Time passed as days blurred into one. On the Lofty Mountain, Qi Mingyue followed Chu Yu to learn the method of Tianyin. Autumn and winter arrived and passed; it had been three years. There were Hong Qi and Ying Ran, the lovely little children Xiao Yin and Lan as his company, so his days were fulfilling.
But there was a letter from the palace. Looking at the paper brought by Little Black, Qi Mingyue smiled lightly, but Hong Qi’s and Ying Ran’s faces changed.
After the Second Prince Qi Mingyue was sent out of the palace, the Eldest Prince Qi Musheng was consigned to Tanzhou on the suspicion of being the alien star. As the Grandmaster said, Emperor CangHe sent both the princes with the same birth date away from the imperial palace. No matter how brilliant and highly favoured the Second Prince Qi Mingyue was, nowadays, he had become a taboo in the palace and no one dared to mention him.
Someone once saw a minister accidentally mention the name of the Second Prince and His Majesty was furious. One moment he was calm like usual, and the next moment, he smiled and ordered people to drag that minister away and thrash him until he was severely wounded and his dreadful cry of torment gradually stopped. So, unless they were desperate to die, how could anyone dare to mention the Second Prince again?
On the contrary, the Third Prince Qi Lianshuo became the most popular among all the princes. Emperor CangHe did not seem to pay special attention to the other princes, but Qi Lianshuo, who was once his favourite, finally received the most love from the monarch after the departure of the first two princes. Now, the entire world knew that the First Prince was deposed, the Second Prince was nowhere to be found, and the Third Prince Qi Lianshuo was the prince most favoured by the emperor.
The Second Prince Qi Mingyue, regardless of how honoured he was, the favour he had or the kind of status he once possessed, was eventually forgotten.
When Hong Qi and Ying Ran read these statements, both of them looked towards their master with an uncertain expression. Had His Majesty's affection for His Highness Mingyue changed? Since the visit on that rainy night that year, His Majesty had not come again and even the letters were few and far in between, almost severed.
However, Qi Mingyue took the letter back and did not seem the least bit bothered. Hong Qi and Ying Ran were extremely worried, but they did not dare to ask because they were afraid of hurting His Highness.
When Qi Mingyue saw their expressions, he gently laughed and said, “I have HongEr and Ying Ran by my side, so I am not lonely, but Father Emperor is in the palace and if there is nothing interesting for him to entertain himself with, he’ll be very lonely.”
Hong Qi and Ying Ran did not understand the meaning of his words, but when they saw that he really did not care, they were relieved. Although they still felt indignant, they did not say anything further.
Until one day, Qi Mingyue finally mastered Tianyin’s method of mind influence and could use Tianyin as he pleased, Chu Yu burst into tears of joy and showed an ecstatic smile. While crying and laughing, he said that because of the achievements of the Celestial, he had no regrets in life, therefore, he planned to go out to travel with both the children. Fortunately, he still remembered that Qi Mingyue had gu in his body that hadn’t been resolved yet, so he drew it out before leaving.
Tianyin led Lianxin gu out and was immediately burned. Apart from getting rid of the trouble, Qi Mingyue felt no particular joy, but the power of Zuizhu in his body was no longer bound and immediately turned into a warm stream that circulated throughout his body. After meditating, it was completely absorbed by the meridians and his skill had made great progress, making him smile with satisfaction.
After doing some arrangements, when Qi Mingyue was about to go down the mountain, Chu Yu had long left with both the small children several days ago. Qi Mingyue did not stay there any longer and did not send a letter to the palace through Little Black. The group packed up and then went down the mountain.
Hong Qi and Ying Ran were surprised when they saw that he had not notified the palace. They thought that His Highness might say that he didn't mind, but he was angry with His Majesty in his heart. Both of them felt his feelings were justified. When the carriage drove towards YeYao City, their anxious hearts finally settled down.
Fortunately, His Highness still intended to return to the imperial palace.
