Chapter 103
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The Crown Prince didn’t understand Father Emperor’s meaning. Tearfully, he looked towards the Emperor, hoping for clarification.
A sense of guilt engulfed the Crown Prince’s heart. Had the Emperor been in good health at this moment, he would have willingly admitted his fault and pleaded for the removal of his status as the Crown Prince.
However, with the political situation unstable and threats all around, he could not shirk his responsibility during the Emperor’s critical illness.
But it seemed like the Emperor’s words imply that he should give up his position as the Crown Prince.
Confusion now clouded the Emperor’s mind.
He didn’t know what had happened in the military camp. The intention to slowly teach the Crown Prince lessons had now run out of time.
He could only focus on key points, tightly holding the Crown Prince’s hand as he said, “The new reform is not a long-term solution. I promise to implement it temporarily… I want you to witness the results. If you ascend to the throne, you must not enforce this new reform nationwide.”
The Crown Prince was taken aback, completely unprepared for Father Emperor to bring up these political matters at this moment.
Moreover, the new reform had clearly been successful. Why would Father Emperor suddenly say such things?
The Emperor took a deep breath. “Officials… must not… compete with the people for profit. Even if your initial intention is to benefit the people, once power interferes with civilian transactions, the new reform will eventually become tools for corrupt officials to amass wealth, becoming a breeding ground for corruption and oppression of the people! If I had three more years, I could have shown you the flaws firsthand. Now, it’s perhaps… perhaps…”
The Crown Prince, unable to fully grasp Father Emperor’s advice, hastily reassured, “I understand, Father Emperor! Please don’t worry!”
The Emperor, seemingly depleted of his last ounce of strength, lifted his head slightly, then slowly let it sink back into the pillow. His vacant eyes gazed into the emptiness as he murmured, “Where’s Old Fifth?”
The Crown Prince tightened his grip on the Emperor’s hand, trembling as he comforted, “Fifth Brother… he faced some difficulties in the Khitan camp. On my own initiative, I sent him back to the palace for recovery.”
“That is good… that is good.” Relief washed over the Emperor’s face. His eyelids gradually drooped, his voice weakening. “Old Seventh, come and tell me and your Mother Consort a story… something other than Houyi shooting down the suns. Choose a different one.”
The Crown Prince held onto Father Emperor’s hand, bowed his head, wiping tears on his sleeve. Taking a deep breath, he mimicked the simple voice of Seventh Brother. “Does Father Emperor want your son to tell the story of Jingwei filling the sea?”
With closed eyes, the Emperor’s withered lips purse slightly. A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, as if jesting about Old Seventh’s limited repertoire of stories.
His body, as heavy as a thousand catties, lay on the bed, while his soul s among his wife and children. He listened to Old Seventh’s voice narrating mythical stories.
The children gradually shrank. Even the matured Lu Jinan now resembled the appearance of a six-year-old radish head. The younger children disappear one by one.
In the end, even Jinan gradually vanished into a bright white mist.
The Emperor looked around in confusion, as if trying to hold onto something. The mist before him finally cleared a bit, revealing a woman with a phoenix crown and rosy veil, her smile radiant. It was his wife, just like she looked on their wedding day at the age of nineteen.
The young girl, recently becoming the Crown Princess, shyly glanced up. She gave a faint smile to the man who hadn’t yet become the Emperor, her smile concealing an admiring affection. “Second Lord, it’s getting late. Let’s go home.”
“Father Emperor!”
“Father Emperor!”
On the ninth day of the fifth lunar month, in the thirty-second year of Linan, the Emperor passed away.
The Crown Prince said the Second Prince had brought troops from afar to assist.
A few days later, witnessing a large troop returning to the capital and the Tong family’s army withdrawing south, leaving only the Forbidden Army stationed at the border, Xue Yao breathed a sigh of relief.
Indeed, it was still the Crown Prince who could keep the Third Prince in check.
With reinforcements approaching and no pursuers behind, Xue Yao stopped risking his life fleeing. Ignoring the Crown Prince’s advice to find an inn and rest, he retraced his steps, returning to the haystack where he had parted ways with the chubby cub that night.
Following his memory, he walked in the direction the chubby cub had led the pursuers, like a mother hen searching for her chicks in the vast desert.
All along, Xue Yao thought he had a good sense of direction. It was only in the desert that he realized he was completely lost.
