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A cloud of dust rose.
Seven Wind Chasing Colts neighed and pawed the ground on the main road.
Looking at the majestic city in their sight, the seven members of the Li Dixian team all smiled.
This trip to the Star Dou Great Forest, though only a few days, had been fraught with twists and turns, and at this moment, it truly felt like an age had passed.
"Let's go!"
Li Dixian shook the reins and galloped towards the city gate first.
Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, and the other six immediately urged their horses to follow.
As soon as they entered the city, the noisy human voices, intertwined with the smell of fireworks, assailed them.
Everyone comfortably let out a sigh of relief, enjoying the long-lost hustle and bustle of the mortal world.
"No need for extra words,"
Li Dixian said with a smile,
"Having just returned to Heaven Dou City, I imagine you're all eager to go home and report your safety."
"Tomorrow at noon, Shanxiang Workshop, don't forget."
Yu Feng and the others replied with a smile and departed separately.
Dugu Yan's slender fingers twirled her long hair, which had returned to its inky black color.
"Dixian Didi, where are you going?"
"Why don't you come to my house? My soup-making skills are excellent now."
"Grandpa would surely be delighted to see you too."
"I..."
Ye Lingling became a little anxious.
She also wanted to invite Li Dixian to her home as a guest.
But her red lips moved, unable to find a suitable reason.
She knew that Li Dixian had a poor impression of her mother, so she could only lower her head slightly, her cool voice carrying a hint of timidity.
"Go...go to my house."
"My house...I...I can also make soup."
"I'm not going to either of your places."
Li Dixian patted the treasure pouch at his waist, which contained the wild game he had hunted in the Star Dou Great Forest.
"I'm going to Lotus Lake. I haven't seen Xue Qinghe in a long time; I'm going to drink and fish with her."
Upon hearing this,
Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling both paused, then nodded in understanding.
In their small group, who didn't know that Li Dixian and Crown Prince Xue Qinghe had an uncommonly good relationship?
Dugu Yan scrutinized Li Dixian from head to toe, then mumbled with a pout:
"Two young men, why are they always together?"
Ye Lingling was normal at first.
Hearing this, her gaze towards Li Dixian also became subtle.
Li Dixian's handsome face, for the first time, flushed with heat, and he hastily waved his hand.
"Go, go, go!"
"What are you young girls thinking about in your heads!"
"See you tomorrow at noon, I'm not talking to you two anymore!"
With that,
under the amused gazes of Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling,
Li Dixian turned and left with slightly hurried steps, his retreating figure looking somewhat like he was fleeing in a panic.
By the Lotus Lake.
Willow trees brushed the banks, and the scent of lotus wafted subtly.
It should have been a refreshing scene, but Xue Qinghe felt somewhat dispirited.
"I'm not fishing anymore!"
She tossed aside her fishing rod, a strange irritation welling up in her heart.
Then she thought.
She had come to Lotus Lake for a moment of peace precisely because she was tired of the formalities and schemes.
But...since when?
Had the lake and mountain scenery, which she once adored, become so dull?
Splash—
The fishing rod she had casually discarded was suddenly dragged towards the center of the lake.
Xue Qinghe snapped back to reality.
"A bite?!"
She quickly bent down to retrieve the fishing rod.
She saw a silver-scaled fish, shimmering, struggling vigorously on the line.
Looking at this unexpected catch, a hint of joy flashed in her eyes.
In her mind, a handsome, smiling face involuntarily appeared.
"Hmph!"
She lightly snorted at the air, as if the person she was thinking of was right in front of her.
"If Li Dixian were here, I'd have to make him see clearly that I'm not some 'empty-handed old man'!"
Thinking of that strange term from Li Dixian's mouth,
Xue Qinghe's lips curved slightly.
"Hmm, that's what he said, right?"
When the three words "Li Dixian" softly escaped her lips,
Xue Qinghe herself didn't even notice that her heart seemed to have been gently plucked by something.
Her usually well-maintained masculine voice,
only when she thought of this name, would reveal a hint of a girl's unique charming naivety.
Only at this moment did she suddenly realize.
Why the Lotus Lake, which she once reveled in, had now lost its flavor.
Because one person was missing.
"It's already the sixth day..."
Xue Qinghe unhooked the silverfish.
She gently released it back into the lake, watching it flick its tail and dive into the deep blue water.
Without Li Dixian, even fishing became boring.
"Forget it, let's go back."
She turned dispiritedly, but her gaze suddenly froze.
Three to five meters away.
That familiar white-clad youth leaned against a willow tree, arms crossed, a blade of grass in his mouth, smiling as he looked at her.
"You...!"
Xue Qinghe's eyes burst with intense surprise, and her whole body involuntarily lunged forward a step.
Halfway there, she realized she had overreacted and abruptly stopped, forcefully reining in her surprised tone and reverting to her usual steady voice.
"You're back?"
Li Dixian nodded with a smile.
"I saw everything."
He raised an eyebrow.
"What? Your Royal Highness, Crown Prince?
"Without me, even fishing is boring?"
Xue Qinghe was busy observing Li Dixian closely.
Confirming he was safe and sound, her heart quietly relaxed.
But with her thoughts exposed, her heart uncooperatively beat a few quickened rhythms, and a flush of embarrassment at being seen through welled up.
She cast a thinly veiled angry glance towards the dense reeds not far away.
When Li Dixian returned, why wasn't she informed beforehand?!
In the reeds.
Porcupinefish and Snake Lance, the two Title Douluo, tacitly looked up at the sky, feigning ignorance with an "we don't know anything" expression.
Xue Qinghe's fair cheeks gradually flushed crimson.
Then, as if remembering something, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she asked:
"Li Dixian! You said you saw everything?"
"Then did you see the fish I caught? It must have weighed over two jin!"
Li Dixian shook his head.
"I didn't see that."
Xue Qinghe's eyes narrowed, and a hint of "killing intent" rose on her delicate face.
"You must have done it on purpose!"
Seeing Xue Qinghe in this state,
Li Dixian smiled and took out the wild game from his treasure pouch.
"The fish was released, but there's still wild game, isn't there?"
"Don't say your buddy didn't think of you while he was away."
He turned his head and shouted towards the reeds:
"You two over there..."
"There's nothing in the sky, stop looking up, come and eat together!"
Xue Qinghe and he reminisced by the lake until dusk.
The next day at noon,
Li Dixian hosted a banquet for everyone at the Shanxiang Workshop.
It's worth mentioning that Yu Tianheng, the captain of the Royal Fight Team, had returned.
As soon as he returned, he loudly demanded to challenge Li Dixian.
As a result, he was knocked out by Li Dixian with two cups of strong liquor.
The group drank from afternoon until the sky began to darken.
Li Dixian hummed a tuneless song and swayed back to his small courtyard.
He lay on the sandalwood chair under the plum blossom tree, about to take a nap.
A calm voice suddenly sounded without warning.
"So fond of the cup."
"Can you still wield your sword?"
The drunkenness in Li Dixian's eyes instantly dispersed.
Two sharp sword lights burst from his eyes; in the dim night, the sword light flashed and vanished.
He leaped to the center of the courtyard, abruptly looking up.
Only to see on the eaves of the opposite rooftop.
At some unknown time,
a white-clad figure stood there...