A few days later, Jun Huailang had completely recovered from his illness. Seeing the change in the atmosphere within Mingluan Palace, the Imperial Physician even deliberately went to examine Xue Yan’s injuries to curry favor with his master. He said they had already healed by sixty percent and scabbed over; as long as he did not engage in strenuous activity, there would be no major problem.
Xue Yan had started attending classes at Wenhua Hall two days before Jun Huailang.
But he did so without a sound, and Jun Huailang had no idea about it. It was only on the morning when he was able to return to class that Xue Yunhuan came to find him and casually mentioned it that he learned.
“I only found out on the second day after he arrived, too,” Xue Yunhuan said. “Anyway, no one dares go near him, and he doesn’t talk to anyone. He just sits alone in a corner.”
Jun Huailang said nothing upon hearing this.
When they went outside, there was already no one in the West Side Hall. Over the past few days, the heated floor in the West Side Hall had been repaired, and the room in the center had also been assigned to Xue Yan. Yet the place remained deserted. Apart from the necessary cleaning, not a single palace servant would linger there.
Everyone still kept far away from him as though avoiding a plague.
Jun Huailang could not help looking in that direction twice.
“What are you looking at?” Xue Yunhuan came over and looked in the direction he was watching. He saw nothing interesting, but when he moved closer, he noticed the slightly bluish circles beneath Jun Huailang’s eyes.
“You didn’t sleep well?” Xue Yunhuan asked.
Ever since Xue Yan had moved in that day, Jun Huailang had not had a good night’s sleep. He was plagued by nightmares throughout the night. He had only dreamed the entire night before last, yet by this morning he had forgotten everything again.
Naturally, Jun Huailang would not tell him the reason. He smiled and casually said, “I’ve been sick these past few days, so I haven’t had much energy.”
Xue Yunhuan nodded. As an imperial son who had always had people serving him from head to toe, he naturally knew nothing about medicine. He nevertheless said with great seriousness, “Then you must get plenty of rest these next few days.”
Jun Huailang smiled and agreed.
——
Xue Yan left very early. By the time he reached Wenhua Hall, the sky was still somewhat dark.
His routine in the military had always been to rise before dawn and train alongside the soldiers until the horizon began to brighten. After arriving at the palace, his body clock had never changed.
However, there was truly no need for him to leave this early.
And the reason he left so early was somewhat difficult to admit.
He did not want to acknowledge that he simply did not know when Jun Huailang would recover and return to his studies, so he had deliberately left early from the beginning to avoid running into him.
He was hiding from Jun Huailang.
That day, in a moment of heat-headedness, he had actually agreed to those words and even presumptuously given his promise.
Only after returning to his own quarters and regaining his senses did he feel ridiculous for the first time.
He thought that he still had not properly understood his own position.
He had been born to be hated. He would bring misfortune to others. He had never denied this.
In any case, he owed no one anything, nor had he ever asked anything of anyone. Thus, he could bear the burden of being a jinx without the slightest guilt.
After all, a person who had nothing was the most fearless of all.
But now, for the first time, someone had voluntarily treated him well.
He felt that he had simply been too pathetic, and had momentarily lost himself.
After all, someone destined to be alone had no right to receive warmth, nor did he need it.
One could live perfectly well without such a thing.
He had always been alone, and he had always lived just fine.
So, for the first time in these past few days, he had become somewhat at a loss. He simply avoided the other person and retreated into the comfortable territory where no one cared about him.
Unfortunately, Jinbao had no idea what was going through his master’s mind, nor did he possess a biological clock as absurdly disciplined as his.
Following behind Xue Yan, he yawned every few steps, so sleepy that his head drooped in dejection.
The two of them arrived at Wenhua Hall.
Just then, a voice came from ahead.
“Hey, that eunuch over there. Come here.”
Xue Yan raised his eyes.
Several people were sitting beside the lotus pond in front of Wenhua Hall. They were none other than the Second Prince, Jun Enze, and the Fourth Prince.
The person who had spoken was the Second Prince. He stood there facing them, but he was not speaking to Xue Yan. He was calling Jinbao over.
Xue Yan’s eyesight was excellent. From a distance, he could already see that the Second Prince’s eyes were darting about. Although he looked imposing, he actually did not even dare look at Xue Yan directly.
He was probably trying some other stupid method to get his dignity back.
Xue Yan coldly sneered inwardly.
What a useless fool.
He lifted his leg and kicked the drowsy, staggering Jinbao beside him.
“They’re calling you.”
The moment Jinbao heard Xue Yan’s voice, he immediately jolted awake. He initially thought Xue Yan had some order for him, but then saw Xue Yan gesture with his chin toward the lotus pond.
Before Jinbao could even look over, another furious shout came from that direction.
“Which palace’s servant are you? Why are you dragging your feet? Didn’t you hear this prince calling you?”
Jinbao’s shoulders trembled in fright, and he instinctively looked to Xue Yan for help.
All the masters in the palace, whether stupid or clever, were people he could not afford to offend. If he failed to serve them properly even once, he could lose his head.
In the faint morning light, he saw Xue Yan’s gaze fall upon the Second Prince. Xue Yan coldly raised the corner of his mouth, forming a mocking and disdainful smile.
“Go. See what he’s trying to do this time.”
For some reason, Jinbao actually felt a little reassured.
Even though his master was clearly a clay Buddha who could barely protect himself.
Jinbao trembled as he walked over.
Seeing that Xue Yan showed no reaction, the Second Prince also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He should have nothing to fear now.
