After several days of trekking, Li Rushan and Ye Li finally arrived at the northwest border. Lihua City was near the border.
Along the way, the two were very careful, mostly traveling through the mountains and forests, avoiding all possible interceptions and checkpoints.
As Ye Li and Li Rushan fled, their relationship became closer.
After spending some time together, Ye Li discovered that Li Rushan was indeed a man of good character, and his relationship with him quickly changed from a retainer to a friend.
After all, considering Li Rushan's current situation, he can no longer afford to support his retainers, so Ye Li can completely leave on his own.
Li Rushan knew very well that if Ye Li was separated from him, Li Ruhai might never find him. After all, not many people had seen Ye Li, and even fewer knew what he looked like. Unlike the prince, he had been seen by many officials.
Ye Li now chooses to continue to accompany him to the Tianhuo Clan. In Li Rushan's view, this in itself is a manifestation of Ye Li's benevolence.
In fact, Ye Li himself had thought about leaving, but he always felt that it would be too cruel to just leave like that.
"Ye Li, the Lihua City is ahead. I haven't been here for almost ten years.
Thinking back to when I was in my twenties, I also worked outside and made a lot of friends there.
This Lihua City is where I walked through when I first came to the border, and it was here that I saved Xue Qing's life!"
"Xue Qing?"
Ye Li was a little confused.
"Yes, Xue Qing, that's the person we are going to meet now.
He was a thief at that time, who liked to steal things from wealthy families and also liked to steal goods from other people's caravans.
This guy is not only bold and careful, but also brave and decisive. If he had not been born in a civilian family, but was born in my position, he would have inherited the throne by now.
If Li Ruhai fights him, the grass in front of his grave will probably be as tall as a man."
Li Rushan said with emotion.
Upon hearing this, Ye Li couldn't help but feel a little curious and wanted to meet who this Xue Qing was.
The two of them didn't take big steps at this time, and it took them a quarter of an hour to finally reach Lihua City.
Ye Li took a quick look at Lihua City. It was indeed a small city. The short city wall was only about ten meters high. Ye Li could jump over it with a single leap.
The old bricks and stones look like they are in need of repair and have a rather dilapidated feel.
However, what surprised Ye Li the most was that compared to the dilapidated city, the city gates here were built very luxuriously. The two large doors inlaid with thick copper nails seemed to have been installed only in recent years.
"After so many years, this place has remained unchanged. Two years ago, I even allocated a sum of money for repairing the city. It seems that the money was embezzled by the city guard.
Humph, they are just pretending to be nice to me. Instead of repairing the entire city, they just replaced four city gates for me.
However, it is not my turn to take care of this matter now..."
As Li Rushan spoke, his tone was somewhat depressed.
Ye Li patted Li Rushan on the shoulder. The relationship between them was no longer one of superiors and subordinates as before, but was very equal, like friends.
In order to conceal his identity, Ye Li no longer called Li Rushan "Your Highness" and did not perform any other formalities.
"Brother Feng, as the saying goes, things change over time, and nothing can be worse than it is now.
When you leave here, find reinforcements and come back, take back everything you have lost now.
When the time comes, you can repair the city however you want. I believe that by that time, no one will dare to embezzle the money you have allocated."
Ye Li told Li Rushan that Li Rushan now uses the alias Li Feng.
Li Rushan was silent for a moment after hearing this, then he smiled at Ye Li, with more confidence in his eyes, and said: "You are right, I must come back here again, and I will come back with dignity.
Okay, Ye Li, let's go into the city first. I still have to look for Xue Qing. I don't know if he still lives here. It's been nearly ten years. I hope nothing has changed."
After the two finished talking, they walked into Lihua City.
Lihua City was just as Ye Li had guessed, very small and far from being as lively as a big city.
There are many peddlers on the street, but relatively few shops, and they only sell daily necessities.
However, Ye Li noticed that there were a lot of soldiers on the streets, and they seemed to have a wary look on their faces.
The moment they saw the soldiers, Ye Li and Li Rushan understood that these people were obviously here to block the border. Li Ruhai guessed that Li Rushan might be planning to leave, so he had arranged a large number of people at the border to intercept the two.
After the two looked at each other, they quickly lowered their heads a little and walked towards the city center with their heads down.
After walking for a while, Ye Li whispered to Li Rushan: "Brother Feng, where should we go to find someone? Does your friend have a store or residence in the city?"
Li Rushan glanced at Ye Li and whispered, "I don't know where to find him. I haven't seen him for a long time. I don't know if he has a store here now."
Ye Li's face flashed with surprise, and he said: "No way, you don't even know if he is still here, what if he is not here, wouldn't we have come here in vain?"
Li Rushan smiled softly upon hearing this, a trace of nostalgia flashed in his eyes, and he said: "Although I am not sure whether he is here or not, I think there is a great possibility that he is still here, because he once told me that he would stay in Lihua City.
Of course, if anything has happened over the years, that is something I cannot know about.”
As they were talking, a team of patrolling soldiers were walking over from a distance. The leader glanced at Li Rushan and Ye Li, with a hint of doubt in his eyes.
Li Rushan and Ye Li also noticed each other's eyes and were shocked, thinking that the other party might have recognized them.
They were now in the center of the city. If their identities were exposed, it would be a very troublesome thing. It was obvious that they would be immediately besieged by all the soldiers in the city.
Just when the two were confused, a low and rough voice suddenly sounded.
"Brother Liu, Brother Zheng, why did you arrive just now? I have been waiting for you at home since early morning.
I haven't seen you for half a year, brother San'er. How is the hunting ground doing recently? Sister-in-law should be giving birth soon, right?"
As they were talking, a figure suddenly came over from beside the two of them and held their shoulders.
Ye Li didn't expect that someone could be so close to him without being discovered. Although his mind was on the soldier opposite him just now, this also showed that the person's ability to hide his breath was extremely strong.