Chapter 96
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For a natural-born hunter, instinct preceded contemplation.
The prey’s perception speed of the killing intent was slower than that of the most elite hunter.
If, at this moment, the Seventh Prince’s instincts were to ignore the warmth that had taken root in his heart due to the environment he had grown up in over the past ten years, he wouldn’t have recognized the words “big brother” on the Third Prince’s face.
His instincts told him that the starting point for his killing route was the person with the words ‘big brother’ on his face. This caused a brief conflict and disharmony between his body and mind.
In that fleeting moment, the prey, slow by a beat, sensed the danger.
The Third Prince’s long knife still dripped with blood. He turned his head, gave his youngest brother a mocking smile, but when their gazes met, a sudden and inexplicable contraction in his chest occurred because the Seventh Prince’s eyes filled him with fear.
This was probably the feeling when being stared at by a wild beast or a python.
The survival instinct prompted the Third Prince to immediately reveal the ace he had kept before coming —
“You two little troublemakers really make Big Brother worry. Both influenced by that Xue Yao who’s always around you. Third Brother just sent someone to take him away.”
The Third Prince saw both younger brothers’ eyes shift from hostility to terror simultaneously, further confirming that he had hit a nerve. Unable to resist, he revealed a kindly smile, threatening in a gentle tone as elders teach the younger ones, “If you continue causing trouble, Third Brother will hold Xue Yao accountable.”
“Where did you take Xue Yao?” The Sixth Prince’s voice trembled.
“To a safe place.” The Third Prince bent down, wiped the blood off the blade on the corpse, sheathed it, and spoke leisurely, “Behave, both of you. Accompany Big Brother, lead the troops to eradicate the remnants of the Khitans, avenge Father Emperor, and I’ll let Xue Yao return to the palace with you.”
“We’ve already accepted the surrender of the Khitans. If you go back on your word, what about Fifth Brother?” The Sixth Prince struggled to negotiate with a semblance of calm.
“Your Fifth Brother wouldn’t agree to let this pack of Khitan dogs go so easily.” The Third Prince raised an eyebrow, smiling.
“Big Brother, return Yaoyao to your son.”
Hearing the Seventh Prince suddenly shift from a stern tone to a more coquettish one, the Third Prince almost burst out laughing.
Despite this chubby little brother having some issues with his mind, there were moments when he displayed sharpness. For instance, his self-address, though often mistaken, followed a pattern. The Seventh Prince only referred to himself as “your son” when expressing vulnerability.
This unexpected show of weakness left the Third Prince, who had missed the chance for the heir’s position, feeling refreshed.
Logically, after such a display of vulnerability, submission should follow.
So, when the Third Prince was about to smile ambiguously, he never expected the Seventh Prince to suddenly charge forward. The movement was so swift that, by the time the Third Prince reacted, a tooth in his left cheek had already been shattered by the suddenly incoming fist, and his body crashed to the ground under the impact.
Along with the slightly sweet taste of blood, that half-broken tooth slipped on the back of his tongue, narrowly escaping being swallowed by Third Prince.
“Big Brother, return Yaoyao to your son?”
With the Seventh Prince’s blade pressed against his throat, the Third Prince, eyes gleaming with a golden light, heard this plea with a coquettish tone once again.
It was only now that Tong Ningzhao reacted. Just as he was about to draw his sword and step forward, he saw the Seventh Prince, with a single knee pressed against the Third Prince’s chest. The blade pressed down another two notches.
“Your Highness, don’t be impulsive!” Tong Ningzhao tactfully took a step back.
The Third Prince blinked forcefully until the objects in front of him finally ceased their spinning. The shame of being struck down by his younger brother overcame the fear, prompting him to immediately reach for the sword at his waist.
The Seventh Prince’s knee pressed on his chest, left hand gripping the hilt, a swift lateral strike with the right hand instantly pushed back the half-drawn blade into its sheath, and simultaneously, a fist landed on his upper abdomen.
“Agh!” The Third Prince’s eyes widened, intense pain rendering him voiceless. His mouth gasped for air like a fish on the verge of dehydration, opening and closing in uneven breaths.
“Big Brother, return Yaoyao to your son?”
Under the successive heavy blows, the Third Prince once again heard this phrase tinged with a coquettish meaning.
He suddenly realized that the Seventh Prince wasn’t showing weakness to him but to the idea of “losing Xue Yao” itself.
The reader-in-waiting who had accompanied the Seventh Prince’s growth turned out to be genuinely significant to him.
