Chapter 397 Rebirth Encounter
"Yin Si!"
Yinzhi rushed into Yinsi's room and stared blankly for a moment at the little figure sitting quietly inside.
Although I knew from my memories that Lao Ba was thin, at first glance, he seemed too thin.
How did you raise them before? Did you only know how to use clippers?
"Big brother."
Yinzhi smiled slightly at him.
Yinzhi sneered inwardly. Did he think this would change his attitude? Absolutely not!
"Greetings, First Prince. The Eighth Prince's medicinal meal is ready."
A palace maid brought in a bowl of medicinal food. Yinzhi's hands moved faster than his mind. He skillfully took the bowl, tested the temperature, stirred it with a spoon, scooped up a spoonful, and gently blew on it.
By the time Yinzhi realized what was happening, the whole series of actions had already been completed, and the spoon was already at Yinsi's lips.
"..." Startled, he loosened his grip, dropping the spoon into the bowl and splashing some soup. Yinzhi hurriedly placed the bowl on the table in front of Yinsi, "You...eat it yourself."
Yinzhi frowned slightly. "If you're going to be like this, it would be better if you just ignored me. That way, I'd seem more like I'm being unreasonable."
"I didn't..." Yinzhi explained subconsciously, then realized what he had done and couldn't help but slap his own mouth. How could it be that he was being manipulated by the Eighth Prince?
Seeing this, Yinzhi gave a light, cold snort: "What do you mean by this, elder brother? I knew you weren't really playing with me..."
As he spoke, Yinzhi's eyes reddened, and he turned away from him.
When Yinzhi saw his red eyes, he panicked and forgot everything. He quickly bent down to coax him, "How could that be? Why wasn't your brother just playing with you?"
"With so many younger brothers outside, why would my older brother even look at me?"
"Of course I like it, how could I not like it?"
"I originally thought I was different from others, but I guess I was just being presumptuous."
"It's just different. Look who else your older brother treats well? I'm only good to you."
"Look at you, acting all hot and cold. What's wrong? Have you suddenly decided that playing with me isn't fun anymore?"
"How could that be? It's my brother's fault, he just didn't think straight for a moment..."
Before he knew it, he had made a whole bunch of unequal treaties. After finally persuading the man to calm down and watching him finish his medicinal meal and fall asleep obediently, Yinzhi finally left satisfied.
Just a second before he fell asleep, while lying in his own bed, Yinzhi suddenly opened his eyes.
"Wait a minute..." What was he going there to do?
Feeling that he had been inexplicably manipulated, Yinzhi was unwilling to accept it. He felt that he was affected by his memories because he had just arrived. Once he had digested all his memories, the little Eighth Prince would be insignificant!
Thus, Yinzhi became more determined despite setbacks and resumed his routine of running back and forth between the Prince's Residence and Yanxi Palace.
In his imagination, he should gradually break free from the constraints of his memories, dispel the illusion surrounding Lao Ba, and then avenge the grudge from his previous life!
In reality, she can soothe a baby for more than half an hour with her loud voice, willingly busy herself around the house, and then sit up in a fright before going to sleep.
To outsiders, the eldest prince truly loved his younger brother.
In Yinzhi's eyes, was this just a little kid? This was a little ancestor! The Eighth Prince is toxic!
...
"Damn it, what happened? I've been completely manipulated by Lao Ba like this? I've lived my whole life for nothing..."
As dusk fell, the Imperial Garden was bathed in the warm yellow light of the setting sun. Yinzhi wandered alone along the garden path, muttering to himself, his face filled with resentment and embarrassment.
He was lost in his own thoughts and didn't notice anything happening around him.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind, grabbed his arm, and violently pulled him into the artificial hill beside him.
Yinzhi was shocked and instinctively threw a right punch. However, when he saw the person in front of him, his fist stopped abruptly in mid-air.
"Second brother, what do you want to do?"
Yinreng stood quietly opposite him, looking at him intently, his eyes revealing a maturity and profundity beyond his years.
"Yinzhi, you've been reborn, why don't you have a brain? Talking to yourself in the Imperial Garden, aren't you afraid someone will hear you?"
His voice still carried the clarity of a young man, yet it was as calm as a bottomless lake.
Yinzhi's pupils constricted sharply, and his expression froze instantly. He stared intently at Yinreng, his eyes filled with astonishment and doubt. "You...you're back too?"
At this moment, his face truly revealed a maturity and depth beyond his years, completely devoid of the boyishness he had shown when joking around with Yinzhi.
Yinreng raised an eyebrow slightly, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. "Isn't it obvious? At this time in my past life, I always looked up when I spoke to you."
Yinzhi sneered, "Hmph, so you know that too."
After saying that, he looked at Yinreng's still-childish face and fell silent for some reason.
In their past life, they were irreconcilable enemies; he even pleaded for the Crown Prince's execution when his father deposed him. But when Yinreng actually died before him, he couldn't hold back and, behind those high walls, wept bitterly and got drunk for him.
In their past lives, they were all losers.
