Prince Duan, Chu Mingyao, fought on the battlefield year after year and was undoubtedly the God of War of Dayan.
His two sons were also thrown into the army camp at a young age and grew up among a group of rogue soldiers. They were decisive and skilled in martial arts.
Chu Huaixu was completely different from his two older brothers. He was raised by the late emperor and had the best food and things in the world. He never suffered any hardship.
Prince Duan himself also loved his youngest son very much, and was very insistent on him learning martial arts.
Chu Huaixu was afraid of hardship and pain, and always thought about slacking off, so he was punished by Prince Duan many times.
Chu Huaixu then went to the late emperor to complain, attempting to use the late emperor to pressure his father and thus avoid learning martial arts.
Unfortunately, the late emperor could not dissuade his son and eventually handed over Chu Huaixu to Wang Dan, the then commander of the Imperial Guards.
The Great Yan Kingdom has two top masters, one in the imperial court and the other in the martial arts world. The one in the imperial court is Wang Dan.
Under his guidance, Chu Huaixu, who was also extremely talented, gradually fell in love with martial arts after enduring the initial period of unbearable suffering.
By the age of fifteen, his skill level had already reached a level comparable to his master's, making him a top-tier expert.
However, his skills were crippled by Song Ting himself two years later.
At that time, the Duan Prince's mansion had been destroyed, and the Duan Prince and his two sons were executed. The only surviving son, Chu Huaixu, was thrown into the Zhao Prison.
Prince Duan died, but the Imperial Seal and an edict from the late emperor disappeared without a trace.
That edict was the late emperor's will, in which he designated the successor to the throne.
This was like a fishbone, constantly lodged in the throats of the Empress Dowager and Grand Secretary Zhang Bingzhi, making it difficult for them to eat or sleep.
The Empress Dowager then ordered Song Ting to find out the whereabouts of the imperial seal and the edict at all costs.
The Zhaoyu prison held serious criminals. It was a cold, damp place where the sun never shone, with only a few candles lit on the walls on both sides.
Song Ting was led by a jailer through the dimly lit corridor, where the faint candlelight could barely illuminate the shadows of a few people in the cells.
This was Song Ting's first time setting foot in this place, and her already expressionless face tightened even more.
"My lord, the remnants of the Prince Duan's mansion are just ahead."
The jailer grinned and raised the candle higher so that Song Ting could see the view ahead more clearly.
Those who serve in Chang'an today all know that the reason why Prince Duan, Chu Mingyao, was able to be executed so quickly was entirely due to the brilliant insight of Grand Secretary Zhang Bing.
The Grand Secretary sent a secret guard to the Prince's residence, and that's how they gathered evidence of Prince Duan's plot to rebel.
The person behind him was the secret guard trusted by the Empress and the Grand Secretary.
The jailer, eager to curry favor with this lord, said respectfully:
“These remnants are tight-lipped. They haven’t uttered a single word since they entered the Zhao Prison. It took you, sir, to come in person.”
The imperial prison was very large, and Chu Huaixu was imprisoned in the innermost cell. As the two walked, the candlelight became dimmer and dimmer as they went in, and gradually it became so quiet that only their footsteps could be heard.
Even the toughest person would succumb to the strain of such an environment. But Chu Huaixu was a person of such privilege and privilege, who had never experienced hardship.
Song Ting quickened her pace unconsciously.
"My lord, it's just ahead."
Even without the jailer saying anything, Song Ting saw it. He had been walking so fast before, but at this moment he suddenly stopped, his hands clenched into fists under his sleeves, trembling violently.
The figure on the haystack was incredibly familiar to him; it had appeared in his dreams countless times and had shared the most intimate moments with him.
That person was exceptionally handsome and elegant, the most noble and beautiful person in the world, as if he were a deity who had descended to earth to save him.
But now, that white robe was in disarray, stained with blood, and was completely unrecognizable from its original state.
Song Ting closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if something was tightly gripping his heart.
"Open the door." His voice was hoarse and trembling slightly as he spoke.
The heavy chains twisted and pulled, each pull feeling like they were twisting Song Ting's internal organs.
As soon as the cell door opened, he shoved the jailer who was blocking his way: "Get out!"
He rushed in anxiously.
But he slowed down a few steps away from Chu Huaixu, and a sense of timidity arose involuntarily.
The person on the haystack seemed to have heard the noise and moved his arm with difficulty.
"Young Master..."
Song Ting dared not approach, walking extremely slowly, each step feeling like it was stepping on her own chest, the pain almost blurring her vision.
Chu Huaixu was originally lying with his back to the prison door, but when he heard the voice behind him, his back stiffened involuntarily for a moment.
Song Ting also froze. After a long while, he walked over again.
As Song Ting finally approached, the person on the haystack propped himself up on his arms and sat up.
But he was covered in injuries, and even such a simple movement was difficult for him. He almost fell back because he was exhausted.
"Watch out!" Luckily, Song Ting reacted quickly and pulled the person into her arms.
Chu Huaixu instinctively tried to dodge, but he had no strength left and struggled to open his eyelids.
Those eyes, which always gazed at him with a smile, were now numb and empty, yet when they met his gaze, they revealed a deep resentment.
"Young Master..."
Song Ting was stung by that look, and all the courage she had mustered vanished in an instant.
His eyes were bloodshot when he lowered his head, and he choked up, almost unable to speak.
He grabbed Chu Huaixu's hand and pressed it against his face, tears unknowingly soaking the latter's entire palm, while he could only murmur Chu Huaixu's name.
"Cough cough cough...cough cough..." Chu Huaixu finally mustered a little strength and pushed him away forcefully, warning him with resentment in his eyes, "Don't touch me!"
He was covered in wounds, whip marks, and caning. In just a few days, he was tortured until his skin was torn and his flesh was ripped open, leaving him unrecognizable.
Song Ting has always been a cold-hearted person, and the environment he lives in prevents him from having the compassion that ordinary people would have. His only thought is to survive.
He would pay any price to survive.
That's always been his belief.
So when Zhang Bingzhi called him to his side and proposed the exchange terms, he agreed without hesitation.
He wanted to live, to step into the sunlight, and to live like a normal person.
He thought to himself, "So what if I frame a prince?"
Having killed so many people, he could turn his sword against his own comrades without hesitation. What was there for him not to do to those princes and noblemen?
Therefore, he deliberately approached Chu Huaixu and played along with this young master from a noble family, hoping to use him to enter the Prince Duan's mansion and achieve his own goals.
But I never thought that one day I would be afraid of this person dying.
He had seen far too many dead people and killed far too many people; he had long since become numb to the life and death of others.
But every wound on Chu Huaixu's body felt like a sharp arrow piercing his heart, causing him unbearable pain.
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