The Third Prince left Wangyun Peak and returned to the palace in less than one shichen. The moment he reached the gates, several guards blocked his way.
“Commander, we caught him!” one of them shouted.
The remaining soldiers immediately fixed hostile stares on the Third Prince, tightening their grips on their blades. At the shout from below, the guards on the city wall formed a line, drew their bows, and aimed at the Third Prince, waiting for an order.
Seeing the formation, the Third Prince immediately understood what must have happened not long before. He looked coldly at the soldiers and said without emotion, “Call your commander. He will know who I am.”
“Our commander is upstairs drinking. He said no matter who comes next, we shouldn’t waste words. We should just shoot…”
“Who said that?”
A shout suddenly thundered overhead. A man dropped from the air and landed firmly on the ground. Before greeting the Third Prince, he first slapped the soldier who had just spoken across the face.
“Who is drinking?” Zheng Qingcang roared at the soldier.
The man shrank miserably to one side.
Only then did Zheng Qingcang remember the Third Prince. He turned quickly and said with an honest-looking expression, “This subject pays respects to Your Highness. What happened just now was my failure. Please forgive me.”
The Third Prince’s face remained unchanged. “Someone tried to leave the palace by force earlier?”
Zheng Qingcang immediately became indignant. “Yes. That man disguised himself as Your Highness and tried to break out. Fortunately I reacted quickly and saw through him.”
“Was he alone?”
“No. He was carrying someone and claimed that person needed treatment for a facial illness. The face was covered the entire time, so I couldn’t tell whether there was really anything wrong.”
The Third Prince’s expression did not change, but his heart tightened.
“Where is that person now?”
“Ai… later Guard Su appeared, and somehow that man escaped… By the way, Your Highness, wasn’t Guard Su once your own guard? Why would he help an outsider? Did he fail to recognize the disguise, or did he…”
“Remember this. What happened today is not to be mentioned again.”
The chill in the Third Prince’s eyes made Zheng Qingcang’s expression turn solemn at once. “Understood!”
The Third Prince asked nothing more and hurried toward Qinyi Courtyard. Behind him, Zheng Qingcang still called enthusiastically, “Leaving already, Your Highness? I saved a whole jar of good wine for you…”
The Third Prince had never felt such urgency. He had made arrangements before leaving, yet hearing Zheng Qingcang’s account still made his heart hang in uncertainty.
When he returned to Qinyi Courtyard, everything looked normal. Sun Ye stood in the courtyard with an unnatural expression. Seeing the Third Prince made him look even more surprised.
“Greetings, Your Highness…” Sun Ye said stiffly.
The Third Prince only glanced at him before walking into the inner room.
Sun Ye was thoroughly confused. Earlier, the “Third Prince” had carried Mu Xueshi out. Later Su Ruhan brought Mu Xueshi back. Now the Third Prince had returned alone. No matter how Sun Ye arranged the facts in his head, nothing fit. Could Eunuch Tai’an have been right that Sun Ye had spent the whole day wandering mentally and simply lost track of events?
The Third Prince opened the door and saw Su Ruhan standing in the center of the main room. Su Ruhan had not entered the inner chamber.
“Where is Xueshi?” the Third Prince asked.
Su Ruhan bowed. “Resting inside. Shangchuan Hong sealed his acupoints, and he has remained asleep. I was afraid that if I released them, he would wake and start asking for you or questioning what happened, so I left them sealed.”
Relief loosened the Third Prince’s chest, but another strange feeling followed. Su Ruhan had clearly done this to keep Mu Xueshi from being frightened and to ensure that everything looked normal when he woke. Such a small gesture of care still touched the Third Prince’s most sensitive nerve. He gave Su Ruhan a warning look and entered the inner room without another word.
Catching that awkward glare, Su Ruhan could not help smiling faintly as he walked out.
Sun Ye had expected the Third Prince to treat Su Ruhan coldly. Instead, Su Ruhan emerged looking perfectly relaxed, not at all like someone who had been reprimanded.
Sun Ye felt as though his skull had been packed with sand, leaving his thoughts clogged and murky. He could not see anything clearly and could not make sense of anything at all.
Usually the calmest person in the courtyard, Sun Ye now felt almost irritable. He stared at the empty lawn where strange insects chirped and grew even more annoyed.
The Third Prince carefully released Mu Xueshi’s acupoints and immediately felt the stiffness leave his body.
The poison in Mu Xueshi’s face had already been cured. The Third Prince stroked the smooth, delicate cheek, and his gaze softened at once. Mu Xueshi showed no sign of waking. He seemed exhausted from everything that had happened on the road, and when he sensed the prince’s touch he apparently took it for part of a dream.
Qing Zhu brought in a basin of warm water with a soft cloth draped over the edge. She called softly from outside, “Your Highness,” and only after receiving permission did she place the basin on a small table near the inner room.
