Mu Xueshi followed Su Ruhan to Linhan Palace. The place was no longer what it had once been—hundreds of craftsmen were busy working there. Mu Xueshi stopped in his tracks and asked Su Ruhan, “Why is Linhan Palace being torn down?”
“Because a new palace is going to be built. This one has been abandoned.”
“Oh…”
Mu Xueshi thought about how he had lived here for a time. Seeing it now being demolished and rebuilt stirred a faint sadness in his heart.
Noticing that Mu Xueshi was standing there without moving, Su Ruhan lightly tapped his forehead. “Stop looking. It has nothing to do with us anyway.”
“But didn’t Master always live here? If this place is gone, where will you stay?”
Su Ruhan hadn’t expected Mu Xueshi to still be concerned about him. A faint smile appeared on his lips.
“I’ve returned to Qingyun Palace to continue serving as His Highness’s personal guard. Sun Ye has been reassigned here to protect you. So from now on, whenever you go out, you must bring Sun Ye with you.”
The Third Prince’s residence was called Qingyun Palace, sharing the same name as Qingyun. Mu Xueshi naturally recalled what had happened not long ago and suddenly found it hard to breathe. Even his voice faltered. “From now on… I won’t go out anymore.”
From Mu Xueshi’s tone, Su Ruhan could tell he had suffered quite a blow from going out earlier. Not wanting him to dwell on unpleasant memories, he urged him to keep moving and deliberately talked about other things to distract him.
When they arrived before Linyue’s Tomb, Mu Xueshi, unfamiliar with the customs here, simply knelt down and kowtowed several times toward the grave. Then he took a few incense sticks from the bundle Su Ruhan had brought, inserted them into the incense burner, clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and began silently praying.
Watching from the side, Su Ruhan found it rather strange. He wondered where Mu Xueshi had learned such unconventional rituals—who worshipped ancestors like this? Yet seeing Mu Xueshi’s sincere expression, it didn’t seem like a joke. Su Ruhan couldn’t help but wonder where exactly Mu Xueshi had come from—his words were often odd, and his customs vastly different from those here.
Mu Xueshi had never believed in feudal rites or in reincarnation. But there was nothing else he could do. By coming here often to tend the grave, perhaps the guilt in his heart could be eased, giving him some small comfort.
……
“Your Highness.”
The Third Prince turned around and saw Qingyun, her entire face already swollen and deformed, standing at the doorway. After briefly looking her over, he allowed her to enter.
“Report everything that happened today—truthfully and in detail.”
Qingyun’s body trembled, her expression growing more pained. Being forced to recall the events of the afternoon was like torture to her. Yet the person before her was the Third Prince—one glance from him could make a person’s heart stop.
At first, she managed to recount everything calmly. But when she reached the part where Mu Xueshi had been deceived by Princess Wenyang, coming to the bedchamber over those severed hands only to be humiliated, Qingyun could no longer control herself. She began sobbing as she spoke.
The Third Prince merely glanced at her and said indifferently, “Did I summon you here just to cry?”
“Your Highness… please… let this servant die. I truly don’t want to serve Princess Wenyang anymore. I can endure her beatings and scolding, but I can’t bear her using me to harm Young Master Xue…” After speaking, Qingyun knocked her head against the ground repeatedly, then remained there, supporting herself with her hands as she cried uncontrollably.
The Third Prince seemed not to hear her. Sitting in a high chair, he calmly took a sip of tea. After setting down the cup, he asked, “How is the princess now?”
“She… she is fine…” Qingyun bit her lip and looked at him.
“That’s all that matters. Your duty is simply to serve her well. As for what she does—that concerns only me, not you.”
Qingyun’s face turned deathly pale. Clenching the edge of her clothes tightly, she forced out a single “Yes.” Then, seeing the Third Prince dismiss her, she struggled to stand and limped toward the door.
Meanwhile, Qingya and Qingzhu were still chatting playfully when they suddenly saw all the guards rushing out. Qingya hurried to the window and saw the person entering—it was the Third Prince.
“Ah, this is bad—the prince is here,” Qingzhu said, her face changing drastically.
Qingya quickly nudged her. “Why are you so nervous? His Highness doesn’t kill people for no reason.”
“But Young Master Xue isn’t here!” Qingzhu glanced at the door again. The Third Prince was only a few steps away. Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest.
She hadn’t been nervous before, but Qingya’s repeated warnings not to speak carelessly had made her inexplicably anxious.
“Remember—if His Highness doesn’t ask you anything, don’t speak. Just follow my lead.”
Just as Qingya finished speaking, the Third Prince walked in.
He simply swept his gaze across the room, yet everyone’s breathing tightened. Only Sun Ye remained standing calmly.
Finally, the Third Prince’s gaze settled on Sun Ye. “Mu Xueshi is not in Chun Nuan Pavilion?”
Sun Ye hadn’t expected him to notice so quickly. There was no point hiding it, so he answered directly, “Yes—he went out with Guard Su.”
A change flickered in the Third Prince’s eyes as he stared coldly at Sun Ye. “Was it Su Ruhan who told you not to follow?”
Sun Ye hesitated before replying, “No. I thought that since Guard Su was there, there was no need for me to go…”
Smack!
The flat of the Third Prince’s sword struck heavily against Sun Ye’s left abdomen, forcing him to bend slightly as his expression changed instantly.
