Chapter 173 The Powerful Minister Returns to His Youth 27.

"Your Highness, be careful! This man has gone mad!" a trusted aide shouted. "Quickly, drag him away..."

Before he could finish speaking, his trusted aide exclaimed in surprise, "Your Highness!"

Yu Shiqing turned his head and saw that Prince Yong, who was sitting not far away, suddenly groaned, raised his hand to press his head, his brows were furrowed, his face was full of pain, and his body seemed to lose strength. In an instant, he became weak and slumped forward.

"Fourth Brother!"

Ye Zangxing caught the man and felt his brother's body was extremely heavy, as if he had been completely paralyzed for a moment. But this feeling only lasted for a moment. The next moment, the arm he was supporting suddenly regained its strength and swung it away.

Ye Zangxing was taken aback. Then, he saw his brother steady himself with the help of his confidant, and suddenly raise his head, staring at Doctor Rong as if he were surprised and uncertain, or as if he were overjoyed.

"etc!"

He called out to the guards who were covering Dr. Rong's mouth and dragging him away.

Dr. Rong's face immediately lit up with ecstasy, his eyes widening as if they were about to pop out.

Everyone in the room was confused. Yu Shiqing glanced at the two of them without making a sound, frowned slightly, and took a small step. He was about to speak when a voice came from the head of the room, "It's odd changes and even stays the same, hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron! But that's not important! I only want to ask you, who taught you that phrase you just shouted?"

Yu Shiqing looked up and was surprised to see that Prince Yong's expression held...expectation?

Upon hearing this, the guard pulled out the cloth that had been used to gag Doctor Rong. Doctor Rong immediately shouted hoarsely, "Li Bobeng! Li Bobeng from Qinghai! Your Highness, I'm one of our own! Your Highness!"

Prince Yong, or rather, Prince Yong who had transformed into Long Ran, immediately beamed with joy. Overwhelmed with emotion, tears welled up in his eyes. Ignoring his weakness, he propped himself up and walked toward Doctor Rong: "You really are one of us! You rascal, I thought I was the only one here! You... how did you get here too? Did you also fall asleep in class? Or did something happen? The classic car accident?"

Upon hearing this, Doctor Rong paused for a moment, then his face lit up with joy. As if testing the waters, yet also as if it were a natural response, he replied, "He also took a nap..."

"When did you arrive? How did you know I was here?" Long Ran came up to Doctor Rong, happy to help him up.

A hint of doubt flickered in Dr. Rong's eyes, but his smile remained unchanged: "I've been looking for you recently and just confirmed it... Let's not talk about that. Quickly explain to them that it's all a misunderstanding. I poisoned those two kids for our important matter!"

Long Ran helped the person up, nodded and was about to respond, but suddenly realized something was wrong: "Poisoning those two little ones...is this a big deal?" He paused, looked at Doctor Rong again, and the joy on his face gradually froze.

"Your Highness... Long Ran?" Doctor Rong's heart skipped a beat; he sensed something was wrong. Had he said something wrong? He had clearly followed...

"No, no!" Soon, Long Ran seemed to realize something, and suddenly shoved the person away. "You're not Duan Fan..." His eyebrows furrowed sharply, and his voice turned cold. "Speak! Where did you hear those things you just shouted?"

It seems to be the same question as the previous one, "Who taught you?", but it also seems to be completely different.

What's going on? Why is this different from what that person said? And who is Duan Fan? Should I acknowledge this Duan Fan? Or is this Prince Yong also trying to trick me?

Doctor Rong's cheeks twitched, and he was covered in sweat. His mind raced for a moment, and he blurted out, "Li Bobeng! Your Highness, I've already said it, it's Li Bobeng! It was Li Bobeng who taught me; he told me to come see Your Highness!"

He stuck to his initial answer.

But this doesn't seem to be the correct answer.

“Li Bopeng? There’s no such person as Li Bopeng!” Long Ran glared at him, her burning passion quickly turning cold. “Tell me, who told you all this! Where is he!”

For a moment just now, he really thought it was his childhood friend Duan Fan who had arrived.

He and Duan Fan grew up together and both loved studying history. When they were in junior high school, they claimed to know everything from the past five thousand years to the present, and could say a few words about any dynasty.

This indirectly leads to their severe imbalance in academic performance; they might spend three days trying to solve a circuit problem, or spend an entire night memorizing a chemical equation only to forget it the next day.

The most embarrassing thing was when he fell asleep in class and was called on to read the periodic table. The first thing he did was misread the words: hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, and boron. He read it as "Li Bopeng from Qinghai," which caused the whole class to burst into laughter. The teacher even asked him, "Who is Li Bopeng? Is he from Qinghai?" His face turned bright red, and he was both ashamed and angry.

