Chapter 706: Different

When Princess Ningyang saw Li Ji appear, she was overjoyed.

She subconsciously started forward, but the two Prime Ministers at her side held her back.

“Princess, be careful!”

The commander of the city guard received the Regent King’s order and hurriedly relayed it.

“Quick! Close the city gate!”

The soldiers quickly worked the mechanism, trying to raise the gate that had just been lowered.

Seeing this, the commoners, terrified of being trapped inside the city, began to run even faster.

The crowd surged. Pushing, shoving, and falling were inevitable, which led to a stampede. Cries and angry curses constantly erupted from the throng.

The carriage was forced to slow down.

The military general disguised as a coachman asked in a low voice.

“The Regent King is here. What do we do?”

From inside the carriage, Ah Qi replied, “Charge through.”

He knew that if Li Ji caught them, he would have no other chance to take Manman away.

This was his one and only chance.

‘I absolutely cannot miss it!’

The military general cracked his whip, forcing the horses to speed up and charge through the crowded street.

The commoners ahead retreated in panic, and screams erupted all around.

However, the carriage hadn’t gone far before it unfortunately collided with an ox-cart.

The carriage shook violently.

Inertia threw Hua Manman against the carriage wall.

Ah Qi steadied himself with one hand on the window frame while reaching for Hua Manman with the other, trying to pull her into his arms.

But just then, Hua Manman’s eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes slowly opened.

She felt as if she had just had a long, drawn-out dream. Upon waking, her mind was a complete blank.

She was completely dazed and disoriented.

Until a low cry reached her ears.

“Manman, you’re awake!”

Only then did Hua Manman snap out of her daze.

She pushed herself up against the carriage wall, sat up straight, and rubbed the sore spot on her forehead where she had hit it. Her eyes fell on the man sitting beside her.

“You’re… Ah Qi?”

At that moment, Ah Qi only had eyes for Manman; he couldn’t be bothered with anything else.

“It’s me. I thought you were dead. Thankfully, the heavens took pity on me and sent you back to my side. Manman, from now on, I will never leave your side. I won’t let you come to the slightest bit of harm ever again!”

As he spoke, he reached out and gripped Hua Manman’s hand tightly.

Hua Manman met his deep, intense eyes, which were slightly bloodshot with emotion, and felt utterly baffled.

“Why am I with you?”

She then looked around and found herself in a carriage, with the sounds of shouting rising and falling outside.

‘What on earth is going on?’

Ah Qi, thinking she was terrified, immediately softened his voice to soothe her.

“Don’t be afraid. I found you in a secret chamber beneath the Prince Mansion, and I’m the one who brought you out.”

Hearing this, Hua Manman became furious. “Who told you to bring me here?”

She had already planned everything. First, she would have the Three-colored Cat guard her body in the secret chamber. Then, after she woke up, she would take the cat and go find Li Ji.

She had calculated every possibility, but she never expected someone to throw a wrench in the works midway through.

‘Now not only am I separated from the Three-colored Cat, I don’t even know where I am. This is so frustrating.’

Ah Qi said in a low, serious voice, “I’m protecting you!”

Hua Manman retorted, “But I don’t need your protection.”

She tried to pull her hand away, but Ah Qi’s grip was incredibly strong, holding her hand in a death grip.

From the way he was holding on, it seemed like he wanted to crush her entire hand.

Hua Manman frowned. “You’re hurting me!”

Ah Qi stared at her intently, speaking each word with deliberate force.

“I promised that I would protect you. I, Ah Qi, always keep my vows!”

Hua Manman remembered the lies she had told Ah Qi to escape, and she couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt.

She softened her tone and explained earnestly.

“The truth is, I was using you from the very beginning. I approached you and deliberately made you like me so that you would help me escape from Xiao Hong’s clutches. I have never had any feelings for you that crossed that line. If my actions hurt you, then I apologize.”

Ah Qi stared at her fixedly, saying nothing and refusing to let go of her hand.

Hua Manman continued, “So many years have passed. I have my own family now, and you have a new life. Let’s just go our separate ways and have nothing more to do with each other.”

Ah Qi’s lips trembled. He forced a single word out through gritted teeth.

“No!”

He had known the truth for a long time.

He knew she was deceiving and using him. He understood that he was just a tool to her.

But in his heart, he still clung to a sliver of false hope.

The hope that she might have even the slightest bit of affection for him in her heart.

Hua Manman didn’t understand. “Why are you so obsessed?”

They hadn’t actually spent that much time together. Logically, even if Ah Qi had some affection for her, it shouldn’t have escalated to this level of obsession.

Ah Qi opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.

But in the end, not a single word came out.

‘How could he explain?’

He was born a slave and had never been treated as a human being since childhood.

In the eyes of the upper class, he was worth less than a sheep.

Every day, he had to perform arduous labor. He never had enough to eat or warm clothes to wear. At night, he could only huddle in a stinking sheep pen to sleep. On bad days, he would be viciously whipped.

His life was shrouded in darkness. He had never felt warmth, let alone experienced kindness.

Manman was the first person to ever show him kindness.

Even if that kindness was laced with calculation and manipulation.

But at least, the kindness itself had been real.

She was willing to smile at him, speak to him softly, and even ask if he was cold or hungry.

To him, all of this was like honey, something he had never tasted before.

Even knowing it might be a sugar-coated poison, he couldn’t resist the temptation to have a taste.

After a long while, Hua Manman finally heard him speak in a very low voice.

“No one has ever been as good to me as you were.”

Hua Manman was taken aback.

‘She felt she was just putting on an act, but she never imagined that to him, that was considered ‘good’.’

‘It just showed how difficult his life must have been.’

Hua Manman said, “I don’t know what your life was like before, but now you’re a Prince of Xiliang. You have a noble status and position. There must be countless people willing to be good to you; you don’t need me.”

Ah Qi shook his head. “It’s not the same.”

Hua Manman asked, “What’s different?”

Ah Qi replied, “You were the first.”

No matter how many people were good to him in the future, none of them could ever surpass her.

Because she was the first person to ever smile at him, the first to treat him as an equal.

Hua Manman was slowly beginning to understand his thinking.

She took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

“Let me tell you a story.

Once, there was a little girl who was abandoned by her mother and had to endure her father’s cruelty every day.

Her life was in shambles. Every day when she opened her eyes, all she saw was darkness.

Until she met a ray of light.

That light illuminated her life, allowing her to grow up and become the person you see before you today.”

Ah Qi froze.

Hua Manman finished, “That ray of light was Li Ji. My husband.”