Chapter 109 – Extra 2
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“This is your own doing; I didn’t force you…”
“Slow down? As long as you let go, I promise to slow down…”
“Thunder and rain are all your grace…”
The demonic whispers echoed incessantly in Fu Nian’s ears, and he suddenly sat up from his bed.
He rubbed his forehead to relieve the weariness brought by the nightmare.
After being awake for a while, Fu Nian suddenly felt that something was wrong.
Today wasn’t particularly hot, so logically, he shouldn’t have been sweating so profusely. However, the sensation of stickiness on the bed was extremely uncomfortable.
Taking advantage of his roommate’s sleep, Fu Nian quickly got up.
The bed was dry.
Fu Nian immediately realized the source of the uncomfortable stickiness.
He remembered his senior brother telling him about this. He said that as one grew older, such experiences with a girl they liked would naturally occur. However, it was just a dream, and there was no need to be overly concerned.
Thinking about the content of his dream just now…
He didn’t dwell on it further, quickly went to the bathroom, and washed away the sweat from his body.
After the morning training, Fu Nian followed the young prince, as usual, to the academy.
He had to follow secretly and couldn’t accompany the prince’s attendants, so he had to stay hidden under the eaves, patiently waiting for Chu Zhaoyi to finish his studies.
Perhaps due to the summer heat, halfway through the class, the Grand Tutor suddenly felt unwell and left the academy early.
The princes were at that age where they loved to fool around. As soon as the Grand Tutor left, the solemn atmosphere of studying was instantly disrupted.
Fu Nian, peering through the gaps in the wooden walls, saw the Grand Tutor being carried away in a carriage.
Immediately afterward, the atmosphere in the classroom changed, with the princes, led by the Crown Prince, gathering around Chu Zhaoyi’s desk and showing him something. Chu Zhaoyi’s face suddenly turned pale.
Fu Nian couldn’t understand what they were talking about, mentioning something about armies and provisions. Still, he could tell that the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense and volatile.
Suddenly, one of the attendants pushed Chu Zhaoyi’s desk, knocking over a lamp filled with oil. The spilled oil quickly caught fire.
Fu Nian realized this was a dangerous situation and thought, “Oh no,” before quickly jumping down from the eaves.
The weather was dry, and as Fu Nian landed, he could already smell the burnt odor in the air.
He abandoned the idea of entering through the front door and rushed in through a window.
The fire had already spread to the hanging curtains and books on the floor, but the princes were still focused on something, paying no attention to the spreading flames.
Without hesitation, Fu Nian grabbed Chu Zhaoyi’s sleeve, lifted him up, and tried to carry him away.
As he was about to take Chu Zhaoyi and escape, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.
Chu Zhaoyi had bitten him!
Startled, Fu Nian let go of his grip but quickly held onto him again. “I’m trying to get you out, not…”
“The things in the Crown Prince’s hands! I have to take them back!”
Fu Nian was overwhelmed by the chaos and didn’t have time to ask questions. He had no choice but to carry the struggling young prince and head towards the direction of the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince tightly held onto scrolls in his hands, but Fu Nian easily snatched them away. These pampered royal children were no match for him.
With the scrolls in hand, Fu Nian felt Chu Zhaoyi settle down slightly on his shoulder, allowing them to escape from the scene.
“Water! Get water!”
“Who the h*ll locked the door!”
They had just left for less than ten seconds when Fu Nian saw a eunuch rushing in with a bucket of water.
Once they were in a place where they couldn’t feel the heat, Fu Nian gently set down the young prince he had been carrying and checked him for any burns caused by the fire.
Fortunately, only his clothes had been slightly burned, and he was unharmed.
“The scroll.”
Fu Nian handed over the scroll he had snatched from the Crown Prince.
Chu Zhaoyi took the scroll, opened it, and after examining it, he was satisfied and put it back in his sleeve. Then he looked up at Fu Nian. “I didn’t expect you to save me? My father only made you protect me for show. In reality, he would prefer it if I died somewhere inconspicuous…”
Before he could finish, Chu Zhaoyi noticed that the Shadow Guard in front of him had multiple burns, especially on his left leg. The fabric on his knee had been scorched, and the burnt skin emitted a charred smell.
Fu Nian didn’t respond to his words; he just sat down and began tending to the wounds on his left arm.
The burning pain from the injuries was intense, and licking them didn’t provide much relief. The ointment he had on him was mainly for stopping bleeding and treating sprains; it couldn’t help much in this situation.
“You’re injured?” Chu Zhaoyi changed his question.
Fu Nian grunted softly. “Yes.” He answered and continued tending to his wounds without complaining or showing any signs of pain.
Chu Zhaoyi: …
A father’s spy sent to monitor him, putting on a full act. If he got injured, it was his own fault, and Chu Zhaoyi wouldn’t feel a shred of pity.
With these thoughts in mind, Chu Zhaoyi averted his gaze.
Soon, a eunuch arrived with a water bucket, carefully checking Chu Zhaoyi’s clothes for burns, fearing he might be injured like Fu Nian.
Fu Nian had already moved to a more secluded spot to tend to his wounds.
