That was his voice.
Xiao Zhian stopped.
He recognized Xie Ao as a maid from the Holy Water Temple, Lin Huaiyin's maid.
"Perfect timing." Xiao Zhian smiled disdainfully. Wasn't Lin Huaiyin the girl who doted on her the most? Perfect opportunity to take her back, bring her in front of her, and kill her in front of her.
"You were involved in the shooting of Zhao Changji at Tiefo Temple?" Xiao Zhian accused him first.
Upon hearing this, Xie'ao looked up with his little face, pulled him behind the ginkgo tree in surprise, and asked, "Did Miss tell you this? You've only known each other for a few days, how come she tells you everything? I'm not even sure about this. What else did she say? She even told you how she got the scar on her back?"
Crab claw looked up curiously, its round eyes filled with a thirst for the truth. It gripped Xiao Zhian's wrist tighter and tighter, and when he didn't answer, it couldn't help but snap: "Are you mute? Do you need a beating? Be careful, or I'll run away without you later!"
With his wrist clamped shut by the crab's claws, Xiao Zhian's smile gradually froze and disappeared.
Lin Huaiyin deceived him, used him, and used him to commemorate another man. This is absolutely true, and she could never atone for it even if she died a hundred times.
She deserves to die.
But she didn't just lie to him; she also kept it a secret from her closest friends and family. She had been operating in secret all along, and the injuries and ugly, twisted scars on her body were all real.
Suddenly, the words "imperial prison" plunged into the abyss of Xiao Zhian's heart.
A ripple spreads—stale rice, red-eyed rats, a crossbow on the wall, a burning torch…
Lin Huaiyin's back bore a spiraling, twisted arrow wound and a bluish-black, curled, broken scab...
The first time he saw her back covered in scars, it deeply shocked Xiao Zhian. He touched her, kissed her, and shed tears of heartache for her. He once held her in his arms with boundless affection, wanting to know her secrets, longing to share her pain, and enter her world.
At this moment, the mystery was finally revealed.
The world spun around him, and Xiao Zhian lost his balance. His vision went black, and he grabbed onto a tree trunk. The rough bark cut his right palm, drawing blood. His heart ached, and he felt suffocated. He looked up at the distant summit of Crane Cry Mountain and thought of that night's fire, when the memorials were burned, and how she had fainted from shock and developed blisters all over her body...
She's afraid of fire; has she ever been burned by fire...?
Unexpectedly, Lin Huaiyin, imprisoned in the imperial prison, fighting with rats for food, pierced by a thousand arrows, and engulfed in flames, suddenly emerged from the abyss in Xiao Zhian's heart.
That face, burning with fierce flames, devoured the vibrant, cunning, menacing, and wicked Lin Huaiyin that Xiao Zhian knew.
That was his voice, burning with fire, unable to make a sound. His blood-red eyes stared at Xiao Zhian, then shattered in an instant, turning into dust that drifted in the air and scattered on the surface of the abyss.
"Yinyin."
Xiao Zhian could no longer stand. He leaned against the ginkgo tree, panting. The cold air cut his throat and pierced his chest and lungs. His whole body felt like it was being torn apart. All he could see and think about was the image of Lin Huaiyin's tragic death.
"So how did those scars get there...?"
Xiao Zhian murmured in disbelief, wondering where his voice had come from...
"I had a nightmare that day, and that's how I conceived." Crab Ao looked at the beads of sweat on Xiao Zhi'an's forehead, released his wrist, and put his hands on his hips in disgust: "What are you pretending to be weak for? You had plenty of energy when you were tormenting my young lady, didn't you? I'm just waiting for dark to sneak in and rescue her. Do you want to help? Just give me a quick one!"
Xiao Zhian did not respond.
He was unable to respond.
Crab claw rubbed his chin, looked at the towering courtyard wall, and thought to himself that Xiao Zhian, that big oaf, would be perfect as a ladder over the wall; without him, things really wouldn't work.
She wasn't going to give up, so she grabbed Xiao Zhian's belt and left.
"If you don't refuse, then you're in." Crab Ao felt at ease and praised as he walked, "At least Miss didn't spoil you for nothing. This grandma will lead you to do something big."
And so, under the watchful eyes of the Eastern Palace guards, Xie Ao grabbed Xiao Zhi'an, dragged him to a dark corner, pressed him into the bushes, and then squatted down herself.
His Highness has been arrested; this is an emergency.
If the guards hadn't recognized the crab claw, their heads would have been severed in an instant.
The guards couldn't understand why Xiao Zhian had imprisoned Lin Huaiyin. They turned around and hid in the bushes with Lin Huaiyin's maid, shaking the grass. They were shocked, but their professional ethics kept them calm and quiet as they watched the grass sway in the wind from a distance.
