Chapter 43: Hard to Meet, Hard to Part

Chapter 43: Hard to Meet, Harder to Part

"Ohhh, aren't you just the sweetest." Shen Quzhuo drawled with a lazy, cutting sneer. "But seems to me you're being pretty damn stupid. You knew that tea was spiked and you drank it anyway. What if it was something that could kill you? Couldn't you have at least faked it?"

"It couldn't be something that kills." Lan Suzhou huffed. "Even if it was, if the Prince gave it to me, I'd savor it. Besides, aren't you being real sweet yourself!"

"Huh?"

Lan Suzhou clutched his head and laid it all out for him. He'd been drugged out cold, not drugged stupid.

"You could've just ditched Ruan Ciyu and hauled me back to Ganzhou in the carriage. But no, you found an inn and even woke me up in the middle of the night, saying 'if you're gonna go, go now.'"

Lan Suzhou imitated Shen Quzhuo's tone as he talked, which made Shen Quzhuo straighten up and raise his blade, ready to whack him. "What good would me just leaving have done? With that pea-brain of yours, even if you woke up back in Ganzhou, you'd come running right back to your Prince. Might as well just wait here till you came to."

"So you do know me that well, huh." Lan Suzhou sat up, shook his head, and lurched into Shen Quzhuo's shoulder. The drug was still wearing off, and the bump sent both of them staggering back a couple steps.

"Now that's my brother."

"Hmph." Shen Quzhuo gave a cold snort.

He was Shen Yanqing's adopted son, so technically that made him Lan Suzhou's brother. But having to call himself this idiot's brother in public was honestly kind of embarrassing.

Shen Quzhuo shot back without missing a beat. "Because you're so simple-minded. Anyone who's said even one word to you can read your brain like an open book."

"Whatever you say." Lan Suzhou strongly disagreed with that take, but couldn't be bothered to bicker with him, because if they really went at it, a whole day wouldn't be enough.

"Zhuo, I'll go back by myself this time. The guys acting as shadow guards at the manor haven't pulled out yet. I'll go meet up with them. This time I'll definitely get your brother-in-law out."

Listen to this guy—not "sister-in-law," not "brother-in-law," he invented a whole new word: "bro-husband."

Shen Quzhuo was mortified.

Lan Suzhou continued, "You stay outside the city and cover me..."

He thought of something and only now mentioned it: "You didn't just bring thirty-two men when you came from Ganzhou to find me, did you?"

Thirty-two was the number Shen Quzhuo had given while Xiao Die was standing right there. But in reality, even his smallest unit had forty-eight men.

Lan Suzhou estimated, "Let me guess—you've got a few dozen Xuanji troops waiting at the foot of Li Mountain, right? By the time you—"

"Four-eighty."

"What?"

Shen Quzhuo just dropped that insane number so calmly. "Adding the thirty-two hidden guards at the manor, I brought a total of five hundred and twelve men from Ganzhou."

"Holy shit." Lan Suzhou exclaimed in surprise. "Hiding over four hundred private troops outside the Shengjing city walls—Shen Quzhuo, you've got some balls. You're not scared of getting your head chopped off?"

"It was all to drag your ass back!" Shen Quzhuo was floored. How could Lady Shen have raised a son like this?

"Heh heh, alright, it's a deal. Five days from now, on the night of the Thousand Autumn Festival, if I don't show up south of the city, take everyone and get out of there."

He Sanjiu's tonic finally started kicking in during all their back-and-forth bickering. Lan Suzhou used Xiaoshuang to push himself up and got to his feet. He didn't want to wait a single second longer and was about to get out of bed and go.

"Wait."

Lan Suzhou turned around. Shen Quzhuo tossed a leather-wrapped bundle right at his head. When he opened it, inside was a brand new horsewhip.

The whip had been polished to a shine with tung oil. The tip was made of deer sinew that wouldn't harm the skin. The grip was made of huanghuali wood, with a little mutton-fat jade pendant dangling from it.

The Lan family had always been frugal, and Lan Suzhou could tell at a glance this was a seriously lavish gift.