Spending twenty taels of silver, he hired a middle-aged couple near the relay station with camels to accompany him in the vast desert to search for someone.
After a day of searching, the old man pulling the camel asked him, “How long has your family been lost in this desert?”
“Five days.”
The old man remained silent, exchanged a glance with his wife, then turned to tell Xue Yao, “If you can’t find them, the silver won’t be refunded.”
Xue Yao ignored him.
He couldn’t possibly not find the chubby cub. Just this morning, he had heard the system prompt, warning him that the sense of security had dropped by two points.
The chubby cub must be obediently waiting somewhere, expecting the little reader-in-waiting to lead him home for milk.
The fluctuating notifications became the only connection between Xue Yao and Lu Qian.
Sometimes, after several hours without a drop in the sense of security, Xue Yao felt like he was suffocating. He had to wait for the system prompt to sound again before catching his breath and continuing the search.
Heading east out of the desert, he finally encountered some nomadic tribes on the border.
Xue Yao inquired with the locals, asking if they had seen a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy, similar in height, chubby-cheeked, with a pointed chin, often telling mythical stories in exchange for milk.
Most of the locals couldn’t speak Han Chinese, but they warmly found a villager who knew a bit of the language for Xue Yao.
Upon hearing that he was looking for a Han Chinese boy, the villager immediately informed Xue Yao that several Han Chinese had recently visited their village, and there were two boys around fourteen or fifteen.
One of the boys had sneaked into a villager’s sheep pen at midnight, secretly milking the sheep. The villager had caught him in the act yesterday.
After the villager finished speaking, he looked at Xue Yao with a scrutinizing gaze, as if asking if the milk thief was the person he was looking for.
The middle-aged couple who helped guide them also looked at Xue Yao with suspicion.
Xue Yao immediately stated firmly, “The other one is the boy I’m looking for!”
In truth, he felt guilty and wanted to drag the villager to find the milk-stealing kid immediately.
The milk thief was his cub!
A hundred percent sure!
When the villager heard that the other boy was the one Xue Yao was looking for, he immediately showed warm smiles, saying the other boy had helped their people defeat a group of bandits. He had returned all the stolen goods to the owners.
The middle-aged couple looked at Xue Yao with suspicion.
Xue Yao immediately nodded solemnly, “It’s him! He’s my child! Since childhood, he has read the classics and is quite warm-hearted and just!”
Xue Yao forcibly chose the outstanding kid, creating a false family relationship. Later, he pulled the villager aside and quietly asked, “Where is the kid who was stealing sheep milk? He might be someone I know. Take me to see him. How much sheep milk did he drink from you? I’ll compensate double.”
The villager immediately led Xue Yao to the house where the milk-stealing troublemaker was being held.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t the chubby cub.
The detained teenager looked to be around sixteen or seventeen, his features more mature than his chubby cub’s. His skin was rough and dark, likely weathered by the desert winds and sun in recent days, with dry, peeling lips.
Though unfamiliar, Xue Yao, who had been searching for the kid, felt empathy. He redeemed the boy from the villager’s custody, handed him some money, and parted ways without asking too many questions.
With this, only the courageous kid remained.
Realizing that the hero couldn’t be the chubby cub, Xue Yao, with self-awareness, still inquired about the whereabouts of the boy.
The villager mentioned that when the boy returned the stolen items, he was accompanied by two elders. One of them, an elderly man with silver hair and a youthful face, often drank at the village eatery, wandering without a fixed schedule but buying alcohol from the foothills every two or three days.
•••
Lu Qian had been gone for more than half an hour. Looking up, he found the surrounding trees strangely familiar, as if he had returned to the starting point.
“Kid, don’t waste your efforts. Without me guiding you, you’ll never find your way out of this maze!”
Following the voice, indeed, the white-haired old man was still sitting on the same branch as before.
In a fit of anger, His Highness sat down cross-legged on the ground and threatened in a huff, “Your grandpa is going to report to the officials.”
“Reporting after committing city-wide massacre isn’t reporting. It’s surrendering. If you want to report, let me go report and catch you as a petty offender.”
“Your grandpa didn’t commit a city-wide massacre.”
“Alright then, you’re just a little swindler. That still requires reporting!”
Lu Qian ignored him, rested for a moment, then stood up again, unsheathing his sword and slashing horizontally at a tree in front of him.
“What are you doing?” The old man immediately stood up straight.