“Go ahead.” The Third Prince, panting, flashed a sinister smile at the Seventh Prince. “You treacherous and unfilial beast! For the sake of securing the temporary heir position, you commit fratricide and treason, disregaeding the Crown Prince’s life. Go ahead! Once I reach the underworld, I’ll surely catch that little attendant of yours and inquire how he turned my brother into such a beast.”
“Yaoyao won’t go to the underworld,” the Seventh Prince firmly told his elder brother. “Your Highness will take him back to the palace.”
“Do you know where he is?” The Third Prince sneered, a bloody tooth adding an eerie touch. He slowly raised his head, disregarding the blade cutting into his skin. “Wherever I go, he goes with me. Go ahead, Seventh Brother.”
•••
Xue Yao, blindfolded, mouth gagged, hands and feet bound, had given up on whimpering for help. The continued punches and kicks, acquired through previous whimpering, could potentially lead to internal bleeding and a violent demise.
In a completely unknown environment, time felt endlessly prolonged. After enduring for a while, Xue Yao resumed his whimpering. He would rather deplete part of his life to confirm that there were still people around him, not abandoned in the wilderness, waiting for wild beasts to devour.
During another round of moaning, the man who kicked him demanded, “What’s with the yelling in the middle of the night?” This reassured Xue Yao.
No soldiers would accompany him to stay in the western wilderness in the middle of the night. He had been ambushed only that afternoon, but it felt like a day had passed.
Once assured that his situation wasn’t dire enough to face imminent death, Xue Yao began to worry about the chubby cub.
If the Third Prince’s men dared to lay hands on him, it meant that a reckoning had begun with the Seventh Prince.
How was the situation now?
Had they started fighting internally?
Which side was the Northwestern Governor-General standing on?
All the worries paused for Xue Yao, who was on the verge of wetting himself. He heard someone’s brisk footsteps approaching. Then, that person uttered a few words to someone else, like a secret code, but Xue Yao couldn’t comprehend.
Subsequently, the guard untied his feet, helped him up, removed the cloth wad from his mouth, and gave his shoulder a push. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” Although sensing that the other party wasn’t in the mood for conversation, Xue Yao still impolitely asked.
There was no reply. The force increased, pushing him again.
With his eyes covered, Xue Yao was half-pushed, half-supported, moving forward, turning, and then moving forward again.
After an unknown duration, the guard beside him untied the blindfold and the binding ropes.
By this time, it was getting slightly bright. After adjusting for a moment, Xue Yao opened his eyes to find himself back at the entrance of the military camp, having traversed what felt like five miles, with no clue about where he had been taken.
The guard held his arm and led him straight to the Seventh Prince’s large tent, then instructed, “Go in.”
Xue Yao suddenly became uncertain whether this person was friend or foe. To be allowed to return and see the chubby cub was truly a moment of gratitude. He dashed into the tent.
His first glance, as he wished, fell upon the chubby cub sitting on the couch. After a brief excitement, he noticed two high-ranking Tong family guards standing on either side of the chubby cub.
The chubby cub had changed into the standard attire of a prince, without even a ceremonial dagger at his side.
Having never experienced such a life-and-death separation in his life, the chubby cub, surprisingly calm, looked up at Xue Yao. “Are you alright?”
Xue Yao saw the chubby cub’s paws resting on his own legs, but it wasn’t a relaxed posture. Instead, his fingers pinched and pressed against his legs, making them look pale due to the exertion.
For the first time, he saw the chubby cub revealing a composed demeanor in the face of real danger. However, it didn’t bring comfort to Xue Yao. Instead, it made him heartbroken to the point of teary eyes. There was no way he could display the same aura as the Seventh Prince in front of the two Tong family soldiers.
For the first time, he lagged behind the chubby cub.
But soon, he adjusted and, pretending to be fearless, smiled. “I’m fine. Did Your Highness rise so early? Have you eaten your meal?”
The usual banter between master and servant was also a form of contempt for the two guards.
Xue Yao walked confidently to the edge of the bed, asking a few casual questions as if nothing had happened.
Noticing wrinkles in the chubby cub’s inner garment, Xue Yao thought he must have changed into this outfit himself. With no one to attend to him, Xue Yao sat down, leaned forward, and unfastened the front of the garment to straighten it.
This brought them closer.
The chubby cub’s thumb suddenly touched the bruise at the corner of his mouth.
“Who did this?”
This question, accompanied by a faint growl, made Xue Yao suddenly lose control. The tears he had struggled to hold back now rolled down uncontrollably.
