Chapter 30: Good Medicine

Sui Yan's body was so weak that he couldn't stand steadily, and Duan Mingchong half supported and half carried him out of the side street.

After leaving Duan Xichen's sight, Sui Yan could no longer hold on and slipped out of Duan Mingchong's arms, kneeling heavily on the ground with his knees - with a thud, people felt pain for him.

Sui Yan fell to the ground, holding his chest, as if he wanted to vomit but couldn't vomit anything.

Duan Mingchong hurried to help him.

Sui Yan took a few quick breaths, raised his head and forced a smile at Duan Mingchong, and tried to stand up again and again by holding on to his arms, but his whole body was weak, and his legs were still weak, and he fell back every time.

No matter how strong Duan Mingchong was, he couldn't lift Sui Yan up completely, so he had to help Sui Yan, who could barely stand, to sit on the stone steps nearby.

Sui Yan leaned against the wall softly, lowered his eyes to look at his wrist which was bleeding, and felt extremely disgusted, and wanted to chop off both of his hands.

Duan Mingchong saw that his hands were shaking badly and thought he was in great pain, so he reached out to hold his hands and gently bent down to blow on the wound.

The warm air brushed over the painful wound, bringing a slight numbness.

Sui Yan was stunned. The disgusting sticky substance on his wrist disappeared instantly, and even the lingering fear in his heart dissipated a lot.

Duan Mingchong blew twice and looked up at him: "Does it still hurt?"

Sui Yan's eyes were filled with tears as he nodded dumbly: "Yeah, it hurts a lot."

Duan Mingchong felt even more distressed. He took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and gently wiped off the dust and sand on Sui Yan's wrist.

The sharp and fine dust particles on the wall had sunk into the wound. Duan Mingchong wiped them very gently. When Sui Yan shuddered, he blew on the wound gently as if to coax a child.

Sui Yan had been looking at him, feeling a little bewildered. This was the first time someone had felt so sorry for him because of such a minor injury.

"Your Highness..."

Duan Mingchong raised his head quickly: "Did it hurt you?"

Sui Yan shook his head, calming down from his fear a little, but still felt that it was too unwilling to have a grudge against Duan Mingchong just because of this trivial matter. He pursed his lips and planned to explain again: "Your Highness, I just did that because I was afraid that others would hurt you..."

Duan Mingchong laughed a little: "Why are you still thinking about this? It was my fault in the first place. You were right to be so vigilant."

Sui Yan hesitated and said, "But... I am too cruel..."

Duan Mingchong was stunned for a moment, and finally understood why Sui Yan left in a hurry after explaining it just now. However, thinking about it carefully, he realized that his question was indeed too rash.

Duan Mingchong said: "I'm sorry."

Sui Yan looked at him in astonishment.

"I was not thoughtful enough to say that to you just now." Duan Mingchong lifted his sleeves and gently wiped away the cold sweat on Sui Yan's forehead. "I know you are not like this by nature. It's... I said something wrong."

Duan Mingchong lived in the Eastern Palace for a long time. The Taifu and the Emperor taught him all about how to cultivate himself, govern the country and bring peace to the world, distinguish right from wrong, and cultivate good and evil. For him, these were the foundation of self-cultivation.

Duan Mingchong has always been gentle, respectful, and accommodating. He is self-disciplined and polite, and has never been jealous or conceited. Even now, he doesn't know that this is his true nature, and he still forces himself to become this gentle and jade-like appearance according to everyone's expectations.

Sui Yan also vaguely knew his temper, which was why he misinterpreted Duan Mingchong's words into something more malicious.

But even so, Sui Yan never thought that the crown prince of a country would actually admit his mistakes directly to him without any hypocrisy on his face.

Sui Yan stared at him blankly, raised his hand after a long while, and whispered: "It hurts..."

Duan Mingchong hurriedly held his cold hand and blew on it gently.

Sui Yan lowered his eyes and looked at Duan Mingchong's half-lit face by the candlelight. He hesitated for a moment before he tentatively speaking: "What if... this is my nature?"

Duan Mingchong: “Hmm?”

Sui Yan's Adam's apple moved slightly, and he said hoarsely: "What if I really am that kind of... cruel, cold-blooded and ruthless villain? I can even kill a child who looks harmless without batting an eyelid... This shows that my true nature may not be what Your Highness thinks..."

Sui Yan suddenly didn't know how to start saying those self-deprecating words that he was used to saying on a daily basis.

