Chapter 092 – The Tragic Prefect’s Son – “Mu Xin felt he couldn’t bear this love.” (07/10)
The next morning, Xie Chenyang woke up and felt beside him—already cold.
[Where’s my wife?]
You Huang: “By the desk.”
Xie Chenyang tossed aside the covers, sat up, slipped on his shoes, grabbed his hanging outer robe, and headed toward Mu Xin.
You Huang: “You’ve got eye boogers.”
Xie Chenyang wiped his eyes while silently thinking: [Dad, you’re so vulgar!]
You Huang: “Drop the end of that sentence.”
Xie Chenyang was utterly confused: [What… happened to you?]
You Huang: “I listened to a night of yellow wind and heavy rain.”
[A monsoon?]
“Yellow wind and yellow rain.”
Xie Chenyang’s expression shifted slightly: [Is that foreign prince really that fierce?]
“Fierce? Your dad’s the fierce one.”
Xie Chenyang felt slightly unsettled: [Dad, you should go get your brain washed… I mean, go rest first. We’ll talk after you’ve recovered.]
You Huang sighed softly. So naive.
Mu Xin had noticed his awakening. Seeing him linger, he called out, “Come here.”
Xie Chenyang responded with a single syllable, tying his robes as he approached the desk.
Mu Xin smoothed his robes and adjusted the sash. “Tomorrow, we depart the Central Plains.”
“Your Majesty’s letter has arrived?”
Xie Chenyang turned his head toward the missive on the desk. Mu Xin reached out and placed the letter before him. King Aina of Miying Kingdom possessed exquisite calligraphy. And had written in classical Chinese.
The reply was concise: essentially agreeing to Prince Zhen’an’s terms, promising to leave behind an informant, and instructing them to contact the informant beforehand should troops be needed.
“Finished reading?” Mu Xin tucked the letter away. “Once you’re done, go wash up. After breakfast, come with me to the Prince’s residence.”
—– Prince Zhen’an’s Residence.——-
A servant led them to the main courtyard.
Xie Chenyang caught sight of someone around another corner and halted. “Ah-xin, go ahead without me. I’d like to sit here for a while. I’ll wait for you here.”
Mu Xin’s gaze turned slightly cold.
Xie Chenyang: “I know you’ll be back soon, right?”
Mu Xin: “Don’t wander off.”
After Mu Xin and the servant departed, Xie Chenyang turned to look at Yun Shuo emerging from the corner, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Yun Shuo also spotted him.
Xie Chenyang had now changed out of his monk’s robe, wearing a light outer tunic. Though his head remained bald, his groomed eyebrows had grown back—no longer thin and delicate, but thick and well-defined, lending him a more masculine air.
Yun Shuo looked at that face and thought of Yang Su once more.
Truth be told, he had rather liked Yang Su. That was why he hadn’t left the Yang residence that night. Instead, amidst the corpses strewn everywhere, he had clung to a sliver of hope, waiting to see if Yang Su might evade the pursuit and return.
Alas, he hadn’t waited long enough.
Yun Shuo walked over and stopped beside him, his smile warm and gentle. “Master, weren’t you accompanying Lord Mu Xin?”
“He went to see your father.” Xie Chenyang glanced at the guards behind him, his eyes soft and his voice gentle. “I have something I wish to discuss with you. Might we step aside?”
Several possibilities flashed through Yun Shuo’s mind. The most likely was that the monk before him resented following Mu Xin and now sought to leverage his status to enlist Yun Shuo’s help.
Observing his features, eerily similar to Yang Su’s, Yun Shuo waved his hand. “You may withdraw.”
Without hesitation, the guards retreated from sight. This was the royal residence, heavily guarded. They held no concern for Yun Shuo’s safety here.
Yun Shuo: “What does the master wish to say?”
Xie Chenyang sneered. “The master feels unable to guide you to the Buddha’s enlightenment. He wishes to send you straight to hell.”
Yun Shuo: “You…”
His lover had said they’d leave tomorrow.
How could Xie Chenyang pass up the chance to beat up this scumbag?
Without offering any explanation to Yun Shuo, he swept his leg high. Yun Shuo, trained in martial arts since childhood, dropped his gentle facade. He raised his hand to grab his leg.
Xie Chenyang seemed to have anticipated this. Without pausing, he used the force from Yun Shuo’s counter to launch his other leg into Yun Shuo’s jaw. Simultaneously, the grabbed leg jerked free from his grasp and landed firmly on the ground.
Xie Chenyang dislocated Yun Shuo’s jaw with a single kick.
Yun Shuo reset it with a grim expression, launching himself at Xie Chenyang without another word.
Yang Su had also trained in martial arts. Though not as skilled as Yun Shuo, he possessed solid physical conditioning. Xie Chenyang, however, fought almost instinctively; his hands and feet moved without conscious thought, each motion a seamless continuation of the last. He parried attacks while relentlessly pressuring his opponent.
