Chapter 97
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
Xue Yao couldn’t walk anymore. Just a moment ago, he could mechanically take a couple of steps, but once he stopped, he completely collapsed. He didn’t know how to explain it to the Seventh Prince.
Saying, “Your Highness, please go ahead,” would be utterly pointless.
Over the past few days, the chubby cub’s sense of security dropped to a mere 37, causing him to nearly withdraw from social interactions altogether.
The Seventh Prince pondered things in his own world, made decisions, and executed them without seeking anyone’s approval.
So, Xue Yao didn’t speak empty words. He gritted his teeth, exerted force from the base of his legs, trying to take a few more steps forward.
Completely numb legs caused him to lose balance immediately, falling backward. Midway, his wrist was grabbed, pulled forward, altering his trajectory, and he toppled into the arms of the Seventh Prince.
“Yaoyao, stand properly,” reminded the Seventh Prince to his little reader-in-waiting who wasn’t walking properly.
“My legs have gone numb. Your Highness, please return to the capital. I’ll catch up shortly.”
“Not possible.”
The moon was also obscured by dark clouds, surrounded by absolute darkness.
Xue Yao straightened his posture, reaching out to find the chubby face of the Seventh Prince.
Despite groping in the wrong direction, the chubby face felt just like it did in childhood, willingly nestling into his palm.
“I beg Your Highness to listen again. They want to capture you, not me. As long as you return to the capital, gather the forces from the other seven routes for preparation. The Third Prince, with only a Northwestern army and the Tong family militia, surely won’t dare to harm you.”
Xue Yao sensed the departure of the chubby face from his palm. The Seventh Prince turned away and ordered, “Come up.”
Xue Yao reached out and felt the back of the Seventh Prince.
The chubby cub wanted to carry him away.
He couldn’t waste the chubby cub’s strength.
Xue Yao’s body couldn’t contain more sorrow. With one hand supporting the arm of the Seventh Prince and the other grabbing his own pants, he strained to lift his legs, attempting to use his hands to control them and keep running.
Hot tears streamed continuously down his cheeks, dispersed by the night wind in the vast darkness of the northwest.
He didn’t want the chubby cub to carry him, so he staggered forward like a toddler learning to walk.
Suddenly, a gust of wind brushed past his ear. The Seventh Prince abruptly bent down and horizontally lifted him, sprinting through a pitch-black night with no visible end or hope.
After an unknown duration of running, the Seventh Prince’s breath grew even heavier. Xue Yao’s palm felt the sweat on his back seeping through two layers of clothing, like a young creature desperately grappling with an adult rhinoceros.
Gradually adapting to the dense darkness, Xue Yao tilted his head, searching for the direction of the North Star. Anxiously, he reminded the Seventh Prince, “Is the first relay station this far? We can’t run in the wrong direction.”
The Seventh Prince glanced at him, then turned his head toward the ghostly, claw-like silhouettes of barren trees on the side. “The wind comes from the northwest desert. Where these trees lean is the southeast direction. Follow this path straight, and when you see lights, you’ll be there. Yaoyao, remember this well.”
Xue Yao had never heard the chubby cub sound so weak. Immediately, he patted his shoulder, signaling him to let go so he could run on his own.
“Rest a bit more, and then your grandpa won’t care about you,” the Seventh Prince insisted, refusing to let him down.
Sensing his legs had regained feeling, Xue Yao was about to struggle to the ground when the rhythmic sound of horse hooves echoed through the silent night. The emptiness made the hoofbeats seem to come from all directions.
As the sound of hooves approached at a speed double their escape, Xue Yao was already tucked into a nearby thicket by the Seventh Prince.
Xue Yao never realized horses could run so fast.
Cavalry from the distance rapidly closed in. He prayed that this group of horsemen could maintain their speed and swiftly pass by.
Hiding in the grass, indeed, horses thundered past them, followed by the cacophony of countless hooves.
Xue Yao clenched his fist, praying for the sound to fade away, but suddenly heard a neigh as the horses halted.
