Futile Devices Scans

When Mu Xueshi returned to the Judicial Affairs Manor, the situation was just as he had expected: Su Ying was sitting on the ground, wailing loudly. The little carriage the craftsman had worked so hard to make had already been smashed into several pieces by Su Ying, and the servants who had tried to approach him earlier had also been scratched and clawed until they were wounded.

“What happened?” Mu Xueshi carefully walked toward Su Ying.

Eunuch Shangde grabbed Mu Xueshi and sighed. “My lord had better not approach the Little Master for now. Right now, the Little Master scratches anyone he sees. No matter what we do, we can’t coax him.”

Mu Xueshi did not listen to Eunuch Shangde’s advice. In just a few steps, he walked to Su Ying’s side, intending to pick him up. As a result, two fierce gleams shot from Su Ying’s swollen eyes, and he began tearing and yanking at Mu Xueshi’s head. In the end, he forcefully ripped off Mu Xueshi’s hat veil.

Everyone around them was startled. Although some of them had seen him before, they still could not help freezing in place, staring unblinkingly at the beauty before them.

Su Ying’s crying gradually quieted too. His little hands, which had already stretched out to grab Mu Xueshi, changed direction and instead hooked around Mu Xueshi’s neck. Su Ying pressed his little face against Mu Xueshi’s chest and said, heartbroken, “Uncle, Father really doesn’t want me anymore.”

“You silly child. He’s your father. How could he not want you?”

“Father… Father… doesn’t want me anymore…” Su Ying murmured, his face covered in teardrops.

Although Mu Xueshi was very tired inside, he still gently patted Su Ying’s little head and said to him, “Uncle will take you to find your father right now. If he still doesn’t show up, then we’ll spank his bottom.”

“Spank yours! Spank yours!” Su Ying tugged at Mu Xueshi’s ear.

Mu Xueshi blinked at Su Ying with an expression full of grievance and pouted. “It’s clearly your Father who bullied you. Why are you hitting Uncle?”

“No one is allowed to hit my Father.”

Those few little gestures from Mu Xueshi made the eyes of everyone at the side go straight, so much so that even after Mu Xueshi called Eunuch Shangde several times, Eunuch Shangde gave no response at all.

Only when Su Ying clawed Eunuch Shangde’s face again did Eunuch Shangde finally come back to himself.

“Has the person I sent out to find His Highness the Second Prince returned?”

After hearing Mu Xueshi’s question, Eunuch Shangde wore an expression of wanting to speak but hesitating.

“If he found him, then he found him. If he didn’t, then he didn’t. What’s so hard to say?” Mu Xueshi said loudly to Eunuch Shangde in a tone that was completely unsuited to his face.

Eunuch Shangde pressed his lips together and said with a guilty expression, “My lord, the guard you sent might not be very useful… I heard from the people in this manor that whenever he goes out alone, he usually has difficulty finding his way back. But this servant has already sent people to look for him. Perhaps he muddled his way to His Highness the Second Prince’s side by accident.”

The more Eunuch Shangde spoke, the quieter his voice became, until almost nothing could be heard by the end.

Mu Xueshi also looked utterly devastated. How was his eye for people this poisonous? Out of so many attendants in the manor, he had managed to pick the one who was hopeless with directions…

“Uncle, Father can’t be found, can he?” Su Ying’s mouth flattened, and he looked as if he was about to cry again.

Mu Xueshi quickly patted Su Ying’s shoulder twice and comforted him. “No, your Father isn’t outside. He’s in his own palace.”

Damn it! I’ll take Su Ying straight to your palace and wait there. I refuse to believe you won’t come back. Mu Xueshi secretly made up his mind, then took Su Ying back to the palace.

After Mu Xueshi covered himself again with his hat veil, he arrived outside the Second Prince’s chambers and was stopped.

“Who goes there?” the guard at the door asked loudly.

Mu Xueshi frowned and said impatiently, “Do you not even recognize the person I’m holding?”

A sharp spear crossed in front of Mu Xueshi’s chest. “We are asking who you are. Why are you holding our Little Master?”

“This one’s name is Mu Xueshi. Mu as in screen, Xue as in snow cake, and Shi as in passing away. Detailed enough for you?”

The guards were all startled. Although they had long heard Mu Xueshi’s famous name, they had never seen his true face. If this really was the man himself, then he truly would not be easy to provoke.

Mu Xueshi took advantage of the moment when those men were stunned and directly carried Su Ying into the Second Prince’s Yuanhui Palace.

“Su Ying, which one is the room where your Father sleeps?”

Su Ying turned his neck slightly, stretched out his little hand, and pointed for Mu Xueshi. “That room.”

Mu Xueshi did not avoid anything and carried Su Ying directly toward that room.

When they reached the door, two elite guards blocked him again.

“Who goes there?”

Mu Xueshi let out a long breath and said hatefully, “Who do you think? Are your eyes blind? You don’t even know that the one I’m holding is your master?”

A flash of white light swept past. Mu Xueshi’s eyes were dazzled for a moment, and by the time he could see clearly again, there were two swords at his neck.

