Chapter 58 [VIP]

In the palace.

Xue Yi accompanied the King of Hu on a tour of half of the capital. The Wei Palace had been destroyed by fire, so a restorer was invited to paint the burned-out parts of the capital with gold mineral pigments, transforming it into a new garment for the palace. The weather had not been cold before, but after a few days, the leaves began to fall, and autumn was in the air in a single day.

On his way back to Xiyuan Palace, he saw palace servants copying poems on the wall. He knew immediately that it was written by Changyou, and he lingered there for a while until the servants finished painting and left before returning to Xiyuan Palace.

On the desk by the window were ink, brush, paper, and inkstone. He dipped his brush in ink and began to write a letter.

To Changyou:

The cicadas have fallen silent, and autumn is in the air. I had a delightful conversation with the King of Hu, and spent several days touring the capital. Yesterday, I passed by the Prime Minister's residence and returned home. My home is filled with countless old belongings of Changyou. Seeing the books on Changyou's desk, I recalled his posture as he sat there. As my ancestors often said, it is only in ordinary times that we remember the past with pain; the remnants of old things cannot be erased. I am weak and often lack the strength to do so, and the thought of it always stirs up a deep unease in my heart. My body is like a withered willow, my heart like a flickering candle, day after day, wasting away in illness. Changyou has left the capital, and my heart is heading south. Though it is a hundred thousand miles to the capital, I cherish your words. If you receive a letter, I will read each word carefully, conveying my thoughts and feelings to your heart.

My feelings are hard to express, my heart is filled with sorrow, I long to quell my deep-seated ailments, and for withered trees to spring back to life.

He started coughing halfway through his writing, and blood seeped from his palms. It was unknown how much dark blood was inside him, but he could never cough it all up.

"Your Majesty." Song Zhao saw him coughing as he entered the room, went forward to close the window, and said to him, "The Shadow Guard has sent a letter."

The Shadow Guard belonged to the former Xie Prince's Mansion and were one of the six imperial guards personally trained by his father. After ascending the throne, he promoted Xiao Qi and stationed the Shadow Guard in the six cities outside the capital. Before Chang You's letter arrived, he received news of the Shadow Guard.

He opened the letter. The Shadow Guard was full of extraordinary individuals, most skilled in tracking and assassination. The letter contained nothing but a painting. The painting depicted Lu Xuejin, Tengluo, Ziyan, and a guard protecting the official silver. Besides the guard, there was also a figure that had died and then come back to life.

The Ninth Prince appeared in the painting, at the very end of the procession. The fish he had personally slaughtered, just like in his dream, had come back to life and reappeared beside Lu Xuejin.

Pig-face mask. Guard. Heading south. Towards Liancheng. Everything connected. Blood dripped from his palm onto the drawing paper, staining Lu Xuejin's face. He suddenly exerted force in his palm, causing the paper to crumple. Dark clouds outside the window swung down in clusters, and with a crash, the entire desk was overturned.

...

"Your Highness? It's time to wake up. We need to leave." Lu Xuejin looked at him, then gently poked Murong Yue's profile with his finger.

He poked the boy's cheek; it was hot and soft. Even though it was autumn, the boy refused to cover himself with a blanket, wearing only his outer robe. He poked him twice, and the boy's body reacted faster than his mind, slapping his hand away with a "smack."

He couldn't wake the boy and couldn't help but sigh. He looked down at the boy's sleeping posture; his handsome face was tense, and his eyelids were drooping softly, like a cat with its belly exposed, which was quite cute.

Just then, Tengluo entered the room and saw that the man was still sleeping in. She said to him, "Young master, you can go wash up. I will take care of His Highness."

He then handed the boy over to Tengluo to wash up. As he walked out the door, he glanced back and saw Tengluo directly lift the boy's blanket and call out in the boy's ear.

"Your Highness, the young master has left. Why aren't you getting up?"

Upon hearing this, the boy on the bed immediately opened his eyes. He had just woken up and stared at the person with a gloomy expression. He turned his head and stared at Tengluo with wide eyes, and the air became quiet.

"Wisteria, who gave you permission to enter the room?" Murong Yue said menacingly.

Tengluo turned and left, saying, "Who said it was His Highness's room? I went into Young Master's room. We need to leave now, Your Highness, get up quickly and don't sleep in."

Immediately afterward, Tengluo cried out as Murong Yue snatched her hairpin and threw it away. Enraged, Tengluo punched Murong Yue in the process. The punch swelled up Murong Yue's eye.

After hitting her, Tengluo quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, Your Highness, I didn't mean to."