Therefore, having been given a second chance at life, he tried his best not to let outsiders notice anything unusual, and devoted all his energy to the "struggle" with Lao Ba. Wasn't this also a subconscious way of avoiding those people and things that he dared not think about or face?
After a long while, Yinzhi finally raised his head and asked, "When did you get back?"
"It's been several years." Yinreng lowered his eyes, staring blankly at the greenery struggling to grow from the cracks in the rocks.
Yinzhi suddenly realized, "No wonder you had a good relationship with Yinzhen and Yinsi in this life."
Yinreng looked at him with pity, "It's already quite good that your brain can think of this much." His tone was tinged with sarcasm, but more so with helplessness.
Yinzhi rolled his eyes at him, "With that mouth of yours, no wonder I could never have liked you in any lifetime."
Yinreng raised his eyes and chuckled lightly, "What's wrong? You have such a low tolerance for scolding? Haven't you been scolded enough by Xiao Ba?"
Yinzhi choked, speechless for a moment, thinking of how he was always hurt by the Eighth Prince and how he was always bossed around. The Eighth Prince was so young, yet he had such eloquence. Thinking about it this way, it wouldn't be surprising if the Eighth Prince poached his wife in the future.
But not wanting to lose face, Yinzhi retorted, "What makes you any better? You were like that in your past life, yet you managed to get along with the Fourth and Eighth Princes."
Yinreng showed no embarrassment whatsoever, and asked with a smile, "What, are you envious?"
Yinzhi jumped up and down: "Who's envious? Don't slander me."
"Such a strong reaction..." Yinreng looked at Yinzhi with amusement, "I guess you've been got the upper hand by Xiao Ba, haven't you?"
"How is that possible?"
Yinzhi, outwardly strong but inwardly weak, saw Yinreng's smiling face and retorted angrily, "It's all your fault. How did you raise such a child? Look at the child that the Eighth Prince raised. He's sensitive and prone to tantrums. And that mouth of his! He's supposed to be the Eighth Prince in the future. It'll be a miracle if he doesn't poison someone."
"How do you know that Yinzhi in his previous life wasn't a sensitive person?"
Yinreng thought of Yinsi, who was bold and arrogant in front of him, and smiled gently. "Which of us brothers doesn't have pride? Do you really believe in Yinsi's gentle facade? That's just a way for him to disguise himself. In front of close friends and family, there's no need to pretend."
"That's true."
Yinzhi nodded, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but slowly turn up. Considering that the Eighth Prince was indeed close to him, he wouldn't hold it against him. He was still just a child.
"In his previous life, the imperial palace and its power turned Yinzhen from a talkative man into a mute, and Yinsi from a sensitive and straightforward man into a shrewd and worldly-wise one..."
Hearing Yinreng's sigh, Yinzhi's heart and lips sank. Yinreng had so casually torn open the wound he didn't want to think about, revealing his bleeding inner strength.
"What do you want to do?" Yinzhi asked in a deep voice.
Yinreng sighed and looked at Yinzhi: "I don't want to do anything, I'll just take it one day at a time. But you, do you still want to fight?"
"Living one day at a time, that's not like what you say." Yinzhi smiled, but the smile quickly disappeared, his eyes filled with confusion and struggle. "Fight? I don't know either."
After saying that, he looked up at Yinreng and asked, "Second Prince, why do you think we were able to start over?"
"Perhaps I lived a very stifled life in my past life, so I can finally live a carefree life in this one."
“You must have had your share of misery in your past life, okay, being deposed as crown prince was a bit of a misery, but I was imprisoned for 26 years…” As he spoke, Yinzhi clicked his tongue, “You make it sound like we’re competing to see who has the worst life… never mind…”
"I'm leaving." Yinreng patted the grass clippings off his clothes. "I hope your mind doesn't decline like your age. Be careful, you know how perceptive your father is."
Yinzhi glared at him, watched Yinreng's departing figure, then leaned against the rockery and let out a deep breath.
If the banter with Yinzhi that knocked him unconscious allowed him to quickly find a sense of reality after his rebirth, then the appearance of Yinzhi, who was also reborn, although it tore open some of the realities he had been avoiding, also completely calmed his uneasy heart.
It turns out that this world is not his dream, nor is it his rebirth.
Even though this person was his former mortal enemy, Yinzhi still thought it was really good, really nice. He even found Yinreng a little more agreeable, and his favorability towards him went from negative to zero.
"Want to live life to the fullest?"
Yinzhi seemed to be deep in thought. If he were to truly find the meaning of his rebirth, he would suddenly feel a strong desire to "go out," perhaps because he had been imprisoned for too long in his previous life.
If he could truly live a carefree life in this lifetime, he wanted to leave, to escape this Forbidden City that had changed him beyond recognition, to go to the grasslands, to the sea, to every place he had never been before.
In this life, more than the throne and his father's concern, he wanted to be a gyrfalcon roaming the world.
It's just that Xiao Ba's personality these days... tsk, he is a prince of Yanxi Palace after all. At worst, he'll just take on another little sparrow, no big deal—
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