Chapter 31 Disturbance

"Someone from Sui'an Marquis's Mansion? Are you sure?"

The secret guard said, "That person has a special identity and is very secretive. We couldn't find out his details. But... when I went to the Marquis of Sui'an's mansion with His Highness, I saw that person in the dark in the side courtyard of the young marquis."

Duan Mingchong's brows furrowed even more tightly.

The dark guard said hurriedly: "Although we only met once from a distance, I will definitely not make a mistake."

Duan Mingchong tilted his head to look at Sui Yan, who was happily eating pine nuts with his back to him, and fell into silence for a rare moment.

The secret guard said cautiously: "Your Highness, the young marquis..."

Duan Mingchong shook his head: "There is something fishy about this matter. Take your people and suppress it quietly. Don't make a big fuss."

The secret guard hesitated and said, "But Your Highness, if the Fifth Prince is really... then it will be of great benefit to you and no harm..."

Duan Mingchong's expression suddenly darkened: "Do you mean that I should watch my own brother die without saving him?"

The secret guard knelt down quickly and said, "I dare not."

Perhaps it was because Duan Mingchong's voice was too loud, Sui Yan looked back at them in a daze.

Duan Mingchong rubbed his brows, suppressed his anger, waved his hands, and said, "Go ahead, do it cleanly, don't involve Sui'an Marquis Mansion."

The secret guard took the order and left.

Duan Mingchong took a deep breath and then went back.

Sui Yan was eating a bunch of pine nuts happily. He blinked and looked at Duan Mingchong, saying, "What happened?"

Duan Mingchong said: "It's just a small matter."

Sui Yan looked behind him and didn't see the shadow of the secret guard. He then whispered, "Your secret guard is not sensible at all. Replace him quickly."

Duan Mingchong asked: "Did you get scared again?"

Sui Yan said dissatisfiedly: "Every time you come over to talk about things when others are doing their work, you don't have any sense of propriety at all."

Duan Ming Chong Xin said, "Is playing your main job?"

Knowing that he would get a "yes" if he asked this question, Duan Mingchong did not bother to do anything else. He smiled and said, "Okay, I'll replace him when I get back."

Sui Yan then smiled and held the pine nuts in his hands and asked, "Would you like to taste it?"

Duan Mingchong was a little hesitant: "Things outside..."

Seeing that he was using the excuse that things from outside were not clean again, Sui Yan curled his lips and winked at him: "I just peeled it myself, just try one, it's delicious."

Duan Mingchong looked down and found that Sui Yan's palm was indeed full of peeled pine nuts. His eyes swept across Sui Yan's slightly red fingertips, and his heart softened immediately. He reached out and pinched two nuts and put them in his mouth.

Sui Yan looked at him like a treasure: "Is it delicious?"

Duan Mingchong nodded gently: "Yes."

As the two were talking, there was a sudden explosion in their ears.

When Sui Yan looked up, he saw a huge firework exploded in the sky, and the broken light crackled and extinguished in the air.

Sui Yan pushed him and said, "The fireworks have started!"

It was the first time for Duan Mingchong to see fireworks shooting into the sky at such a close distance. The dark sky was illuminated by the sudden burst of sparks, making it colorful. Before the light faded, more fireworks rushed into the sky and exploded continuously.

He looked up at the increasing number of pieces of fire that kept bursting into the sky, and suddenly thought to himself, "The play seems to say that only two people who are in love with each other would make an appointment to watch fireworks together."

"Does A-Yan...know?"

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had a strong desire for knowledge and was about to pat Sui Yan to ask something, but then he remembered the Oolong who had released the lanterns before and immediately retracted his hand.

"The contents of that play are probably all lies, and this is probably fake too." Duan Mingchong thought, "I might as well burn it when I get home."

The fireworks filled the sky, gorgeous and colorful, but they were fleeting and terrifyingly short-lived.

.

Jun Jingxing was wearing a blue shirt, standing alone on the bank of the Ming River, looking up at the fireworks in the sky. He didn't know what he was thinking about, but he suddenly smiled.

"I haven't planned to do it myself yet, but you guys have come here following the scent, it's really..." He lowered his eyes slightly, smiling like a flower, but the words he said made people want to kick him into the glacier.

The secret guard who was mocked as a dog by him walked out of the darkness with a blank expression and said directly: "Assassinating the prince is a serious crime punishable by the extermination of all nine generations of the clan. Aren't you afraid of dying without a complete body?"

When Jun Jingxing heard this, it was like he had heard a huge joke. He suddenly raised his hand to support his forehead. His shoulders were shaking slightly as he tried to hold back his laughter, and a little laughter leaked out of his throat.

He chuckled and put his hands down. His eyes were slightly red and there were tears at the corners of his eyes.