Shen Quzhuo explained, "Lady Shen stuffed it into my hands before we left. She feels bad for Zhu Chi having to follow you around, so she had a new whip and leg guards made."

Lan Suzhou was instantly touched. "Why didn't you bring this out sooner! Where's my little Zhu Chi?"

Shen Quzhuo rolled his eyes a second time. "Waiting for you downstairs."

Lan Suzhou let out a low grunt to pump himself up, then stowed away the whip, leg guards, and the two ginseng roots He Sanjiu had shoved at him, and went skipping down the stairs, all happy and swaying.

He Sanjiu knitted his brows, full of concern. "Brother Shen, is he gonna be okay?"

Shen Quzhuo dug in his ear. "He made his own bed. He has to lie in it."

"Made his own bed?" The kid had spent his whole life taking care of an old man, so he knew next to nothing about love, but he was at that curious age. "Is getting married a sin? Or is marrying a man a sin?"

"Tch." Shen Quzhuo felt that being single and still having to babysit a kid was the real sin.

Come to think of it, whose kid was this anyway, and why was he following them back to Ganzhou?

But since this poor kid had been dumped on him, he'd just have to take him along.

"Marrying a man isn't a sin. What's wrong is when the other person isn't into you and you keep forcing yourself on them. They have to want it too, you get that?"

"I get it." He Sanjiu muttered to himself. He figured the Prince didn't seem uninterested in General Lan at all.

Ruan Ciyu had no idea how long he'd been stuck in Tianhe Hall.

He couldn't even be bothered to keep track of how many times the eunuchs had brought in meals. At first, he didn't even want to eat. When they caught him, the Emperor came back once, grabbed his jaw so hard he almost dislocated his chin, and shoved the food in anyway.

After that, he'd take small bites. When he really had no appetite, he'd mix all the food together and just pretend to eat.

He didn't want to sleep on the dragon bed either—it smelled like some gross old man. In the end, he just made do with the daybed next to the desk.

But he could still smell that old-man smell.

Could it be coming from himself? He'd heard that people who were sick for a long time gave off a smell too, which was why he burned incense every day.

But now there was no one to burn incense for him, and he didn't even have a change of clothes.

He hoped that at least on the day of the Thousand Autumn Festival, the Emperor would let him change. And if possible, wash his hair as well. But the tea-scented soap he wanted to use had been packed up and taken away by Lan Suzhou.

Ughhh.

Ruan Ciyu let himself sprawl there, completely undignified, his mind wandering endlessly in the dark space.

From the soap, his thoughts drifted to Lan Suzhou, and from Lan Suzhou, he went over the past few months again and again. Time and again, he found himself amused all over again by the stupid things Lan Suzhou had said.

Ruan Ciyu then thought of how Lan Suzhou looked when he'd drugged him. If he'd stuck his tongue out, he'd have looked exactly like a bear. He said with a helpless sigh, "You idiot, things out there aren't clean. Don't just put anything in your mouth."

"Wait, no—I was the one who handed it to him and made him drink it."

"Still, he should've been more careful. Before putting anything in his mouth, he should've tested it with a silver needle."

"..."

Eunuch Jing had pushed the hall door open just a crack, saw what was going on inside, and backed out. He said to the Emperor, alarmed, "His Royal Highness Prince Cheng'an seems to have lost his mind in there."

"Lost his mind?" The Emperor raised an eyebrow. "Then I guess he's finally come around."

The emperor pushed open the hall door and indeed saw Ruan Ciyu lying on the long couch, laughing and crying at once, mumbling to himself.

"Good. No point scheming anymore." The emperor stood before the couch with his hands behind his back, his expression unreadable.

"Still, for you to care so much about him, guess getting you a bride to lift your spirits was a good move after all."

Go to hell, Ruan Ciyu thought.

"He saw me as a kid—his bad luck."

Ruan Ciyu, tired of muttering, gave a low cough and turned to look at the emperor. "Is it time yet? Let's go."

"No rush. The state shaman's still getting ready. But... aside from my children, you're the only family I have left. Once the ceremony starts, there won't be much time to catch up."

