On this auspicious New Year’s Eve, on the highest floor of the Moon-Plucking Pavilion, the esteemed Crown Prince stood in his black, gold-threaded python robes. His presence was oppressive, casting a shadow over the line of attendants kneeling within the hall.
The sounds of fireworks and firecrackers grew sparse. The table full of rare delicacies and fine wines remained untouched, as if waiting for a guest who would never arrive.
Mu Yunfei knew he wouldn’t come.
Mu Yunfei hadn’t invited him, and even if he had, the man wouldn’t have shown up. Like everyone else, the Crown Prince had been unable to find a single trace of him for ten days.
Disobedient flowers should be snapped and locked in a golden cage, Mu Yunfei thought coldly.
As the chaotic fireworks faded, the night returned to its natural stillness, the moonlight spilling over the world like liquid silver. Mu Yunfei glanced out toward the ground far below and caught sight of a shadow that seemed familiar.
His fingers, resting on the table, twitched. His gaze narrowed, focusing on that tiny figure hundreds of feet below a figure that seemed to have taken root in his mind long ago.
He would not mistake it.
The young Crown Prince’s knuckles rapped rhythmically against the tabletop, his eyes clouding with rage.
Who is that person beside him?
For ten days, neither the Eastern Palace nor the General’s Estate could find Xiao Biehe. Had he been with this person the entire time?
“Hmph.”
Mu Yunfei let out a nonchalant, mocking laugh. He pointed a casual finger downward, aiming directly at the two figures one in white and one in red. “Find a few experts. Have them watch those two. I want to know his every move.”
“As you command.”
“Wait.” As the subordinate turned to leave, the Crown Prince called him back. His voice was slow, yet dripping with danger. “Be careful. Do not let him discover you. Do not fail.”
The subordinate bowed again. “Yes, Your Highness.”
Having seen enough of the fireworks, and with the night air at that height becoming bitingly cold, the two descended from the pavilion.
In truth, it was because Lu Guanyan had made the beauty angry. He had taken things too far this time, and the beauty was no longer willing to watch the stars with him.
The beauty had fled, and Lu Guanyan, of course, had to give chase.
“Brother, I was wrong. Please don’t ignore me?”
Xiao Biehe glanced at the sleeve the youth was gripping. “Let go.”
“I really know I was wrong! if Brother is angry, you can hit me, or even stab me with your sword. I won’t fight back!”
Xiao Biehe’s voice was noticeably raspier than usual as he repeated, “Let go.”
Seeing the beauty’s absolute resolve and realizing that no amount of pleading would work, Lu Guanyan reluctantly let go, his head—hidden behind the black mask drooping.
Xiao Biehe, his mind made up, walked forward alone.
Lu Guanyan chased from behind. “Brother, wait for me! Your legs haven’t fully recovered yet; don’t walk so fast!”
Xiao Biehe didn’t want to hear the incessant chatter and used his lightness skills to fly away.
When he finally stopped, he ran into someone.
Mo Sang stood in the path of the elegant, white-masked figure adorned with the jade hairpin. “Master… is it you?”
Xiao Biehe frowned. Unwilling to speak, he turned to walk in the opposite direction.
Mo Sang blocked him again. “Master?”
“You have the wrong person,” Xiao Biehe said coldly.
Mo Sang shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t mistake you. If you refuse to admit it, do you dare take off the mask and let me see?”
This demand displeased Xiao Biehe. Because of the environment he had grown up in, he despised being threatened.
Mo Sang couldn’t keep him there, and just as Xiao Biehe was about to leave, a powerful arm wrapped around his shoulder from behind.
Xiao Biehe didn’t need to look to know who it was. After ten days, he knew the youth all too well.
Sure enough, a cynical, provocative voice spoke next: “What kind of thing are you? Why should my wife let you see him? You’re not some kind of lecherous scoundrel, are you?”
The “lecherous scoundrel” himself kept his arm around the beauty’s shoulder, his hand sliding down to rest on the waist, while his other hand practicedly took the beauty’s hand. “Wife, let’s go.”
“Wait! Master, you can’t leave!” Mo Sang spread his arms to block them. “Fine if you won’t come with me, but will you ignore the Great General’s words? He has been searching for you to arrange a marriage! I’ve already pleaded with him on your behalf as long as you are willing to be with me and let go of everyone else, you won’t have to leave an heir with a woman. Puh!”
