produce both so many golden pumpkin seeds and Li Defu's waist badge.

The guard hurriedly stepped back.

He shouted, "Pass."

【That bag of golden pumpkin seeds is Wan Tang's ten years of savings!】

【Wealth is but external; as long as I can leave, that's enough.】

【Wonderful, once I step over that threshold, I can escape the sea of suffering.】

【I must go far, far away.】

Wan Tang straightened her back, each step landing on the ground made her heart flutter.

Soon, in fewer than twenty steps, she'll be out.

Ten more steps...

"It's Commander Rong."

"Are you on duty tonight?"

At the doorway, a tall figure in armor stood imposing.

His black hair tied up, his heroic face exuded a cold indifference.

He stepped forward.

【It's Rong Ruo, how could I meet him at the Gongmen?】

【Wan Tang, lower your head quickly, don't greet him.】

【He's not your brother Rong, his heart has long ceased to belong to you.】

【Freedom is the most precious; love makes one wasteful.】

【Hurry and leave, pretend you don't know him.】

Every pore of Wan Tang shouted with longing.

Since she first saw Rong Ruo at thirteen, she has liked him.

Entering the palace was also to be able to marry him legitimately.

Now, her beloved is right before her; she only needs to reach out and grasp his sleeve.

Should she choose to trust Rong Ruo and seek his help?

Though Wan Tang can now leave the palace, the world outside remains fraught with difficulties.

Wan Tang wants to ask Rong Ruo whether he truly intends to marry someone else.

She also wants to ask whether he ever liked her.

【What is Wan Tang still hesitating about?】

【You aren't still hoping to ask Rong for help, are you?】

【He's nothing but a scumbag; the idea of Wan Tang being given to a eunuch was his.】

【That's why Xu Guifei arranged for Wan Tang and Li Defu to receive a marriage decree.】

Those words struck like five thunders crashing overhead.

Wan Tang could only feel a dizzy spell, her heart unable to accept this.

How could Rong Ruo not love her yet still harm her?

Could the promise of growing old together have been a lie?

She forced down the raging anger, bit her tongue hard, the taste of blood spreading in her mouth, her eyes growing clearer.

She lowered her head, letting the brim of her hat shield her face.

The clenched fist loosened.

And so they passed each other, the sky high and the road long, never to meet again!

Less than five steps from the Gongmen…

Rong Ruo suddenly stopped.

He turned his head slowly, his refined voice tinged with fatigue, and called out, "Stop!"

The Gongmen guards hurriedly surrounded him.

Wan Tang stared at the last few steps, forced herself to stay calm, and halted.

She could not outrun the city guards, nor escape the archers on the palace wall.

She also did not turn, her back still to the one she once loved most.

"Commander Rong, this is a man of Li Gonggong…"

The guard who had just collected the golden melon seeds rushed over, whispering into Rong Ruo's ear.

"Hmm!"

Rong Ruo nodded, saying nothing more.

"Let them pass, let them pass," the guard murmured.

A gust of wind blew, and Wan Tang felt intensely cold all over.

In that instant, sweat somehow soaked her close‑fitting clothes.

She shamefully reddened her eyes, yet forced herself to stay calm and walked the last few steps at a steady pace.

【Wuwuwu, I feel like crying.】

【Scumbag Rong, shut up and let her go.】

Each step felt especially heavy.

Finally, just one step away, Wan Tang was about to step out of the towering palace wall.

"Wan Tang."

With a light call, Rong Ruo called her name directly: "Sneaking out of the palace at night, does the noble consort know?"

Wan Tang's emotions nearly collapsed in that instant.

Deceived for ten years, she endured with hidden perseverance.

The marriage‑granting eunuch, she dealt with calmly, searching for a chance.

Her lover shifted affection to another, plotted against her, and she silently accepted the reality.

But…

Only one step remains, clearly only one step remains!

Why still cut off her chance of survival?

Wan Tang finally lost control and sprinted forward.

Rong Ruo's figure moved even faster, like a warhorse, barely exerting force, and was already at her side.

Her body became light, her feet suspended, already hoisted onto Rong Ruo's shoulders.

The on‑duty guards were astonished, rushing forward.

Rong Ruo's voice fell like an ice spear: "What happened tonight I can treat as if it never occurred."

"If you're careless again later, when heads hit the ground, don't blame me for not having warned you."

Each on‑duty guard, terrified, shook off their fear like chaff, daring not utter a single word.

Rong Ruo carried Wan Tang, following the road they came from, back into the palace.

Wan Tang struggled in vain, only tears pattering down.

In a secluded spot, Rong Ruo set her down.

Her posture remained guarded, constantly wary of her suddenly fleeing.

Wan Tang gazed at that hauntingly familiar face, and suddenly burst into laughter.

In her mind she recalled many things, including the man who always fed her when she was a child.

She thought of the person who would always catch her when she fell from a tree.

She remembered the little portrait Rong Ruo drew each time she felt wronged.

But the palace's great gate, after all, is not a common household fence that one can come and go at will.

When her identity was exposed, all of Wan Tang's efforts would ultimately be in vain.

The one she loved most cut off the only hope of leaving the palace.

"Why?"

Wan Tang looked up, voicing the doubt in her heart.

Rong Ruo's face remained icy, making it impossible to read any emotion from it.

He said mechanically, "The day you leave the palace is the day of your grand wedding; why risk escaping?"

Wan Tang's smile froze on her face.

"What about you?"

"A wedding on the same day," Rong Ruo's voice was ethereal.

It made one feel as if standing on a boundless sea, without even a single point to leverage.

Wan Tang, somewhat weak, asked, "I don't care what others think, but you know."

"How my mother died. You all keep saying to let go of hatred and be kind to others."

"I strive to be good, so why can't you be kind to me?"

The final sentence, Wan Tang's voice suddenly rose.

Rong Ruo's gaze, overly complex, held an incomprehensible resolve: "It's all for your good."

"I don't need it!" Wan Tang was on the verge of collapse.

Just thinking of Li Defu makes me tremble with fear.

Wan Tang still clings to the last sliver of hope, trembling, and slowly kneels before him.

She lowers her head, pleading: "Please, let me go, okay?"

"I no longer hope to be with you; I just want to leave."

His appearance is still that of the young man from those days; ten years have passed, yet has everything already become different?

Wan Tang's fingernails dig hard into her palm, yet she still makes the final gamble.

Even if there is no love, at least there is the bond of having grown up together.

That year of the hundred‑year snow disaster, the boy rescued her from the collapsed thatched hut—was it truly so?

Wan Tang's shoulders twitch, her head lowered, unwilling to look at Rong Ruo's expression.

"Ah!"

With a lingering long sigh, Rong Ruo's hand presses down on Wan Tang's shoulder.

He cruelly shatters all of Wan Tang's fantasies: "Now that it has come to this, why struggle?"

"Although Li Defu is a eunuch with overwhelming power, if you are clever and rely on him, you can still have your wish fulfilled."