Before long, the sun set in the west, the sky darkened, and the night dew began to condense.
Torches were lit in the courtyard.
The guards kept watch until their backs and legs ached, and then crab claws began to emerge from the grass.
No one knows what the crab said, but Xiao Zhian stiffened up, and the crab quickly climbed onto Xiao Zhian, stepped on his shoulder, and jumped into the yard.
!!
The palace guards were stunned and stood there dumbfounded!
Inside the courtyard, the crabs and claws lurked around furtively.
A guard spotted her and followed her.
Another guard climbed the wall through which the crab claw had jumped, wanting to confirm if there were any accomplices. He glanced down and saw that Xiao Zhian's jade hairpin shone brightly in the moonlight, like a deity in a temple with a halo.
What the heck?!
The guard who had climbed the wall was terrified. He shrank back weakly, his mind in a daze, and he gave up and chased after them.
"Let her go." The guard's gaze was blank.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" The guard following the crab was completely puzzled.
The guard who had climbed the wall gave a wry smile: "Would you believe me if I said she was sent by His Highness?"
"Huh?" The following guard asked in disbelief, whispering, "You mean the Duke of Pingyang—"
"No." The guard who had climbed the wall pointed to the wall, not wanting to speak.
The guards quickly climbed the wall, but their bodies suddenly stiffened as they hung there, falling to the ground and becoming a shadow.
The two guards immediately sounded the retreat, and the following crab claw also served as a warning—a warning to the guards beside them not to provoke that young lady.
Xiao Zhian stood under the moonlight. On the wall behind him, heads would occasionally peek out, their squinty eyes peeking out and their large, round eyes shrinking back.
The guards in the courtyard refused to believe it and insisted on coming to see for themselves.
Finally, Xuan Ge came to see for himself. After he finished looking around, he turned around and all the guards fell silent.
Alright, no one will open their eyes tonight, so let's just be blind for the night.
Crab Claw crawled around the courtyard for a while, as if she were in an empty place. Gradually, she became bolder, straightened her back, stretched her legs, and went into each room to look around.
Finally, in a dark, moonless room, she called out "Miss," and Lin Huaiyin's voice was broken: "Is that you, Xie Ao?"
"It's me! It's me!"
Crab claws were overjoyed. They reached inside, touching Lin Huaiyin's face, and then wrapped their arms around her waist. Just as they exerted force—
"No!" Lin Huaiyin turned away in refusal. "I can't just leave like this; it will implicate—"
"It's alright, the master and young master are here." Crab Ao didn't seem to care and forcefully hoisted the object onto his shoulder.
Our Lin family holds military power, with 100,000 Imperial Guards. What's there to be afraid of in killing a criminal official?
Crab Ao grew up in the Imperial Guard's training grounds and was not afraid of anything. She was only afraid that Lin Huaiyin would suffer. No matter how much Lin Huaiyin struggled, she held on firmly and returned the way she came in a flash.
The guards on both sides of the wall had long since been removed.
Lin Huaiyin adjusted to the moonlight, then looked at the high wall and struggled again: "It's too high, we can't get out. You go quickly, don't worry about me."
"Don't be afraid, miss, we have someone to help you."
The crab claws looked around and then softly imitated two bird calls.
A muffled cough immediately came from outside the wall.
"Alright." Crab was overjoyed and used all its strength to lift Lin Huaiyin high up, pin her against the wall, and push her out.
"Thud." Lin Huaiyin fell into a stiff embrace.
Xiao Zhian's face suddenly came into Lin Huaiyin's view. Her heart tightened, and she curled up, wondering what was going on. It was too absurd. Then, with a thud, the crab claw landed on the ground.
"Crab claw, this," Lin Huaiyin stammered, "this is—"
"Don't be afraid, Miss, this is your sweetheart, he's one of us!" Crab Claw patted Xiao Zhian's lower back hard. "Let's go!"
After saying that, Crab Claw led the way and ran away. Lin Huaiyin wanted to call out to her but didn't dare to shout.
Xiao Zhian stood stiffly, motionless, watching Lin Huaiyin descend from the sky as if she had been given to him anew by the heavens. His phoenix eyes, which had lost all their luster due to their lowered gaze, trembled and burned, gradually becoming moist from their dryness.
She fell into his arms unharmed, without arrows or fire. She was clean and unharmed in his embrace. She had escaped death and come back to life, drawing warmth from his side. But he almost, just a tiny bit, destroyed her again.
He almost, just a little bit, ruined her again.
"Smack."
A warm, damp drop landed on Lin Huaiyin's cheek.
Xiao Zhian tightened his arms, pressing her from her supine position into his chest, his palms stroking her back and pressing down on her little head, as he broke through the night wind and chased after the crab claw.
