Chapter 26: The Opportunity

Chapter 26: Opportunity

Chen Jingxian waited all afternoon for his son, but instead received news that His Highness the Sixth Prince had brought Chen Shuoan back to the palace.

The poor old man slumped over the table, weeping bitterly, increasingly convinced that there was not a single good person in that palace.

Chen Fu stood by, unsure how to comfort his master, and could only join Chen Jingxian in crying.

Chen Jingxian shot to his feet, furious, and snapped: "What the hell are you crying for? Our young master has gone to study properly, not been snatched up to be somebody's little wife. All this crying—you'd think we were marrying off a daughter, not sending a boy to school. Stop it."

Chen Fu couldn't find the words, so he just shut up, leaving Chen Jingxian to wallow in his sorrow alone.

————

This was a dilapidated cowshed.

Yuan Wu sat slumped in the corner, his heart turned to ash.

The cowshed was pitch-black, with no light at all; he'd lost all track of time.

The mountain bandits did not deliver meals on time, so Yuan Wu couldn't tell what day of his captivity it was from how often they brought food.

He sat there in the dark, as still as a corpse.

He heard a faint rustling outside the mud-brick walls—two people talking.

Yuan Wu scrambled to his feet and pressed his ear against the wall, straining to catch every word.

"Did you hear? This morning the boss spotted government people on that road we hit a few days back!"

"What the hell would officials be doing in a place like this?"

Yuan Wu's heart jumped—the court must've caught on and sent someone to find him. He'd be out of this hellhole soon.

"Why would I lie to you? But the boss swooped in and took the men and their stuff. Too bad there weren't more of 'em, and their stuff wasn't worth much anyway."

Yuan Wu, ear pressed to the wall, felt his heart plummet.

Then he heard the man laugh again: "But the boss is thrilled about robbing those officials. Tonight he gave the order to dig up the wine from the cellar and let everyone drink up!"

"Everyone?"

"Yeah, you too. Stop guarding. You ain't gonna disobey the boss, are ya? Come on, let's go, hurry!"

"Coming!"

Yuan Wu listened as the voices faded away, and everything went quiet again.

He clenched his fists and made up his mind to escape.

That night,

Yuan Wu lay there with his eyes shut, pretending to sleep. No one came to bring him food—he figured the guys up in the mountains had gotten drunk and forgotten about him.

He figured the time was right. He got up slowly, raised his leg, and kicked the hell out of that rickety old door.

With a loud crash, the wooden door came crashing down.

Yuan Wu seized the chance and bolted, running like a headless chicken through the open mountain.

The moonlight spilled across the ground, everything washed in a sickly white.

The trees around him were tall and eerie, with the mournful cries of birds and the deafening buzz of katydids.

Yuan Wu's heart clenched. He ran, glancing back, as if a pack of ghosts were on his tail.

His face brightened—he spotted a downhill path.

It was the same road those thugs had used to haul him up the mountain.

He ran toward it like his life depended on it, using the moonlight to guide him.

Yuan Wu's throat burned like it was on fire, his legs were shaking and weak, and every breath tasted like blood.

But he couldn't stop, not even for a second.

His heavy, ragged breaths echoed through the quiet woods, putting every one of his senses on edge.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

Ahead, faint, scattered torchlight was rushing up the mountain.

Yuan Wu froze, terrified.

He quickly ducked down, hiding in the bushes, and watched the torches pass.

Yuan Wu let out a breath of relief, but his hoarse voice, rough from the long run, carried far into the night.

"Who's there!"

In an instant, the group was in front of him, pushing aside the thick bushes to reveal Yuan Wu hiding behind them.

Yuan Wu's lips were white, his face was pale, and he glared fiercely at the man who stepped out from behind.

The man had a handsome, jade-like face and a gentle, refined air.

The flickering torchlight danced across his face, shifting between light and shadow, giving him a strange, unsettling look that didn't match his gentle demeanor.

He led his attendants in kneeling before Yuan Wu, and said warmly, "Your servant He Sui, Magistrate of Bozhou, has come too late to save you."

————

Chen Shuoan made it back to the palace in a daze.

When he woke up, it was already dark.

His whole body ached so much he couldn't even get out of bed, but the place felt familiar. Shaking his pounding head, Chen Shuoan suddenly realized he was in the Sixth Prince's room.

Chen Shuoan: "..."

He had left in the morning, and returned in the evening.

He felt like he was stuck in a time loop—last night at this exact time, he'd been lying in this same bed.

What a coincidence. We meet again.

He tried the same trick again, burying his face in Yuan Rang's pillow, but winced in pain the next second.

Things had changed.

Chen Shuoan lay on his back, feeling that life held not a single shred of joy.

The world kisses me with pain, and I just drop dead.

"Was that fun?"

Chen Shuoan opened his eyes in alarm and saw Yuan Rang beside him, his entire figure hidden in the darkness, tall and slender, moonlight from the window casting across his brow, making him look stern and handsome.

Chen Shuoan said obediently, "Not really."

Go ahead and ask, Dad.

Yuan Rang stepped out of the darkness, sat down beside Chen Shuoan, and scooped him up, settling him snugly into his arms.

Chen Shuoan leaned in meekly, feeling that the hands holding him were trembling slightly.

Yuan Rang tightened his grip, burying his face in Chen Shuoan's neck, inhaling the bitter medicinal scent that clung to the man in his arms.

It smelled awful; he wished Chen Shuoan would never smell like that again.

Yuan Rang's chest ached fiercely, and he held him even tighter, his voice trembling as he said, "I was so scared."

Seeing him like this made Chen Shuoan sad too.

He wrapped his arms around the boy before him gently, soothing him softly, "Don't be scared, we're not scared."

Yuan Rang's heart ached so much he couldn't describe his feelings. His Highness the Sixth Prince, usually so eloquent, now seemed struck silent, just silently sobbing against Chen Shuoan's shoulder.

Chen Shuoan felt the wetness spreading on his neck, and stroked Yuan Rang's smooth black hair over and over.

He tried to reason with him, tugging at his heartstrings and laying out the facts, hoping desperately that the Sixth Prince above him would stop shedding those precious tears, and explained, "Those Hu people are suspected of stirring up beasts to attack people, and every one of them is trained in martial arts—they're clearly not ordinary people. When I saw them by the window, of course I couldn't let them get away, but reinforcements hadn't arrived, so I had to fight them to buy time."

"I was too late, I was too late..."

Yuan Rang murmured to himself. His hands, resting at Chen Shuoan's waist, curled into fists, fingers digging so hard into his palms that they tore the skin, drawing streams of blood.

Chen Shuoan saw what he was doing and was so mad he wanted to slap him.

"What are you doing?!"

Yuan Rang's expression was wild, his eyes filled with a terrifying darkness, staring at Chen Shuoan and speaking each word deliberately, "If Shuo'an gets hurt anywhere, I'll hurt myself in the same place, because this pain doesn't even come close to a fraction of what I feel in my heart."

He gently stroked Chen Shuoan's pale cheek, blood dripping from his slender fingers onto the light silk quilt, staining it with red blossoms.

Yuan Rang was both unhinged and wounded, saying, "Shuo'an, Shuo'an, if you feel sorry for me..."

"If you feel sorry for me, then please take good care of yourself."