The carriage of the Yongning Duke’s residence was already waiting at the gate.
After Jun Linghuan finished eating her pastries, a maid from Jun Huailang’s mother’s quarters came over and said that it was almost time to enter the palace.
When Jun Huailang led Jun Linghuan to the residence gate, the servant waiting there smiled and said that Duke Jun and Madam were already in the carriage.
The servant placed the footstool for them and lifted the brocade curtain. Jun Huailang first carried Jun Linghuan into the carriage, then entered the carriage himself.
“Huailang, did you come out together with Huan’er?” Shen-shi asked with a smile when he entered.
Jun Huailang raised his head and saw his father and mother sitting inside the carriage.
His mother wore a warm smile, while his father, Jun Chengyuan, still had the same taciturn and aloof appearance he remembered.
They overlapped perfectly with the parents in his memories.
Three years…
Ever since his father had been convicted when he was twenty-one, his parents had both died. It had already been three years since he had seen them.
His father had always been an honest and incorruptible official. He had never engaged in corruption or formed factions.
Yet in his previous life, he had inexplicably been accused of possessing a huge sum of ill-gotten wealth and was executed according to the law.
Jun Huailang knew there had to be something hidden behind it.
The clues he had failed to discover in his previous life…
In this life, he would definitely uncover the truth.
Coming back to himself, Jun Huailang smiled and nodded at Shen-shi.
“I just went to see Linghuan. The little bird she raised died, so she was feeling sad just now.”
Then he turned his gaze toward the young man sitting to the side and nodded at him in greeting.
That young man was Jun Enze, the same age as Jun Huailang and the son of his uncle.
His uncle had been demoted and sent to Lingnan. Unwilling to let his legitimate son suffer there, he had entrusted Jun Enze to the Yongning Duke’s residence to be raised.
In his previous life, Jun Huailang’s relationship with Jun Enze had also been rather distant.
Jun Enze was the study companion of the Second Prince and followed the Second Prince’s lead in everything. He had always paid little attention to the children of the Yongning Duke’s residence.
Jun Huailang could not help giving a quiet scoff inwardly.
He has exhausted every scheme to curry favor with the Second Prince simply so he can enter the circle of the princes and gain some superficial prestige.
But when the dynasty changes, following the wrong prince means choosing the wrong side. Not only will the prince he follows be unable to protect him, he himself will instead be treated as a member of the prince’s faction.
Jun Enze simply could not see the situation clearly, and Jun Huailang had no interest in wasting words on him.
Meanwhile, as soon as Jun Linghuan climbed into the carriage, she threw herself straight into Jun Chengyuan’s arms.
Jun Chengyuan had always been serious and taciturn. In the entire family, Jun Linghuan was the only one who loved clinging to him.
A rare smile appeared on Jun Chengyuan’s face.
He held Jun Linghuan in his arms and awkwardly raised a hand to straighten her hair at the temples.
The carriage swayed gently as it traveled toward the imperial city.
Jun Huailang did not notice that Jun Enze, sitting in the corner, was silently sizing him up.
The carriage of a duke’s residence was spacious and luxurious, with gold-inlaid and jade-set tables and furnishings, overflowing with splendor and extravagance.
Sitting among them, Jun Huailang had open, handsome features and an extraordinary bearing that made him look almost unlike an ordinary mortal.
The noble air of a young master from a great family completely overshadowed everyone else.
Beside him, Jun Enze seemed like a cheap imitation, someone living under another’s roof and feeling ashamed of himself.
Jun Enze turned his gaze away.
…What’s so great about him?
The Second Prince said people like this are nothing more than putting on airs.
——
The carriage slowly stopped before the Vermilion Bird Gate on the western side of the imperial palace.
The area before Vermilion Bird Gate was filled with carriages and horses, all belonging to officials and nobles coming to the palace banquet.
After several people got down, someone led their carriage away, while a young eunuch hurried over ingratiatingly and guided them toward Yongle Hall, where the banquet was being held.
Just after passing through the second palace gate, Jun Huailang heard someone calling his name.
“Huailang! Huailang!”
Jun Huailang looked up.
Ahead, a group of eunuchs surrounded a richly dressed young boy.
The boy’s brocade robe was woven with gold thread. Around his neck was a red-gold collar necklace, from which hung a white-jade longevity lock engraved and inlaid with gold.
That was the Sixth Prince, Xue Yunhuan.
He was the only legitimate son of the Empress and was one year younger than Jun Huailang.
The Empress and Shen-shi had been close friends since their maiden days. Shen-shi often entered the palace, and Jun Huailang and Xue Yunhuan had grown up playing together.
