Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In the depths of the palace, a lady was singing an old yet simple tune, her voice sounding weak yet far-reaching.
Meng Fuyao’s heart skipped and beat and felt goosebumps on her skin. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a flash of light. Tilting her head, she saw two narrow streams of water flowing down Zhan Beiye’s face, while he was intently listening on the wall.
The tears gathered into a drop of water on the face of the man who never cried, and slowly, it fell.
That drop of water reflected the moonlight, and it was frighteningly bright.
Meng Fuyao pressed her fingers into the wall.
They were a pitiful pair of mother and son in the royal family.
Day and night, the mother did not sleep, and continuously sang in the garden that was nearest to the wall; a wall away, the son was tear-stricken, listening to the yearning voice of his mother who was so near, and yet he could not meet her.
The mother had gone berserk, but she was acutely aware of her son’s situation — the son rushed his journey and was willing to sacrifice everything to dash back to her side, but he could only imagine her withered face outside the palace wall.
So close, yet so far.
Meng Fuyao pressed her forehead against the cold wall, and she too became tearful, as she thought of her hospitalized mother in the previous world.
Was she also waiting for her and singing the tune “Good Baby” whenever she missed her?
Did she also go through sleepless nights and instead visited the garden under the moonlight, caressing the resting flower buds with her weak fingers?
Her silent tears stained the dark red walls, and Zhan Beiye looked towards her. The tears had dried up in his eyes, but those eyes carried additional emotions of pity and dejection. His movements were constrained on the wall, so he reached out and gently patted Meng Fuyao on her shoulder.
Meng Fuyao gave him a forceful smile, and the light and shadow in her eyes looked like a sky of broken stars.
Looking at her felt like he was glancing at a scar he had from birth, one that was painful but inseparable.
This girl who would cry because of him…
These people that he was determined to protect in his life…
Determination burned in his eyes. With a slight shift of his body, he was about to flip over the wall.
“… I do not know when my son will be back…”
“Consort Dowager Gongjing.”
The sudden male voice made both Meng Fuyao and Zhan Beiye jump in shock. With her quick reflexes, Meng Fuyao quickly grabbed on to Zhan Beiye, stopping him in his tracks.
“It’s late, it will be better for you to head back to your room and rest,” it sounded like a eunuch trying to persuade Zhan Beiye’s mother.
There was no reply as she continued to sing.
“Please enter your room!” another male said, and he sounded young but cold. His spoke slowly, placing special emphasis on “Please”.
The eunuchs and servants seemed to have received instructions as there was the sound of footsteps, and then the singing stopped, as though someone had held on to the Consort Dowager. However, she seemed unwilling to cooperate as there were sounds of struggling, panting, kicking and dragging.
“Ouch!” someone cried. “She bit me!”
When they heard the struggling, Meng Fuyao immediately pressed down Zhan Beiye.
In an instant, his eyeballs turned red, and his hair stood on end. Meng Fuyao wore an expression of pleading, silently begging with her eyes. ‘Don’t, please don’t!’
The palace was full of guards, and that young man was probably his younger brother, waiting for him to fall into the trap. Showing up now was no different from sending himself to death.
Zhan Beiye leaned on the wall, his body shaking tremendously. As he dug his fingers into the wall, a bloody mess of flesh appeared at his knuckles.
He turned his head very, very slowly towards Meng Fuyao… He could dash head in without any fear of death, and face Zhan Beiheng and his traps, just so that he could protect his mother from the servants’ rough pulling. His mother was afraid of strangers, and she had never allowed anyone other than him to touch her. Thinking of how scared and helpless she must have felt at that moment, he wanted to suffer in place of her so badly… But, he couldn’t.
He was not alone. Meng Fuyao was right beside him.
He wanted to be responsible for his mother, but he also wanted to be responsible for Meng Fuyao. How could he put her in danger because of his selfishness?
Zhan Beiye closed his eyes.
He pressed his forehead against the wall silently and without any motion, but with all his might. Without any regard for his own health, he drilled his head into the wall and rubbed against it, causing the dark-red outer layer to wear off, and staining the wall with a different layer of crimson red. That red area continued to widen, but he refused to stop, as though that was the only way to suppress his pain of not being able to save his mother, even though she was being humiliated.
Meng Fuyao forcefully bit on her lower lip, sinking her teeth deep in. Looking away from Zhan Beiye, she forced herself to think of a way to save his mother, or at least allow them to meet each other. The poor lady really seemed like she had no more strength to persevere.
As the struggle ensued in the palace, Meng Fuyao continued holding back Zhan Beiye, for fear that he would be unable to withstand this grueling torture and suddenly jump up to attack. Amid the commotion, someone spoke.
“Forget it.”
It sounded like the voice of a middle-aged man and had the authoritative tone of a leader who was used to being in power. Beside her, Zhan Beiye’s eyebrows twitched, and Meng Fuyao immediately understood that Zhan Nancheng was present as well.
There was silence in the palace, and the lady did not cry. But her singing ensued right when the servants released her.
“… I do not know when my son will be back…”
Everyone in the palace listened to her quietly. A long while later, the Heaven Demon Emperor gently sighed. “I seemed to have heard of this song when I was young.”