“Your Highness, this servant brought water to wipe Young Master Xue down,” Qing Zhu said, her cheeks faintly pink.
“I will do it,” the Third Prince replied.
The answer made Qing Zhu flush as though she had received an extraordinary favor. She left with her face bright red, marveling inwardly that the Third Prince could treat someone with such tenderness.
The Third Prince gently wiped Mu Xueshi’s face. Mu Xueshi seemed to dislike being touched while asleep. Despite the prince’s careful attention, he frowned impatiently.
After wiping his face, the Third Prince dampened the cloth again and cleaned his neck, then his ears. Mu Xueshi was ticklish, and the touch immediately made him giggle.
“Attacking me while I’m asleep!” Mu Xueshi suddenly sat up and reached boldly for the Third Prince’s neck.
The prince dodged. Mu Xueshi lunged into empty space and immediately found both wrists caught in the Third Prince’s hands.
Mu Xueshi still looked indignant until he noticed the cloth in the prince’s hand and the basin on the table. Then he understood at once.
Mu Xueshi pinched the Third Prince’s chin with long fingers and grinned. “Your Highness performed well. This young master was served very comfortably. Someday when I rise to wealth and status, I’ll take you home as a little concubine.”
The Third Prince’s expression had only just softened. The moment he heard that, it darkened again.
“Where did you learn to say that?”
“From TV… uh, you don’t know what TV is… I heard someone say it… no, that’s not right… ah, don’t twist my face…”
Mu Xueshi knew the Third Prince had misunderstood. Regretting the joke, he put his clever mouth to work and rattled off a long string of ridiculous explanations as though reciting lines, finally coaxing the prince’s expression back to normal.
Only after seeing that Mu Xueshi was still lively and quick, with no obvious change in temperament, did the Third Prince truly relax.
“Hey? You twisted my face just now, and it doesn’t feel as uncomfortable as it did the last two days.” Mu Xueshi picked up a cracked bronze mirror beside the bed and examined himself repeatedly. Seeing the scars and spots were gone filled him with delight.
“Where did that bronze mirror come from?” the Third Prince asked, narrowing his eyes.
Mu Xueshi smiled sheepishly and pointed toward the broken mirror behind the screen. “You… understand now, right…”
Seeing the Third Prince apparently ready to hit him, Mu Xueshi reacted quickly and grabbed his hand. Grinning shamelessly, he said, “A gentleman uses words, not fists. My face really is better. Feel it…”
Guided by Mu Xueshi’s hand, the Third Prince ran his fingers over the smooth cheek. Seeing how delighted Mu Xueshi looked suddenly made him feel uneasy about deceiving him.
“Was your face very uncomfortable the last two days?”
Caught off guard by the concern, Mu Xueshi hesitated and answered awkwardly, “Not really… only sometimes…”
“Then why keep a mirror beside the bed?”
“I…” Mu Xueshi blushed and scratched the hair at his forehead. Unable to invent an excuse, he admitted, “I was afraid I’d get too ugly and you’d throw me out…”
The Third Prince gave a helpless smile. It was slight, but unmistakably warm.
Seeing that the prince was in a good mood, Mu Xueshi stopped worrying too. All the fuss right after waking had tired him, so he leaned against the Third Prince’s back to rest. Even then he could not stay still, tracing aimless shapes across the prince’s back while his eyes rolled as though his mind had wandered somewhere else.
Suddenly Mu Xueshi remembered the silver coin he had seen in the Third Prince’s sleeve. His face changed completely.
Feeling the person behind him go rigid, the Third Prince immediately pulled Mu Xueshi around against his chest and asked, “What is it?”
Mu Xueshi swallowed and stared blankly at him. “Why was the silver coin in your hand?”
The Third Prince looked puzzled and touched Mu Xueshi’s forehead. “What silver coin?”
“The one I saw in your sleeve before I fell asleep. It’s been with you all along. Do you already know everything?”
The Third Prince’s expression began to shift. He gripped Mu Xueshi’s shoulders and asked seriously, “What silver coin? Are you hiding something from me?”
Mu Xueshi went rigid, unable to speak. The Third Prince had asked too directly. No matter how hard Mu Xueshi tried, he could not force the truth out.
Maybe, just maybe, what he remembered had only been a dream. Mu Xueshi tried to convince himself. He had been half-conscious then, and everything had felt unreal.
“You… came into this room earlier, didn’t you?” Mu Xueshi asked with a stiff face, anxiety written all over him.
The Third Prince understood at once. Shangchuan Hong must have done something while Mu Xueshi was unconscious, and now fragments were returning to him.
“No. You had a nightmare.” Seeing Mu Xueshi so helpless made the Third Prince’s heart ache. He rubbed Mu Xueshi’s hair and soothed him carefully.
The deeper Mu Xueshi sank into this life, the more frightened he became. He did not know whether the fear came from himself or from reality, but the more greedily he enjoyed what he had, the more nightmares seemed to come with it.