The Empress had a gentle temperament, but the palace servants had spoiled Xue Yunhuan into a little tyrant whom no one dared provoke.
Jun Huailang knew, however, that this boy was rather foolish, single-minded, and especially loyal.
In his previous life, when Jun Linghuan entered the palace, Xue Yunhuan had sworn to Jun Huailang that he would definitely protect his sister.
Yet less than a month later, Jun Huailang had heard that he had been killed by Xue Yan in the palace.
…The debts between Xue Yan and him really were impossible to settle.
In no time, Xue Yunhuan had already run up to them.
Grinning, he first cupped his hands toward Jun Chengyuan and Shen-shi in greeting.
While the two hurriedly returned his salute, he swiftly reached out and messed up Jun Linghuan’s little hair bun.
“Little Sister Huan’er, did you miss me?”
The elaborate hair ornaments tugged at Jun Linghuan’s hair, making her cry out in pain.
She pouted aggrievedly and reached out to hit him.
Xue Yunhuan dodged while baring his teeth at Jun Huailang with a grin.
“I’ve been waiting here for you forever! I was afraid I’d miss you, so I’ve almost worn my eyes out looking!”
Jun Huailang smiled helplessly.
“You’ll see her at the banquet in a little while. Why did you come all the way here to wait for me?”
“Ah, seeing you at the banquet would be too late!” Xue Yunhuan said. “I got a Ferghana horse a few days ago. It’s the most magnificent horse in all the world! I’ve been waiting to take you to see it!”
Jun Huailang had intended to refuse.
But when he met those bright, sparkling eyes, he remembered that in his previous life he had never even seen him once before his death.
His heart softened.
Seeing that he had not refused, Xue Yunhuan immediately became delighted.
He grabbed Jun Huailang’s sleeve and called out to his parents.
“Aunt Shen, Duke, don’t worry. Just leave Huailang to me. We’ll be back in no time!”
Jun Chengyuan and Shen-shi naturally could not object to his request and could only remind the two of them to be careful along the way.
Xue Yunhuan dragged Jun Huailang away.
In the palace, no one except the Emperor and Empress was allowed to ride in sedan chairs or carriages, so they could only walk.
The Imperial Horse Stables were rather remote.
The farther they walked, the quieter their surroundings became.
The imperial city occupied an enormous area, with countless palace buildings.
Many of the remote palaces that were no longer inhabited had fallen into disrepair over the years. Up close, they carried a somewhat desolate air.
However, Xue Yunhuan chattered nonstop about his beloved horse along the way, so the journey was still quite lively.
Just then, a quarrel came from a small path diagonally ahead of them.
“What are you holding? Hand it over and let us brothers inspect it!”
“I’m talking to you! Can’t you hear me?”
From their voices, they were several young eunuchs.
Amid the shouting was the faint sound of a little eunuch pleading.
Jun Huailang could vaguely hear him saying something about an imperial gift and that he could not touch it, begging them to let him go.
Jun Huailang could not help stopping and looking in that direction.
“What is it? What is it?”
Xue Yunhuan, whose heart and eyes were filled with nothing but his prized horse, had not noticed the commotion at all.
Seeing Jun Huailang stop, he came over as well.
Through the lush trees, Jun Huailang saw several people surrounding a little eunuch, pulling and fighting over something in his hands.
The little eunuch was so frightened he was nearly crying, desperately trying to hide the object against his chest.
“An imperial gift? Do you really think your master could receive an imperial gift? Don’t you know your own place?”
The group laughed loudly as they pulled the object away.
The little eunuch could not protect it.
The object suddenly fell to the ground.
With a sharp clang, the sound of jade shattering rang out.
At once, the laughter stopped.
Everyone froze where they stood.
The little eunuch stared at the jade arrow, trembling violently, his lips turning white.
After a moment, the leader shouted:
“But this has nothing to do with us brothers! You broke the imperial jade arrow yourself. You’re the one who’s going to lose your head!”
Only then did the other eunuchs seem to come back to life, hurriedly echoing him.
Jun Huailang frowned.
These men clearly knew what the little eunuch was carrying.
They had deliberately picked a fight.
Damaging an imperial gift was a crime punishable by decapitation.
If no one else had witnessed what happened today, this little eunuch would lose his head.
Jun Huailang had never been able to tolerate such acts of framing others and causing them to lose their lives.
He raised his hand, pushed aside the branches blocking the path, and walked straight toward them.
Once the trees no longer obstructed his view, Jun Huailang was about to speak when he unexpectedly saw another person.
He stood beside the little eunuch, coldly watching everything unfold.
