Mu Xueshi’s expression froze. Then he scratched his head and forced out an awkward smile.
“I dreamed about lots and lots of zombies. They all stuck out their tongues and came hopping after me. They said I was a little ghost who had escaped from hell and had no right to come back to life in the mortal world, so they wanted to drag me back…”
“And you? Did you fight them?” the Third Prince asked with a raised brow.
Mu Xueshi laughed weakly twice. “Of course. I told them I was a heavenly soldier and general, so none of them dared touch me…”
After a long silence, Mu Xueshi realized the Third Prince had not reacted at all. He looked up and met two cold, dark eyes.
“Did I not tell you what happens when you deceive me?”
Mu Xueshi hurriedly backed away. His round eyes spun, and he shook his head like a rattle drum. “I don’t remember. The ghosts frightened my memory away. I forgot everything.”
The moment Mu Xueshi finished, the Third Prince caught his slender ankle and slowly dragged him back, danger beginning to enter his gaze.
“I told you. I hate being deceived more than anything.”
By then Mu Xueshi had already been pulled against the prince. In desperation, he pressed his face to the Third Prince’s chest, using the trick that had always worked to soften his anger. After a while, Mu Xueshi felt the prince’s breathing above his head become smooth and gentle again. He relaxed, yet at the same time everything felt strangely unreal.
“If… I lost my memory again someday, what would you do?” Mu Xueshi deliberately pressed his head deeper into the Third Prince’s chest so the prince would not see the unease on his face.
“Hm?” The Third Prince’s fine brows drew together, puzzlement appearing on his handsome face.
Mu Xueshi had finally forced the question out, so he could only grit his teeth and explain. “I mean, if one day I recover my old memories, but forget everything from this period, would you…”
“I would force you to remember every single thing,” the Third Prince answered without hesitation.
“No!” Mu Xueshi suddenly raised his head, a trace of stubborn possessiveness on his face.
The Third Prince looked displeased. “Why not?”
“Those are mine…” Mu Xueshi muttered indistinctly, then closed his eyes and said nothing more.
Qing Ya entered carrying a bowl of dark medicine. Mu Xueshi’s newly relaxed nerves sprang back to attention. He quickly escaped the Third Prince’s arms and tried to dive under the quilt and play dead.
Unfortunately, the Third Prince had already seen through the trick. Two large hands caught Mu Xueshi immediately and pressed him back across the prince’s lap.
“You must drink the medicine.”
“I’m not sick. I was just frightened.” Mu Xueshi stared at the strange-smelling black brew with undisguised rejection.
The Third Prince did not waste words. When Mu Xueshi refused, he simply restrained him against his chest, pinned his lower body with both legs, opened his mouth with one hand, and made him swallow every mouthful of the bitter medicine with the other.
The completely ungentle treatment made Mu Xueshi glare in outrage. The Third Prince ignored him and did not let go until the bowl was empty.
“That was horrible…” Mu Xueshi panted and stuck out his tongue, trying to air away the bitter smell left in his mouth.
Seeing the exaggerated, adorable gesture stirred something in the Third Prince. He bent down and kissed the tongue Mu Xueshi had stuck out.
“Mm… seriously…” Mu Xueshi felt large hands begin caressing him, soon slipping beneath his inner clothes and teasing him intimately.
“Didn’t we just…” Mu Xueshi protested with the air of a righteous gentleman, while making no real effort to remove the Third Prince’s hand.
In the end, Mu Xueshi became the more impatient of the two. He practically hung off the Third Prince, his small hands moving without any technique at all, leaving himself breathless while the prince remained maddeningly calm.
After the intimacy finally subsided, Mu Xueshi once again found that the pleasure passed much faster than the soreness afterward. Even though the Third Prince carefully cleaned him despite Mu Xueshi’s protests, it did little to ease the discomfort.
The two lay together in the fragrant bedding, holding each other. Mu Xueshi had already closed his eyes to sleep when he still felt the warm gaze beside him. Opening them, he found the Third Prince quietly watching him, with far less of his usual coldness and much more tenderness.
“Does it still hurt badly?” the Third Prince asked softly.
Mu Xueshi knew exactly what he meant. He had been about to curse him, but seeing that the prince was not joking made him swallow the harsh words.
“It hurts a little. I’m not going to die from it.” Mu Xueshi deliberately adopted a careless expression, indirectly complaining about the prince.
The Third Prince smiled knowingly, rubbed Mu Xueshi’s hair, and said, “Then we will not do it next time.”
“No!” Mu Xueshi immediately objected loudly. The instant he noticed the teasing smile on the Third Prince’s face, he realized he had embarrassed himself yet again.
“I only meant that someone as broad-minded and unyielding as me would never complain about a little pain. So in the future, do whatever you want. I wouldn’t want anyone saying I, Mu Xueshi, mistreat the Third Prince whom everyone admires… hehe…”
After making the grand declaration, Mu Xueshi haughtily rolled up a corner of the quilt, turned his back to the Third Prince, and hurriedly hid the panic on his face.
A long while passed without movement behind him. Mu Xueshi finally lowered the quilt. At the same moment, the Third Prince’s arm came around his waist and held him, without doing anything else.
Mu Xueshi could feel the Third Prince’s breath drawing closer. As always, the familiar presence quickly made him sleepy. Half-conscious, Mu Xueshi suddenly remembered something and turned his head. “Don’t forget, you promised that after the Eight Homage Festival you would take me out to play once!”
Mu Xueshi never found out whether the Third Prince answered because he quickly fell asleep. In the latter half of the night, the prince noticed him moving. When he opened his eyes, Mu Xueshi was unconsciously scratching at his face, his brows tightly furrowed.
