Chapter 6
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As he continued thrusting, his limb gradually went numb.
When he stopped, Fu Nian discarded his arm and forearm armor by the roadside, dragging himself to a sheltered spot. He threw away the broken limb and carefully placed the functional leg beside a pile of neglected junk.
If this unconventional plan failed, he would at least have one leg left.
Breathing heavily, Fu Nian used his hand to cover the bloody residual limb while applying some blood to his face.
If someone didn’t know that Fu Nian’s limbs had originally been severed, they would think his appearance was quite tragic at first glance.
Not bad, much easier than removing the gu from his heart. Fu Nian thought to himself.
After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Fu Nian finally heard heavy footsteps outside.
“Search that way! Someone said they saw them near the Drum Tower!”
“There’s blood! Follow the trail of blood! They can’t have gone far!”
Finally, the pursuers arrived.
Fu Nian thought to himself that these guys were a bunch of useless fools, just as he had expected from the bunch he had expelled from Chu Zhaoyi’s side.
“They’re here! We found them!”
They had finally found him. Fu Nian muttered to himself, wondering how these people had even become palace guards in the first place.
“Why are you the only one here? Where’s Miss Qiao?”
Only now did Fu Nian raise his blood-covered face and look at the approaching guards. “A carriage… a carriage ran me over. I can’t escape, but Miss Qiao, I’ve sent her away.” Fu Nian spoke breathlessly.
With that, he collapsed onto the ground.
It wasn’t the pain that made one lose consciousness; Fu Nian was simply wary of revealing too much.
No one would expect an unconscious person to answer questions.
As expected, his act of pretending to be unconscious quickly discouraged any further inquiries.
Fu Nian listened as people outside scrambled about, directing efforts to move him onto a horse.
“What about Lian Nian’s hands and legs?”
“Who knows? He fainted and can’t talk. Maybe he got crushed into a pulp by the carriage. So much blood…”
Fu Nian thought to himself how clever it was to feign unconsciousness.
Returning from the Drum Tower to the Wang Mansion wasn’t far.
When they arrived at the gates of Xi Wang’s mansion, the sounds of wedding festivities had ceased, and there was no more bustling activity.
Fu Nian stole a glance, noting that the guests had all left, leaving only a few guards stationed at the entrance.
As he was carried into the main hall, Fu Nian heard that familiar voice roaring in anger, “How can there be just him?”
“Your Highness, he said a carriage ran over him, breaking his hands and legs before he fainted… the place was covered in blood. Also, Miss Qiao, he said she fled.”
“His hands and legs broken?” Xi Wang’s tone shifted from anger to almost a gleeful tone at this news, “It seems like karma has come full circle. Evil begets evil.” After saying this, Xi Wang even chuckled.
Fu Nian: …
He really wasn’t smart. Perhaps this was an instance of “fools have all the luck.”
“We don’t need to wait until tomorrow. Let’s take this guard to the Emperor now. At this hour, the Emperor must be dealing with affairs and won’t be resting early,” Xi Wang paused for a moment, then continued, “Prepare a carriage, we’re heading to the palace.”
“But, Your Highness, at this hour, His Majesty…”
“Prepare the carriage. His Majesty said that I can go to the palace whenever I want.”
Fu Nian felt overjoyed.
It was all worth it, stabbing himself a few times was worth it. He had been wondering about the next steps, but unexpectedly, he had achieved his goal without any effort.
However… Fu Nian glanced at his current appearance.
His face was smeared with blood, and the marks from stitching his face were still evident… although he looked completely different from before, he still felt that appearing in front of Chu Zhaoyi like this was quite undignified.
Anxiously, Fu Nian felt himself being lifted onto the carriage.
Well, in any case, Chu Zhaoyi wouldn’t recognize him now. What did it matter if he appeared undignified?
He didn’t know how long he had been lying there, but Fu Nian felt his blood nearly drying up before sensing the carriage coming to a stop.
When the curtain was lifted, Fu Nian squinted his eyes and took a look.
The towering vermilion palace walls, distant towering pavilions…
He was back in this place again.
Hearing footsteps approaching, Fu Nian closed his eyes.
“Bring him inside. Li Gonggong has been informed, and His Majesty has given his consent.”
He was being carried back to Chengyuan Hall, just like before.
Fu Nian remembered being confined to the bedchamber in Chengyuan Hall. His limbs were injured, and his prosthetic was removed.
He had managed to crawl out, only to be seized and dragged back before he could reach the door. From then on, he had a shackle added to his ankle.
When he entered the study in Chengyuan Hall, Fu Nian could feel a noticeable warmth.
“Your Majesty, it’s the same guard you appointed last time, named Lian Nian. He… originally intended to elope with my newly wedded Wangfei. However, before he could leave the city, a carriage ran over him and crushed his hands and legs. Our family physician couldn’t treat him, so we decided to bring him here to Your Highness in advance.”
“…Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough.”
Fu Nian’s heart skipped a beat.
Is he still coughing? Why does it sound even worse than a few days ago?
He couldn’t help but open his eyes and observe Chu Zhaoyi sitting in the distance.
Spring had arrived, but Chu Zhaoyi was still draped in a thick fur coat over his dragon robe, keeping close to a brazier… Fu Nian pondered, he had only been gone for a year, yet Chu Zhaoyi seemed to have grown weaker.
“Zhaoxi, calm down. His Majesty doesn’t have time for you.”