Later, Duan Fan heard about it and bought him three bags of spicy strips to comfort him, saying, "Don't worry about them! Time travel is all the rage now, and time travelers all know secret codes. Things like 'Imperial Jade Liquor,' 'Heavenly King Covers the Earth Tiger,' and 'Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron' are all too common, not unique codes. If we time travel, we'll just ask Li Bopeng from Qinghai who taught us that, and it'll be Li Bopeng! Even if we're wrong, we'll have a unique code; nobody else will understand it!"

Many times after that, they would go out together, plotting mischief behind their parents' backs, and they would always use this code word. It wasn't until college, when they were separated and lived in different cities, that they slowly forgot about it and the memory faded.

The mispronounced "Even if I don't change" doesn't matter, the important thing is "Li Bopeng from Qinghai"... This is a joke that only he and Duan Fan know! How could the divine doctor who could cure the Prince Yong's headache in his past life, as mentioned in Afu's inner thoughts, know this!

Is he Duan Fan?

But how could Duan Fan possibly use such a tone to say that he poisoned two children? This is murder, this is a crime!

And the look in this person's eyes...

But if this person isn't Duan Fan, then where is Duan Fan? Did he send the rebels, or was he kidnapped by them?

But how did they or Duan Fan know that he had transmigrated into the body of Prince Yong, and how did they know that Prince Yong would wake up from his slumber when he was injured and weak, and how could they wake him up?

Long Ran's mind was in turmoil. His eyes were fixed on Doctor Rong, trying to get an answer: "Speak! Who told you to say that? Tell me and I'll spare your life! Otherwise, I'll have you torn to pieces!"

Before Doctor Rong could react, Ye Zangxing was the first to be startled, his brows furrowing abruptly as his gaze shifted sharply to Long Ran. His trusted aide beside him also paused, glancing at his master.

The answer was wrong, and the sharp blade cut into the flesh. In that moment of confusion, Doctor Rong's mind suddenly calmed down. He was very good at reading people, and with just one glance, he saw something from Long Ran's undisguised face. He immediately said, "Duan Fan... he said his name is Duan Fan!"

Long Ran paused, his eyes indeed brightening slightly: "Where is he!"

Dr. Rong's eyes flickered, and he gritted his teeth as he spoke, "He is..."

Before he could finish speaking, a whooshing sound rang out, and a sharp arrow pierced through the window paper with a soft clang, piercing Doctor Rong's neck.

"Protect our master!"

The crowd was terrified, the guards moved swiftly, and chaos erupted in the hall.

Ye Zangxing strode forward, drew his sword to protect Yu Shiqing behind him, and at the same time, grabbed Long Ran, whose face was splattered with blood and who suddenly fell backward, and dragged him behind the table.

"Da Dong, Qian Tong, and the rest of you, go after him! There's only one enemy, but be careful of backup. Use a feint to the east and a diversion to the west! The rest of you stay here and protect the prince!" His gaze was sharp, cutting directly in the direction the arrow came from.

At a command, several guards at the door and those hidden on the beams immediately moved.

"Don't stray from my side."

Ye Zangxing looked at Yu Shiqing.

Yu Shiqing met his gaze, paused for a moment, then nodded and looked down at Doctor Rong.

"Dead!"

A guard touched Dr. Rong's neck.

Yu Shiqing turned his head to look at the Prince Yong, who seemed to be the protagonist in this chaotic scene, and his expression was hard to discern.

"Your Highness, Your Highness..." he suddenly spoke.

This prince, who had served in both the Ministry of Justice and the military and rarely showed his emotions, seemed utterly stunned by the arrow, his soul seemingly leaving his body. It took several calls from Yu Shiqing before he finally came to his senses and looked at him, then jumped back in fright, stammering, "You, you..."

Yu Shiqing met those familiar yet unfamiliar eyes for a moment, then shifted his gaze downwards. "It seems the prince's wound has reopened. Although the post station is abandoned, the rooms upstairs should still be habitable. Why don't we tidy it up and stay here tonight, so we can avoid further travel..."

"Bad guy..."

“Call the men from the camp here, and notify the nearby county government to strengthen defenses,” Ye Zangxing said. “Judging from the fact that the villain came alone, shot Dr. Rong to death and then left, he doesn’t seem like he would come back to recklessly assassinate someone. Even if he did, we can make sure he doesn’t leave alive.”

Long Ran was speechless. He opened his mouth and said, "Then, let's take a break for now."

Yu Shiqing exchanged a glance with Ye Zangxing without leaving a trace. One of them went to examine Doctor Rong's body, while the other, along with his confidant and a group of guards, helped Long Ran upstairs.

Transforming the entire post station into a state-of-the-art facility capable of welcoming princes and grandsons of emperors would be no easy feat, but for a temporary rest, tidying up a few rooms in the post station would not require too much effort.

In less than fifteen minutes, the room was prepared, and Long Ran was helped to lie down on the couch. Another accompanying doctor was brought over to change his dressing.