Duan Mingchong finally wiped the sand off his wound and smiled gently: "If this is your true nature, why were you so eager to protect me just now?"

Sui Yan was stunned for a moment, and suddenly felt his heart beating violently.

There seemed to be an unknown throbbing in my heart.

Duan Mingchong used another clean handkerchief to gently bandage the wounds on his hands and said, "Can you still walk? I'll take you home now. You need to treat the wounds quickly."

Sui Yan tried, then stood up shakily, barely regaining some strength.

Sui Yan was too embarrassed to lean on Duan Mingchong after he could stand steadily. He rolled up his sleeves, and it seemed like something was missing in his hands. After thinking for a while, he said, "Ah, my little hand stove."

That was the first thing Duan Mingchong gave him, and he always carried it with him unless he went to bed at night.

Duan Mingchong said: "It's probably lost. It's okay. Just go back home and get another one."

Sui Yan thought gloomily, "I just want that."

Duan Mingchong asked: "Go back?"

Sui Yan didn't want to go back home so soon: "I heard that there will be fireworks at the City God Temple at midnight, let's wait a little longer."

Duan Mingchong was a little embarrassed: "It's midnight, isn't it too late? If we rush back, the palace gates may be locked, and you don't look well."

When Sui Yan heard that the palace gates were locked, he didn't want him to leave anymore and simply ignored his last words: "Look, look, fireworks. Your Highness, I have never seen fireworks before."

In fact, this is nonsense. The fireworks of the Lantern Festival are always colorful and gorgeous when they explode in the night. Children in Beijing love them very much. Every year during the Lantern Festival, they will come in groups early to find the best spots to watch the fireworks.

Sui Yan loved to have fun when he was a child, so he had naturally seen it before. However, he thought that Duan Mingchong had grown up in the palace and might have never seen such colorful exploding fire, so he wanted to let him see it once.

Duan Mingchong couldn't stand his torture anymore and said hesitantly: "But your hand..."

Sui Yan wanted to curl his arms and slap himself to show that he was fine: "It's just a minor injury. It's okay. It will scab over soon."

Duan Mingchong saw that he didn't seem to be in any serious trouble, so he said, "Then go back after you finish watching."

Sui Yan nodded: "Okay!"

Duan Mingchong was like a good medicine, which cured Sui Yan's trembling expression of fear. He put the damn Duan Xichen out of his mind and ran to the back street with Duan Mingchong.

There were still quarters of an hour before midnight. Sui Yan led Duan Mingchong around in circles and finally stopped at a deserted stone staircase.

Duan Mingchong followed him up the twelfth and somewhat dilapidated stone staircase. After sitting down, he could directly see the entire lantern night market. The dazzling array of lanterns was like a fire dragon, spreading out into a winding red line.

It was the first time for Duan Mingchong to come here, and he was a little surprised. His bright eyes reflected the fragmented light and he looked around curiously - this place was extremely remote, and there were only abandoned houses with no one around.

Duan Mingchong had been in Beijing for so many years, but he had never known that there was such a quiet place in this prosperous capital.

"How did you find this place?"

Sui Yan sat next to Duan Mingchong and said with a smile, "When we were kids, we played too much and found this place by accident with Song Xian."

Duan Mingchong nodded and was about to say something when he heard the sound of wind behind him. He turned around and saw a secret guard kneeling on one knee on the ground.

"Your Highness."

Sui Yan was frightened by the man's sudden shout and nearly fell down. He hurriedly grabbed Duan Mingchong's arm to steady himself.

The secret guard said, "Your Highness, it's important."

Duan Mingchong patted Sui Yan's hand gently and said softly, "Wait for me here for a while."

Sui Yan stared coldly at the secret guard and uttered an unhappy "hmm".

Duan Mingchong laughed and stuffed a bag of pine nuts from his sleeve into his hand. Sui Yan's face looked better then.

Duan Mingchong walked down the stone steps slowly, and followed the secret guards to find a corner and stand still.

The secret guard said bluntly: "Your Highness, the night market is full of good and bad people. It seems that someone with evil intentions wants to harm Your Highness the Fifth Prince during the chaos."

Duan Mingchong frowned: "Have you found who it is?"

"Yes..." The dark guard looked at Sui Yan, who had his back to them, hesitantly, and said softly, "He is from Sui Anhou Mansion."

Duan Mingchong's pupils shrank.