After the commotion earlier in the day, all the princes had returned to their respective residences or the palace gardens by midday. Once Fu Nian confirmed that Chu Zhaoyi was unharmed, he quietly slipped into Chengyuan Hall.
“What does Your Majesty summon this humble servant for?”
Before Fu Nian could finish speaking, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his forehead. He gritted his teeth, and an inkstone fell to the ground, making a dull thud.
“Today, something happened. They said you saved Chu Zhaoyi first. Both the Crown Prince and the eldest prince were present. Why did you save him?”
“It was Your Majesty’s order for this servant to protect the young prince. You did not command this servant to protect the other princes. If Your Majesty had also been present, this servant would have undoubtedly saved you first, then the young prince. If there was still time, this servant would have saved the other princes.”
After his response, Fu Nian felt that the labored breathing from above seemed to have calmed down slightly. Only then did he dare to raise his hand and wipe away the bloodstains from his forehead with his sleeve.
With burns already on his body, being hit by the inkstone was truly adding insult to injury.
A deathly silence hung in the air for a long time before Fu Nian heard the man on the dragon throne speak again, “In the future, if you encounter such a situation, save the crown prince first. As for Zhaoyi.. he is, after all, my own flesh and blood; spare his life.”
“I understand,” Fu Nian replied softly.
“Also, the Crown Prince mentioned that when the fire broke out, someone took the scrolls from his hands. Did you see who it was?”
Fu Nian hesitated for a moment.
Wasn’t it him who did it? He just acted quickly…
“May I ask Your Majesty, what kind of scroll was it? I will go and find it.”
“It was about an inch long. According to the Crown Prince, it contained evidence of General Dou and Ze Wang conspiring with imperial relatives and defying the court!”
Fu Nian hesitated for a moment and calmly replied, “I understand. I will go and find it.”
After leaving Chengyuan Hall, Fu Nian did not go to the school that had caught fire earlier in the day.
The scroll he had taken by force was handed to Chu Zhaoyi, who was in a hurry to get it. After receiving it, Chu Zhaoyi didn’t take any credit…
Fu Nian, although a killer raised in the mountains, didn’t understand the intricacies of court politics, but he had a pretty good idea now.
Chu Zhaoyi was an indispensable part of the evidence in those scrolls.
Returning to the mansion with a heavy heart, it was already night, and the medical clinics on the streets had long closed.
Fu Nian stealthily returned to his room, trying not to disturb his thunderous-snoring comrades, and patiently searched for his belongings. After rummaging for a while, he only found a small box of burn ointment.
He took the ointment and went to the well, first washing the bloodstains from his face with astringent powder before cautiously tearing off the clothes stuck to his wounds.
The sharp pain from the wounds seemed to ease a bit with the cold water, but in less than a quarter of an hour, the burning pain surged once again.
No matter how well he had disguised himself during the day, Fu Nian was still just a half-grown teenager. He couldn’t help but grit his teeth, trembling with pain and not daring to make a sound, just shivering as he continued to pour cold water on the wounds.
Suddenly, he trembled and the wooden bucket fell to the ground.
His knee wound was also severe, and he could only wobble as he tried to bend down to pick it up.
“His Highness is calling for you to go to the study.”
Before he could pick it up, Fu Nian suddenly heard a voice beside him.
He looked up and saw Chu Zhaoyi’s little attendant, Chu Yao. Chu Yao was even younger and shorter than Chu Zhaoyi, and when he saw Fu Nian’s miserable state, he repeated, “His Highness said for you to go to the study. Did you hear?”
“He called me?”
“Yes, your name is Fu Nian, right?”
“Yes, what does His Highness want me to do?”
But Chu Yao didn’t respond. Instead, he grabbed his arm and started pulling him in the direction of the study.
Fu Nian felt someone touch his arm and instinctively shook it off.
The frail Chu Yao was no match for him and was easily overturned, falling heavily to the ground.
“Sor, sorry…” Fu Nian, seeing that he had “accidentally” injured someone, felt somewhat dazed.
He was about to reach out and help Chu Yao when he realized that he hadn’t even properly put on his clothes and quickly withdrew his hand.
Chu Yao, seemingly stunned, remained motionless in place.
“Chu Yao! Why are you so slow in calling someone in?”
During the stalemate, Fu Nian heard hurried footsteps approaching from nearby, coming in their direction.
Fu Nian inwardly thought that this was not good.
Sure enough, not long after, a youth dressed in a dark purple robe with a golden hairpin on his head quickly approached. He glanced at Chu Yao on the ground in astonishment for a moment, then his gaze turned suspiciously toward the disheveled Fu Nian.
Fu Nian, in a fluster, adjusted his clothes and quickly apologized, “I’m sorry. It was my fault; I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
“Did Chu Yao act rudely first, or did you attack first?”
“I attacked first, he did nothing wrong.”
After his reply, Fu Nian noticed that the young prince didn’t look at him again. Instead, he tossed something at him in disgust, pulled the bewildered Chu Yao up, and returned to their room together.
“As expected, he’s a barbarian,” he heard Chu Zhaoyi mutter to himself.
