Author: Chai Jidan
Translator: chiangyushien, Renkun27
Proofreader: KainGuru
Mu Xueshi was alone, playing with a wooden stick, in an open ground. He was bored to death. Even though Su Ruhan said earlier that he was going to teach Mu Xueshi martial arts, there was still no sign of him. Sure enough, being a person who knew martial arts was a good thing. If they wanted to escape, they could run away. Later on, if the Third Prince would punish him again, Mu Xueshi could escape without anybody knowing it.
As soon as he remembered the Third Prince, the wooden stick in Mu Xueshi’s hand slowly stopped. He crouched down and found some clean grass to sit on. He fiddled with the weeds between his knees as he was recalling everything that happened last night. He did not know how he fell asleep last night. It seemed that he had a dream, a dream of a very beautiful fairy. Then, the fairy turned into the Third Prince and he slept by Mu Xueshi's side just like before.
Mu Xueshi could not recall whether he was dreaming or awake, but the touch in his hand felt very real and the Third Prince’s familiar scent still lingered. He felt like his mind was in disorder because when he woke up, all of his physical discomfort was gone and he was in a very good mood. Unlike the previous two days, he had no strength to do anything and he also had occasional hallucinations.
Mu Xueshi was still thinking when a figure suddenly appeared before his eyes. The moment he was able to look up, the man had already pasted his nose on Mu Xueshi’s. After a short while, Mu Xueshi realized who this person was, and he immediately unconsciously used his hands to hold both of the Third Prince’s cheeks with excitement.
“Xi! You’re not angry with me anymore?” Mu Xueshi was still talking when he was suddenly choked, then the Third Prince’s face got farther and farther away from him as the hand that was holding Mu Xueshi’s neck was getting tighter and tighter. Mu Xueshi’s eyes opened wider and wider, as his vision was getting blurry. In the end, his hands weakly dropped from the Third Prince’s face.
When he felt that he was about to suffocate and die soon, Mu Xueshi’s neck was released, and the Third Prince’s face gradually became clearer. The Third Prince ruminated as he looked at Mu Xueshi’s face that was bright red because of suffocation, and never felt this happy in his heart.
Mu Xueshi quickly gasped for breath a few times, and breathlessly said to the Third Prince: “Do you want to kill me?”
The Third Prince did not say anything, but he unexpectedly sat down beside Mu Xueshi.
Mu Xueshi felt that he had not been this close to the Third Prince for a long time. His question that he just asked had not been answered by the Third Prince, so Mu Xueshi thought that the Third Prince was still angry. He thought that it was impossible for the Third Prince to really want to kill him. He suddenly felt all sorts of feelings well up in his heart, and the grass he was fiddling with was also pulled until it was deformed.
“Actually, I really just don’t want an innocent child to die. He did nothing wrong. My heart can’t bear it, and I know that even if I give the antidote to Su Ying, you’ll give me another one. It's just that I didn't expect that the Second Prince would actually do something that will hurt you. If I knew he would do such a thing, I definitely wouldn't care about Su Ying…"
Mu Xueshi kept on justifying his actions while the Third Prince did not speak and only listened to him. Before, he only tolerated just a little bit of noise. All the noise that he heard since he was little until he grew up was not as much as what he had heard in the past half a month. Now, to his surprise, his ears were accustomed to Mu Xueshi's noise and also to his strange and insignificant words.
Mu Xueshi explained everything that had happened until his mouth was dry, but the Third Prince only said one sentence: “Ning Yue is dead.”
Mu Xueshi was stunned. Both of his cheeks were blushing and he did not seem to feel sad even for a bit. His rolled his big eyes around, trying to dodge the Third Prince’s eyes, but ended up squarely facing him again. In the end, he had to curve his lips up to a smile and cheerfully asked: “Who’s Ning Yue?”
The Third Prince’s eyebrows twitched, yet he patiently said: "Your former personal guard."
Mu Xueshi let out a loud 'oh,' then he exaggeratedly sighed as he said, "This is really heartbreaking, leaving like this. Although his place in my heart is not as worthy as the Third Prince, I still feel rather sad.”
The Third Prince was unmoved by Mu Xueshi’s words. He just casually reminded him, “Ning Yue is dead. When you no longer have any value to me, I’ll kill you too.”
“What kind of value?” Mu Xueshi’s elated mood just now gradually faded away. He thought that the Third Prince would care about the feelings between the two of them when they were on bad terms. It turned out that he had other uses for the Third Prince.
However, the Third Prince changed the topic that Mu Xueshi just inquired about, and indifferently asked: “Why is Ning Yue not as worthy as me?”
Mu Xueshi gloomily said: “Because I don’t remember him.”
The Third Prince was silent for a long while, and he suddenly said with a very serious tone: “Even so, you need to remember everything, especially about you and me, and about the death of Imperial Tutor Mu. Otherwise, you will have no value."