Long Yue frowned slightly, looked at the outrageously handsome man beside her, and said, "What do you mean?"

"Didn’t you see? Just now Qi Jingyu’s whole mood was way off. If we force him to marry and be with someone he doesn’t like, I think he might completely collapse mentally. If he gets stuck in a dead end and goes crazy, what then?"

Long Yue was surprised. There wasn’t a single thing in what Li Qingmu said that she could refute. He really was doing this for Qi Jingyu’s sake!

It was just that, like this, there would definitely be quite a bit of noise on the court, right?

They’d say this Crown Prince didn’t care about the bigger picture, or that the Regent King had bewitched the Crown Prince into running away from home?

After all, Qi Jingyu ran off the moment he came over to Li Qingmu’s place; it would be hard not to arouse suspicion.

"All that is minor stuff. Don’t worry, Jingyu is a very smart child. He just took a wrong turn before and got a little crazy, that’s all. Nothing will happen to him!"

Long Yue recalled Qi Jingyu’s sly, shifty look from before and thought he probably wouldn’t run into any danger, so she nodded.

After sending their own Little Demon King to the academy and with Yaoyao over at Qi Yun’s place, they suddenly felt lighter. Li Qingmu and Long Yue decided to pick a day to go out somewhere and have some fun.

On the other side, Qi Jingyu felt Li Qingmu’s idea was really not bad. Once he returned to the Imperial Palace, he started packing his little bundle, preparing to run away from the Li family.

He was going to pursue the love that belonged to him!

Right now, the Imperial Grandmother could no longer interfere in politics, his Imperial Father was busy to death, and his Imperial Mother managed the harem and occasionally helped his Imperial Father look over memorials.

The harem wasn’t supposed to meddle in state affairs, but there was no helping it. Qi Junlian’s health was weak—if he read too many memorials, his body wouldn’t be able to take it. As Empress, she ought to share some of his burden.

Besides, this Empress had no particular ambition and could be considered virtuous and proper. That was also why, when she read memorials, Qi Yun had nothing to say about it.

His Imperial Father, Imperial Mother, and Imperial Grandmother all had no time to bother with him. They just casually picked a daughter-in-law they were satisfied with and betrothed her to him as Crown Princess Consort, which made Qi Jingyu extremely displeased.

So, after packing his bundle, he took advantage of a moment when no one was paying attention and slipped out of the Imperial Palace like a streak of smoke.

In theory, it wasn’t that easy to escape from the Imperial Palace, but Qi Jingyu was a special existence who had loved crawling through holes ever since he was little.

The Imperial Palace indeed could not be freely entered or exited, but there was no withstanding the existence of dog holes—and those dog holes kept getting dug bigger and bigger.

In just a few years, the dog holes had become big enough for a person to slowly crawl through.

Qi Jingyu felt that without freedom, he might as well die. He absolutely had to find a girl he truly liked, so he couldn’t care less about his dignity and went to crawl through a dog hole.

In this vast Imperial Palace, who would ever imagine that the dignified Crown Prince would actually crawl through a dog hole?

So, no one paid any attention to a few dog holes, and just like that, Qi Jingyu slipped out.

Hugging his bundle, he ran like crazy, bolting for his life.

Run, run, run!

He had to run fast. Otherwise, if someone found out the Crown Prince had run away, they would definitely come after him. Once he was caught and dragged back, what would be waiting for him?

Qi Jingyu didn’t dare imagine it.

Like this, he kept running. Along the way he even bought a horse from a small peddler and galloped off.

"Hyah, hyah, hyah!"

Qi Jingyu charged on and on, his horse galloping nonstop. He didn’t know how long he’d been riding or how far he’d gone. Anyway, he just kept heading south, farther and farther south.

Even though the south was hotter and poorer than the Central Plains.

Even though the south was more chaotic and small-scale wars broke out from time to time.

Even though...

In short, the Southern Territory was not good—in fact, it was pretty awful—but he just wanted to run that way.

He crossed cities, passed through forests, then more cities and forests...

After repeating this many times, he finally saw a stretch of sea appear before him!

He had actually run all the way to the seashore?

He was stunned. Had he run too far?

Then what, run back again?

In the boundless ocean, how was he supposed to find anyone?

So he turned around and started running back.

He knew he was making a scene and that what he was doing was very dangerous, but he just couldn’t control himself.

Could this be some kind of emotional release?

He’d stayed in the Imperial Palace too long and was starting to feel a bit suffocated.

One day, two days, three days...

No one knew how long had passed before Qi Jingyu finally grew tired of running. Leading his horse, he wandered into a small city.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

The wind blew, tossing Qi Jingyu’s long hair and his thoughts into disarray.

On this journey, he had seen quite a few girls, but not a single one suited his taste. Could it be that he just wouldn’t be able to find a suitable girl?

He was very dejected.

Just then, a group of people appeared ahead, all women, with a few servants in tow.

His gaze shifted and he realized this was the entrance to a temple.

These women were here to burn incense and make wishes?

His eyes moved, and he suddenly saw one of the women hand the bracelet in her hand to another woman.

That woman looked a bit disdainful, but still put it on.

They turned around, getting ready to enter the temple, when a man suddenly appeared and lunged at the girl wearing the Jade Bracelet.

"Ah..."

The sudden intruder startled them all, and Qi Jingyu also blanked out for a second. After all, the other man’s shout was so loud it scared him too.

Then he saw several girls stumbling and running in his direction, while a few servants rushed up and tackled the restless man to the ground.

"Disgusting, disgusting, what is this filthy thing, all grimy and gross—just looking at him makes people sick! Get lost, get lost—no, beat him to death, beat him to death for me!"

The girl who had been taken advantage of was shaking with rage, pointing at that little hoodlum as she spoke.

"Young Miss, I’m afraid that might not be appropriate?"

One of the servants spoke with a conflicted expression.

"Not appropriate? What’s not appropriate? He... he molested me, and we’re supposed to let him live? Beat him, beat him to death!"

The girl was so angry she was practically jumping up and down, completely losing her composure, looking no different from a shrew on the street.

By contrast, the girl beside her just stood there quietly without a word, looking very obedient and well-behaved.

Qi Jingyu narrowed his eyes, intrigued.

That girl really was calm and collected. After all, that thug hadn’t harassed just one person; he had brushed that girl’s hand as well.

It had been just a brief touch, completely unintentional, but Qi Jingyu still caught it keenly.

Curiosity rose in his heart, but he didn’t go up right away and just watched them from a distance.

"Help Us check their background..."

Qi Jingyu was used to ordering people around, so he blurted this out subconsciously. Only when no one around him responded did he realize he was no longer in the Imperial Palace.

But he had no intention of going back.

If he didn’t find true love, he absolutely would not return!