Soon, the medicine was changed, and Yu Shiqing came up as well.

Ye Zangxing said, "All of you, step back."

It was common for the two brothers to have private conversations, and even with the addition of Yu Shiqing, things weren't much different. The guards and servants bowed and left, while the secret guards also moved slightly further away.

With the doors and windows tightly shut, Yu Shiqing and Ye Cangxing walked over and stopped beside the couch.

Long Ran endured the pain in his chest and weakly opened his eyes.

After all that commotion, he had recovered considerably from the shock of witnessing a living person being shot dead right in front of him. As he looked up, about to speak, he saw two people on his left and right, and his heart suddenly tightened.

They were clearly two boys much younger than him, one who hadn't ascended the throne and the other who hadn't yet taken power, so how could they have such a strong aura? But they were just greenhorns after all, so they probably didn't notice anything, right?

Even if I said some strange things, I am the Prince of Yong; I must have my own calculations and deeper meanings. Besides, they are all ancient people; what could they possibly know? Ye Zangxing hadn't noticed anything the previous times either…

"Speak! What exactly are you?!"

Before his mind could process even half of what was happening, Long Ran suddenly saw the bed curtains fall, a cold glint flash before his eyes, and the next moment, a cold, stinging pain shot through his neck as the blade pressed into his flesh.

Ye Cangxing gripped his knife, staring coldly at him, his expression extremely gloomy.

Long Ran was jolted awake, his hair standing on end. He was about to shout to summon his guards, but Yu Shiqing seemed to have anticipated this and was one step ahead of him, grabbing his throat under the blade.

"You bet we wouldn't dare kill you because this body belongs to Prince Yong, right?" Yu Shiqing's fingers tightened. "But we don't kill or harm people, yet we can make them wish they were dead, begging us to listen to the truth. Are you sure you want to try?"

He spoke in a very low voice, his handsome face indifferent and expressionless. Under the bed curtains and candlelight, he resembled a jade-faced demon. His eyes were devoid of any warmth, as if he were looking not at a living person, but at an inanimate object.

Pain and the terrifying feeling of suffocation.

Almost instantly, Long Ran recalled the scalding heat of Dr. Rong's blood and his gruesome death.

This is ancient times... an ancient times where human rights were completely disregarded and life was treated like dirt!

Since his transmigration, Long Ran had never been so acutely aware of this. This wasn't watching a movie, nor playing an online game… He had transmigrated, and it seemed he'd been discovered… If things weren't handled properly, he could die!

Even worse than death!

Thinking of the rumors in some unofficial histories that Ye Zangxing massacred 100,000 northern barbarians in the Gobi Desert, drank their blood, and built a mound of corpses, as well as the story of Yu Shiqing purging the Ministry of Justice and being even more cruel than the cruel officials, Long Ran trembled with fear.

These two people were indeed putting on an act in front of Prince Yong, but now they've shown their true colors!

Of course, he could also go back immediately and have Prince Yong deal with them, and see their true colors. Just because they suspected him, they dared to use a knife to strangle him, which proved that they never took him, Prince Yong, seriously!

However, while summoning Prince Yong would certainly resolve the current predicament, Long Ran was also afraid that Prince Yong might be fooled by these two and cause trouble later.

Although the exorcism that year didn't expose him, it still made him very uncomfortable. In particular, there was an old monk who would wake him up even if he was asleep whenever he chanted sutras, as if the chanting was actually inside his head.

Moreover, simply abandoning it like this seems like it could pose a hidden danger. It would be better to speak up and try to deceive him a little. Although he often falls into a deep sleep, he does wake up occasionally, and he knows a lot about the Prince of Yong...

Yes, that's what we'll do!

His chaotic thoughts suddenly settled, and Long Ran opened his mouth as if in shock and anger, managing to squeeze out the words: "How dare you! Xuan Shu, are you insane! I am... your fourth brother!"

"Have you forgotten... when you were seven, you moved from your mother's side to... the Wenhua Palace villa. When you first lived with me and your fifth brother Hongyue, you were still timid. Even with... the palace maids and eunuchs weren't enough, you needed your brothers to keep you company. Hongyue took the opportunity to tease you... secretly poured water on your bed and said you wet the bed. It was your fourth brother who saw it and caught him... secretly scolded him behind everyone's back before he behaved. Have you forgotten!"

Ye Zangxing was slightly taken aback, and his brows slowly relaxed.

Yu Shiqing looked at Ye Zangxing, his eyes flickered, and the tight grip on his hand loosened slightly.

Author's Note:

*

"Li Bopeng from Qinghai" is adapted from a joke I had in junior high school. Back then, time-travel dramas were just becoming popular, and some classmates would often come up with time-travel codes by combining internet memes and other things when they had nothing else to do. They even had to encrypt them themselves [laughing and crying with face covered] (revealing my age series).