He refused to admit it, though, and sneered coldly. “Is that all you can do? A cheap little trick, hardly worth mentioning.”
The woman’s movements remained fluid. Both hands slid down his chest, and Prince Jin’s breath caught sharply. He was about to stop her.
But it was already too late.
Her fingertips paused. The woman gave a sudden, soft laugh, her eyes glimmering as her cloudlike hair swayed and her body trembled like a flower in the wind.
“Your Highness, you’re lying. You’re clearly enjoying this!”
For a moment, Prince Jin felt so guilty that he was at a loss for words. She seized the opportunity to press closer, like a snake clinging to its prey.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she wound her legs around his waist and drew her red lips near his temple, breathing sweetly against his ear.
“If Your Highness wants me, just say so. A man’s mouth doesn’t always have to be as stubborn as his heart.”
…
Inside the carriage, Prince Jin’s eyes flew open. His gaze was sharp as a blade.
“Who was that woman in my dream?”
He tried hard to recall her face, but suddenly a violent pain burst through his chest, as if someone were slicing him apart.
Prince Jin groaned, clutching his chest. In his distress, he toppled onto the floor.
“Your Highness!” His personal guard, Ling Feng, had doubled back. Hearing the noise, he lifted the carriage curtain, and at the sight of Prince Jin on the floor, hurried forward in alarm.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
But through the agony, Prince Jin could only see Ling Feng’s mouth opening and closing. He couldn’t make out a word.
Only after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea had passed did the stabbing pain in his chest begin to ease. Prince Jin drew a deep breath, straightened up, and returned to his seat. Beneath his mask, his lips were pale as paper.
“It’s nothing.” He waved away Ling Feng, who was still trying to support him. A thoughtful look appeared in his eyes beneath the mask, and he murmured, “The second time.”
He had dreamed of that woman twice now.
The first time had been last night.
Her face had been just as impossible to see, and he had only been able to hear her voice.
And just as before, when he woke, his heart had felt as if it were being twisted by a knife, the pain cutting to the depths of his soul.
Prince Jin touched the place over his heart and lowered his eyes, lost in thought. Why had a mere dream left him so utterly undone?
“Your Highness?” Seeing him lost in thought, Ling Feng looked at him with concern.
“If you’re feeling unwell, there’s a physician’s office nearby.”
Prince Jin came back to himself and adjusted his posture. At last, his usual stern composure returned.
“I’m fine.”
Even if something was wrong, he absolutely could not seek medical treatment in the capital.
If anyone discovered that he had returned to the capital in secret, the consequences would be unthinkable.
His gaze turned cold as a blade, and a trace of menace crossed his face. He asked about the reason for his visit.
“Where is that six-fingered strongman you were sent to find?”
A flicker of shame passed through Ling Feng’s eyes. He lowered his head.
“Forgive me, Your Highness. I arrived a step too late. Someone else had already bought the man.”
Prince Jin’s fief was in the Northern Frontier. He should not have been in the capital at all.
He had come this time after hearing rumors of an extraordinary young man with tremendous strength.
With just one hand, the young man could easily lift a carriage weighing over three hundred jin into the air.
He had even rescued a carriage and its owner, hauling them back up the cliff when they were about to plunge over the edge.
Yet the carriage owner repaid his kindness with betrayal. After accidentally glimpsing the young man’s naturally six-fingered hand, which set him apart from ordinary people, he had treated him as an ill omen and sold him off.
Prince Jin was building up his power and was desperately seeking talent. Hearing of this young man, he had thought he might make a capable general and decided to recruit him.
He had come to the capital in secret with his trusted subordinate Ling Feng for the sole purpose of taking the young man away.
But now, someone had snatched him from under their noses.
“Who bought him?”
“The shopkeeper said it was the first time he’d seen that person, too. He doesn’t know who they are.”
“You don’t know?”
Prince Jin let out a cold laugh, soundless pressure radiating from his eyes.
“Is the shopkeeper blind? If he doesn’t know who the buyer is, did he at least see what the person looked like?”
“Ling Feng, are you useless? If you don’t know who bought him, can’t you find out for yourself? Do I have to teach you something this simple? What use are you to me?”
With a flick of his hand, he hurled a teacup straight at Ling Feng’s head. Ling Feng didn’t dare dodge and took the blow on his forehead.
The teacup shattered against his brow. Bright red blood ran down from his temple, but Ling Feng’s expression didn’t change. With a thud, he dropped to his knees before Prince Jin.
“This subordinate was wrong. I’ll go back to the shopkeeper right away and find a lead on the buyer, no matter what it takes!”
Prince Jin watched Ling Feng leave with a cold stare, thinking with disdain that his personal guard might be too stupid. Perhaps it was time to replace him…
After leaving the slave market, Zhao Yushu and the four boys didn’t go far. Instead, she first took them to a small restaurant and let them eat their fill.
The slave traders never fed their slaves enough; it made them easier to manage. When the four saw the food, they all devoured it as if they hadn’t eaten in ages.
Zhao Yushu turned her head and fixed her gaze on Xiaohe.