The Third Prince’s heart tightened. He hurried out of bed to find medicine that could temporarily ease the discomfort in Mu Xueshi’s face. But the moment his feet left the bed, Mu Xueshi became visibly anxious in his sleep, clutching and searching through the corner of the quilt where the Third Prince had been lying.
Unable to bear the sight, the Third Prince lay down again. The moment Mu Xueshi touched his body, his furrowed brows immediately relaxed.
The Third Prince carefully removed the thin facial film and discovered that the face underneath had become almost unbearable to look at, covered in wounds, inflamed marks, and damaged skin. Remembering the breathtaking face that had once made people forget to breathe filled the prince with pain.
Mu Xueshi slept dreamlessly through the night. He had not slept this well in a long time. When he first woke, he still worried that he might be back in Linhan Palace, but one look at the exquisite gauze bed curtains immediately put his heart at ease.
Mu Xueshi searched the inner room and side chamber without finding the Third Prince. He ran outside and asked Eunuch Tai’an, who said the prince had urgent matters to handle. With nothing else to do, Mu Xueshi paced around the courtyard by himself.
It occurred to him that he had not seen Su Ruhan since leaving the interrogation chamber. Remembering how Su Ruhan had looked after him over the past three days, Mu Xueshi felt guilty. He had not realized he was the sort of ungrateful person who could see the Third Prince again and immediately forget everyone else.
“Young Master Xue, where are you going?” Eunuch Tai’an hurriedly caught hold of him.
Without looking back, Mu Xueshi answered, “I’m going to find my master and practice martial arts.”
Tai’an immediately became anxious. “The Third Prince specifically instructed that Young Master Xue is not to go anywhere today and must remain near the bedchamber.”
“It’s fine. I’m not leaving the courtyard. Besides, I trust all of you. With so many skilled guards around, what danger could there possibly be?” Mu Xueshi patted Tai’an’s shoulder and gave him a reassuring look.
In the next instant, his own guards Lu Fei and Lu Fan seized both his arms and dragged him straight back inside.
“Whose side are you two on? I’m your master!” Mu Xueshi widened his eyes and tried to imitate the Third Prince’s intimidating glare, but only succeeded in making the guards want to laugh.
“Reporting to Master, we normally obey your orders. But when the Third Prince gives special instructions, we must follow His Highness’s commands.”
Mu Xueshi immediately slumped onto a stool and waved the two nominal guards away. He began wondering whether the Third Prince was deliberately stopping him from getting too close to Su Ruhan. Remembering how jealous the prince had sounded before made the theory feel increasingly convincing.
So he can be petty too. The thought made Mu Xueshi forget his earlier irritation, and his mood instantly improved.
After amusing himself inside for a while, Mu Xueshi began to feel strange again. Even sitting still, his body felt weightless. His legs were weak, walking took effort, and his mind was foggy. The sensation was not as intense as the previous night, but Mu Xueshi was sensitive enough to know something was wrong.
Am I really being punished by heaven? Mu Xueshi thought fearfully. If he merely changed back into his former appearance, he could just about accept it; at least something of him would remain. But if his soul scattered completely, then everything and everyone he cared about would have nothing to do with him anymore. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.
Wangyun Peak.
The Third Prince had hurried there from the palace, but the journey was long. By the time he arrived, someone was already waiting.
Faced with the extraordinarily handsome Third Prince, King Hao Lin looked openly impressed. He had sent people to watch the prince in secret for years, but it had been a long time since he had examined him this closely. The childishness was completely gone from the Third Prince’s face now. His features had sharpened, intelligent eyes carried a fierce light, and his thin lips remained fixed in their usual cold line.
At some point a small pavilion had been built on Wangyun Peak. Hao Lin sat comfortably on a stone stool inside, drinking cool tea. Shangchuan Hong stood beside him from beginning to end without saying a word or showing any expression.
“Have you nothing to say to me?” Hao Lin narrowed his eyes and smiled meaningfully.
The Third Prince swept him with a cold glance. “What I want to say, the ruler of Lubei surely already understands.”
“Would you accompany this king for a game of chess?” Hao Lin gestured to the board on the stone table with an earnest expression.
The Third Prince did not even look at it. His eyes stayed fixed on Hao Lin’s smiling face as he forced out two words. “The antidote.”
Hao Lin seemed disappointed. Looking at the board, he said almost to himself, “This is the game I once lost to the Prince of Dingnan. I have never accepted that defeat, yet I still do not know what move would let me turn it around. If you solve it for me, I will present the antidote with both hands.”
The Third Prince finally looked at the board. At first glance it truly seemed to be a dead position, but closer inspection showed that there was still room to recover. After thinking for a while, he picked up a piece and placed it in a position that looked disorderly on the surface but concealed a deeper plan.
Approval immediately appeared on Hao Lin’s face. “In truth, I have always admired Yunxi’s Third Prince.” Hao Lin rose and approached him.
Before Hao Lin could come close, the Third Prince placed his sword against Hao Lin’s chest, contempt obvious on his face.
Hao Lin ignored the hostility. With the sword point pressed against his chest, he continued leisurely, “An ordinary person looking at this board would think only about how to break the deadlock. You instead chose to seek life from within death. Most people who saw that move would relax and assume victory was certain, only to discover at the last moment that a single mistaken thought had made them the loser.”
The Third Prince snorted coldly, completely uninterested in Hao Lin’s confident explanation.
“But there are also people who hold to one idea from the very beginning: the Third Prince is no ordinary man, so every move you make deserves careful thought.”