Chapter 25: Jinling City (8)
Lin Zikui shrank into himself like a quail, and Xiao Fu didn’t press him for answers. Third Master had already said—at this time, he mustn’t be provoked. So, Xiao Fu was honest, but not entirely.
If he were to tell him the whole truth—that he was a man and also Marquis Dingbei—it would probably be too much for Lin Zikui to handle.
Xiao Fu couldn’t bear to see him upset. After all, Lin Lang had said it before: as long as it was him, it didn’t matter whether he liked men or women. What mattered was that he liked him.
The carriage was spacious enough, but Xiao Fu insisted on squeezing in close, making Lin Zikui feel uncomfortable.
Lin Zikui was still pondering what to do when, on the road back to Xingzhi Temple, both sides were already secretly guarded by Xiao Fu’s men.
However, not far ahead, another group appeared—dressed entirely in black.
There were around two hundred of them, twice as many as last time.
A young man with a sharp, menacing face removed his mask and stared coldly at the approaching carriages. “Marquis Dingbei, this time, we must kill him! Once he’s dead, the Emperor loses the support of Prince Yunnan. Taking this empire will be as easy as picking it up from the ground!”
“Young Lord, the Marquis’s carriage is almost here,” someone beside him called out.
This man was none other than Yuwen Zhou, the Young Lord of Prince Zhao’s residence, eldest son of Yuwen Duo’s third royal brother.
“Right away. Wait…” Yuwen Zhou raised his hand, then suddenly swung it downward. “Shoot!”
Arrows sliced through the air and struck the carriage’s outer wall with precision.
Xiao Fu reacted instantly. With one arm, he pulled the still-unaware Lin Zikui into his embrace, and with swift precision, pressed a mechanism inside the carriage. The elevated floor of the carriage flipped, hiding Lin Zikui within a secret compartment built into the vehicle.
It was a secure space, its walls made of thick iron plates.
He already couldn’t see to begin with, and now, disoriented and unsure of his location, he reached up and touched the narrow ceiling. “Xiao Zhaoling…”
Through the iron plate, Xiao Fu hushed him. “Lin Lang, don’t make a sound. Someone’s trying to assassinate us. Don’t be afraid. I’ve brought a lot of guards.”
The iron walls muffled the sounds, but one could still make out the clash of blades outside.
“Someone’s trying to assassinate us?” Lin Zikui was indeed frightened. It had to be people from the Xu faction—coming to kill him!
Xiao Fu tried to calm him. “I know martial arts. I’m right here. No one’s going to hurt you.”
In truth, Xiao Fu wasn’t too worried. He had more than enough guards. Lifting the curtain, he glanced outside. The fighting had already begun, and his forces clearly held the advantage.
“Master, all of Yuwen Zhou’s men are death warriors.”
Xiao Fu lowered his voice. “Capture the leader first. Get him.”
Lin Zikui remained hidden inside, unable to hear clearly. He didn’t know if he was truly safe. He couldn’t see, had no idea what kind of space he was in.
But Lin Zikui was smart. Feeling around, he quickly figured it out. “This is a hidden compartment inside the carriage!”
“Xiao Zhaoling…” he couldn’t help calling out.
“Didn’t I tell you not to speak? If the assassins come and drag me away to kill me, you stay hidden—don’t make a single sound! Got it?” Xiao Fu described an unlikely scenario.
As expected, Lin Zikui wasn’t having it. He pounded hard on the ceiling of the hidden chamber. “I want to go out! You get in here! They’re after me—let them kill me! You hide!”
“They’re after you?” Xiao Fu echoed, amused. He assumed Lin Zikui misunderstood and thought these were Xu faction assassins.
He didn’t correct him. Instead, he laughed quietly, lying on the carriage floor with only an iron plate between them. Xiao Fu said, “Lin Lang, if I could die for you, it’d be a death well worth it. Before I die, could you answer the question I asked earlier?”