Before Mo Sang could finish, he was sent flying. With a loud bang, he slammed into the protective city wall, collapsing half of it and coughing up a large amount of blood.
Lu Guanyan walked over, looking down at the man on the ground like he was looking at a fly. He raised a foot and crushed one of the “fly’s” hands.
“AHHH!!!” A blood-curdling scream pierced the air. Cold sweat poured down Mo Sang’s pale face as he heard the sound of his own bones shattering.
Ten days! The General’s Estate had searched for Xiao Biehe for ten days, only for him to find an “adulterer” to play with out in the world!
His hand! He would make Xiao Biehe pay!
However, the moment his throat was seized, Mo Sang forgot the pain. He was truly terrified. This man… he really intends to kill me!
“Mas… Master, save me… he’s going to kill me…”
The intense pain and suffocation made his voice intermittent. He looked toward Xiao Biehe the person he loved and hated, yet his only hope for survival.
However, Xiao Biehe remained indifferent. Even as Mo Sang was on the verge of being strangled to death, he didn’t lift a finger. He simply turned his back and walked away.
Mo Sang’s heart turned to ash. In his final moments, his eyes shifted from agony to pure malice, staring intensely at Xiao Biehe. “You can’t let… me die. I have merit in caring for the Great… General. The Lady likes me. If the… General finds out, he won’t spare you!”
Hearing this, Xiao Biehe’s heart instinctively shuddered.
Standing with his back to them, Xiao Biehe said to the youth, “Don’t kill him. Let’s go.”
Lu Guanyan had truly intended to kill the man for what he had said. A beauty I haven’t even fully tasted yet… a filthy creature like you thinks you’re worthy?
But now that his beauty was willing to speak to him and had even called for him, Lu Guanyan tossed the neck aside and ran over, his face beaming. “Hey, I’m coming, Wife!”
However, once he caught up, he found that the beauty was ignoring him again. Lu Guanyan tried to cling to his arm, but was shaken off by a cold-faced Xiao Biehe.
Lu Guanyan: T^T
Fine, the beauty is still mad at me.
“Don’t call me that,” came a cold, clear voice just as Lu Guanyan was thinking of a new way to please him.
Lu Guanyan immediately lit up, successfully grabbing the beauty’s arm and whispering in his ear, “Husband?”
Xiao Biehe: “…”
Forget it. I won’t say another word.
But his silence only seemed to trigger the youth’s chatter. “Husband, why do you still have to have children with someone else?”
“Husband, someone made me dirty, Husband should wipe me clean.”
“Husband, you smell so good!”
“Why won’t Husband talk to me…”
Xiao Biehe couldn’t stand the title. While his face remained like ice, the tips of his ears turned increasingly red. “Shut up.”
The more the beauty forbade it, the more excited Lu Guanyan became. He even played along by changing his tone, his mismatched eyes curving into a smile, looking exactly like a charming, demonic concubine. “Husband, back there on the Moon-Plucking Pavilion… did I make you feel good?”
Xiao Biehe snapped his sleeve, coldly pulling his arm out of the youth’s grasp.
The boy instantly looked dejected, his eyes filled with such extreme grievance that tears seemed ready to fall. Xiao Biehe couldn’t tell if he was truly upset or just acting.
Looking pitiful, Lu Guanyan’s voice went flat as he persistently approached Xiao Biehe again. “I’ll let Husband touch me too. I’ll take everything off and let you touch. Just don’t be angry anymore, okay?”
Xiao Biehe: “Shut. Up.”
Late at night, the food had long since grown cold. Mu Yunfei was still sitting on the twenty-eighth floor of the Moon-Plucking Pavilion, staring at the spot outside the railing where those people had long since vanished.
A subordinate from the Eastern Palace arrived with a report: they had found a place where the Young General and another man had stayed for the past few days. They were currently on their way back.
Mu Yunfei broke a piece off the round pear-wood table, crushing it into powder. His lips parted as he spat out a few words through gritted teeth: “Are you certain?”
The subordinate bowed deeply. “Absolutely certain.”
“Good.” Mu Yunfei sneered, rising from the seat where he had sat all night. “Then I shall go to the Great General to demand an explanation. Come. To the General’s Estate.”