Xiao Yanshi ultimately compromised. He lay on the edge of the pool, while Xue You thoughtfully placed a piece of cloth under his abdomen, as if afraid he might catch a chill.
“Hey, why did you come down too…” Xiao Yanshi watched helplessly as Xue You stripped off his outer robes, leaving only a single undergarment, and then stepped into the water with composed grace.
The water soaked through the clothes, the thin fabric clinging tightly to his skin, revealing a taut midsection and powerful arms. Xiao Yanshi couldn’t help but recall that moment of intoxicated obsession from before.
“You!” Before Xiao Yanshi could gather his wits, Xue You was already close. His voice, too, seemed soaked through by the water, his hot breath brushing against Xiao Yanshi’s ear. “What is the Heir panicking about?”
Xiao Yanshi felt his entire body go limp. Inwardly, he cursed the ruinous power of beauty. He reached out to push Xue You away; they were both at an age where blood ran hot, and the surrounding environment was far too ambiguous—it was truly not safe.
But as soon as his palm made contact with the man’s chest, Xiao Yanshi felt a twinge of regret.
With such beauty before me, pushing him away would be too much of a waste.
So, his hand quickly gave Xue You’s chest a stroke, though his words remained strictly upright. “I’m not panicking. If you’re willing to deign to help me scrub my back, then naturally it’s no big deal. Scrub away…” He darted his eyes everywhere, absolutely not daring to focus them on Xue You.
Watching Xiao Yanshi’s heart betray his words, Xue You suddenly laughed out loud.
Xiao Yanshi, confronted directly by the beauty’s laughter, felt his eyelashes tremble, and his face turned red.
A tray sat prepared on the bank with washcloths, soap, and even flower petals. Xiao Yanshi pinched a petal and crumbled it. “Xie Kaiji really knows how to enjoy life…”
While they spoke, Xue You dipped the cloth into the water and let it fall upon Xiao Yanshi’s shoulder.
Xiao Yanshi fell silent instantly.
Beyond the faint sound of water, there was only the sound of their shallow, gentle breathing.
The surroundings were still and silent; the hot spring eased the fatigue from his entire body. Xiao Yanshi closed his eyes slightly, the gentle movements behind him making him drowsy.
I don’t know how much time passed, but Xue You touched a particular scar and said softly, “When did you get this scar?”
Drowsy as he was, Xiao Yanshi reacted quickly. “Fourteen.”
It was a jagged knife scar over three inches long on the back of his neck. Xue You found it hard to imagine how fourteen-year-old Xiao Yanshi had endured that pain.
Perhaps the atmosphere was just right; Xiao Yanshi slowly began to speak. “That year, the Northern Di barbarians set an ambush by the Hutuo River, intending to raid Longbo City. Unexpectedly, my father anticipated their scheme and led three thousand elite Northern Frontier troops to scatter them.”
“It was that same month that I accompanied my master to Longbo City… When the city gates went up in flames, my master had already fallen in battle. I… I wasn’t afraid of anything back then, and grabbed a blade to join the gate guards, but… the wind was too biting. I clutched the sword, shielded behind others…”
“I don’t know the name of the person who protected me,” Xiao Yanshi smiled faintly. “Actually, he wasn’t much older than me, but he took a blade for me. I watched with my own eyes as his arm was severed, falling to the ground… the wound bleeding profusely, and I couldn’t even cry…”
“Later, the city fell, and I was stuffed into a broken hut,” Xiao Yanshi gripped the stone on the bank, his voice light and slow, like a midnight whisper, like sharing a secret. “There were many corpses piled there—emaciated children, withered old men, sturdy men… I looked at those faces, and for the first time, I felt terror.”
“If my father had arrived any later, I probably wouldn’t have been any different from those corpses…” Xiao Yanshi lowered his eyes. The person scrubbing his back paused. “Don’t say any more…”
Xiao Yanshi didn’t turn back. “Don’t worry, I often dreamed of it in those years; the fear has long since faded.”
Perhaps because he was so accustomed to life and death, Xiao Yanshi remained quite calm while speaking. Xue You set down the cloth, pressing his fingertip against the scar. “Heir…”
He seemed to have much to say, but in the end, everything settled into silence.
