The glowing weird symbols almost formed two words... if Yao Ying wasn't mistaken. However, before it could finish forming, Xiu gave them another signal with a chirping sound. There was no time left! They couldn't stay there any longer. Yao Ying didn't want to hurt Yao Ling, but there was nothing else he could do. He hit the back of Yao Ling's neck to help her get out of the trance and... make her unconscious.

Yao Ying felt regretful that they couldn't see the words formed. Two words, huh? It was fortunate that he paid attention to the details. Later, he would try to recreate what happened just now and guessed what kind of words would appear.

When Yao Ling lost her consciousness, the bright glow suddenly diminished and everything went back to normal. The surroundings became quiet and the darkness came back just like usual --- only accompanied by the dimmed light of two lanterns.

Yao Ying knew that this symbol and whatever things that were kept inside that palace, they were connected to Yao Ling in a certain way. He furrowed his eyebrows, contemplating whether this was a good or bad thing for his wife.

He could only feel certain when Yao Ling had woken up later... His head got a headache when he knew that he had to confess that he was the one who hit her just now. Yao Ying felt afraid of her reaction, but oh well... it was better than being captured by the enemies.

After she fainted, Yao Ying quickly princess-carried her and ran all the way back to their own room. Xiu gave him a report... not too long after they vanished, the hidden guards came. They seemed to be attracted by the sudden glow of the gate's symbols.

"Did they find out anything abnormal?" Yao Ying asked. He was concerned about the fact that they found out about the glow. The glow was quite bright, but he hoped they wouldn't find out about it.

Xiu sighed. He told Yao Ying that he wasn't sure about it himself, he wanted to inquire about that matter, but they seemed to realize his presence and he could only run away --- before they found out about his ident.i.ty.

They heard the commotion on the outside and Yao Ying understood what it was all about. All of them already changed back to their usual clothing, thus, they weren't in a hurry. He gave an eye signal to Xiu and let him go back. After that, he looked at Yao Ling and the latter still fainted.

Yao Ying felt a bit worried because it took quite a long time for her to wake up. He went outside and saw that there were a lot of guards were roaming around out there. He pretended to be innocent and stopped one of the guards, then he asked, "What happened?"

The guard only looked around before whispering to Yao Ying, "Someone is trying to trespa.s.s the forbidden gates." The guard that Yao Ying stopped was a new one and he thought that Yao Ying was a part of Xiao Fang Gu Niang's entourage, thus, he had been coming here for several times before. That was why the guard lowered his guard in front of Yao Ying.

"Huh? Who dared to do that?" Yao Ying looked at the guard in surprise. His expression was so real that the guard fully believed that he indeed didn't have any connection or involved with the trespa.s.sing matter.

"That's why we are trying to search the perimeter," the guard admitted that they hadn't captured the culprit yet.

"What kind of people you are trying to search? Can you give me the description?" Yao Ying tried to find some information about it.

"Why do you ask?" The guard asked, suddenly feeling a bit suspicious.

Yao Ying laughed and tried to appease the seemingly-innocent guard, "I just want to know --- just in case, I see people with a fitting description. Well... I just want to help ah~!"

The guard nodded and whispered, "Actually... we also don't know!"

Yao Ying, "..."

He really wanted to laugh out loud, but he could only swallow it inwardly. He really wanted to ask them... how did they plan to catch him if they didn't know anything? Somehow, it made him feel a bit relieved.

Yao Ying could only helplessly say, "I can't help you then..."

The guard nodded vigorously. "I understand how you feel... after all, I also feel the same way ah~! However, I have to do what I have to do." He seemed to be a bit disappointed because he had to keep searching, despite having no clues at all!

Yao Ying could only pat the guard's shoulder and said, "I will help you look out for suspicious people. If I find one, I will let you know, okay?"

The guard nodded and said, "Then this one will thank Gong Zi beforehand."

When the guard moved away and continued searching, Yao Ying slightly curled up his lips. He turned around, wanting to go back inside his room and see how Yao Ling's condition was. However, he didn't realize that someone was behind him.

Yao Ying jumped up in surprise when he saw Lin Jian standing there without making any sound. "What are you doing by standing there so stealthily?!" Yao Ying hissed at Lin Jian. The latter could only laugh mockingly at him.

"I need to talk to you," Lin Jian said seriously.

Yao Ying was in a dilemma... He was worried about Yao Ling's condition and he needed to go back into their room. Should he bring Lin Jian to his room? They could sit and chat at the front room --- it wouldn't affect Yao Ling' reputation. He remembered that they were in the Han Kingdom that had more freedom than their kingdom. After he finally reached a decision, he invited Lin Jian to go to his room.

"What do you want to talk about?" Yao Ying asked curiously.

Lin Jian asked without beating around the bush, "Was it you?"

"Huh?" Yao Ying asked in confusion. He got the gist of what the question was all about, however, he still pretended to be dumb.

Lin Jian gritted his teeth because he knew that Yao Ying was hiding something from him. Was he really thinking of him as his best friend? They had been through several troubles together and yet, he dared to keep mum about such an important matter and keep it from him?

"What do you mean?" Yao Ying asked.

Lin Jian didn't bother to answer his pretentious question. He directly asked him, "Do you think of me as your friend? If yes, please don't lie to me!"

Yao Ying sighed. It wasn't that he didn't believe in Lin Jian, however... this secret belonged to Yao Ling. If the latter didn't plan to tell the other, then he would also zip his mouth.

Yao Ying sighed. "Yes!"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lin Jian asked. "I could help you and not only that, if you didn't allow me to help you, at least... I wouldn't be surprised when such a commotion happened!"

"It's not that I didn't want to tell you, but it's not about me. So... it's not my secret," Yao Ying explained.

"Then... who...?" Before Yao Ying could answer, a sudden realization hit Lin Jian. He mumbled, "Oh..." The only person that could make Yao Ying protect her until the end was only Yao Ling ah~!

"You... really... really couldn't tell me?" Lin Jian asked.

"If she makes a decision to tell you later, then I will be the first to tell you about it, okay?" Yao Ying tried to cheer him up. In fact, he felt a bit touched by Lin Jian's care.

Yao Ying asked in confusion after a little while, "How do you know that it was me?"