The crab claws moved quickly and had already climbed onto the carriage, getting ready.
As soon as Xiao Zhian got into the carriage, she quickly closed the door, said "Hold on tight," cracked the whip, leaned back, and the carriage sped off.
The palace guards caught up with the pursuers, hurriedly mounted their horses, and followed closely to protect them.
The carriage was completely dark.
Lin Huaiyin felt very uncomfortable.
Xiao Zhian was holding him too tightly.
With her hands clasped behind her back, Xiao Zhian was burning up and her heart was pounding. She wanted to tell her to let go of her or to untie the wooden clasps, but the words wouldn't come out. She could only listen to the rumbling of the wheels.
What does this mean?
Is she a suspect, a fugitive? Or a fugitive who kidnapped the Crown Prince? Isn't she now guilty of compounding her crimes and facing certain death?
He captured her, imprisoned her, and then suddenly did this—was he out of his mind?
Or perhaps... she pinched him so hard he got sick before?
Lin Huaiyin was completely bewildered.
While locked in the dark room, she sorted out her thoughts and realized that her mistake was that she had never treated Xiao Zhian as His Highness the Crown Prince from beginning to end. He always gave her a kind look, and she became complacent, forgetting that a monarch is a monarch, who has the power of life and death, and can turn the world upside down in the blink of an eye.
She had never truly respected his authority as the crown prince. Her previous antics were wrong; she had learned her lesson and would never again be so reckless as to offend him.
He wanted to hug her, but Lin Huaiyin resisted.
He wanted to hold her, who was carrying Mu Niu, and Lin Huaiyin endured it.
The journey was bumpy and arduous.
Xiao Zhian's vision remained blurry.
It wasn't until Lin Huaiyin shifted uncomfortably and her breathing became rapid that he snapped out of his daze, closed his phoenix eyes, and when he opened them again, he touched the wooden clasp and unlocked it with a "click".
Regaining her freedom, Lin Huaiyin let out a low sigh. She subconsciously wanted to leave Xiao Zhian's embrace, but as her foot, which was hanging in mid-air, reached down, she suddenly stopped—His Highness the Crown Prince hadn't told her to move, so could she move?
Faced with Xiao Zhian, Lin Huaiyin was at a loss for the first time, not knowing how to behave. She restrained her limbs and remained motionless, letting Xiao Zhian give orders or do whatever he wanted.
Xiao Zhian noticed that Lin Huaiyin was nervous. She had never tensed up in his arms before. She seemed to be afraid of him because he had just roughly brought her here and cruelly imprisoned her. She was scared.
She was a ruthless killer, fearless and invincible, yet he instilled fear in her.
As he wished, she became afraid of him.
Xiao Zhian felt no pleasure, only regret churning in his chest. He felt suffocated. He had personally imprisoned her and sent her back to that gloomy and terrifying prison. He knew what she was afraid of, and that was why he had deliberately treated her this way.
What should he do to make her feel comfortable and relaxed?
Xiao Zhian touched Lin Huaiyin's hand and rubbed her bound wrists.
In the carriage, there was a sudden silence, and Lin Huaiyin was so nervous that she dared not breathe.
Xiao Zhian painfully realized that because of his tyranny, Zhian was getting further and further away from Yinyin, to the point that she wouldn't even accept a touch from him.
Is it true that only "that prince" can comfort her?
Xiao Zhian smiled bitterly in the darkness. He laughed at himself for actually starting to think about how to behave in a way that would make him more like the man she remembered.
How should that person address her? How can one get close to her?
How does that person comfort her when she's unhappy?
Yinyin, how does that person treat her?
Xiao Zhian racked his brains, but to his surprise, all he knew was that his appearance was most similar to that person's, a perfect match.
After all, from the very beginning, she approached him only wanting his body. She swallowed all her secrets and kept them to herself, only revealing her body to him.
She never hid her desires; all she wanted from him was physical comfort. But he was arrogant and dreamt of a proper marriage and a wedding night, refusing to give it to her.
Since she likes it, he can give it to her. It's not a big deal. Can he be worse than that person?
Xiao Zhian happened to be holding Lin Huaiyin's wrist, so he took the opportunity to lift her arms up and hang them around her neck, supporting the back of her head, and slowly leaned down.
As the warm breath drew near, Lin Huaiyin sensed something was wrong and blurted out, "Your Highness."
Xiao Zhi'an felt a pang of sadness—sure enough, she was willing to talk to him at times like this, and even called him "Your Highness," whereas recently she had been calling him Zhi'an.
He suppressed his sorrow, picked up Lin Huaiyin and placed her on the soft couch, then pressed down on her.
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