When Mu Xueshi realized the Third Prince intended to leave him there alone, he immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, “I wasn’t trying to run away! I just wanted you to teach me that amazing acupoint-sealing trick you used! That was incredible! Can you come back? What am I supposed to do if I need to pee later?”
After quite a while, the gauze curtain lifted again, revealing the Third Prince’s expressionless face. Mu Xueshi immediately shut his wide-open mouth. Seeing the Third Prince staring at him, he blinked his crystal-clear eyes and pleaded, “Teach me.”
The Third Prince acted as though he had heard nothing. In one hand, he held a small crimson box filled with black cosmetic paste. He dabbed a little onto his fingertip and drew a stroke across Mu Xueshi’s fair cheek, instantly leaving a black smudge on the flawless skin and making him look like a child who had been playing in ink. A hint of amusement appeared in the Third Prince’s eyes. As though entertaining himself, he painted three lines across each cheek and drew the character for “king” on Mu Xueshi’s forehead. The result was absurdly comical.
Mu Xueshi, however, said foolishly, “Uh… no face mask is going to save a face like mine. Don’t waste the good stuff.”
The Third Prince did not understand what Mu Xueshi meant, but by coincidence, the remark was not entirely wrong. The black paste would not harm the skin at all. In fact, it nourished and brightened the complexion and was made from the nectar of more than a hundred kinds of flowers. Naturally, something so extravagant was kept only in the chambers of high-ranking consorts, who themselves used it in secret so no one would see them looking ridiculous.
About an hour later, the only visible parts of Mu Xueshi’s face were his two round eyes, darting about in utter bewilderment.
The Third Prince inspected his work with satisfaction, then covered those striking eyes with a strip of black cloth. Now there was not a single part of Mu Xueshi’s face left to see.
The instant everything went dark, Mu Xueshi started shouting, “Don’t leave me here alone! I’m going too! I’m going too! I’m going too! I’m going too…”
After yelling it more than two hundred times, Mu Xueshi finally realized the Third Prince had long since disappeared. His voice was already hoarse, and with no hope of getting a response, he fell asleep in defeat.
He had no idea how long he slept. Mu Xueshi only woke when his face began to itch. With his eyes covered, he could not tell what was touching him. The sensation grew clearer and clearer, like a small hand scratching repeatedly at his face, and cold sweat broke out all over him.
“No way… There aren’t cats or dogs in this courtyard, are there? And if it’s a bug or a scorpion, that’s even worse…”
Unable to move at all, Mu Xueshi could do nothing but panic. Sweat had already beaded across his forehead when something soft and fleshy suddenly touched him and wiped it away.
A moment later, quick, close breathing sounded beside his ear. Mu Xueshi finally realized there was a person next to him. Once he was sure, he let out a huge sigh of relief. “Help me take off the blindfold!”
The hand scratching at his face finally stopped. A tiny, indistinct murmur sounded beside his ear, like a child who had only just begun learning to speak.
“Yi… dao…”
What does that mean? Mu Xueshi frowned. Before he could ask again, the little hand started scratching at his face once more. He could feel the child ruining the “face mask” the Third Prince had put on him. Then again, he did not actually know whether it was a child. For all he knew, this ancient country might have some bizarre creature he had never heard of.