Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Despite Xue Fu Guang's meticulous plans, a flicker of unrest still seized him at the sight of Zuo Tiao Han.

He dared not gamble with his sister's safety, not even the slightest risk was acceptable.

No matter how well-prepared, Xue Fuguang couldn't guarantee that under the push of the "plot", things wouldn’t proceed as they originally unfolded.

Only with Mu Jian Shu keeping watch could Xue Fuguang set aside his nagging worries.

Mu Jian Shu stood still, unmoving.

Xue Fuguang narrowed his eyes, turning to look at him, “I told you to follow them.”

Mu Jian Shu met his gaze for two seconds, his black pupils trembling involuntarily before he lowered his eyes, avoiding Xue Fuguang’s stare: “I cannot be at ease leaving the Crown Prince unattended.”

Xue Fuguang did not speak further, but regarded him coldly.

Mu Jian Shu’s head hung low, “Yes...”

After Mu Jian Shu had departed, Shaoying asked in a hushed tone, “Your Highness, why insist on Qu Wu shadowing Miss Zuo? With no one to guard you, what if something like last time happens again…”

Xue Fuguang interrupted, “Aren’t you following?”

Shaoying scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed.

Master and servant proceeded up the mountain.

At the foot of the mountain, the peach blossoms had bloomed to the point of decline, scattering the majority of their petals. Breezes blew the petals into the air from the mountain base, blanketing the stone pathway.

There were quite a few of Xue Fuguang’s age who climbed the mountain by their own effort.

The gaze of some onlookers fell upon the youth in blue, startled by his beauty, yet they dared not approach rashly.

Only when the young master's pale face flushed with a light red and fine beads of sweat glistened on the tip of his nose under the bright sunlight, did a handkerchief extend towards him.

Xue Fuguang turned his head and saw a graceful girl smiling at him, her small canines showing.

He hesitated to accept, so Du Ruqing fluttered the handkerchief, “Your Highness, wipe your sweat.”

Xue Fuguang took the handkerchief, “Thank you. Miss Du, do you also have leisure to enjoy the spring today?”

With her hands clasped behind her, Du Ruqing tilted her head towards the mountain, “I came with Brother Ru'an; he has the day off.”

The color in Xue Fuguang’s eyes deepened, but the corners of his lips slightly curled, revealing a subtle smile, “Did Du Yuan leave you behind to ascend on his own?”

Du Ruqing, who was fairly acquainted with Xue Fuguang, feigned a deep sigh, “With his beloved ahead, how could he spare a thought for the life and death of this sister?”

Xue Fuguang’s heart skipped a beat, “His beloved? Who is... Du Yuan’s beloved?”

Du Ruqing leaned in cautiously, “Are you truly unaware or just pretending? It's obviously Sister Wanxi!”

Xue Fuguang: "...I had no idea that the object of the Left Court's affections turned out to be my elder sister."

He had thought Xiujin was coming to Hanyuan Temple, but to his surprise, Du Ru'an had blatantly set his sights on his sister.

Du Ruqing didn't hesitate to say, "My brother, that blockhead—if he didn't fancy Sister Wanxi, would he constantly be on the lookout for her admirers?"

Xue Fuguang responded with a nod, lowering his eyelashes, "Let's hurry and catch up."

Du Ruqing nodded frantically in agreement.

As they reached the mid-mountain, Xue Fuguang felt increasingly restless.

With no news of his elder sister and no sight of Du Ru'an's figure, his anxiety grew.

After a few more steps, Du Ruqing noticed Xue Fuguang's complexion shift from rosy to pale and opened her mouth several times, wanting to suggest he rest a while.

Suddenly, a clamor erupted from above.

"Help!!!"

"Someone come quick! The sedan chair has overturned!!"

"Those below, get out of the way!!"

Feeling a surge of unease, Xue Fuguang pulled Du Ruqing to the inner side of the path, grabbing hold of a low-growing tree by the road.

The bluestone path was barely wide enough for three or four people. With an incident up ahead, the crowd surged down the hill, servants surrounded nobles, and sedan chair bearers were now too concerned for their own safety, scrambling down on foot.

There were a few dull thumps as two sedan chairs tumbled down from the upper slope, dragging broken branches and scattering stones, with continuous screams of agony from the people.

Those who accidentally ran into the path of the rolling sedan chairs were swept down the slope with them.

The nobles, unaccustomed to such scenes, cried out in alarm.

Xue Fuguang turned sideways, one hand firmly gripping the roots of the low tree against the wall, and the other holding Du Ruqing to prevent her from being jostled away down the slope. The spray of pebbles and wood chips struck them, bringing a slight sting of pain.

After a period of chaos, the crowd gradually calmed down.

Du Ruqing whispered, "Ah, you're bleeding!"

Xue Fuguang reached up, touching the dampness at his brow.

He glanced down, wiping the bright red from his fingertip, and said lightly, "It's a minor wound, nothing serious. Let's go up."

Du Ruqing had no chance to respond before Xue Fuguang, with swift movements, continued upwards.

His servant hurried after him, too rushed to even consider offering a word of caution.

Du Ruqing pursed her lips and, lifting her skirt hem, reluctantly followed.

After the incident, most of the crowd lost their spirit, descending the mountain with distracted expressions.

Only Xue Fuguang and his party were making their way up against the flow.

He peered over the edge at the sedan chair caught in the branches on the side of the slope, unable to discern the reason, his frown deepening.

The rented sedan chairs at the foot of the mountain were nearly indistinguishable from one another.

With Mu Jian Shu present, his elder sister should be safe.

Xue Fuguang had planned to stay behind to see what trick Du Ru'an was playing and wanted his elder sister to see Zuo Tiaohan's true colors. But now, he felt an unsettling panic, even doubting his own plan.

