Chapter 56 [VIP]

"If Your Highness is pleased, then it is not impossible."

Hearing the young man's gentle words, Murong Yue placed his hand near his temple, a mixture of helplessness and indulgence in his expression. The way he looked at him seemed to regard him as some precious treasure that he couldn't bear to part with, tenderly protecting him.

His emotions surged and shifted within him. The moment the other person showed him concern, he lost control, wanting nothing more than to pounce on them, tear them apart, and swallow them whole. The scent of Lu Xuejin filled his nostrils; the smell of the young man made his teeth itch. But when they met eyes, the fire of desire within him was extinguished. Torn between these conflicting emotions, he turned away, donned his mask, and refused to look at the person.

"Brother Changyou, I have to go now. See you in Youzhou later," he said.

As soon as Fang put on the mask, Lu Xuejin walked up to him, looked him over carefully, and said, "Be careful on the road. If anything changes, go find the nearest guard from the Lu residence."

The young man touched his hair with both hands and pressed the mask tightly onto his face. He looked at people through the mask, and the young man handed him a wooden token in his palm. The token was embroidered with patterns and had the words "Changyou" on it.

"Brother, I'm leaving." Murong Yue carefully tucked the token into his pocket, and his figure quickly disappeared after leaving the courtyard.

Lu Xuejin watched the young man's retreating figure, and Ziyan said to him, "Young Master, Miss Wei has arrived."

Outside his courtyard, Wei Ning came to see him off. Upon seeing him, Wei Ning said, "If I leave the capital with you, Xue Yi might send troops to chase after us. Changyou, I will wait for you in the capital."

Behind Wei Ning stood a tall, slender figure, Cui Ruhao watching him. His gaze paused slightly, and Cui Ruhao met his eyes, his eyes reddening, a deep reluctance seemingly about to spill from them. He couldn't help but feel a slight stirring in his heart; though they had only met a few times, there was a sense of mutual understanding.

Wei Ning: "Look at you. I told you I wasn't coming, but you came and you're crying. You cried several times in the manor a couple of days ago when you heard you were leaving. It's not like Changyou isn't coming back, why be so sentimental?"

“On your birthday,” Lu Xuejin said gently, “I have set up post stations in various places along my journey south. I will write to you then, so don’t worry about me. If you read any interesting articles, have any new ideas, or have anything on your mind, you can write to me.”

"Don't be troubled by parting. You remember me, and we will meet again someday."

“I…” Cui Ruhao choked up, tears streaming down his face as soon as he opened his mouth, his voice trembling with sobs, “When Lord Lu went south, I always felt a void in my heart. When you were in the capital, I didn’t know what I could do for you, but now that you’re not here, I… I’m always worried about your situation.”

"Hey, Cui Ruhao, do you think everyone is as fragile as you?" Wei Ning handed Cui Ruhao a handkerchief and wiped away his tears in a few quick strokes. "Changyou is both scholarly and martial, resilient and strong. Even in difficult circumstances... he has his own way of dealing with them. You should worry more about yourself. Song Zhao is still eyeing your head."

Lu Xuejin replied, "If I arrive in Liancheng, I will inform you of my safety. If I encounter any difficulties, I will write to you and ask you to share my burdens."

Upon hearing this, Cui Ruhao grasped his wrist, his emotions swelling in his eyes, turning into tears that fell. He immediately returned the grip, their sleeves intertwining like two overlapping official seals, a testament to their unwavering loyalty and integrity.

“I…I have no friends, Lord Lu…Lord Lu, Lord Lu is the first person I want to befriend. I know my status is lowly, but Lord Lu doesn’t look down on me, Lord Lu doesn’t know my feelings. You go to the land of strife, and I…I will do what I can in the capital. When Lord Lu needs me in the future, I hope to offer my faint light…to illuminate Lord Lu’s path forward,” Cui Ruhao said to him.

Wei Ning listened from the side. She was slightly surprised to see Cui Ruhao talking so much, so excited that he was almost out of breath. Tears were flowing like water, and he had never talked to anyone so much before. She calculated that he had talked to Changyou today as much as he had talked to the servants in her courtyard for a month.

"With such a sentiment on this auspicious day, my heart is filled with joy," Lu Xuejin said softly. "I am truly fortunate to have someone like you who cares about me; I have no regrets."

"Alright, alright, look, your mentor said that, are you happy now?" Wei Ning patted Cui Ruhao on the back. "It's almost time, we should go."

“Changyou, keep in touch with us. I had someone calculate your fate for this trip a couple of days ago, and I fear it will be more ominous than auspicious,” Wei Ning said to him. “There is a hidden star moving in the south. Many divine signs are changing, so be extra careful when you go.”