He was clearly dressed in fine clothes, yet even those eunuchs paid no attention to him.
When they shoved the little eunuch around, they deliberately used their elbows to knock into him as well.
Jun Huailang met his eyes.
Amber-colored.
Like a deep pool.
Xue Yan.
Jun Huailang’s gaze sharpened, and his expression immediately turned cold.
Yet amid his wariness and hatred, a strange emotion unexpectedly arose.
He had not expected to encounter Xue Yan here.
Even more unexpected was that Xue Yan at this moment was completely different from the violent tyrant in his memories, the treacherous man who had held life and death in his hands.
His facial features already carried the sharp, deep shadows they would have in the future.
But his barbarian blood had given him especially thick, long eyelashes, making his still-youthful face appear somewhat more striking and beautiful.
He stood there alone, eyes lowered.
Even though several eunuchs deliberately shoved him back and forth, he remained silent.
When he looked up at Jun Huailang, his pair of amber eyes were like two frozen deep pools.
There was not even the slightest trace of the vitality that should belong to a young boy.
He looked like an orphaned wolf cub.
Somehow, Jun Huailang found him rather pitiful.
But only a moment later, Jun Huailang came back to himself.
Since ancient times, every wrong had its perpetrator.
Even if Xue Yan was pitiful, neither the Jun family nor Jun Linghuan had ever provoked him.
An enemy was still an enemy.
Even if he was pitiful, why should that give him the right to humiliate innocent people?
Jun Huailang remembered everything from his previous life and clenched his teeth.
Beside him, Xue Yunhuan had long been accustomed to Jun Huailang meddling in other people’s affairs.
Seeing that Jun Huailang said nothing, he assumed there was someone ahead whom even he could not afford to offend.
He put his hands behind his back and stepped out, intending to stand up for Jun Huailang.
“Who is making such a commotion over there? I saw everything that happened just now. You lot had better not—”
Unexpectedly, just as the group of eunuchs hurriedly knelt and began kowtowing, Jun Huailang suddenly interrupted him.
“Let’s go,” he said.
“…Huh?”
Xue Yunhuan did not react.
But Jun Huailang merely cast a cold glance in that direction.
His voice was colder than it had ever been before.
“Don’t meddle in unnecessary business. Let’s go.”
With that, he turned and walked away.
Only then did Xue Yunhuan notice the person Jun Huailang had been looking at.
“Xue Yan?”
He hurried after him.
“You know this jinx too? We really shouldn’t interfere. I heard that he caused the death of his own mother and then the death of Prince Yan. Even Yan Commandery was lost because of him. If we meddle in his affairs, perhaps even the immortals will punish us… Hey! Wait for me!”
Xue Yunhuan’s voice gradually faded into the distance.
The eunuchs who had knelt down and begged for mercy had never expected that the noble young master who had initially intended to deal with them would merely glance at Xue Yan and then persuade even the Sixth Prince to leave.
Sure enough, their master had been right.
A noble who was disliked by every important person in the palace could be trampled upon freely by servants, even if he was an imperial son and grandson.
The eunuchs stood up.
Looking at Xue Yan, they revealed contemptuous smiles and left one after another.
Before leaving, one eunuch deliberately gave Xue Yan a hard shove.
In only a moment, the place returned to silence.
Only the sobbing of the little eunuch sprawled on the ground remained.
“You should have said something just now! The imperial gift was broken in this servant’s hands. Even if this servant had ten heads, it wouldn’t be enough for His Majesty to chop off! What sin did this servant commit…?”
“So noisy.”
Xue Yan suddenly spoke.
His voice was clear and cold with a trace of huskiness.
His tone was unhurried, yet inexplicably intimidating.
The little eunuch was so frightened that his crying stopped.
He raised his head and looked at Xue Yan.
Xue Yan stared indifferently in the direction where the two noble young masters had disappeared.
After a moment, he lowered his eyes and looked at the shattered jade on the ground.
His gaze was cold and disdainful.
“If His Majesty asks, tell him that I accidentally broke it. It has nothing to do with you.”
After saying this, he stepped over the shattered pieces of jade and walked straight ahead.
His back was straight and his steps steady.
There was not the slightest trace of the embarrassment one would expect from someone who had just been humiliated.
Instead, he instinctively made people want to submit beneath his feet.
When he passed that crossroads, Xue Yan raised his hand.
Without mercy, he snapped off a branch blocking the path, a branch as thick as a child’s arm, and casually threw it at his feet.
It was effortless.
Yet hidden within that simple movement was a fierce, murderous aura.
As though he had just twisted off someone’s head.
It was the very cluster of branches Jun Huailang had pushed aside moments earlier.