The result? Yun Shuo was pinned to the ground, beaten into questioning his very existence.
Xie Chenyang even called upon You Huang, the outside assistance, to cast a silencing spell on Yun Shuo, preventing his cries from alerting the guards.
Seeing Yun Shuo utterly incapacitated, Xie Chenyang planted his foot squarely on the man’s chest. Leaning low until his chest nearly brushed Yun Shuo’s knees, he locked eyes with him. “Surprised? Yun Shuo, when you ordered my family’s execution, you never imagined this day would come, did you?”
Yun Shuo’s pupils contracted sharply.
Could it be… he was Yang Su?!
Not only had Mu Xin spared him, but he’d disguised him as a monk and kept him close?!
Their deception had been so utterly convincing that he hadn’t suspected a thing.
Yun Shuo coughed up a mouthful of blood. Xie Chenyang, fearing contamination, swiftly withdrew his foot.
You Huang: “Mu Xin is almost back.“
Xie Chenyang met Yun Shuo’s astonished gaze and delivered a brutal kick to his manhood. “Well, that’s that. Even if your father succeeds in usurping the throne, you’ll never have a chance to inherit it now.“
Yun Shuo was overcome with agony, yet he couldn’t utter a sound.
Xie Chenyang swiftly dragged him into a rockery and abandoned him there. Snapping off a branch, he brushed away the dragging marks as he walked.
When he returned to the original spot, Mu Xin was just emerging. Xie Chenyang shook the branch and offered him a smile.
Mu Xin’s eyes flickered slightly. Stepping before him, he smoothed out the slightly disheveled robes and murmured, “Let’s go. We should return.”
Xie Chenyang tossed aside the branch and took his hand.
The servant escorting them out thought to himself, ‘This man truly dotes on the monk, barely exchanging a word with the prince before rushing off to find him.’
Though the monk’s hobby was rather peculiar too. While others admired scenery or plucked flowers, he collected branches.
After leaving the prince’s residence, Xie Chenyang swiftly leapt into Mu Xin’s embrace. Mu Xin held him steady.
Xie Chenyang whispered in his ear, “No need to wait until tomorrow. We’re leaving Yangzhou immediately. I’ve crippled Yun Shuo’s ability to have children and hidden him for now. He’ll likely be discovered soon. If we wait, it’ll be too late.”
Mu Xin quickened his pace. Upon returning to the mansion, he immediately ordered servants to pack their belongings for departure.
Xie Chenyang returned to his room, set out his writing implements, and swiftly penned a secret letter.
Worried Xie Chenyang might be captured alone, Mu Xin accompanied him to deliver the message, instructing the others to pack and wait for them directly at the city gate. After dispatching the letter, Xie Chenyang and Mu Xin hurried there.
Mu Xin wrapped his arm around Xie Chenyang’s waist, guiding him onto the horse the guard led to him.
With the pass granted by the Prince of Zhen’an, Mu Xin moved freely. After presenting it, he successfully led the group out of the city.
They abandoned the carriage. Besides Mu Xin and Xie Chenyang sharing one mount, everyone else rode a swift horse alone, with essential luggage secured to their saddles.
Mu Xin: “Full speed ahead.”
“Hah!”
Yun Shuo had already passed out from pain inside the rockery.
You Huang had remotely lifted his silencing spell, but unconscious, he was unable to call for help. His body was covered in wounds, and beneath him lay a pool of blood so horrifying it was unbearable to behold.
The guards he had dismissed saw Xie Chenyang leave but, upon returning to the courtyard and not finding Yun Shuo, assumed he had gone to the main residence to find the Prince. They remained guarding the courtyard, none thinking to search for him.
By the time Yun Shuo awoke and weakly cried out for help, Xie Chenyang and the others had already fled far away.
The prince’s residence employed many skilled physicians.
Prince Zhen’an and his eldest son, Yunhui, stood by the bedside, both looking grim.
“Your Highness… The Second Young Master has been left too long… His other injuries are manageable, but that particular area… it’s likely beyond repair…” the physician, under their intense scrutiny, reported cautiously.
The Prince of Zhen’an asked gravely, “Is there truly no hope?”
The physician shook his head.
All Yun Shuo’s wounds had been treated, and he now lay unconscious on the bed. The physicians withdrew, each drenched in cold sweat.
Yun Hui, observing the Prince’s expression, demanded, “How did the Second Young Master’s guards protect him! Have you identified the culprit?”
“They said the Second Young Master encountered the young monk from Lord Mu Xin’s residence. The monk wished to speak with him privately, so the guards withdrew… When the monk departed and they came to find the Second Young Master, he was nowhere to be found. They assumed he had gone to see Your Highness…”
Prince Zhen’an and Yun Hui left the room.