As if he had an eye on his back, Xiao Yanshi suddenly stood up, naked, and stepped onto the bank.
He draped his clothes loosely over his frame. Xue You remained in the water, staring fixedly at the retreating back. “What happened after that?”
The question was abrupt, but Xiao Yanshi understood his meaning. He turned naturally, smiling. “I have a thick life…”
“Hm?”
“Longbo City fell, and fire broke out… In less than two hours, my father had slaughtered every barbarian in the city.”
“And the Heir?”
“My father sent men to search for me, and found me in less than half a day. It was just a moment of negligence, and I was slashed on the back by a hidden barbarian.” Xiao Yanshi spoke lightly, but only he knew that the day hadn’t happened quite as he described.
After exterminating all the barbarians, Xiao Mingquan still had to pacify the city’s populace and reorganize the remaining troops. Only three men were left behind to look for Xiao Yanshi.
One of them even had a severed arm.
Longbo City was small, less than one-twentieth the size of Jiangling, yet finding Xiao Yanshi was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Xiao Yanshi had been the first to hear the wailing of the commoners, learning that the Northern Frontier troops had entered the city and slaughtered the barbarians. But as he prepared to go out and scout the situation, trying to find a way to reunite with the troops, he discovered one barbarian.
A straggler.
To the right of the hut was a row of dilapidated courtyards; apart from beggars, no one ever came there. Xiao Yanshi thought for a moment and decided to follow him.
Longbo City was sealed off. The barbarian knew he couldn’t escape through the checkpoints, so he cautiously bypassed the crowded areas and retrieved a bundle of gunpowder from a derelict house.
Back then, the Firearms Battalion had only just been established; no matter how skilled the Northern Di barbarians were, they had no way to acquire gunpowder.
Clearly, there were powerful figures hiding in Longbo City.
Xiao Yanshi only had time for a hurried glance, but that single glimpse was enough to confirm what the barbarian was clutching was indeed gunpowder.
Xiao Yanshi had witnessed the power of gunpowder. He could nearly foresee how many houses would be leveled and how many innocent lives would be claimed when the gunpowder in the barbarian’s hands exploded.
Xiao Yanshi didn’t hesitate; he trailed the man the entire way.
The most prosperous area of Longbo City was in the east, but it was heavily guarded, with Xiao Mingquan himself stationed there. Thus, the barbarian took the next best option and headed straight for the north of the city.
It was home to many wealthy merchants and gentry, and now, it was also where nearly a thousand commoners had been resettled.
Xiao Yanshi made a quick estimate, knowing he couldn’t wait any longer. Just before the barbarian could turn into an alley, he leaped down from the wall, his dagger driving straight for the barbarian’s neck.
But it only grazed his skin. Once the first strike failed, Xiao Yanshi lost the initiative, only to be grabbed by the barbarian and slammed violently to the ground!
Had he landed solidly, Xiao Yanshi would have been dead or severely injured. Fortunately, he was quick-witted, rolling along the ground to avoid the blow.
But no matter how skilled a youth was, he couldn’t match the raw strength of a sturdy adult. The barbarian, realizing his plot had been uncovered, decided to silence him. He set down the gunpowder and lunged at Xiao Yanshi.
Xiao Yanshi was lightning-fast, dodging narrowly several times, but his small dagger made it impossible to get close, and his life was nearly claimed on several occasions.
Dragging it out wasn’t impossible, but the barbarian knew that if this continued, he would be discovered. By then, forget taking hundreds of people down with him—he himself would likely end up in a fate worse than death.
Thus, with Xiao Yanshi having almost no room to counterattack, after dodging a kick to the chest, his back was left completely exposed. The next moment, a sharp blade sliced through skin, and he felt like a fish on a chopping block, his vitality draining away.
“Heir!” A sharp cry rang out from the distance. Xiao Yanshi’s heart eased; the breath he had held erupted, a desperate desire for survival urging him to dodge the next strike.
Xiao Yanshi’s instincts moved faster than his thoughts. He clutched the dagger and rolled to the right, then turned back against the initial direction, twisting the dagger… Squish. The blade sliced through skin, and the blood splattering on Xiao Yanshi’s face made him shiver.
