For the remaining two hours, Mu Xueshi slept in a daze the entire time. As long as there was even the slightest movement, he would wake up. Only after countless times of seeing the window flicker between dim and bright did Mu Xueshi realize that dawn had finally arrived.
“Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”
Seeing Mu Xueshi run toward Qingyun Palace with his clothes not even properly put on and his hair in a mess, the Third Prince felt somewhat helpless.
“I’m going to see what that room burned into! I didn’t see it clearly last night.”
Mu Xueshi’s voice echoed in the wind…
When he reached Qingyun Palace, Mu Xueshi could see from outside that the walls had been smoked black by the fire. The tongues of flame had followed the window and crawled outside, leaving the whole place looking like a complete mess.
Mu Xueshi felt somewhat stifled inside. After all, he had lived here for so long, and seeing the entire room suddenly changed beyond recognition made him wonder whether it could still be restored to its original appearance. When he walked in, the servants were cleaning. The tables, chairs, benches, and stools that had been burned beyond recognition all had to be moved out and replaced with new ones. Even the teacups stained with ash had to be taken away.
Mu Xueshi picked up all the little odds and ends from the bed and gathered them in the front of his robe. When Eunuch Tai’an saw this, he hurriedly said to Mu Xueshi, “Young Master Xue, let this servant hold these things for you.”
Mu Xueshi still felt somewhat distrustful of Eunuch Tai’an. “You won’t throw them away, will you?”
“What is Young Master Xue saying? Anything you order not to be thrown away, even His Highness would not dare casually throw out.”
Only after Eunuch Tai’an said this did Mu Xueshi relax and lower the front of his robe, handing all the things inside to Eunuch Tai’an.
In an instant, everything in the room had been “looted” clean. Mu Xueshi watched as the last large desk was about to be carried out, and immediately called, “Slow down. Wait!”
Hearing him, the servants quickly crouched down and placed the large desk back on the floor.
Mu Xueshi’s heartbeat slowly quickened. Seeing five or six people staring at him, he quickly waved his hand and said, “All of you withdraw. Leave this table here for now. I want to examine it carefully.”
Those five or six servants walked outside. Eunuch Tai’an also reminded them from behind, “Wait until Young Master Xue leaves the room before you come back in to sweep the floor.”
Mu Xueshi lowered his head and picked up the bottle of fragrant dew he had placed on the desk yesterday. It had already shattered into two halves.
On this large desk, a clear burn mark was revealed. This mark was deeper than the others, and there were still a few bits of cloth stuck to it that had not been completely burned clean.
Mu Xueshi wanted to forcefully pull those bits of cloth off, but the fabric was firmly stuck to the desk and could not be tugged free. Mu Xueshi rinsed it with water and scraped it with the broken pieces of the bottle before finally removing the fragments. As a result, a patch of skin on his hand was scraped off too.
Mu Xueshi did not even notice that his hand was injured. He only stared with slightly unsteady breathing at that blackened patch on the desk, thinking of the burned patch of floor in the main hall of the Grand Tutor Manor. How similar…
Mu Xueshi carefully recalled the scene from before he went to sleep last night. He had packed all the things he brought back from the Grand Tutor Manor into a bundle and first placed it on the desk, intending to put everything together into a cabinet. But there had still been some old things in that cabinet from before, especially the fragrant dew, which had already turned into stinking dew, so he had the servants carry the cabinet out, clean it, and then bring it back in…
In the end, after the cabinet was carried out, Mu Xueshi had placed that bundle back on the desk.
Then what exactly had been left on the table?
Mu Xueshi felt as though sparks were bursting in his mind. It was as if he had found a clue, but these things were all tangled together. He had to find a clear thread.
The items… the items… Right, they all burned up. I have to go back to the Grand Tutor Manor and retrieve another batch.
Mu Xueshi had just run outside when he crashed into the Third Prince at the doorway.
“Xi, Xi, listen to me. My case is about to make progress. I think I found a clue.”
Mu Xueshi’s hand gripped the sleeve of the Third Prince’s white robe with blue trim, unexpectedly staining it red.
The Third Prince’s expression gradually darkened, and he looked at Mu Xueshi with a hint of anger.
Mu Xueshi did not realize at all that the Third Prince was not in a good mood and continued speaking excitedly. “The fire in our room might not have been set by someone. Maybe it was because of the things on the table. Do you know? Yesterday, I put everything I brought back from the Grand Tutor Manor on the desk. Then just now, I discovered…”
“Why are you so careless?”
The Third Prince’s words interrupted Mu Xueshi.
Only then did Mu Xueshi notice the Third Prince’s expression. He immediately said with a look of knowing his mistake, “I didn’t expect those things would catch fire when placed together. If I had studied them earlier, maybe there would have been progress in the case long ago, and our room wouldn’t have burned like this either.”
Mu Xueshi’s bottom was slapped hard by the Third Prince’s large hand.
“I already admitted I was wrong, and you still hit me.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Mu Xueshi immediately became somewhat confused. “You said I was careless… Are you referring to me discovering this matter? That isn’t called careless. That’s called luck. That’s called a blessing from heaven… Ah!…”
Mu Xueshi took another solid slap.