Qi Mingyue watched the changes in their expressions in the carriage and smiled, “Ying Ran and HongEr are worried that I wouldn’t return to the palace in anger?”
Ying Ran smiled slightly, “This servant only knows that His Majesty will never not want master.”
But Hong Qi pouted and spoke with a slight grievance, “If His Majesty truly cared about master, how could he not even send a word for so long? Although people have constantly been delivering a variety of rare treasures, who cares about those? Master has been working so hard to learn Tianyin on the mountain to remove gu, but His Majesty doesn’t seem to feel the least bit concerned. Hong Qi feels rather wronged for Your Highness.”
Over the years, Hong Qi and Ying Ran had taken care of everything and were thorough with each aspect. Their relationship with Qi Mingyue had grown stronger. Although they still remembered that Qi Xutian was their real master, if they had to choose one day, they would listen to only one person’s commanded; they would choose Qi Mingyue without hesitation.
When Qi Mingyue heard her words, he smiled, lightly squeezed Hong Qi’s cheek and said jokingly, “It seems that HongEr really loves me.”
Although His Royal Highness was younger than them, his words, actions and graceful bearing often made people forget his age. As soon as he said this, Hong Qi only felt her cheeks that had been squeezed suddenly warm up.
“Your Highness is teasing Hong Qi again, look, she’s blushing yet again.” Ying Ran seemed to be used to this scene.
“I am just telling the truth. Both Hong Qi and Ying Ran are beautiful women and you both care about me so much. If I have such beautiful young women who cherish me, how could I not tease them? It’s the truth.” Leaning against the carriage wall diagonally opposite from them both, Qi Mingyue hooked the corners of his mouth with a gentle look in his smiling eyes. Although it was not the first time she heard him say such a thing, ever since he had grown older, His Highness’ temperament and appearance were no longer the immature and youthful handsomeness of childhood, rather, he posture was now chic, lean and upright with deep eyebrows. And when he spoke with an attentive expression while staring straight into the other person’s eyes, it always made people’s hearts unconsciously beat wildly as if their hearts and minds had been hooked.
When he was a child, both of them had already felt that His Royal Highness Mingyue would become a very handsome man in the future, but they did not expect that the young man who was just about to come off age would show such a debonair demeanour and his every action would affect the mind of others. They wondered whether it was due to practising Tianyin or the effect brought by Zuizhu that brought out his potential, but in any case, compared to back then, a word, a line or even a look from him could enthral people.
His appearance was outstanding, coupled with his regal charm and elegant demeanour, if His Royal Highness walked down the street, quite possibly, it would attract countless women's hearts. Even both of them weren’t exempted. They were people who attended to him every single day and yet, occasionally, they would look at him in awe.
Qi Mingyue saw that after he smiled and said those words, both Hong Qi and Ying Ran were a little dazed. He shook his head while sighing in his heart, it seemed that the power of Tianyin and Zuizhu were slowly revealing everything that his soul brought from his previous life. His former self had experienced a lot and its imprint on the soul wouldn’t be shallow. No matter which identity he played, his temperament would change, however, since he arrived here, he had been busy adapting and did not pay attention when he became his present self, a mixture of all positives and negatives of his previous self, which made people feel a sense of contradiction, but at the same time, this contradiction made people wonder and then captivated them.
It was because of this that the organization asked him to pretend to be a host, but unfortunately, J was implicated and he also died by a gunshot in a moment of carelessness. But if it hadn't happened, he wouldn't have met his father.
This was what his father loved about him. Although he hadn’t exchanged letters these years, Hong Qi and Ying Ran don’t know, there were many nights when he suddenly woke up from his sleep and there was no one in the room, but his neck and even his entire body were full of crimson kiss marks. He summoned Wu Yao to inquire and it was confirmed that father had come and perhaps he intentionally never avoided Wu Yao’s presence.