But the smell of blood in his nose ignited a thirst for slaughter. Xiao Yanshi lunged at the barbarian like a madman, pinning him down, clutching the man’s throat, and driving the slightly blunted dagger into the flesh again and again.
Xiao Yanshi’s eyes burned red with excitement.
“Heir…” The people who had arrived at the sound changed color, shocked speechless; not a single one dared to go up and pull Xiao Yanshi away.
It wasn’t until Xiao Mingquan arrived. He sat on his horse, watching his formerly mischievous and clever second son sitting in a pool of filth and blood like a wraith, and he suddenly felt as if something had been forcibly jammed into his heart.
Xiao Mingquan dismounted, step by step walking to Xiao Yanshi, and for the first time, called out to him in a gentle voice, “Ashi…”
Xiao Yanshi remained still, but Xiao Mingquan, ever observant, noticed his eyes move.
Xiao Mingquan didn’t dare to reach out easily. Ignoring the ghastly corpse on the ground, and not caring that his own hem was soaking in the blood, he crouched down to look at Xiao Yanshi. “Father is here…”
Xiao Mingquan had stubbornly believed that Xiao Yanshi was naturally suited for the battlefield and for killing.
But until he saw Xiao Yanshi now, sitting in the filth and blood like a soulless deity of slaughter, he suddenly regretted it.
In Jiangling, youths of Xiao Yanshi’s age would spend their days learning classical texts in school, galloping on horseback through the streets, or drifting on the lakes they would never… would never be sitting here holding a dagger, looking cold and numb before a corpse.
Xiao Mingquan couldn’t bear it any longer. He bent down to pick Xiao Yanshi up from the blood, but just as his fingers were about to touch him, Xiao Yanshi suddenly looked up. “Father, I can walk myself.”
He finished, and without waiting for Xiao Mingquan to react, he stood up, threw away the blunted dagger, and walked step by step toward the outskirts of the city.
“Ashi.” Xiao Mingquan felt something had changed, but Xiao Yanshi gave him no chance to reflect, turning to offer him a smile. “Father, I want to go back.”
“Very well, I will send you back to Jiangling.” Xiao Mingquan said.
“No, I want to return to the military camp.” Xiao Yanshi stared intently at Xiao Mingquan. “Today, I should have killed him in one blow…”
Xiao Mingquan felt as though he had fallen into a cave of ice.
That day after emerging from the hot spring, Xiao Yanshi changed his clothes and galloped back to the Marquis Estate.
For the next few days, he had to attend court, and even Xie Kaiji saw him rarely; as for Xue You, he had even less opportunity.
On this day, Xiao Yanshi had just finished court and passed by the Xiangyufang pastry shop to buy several large bags of pastries and two sticks of candied haws. He rushed back to the estate, clutching his paper bags as he hurried toward Xiao Yanzhi’s courtyard.
Suddenly, a cup flew toward his face.
With both hands full, Xiao Yanshi could only perform a backflip to kick the cup away.
Before he had even landed, a cold voice rang out. “Xiao Yanshi, do you still have a father in your eyes?!”
Xiao Yanshi stiffened and looked up; who else was sitting in the floral hall but his own father!
Xiao Yanzhi emerged from the side and stood with Xiao Yanshi, whispering, “I intended to send someone to inform you, but Father wouldn’t allow it, so I…”
Xiao Yanzhi hadn’t recovered for more than a few days, and his complexion was still somewhat pale. Xiao Yanshi couldn’t bear to see him like this and pushed Xiao Yanzhi aside. “You go inside first; don’t worry about me.”
Xiao Yanzhi didn’t listen; instead, he pulled Xiao Yanshi down to kneel with him.
“Brother…” Xiao Yanshi said helplessly. “Father is just angry for a moment; he can’t do anything to me.” From the moment he saw Xiao Mingquan here, Xiao Yanshi knew exactly why.
Sure enough, Xiao Mingquan’s anger swelled within his chest; he slammed the table. “Xiao Yanshi, you could have sought to marry anyone else, yet you chose to step into the Princess’s Estate’s threshold!”
At this point, concealing it any further would only enrage Xiao Mingquan more, so Xiao Yanshi straightened his back and spoke without servility. “But no one else could enter my heart; only he can.”
“You rebellious son! Jingcong, bring me the Ten Precepts Staff!”