Once the young prince and Chu Yao left, Fu Nian finally noticed a wooden box on the ground.
Upon opening it, a strong scent of mint wafted out, and he immediately recognized it as burn ointment.
If he hadn’t instinctively struck out, this box of ointment was probably the reason the young prince wanted him to go to the study.
The last person who would have been concerned about his injuries after a mission was his senior brother nineteen.
Fu Nian tightly gripped the box of ointment in his hand.
Burns left untreated in the hot weather for just two days would start emitting a foul odor. Fu Nian had initially planned to visit a clinic when he had time off, but now he had to request leave immediately.
After the morning training ended, he gritted his teeth and cleaned the pus and blood from his wounds.
“Come here.”
As he was tremblingly cleaning the wounds, Fu Nian suddenly heard a cold voice behind him.
He turned around and saw the young prince standing behind him, tilting his head to look at him.
Fu Nian was momentarily stunned and hurriedly wanted to bow.
But the wound on his knee had just scabbed over, and when he thought of kneeling down, it immediately cracked open.
“No need to kneel. Come here.”
With that said, he felt a thin shawl draped over his shoulders.
The satin was soft, as light as a feather, and did not cause as much discomfort as coarse fabric did to his wounds.
As he followed the young prince in embarrassment, Fu Nian realized that he should be slightly taller than the young prince, but he had grown accustomed to bowing and obeying orders, which made him appear shorter than he actually was.
When they reached the front hall, Fu Nian saw that there were others inside and stopped in his tracks.
“It’s the royal physician, here to check on you,” Chu Zhaoyi added with a faint tone when he saw Fu Nian’s apprehension.
Only then did Fu Nian refrain from turning and running away. He obediently followed Chu Zhaoyi inside the room.
He was allowed to sit on a cushion, wrapped in the dark satin shawl, and cooperated with the royal physician’s examination.
“Is the injury severe?” Chu Zhaoyi asked the physician, his brows furrowing slightly. “We’re only concerned about the burn and the injury to his forehead; his hands and legs are natural.”
The physician examined Fu Nian for a while before turning to instruct, “The burn seems to be showing signs of inflammation due to delayed treatment and the hot weather. We’ll apply some medicine later, and remember to change it twice daily. To avoid touching the affected area, wear loose clothing. I’ll prepare a prescription for you later.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Chu Zhaoyi said, standing up and calling for Chu Yao to prepare the horse.
As he was about to leave, he seemed to remember something, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately said nothing.
Fu Nian remained seated with his head bowed, waiting obediently for the physician to prepare the ointment and apply it to his burn.
Once the ointment was applied, Fu Nian realized that the burn was much larger than he had seen.
Because of the extensive burn on his back, Fu Nian couldn’t reach it himself, and he would face difficulties when it was time to change the dressing at night.
He was pondering whether to find a secluded corner and try to apply medicine to his back with a stick when a servant came to deliver a message.
“Brother Fu, Young Master Chu asked me to tell you to go to his bedroom to prepare the bath.”
Fu Nian turned his head and saw an elderly servant approaching with unsteady steps. He quickly replied, “Alright.”
After accidentally injuring someone last time, he had been so scared that he didn’t dare to go near the young servant with the same surname as Chu Zhaoyi.
Fu Nian walked quickly in the direction of the bedroom.
When he reached the door, he hesitated.
Last time, he had entered without thinking, and the result was…
“Just come in.”
This time, he hadn’t tried to poison the young prince, and he hadn’t done anything questionable, so he had no reason to be apprehensive.
Thinking this, Fu Nian walked into the room.
Inside the bedroom, there was no bathtub. Fu Nian was just beginning to wonder when he heard a command.
“Sit.”
Fu Nian had no choice but to sit down.
As soon as he sat down, he felt the young prince move around behind him and pull his clothes open.
The sound of scissors deftly cut through the bandages covering his wounds.
Was the young prince… helping him change his dressings?
The movements were so gentle that Fu Nian didn’t realize it immediately. He took a surreptitious glance before confirming.
Fu Nian was startled. “Your Highness, I can do it myself.”
“If you were injured due to me, then it’s my responsibility to take care of it,” Chu Zhaoyi replied without stopping his actions. “By the way, the injury on your forehead wasn’t caused by a fall, was it? It looks like it was inflicted by Royal Father.”
Fu Nian hesitated. He had concealed the injury on his forehead, claiming it was due to a fall.
“He told you what the scroll is for, didn’t he?” Chu Zhaoyi continued, his hands skillfully applying the ointment.
It was a scroll containing evidence of a general conspiring with royal relatives and rebelling against the court.
“Yes, but Your Highness took it… to replace Crown Prince’s attempt to gain favor with His Majesty, right?” Fu Nian asked, even though he knew that Chu Zhaoyi was likely a part of the conspiracy. He held on to a glimmer of hope with this question.
If Chu Zhaoyi was indeed part of the conspiracy, then helping Chu Zhaoyi seize the evidence meant that he had unintentionally joined their cause.
Making such a significant mistake, if he confessed or was discovered, he would have no choice but to face execution.
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