It wasn't until he reached the mountain's summit and saw his elder sister outside the temple that he relaxed.

Xue Wanxi was dressed in the same blue as Xue Fuguang; the layer of gauze she'd been wearing was nowhere to be found.

Seeing Xue Fuguang, she exclaimed joyfully, "Ah Ru!"

Her brows immediately knitted together tightly as she hurried to his side and began to dab at the blood streaming from his temple down his face with a handkerchief, "How did you get hurt? Are there other injuries?"

Xue Fuguang slowly exhaled a sigh of relief.

He blinked slowly, taking the handkerchief from Xue Wanxi's hands to wipe his face, "It's nothing, just a graze from a flying stone." After a pause, he casually inquired, "Sister, where is Miss Zuo? Where were you when the sedan chair rolled down the hill, and do you know what caused it?"

Xue Wanxi looked at her brother's temple with concern, replying, "Tiaohan saw an acquaintance and we parted ways. That sedan chair was right behind us; it must have been the bearers' carelessness. I heard it was Young Master Qin inside. They've rescued him, and his life is not in danger, though his injuries are not light."

She patted her chest in relief, "Thankfully, you weren't in it."

Du Ruqing, who had been following behind, finally caught up, calling out with a slightly urgent breath, "Sister Wanxi."

Just as Xue Wanxi nodded, she heard her younger brother ask, "Sister, have you not seen Zuo Du Yuan?"

Xue Wanxi shook her head in confusion.

Du Ruqing, who had just steadied herself, was utterly astonished. "How could this be?"

She was anxious to speak, yet feared divulging something her brother intended to keep from Xue Wanxi, leaving her only to fret silently.

Xue Fuguang, on the other hand, regained his composure.

His gaze swept the surroundings, but he spotted no one suspicious.

"Sister, you go with Miss Du to the quarters to rest. I’ll inquire with the temple’s monks for some medicine, and join you shortly."

Xue Wanxi gently pushed at his shoulder, "Go quickly, stop the bleeding first, and we'll have the imperial physician prescribe something later to prevent scarring."

Xue Fuguang couldn't help but chuckle.

Turning away from the crowd, his expression gradually turned icy.

In his previous life, this sequence of events had unfolded much later than now.

He had been imprisoned by an imperial decree, and his elder brother agreed to suppress bandits in Dingzhou to secure his release.

At that time, having been tortured in the imperial prison, he was bedridden. Once he had somewhat recovered, his elder sister took her maidservants and bodyguards to Han Yuan Temple to pray for blessings for their brother in Dingzhou and for the family.

It was then that an accident occurred, and he was rescued by Li Zefeng, the legitimate young son of the Minister of Works.

Xue Fuguang was oblivious to the precise details; he only learned of the incident once he had fully recovered and noticed the budding affection between his elder sister and Li Zefeng.

Later, his elder brother died in Dingzhou. The Xue family's fortune plummeted; Xue Wanxi married Li Zefeng in haste, and it was only after the marriage that he learned it had been a shotgun wedding.

His elder sister, such a knowledgeable and intelligent person, would not have been unaware of the consequences of premarital pregnancy.

But the Xue family was already in decline. In the past, her marriage to the Minister's young son would have been considered beneath her, but not anymore. She always spoke well of how good Li Zefeng was to her in their presence, and Xue Fuguang truly believed it.

If... had it not been for the death of his sister and her unborn child, Xue Fuguang might have continued to believe that Li Zefeng was a decent man.

As bloody memories churned in his mind, Xue Fuguang’s eyes grew increasingly cold.

He bypassed a corridor, and a tall man suddenly dropped from the top of the corridor.

Xue Fuguang was caught off guard and nearly collided with the man, but Mu Jian Shu steadied him by the shoulders, helping him to stand firm.

His eyebrows lifted in ire as he exclaimed, "You!"

Mu Jian Shu’s gaze was firmly fixed on the wound at his temple. He took a clean handkerchief from his bosom to wipe away the blood before carefully applying an ointment from a small box to the injury.

Xue Fuguang stood in stunned silence.

If he wasn’t mistaken,

was that a look of concern in Mu Jian Shu’s eyes?

Concern?

From Mu Jian Shu?

Could it be that a prominent spy leader from the State of Ying felt concern for an enemy prince wounded on his brow?

How absurd!

Mu Jian Shu, being a man accustomed to martial training, had rough, calloused fingertips, which scratched slightly against the skin on the temple, causing a faint sensation of discomfort rather than pain.

Yet his touch was featherlight as he applied the ointment, the balm spreading beneath his warm fingertips, carefully blanketing the wound.

His eyelashes fluttered gently, betraying nervousness.

But when Xue Fuguang peered intently into his eyes, they were a deep, dark abyss, and the flicker of concern he thought he’d seen seemed like nothing more than his own illusion.

Xue Fuguang pursed his lips, the restlessness in his heart scattered by this distraction. His gaze shifted, landing on the wooden box in Mu Jian Shu’s hands, "To think you'd use a sandalwood box for ointment; I've underestimated you. Though I wonder if the royal household is so generous with its secret guard's stipends."

Mu Jian Shu halted, quickly finishing with the ointment and withdrawing his hands with a naturalness that belied his earlier actions, he tucked the blood-stained handkerchief back into his bosom, "My apologies for the overstep."

The author has a message: Little Mu: My wife is hurt; it pains my heart.

A big thank you to the angels who cast their mighty votes or offered nutrient solutions for me from 2021-08-30 23:55:46 to 2021-09-07 17:29:54~

Thanks to the angel who dropped a landmine: Ban Fish rua 1;

Thanks to the angels who irrigated with nutrient solutions: Ban Fish rua 10 bottles;

Thank you all so much for your support, I will keep working hard!