Chapter 69: Father

Chapter 69: Father

The world went silent, broken only by the gentle sigh of the wind past his ears.

Shen Yuchao waited with closed eyes for a long time, but the expected killing blow never came.

His long, thick lashes slowly lifted.

His dark eyes reflected the face of a girl, frightened yet determined.

She was holding a sword nearly her own height, her hands trembling uncontrollably as she thrust it savagely into the pirate's back.

A look of intense, murderous rage flashed in the pirate's eyes. Gritting his teeth, he withdrew the blade from Shen Yuchao's neck and immediately swung it towards Qiu Shuiyi.

Qiu Shuiyi's hands shook violently as she pushed the sword deeper.

The pirate let out a pained cry.

Seizing the moment, Qiu Shuiyi pulled the sword out.

Crimson blood gushed forth, and the pirate convulsed before collapsing to the ground.

His bulging eyes glared viciously at Qiu Shuiyi.

A few drops of blood stained the girl's fair, luminous face. Tears welled up unbidden, wetting her long, curled lashes.

Her slender frame trembled.

Clenching her teeth, she mustered her courage, gripped the sword with both hands, and drew it across the pirate's neck, leaving him no chance of survival.

After a long while, Qiu Shuiyi opened her eyes, meeting the pirate's lifeless, staring eyes.

*Clang!*

She dropped the sword as if startled, her body shuddering.

Waves of terror and fear crashed over her, scattering the courage that had surged from who-knows-where.

Moments later, it transformed into an inexplicable rage.

Qiu Shuiyi rushed forward, shouting, "What are you doing? Don't you want to live?"

Her hand had just touched Shen Yuchao when he collapsed like a shattered porcelain vase.

His lowered eyelids hid the disappointment in his eyes.

Qiu Shuiyi was startled and reached out to support him, her voice trembling, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Are you alright?"

Shen Yuchao avoided her hand and slowly looked up. "Second Miss, you shouldn't have saved me."

Qiu Shuiyi's hand froze mid-air. "Wh-why?"

A smile, gentle as the spring sun, spread across Shen Yuchao's face. "I've been waiting for this day for a very long time."

"So long..." He lifted his head, gazing at the morning clouds staining half the sky as the red sun rose, murmuring, "...that I've almost forgotten what he looked like."

Sunlight poured into his eyes, turning them into liquid gold, as beautiful as two dazzling gemstones.

Qiu Shuiyi was stunned.

After a long pause, she asked softly, "Who is he?"

Shen Yuchao slowly lay back. Lying on the soft, blood-soaked earth, his eyes curved slightly.

It was a pure, unadulterated smile, like an orchid growing in a secluded valley.

"He was my father."

...

Before the age of five, Shen Yuchao's life was no different from that of any other noble scion.

He had an exceptional pair of parents.

A father of profound dignity and towering military achievements.

A mother of gentle grace and tender kindness.

The Shen family ancestors had followed Emperor Taizu in conquering the realm. Under his grandfather's influence, his father began practicing martial arts from a young age.

He joined the army at thirteen, killed a hundred enemies by fourteen, and at sixteen, single-handedly charged into an enemy camp, fought his way out with a captive, set fire to the enemy's provisions, and made a name for himself in a single battle.

At eighteen, surrounded by thousands of cavalry, he took the head of an enemy general, shattered their morale, and achieved victory against overwhelming odds.

By nineteen, he had successively captured the cities of Liang, Rong, and Ji.

In enemy ranks, some might not have known who the emperor of the Yin Dynasty was, but none were ignorant of the name Shen Shuo, the Jade-Faced Asura.

At twenty, he beheaded the leader of the previous dynasty remnants from horseback, thoroughly cleansing the remnants of the former dynasty and securing the Yin Dynasty's future.

At that time, the name of Prince Duansu, Shen Shuo, resounded throughout the Yin Dynasty. He was the undisputed God of War of his generation.

By the time Shen Shuo was twenty-four, Emperor Tianhong had already ascended the throne.

The two had grown up together since childhood, sharing a deep bond as close as brothers.

At that time, Emperor Tianhong's harem already had one empress and four consorts, two of whom were pregnant. Thus, he was extremely anxious about his friend's unwillingness to marry, urging him repeatedly, almost to the point of issuing an imperial decree to arrange a marriage.

Shen Shuo was a hero in the hearts of the Yin Dynasty's people and the dream lover of noble ladies in the capital.

Countless noble ladies dreamed of becoming his princess consort. Seeing his reluctance to marry, some were willing to spend their youth waiting, hoping he would one day turn and look their way.

Unfortunately, while the goddesses were willing, the prince was not.