“Little Royal Uncle, why are you saying this to me…”
“This time, it was you who insisted on marrying that Qiao family girl, right? Zhaoxi, how many times have I told you, you’ve already grown into an adult, you can’t be so willful, understand?” After patiently advising, the young man addressed as “Little Royal Uncle” noticed that someone had been carried in at the door. “Why are the injuries so severe? Call for the imperial physician immediately. I thought it was a joke when Zhaoxi said his limbs were broken. Hurry and call them, lives are at stake!”
Fu Nian shifted his gaze.
This was Chu Zhaoyi’s little uncle… Fu Nian vaguely remembered his name was Chu Zhiyan or something like that, anyway, he was Chu Zhaoyi’s youngest senior. Upon closer inspection, he did indeed look younger than Chu Zhaoyi, with gentle features and a soft voice. It was hard to believe that such a gentle person could be related to Chu Zhaoyi.
“Zhaox! All I knew was that you were causing trouble. When did you start torturing people for fun?”
“I didn’t torture him, it’s true that he got crushed after running away. There was blood all over the road near the Drum Tower, if you don’t believe me, you can go and see…”
Fu Nian tried to suppress his voice, “Yes, it was me, I… myself…” He didn’t finish the second half of the sentence, only left with heavy breathing.
As soon as he finished speaking, Fu Nian saw the Little Royal Uncle who had been sitting at the table suddenly stand up and walk briskly over to him.
When he was about three steps away, Fu Nian felt the Little Royal Uncle suddenly freeze in place, “Your… Your Majesty, you should come and take a look…”
“Why are you making such a fuss? Zhaoxi has loved causing a commotion since young, are you learning from him?”
It was Chu Zhaoyi’s voice.
“Cough, cough, cough, cough,” he began, “I said to take the person to the side hall first. I will deal with it…”
Fu Nian shifted his gaze again and noticed the rarely seen emotion of “agitation” on Chu Zhaoyi’s cold face.
Immediately after, he saw Chu Zhaoyi striding towards him, directly kneeling down beside him, his breathing becoming heavy.
“Can this really be happening? Is it such a coincidence…” Chu Zhaoyi muttered softly, then suddenly looked up, grabbing the collar of Chu Zhaoxi kneeling next to him, “Tell me the truth, was his hands and legs really… really lost tonight?”
“It’s absolutely true. Before he eloped, he even injured several guards in this brother’s mansion… and, and he even knocked me unconscious…” Chu Zhaoxi awkwardly pointed to himself, “Although his face is now covered in blood and scars, the waist badge can’t be wrong.”
“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough…” Chu Zhaoyi had just been about to continue shouting something, when a fit of coughing overtook him.
In the end, he didn’t say anything more. He stood up, leaned against the wall for support, took a moment to compose himself, and then yelled, “Did you intentionally send him here in this condition? Chu Zhaoxi, have I indulged you too much? Are you not afraid to do anything?”
“Your younger brother really wouldn’t dare… the road outside the Drum Tower was covered in blood, really, I had no idea he would get run over by a carriage…” Chu Zhaoxi defended himself.
“Enough, enough, Your Majesty, please calm down. Zhaoxi probably really didn’t know. This… is too much of a coincidence.”
Fu Nian continued to lie still.
Indeed, when he was alive, apart from the close eunuchs and a few colleagues around Chu Zhaoyi, hardly anyone knew that the Shadow Guard by Chu Zhaoyi’s side had prosthetic hands and feet. All they knew was that there was someone, impervious to blades and arrows.
“Know what?” Chu Zhaoxi sounded aggrieved, “Why would I intentionally torture someone and send a maimed person to you?”
Maimed…
Hearing this word, Fu Nian’s brow furrowed slightly.
Though he had his eyes open, the blood on his face had probably concealed the fact that he was conscious.
“Maimed? In your eyes, is someone with missing limbs a maimed person?” Chu Zhaoyi’s voice grew noticeably stern as he spoke.
“Isn’t that the case? Older Brother chose him to be a guard. Could it be that I intentionally sent a person with broken hands and feet to you?”
Chu Zhaoyi immediately drew his sword from its sheath hanging on the wall upon hearing this, not bothering to respond. Without a word, he pressed the blade against Chu Zhaoxi’s shoulder.
“Chu Zhaoxi. Let me ask you again. In your eyes, is someone with missing limbs a maimed person?”
Chu Zhaoxi didn’t dare to speak.
Continuing with a deliberate tone, Chu Zhaoyi said, “I won’t give you a lesson today, but do you truly not understand the meaning of ‘an elder brother is like a father’?”
Fu Nian lying on the ground had a faint urge to laugh.
But after a moment’s consideration, he suppressed the impulse.
“But, isn’t being maimed…” Chu Zhaoxi started again, but Chu Zhaoyi didn’t wait for him to finish. He drew his sword once more.
Following that, Fu Nian felt a warm splash of blood land on his face.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please don’t be angry, Zhaoxi is still… “
“He’s not young anymore.” Chu Zhaoyi’s voice was cold as he wiped his bloodied sword clean, then glanced at the deep gash on Chu Zhaoxi’s arm that had already exposed the bone. “Remember, compared to someone who’s maimed, you’re even more like a maimed person.”
“If you dare to call someone with missing limbs a maimed person again, I’ll turn you into the very ‘maimed person’ you speak of.”
Chu Zhaoxi didn’t say a word, he clutched his wound, his face pale. He lowered his head to look at the wound on his right arm. Though it was deep enough to reveal the bone, it was evident that Chu Zhaoyi had exercised restraint in his strike; otherwise, he might have truly severed the bone.
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