“You are not dead.”
The Third Prince’s voice rang cool and clear through the chamber.
Mu Xueshi froze. Slowly he turned. “What did you say? Say it again!”
Seeing disbelief flood his eyes, the prince gave a faint, disdainful smile and pointed at his feet. “Did you not just complain that the soles were cold?”
Of course.
The dead felt nothing.
He had assumed this man was the White Impermanence, never imagining someone might have rescued him.
Trembling, Mu Xueshi approached. Tears streamed down his delicate face as he clutched the prince’s robes. “What if you’re lying to me?”
The Third Prince said nothing, fixing him with a gaze sharp as winter frost.
Mu Xueshi mistook that chill for offended pride, and at last believed.
“Ah—Heavens!”
With a shout, he threw his arms around the prince and shook him vigorously, sobbing and laughing all at once.
“Brother! Brother! What can I even say? You’re incredible—without you there’d be no me! You’ve completely changed my opinion of handsome men! Truly—using your words, even if I served you as ox or horse, I could never repay such boundless grace!”
He babbled incoherently, face pressed to the prince’s chest.
The Third Prince grasped his shoulders and pulled him back, forcing their eyes level.
Mu Xueshi’s eyes were red, his expression fragile—yet a smile still lingered at his lips. A sign of madness, perhaps.
Suddenly he burst into laughter again. “Let me be excited for a bit—don’t mind me!”
He promptly performed a handstand in the room, laughed twice more, stuffed an entire plate of plum blossom cakes into his mouth, then circled the prince in unrestrained jubilation.
Outside, maids and eunuchs heard the commotion but dared not stir. Whatever occurred within belonged to the Third Prince alone. A single stray sound from a servant would invite instant execution by the supervising guards.
The once-silent chamber grew uproarious. Even the birdcage hanging by the window began to sway, the captive bird fluttering wildly as if desperate to escape.
“Summon the imperial physician.”
The command fell like ice.
The chief eunuch outside answered softly and at once dispatched guards to fetch the physician on constant standby.
The finest physician of the court, Physician Li, had been stationed exclusively within the Third Prince’s courtyard, forbidden to leave even a step. Should the Emperor himself fall ill, other court physicians would attend him instead.
That Physician Li had become the Third Prince’s personal healer was proof enough of the Emperor’s astonishing favor toward this son.
Futile Devices Scans 
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