Three Steps: From Assassin to Empress - Chapter 46

Chapter 46

The silk bed curtains were a dim yellow. In the cramped space, even breathing felt awkward.

Ying Xiu remained lying flat on his back, his hands pressed down on either side, still staring blankly at the youth above him.

Ying Xiu: [a soft gasp]

After an unknown amount of time, the youth finally came to his senses. “The hand warmer!” he said, his face filled with urgency. “The hand warmer is going to catch fire!”

With a swift move, he broke free from Xie Zhou’s grasp. Ying Xiu nimbly scrambled out of the bed curtains and reached his hand under the bed to feel for the hand warmer.

After fumbling around for a while, he finally found it. He scooped it up and inspected it in his hands. Thankfully, it hadn’t caught fire, and the charcoal inside was intact, with not a single piece having fallen out.

Ying Xiu made sure it was safe and then shoved it directly into Xie Zhou’s arms. Xie Zhou sat on his heels at the foot of the bed, his dark hair falling forward. Most of his body was hidden in the darkness, with only half his face illuminated by the faint, warm glow of the hand warmer.

He lowered his eyes, staring at the hand warmer in his arms, his thoughts unknown.

Ying Xiu turned his head, secretly wincing. Xie Zhou’s movements just now had been too rough, almost tearing open the wound on his shoulder.

“Does it hurt?” Xie Zhou seemed to have night vision. He was able to clearly catch Ying Xiu’s subtle movements. He put down the hand warmer and reached out to press on Ying Xiu’s other shoulder, forcing him to turn back.

The youth revealed a flushed face, his brow furrowed, his mouth pouting. His eyes seemed to well up with moisture as he complained in a small voice, “…It hurts so much. It’s all your fault.”

“It’s my fault,” Xie Zhou apologized in a low voice, a rare look of helplessness on his beautiful, cold face. “Shall I put some ointment on it for you?”

“No!” Ying Xiu refused decisively. The ointment Xie Zhou had used on him last time worked so well that he had almost completely healed. The skin on his shoulder was smooth and flawless.

The reason he was crying out in pain was that he deliberately wanted to see Xie Zhou’s guilty expression. He absolutely couldn’t let him find out he was faking it.

Ying Xiu was about to lie down and go to sleep, but remembering that he was “injured,” he quickly changed his position and lay down awkwardly.

The retainer saw through everything but said nothing. He lay down on the outside of the bed, still in his clothes.

Before long, the youth fell into a deep sleep, clinging to him and nestling close. He rested his head on Xie Zhou’s shoulder and burrowed into his arms, as if he wanted to push him off the bed.

Xie Zhou was used to it. He silently moved to the outer side of the bed. Fortunately, the bed was big enough that he wouldn’t fall off anytime soon.

Closing his eyes, Xie Zhou remembered the scene of Ying Xiu releasing the owl from the window with his back to him. The youth’s thoughts were not hard to guess. He was probably thinking of his foster father and wanted to send someone to look for him.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted. His waist sank as a hand skillfully came to rest on it. Xie Zhou looked down to see that Ying Xiu was hugging his waist, curled up like a shrimp. His mouth was slightly agape as he mumbled something indistinctly:

“So beautiful… to die beneath the peony blossoms… so romantic…”

“Xie Zhou… congee… want to eat…”

Did he want to eat crab congee?

November was not the season for crabs, but he could have someone go to Dongting Lake to catch some lake crabs.

Xie Zhou listened patiently for a while, and then suddenly realized that this ‘crab congee’ was not that ‘crab congee.’ The person Ying Xiu truly wanted to eat was him.

He couldn’t help but laugh to himself. Everyone else knew to fear him, so why didn’t Ying Xiu?

To call him naive would be wrong; Ying Xiu was a highly perceptive person. The reason he ignored the danger was that something made him willingly blind himself.

—This beautiful face.

In the darkness, the retainer reached out a fingertip and gently touched his own cheek. At this moment, he was so glad he hadn’t disfigured this face when he was a youth.

If he had become an ugly monster, Ying Xiu wouldn’t have liked him.

And he wouldn’t have found Ying Xiu because of it.

Ying Xiu had a dream. Everything in the dream was unfamiliar. There were grand, magnificent buildings of jade and marble, and the streets were crowded with people. He became a very small child, held in a general’s arms.

The general had returned triumphantly, full of vigor and pride. A young woman whose face he couldn’t see, wearing iron armor, rode side by side with the general. Both of them looked at him at the same time.

He couldn’t say what he felt. Ying Xiu’s eyes widened, trying to see them clearly.

The next moment, his vision suddenly brightened. The light was blinding, and the dream receded like a tide. Ying Xiu opened his eyes, breathing heavily. He vaguely felt he had a very important dream, but no matter how hard he tried to remember, he couldn’t.

“What’s wrong?” Perhaps it was still early, as Xie Zhou hadn’t left yet. He sat on the edge of the bed, gazing deeply at him.