“Um… Big Brothers, what is this for?” Mu Xueshi’s tone took a sharp turn and became incomparably polite. “I’m only sending the Little Master back. The Little Master misses his Father and keeps crying, so I had no choice but to send him back.”

The two elite guards wore solemn expressions. They exchanged a look, then said in a low voice, “State your name.”

“This one is Mu Xueshi, a third-rank official of the court. You should be calling me Judicial Affairs Minister…”

That’s right. They should be bowing to me. Why am I bowing to them! Only then did Mu Xueshi remember, and he quickly straightened his back, looking at the two men with fierce authority.

Before the two could speak, a faint voice sounded from the side, interrupting the confrontation between Mu Xueshi and the two men.

“How bold. You dare point swords at the Judicial Affairs Minister. Do you no longer want your lives?”

After hearing this, the two men’s expressions changed in alarm. They quickly withdrew their swords and knelt to salute Mu Xueshi.

Mu Xueshi turned around to look and saw a face that seemed both somewhat familiar and somewhat unfamiliar.

The Second Prince’s personal guard, Guan Rong, greeted Mu Xueshi politely, and also greeted Su Ying.

When Su Ying saw Guan Rong, his eyes widened round, and his expression instantly carried a few traces of authority.

“Guan Rong, where is my Father right now?”

Guan Rong paused, then bowed and said to Su Ying, “Replying to Little Master, His Highness the Second Prince is currently traveling in Quzhou. He will need some days before he can return.”

“I want my Father to come back right now!” Su Ying ordered Guan Rong loudly.

This was the first time Mu Xueshi had seen Su Ying look so imposing. He had not expected that, besides crying, this little fellow really did have a bit of the bearing of an imperial son.

Guan Rong hesitated, then said to Su Ying with a face full of apology, “Replying to Little Master, this servant may not be able to accomplish that. From Quzhou to here, even on horseback, it takes at least half a month. His Highness the Second Prince probably has not even arrived there yet.”

Su Ying immediately dropped his airs, revealed his true nature, and burst into loud sobs.

Even Mu Xueshi, standing at the side, wanted to cry. Did the Second Prince plan to live in that Quzhou for a year and a half? It would take half a month just to get there. Even if he only played for a month, by the time he came back, it would already be two months later. Su Ying had only stayed with him for one week, and Mu Xueshi was already about to be unable to hold on…

Seeing Su Ying cry, Guan Rong also grew somewhat anxious. He looked toward the room, as if thinking about something.

Mu Xueshi suddenly felt that something was off, so inspiration struck. He deliberately said loudly outside, “That Second Prince is truly heartless. Su Ying stayed with me for less than a week, and he caught smallpox and a cold one after another. Now his hands and feet are all rotting, sores have grown all over his body, and his eyes are so swollen he can’t even open them. Every day he washes his face with tears, refusing to eat or drink from morning to night, yet still cannot ease the pain of missing his father!”

No sooner had Mu Xueshi finished speaking than the room door was kicked open, revealing the Second Prince’s rather exhausted face.

“Who is disturbing my sweet dreams outside?”

Mu Xueshi gritted his teeth inwardly. I knew you had to be inside. This fatherly airs of yours are a bit too much. Your son has personally come looking for you, yet you can still lie inside peacefully and sleep. And they had not come here looking for the Second Prince only once or twice, yet he had avoided them every time and even deceived his own son.

Thinking this, Mu Xueshi hardened his heart and said to Su Ying, “Su Ying, let’s go. If he doesn’t want you, Uncle wants you. You can spend the rest of your life with Uncle. Uncle will raise you like my own son.”

At this point, how could Su Ying still be willing to listen to Mu Xueshi? He would not even look at Mu Xueshi anymore. Mu Xueshi lowered his head and saw that more than half of Su Ying’s body had already leaned away from him. His two little arms were raised as he looked tearfully at the Second Prince.

The Second Prince had originally still been angry, but when he saw Su Ying like this, nothing remained except heartache. He took Su Ying from Mu Xueshi’s arms and carefully held him close, as if cradling a lost and recovered treasure.

When Su Ying felt that familiar embrace, his tears were like floodwaters released from a gate, impossible to stop no matter what.

The Second Prince’s heart also felt somewhat sour. This little person he had longed for day and night had finally, one day, missed him too. He held Su Ying’s little face with one hand and said dotingly, “Ying’er, don’t cry. If you keep crying, your eyes will be ruined… Someone! Hurry and invite the best imperial physician in the palace. I want Su Ying examined thoroughly from head to toe.”

Mu Xueshi deeply regretted the words he had just said in order to draw the Second Prince out, making it sound as if he had abused Su Ying. However, he no longer had any chance to speak, because those two people completely ignored his existence.

When Mu Xueshi left, the scene of the Second Prince kissing Su Ying kept flashing through his mind. That gaze, those gentle, protective movements, were simply doting to an excessive degree. It made him sigh again over his own childhood. Other people had grown up soaked in honey jars, while he had been trained inside an iron cage…

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