The foot soldiers were getting menacingly close, and Zu An dared not waste any more time. Knowing that Qiao Xueying was in no state to ride a horse by herself, he carried her in his arms and mounted one of the horses.

Using some cloth, he tied Qiao Xueying to himself before kicking the horse’s flanks, urging it to gallop around the approaching formation of foot soldiers.

Qiao Xueying was deeply embarrassed by the way they were sitting. The two of them were face-to-face on the horse, like lovers. To prevent her from being jostled off the horse, Zu An had wrapped her thighs around his body, so that she was sitting squarely in his lap.

Fortunately, she was petite, and Zu An was still able to see the road ahead of them.

Even though it was difficult for her to accept, she knew that this was the most logical solution to their predicament. If he’d left her, she would have been torn apart by those terracotta foot soldiers. She was simply too weak to ride a horse by herself, too weak even to hold onto Zu An with her own strength. This was the only position they could adopt so that she would not excessively hinder his movements.

Still, it didn’t change the fact that this position was extremely humiliating. She was too ashamed to even speak, so she simply leaned her head against his shoulder and feigned unconsciousness so as to avoid the awkwa...