Ying Xiu wrapped himself in the quilt and sat up, rubbing his temple. He said in a daze, “I think I had a dream… but I can’t remember it.”

A rare look of melancholy appeared on the youth’s face, as if he had lost something very important. Xie Zhou lowered his eyes, vaguely guessing what it was.

“Ying Xiu,” Xie Zhou called his name and comforted him softly. “Go back to sleep.”

Ying Xiu sat in a daze for a while, then obediently nodded and lay back down to sleep.

Xie Zhou sat on the edge of the bed and watched him quietly for a moment before getting up and walking outside. He ordered his imperial guards, “Find Ying Xiu’s foster father as soon as possible.” He paused, swallowing the words “kill him,” and changed it to, “Take good care of him, and don’t let him appear in front of Ying Xiu.”

“Also,” the emperor continued, “keep a close eye on the Wang clan of Langya.”

The imperial guard was a smart man. He instantly understood the emperor’s meaning and quickly disappeared.

Behind him, Ying Xiu walked out barefoot, with his outer robe draped over him. He yawned, his voice full of sleepiness. “Xie Zhou, what are you doing standing there?”

Xie Zhou turned around, his gaze falling on Ying Xiu’s bare feet. He frowned. “Not wearing shoes again?”

The floor was covered with a fluffy carpet. Ying Xiu was too lazy to wear shoes inside the room. He felt a little guilty and quietly retorted, “I can’t find my shoes. Did you kick them somewhere?”

Xie Zhou wanted to laugh. He hadn’t realized that Ying Xiu could be so cheeky and act so spoiled. He walked toward Ying Xiu and picked him up in his arms. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”

Ying Xiu instinctively wrapped his arms around Xie Zhou’s neck and said honestly, “I can’t sleep.” He asked, “When are we going back to Jiang Province?”

Jiang Province?

Xie Zhou’s expression was calm. “In a few more days, we’ll go back.”

The return to the capital would pass through Jiang Province, so it could be considered going back to Jiang Province.

Ying Xiu felt inexplicably uneasy. He was still thinking about the dream he had that morning. If he could, he really wanted to go back to Guangling and personally look for his father.

Unfortunately, Xie Zhou was too busy now, and he couldn’t just leave him.

To be fair, the days in Ning Province were not boring. Xie Zhou was with him, and Little Red and Little Black from Jing Province had also arrived. The two of them rode horses, played football, brewed tea, built snowmen, and ate lake crabs together.

During this time, he heard that the court had decided to revive the imperial examination system, abolishing the system of recommendation and recruitment. The spring examination was planned to be reopened in March of the following year.

Ying Xiu received letters from the fifteen scholars.

In all fifteen letters, the scholars praised Ying Xiu for being so well-informed and predicting things so accurately, saying that he was able to foresee the court’s plan to reopen the imperial examinations.

Ying Xiu put away the letters and happily found Xie Zhou. “Xie Zhou! You’re amazing!” The youth beamed as he ran toward him. “The court is really going to reopen the imperial examinations!”

Xie Zhou sat at the head of the table in the East Pavilion. The officials on both sides were silent, exchanging glances. They wondered if the emperor’s favorite didn’t know the emperor’s identity.

It was no wonder he was so reckless and pampered.

Ying Xiu was visibly happy. Although he had no intention of becoming an official himself, his friends had been waiting for this opportunity for many years, and they had finally gotten it.

The retainer motioned for him to sit beside him. Ying Xiu obediently sat down, his cheeks flushed with excitement, and his eyes clear and bright, full of glee.

Ying Xiu: [A big, happy grin]

Xie Zhou couldn’t help but smile. Ying Xiu said, “I heard that the court will also provide tuition and travel expenses for every student. The emperor is a pretty good person.”

The youth chattered on, and the retainer listened quietly. It wasn’t until he had finished that Xie Zhou looked at him with his bright eyes and asked, “Would you be happy to stay with the emperor forever?”

The officials in the room instantly held their breath, waiting for the youth sitting beside the emperor to answer.

“Why would you ask that?” Ying Xiu was stunned, and a hint of confusion appeared in his eyes. “I probably won’t ever meet the emperor, let alone stay with him forever?”

He looked up at Xie Zhou, confused. “You’re not going to send me to be a bodyguard, are you?” He thought, has our family fallen on such hard times?

Even though the youth didn’t say the last sentence out loud, it was obvious from his expression.

Xie Zhou: “…”

He nonchalantly changed the subject. “We’ll go back in half a month.”

Since his business in Ning Province was concluded, there was no need for him to stay here. Including the travel time by boat, they would return to the capital just in time for spring.

Ying Xiu nodded. To be honest, he was also worried that something might happen to the Wang clan of Langya, so it was better to go back early.

Speaking of which, there had been no news about his previous letter to the Wang clan asking for his family’s origin.