Shen Shuo rejected every matchmaker, even directly telling Emperor Tianhong, "Shuo wishes to marry only the one he loves in this lifetime."

Emperor Tianhong was powerless against him. He had scolded him, but couldn't beat him in a fight, so he had to let the matter drop.

Everyone thought Shen Shuo was destined for a solitary life. But after one inspection tour of the border, he returned with a woman.

This woman possessed peerless beauty, with a graceful and enchanting figure that moved with ethereal elegance, as fleeting as a startled swan.

For some unknown reason, she had lost her memory. Apart from remembering her name was Mu Yurou, she knew nothing else.

Shen Shuo kept the woman by his side, treating her with utmost care and tenderness in every gesture, cherishing her like a precious treasure.

Seeing him so devoted to a woman was rare. Emperor Tianhong teased him for a while but also ensured his friend had a grand spectacle.

He personally issued an imperial decree bestowing marriage upon Shen Shuo and Mu Yurou, and gifted a thousand taels of gold and two estates to add to Mu Yurou's dowry, allowing her to marry into Prince Duansu's mansion with great splendor.

A lone orphan girl went from rags to riches to become a royal consort, sparking envy and resentment.

Many noblewomen mocked and ridiculed her, but Shen Shuo tracked them down, one by one, and scared them off.

For a time, the reputation of Prince Duansu and his princess consort as a devoted and loving couple spread throughout the capital.

In the second year of their marriage, Shen Yuchao was born.

At that time, several of Emperor Tianhong’s sons had died inexplicably, and out of love for his dear friend's only son, the emperor bestowed special favor upon him. When he was one month old, he was enfeoffed as his heir.

With loving parents and the emperor’s doting, Shen Yuchao grew up drenched in affection.

The wealth, status, and power that countless people spent their lives striving for were already in his grasp from birth.

Precisely because of this, Shen Yuchao was extremely mischievous in his youth, doing as he pleased and flouting every rule.

He would sneak bugs into his book boy’s collar when he wasn’t looking; out of spite toward his father, he’d hide in trees, throwing the entire household into a panic as they searched for him; disliking how the wet-nurse's husband mistreated her, he led others to give the man a severe beating—and so on, countless incidents.

At the age of three, Shen Shuo hired a tutor to begin his education.

Shen Yuchao was deeply dissatisfied with being forced to practice writing every day. He secretly placed a dead mouse in the tutor’s lunchbox, startling the tutor into a scream. The tutor resigned the very next day.

Enraged, Shen Shuo ignored Mu Yurou’s attempts to stop him, caught Shen Yuchao, and gave him a sound thrashing, making him wail loudly.

That night, Shen Yuchao, clutching his bruised backside, angrily packed his belongings and ran off.

After his disappearance, Shen Shuo and Mu Yurou were beside themselves with worry and immediately sent people to search for him.

Unexpectedly, half a day later, Shen Yuchao returned on his own.

And he brought a young man with him.

The man’s name was Liu Songqing, who claimed to be a servant of Mu Yurou’s family.

Shen Shuo asked several questions about Mu Yurou, and Liu Songqing answered them all without hesitation.

Delighted to reconnect with someone from her family, Mu Yurou was overjoyed, and Shen Shuo allowed Liu Songqing to stay.

Only after he stayed did they discover that although Liu Songqing called himself a servant, he was exceptionally talented—proficient in poetry, songs, and literature, not inferior even to the reigning top scholar.

Since Shen Yuchao had driven away his tutor, Shen Shuo asked Liu Songqing to take charge of his discipline, declaring that if Shen Yuchao disobeyed, he should be beaten.

Unexpectedly, Liu Songqing had a knack for handling Shen Yuchao, and the two hit it off famously.

When they went out together, some outsiders who didn’t know better even mistook them for father and son.

Shen Shuo was green with envy, much to Mu Yurou's amusement.

At that time, Shen Yuchao’s daily worries were how to sneak out to play under his father’s watchful eye after finishing his studies, and how to secretly eat ice under his mother’s strict supervision.

How to badger Uncle Liu into telling him one more story.

How to make time pass more slowly, so he would never have to grow up.

But he didn’t know that when storm clouds gathered, everything he had ever worried about would be blown away like dust.

When Shen Yuchao was five years old, northern barbarians invaded, and Shen Shuo put on his armor and took command of the army to the frontier.

Little Shen Yuchao would plant himself by the main gate of Prince Duansu’s mansion every day, counting down the days on his fingers until his father’s return.

At first, his mother waited with him.

Mother and son huddled together.

Under the glow of the setting sun, they both yearned for their loved one's return.

But not long after, Mu Yurou returned from a banquet, and after a carriage accident caused her to fall, everything changed.