“Now is not the time for that!” Lin Zikui yelled, his palms hurting from the pounding. “I’ll go out, you come in. Let me die, not you!”
Xiao Fu: “No, Lin Lang. If you die, I’ll follow right after. I won’t let you walk the path to the underworld all alone.”
But outside, the fight was almost over. The death warriors from Prince Zhao’s camp couldn’t even get close to the carriage. About ten of them were already escorting Yuwen Zhou in retreat. “Young Lord! We must leave now!”
Yuwen Zhou’s face had gone pale. “Last time, Xiao Fu only had three elite fighters and wiped out a hundred of our death warriors. This time, I thought those three weren’t with him—only saw ten ordinary guards. Who knew he had a thousand men lying in ambush nearby! Weren’t they saying he was arrogant and believed his martial arts unmatched, always traveling light? This is just bullying! My father spent years raising those death warriors…” His eyes turned red. “That conniving bastard!”
“Young Lord! Stop analyzing and run! If you don’t, we’re all going to die!”
“No! If we don’t eliminate Marquis Dingbei, Prince Yunnan will be a massive threat!” Yuwen Zhou, unwilling to accept defeat, turned back and took one last shot, drawing his bow to the fullest.
He truly was a skilled archer—his shot hit the horse squarely on its rump.
Startled, the horse neighed loudly and reared up before bolting at full speed. Xiao Fu, who had been lying down, was flung around and crashed against the inner wall of the carriage, groaning from the pain.
The horse, pulling the carriage, began a wild and reckless dash down the bumpy country road.
Lin Zikui bumped his head in the hidden chamber. Hearing the commotion outside, he pounded even harder against the wall panel. “Miss Zhaoling!” he called out. His hands fumbled in all directions until they finally found a rotating mechanism. The hidden latch flipped, ejecting him from the chamber in an instant. Xiao Fu reacted swiftly, catching him in his arms. With both arms around him, one hand pressed protectively against the back of Lin Zikui’s head to keep him from hurting himself.
But Lin Zikui pushed him away. “You go inside the hidden chamber! What’s going on out there?”
“Don’t… the horse is injured and running wild. Those assassins didn’t catch up… but I’m hurt too. I can’t move anymore,” Xiao Fu lied shamelessly, eyes open and full of false distress, holding onto Lin Zikui tightly. “I’m in pain, Lin Lang.”
Lin Lang was heartbroken. “Miss Zhaoling, Miss Zhaoling, where are you hurt? Is it here? Or here?” he asked, frantically feeling around Xiao Fu’s body. Before long, his hands landed on an actual injury.
Xiao Fu let out a low gasp, his breath coming in heavier.
To Lin Zikui’s ears, the sound seemed a bit strange, but he only thought it was from the pain. Crying, he said, “Tell me! Where are you hurt? Don’t die, please!”
Xiao Fu, feigning pitifully, answered, “My leg… my back. It hurts so much, Lin Lang.”
He had actually bumped himself a couple of times in the carriage earlier, and it did hurt a bit.
Lin Zikui assumed it was a knife or arrow wound and, panicking, said, “…How do I treat it?” Still blindfolded, he reached up to tear his own clothes. “I’ll stop the bleeding first!”
The carriage continued to jolt violently.
“You can’t see—let me do it myself.” Xiao Fu watched him undo his belt and reached out to take it, wrapping it around his own leg while hissing in mock pain, “Tss… tss…”
Lin Zikui had just applied medicine to his eyes that morning. Now, crying again, his tears—tinged dark from the medicine—were soaked up by the white blindfold, forming two black circles. It looked a little silly… and a little heartbreaking to Xiao Fu.
“It’s alright, Lin Lang. Don’t cry. It’s just a scrape. Not serious,” Xiao Fu said gently, lifting his hand to pat Lin Zikui’s head. Lin Zikui lowered his head. “Miss Zhaoling, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”
“There, there. It’s not your fault. I was just unlucky, running into assassins,” Xiao Fu replied, petting him as if he were a soft little animal. The more he touched, the better it felt in his hand. He truly couldn’t get enough. He just wanted to keep holding him like that for a while.