His tone was of reminiscence of his faded memories. He slowly said, “Empress Dowager passed away early, but I vaguely remember that she really liked you, and both of you interacted frequently. When I was six, I sat on her knees and heard her sing this.”
Everyone remained even quieter, and Zhan Beiheng seemed to cough.
However, Consort Dowager Gongjing suddenly stopped her singing. Moments later, she stammered, “… Shouldn’t have sung to you.”
“Oh?” Zhan Nancheng questioned.
She said in a loud voice, “You want to kill him – you want to kill him-”
At that moment, her flow of thoughts was clear, there was no pause in her speech, and she even knew what Zhan Nancheng wanted to do. She did not feel like a lunatic at all.
Zhan Beiye trembled, and no one in the palace dared to say a word.
“So what if I want to kill him?” Zhan Nancheng paused for a moment, but he admitted without any hesitation. “How can I let someone vie for my position?”
“… He doesn’t care!” she defended her son in an aggressive tone.
Zhan Nancheng seemed to have smiled, probably because he felt that it was comical for him to converse with a lunatic woman. “Enough of this commotion at such an hour. Subdue her and bring her to her room. The rest, back to your positions,” he coldly ordered, before turning to Zhan Beiheng. “Younger brother Heng, follow me to the imperial study.”
“Yes.”
Footsteps faded in the distance, followed by a huge group of soldiers. In front of them, the soldiers on patrol were marching over to their wall, so Meng Fuyao and Zhan Beiye climbed over to another wall, and continued hiding in the shadows.
From afar, Meng Fuyao took a glance at the Emperor and his brother who walked out and calculated the distance and the number of people around them. It seemed impossible to dash out at that point and take them, hostage, so she could only give up.
Meng Fuyao and Zhan Beiye continued waiting until it was the time that most people would choose to relax or doze off. They were just about to enter secretly, but there was the sound of a door opening, and it seemed like someone was walking over to their wall. That person leaned against the wall lazily and yawned. “For so many consecutive days, we haven’t been able to have a good night’s sleep. I am so tired,” he said.
Another person agreed. “I calculated the time. It’s impossible for Zhan Beiye to be in Pandu at this time, even if he flew over. Why should we start guarding now?”
The first person who spoke added, “I even heard that he died in the Changhan mountain range.”
“Really?” it sounded like three voices, of which two sounded surprised, and one sounded upset.
“Tens of thousands of elite soldiers chased him and forced him into the Forest of Death. You know that no one ever walked out of that alive.”
There was silence in the air. A while later, someone said dejectedly, “What a pity for a legendary hero like the Prince… ”
“Cunzhi! Be careful of what you say!” one of them reprimanded. “That’s the traitor that the Emperor personally ordered to kill!”
Cunzhi was indifferent. A while later, he said angrily, “Old Sun, how could you say this? Three years ago, your son had smallpox, and you couldn’t afford to pay the famous doctor. You could only raise half of the fees even after asking all of your relatives for help, and your son was about to die. If it wasn’t for Prince Zhan, who heard of the news and generously gave you money, the grass on your son’s tomb would have been at least half a foot tall!”
Old Sun coughed and kept quiet. Cunzhi smirked at him and stood up, saying, “I’m going to the toilet.”
He walked a few steps and reached the toilet. When he released his pants, a black shadow flashed by him. He raised his head in shock and looked right into a pair of big and bright eyes.
The owner of those eyes amiably smiled at him and casually helped him to buckle up the pants that he had forgotten about. That person whispered, “Shhhh-”
This person who entered the male toilet to help someone buckle up his pants at midnight was, of course, Meng Fuyao.
Cunzhi opened his mouth to scream but Meng Fuyao’s hands shot up, and he immediately felt that he could neither breathe nor speak. He stared at Meng Fuyao in terror, not knowing how she would murder him.
However, behind Meng Fuyao, a dark figure slowly appeared.
A wave of emotions appeared in Cunzhi’s eyes – first, it was surprise, then joy, and then terror. Meng Fuyao stared at his expression and said, “Brother Cunzhi, we overheard your conversation. Thanks for speaking up. I think you know what Prinze Zhan is here for, will you be willing to help us?”
He hesitated and replied in a soft voice, “I am delighted that you are still alive Prince… but just a word of advice. Rescuing Consort Dowager is impossible. When you exit this toilet, be it inside or outside this palace, every step is filled with baits and booby traps. Even if I sacrifice my life, I will also be unable to help you rescue her.”
“I only want to see her,” said Zhan Beiye in a low voice. “I want her to know that I am fine.”
Cunzhi remained silent. Meng Fuyao suddenly asked, “There’s a female toilet adjacent to this male toilet right?”
“Yes,” he answered. “The number of soldiers guarding this area increased, so they built two toilets that are close to each other. Their back windows face each other.”
“If we let Consort Dowager enter the female toilet, won’t they be able to meet?”
“That’s not possible,” he refuted. “With Her Highness’s status, she will definitely not use such a rundown toilet like this.”
“We can substitute her.” Meng Fuyao laughed, and she muttered a few lines to him. After some thought, he nodded in approval.
Zhan Beiye immediately questioned, “Fuyao, what do you want to do?”