“Leaving a mark.” Lu Qian took a step and moved to the next tree, delivering another horizontal cut.
“You can’t cut down trees! You’re being unreasonable!” The old man leaped down and stood in front of the tree, blocking him from cutting.
Lu Qian frowned. “Your grandpa is busy and needs to return to the capital.”
“Who exactly are you? Where do you want to go? As long as you’re willing to reveal your true identity, I’ll immediately send you off.”
Lu Qian coldly turned his head away. “Yaoyao mentioned that revealing one’s identity is forbidden.”
“Who is Yaoyao?”
Lu Qian didn’t answer.
Old Xu heard the child muttering in his sleep last night, “Yaoyao, add another spoonful of honey for your grandpa.” It didn’t sound like something urgent.
“If you’re in a hurry to get home for honey,” the old man cautiously spoke, “We have native bees on the hill behind. If you want honey, there’s always fresh honey available.”
“Who said your grandpa wants honey?”
His Highness’ stomach, upon hearing this, immediately betrayed him with a loud growl.
The old man, hearing the kid’s hungry stomach, laughed and waved. “Go back after filling your stomach first. Old Qiu bought two pounds of pig head meat today.”
His Highness’ stomach forced him to follow the old man to eat.
To lower the martial arts prodigy’s guard, the two old men feigned exhaustion after their meal, hoping to put the youth at ease.
The two pretended to nap while secretly observing the youth’s movements.
Lu Qian was also observing the movements of the two old men.
Hearing the rhythmic snoring of the old men, Lu Qian stealthily slipped out of the door.
“Forget it, if he truly has no intention of becoming a disciple, let him leave the mountain.” The Sword Saint sighed with regret. “It’s just a pity.”
Old Xu couldn’t accept it. “This kid just doesn’t want to trust us.”
“Hold on!” The Sword Saint suddenly raised his hand, signaling him not to speak.
After a moment of silence, the Sword Saint looked surprised at Old Xu. “He didn’t leave the mountain. He went to the back hill.”
“…Let’s go check.”
A quarter of an hour later.
The two martial experts held their breath, hiding outside the window, watching the boy licking a small piece of beehive inside the cabin on the back hill. Then, he nonchalantly walked out as if nothing had happened.
He met face to face with the two martial experts.
His Highness, who stole honey, looked composed. “Your grandpa is looking for the way down the mountain.”
The Sword Saint pointed to the corner of his mouth. “You still have honey on your mouth.”
Lu Qian, without bothering to wipe off the honey at the corner of his mouth, boldly defended himself, “Your grandpa had honey before leaving the capital.”
Old Xu: “Then you haven’t washed your face for several months, right?”
“A real man doesn’t mind hardship and dirt.”
Sword Saint: “If you become my disciple, you’ll get two jars of honey every day.”
Lu Qian: “Your grandpa only wants to be a disciple of Sword Saint.”
A moment of stunned silence followed.
Sword Saint: “I am the Sword Saint!”
Lu Qian: “Your name is Qiu Yichen.”
“Since you want to be a disciple of the Sword Saint, you should know that the Sword Saint’s real name is Qiu Yichen. Nobody has the last name ‘Sword’ and the first name ‘Saint’. It’s a title given by the martial world!”
His Highness skeptically scrutinized Old Qiu. “You don’t even have a sword.”
“Our innate constitution makes us natural swordsmen. We conceal the sword energy invisibly. When there’s qi in the heavens and the earth, there’s a sword in our hands.”
Lu Qian looked indifferent. “Doesn’t make sense.”
The Sword Saint circulated his qi and suddenly swung toward the long knife at Lu Qian’s waist—
A light sound.
Lu Qian lowered his head and saw that a portion of his knife handle had been shaved off.
The Sword Saint looked at the boy with hands behind his back. “This is my sword, what do you think?”
Lu Qian suddenly knelt down, raised his head, and clasped his hands. “Master, your son wants to ask something.”
“Hey! You changed your address way too quickly!” Old Xu exploded in anger. “I split a tree that day, and you didn’t call me master. Old Qiu shaves off a part of your wooden knife handle, and now you call him master?!”
“My son?” The Sword Saint looked at the boy with a frown. “Who exactly are you…”
Lu Qian solemnly said, “Fifth Brother is trapped by the Khitans. Your son urgently needs a fast horse to return to the capital for help. There’s no time to waste.”
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