Murong Yue immediately went to complain to someone. Lu Xuejin had just finished tidying up when she saw the boy walking over with a gloomy face. By the time he got to his side, the gloom had dissipated, and he only showed her his left eye, which had been bruised by the wisteria. The boy looked at her pitifully and hugged her tightly in his arms.

"Brother Changyou, Tengluo is bullying me."

Tengluo arrived a step later than Murong Yue. Seeing that the man had already clung to her young master, she couldn't help but say angrily, "It was Your Highness who snatched my hairpin first. I didn't do it on purpose. Your Highness was lying in bed and wouldn't get up, so I woke him up."

Murong Yue ignored Tengluo, opened his eyelids to let Lu Xuejin see, "Brother, quickly blow on it for me, it hurts so much."

Lu Xuejin stood there, the two of them talking incessantly in his left and right ears respectively. He sighed, leaned closer and blew on the prince's wound. Tengluo was strong and pounded the boy's eyes until they were bloodshot.

"Your Highness, you must not lose the wisteria hairpin in the future. The wisteria did not do it on purpose."

Lu Xuejin then said gently to Tengluo, "If it gets broken, His Highness will buy you a new one later."

Seeing the Ninth Prince holding the young master, Tengluo said unhappily, "One is not enough. Your Highness must compensate me with at least ten. That hairpin was specially bought for me by the young master last month. I need the exact same one."

Ziyan was already waiting for them outside the door. Lu Xuejin calmed the two children down. Murong Yue and Tengluo were bickering, but the boy seemed to be frightened. He clung to him and refused to let go. He had blown on his eyelids three times already, but he still cried out in pain and needed a kiss to feel better.

He sensed that His Highness had grown onto him; he had become a wall, and His Highness was the trumpet creeper climbing on him. The branches were determined to entwine him, leaving no gaps. He was reading in the carriage when the boy snuggled up to him and read with him, and soon wanted to sit on him.

“Brother Changyou, let’s watch it together,” Murong Yue said to him.

"..." He was still thinking when he saw the child trying to snuggle into his arms. He couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, how old are you this year?"

Lu Xuejin: "If you were three years old, I could still hold you while you read. If you were seven or eight, I could still hold you. But now you are seventeen, and this carriage is about to be too small for Your Highness."

As he spoke, he noticed Murong Yue's face. One of his eyes was closed, while the other remained bright and black, watching him obediently. Murong Yue's voice lowered slightly as he spoke, and his small tiger teeth clenched up.

Seeing him like that, he realized he might have been too harsh. The boy's heart sank, as if a cat's paw had lightly scratched at it. He put down his book, cupped Murong Yue's face in his hands, and looked at him intently. Because of his action, Murong Yue looked at him.

This was a lie; His Highness was perhaps observing his reaction, but he still fell for it.

He leaned in and gently kissed Murong Yue's eyelids, kissing the boy's injured spot, and slowly licking the boy's eyelashes until they were wet, making the boy blush and his ears turn the color of apples.

“…Brother Changyou?” Murong Yue’s eyes flickered uncertainly, sometimes innocent and sometimes melancholy. He touched his eyelids and then clung to him.

"Brother. Okay." Murong Yue also kissed him on the lips.

After kissing him, the boy became much more obedient and picked up a comic book to read beside him. He glanced at the book the boy was reading; last time it was about his stepmother, this time it was about his brother-in-law, and underneath were two more books about his father's friends. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, worried that these frivolous books would corrupt the prince.

"Young master, we are approaching Luzhou. Shall we stop here?" Ziyan asked.

Lu Xuejin replied, "We can stay in Luzhou for a day. We can't go to the next city today, so we can rest here for a day."

Their carriage stopped on the street as they entered the city. Lu Xuejin bought some medicine to reduce swelling for Murong Yue. Murong Yue also got off the carriage. He had been waiting outside the pharmacy. People were coming and going in the streets and alleys. The northern city was still prosperous. He suddenly turned his head and saw a dark figure disappear in an instant in the street.

"Tengluo, tell Changyou that I'll be back soon," he said to Tengluo, who then pressed him for details.

"Hey, Your Highness—the young master said not to run around." In the blink of an eye, the person disappeared.

Murong Yue weaved through the crowd. His eyesight was excellent; he had just spotted a glimpse of a black robe disappearing into the alley. Willow leaves rustled down as he stepped into the alley. The moment he entered, a silver dagger shot towards him. He dodged the attack with a sidestep, his eyes catching the reflection.

The two scars on his heart had grown to the same spot, and the memory of Xue Yi stabbing him in the heart with a dagger resurfaced in his mind—a scene that had replayed in his memory hundreds and thousands of times. As the guard lost his grip, he grabbed the guard's wrist and twisted it, piercing the guard's heart with a "thud."