He was hesitating whether to ask again, but remembering that the owl he had released last time hadn’t returned, Ying Xiu gave up the idea.

With only a few days left in Ning Province, Ying Xiu intended to take Xie Zhou out for a walk.

Perhaps because of the revival of the imperial examinations, the streets were very lively. Many bookstores had sprung up, and students carrying bamboo baskets could be seen everywhere, buying books and lamp oil.

Ying Xiu was curious and walked into a bookstore. Xie Zhou followed him. Not far away, some people were whispering to each other, “Did you see them? Those two scholars are so handsome. The nobles will surely like them. How about we…”

Ying Xiu was completely unaware. He pulled Xie Zhou along, stopping to look at this and that. As they walked, their path was suddenly blocked by a few big men. “Gentlemen, please come with us.”

With that, a big man pulled out a bag of gold ingots, his eyes full of certainty, as if he was sure they would agree.

“No,” Ying Xiu refused cleanly. Xie Zhou, who was standing beside him, didn’t say anything but looked down at them with a dark gaze.

Standing in front of him, the big man inexplicably felt a head shorter. An impulse made him want to kneel before this handsome white-robed gentleman. He barely managed to suppress the urge. “You have to come whether you want to or not. Men, take them away!”

Ying Xiu chuckled softly. He shielded Xie Zhou behind him and casually picked up a few pebbles from the ground, tossing them at the men.

The youth’s movements were subtle and seemed very nonchalant.

The burly men didn’t care. The next moment, they suddenly fell to the ground, groaning in pain. They didn’t know where the golden-robed youth had hit them, but they felt a soreness all over their bodies and couldn’t even find the strength to get up.

Ying Xiu walked around the group, holding Xie Zhou’s hand and leaving. To hide his martial arts, he didn’t forget to mutter, “These people are too weak. A few pebbles were enough to make them fall down.”

A kind-hearted bystander reminded them, “You should leave Ning Province as soon as possible. Those people are the lackeys of aristocratic families, specifically responsible for finding beautiful men and women for them. Those they lay their eyes on never come to a good end.”

Ying Xiu frowned. “They’re so rampant?”

Xie Zhou looked up and gazed down at the group of people lying on the ground. A chilling look filled his eyes.

After walking from one end of the street to the other, Ying Xiu pulled Xie Zhou to a restaurant to rest. Through the window, he saw the long street outside filled with armored soldiers. The burly men who had blocked their way earlier were pale-faced, and they, along with a group of unfamiliar people, were shackled in chains.

Half a month later, he heard that the big men they had met that day had been thrown into prison and sentenced to face-tattoing. Several of the great aristocratic families in Ning Province had also been seized and exiled. There were so many people that from a high vantage point, one could see the endless line of exiles.

Ying Xiu vaguely felt that there was something strange about it, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. The investigation of this case was too fast and too decisive. The powerful aristocratic families were dealt with without any hesitation.

He walked down from the tall building, his mind still on the long lines of exiles, the dejected faces, and the earth-shattering wails.

As he walked, so many cases of aristocratic families being seized and exiled had occurred that it was too many to count.

Although there was a reason for each case, Xie Zhou was always a man of few words and a kind heart. What if he dwelled on this and felt sad? What would he do?

Ying Xiu couldn’t help but feel worried. His inner anxiety deepened during dinner with Xie Zhou.

Xie Zhou’s face was expressionless, calm and indifferent. His eyes were lowered, and he was very quiet, looking no different from usual.

The more Ying Xiu looked, the more uneasy he felt. He took a deep breath and clumsily comforted him. “They didn’t die. It was just their homes being seized.”

Xie Zhou stopped what he was doing. He looked up at him, a subtle expression on his face.

In Ying Xiu’s eyes, this meant he had hit the nail on the head.

He racked his brain, trying to think of some more comforting words.

The white-robed retainer still seemed sad. He said expressionlessly, “Mm.”

Ying Xiu pondered the meaning of this “mm.” Xie Zhou’s thoughts had been exposed, but he didn’t want to say it directly, so he could only express it with a simple “mm.”

The retainer was kind-hearted. He had always known that, but he hadn’t expected him to be so kind.

Ying Xiu was very distressed. It was not good when your partner was too kind.

He absolutely couldn’t let him know that he was an assassin. If he found out, wouldn’t he break up with him?

Ying Xiu frowned, full of worry. Even the crab congee from Dongting Lake in front of him no longer smelled delicious.

He was completely unaware of the probing gaze of the retainer above him. What was wrong with him, all of a sudden?

Xie Zhou’s eyes were dark, and an unreadable emotion surged beneath his seemingly calm gaze.

Could it be that Ying Xiu was suspecting his identity because so many aristocratic families had been seized and exiled recently, and he was intentionally testing him?

The retainer would rather he had exposed him on his own, so this game could end quickly. Then he could accompany him in the Forbidden Palace forever.

Forever, and ever…