Lu Xuejin watched Wei Ning and Cui Ruhao board the carriage and leave. It was time for them to set off too. Ziyan and Tengluo had already packed their luggage. Their luggage was light, but the official silver outside the courtyard was heavy. The entire carriage was filled with cargo boxes of various sizes. A corner of a gold and silver statue was turned up in one of the boxes. The gold Buddha statue had half-closed eyes and eyebrows, blending into the shadows in the cargo box.

Before leaving, he inspected the cargo boxes. There were sixteen boxes in total, and he roughly knew the contents. After checking, he closed the boxes, locked the carriage with heavy chains, and had it led away from the capital by guards.

As they passed Fengming Terrace, Lady He and a group of young women came to see him off. The young women carried baskets filled with flowers picked from Wanfo Temple. Petals fell onto the palace road he was traveling on, and the carriage rolled forward, with the ladies following behind, making it difficult for the guards to get close.

He realized that Lady He was helping him, and he couldn't help but feel grateful. However, His Highness wasn't by his side, and the sixteen passes of Shengjing were of no use to him.

At the city gate, Xiao Qi meticulously inspected his luggage and the guards he had brought, spending a full hour checking them until she was certain there were no improprieties before finally allowing him to pass. On the city wall, Xue Yi watched him from afar, his face hidden behind his crown.

The entire imperial city was transformed into a cage in Xue Yi's palm. His carriage was placed in the shadow of the imperial city, and when he looked up, he saw that he was moving far away from the chessboard.

Song Zhao and Xiao Qi stood guard beside Xue Yi. He pulled on the reins, and as the carriage moved forward, he heard the sound of hooves behind him. He turned his head and saw that Song Zhao had caught up.

He stopped a mile from the palace and asked, "Lord Song, is there anything left to investigate?"

"No, it was His Majesty who ordered me to come and deliver something." Song Zhao held a black box in his hand and handed it to him.

Song Zhao said, "His Majesty cannot do without you. If you are willing, come back soon." After saying this, Song Zhao turned his horse around and rode away from him.

After the person left, he opened the box. Inside was the other half of the Mirror of the Sun and Moon. He had already given his half to His Highness, and Xue Yi had given him the other half. Beneath the Mirror of the Sun and Moon, he saw a patch of emerald green, and beneath it lay a token. The Song family of Gusu was originally the power base of Song Zhao's maternal family. The emerald token had two lotus petals carved on it, and the words "Song Zhao" were engraved at the bottom.

"I'm leaving." Lu Xuejin put away the box.

Their carriage grew smaller and smaller beneath the imperial city, turning into a tiny black dot before gradually disappearing.

On the other side.

Almost all the attention in the capital was focused on Lu Xuejin, while Murong Yue followed Xiao Shen and Yue Lanxin out of the city. They traveled by water, and by autumn, the lotus flowers in the lake had all withered, leaving a pond of withered lotus. He gazed at the lotus flowers in the pond from the riverbank when Xiao Shen and Yue Lanxin came to his side.

"Ninth Prince, the journey south must be very interesting. Will we meet again afterward?" Xiao Shen asked.

Murong Yue replied, "Of course. I will definitely return to the capital in three years at most."

“This is a capital offense,” Yue Lan thought. “If His Highness the Ninth Prince returns, he can simply pretend he doesn’t know us.”

“I understand… I’ll just say it’s our first time meeting.” Murong Yue replied with a smile.

The three of them were talking at the bow of the boat when a guard entered. He had barely finished saying "Second Young Master" when he spotted Murong Yue standing in front of the awning. This was the very man their general had been searching for, but the Second Young Master had unexpectedly hidden him.

Before the guard could draw his sword, Murong Yue reacted even faster. He exerted force in his palm, causing the awning boat to rock violently. As the guard lunged at him, he swiftly pierced the guard's neck with his dagger. The guard didn't utter a sound before collapsing into the withered lotus leaves, his blood splattering and soaking the side of the boat.

Xiao Shen and Yue Lanxin watched in stunned silence, filled with surprise and admiration. The young man's movements were fluid and seamless, as if he were slaughtering small fry rather than living beings.

"I've been wanting to ask you this before, Ninth Prince, have you ever served in a military camp? Not only are you an accurate archer, but you're also skilled with swords," Xiao Shen asked.

“Please forgive me, I will clean up these bloodstains later,” Murong Yue replied. “There are troops stationed in the capital. I stay there year-round and practice martial arts with my uncle.”

"His Highness's life is far more luxurious than ours," Yue Lan thought to herself. "We're almost at the shore. Would you like us to escort His Highness to Youzhou?"

"No need, you two can stay here." Murong Yue wiped the bloodstains clean with a handkerchief and put his mask back on.