“Isn’t it a good thing that I’m good at thinking… You were the one who said I had no brain and called someone else intelligent…” Mu Xueshi was still chattering endlessly in his own defense even as he was pulled out by the Third Prince.
The Third Prince carefully cleaned Mu Xueshi’s wound. Only then did Mu Xueshi realize he had accidentally hurt himself just now. He secretly sighed that the Third Prince was attentive, but he had not noticed that his hand had already stained a large patch of the Third Prince’s sleeve red.
“You bandaged it so well. I didn’t expect that even as a prince, you would be so meticulous when doing this kind of small thing. Sigh… If you were in our world, you would definitely be a king-level superstar, with countless fans chasing after you. If some young girl had her finger bandaged by you, she definitely wouldn’t take the bandage off for the rest of her life.”
The Third Prince had long since grown used to Mu Xueshi’s nonsense, treating it as dream talk and merely smiling it off.
“Now it’s starting to hurt a little.” Mu Xueshi shook that finger and asked the Third Prince with a pout, “Why does it only hurt this much after the medicine was applied? Did you deliberately put irritating medicine on me to punish me?”
The Third Prince glanced at Mu Xueshi, his gaze both murderous and bewitching.
“Yes. To punish you for not cherishing your own body.”
After saying this, the Third Prince called Qing Ya over.
“Go find Imperial Physician Li and have him prescribe a dose of medicine. Tell him it is for healing a wound.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Eh? Didn’t you already apply medicine for me?” Mu Xueshi became noisy again. “I trust your skills. Does a tiny wound like this still need an imperial physician? If this had been in the past, I wouldn’t even have looked at it. It would naturally heal in a few days.”
“That is a medicinal decoction. Drinking it can prevent the wound from becoming infected.”
“It won’t get infected, it won’t get infected. I don’t want to drink it.”
The Third Prince lowered his head and stared at Mu Xueshi, a dangerous light radiating from his icy eyes.
“I’ll drink it. I’ll drink it, all right.”
Mu Xueshi shrank his neck and drooped his head, looking at the floor.
“Your Highness, Noble—”
The guard reporting at the door had not finished speaking when he saw Mu Xueshi and abruptly stopped himself.
“Speak,” the Third Prince replied coldly.
The guard swallowed and quietly said to the Third Prince, “Your Highness, Noble Consort Yu heard that Qingyun Palace caught fire last night, so he came to ask after your safety. He is waiting outside the small courtyard now. Should we invite him in?”
Mu Xueshi snorted inwardly. His news is certainly fast. The fire happened last night, and he already knows this morning. His Majesty and the princes haven’t even come to ask after us yet. What right does he have to rush here first?
“Invite him in. Why hesitate over this? He came out of kindness.” Mu Xueshi forced out an extremely fake smile.
“No need. I will go out to receive him and say a few words.”
“I want to go too.”
With that one sentence, Mu Xueshi betrayed his thoughts.
The Third Prince looked at Mu Xueshi meaningfully and asked, “You want to go out like this?”
Only then did Mu Xueshi realize that his clothes were a complete mess, and his hair was loose and disheveled. He truly was not suited to go out and let that Noble Consort Yu laugh at him.
“Well… you go then. Help me thank him for his concern. Just say Xueshi is very well and that he does not need to worry.”
After saying this, Mu Xueshi slipped off in a flash to another room.
“Qing Ya, Qing Zhu, quick, help me tidy myself up. I’m going out in a while.”
Qing Ya and Qing Zhu stood beside Mu Xueshi, both looking troubled.
“Young Master Xue, your attire and hair ornaments are always arranged by His Highness. If we tidy you up casually, His Highness might…”
“It’s fine. He has no time to bother with me right now.”
Qing Zhu secretly laughed and leaned close to Qing Ya’s ear. “Quick, look at Young Master Xue’s expression…”
Qing Ya looked where Qing Zhu indicated, and sure enough, she smiled along with Qing Zhu.
“Young Master Xue, don’t forget to wear this.”
Although Mu Xueshi desperately wanted to resist, he still accepted the hat unwillingly and let the veil cover his entire face. Now he understood. Being too good-looking was not a good thing either. People always said that if someone was that ugly, they should not go out and frighten others. From the looks of it now, even if someone was good-looking, they still could not go out and frighten others.
I have to hurry out and see what they’re saying… Thinking this, Mu Xueshi could not help but quicken his steps.
In the end, before Mu Xueshi could even reach the entrance, he saw the Third Prince walking toward him.
“Why did you come back so quickly?” Mu Xueshi could not help asking in surprise.
“It was only a few words.”
“Where is Noble Consort Yu?”
“He has already gone back.”
Mu Xueshi nodded, then still pretended regretfully, “I had even wanted to thank him for his concern in person.”
The Third Prince only smiled without speaking.
Seeing the corners of the Third Prince’s lips lift, Mu Xueshi could not help asking guiltily, “What are you smiling at?”
“At how honest this face of yours truly is.” The Third Prince lifted Mu Xueshi’s hat veil and kissed that incomparably beautiful face.
Mu Xueshi’s face immediately flushed red, and he said angrily, “What nonsense are you saying! You didn’t even see my expression.” After saying this, Mu Xueshi quickly lowered the hat veil again.