No sooner had they stepped outside than Prince Zhen’an could no longer contain his rage, unleashing a torrent of fury.
His son had been quietly castrated within the prince’s residence—this was nothing short of trampling their family’s honor into the dust!
“Father, please calm your anger. Men have already been dispatched to apprehend that monk. Surely Lord Mu Xin would not risk antagonizing us over a mere male concubine.”
No sooner had Yun Hui spoken than the subordinate sent to apprehend the monk rushed in, flustered. “Bad news! Everyone from Lord Mu Xin’s residence has vanished!”
Soon, Prince Zhen’an discovered that Mu Xin and his men had already departed Yangzhou City.
Yun Hui: “If we send men to pursue them now, we might still—”
“Pursue?” Prince Zhen’an’s voice seethed with suppressed fury. “Mu Xin fled so hastily precisely because he cares for that monk—he dares not risk our retaliation.”
Yun Hui: “So we simply abandon the matter?”
“What else? Even if we caught up, seized that monk, and cut him to pieces, would it make Shuo’er better? It might only fuel Mu Xin’s hatred. If he obstructs our alliance, what becomes of our grand scheme? Besides, he likely holds evidence of our collusion with the Hu tribes.”
That prefect’s son surely possessed proof. Mu Xin was the last to see him; perhaps the evidence lies in his hands.
Yun Hui fell silent.
Prince Zhen’an gritted his teeth. “Mark this debt. Once our grand scheme succeeds, we’ll settle accounts with them!”
As Xie Chenyang and his party neared the frontier city between Central Plains and the Western Regions, the Emperor in the palace received Xie Chenyang’s secret missive from Yangzhou City.
Reclining on the dragon bed, the Emperor continued reading a travelogue.
The Prince of a different surname approached the bedside, seated himself, and massaged the emperor’s waist with one hand while presenting the secret letter with the other. “The Prefect’s son has sent word again.”
The emperor’s eyelids drooped slightly. “He’s truly formidable, isn’t he?”
The prince’s eyes were deep and piercing. “He destroyed the second son of Prince Zhen’an’s ability to have children. While exacting his revenge, he also severed Prince Zhen’an’s alliance with the Western Kingdom of Miying. The envoy from Miying, Mu Xin, fell in love with him and refused to hand him over to Prince Zhen’an. He withdrew all his people from Prince Zhen’an’s fiefdom, leaving behind no contact person. Clearly, they have no intention of continuing their cooperation.”
The Emperor pressed his lips together, saying nothing.
“Yun Shuo excels in both military and civil affairs, yet he is proud and arrogant. With his foundation destroyed and his escape route cut off, he might as well be dead. Not speaking?”
The Prince of a different surname lifted the Emperor’s chin, leaning close to him. “He said he would follow Mu Xin back to Miying Kingdom. He would persuade the King of Miying to set his sights on other parts of the Western Regions, not the Central Plains… He hopes that one day, the Western Regions and the Central Plains can trade and develop together…”
He kissed the Emperor’s soft lips and murmured, “My Emperor, will you grant his wish?”
The emperor closed his eyes.
A shadow flickered in the prince’s eyes. He snatched the travelogue from the emperor’s hand and flung it to the ground. “You only see that I killed your father, your brothers. But can you not see the emperor’s cruelty before that? Your brothers’ greed and shamelessness? How many corrupt officials were fattened up? How many upright officials died unjustly? How much suffering was inflicted upon the people… “
The emperor opened his eyes. ”What about my mother? My sister? Those younger brothers who had done no wrong, the consorts…? What crime did they commit? Must the entire imperial dynasty perish?”
The prince rose, a flicker of light deepening in his piercing eyes.
At last… he was willing to speak his true thoughts.
“It was my failure to control the situation. The soldiers were blinded by bloodlust, remembering only the imperial family’s cruelty. They all hated the royal house… I was fighting the Imperial Guard commander outside and arrived too late. I only managed to save you.”
—– Border City. ——
Xie Chenyang’s hair had grown out by a few inches. Mu Xin seemed to love the feel of it, constantly running his fingers through the young man’s hair.
After washing away the grime from the journey, Xie Chenyang carried Mu Xin to the bed, his eyes crinkling with amusement as he looked at him. “You really like my hair? Let’s rest here for a couple more days this time. I remember every single time you touched me along the way,” Xie Chenyang murmured into his ear. “My head isn’t free to touch. Each time you touch it, you must endure my love—starting tonight.”
Mu Xin’s eyes fluttered open. Before he could process it, Xie Chenyang’s endless love—sometimes tender, sometimes teasingly domineering—engulfed him.
This love was too enduring, overwhelming him. He couldn’t help but wonder: How many times had he stroked his head along the way?
Countless…
Mu Xin: I’m afraid I’m done for.
Edit: Krone
Proofread: Choux_choux