"Nine Clans?" Jun Jingxing gently wiped away the tears from his eyes. His wide sleeves dropped down, making his waist look even slimmer. He smiled and asked, "Where?"

The secret guard looked at him coldly. Several people in black clothes appeared in the darkness again and gradually approached him.

Jun Jingxing seemed not to notice. He turned around and faced the frost-covered Ming River. He looked up at the sky filled with brilliant flames, sighed softly, and said softly, "The life of a person is like a flower on a tree. They all grow on the same branch and bloom from the same stalk. They fall with the wind and land on the grass and mud."

Jun Jingxing had a clear voice, and these words sounded even more desolate and sad when he whispered them softly as if he were singing a melody.

He was alone, with his sleeves filled with cold wind, but behind him was the prosperity of the world, just like the gorgeous fireworks exploding.

"Duan Xichen is indeed hateful. I even want to kill him in my dreams, but..." Jun Jingxing's long hair was blown up by the wind. He raised his hand and stroked it gently, his voice soft and gentle.

"…Who told you that I would do it myself?"

The fireworks at the Lantern Festival last for a quarter of an hour. People stand on the long street, looking up at the sky where the fireworks are exploding, talking to each other, and their voices are drowned out by the deafening crackling sound.

Duan Xichen stood in front of a side street holding a small hand stove that had run out of charcoal in his hands. He tilted his head slightly and looked at the sky full of fireworks. The painted smile on his face became gentle.

People were coming and going on the street, and from time to time a few children would run past him happily, holding paper windmills.

Duan Xichen's fingers unconsciously stroked the patterns on the small hand stove. A servant walked up slowly and whispered, "Your Highness, it's time to go back."

Duan Xichen squinted his eyes and looked at the fewer and fewer fireworks in the sky, and said softly: "Don't worry."

The attendant did not dare to interfere in his affairs and quickly bowed and left.

The fireworks were about to end and it was time for curfew. Groups of people poured into the side streets from the main street and left, talking and laughing.

Duan Xichen still didn't move, still looking up at the sky where only one firework was blooming continuously.

Several children ran past him, holding paper windmills and laughing. A little girl lagged behind and said to them, panting, "Wait for me!"

The kids made faces at her: "We'll be waiting for you when you catch up!"

The little girl was so angry that tears came out of her eyes. Maybe she couldn't see the road. She stomped her feet and staggered towards Duan Xichen's side.

"Brother! Wait for me!"

The servant beside her was startled and tried to stop her, but Duan Xichen withdrew his gaze and glanced at her. Surprisingly, she was not angry, and a hint of interest flashed in her eyes.

Duan Xichen holds a high position of power and is extremely favored by the emperor. Perhaps because he was accustomed to lawlessness since childhood, he has an extremely strange personality.

He loved to spend his days in debauchery and playing with power. For some strange quirk, he was particularly fond of young and beautiful children. Sometimes, when he saw a girl who caught his eye on the street, he would most likely ask someone to bring her back to his house.

The servant had been with him for several years and had helped him with some captive tasks. When he saw that he seemed to be interested in the child, his eyes darkened and he stopped moving forward.

The little girl stumbled for a moment, then ran directly into Duan Xichen's arms unhindered.

The little girl was startled and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. She was probably frightened and tears fell down her face. She said in a stammering voice, "Brother...Brother..."

Duan Xichen's pupils shrank slightly.

He had a slender figure, with his cloak hanging down, covering half of the girl's body.

The attendant at the side seemed to sense something was wrong and was about to step forward when suddenly a group of spectators carrying lanterns swarmed over from the street corner, their staggered figures blocking the attendants' view.

The little girl raised her head slightly and looked at him, her tears falling harder and harder, but there was no fear in her clear eyes, only coldness.

Duan Xichen's figure swayed slightly.

Blood slowly flowed out from the wound and slid down the little girl's fingers.

She blinked gently, tears sliding down her face like glass beads. Although she was only a seven or eight-year-old child, her eyes were as cold-blooded and indifferent as a soldier who had been on the battlefield.

The little girl raised a strange smile and said in a low voice, "Since Your Highness likes children so much, you will be happy to die in the hands of a child, right?"

"Isn't it an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?"

Duan Xichen looked at her in astonishment. He wanted to speak but for some reason, his whole body froze.

"you……"

After the little girl finished speaking, she quietly pulled out the dagger that had stabbed into Duan Xichen's abdomen and put it into her sleeve under the cover of her cloak.

She took a few steps back and raised her head. A pitiful expression appeared on her delicate face again. She looked at Duan Xichen timidly and said tremblingly, "I am sorry to bother you!"

Having said that, he ran away quickly in fear.

The author has something to say: The life of a person is like a flower on a tree, all growing on the same branch, all opening from the same stalk, falling with the wind, and landing on the grass and mud. Quoted from "The Biography of Confucian Scholars. Fan Zhen"