Lin Zikui sobbed quietly. “Those people were sent by the Xu faction. They were trying to kill me! Why did you protect me like this…”
“How could I bear to see Lin Lang get even slightly hurt?”
Xiao Fu truly couldn’t bear it. Normally arrogant and dismissive of everything, he rarely brought guards when traveling. But this time, he had taken a thousand elite soldiers and laid out formations along the road—just to ensure Lin Lang wouldn’t run into danger on his way back.
He couldn’t possibly lock Lin Zikui up in Marquis Dingbei’s estate and forbid him from ever leaving, could he?
They had already fled quite a distance. Xiao Fu cut the reins with a dagger, and the carriage came to a stop with a clatter. The wooden wheels were nearly falling apart. In the fierce winter wind, the cloth curtains couldn’t block out the cold.
Lin Zikui felt the carriage stop and reached around for the mechanism. “It’s stopped! They won’t let me go. You need to hide!”
By pure luck, he actually found the mechanism again.
The floor flipped, and this time, both of them tumbled into the hidden compartment.
It was narrow inside. Xiao Fu and Lin Zikui had no choice but to hold each other tightly.
In the cramped space, Lin Zikui suddenly felt something hard pressing against his leg. It poked him.
Puzzled, this position….he reached out and asked, “Why did you tie your dagger here?”
Xiao Fu grabbed his hand, voice low and hoarse, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. “Oh, it’s harder to detect here. I was worried about danger, so I often strap it there. Most thieves wouldn’t think to lift up my skirt. Lin Lang, would you?”
Whether or not Lin Zikui believed it, his face still flushed red.
Their breaths mingled in the darkness. Lin Zikui buried his head, hearing the thump of a heartbeat and feeling Xiao Fu’s hand resting on his lower back from their tight embrace.
His own arm was wrapped around Xiao Fu’s back too.
Oh right! Miss Zhaoling had a back injury!
He hurriedly shifted his hand downward.
Xiao Fu: “……”
Lin Lang, your hands really know where to go.
Lin Zikui, completely unaware, belatedly asked, “Miss Zhaoling, this hidden space is big enough for both of us. Why did you only tell me to go in and not come in yourself?”
Xiao Zhaoling replied, “You said those people were after you. I was afraid they’d see no one in the carriage and flip the whole thing over.”
Still trying to protect him.
Lin Zikui was speechless.
“How could you… be so foolish…”
“I’m not foolish,” Xiao Zhaoling shook his head gently, leaning in so close his lips nearly brushed his chin. “Anyway, since Lin Lang already did this and that with me… and touched my dagger, if you won’t marry me, I’ll go become a nun!”
What did that have to do with the dagger? Lin Zikui didn’t understand, but the word “nun” made his heart leap.
He quickly begged, “Don’t! Don’t become a nun!”
Xiao Fu’s dark eyes glimmered. “Then will you be with me?”
Lin Zikui nodded frantically. “I will! I will! I’ll marry you! Miss Zhaoling, please don’t do anything reckless!”
A woman had gone to such lengths for him—how could he fuss over such petty things?
He was afraid that if he hesitated again, if he overthought it, he’d hurt Miss Zhaoling, make things difficult for her… and force her into becoming a nun.
“Then it’s a promise.” Xiao Fu’s lips were practically touching his chin, only a finger’s width away. His breath puffed hot against him. “Lin Zikui, you’re not allowed to go back on your word…”
He raised his head slightly, and his lips brushed against Lin Zikui’s.
They were soft. Xiao Fu figured if he kissed him harder, they’d probably be even softer.
He tilted his head and rubbed gently against his lips. Just a few light movements, but it completely shut down Lin Zikui’s brain. His Adam’s apple bobbed.
“I… regret nothing.”
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