“No footprints!” The lead officer dismounted, pressing a torch against the sandy ground, meticulously inspecting. Then, he reported again, “No footprints!”
Xue Yao’s hands and feet turned as cold as ice, his heartbeat growing heavier.
Suddenly, the low, hoarse voice of the Seventh Prince reached his ears, “Run one more kilometer, show your waist tag, call for the finest horse, and go back to the capital to find Second Brother.”
When Xue Yao realized what the chubby cub was about to do, he reached out, attempting to grab the hem of his clothes, but couldn’t keep up with his darting speed.
A solider of the Tong family near the thicket was knocked off his horse by a scabbard.
Following that, like waves of swaying wheat, soldiers fell one after another, over a hundred elite cavalry split open in the middle. They helplessly watched as a young figure flipped onto a batch of warhorses, pulled the reins, and galloped towards the northern desert.
In an instant, everyone pulled the reins, turning to pursue. The last fallen soldier also climbed onto a comrade’s horse, retrieving a bow and arrows from his back.
Amidst the thunderous sound of hooves and swirling dust, over a hundred cavalry chased after the fleeing Seventh Prince.
The incessant neighing of horses drowned Xue Yao’s wailing in the despair-filled northwest night sky.
The Seventh Prince, alone on horseback, diverted the first wave of pursuers. Xue Yao wiped away tears with a grimace, grit his teeth, stood up, and crawled towards the relay station one kilometer away.
He needed to escape before the first batch of soldiers could hunt him down. Otherwise, there would be no one left for the chubby cub to rely on.
Running and stumbling, his facial expression numbed to the point of being somewhat comical.
He had to numb himself to shield against the faintly heard whizzing sound of an arrow just now.
Impossible.
The Third Prince wouldn’t dare let the Seventh Prince die within the border. Even if soldiers shot arrows, it was just a scare tactic.
Even if it wasn’t just a scare tactic, in this pitch-black night, they couldn’t hit anything.
Constantly reassuring himself, any deeper thoughts would be unbearable. He had to survive, return to the capital, gather reinforcements, and rescue the chubby cub to give him a good scolding.
He had been too kind to the chubby cub, allowing him to be so willful, daring to risk his life to divert pursuers for a mere attendant.
It was because he had been too kind that he let Xue Yao experience the excruciating pain of a thousand arrows piercing his heart.
He couldn’t give up. Xue Yao wailed and ran wildly, determined not to let the rebellious brat escape this time.
•••
The Fifth Prince waited on the other side of the river for three days but never saw the Khitan envoy bringing the Khitan Prince to exchange him.
The guards and food deliverers became less respectful, but fortunately, he couldn’t understand Khitan, oblivious to any insulting words they might utter.
The next afternoon, the Khitan general who spoke Chinese entered the tent with a grim expression. Seating himself unceremoniously at the low table, he crossed his legs and spoke in a hushed tone, “It’s been too long. We can discuss terms by crossing the river. The Great Qi Emperor is too cunning.”
“You’re the damn cunning ones!” the Fifth Prince exploded immediately, “Even the aged Khitan King can be used as bait, deceiving my Father Emperor into an ambush. Do you still have any regard for father and son relationships?”
“Our King is a hero. Even if he lives another hundred years, he would still lure enemies into a trap alone.” The Khitan General glared at the Fifth Prince. “You took our prince in exchange. The Great Qi Emperor has seven princes. We have only one. Now you change your stance. That’s the real cunning move.”
The Fifth Prince was suddenly speechless.
When the Khitan general mentioned the seven princes of the Great Qi Emperor, the Fifth Prince suddenly realized – had Father Emperor abandoned him? Was this an attempt to provoke the Khitans into an all-out battle?
At this moment, he didn’t feel disheartened. Instead, his thoughts became chaotic: When exchanging back, he should set some conditions. For instance, asking Father Emperor to release Mother Consort from the palace, allowing her to transform back into the falcon freely soaring in the sky.
In this way, he would not only save Father Emperor but also rescue Mother Empress. It would be a sacrifice with great gains.