Ruan Ciyu's head throbbed painfully, his stomach so empty he felt like throwing up, and yet he had to put up with this old man's fake niceties.

If he had any strength left, he'd flip the whole place over.

But fortunately, he had no face or dignity left to protect, so Ruan Ciyu got straight to the point: "What do I have to catch up on with you? Want to talk about how our parents dropped dead the day I was born, or how many times you snuck in at night to strangle me, or that time you stabbed me with your sword?"

"You!" The emperor exploded, grabbing Ruan Ciyu's cheeks to shut him up.

But Ruan Ciyu wasn't about to shut up!

"The people of Dazhao call you a wise ruler—if they knew that you, the sovereign of a great nation, treat your own brother like a pest and pull the most childish, vicious stunts day in and day out, what would they think of you!"

The emperor squeezed harder, until Ruan Ciyu's skull throbbed, forcing him to fall silent.

The emperor leaned in, his face black as a pot.

"I do this for the good of Dazhao. Your existence is a curse, a constant reminder that Dazhao could collapse any day."

A thin layer of sweat broke out on Ruan Ciyu's forehead, his neck straining under his own weight, making it hard to breathe.

Just as his vision went white and he started grabbing at the emperor's hand, kicking wildly, the golden bell on the bookshelf gave a faint jingle.

The bookshelf slid aside, revealing the state shaman in black robes in the secret passage, a fierce shaman mask over his face.

The mask was crimson, the shaman's eyes glaring in fury, and his voice came out muffled and unclear.

"Your Majesty, everything's ready. If we leave now, we'll hit the auspicious hour right on time."

The emperor slowly loosened his grip on Ruan Ciyu's cheeks and set him down with surprising gentleness.

"Good," he said slowly, in that elder's tone he used every year. "Go get changed. The palanquin's waiting outside."

The Qiuqiu Festival sacrifice to the gods was a set tradition—no way to cancel it now.

Ruan Ciyu got his wish—he bathed and changed into new clothes. However, there was no tea-scented soap in the palace, so he had to make do with the sandalwood fragrance he detested.

The new garments were extremely elaborate, at least five layers from the inside out. They resembled his old ceremonial robes—pure white and sacred—but far more intricate. The outermost collar was embroidered with golden talismans, and two strings of golden bells hung from his shoulders, ringing with a sacred chime at every step of the palanquin.

Ruan Ciyu took a light breath, adjusted his posture, and made sure his silhouette behind the curtain appeared upright and ethereal.

When the palanquin's curtain was lifted by the wind, he even deliberately revealed a glimpse of his refined jawline and a faint, elusive smile.

After all, this would be the last time these commoners saw him on Qiuqiu Street, so he might as well satisfy their curiosity about His Royal Highness Prince Cheng'an.

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he seemed to catch a flash of an ink-black robe disappearing behind the crowd.

Ruan Ciyu's heart stirred, and he instinctively moved to lift the curtain to look.

"Your Highness, what do you need?"

Hearing the jingling of Ruan Ciyu's bells fall out of rhythm, Xiao Die hurried forward, blocking the view outside until only a vague sea of kneeling figures in black could be seen.

Ruan Ciyu let it go. The god-sacrifice ceremony always required the mobilization of most of the imperial guard, and no one nearby was exempt from kneeling. There was so much black out there—what he'd seen was most likely a signboard from some teahouse.

Ruan Ciyu withdrew his gaze and relaxed his grip on the fabric of his robes.

At the same time, Lan Suzhou, his face covered in black cloth, pushed his lightness skill to its absolute limit, skimming along the ground and walls like a black panther weaving through the teahouses and taverns of Shengjing.

He had already confirmed that the figure in the eight-carried palanquin of white jade and gold was indeed Ruan Ciyu himself.

Lan Suzhou didn't let out a single breath, darting back to leap onto Zhu Chi's back. A low, short whistle sounded, and Zhu Chi carried him, racing off toward Guo Mountain.

"Author's Note"

Thanks to Hutu Tuye for the fish food! 030!