Conceivably, he first pressed his acupuncture points to make him sleep and he (QM) didn't even realise it. Only when he noticed the little red marks on his body and the white substance left between his legs did he confirm that his father had been there.
For some reason, Father never touched him. Maybe he was concerned about him having an attack because of the gu? He sometimes guessed so but thinking of his father's unrestrained words and actions as well as his intense lust for him, it appeared that Lianxin gu could not be the reason.
Qi Mingyue closed his eyes, leaned against the soft cushion and stopped thinking about it. After leaving the Lofty Mountain, he arrived in a small town that was quite close to YeYao. The journey was already much faster. Wu Yao was out driving the carriage. It wasn’t known how he could see the road if he was blind, but the journey was smooth. After passing through this small town, they wouldn’t be far from YeYao City.
In the crowded marketplace, the large throng of people shuffled around while slowly moving forward. The street vendors on both sides had their voices turned hoarse and even though it was winter, they still shouted and consequently, sweated profusely.
CangHe had four distinct seasons and it was midwinter presently. During winter, the weather had turned freezing, and even though a bit of sunshine was falling, there was still no way to withstand the cold winter of this season.
Under the strong wind, the weather turned colder and the sun hid somewhere behind the clouds. The crowd on the street began to disperse gradually. A vendor wiped the sweat on his forehead and was about to rest, but a group of people who arrived close by caught his eyes.
Some passers-by did not pay attention, but as long as they saw them accidentally, they couldn’t help but slow down and look at the visitors one after another in admiration.
They saw a pair of graceful man and woman walking in front of them, about seventeen or eighteen years old. Both of their faces were picturesque with hints of noble features at the corners of their brows, eyes, and mouth. Their expressions were indifferent and they did not appear particularly cordial. Nevertheless, the stunning looks of the two still made people’s hearts linger.
The two people behind them must be their entourage, all strongly armoured and appeared mighty and majestic. Their group of four people walked up with extraordinary momentum and in luxurious clothes. Although the townspeople had seen many wealthy businessmen and noblemen as well as a sizable number of officials who were on their way to YeYao City, they had never seen such outstanding ones. For a while, pedestrians kept turning around to look at them.
“Brother, you are the one who wanted to go to that restaurant. Where is that restaurant now?” The woman complained and tugged at the sleeve of the man beside her.
“LianEr, why hurry? That restaurant here is very famous. Since we are here, we naturally have to go and taste something. It’s not far, just walk a bit more and we will reach there.” The man answered, but his expression was still cold and somewhat impatient.
“I think it’s obvious that you made an appointment with someone at that restaurant. What does Dad want you to do this time? Who will be the one delivering the message?” She continued to ask questions and when she saw that many people watching them, her face became a little unhappy.
The man did not answer and just continued walking. The woman named Zi Lian was unhappy about being looked at by others, her face gradually cooled down. She turned around and said something, and the person following after her unexpectedly lightly tapped his feet, not caring about causing a commotion, and rose into the air. He disappeared mid-air after a few jumps and shortly afterwards, landed and respectfully handed over a veil hat.
Their presence was already eye-catching, but now, they attracted more people to stop and watch. Zi Lian took the veil, gave a cold snort, and walked forward quickly.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a child rushed forward clad in tattered old clothes and his face mottled with dirt. He incidentally crashed into her and the veil in her hand fell on the ground. She exclaimed and backed away with a look of disgust on her face.
“Get him away from me!”
The child fell on the ground and forgot to speak in horror. His collar was grabbed by someone and thrown far away. A carriage came to a halt in front of his fallen body and the people inside the carriage seemed to be startled. A pair of fair and slender hands came out, the action is natural but unexpectedly pleasing to the eye. One could not help but anticipate the kind of person that would come out from the carriage up until the door opened and someone slowly stepped out.
The child lay on the ground in shock. Reflected in his eyes was a pair of silvery-white satin brocade boots.
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