Eldest Brother would surely praise his bravery and decisiveness. In critical moments, he could handle things better than Eldest Brother’s cherished Seventh Brother.
“I underestimated Old Fifth before.”
If Eldest Brother said something like that, the Fifth Prince thought, it would be the highest praise.
•••
In the early summer afternoon, the sun had scorched entire patches of shrubs, leaving only the cacti stubbornly soaking up the sunlight, hot enough to cook an egg.
The once agile pair of feet from last night now stepped slowly on the sandy ground. The left boot, with its front already torn open, revealed white socks stained with dark blood at the top.
The Seventh Prince glanced at the sun’s position, then turned to look at the footprints he had left, gradually being buried and erased by the blowing sand.
There were no cavalrymen catching up anymore.
It was fortunate that the darkness last night, devoid of any moonlight, allowed the stolen horse to lead away the pursuers.
He relaxed, bending over with hands supporting his knees, sitting on the scorching hot sand.
As he bent his left arm, an immediate numb pain shot through it. He could feel warm blood oozing from the arrow-wound.
The Seventh Prince used his right hand to undo the long strip of cloth around his left arm.
The bandaging from last night was too hastily done. To redo it, he endured the pain, patiently untangling the knots. A gentle tug made the Seventh Prince inhale sharply.
The blood on the cloth had congealed, adhering to the wound, making it difficult to proceed.
The pain made the Seventh Prince refrain from further pulling at the wound. With a thud, he lay on the ground, starting a soft “hmm hmm hmm” humming. If Xue Yao were there, he would surely promise another two pots of milk on the spot.
However, the prince stopped humming after a short while, realizing there was no one around to witness his coquetry.
A pair of hazel eyes stood out from his dust-covered face, staring blankly at the azure sky.
If Xue Yao were present at this moment, he would surely notice that under the direct sunlight, the prince’s eyes turned into a beautiful molten gold color, making the dirt-smeared chubby face more tolerable.
“Does Your Highness want some milk?” Due to the significant loss of fluids, the once youthful voice of the Seventh Prince became hoarse.
He wanted to reassure himself by asking the question again, but he could only utter the word “Your” before losing his voice.
No one had informed this pampered young prince that lying like this, even if he didn’t die from cavalry arrows, would lead to death by dehydration.
It was the grumbling sound of his stomach that saved the life of the Seventh Prince.
Regardless, His Highness had to find sustenance.
The best would be a bowl of milk and a roasted game hen cooked by Xue Yao. The prince was craving it.
With a longing for food, the Seventh Prince ventured out of the wilderness and into a valley overgrown with weeds.
Over the dilapidated temple near the foot of the northern mountain, a white wisp of smoke unexpectedly rose.
The Seventh Prince’s stomach, ahead of him, deduced that the smoke belonged to freshly prepared food, intensifying its increasingly frantic “rumble rumble.”
“Alright, alright, your grandpa gets it.” The impatient prince bowed his head to negotiate with his own stomach, “As long as there are no official soldiers, you’ll eat your food. Just be quiet for now.”
Perhaps not fully trusting the His Highness’ promise, the stomach went even more berserk with “rumble rumble,” sounding increasingly maniacal.
“Keep making noise, and you won’t get to eat at all,” His Highness sternly warned his stomach, secretly yearning for a meal.
The stomach might have sensed that its screaming could hinder the master’s covert activities. After all, no thief carries a built-in alarm system.
Wanting to eat required adhering to the rules, so the stomach gradually reluctantly ceased its rumbling.
Consequently, a moment later, none of the five men in the small dilapidated temple noticed anyone surveilling them, but the Seventh Prince had already scrutinized each of their faces.
These people weren’t soldiers, nor were they eunuchs, and their attire didn’t resemble that of attendants.
Apart from the imperial realm, the Seventh Prince hadn’t encountered men beyond these three categories, so the expression on his small face became alert once again.
If you enjoy this novel, support the Translator ginevre on her ko-fi account :))
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