After all, this was the palace, and Xue Yan was the person Father Emperor favored the least. No matter how much he humiliated him, Xue Yan would ultimately be the one to suffer.
But that man’s eyes always seemed like those of a vicious wolf, gleaming with a dark and sinister light.
Even though he had nothing and was reduced to such a miserable state, he still possessed a ruthless edge that made one’s hair stand on end whenever one saw him.
The more this was the case, the more Xue Yunshu wanted to find an opportunity to prove that Xue Yan was nothing special and that he was not afraid of him.
Previously, that demon consort of a mother who had caused his own mother to languish in the Cold Palace for years had ultimately died giving birth to him.
And this Xue Yan, who appeared so fierce now, would sooner or later meet a miserable end as well.
He stood there arrogantly, looking down at Xue Yan and Jinbao as they approached.
Because he had been summoned, Jinbao hurried ahead. He stopped two or three steps away from the Second Prince and was just about to kneel and offer his greetings when the Second Prince raised his hand, tore the pendant from his folding fan, and tossed it into the lake.
Although it had snowed, winter had only just begun, and the surface of the lake had formed merely a thin layer of fragmented ice.
The jade pendant landed on it and dropped straight to the bottom of the lake.
Before Jinbao could recover from his shock, Xue Yunshu strode forward two steps and kicked him down with all his strength.
“You dog slave! How could you be so careless and knock my fan pendant into the lake?”
Jinbao lay on the ground, completely dumbfounded.
Clearly… clearly it had been the Second Prince himself…
Yet the Second Prince stood before him with a ferocious expression.
He was not particularly ugly, but at that moment he resembled the man-eating demon from the frightening stories Jinbao had heard as a child.
“Go. Pick up the jade pendant for this prince.”
Jinbao knew he was taking revenge.
At the Mid-Autumn Banquet, Xue Yan had thrown him into Taiye Lake. He did not dare touch Xue Yan, so he was taking it out on his servant instead.
Behind them, Jun Enze smiled obsequiously, while the Fourth Prince sat beside the stone table with his usual calm, refined demeanor, watching the scene with a faint, inscrutable smile.
Jinbao’s legs trembled as he knelt.
“Your Highness, this servant can’t swim!”
Xue Yunshu said, “What? Didn’t you hear this prince’s order? That fan pendant was bestowed by Father Emperor. Even if your master had dropped it, he would have to retrieve it himself, let alone you. Do you think your dog’s life is worth more than this pendant?”
Naturally, it wasn’t.
But Jinbao was timid.
He wanted to turn around and ask Xue Yan for help, but the guards who came forward to restrain him had already pinned him down.
Xue Yunshu gave a cold laugh and waved his hand.
The two guards dragged Jinbao by force toward the edge of the lotus pond.
This lotus pond was more than a zhang deep, with mud at the bottom. Even during an ordinary summer, falling into it could cost Jinbao his life, let alone in the freezing early winter.
Jinbao was so frightened that tears fell from his eyes as he begged Xue Yunshu for mercy.
Naturally, he did not expect Xue Yan to save him.
He knew how hard-hearted his master was. Moreover, Xue Yan was weak, his injuries had not yet healed, and surely he would not fight the Second Prince again for the sake of a mere servant.
Hearing his pleas for mercy, Xue Yunshu’s face revealed a satisfied smile.
“Today, you are not allowed to come back up until you retrieve this prince’s fan pendant. Remember that?” he said. “Why haven’t you gone down yet?”
The chill from the lake water rose straight upward.
Jinbao stared at the dark, bottomless-looking water and crawled backward frantically from the edge.
Whether he stuck his head out or pulled it back, he was going to die anyway.
Then he might as well retreat a little and live one moment longer!
But the two guards behind him held him firmly, their hands like iron shackles, making it impossible for him to struggle even an inch.
He twisted his head with difficulty and tried to beg for mercy again, only to happen to see Xue Yan standing nearby.
Xue Yan’s gaze rested somewhere in the distance. His expression was calm and indifferent.
He had not even looked at Jinbao.
Jinbao thought to himself:
I’m finished.
Just then, Xue Yunshu crouched down beside him.
“Are you afraid?” he asked.
His smile was twisted with the satisfaction of revenge, and his words were clearly meant as a warning to someone else.
“You’re nothing but a dog slave. How dare you?”
Then he raised his head and looked toward Xue Yan with a provocative smile.
His hand landed on the back of Jinbao’s head, and he pressed down hard, forcing Jinbao’s head into the water.
Just like that day, when Xue Yan had forced his head into the water.
Jinbao suddenly choked on the water.
A suffocating, freezing sensation swept over him, and he desperately struggled upward.
Xue Yunshu did not have as much strength as Xue Yan. Jinbao occasionally managed to struggle free and gasp for air, but immediately afterward, his head would be forced back down again.
Jinbao thought that he was probably going to die here today.
After all, the Second Prince was a master of the palace. Drowning a servant was no different from crushing an ant.
He could only hope that, seeing as he had died because of Xue Yan, Xue Yan would spare the few members of his family…
Just then, through the noisy sound of splashing water, Jinbao vaguely heard Xue Yan’s voice.
“Let him go.”
Was it an illusion before death?
But immediately afterward, the force pressing down on the back of Jinbao’s head disappeared.
He raised his head.
In the faint morning light, Xue Yan stood there with an indifferent expression, calmly and unhurriedly removing his cloak and lightly tossing it onto the ground.
The two guards were still holding Jinbao.
Then Jinbao saw Xue Yan look toward Xue Yunshu.
“Didn’t you hear me?” he said.
“Let him go. I’ll do it.”