After the man collapsed, lifeless, he lifted the guard's robes and removed the token hanging from the guard's robes. The token was entirely black, with a crescent moon pattern engraved on a silver copper plate, and below it was the large character "Lu". He casually tossed aside the dagger and put the token away.

Emerging from the alley, he saw Lu Xuejin searching for him in the crowd in the distance. The young man stood in the center of the crowd, a rare blankness appearing in his eyes, looking left and right, searching for him.

"Brother Changyou." He called out to him and obediently went back. Lu Xuejin breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him.

"Where did Your Highness go? If you need to buy anything, you can come with me."

"I saw a fly and chased after it. Brother, look what I found." As soon as he took out the token, Lu Xuejin's expression changed slightly.

"..." His wrist was immediately grasped, and Lu Xuejin looked him up and down. "Is Your Highness injured?"

"No." Before he could finish speaking, the young man pulled him into his arms. The young man seemed unsettled. From the moment he saw the token, he knew nothing of the previous dynasty's affairs, only that the token had made him panic. He couldn't help but say, "Brother Changyou, I'm fine. I just discovered someone was following us. I followed them, and this token was taken from that dead man."

"Does it have any special origin?" he asked.

Lu Xuejin did not answer him. She looked down at him and said, "They don't have any special background. They are pursuers from the capital who have already set their sights on us."

"We will stay in the city for the day and set off tomorrow morning. We cannot linger here."

He glanced at the token in his hand again upon hearing this, then followed Lu Xuejin back to the carriage. As dusk fell, he watched Lu Xuejin gaze out the window, seemingly lost in thought. He wondered what she was thinking; he knew nothing of the past, which weighed heavily on his mind.

As soon as they arrived at the inn, a messenger from the post station delivered a letter. The messenger, dressed in official robes, showed Lu Xuejin his token, claiming the letter had been sent by express horse from the capital. Looking at it from afar, Lu Xuejin noticed a red seal—the official seal of the Prince of Wei. They had only been away from the capital for a few days, yet the Prince of Wei had already sent a letter from afar.

At the entrance of the Luzhou inn, the bright moonlight shone down. For some reason, as he looked at the letter, he felt a surge of hope that the young man wouldn't accept it. Who wrote the letter? What did it say? It must be some words to send someone back. He watched as Lu Xuejin took the letter, spoke softly to the messenger, and the letter landed in the young man's hands.

"..." That night, after he finished washing up, he saw the young man reading a letter by candlelight. After reading the letter, the young man picked up a pen and began to reply. He watched the young man write the letter seriously for a long time.

The weather was clear today, yet it seemed as if wispy dark clouds hung in the sky. His heart seemed to return to that day, when the torrential rain lashed down on him in the Wei Palace, and he collapsed in Fangze Hall, seeing his own shadow reflected on the wall. He didn't want to recall the scenes he saw or the sounds he heard that day; the lingering melancholy in his heart turned into an inextinguishable gray that spread upwards.

It shouldn't be a concern.

It shouldn't be a concern.

It shouldn't be a concern.

Did he not know that the young man treated him with such sincerity? Why should he hold a grudge? He could simply wait until he returned to the Wei Palace and killed that man. Besides, the young man was with him now, and he had come south for his sake. What more could he possibly want? Though his gloomy nature occasionally revealed a bit of patience, when it came to the young man, he swallowed a rusty, melancholic look because the young man's attention was not entirely on him.

He saw his reflection in the mirror, his face turning bluish with jealousy, tinged with ugliness. The young man's words echoed in his mind, advising him not to let his mind wander. He moved closer, glancing over to see what the young man had written.

Noticing his approach, Lu Xuejin looked at him. The words on the table were bold and unrestrained, nothing more than some greetings, which the young man let her read at her leisure.

"Is Your Highness concerned about the guards today? Don't worry, I'm here, so just get some rest today," Lu Xuejin reassured him.

The candlelight flickered in the young man's eyes, and her gentle, clear expression soothed his heart. He grasped Lu Xuejin's fingers, but no matter how close he got, it wasn't enough. He hated that he couldn't become a ghost to haunt the young man's early life. If he had come into the world sooner, he wouldn't be suffering so much now.

"Brother Changyou, is it absolutely necessary to reply to him?" he asked.

Upon hearing this, the young man paused for a moment, put the pen aside, and remained silent for a while before Lu Xuejin spoke.

“It’s not that I absolutely have to go back. It’s just that the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, and he is my only living relative. If I send a letter to the capital, I can only ask him to go to my parents’ graves to burn paper money. If Your Highness is not pleased, it is not impossible not to send the letter.”

Although Lu Xuejin said that, when he met her gaze, he saw a hint of unspeakable emotion in her eyes. That emotion made his heart feel like it was wrapped in gauze, making it hard for him to breathe.