“Just wait. Your grandpa will beat up whoever did it.” the Seventh Prince’s promise, delivered with such a solemn expression, had never been broken. He would indeed beat up anyone who bullied Yaoyao.
“Yes!” Xue Yao replied as forcefully as possible, simultaneously vigorously wiping away the tears with his sleeve. He dared not look at the two guards beside him, afraid that this embarrassing scene would be noticed and once again affect the chubby cub’s dignity.
The choked sobs were making his throat ache.
Xue Yao had many questions he wanted to ask, such as where the commander of the Forbidden Army had gone, where the Sixth Prince had gone, what had happened, and why the Third Prince’s people were allowed to stay in the tent.
But evidently, now was not the time for detailed communication.
It would be some time later that he would learn the chubby cub had used two military tokens to exchange for him with Third Prince.
At this moment, he could only maintain the last vestiges of his dignity, pretending to be at ease while dining with the chubby cub under the gaze of two pairs of unfamiliar hostile eyes.
At noon, what was originally a lunch of fish and roasted lamb leg turned into a few spoonfuls of watery porridge.
Unlike before, the chubby cub didn’t playfully tease the adults to get meat. Instead, he behaved like a true Crown Prince, dining gracefully, rinsing his mouth, wiping his lips, and then quietly playing chess with Xue Yao to pass the time.
In his confusion, Xue Yao couldn’t maintain the true composure of the Seventh Prince. Every moment, he kept a watchful eye on the two guards, occasionally locking eyes with them, revealing traces of his anxious heart when discovered.
But Xue Yao soon realized the true reason for the chubby cub’s composure. It wasn’t about integrity but rather the existence of an escape plan.
Ambushing the guards on duty wasn’t challenging for the Seventh Prince. The difficulty lay in the three layers of guards outside the tent and the greater challenge of escaping with Xue Yao.
As they lay down that night, Xue Yao heard a whisper from the chubby cub beside him, “Don’t sleep.”
Xue Yao guessed that the Seventh Prince was preparing to take action.
The Third Prince’s men were unaware of children with a so-called “innate constitution,” unaware that such children could sense their presence through thick tent curtains or even across dozens of yards of air. The slightest lapse in vigilance at night could become the child’s opportunity to escape.
After swiftly incapacitating the two guards inside the tent like lightning, the Seventh Prince removed their ceremonial daggers — one for each of them.
Following the Seventh Prince to the tent entrance, Xue Yao waited as the Seventh Prince assessed the airflow outside, seizing the opportune moment to slip out quietly.
When Xue Yao followed him out, thinking the coast was clear, he was startled to see two soldiers not far away. They were adding wood to a fire, but with their backs turned, ready to turn around at any moment.
Xue Yao’s heart skipped two beats. He gritted his teeth, maintained composure, and silently followed the Seventh Prince, slipping through the gap between two tents at the southern border.
Ahead, a patrol of guards happened to jog by.
Xue Yao held his breath to the limit, exhaling slowly and inhaling cautiously. The group of soldiers seemed to slow their pace. He immediately held his breath again, his whole body tense and trembling.
His cold body was suddenly embraced from behind by an arm, pulled into a warm and reassuring embrace.
Xue Yao’s restless phoenix eyes widened suddenly. He could feel the slightly warm breath of the Seventh Prince brushing past his ear. The tension in his body immediately eased a bit.
In this moment, even if he were caught and killed, it didn’t seem so terrifying anymore, as long as he was with the chubby cub.
Courage fueled him as he confidently followed the chubby cub, successfully escaping from the main army camp.
Like a bird, he sprinted through the pitch-black night of early summer, directionless, only following the footsteps of the Seventh Prince.
The legs, battered and injured from the previous night’s beating, quickly became unresponsive. Xue Yao no longer felt the presence of his two legs, but some instinct from somewhere still dragged them along with the chubby cub. However, his steps became increasingly erratic and slower.
Xue Yao feared losing sight of him but didn’t want to shout and waste precious energy at a time like this.
Perhaps it would be better to gradually drift apart in this dark night, he thought. As long as the chubby cub could escape back to the capital.
Soon, he realized he truly couldn’t hear the footsteps of the chubby cub anymore.
Without the guiding force, Xue Yao finally gave up on himself. Letting his two legs completely go on strike, the prolonged running filled his throat with a metallic, sweet taste.
He thought about lying down.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed his in the darkness, and the chubby cub’s voice sounded in his ear, “Yaoyao, the relay station is only half an hour away. Their horses won’t catch up.”
Xue Yao felt as if he had suddenly come alive. The Seventh Prince had stopped and walked back to find him. He hadn’t left after all.
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