He noticed her looking and assumed she was staring at his unusual right hand. His heart gave a nervous thump.
Because of that hand, people had despised him since childhood. Even after he became the lowest kind of slave, the other slaves still shunned him.
Everyone thought he was an ill omen and called him a freak.
Even when he saved them, they said that all the danger they had faced was his fault—that he, the freak, had brought it upon them.
Would his Master be wary of his strange hand, too?
Xiaohe tugged at his sleeve, trying to hide his right hand.
Zhao Yushu noticed what he was doing and quickly guessed why.
She went over, sat beside him, and patted his shoulder.
“Look at the wildflowers in the corner. Some are pink, some yellow, some purple. Their blossoms are different sizes and shapes, too.”
“But it’s precisely because they’re different that they look so bright and lovely, so full of variety.”
Xiaohe froze, staring at her in surprise. “Master…”
Zhao Yushu smiled faintly. She repeated the words she had once said to this boy in her previous life.
“People are the same. Everyone is different from everyone else. For some, the difference is in their features; for others, it’s in their hands or feet. Heaven and earth nurture all things, and all things are born different.”
“Different people have different things that make them wonderful. That’s simply how the world develops. There’s no need to make a fuss over it, or to take it especially to heart.”
No one had ever said such warm words to him before.
At that moment, warmth welled in Xiaohe’s eyes.
He abruptly lowered his head and vigorously wiped his face with his sleeve. His voice came out muffled.
“Thank you for helping me see things clearly, Master. As long as you don’t reject me, my life is yours from now on. As long as I live, I’ll never betray you!”
Zhao Yushu chuckled and patted him on the head. “You’re still a child. Don’t keep thinking about things like that. Eat your fill first.”
Xiaohe couldn’t help glancing at Zhao Yushu again. His ears were a little red. “Master…”
Zhao Yushu put a large chicken leg in his hand. “Eat more. Once you’re full, you’ll have work to do!”
“Okay!”
When the four of them entered the restaurant, they were all skin and bones, their stomachs practically touching their backs.
When they came out, every one of them was holding his belly, his face glowing with contentment.
Zhao Yushu asked, “Are you all full?”
The four answered in unison, “We are!”
Time was short; there was no time to lose. Zhao Yushu didn’t waste words with them. She led them off at once to get started on the next step.
Taking them through a series of turns, Zhao Yushu followed the directions she remembered and led them into a secluded, narrow alley.
In her memories, First Madam owned a private property hidden somewhere in this alley.
As she walked, Zhao Yushu studied the surroundings. When she noticed one courtyard was unlike the others, with two thick chains hanging across its gate, she stopped.
This was it!
A rundown, uninhabited courtyard with its gate locked—wasn’t that practically an invitation to suspect something was hidden there?
Zhao Yushu surveyed the area, found a low section of wall, and with a quick spring, led the four boys over it.
In her previous life, the Zhao family had been confiscated and sent into exile. One of the charges had been extortionate profiteering and accepting bribes.
Her father and First Madam had protested their innocence, insisting they had done no such thing. And when the family’s property was confiscated, none of that wealth had been found.
It wasn’t until the third year of their exile, when she sold her life to Prince Jin to save her Little Brother, that she used his influence to get the whole family out of hard labor.
First Madam suddenly said she had found a good match for Second Sister Zhao Lubai. On the wedding day, her dowry filled a full eighteen carts. Only then did Zhao Yushu realize First Madam had secretly stashed away a fortune.
To keep it hidden, she hadn’t stored the money at Zhao Residence. That was why it had escaped the search when the scandal broke.
After Censor Zhao died, First Madam secretly sent someone to dig up the money and bribe the officials guarding them.
She and Zhao Lubai were given easier work, yet they still complained to Zhao Yushu every day, leaving her to do the work of several people.
Zhao Yushu had been such a fool. She’d truly believed First Madam was frail, Second Sister was ill, and Little Brother was pitiful. So she did all the hard, exhausting work herself, letting the whole family cling to her like locusts and suck her dry.
Not this time! She would consider this money payment for all the work she had done in her previous life!
Zhao Yushu looked around the little house, its interior thick with cobwebs, as if no one had been there for ages, and gave the order.
“Search! Find everything valuable in here!”
At once, Xiaohe and the other three prepared to get to work. But when they saw the tiny, dilapidated house, which looked ready to collapse if someone so much as kicked it, the corners of their mouths twitched.
Find something valuable in this miserable little place? Really?
Still, though they had their doubts, they obediently followed Zhao Yushu’s instructions and went inside to search the little house.
No one knew how long it had been since anyone had visited. The moment they opened the door, a great heap of dust fell from the eaves.
The four exchanged glances. Xiaohe hesitated, then turned back to Zhao Yushu.
“Master, are you sure there’s anything valuable in here?”
Zhao Yushu had seen the state of the place for herself and fell silent for a moment.
Could she have misjudged it? Was this the wrong place?
Just then, Xiaohe’s ears suddenly twitched. He grabbed Zhao Yushu’s arm and pulled her into the ruined house with him, lowering his voice.
“Everyone, hide! Someone’s coming!”