Xiao Shen and Yue Lanxin followed suit, putting on ivory and peacock masks respectively. They watched Murong Yue leave from the boat, the small boat rocking back and forth on the lake, the boy drifting away from them.

Twenty miles to the west lies the territory of Youzhou.

Lu Xuejin and his group arrived in Youzhou safely and settled in the inn. He waited from dawn to dusk but did not see Murong Yue. He paced back and forth in the room unconsciously, his heart pounding.

As night fell, someone knocked on his door. He opened it, and a boy wearing a pig-face mask came into view. Only then did he feel relieved.

"Your Highness?" He touched the boy's mask, and the boy took it off, revealing his true face. His eyes shone brightly, and his little tiger teeth couldn't help but show.

"How about it, Brother Changyou? I was right. It's safer for us to go our separate ways." Murong Yue said to him. Having escaped the dangerous situation, he could no longer restrain himself and released a little bit of his aura as he picked him up.

Lu Xuejin noticed the boy's joy. He was lifted into the air, and she said helplessly, "I understand. Your Highness is very capable. Please put me down first."

His words were useless. The moment Murong Yue touched him, he was irresistibly drawn to something. He bit his lips, rubbing them against the center of his lip, as if it were something fun, and kept biting that spot.

The moment he kissed him, the moist breath touched his lips. He brushed against Murong Yue's nose, touching the boy's little tiger teeth. He noticed the boy's ears growing redder as he was being held. "Brother," Murong Yue called out in his ear. For some reason, he suddenly thought of the scene from the day before, and this sound overlapped with that low, panting breath.

"Brother, come out of the palace with me and stop caring about that sickly man. Do you like me more than him?" Murong Yue asked.

The question seemed casual, but the princess held him tightly, lifting her arm slightly so that he was forced to sit on her lap. Lu Xuejin felt as if he had become the prince's doll. He sat somewhat awkwardly on the prince's lap, and the prince stole kisses while asking him questions. Before he could react, he had already been taken advantage of.

Murong Yue embraced him, his dark eyes gazing intently at him, the melancholy within them completely concealed. But seeing that he remained silent, a hint of melancholy surfaced in his eyes, and his tiger teeth involuntarily tightened.

"Is this a difficult question for you, brother?" Murong Yue pressed him.

Lu Xuejin had never experienced such a situation before, nor had he ever seen it in books. The young prince was jealous and always compared himself to Xue Yi. He pondered for a moment, and the boy's hand on his waist tightened. He couldn't help but sigh, unsure whether to tell the prince to let go first or answer the question.

"Your Highness, please don't make things difficult for me. I don't know any sweet talk," he said.

“What if it’s just sweet talk? In the palace, I only ever saw my brother walking with him. Every time, my brother chose him. Now that my brother is by my side, I’m worried that he might go back at any time. What if that sickly guy lies to my brother and says he’s about to die? My brother will definitely go back.”

As Murong Yue spoke, he tried his best to control his emotions and said to him, "It's so difficult for you to just say you like me."

The boy's voice was aggressive and intimidating, but the cat's voice was so pleasant that even the aggressive tone sounded like music. He wasn't bothered; his mind was simply blank. He wouldn't find the answer in the library, nor would he find it on the chessboard.

His Highness was the most difficult puzzle he had ever encountered. One second he was perfectly fine, the next he was furious. Sometimes he was innocent and lively, sometimes gloomy and violent, sometimes calm and composed, sometimes unpredictable, sometimes pretending to be sensible, and sometimes revealing his true nature. He could never keep up the act for long before throwing a tantrum.

"Brother Changyou lied to me." Seeing that he was unwilling to speak, Murong Yue bit his ear fiercely, his tiger teeth brushing against his ear and drawing blood from the tip of his ear.

He met the boy's gaze, and the boy's eyes darkened, his fan-shaped eyelids fluttering slightly. The innocent look vanished, replaced by anger. If he didn't answer today, the boy might truly get angry.

“Your Highness, I truly cannot express it, but that doesn’t mean my heart is beyond words. Your Highness, please don’t be angry with me…Your Highness is the most special person to me.” After struggling for a long time, he could only utter this sentence.

Seeing that Murong Yue's anger had subsided because of his words, he looked at the boy's face and noticed the flickering in the boy's eyes, as if he had become obedient. He leaned over and gently kissed Murong Yue on the forehead.

Murong Yue immediately covered his forehead and asked him, "Then my brother didn't tell him either."

Lu Xuejin replied, "Why would I say such things to my brother?"

He didn't know what the boy was thinking all day, so he said, "Your Highness, if people spend their days in wild speculation, they will lose their way and let fear become the demon that controls their minds."

Murong Yue looked at him and, mimicking his posture, quietly said to him, "I don't understand what you're saying, brother. I don't care about any of that nonsense, anyway, you're only allowed to like me."

A note from the author: