After becoming pregnant, the cold-hearted nobles all went mad.

"Yi'er!"

The Jiang family searched everywhere for Shen Lingyi's whereabouts.

Upon hearing this, she raised her head and responded, her delicate neck exposed to the air, a faint red mole flashing beneath her collarbone.

Pei Heng tightened his grip, his gaze so deep it seemed to pierce her soul. Shen Lingyi hissed in pain, her eyes filled with a bewildered mist.

Pei Heng put her down, picked up the hairpin that had fallen to the ground, and slowly inserted it into her hair. She subconsciously held her breath. "Miss Shen, you should be careful with your choice of men. Not just anyone can be provoked, especially someone of unusual status."

Shen Lingyi's brow twitched; she almost thought she had been recognized.

But upon closer reflection, she had been keeping a tight rein on herself these past few days, so her identity couldn't have been exposed so quickly. Perhaps their earlier conversation had led him to mistakenly believe that she wanted to enter the harem.

Shen Lingyi quickly stated her position: "Young master, rest assured, after hearing what you said earlier, I have no desire for romance now, and I only want to study at the academy."

Pei Heng nodded, somewhat satisfied with her answer.

His judgment isn't completely hopeless.

Shen Lingyi had no idea she was talking at cross purposes. Still worried about the situation on the ship, she said anxiously, "What can we do now? The situation is not good. They came prepared."

As soon as he finished speaking, the band of river pirates set up an iron chain, and several agile men climbed over the chain, while on the other side they bombarded the area with gunpowder.

Pei Heng suddenly grabbed her and pulled her aside.

The next second, a huge explosion blasted through the ship's deck, and the entire ship sank in an instant. Before Shen Lingyi sank into the icy water with the man in her arms, she saw several small wooden boats, and Jiang Shi was on one of them.

The wood chips exploded, and Pei Heng shielded her head, but the enormous impact still knocked them both unconscious.

Shen Lingyi thought she was going to die, and after fainting in the water, she didn't think she would survive.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a dry and warm room.

"It's good that you woke up. If you hadn't woken up, I would have had to do something."

Looking in the direction of the sound, the man was sitting in a chair, having taken off his outer clothes and wearing only a white undershirt. There were still some damp marks on his Adam's apple and water stains on his body. His features were clear and bright, like jade soaked in a cold spring.

"How long was I unconscious? What about the others?" Shen Lingyi rubbed her head, which still hurt a lot.

Pei Heng asked calmly, "Are you worried about your mother and sister?"

"I'm only worried about my mother, not my sister." Shen Lingyi didn't want to pretend, since there was no one else around. "If you often inquire about news in the capital, you should know that I've bullied my elder sister since we were little, and we're used to not getting along."

She said this with a hint of self-deprecation.

She didn't want to explain why a conflict between the two of them ended up being interpreted as her being unable to tolerate Shen Tingjiao. Being misunderstood and verbally abused was something Shen Lingyi was used to.

Even if I explain, no one will believe me.

The girl said she didn't care, but her grievances were written all over her face. Her eyelashes fluttered, and the corners of her eyes were slightly red.

Pei Heng used a stick to pry open the red-hot charcoal, revealing the unburnt material underneath. "I can tell you don't like me."

"As for bullying, isn't it normal for kids to dislike each other?"

"I'm not that much younger than you, am I?" Shen Lingyi pouted, her nose twitching, which made him shake his head and laugh. She was clearly still a child at heart.

"The methods used in the palace are beyond your imagination, but I believe that if you really wanted to bully someone, you certainly wouldn't choose to make it known throughout the city."

Pei Heng could tell at a glance what was going on between the two sisters; it was nothing more than one side spreading rumors about the other.

"Your Majesty is wise." Shen Lingyi bowed in a strange manner, looking exactly like a sycophantic minister.

"You've forgotten so quickly? You should call me Young Master Pei when we're out." Pei Heng raised an eyebrow; he did indeed look somewhat like a noble young master.

Shen Lingyi glanced at the wooden house where they were before remembering to ask him.

"This is a village outside Liangzhou City. Because there was a doctor in the village, and the houses were thoroughly fumigated with mugwort in advance, and every household boiled water to drink, the plague did not spread in the village."

"After we fell into the water, I swam you to the shore, where we were rescued by the villagers. We are now at the home of the person who saved us."

The firelight illuminated the scars on Pei Heng's hand, and his slow, deliberate voice made people unconsciously overlook the perilous situation he had been in.

Shen Lingyi unconsciously stared at his hands. If there were so many scars on his hands alone, how many must there be on his body? "Did you go to the battlefield in your early years, young master?"

Pei Heng glanced at her indifferently and said, "I led troops to resist foreign invasions several times."

At that time, he was a powerless illegitimate prince who was thrown onto the battlefield to die.

Everyone thought he was going to die, including the late emperor and Consort Wan, but he survived.

"Great, you're both awake!"

Shen Lingyi looked over and saw a girl with wheat-colored skin, holding a plate of dried medicinal herbs in her hand.

"Did you save us?" Shen Lingyi was very kind to her savior.

If it weren't for this young girl, she and Pei Heng would probably have died on the same day, month, and year.

The girl hummed in agreement.

Her name was Posuo. As Pei Heng said, the village was outside Liangzhou City and was the only place where a large number of villagers had not yet been found to be infected. The neighboring villages had all been wiped out.

Posuo said sadly, "I tried to persuade them, but no one listened to me. The prefect asked us about our methods of epidemic prevention, but all we could do was boil water and fumigate the house. We didn't have any good methods."

Upon hearing this, Shen Lingyi subconsciously looked at Pei Heng. She had the prescription for curing the plague, but she didn't know how to keep it a secret from him.

Before they could figure it out, a villager stumbled in, crying, "No, something terrible has happened! Someone has contracted the plague..."

"How could that be!"

Posuo was somewhat incredulous, but she still rushed over immediately.

Shen Lingyi had slept for almost a whole day and had recovered. Seeing that Pei Heng also wanted to go, she hurriedly ran to the door: "I'll go with you."

"Keep up."

Pei Heng's gaze swept over her pale and weak face, which appeared weak from soaking in the water for too long. The girl's body was delicate, but her eyes were very firm, so he didn't say anything.

The village got its name from the many rocks around it, and the villagers earned their living from these rocks. They helped the government mine, and the government paid them silver. The relationship between the government and the people was relatively harmonious.

But with the outbreak of the plague, the government naturally had no interest in mining, and the villagers had been without income for some time.

The spread of the plague and their increasingly difficult lives left them with a heavy heart.

"Posuo, come quickly and see Old Li, he's dying!" The village woman had no interest in the two people with extraordinary bearing; she only wanted Posuo to save him as soon as possible.

On the tatami mat.

A middle-aged man was fast asleep, his face haggard, coughing occasionally. Hearing his cough, no one dared to even step into the room.

Posuo walked to the side without fear, and after a while her face turned ugly.