“In front of me, you’d better tell the truth.”
Sun Ye winced in pain. It took a long moment before the tension between his brows eased, and a trace of guilt appeared on his refined face.
The Third Prince then shifted his gaze to Qingzhu, who was trembling, and asked softly, “Qingzhu, where did Mu Xueshi and Su Ruhan go?”
Qingya hadn’t expected him to question Qingzhu directly. A layer of sweat instantly formed on her forehead, her heart pounding with unease.
Qingzhu first widened her eyes and let out an “ah,” then cast a pleading look toward Qingya. Unfortunately, Qingya stood to her side and didn’t dare turn her head, so Qingzhu could only stammer on her own, “Xue… Su… Young Master Xue said… this is his and… Guard Su’s… secret…”
Whether what she said was correct or not, Qingzhu held her breath the entire time. When she saw that the Third Prince had already moved away and didn’t continue questioning her, she finally let out a silent sigh of relief.
The Third Prince pondered the meaning of the word “secret”, letting out a few cold chuckles. He knew where Su Ruhan had taken Mu Xueshi—it could only be Linhan Palace. And this “secret” must have been something Su Ruhan instructed Mu Xueshi to keep. After all, visiting to pay respects would raise suspicions about his identity, so it had to remain a secret.
But for some reason, hearing it come from Mu Xueshi’s mouth made it sound particularly unpleasant. The darkness in the Third Prince’s eyes deepened.
He paced slowly around the room. On the surface, it looked like idle wandering, but in truth, he was carefully observing every detail, trying to understand Mu Xueshi’s daily life.
When he stepped into Mu Xueshi’s sleeping chamber, a strong medicinal scent filled the air. Over the course of the day, Mu Xueshi had consumed who knew how many medicines—various scents mingled together, drifting faintly through the room, as though silently narrating the state of his body.
The Third Prince’s steps halted beside the bed. He gently lifted the gauze curtain. Everything inside was neat—the bedding lay undisturbed, as if it had never been used.
Suddenly, a patch of blood on the wall pierced his eyes.
Why was there blood on the wall?
The first thought that flashed through his mind was suicide, followed immediately by a surge of anger and concern.
The Third Prince concealed his emotions without a trace. He walked back through the servants and entered the kitchen.
He already knew that the courtyard kitchen no longer provided meals for Mu Xueshi, so he wanted to see what the servants had prepared for him. But when he lifted the lid of the pot, he found the food untouched. Looking closer, he realized the dishes were very different from those typically served in the palace.
“Qingya, Qingzhu.”
At the sound of the Third Prince’s voice, the two felt as though they had heard the call of death itself—they didn’t even know how to move their legs as they stepped forward.
“Who prepared these dishes for Mu Xueshi?”
Qingzhu didn’t dare speak. Qingya quickly answered, “Young Master Xue made them himself. He said he had some cooking skills and insisted on showing us.”
Outwardly, the Third Prince showed no reaction, but inwardly, he was slightly surprised. He had never expected Mu Xueshi to know how to cook. He had only ever seen him sneaking into the kitchen to steal food. Thinking back to those times when he had caught Mu Xueshi and the strange, playful faces he had made, a trace of softness flickered in his eyes.
Lowering his gaze again to the dishes, he asked, “Then why has none of it been touched?”
“This…” Qingya faltered. She was just about to speak when the Third Prince cut her off.
“I want her to answer.” He stared at Qingzhu.
Though he knew neither of them would lie, he also understood that their ways of speaking differed. Qingya would avoid sensitive topics and speak with restraint. Qingzhu, however, would say things bluntly without filtering—unpleasant perhaps, but truthful.
“I… I can’t say… no, no… it’s just… I shouldn’t say…” Qingzhu, having been warned repeatedly by Qingya all day, became even more flustered.
The moment those words left her mouth, even if the Third Prince hadn’t been interested before, he certainly was now.
“Oh? Why shouldn’t you say it?” he asked with interest.
Qingzhu breathed rapidly. “Because if I say it, Your Highness might get very angry, so…”
“So what?” the Third Prince pressed.
“So I absolutely cannot tell Your Highness that these dishes were saved by Young Master Xue for Guard Su!” Qingzhu blurted it all out in one breath. Afterward, she felt completely drained, not even sure what she had just said.
Qingya felt just as drained…
The Third Prince felt as though his heart had been gripped tightly—an aching, numbing sensation spreading through him. He had still held a trace of expectation, thinking that the first dishes Mu Xueshi had ever cooked might have been prepared with him in mind.
But in the end… they were meant for his master.
This time, Qingya clearly saw the change in the Third Prince’s expression—it had turned extremely grim. Qingzhu noticed as well. His hands were clenched behind his back, and in that instant, the faint sound of bones cracking echoed in the air.
……
“Master, wait a moment—I’ll go make a few fresh dishes for you. Those have already gone cold,” Mu Xueshi’s clear voice came from outside the door.
His tone was light and natural—there was not the slightest hint of sadness or distress. It was nothing like what Qingyun had described earlier.
“No need. Just reheat them.”
“If you reheat them, they won’t taste the same. It won’t take long—”
Before Mu Xueshi could finish saying the word “long,” he froze in place.
The Third Prince saw it clearly—the instant Mu Xueshi laid eyes on him, the smile on his face stiffened and fell away.
Futile Devices Scans 
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