The White Moonlight Turns Out to Be a Black-Hearted Lotus - Chapter 17

Things were not quite as Pei Xu had imagined.

When the dagger pierced the man’s neck, he thought there would be a great surge of blood winding down the texture of the skin, eventually gathering into a small, dark pool at his feet.

The reality, however, was that blood did not flow slowly; it sprayed out violently the moment the blade broke the skin. The hot, viscous liquid instantly splattered across his body and face.

It was somewhat wretched and entirely undignified.

Because the discrepancy from his expectations was so great, he dazed for a brief moment. Then, he raised his wrist and wiped the blood from his eyelids.

As his vision cleared, there was no time for hesitation. He raised the dagger once more.

He had always kept the dagger Ji Yuanhui gave him close at hand; he hadn’t expected it to be put to use so soon. The first kill had been remarkably easy. The person standing to the side had been completely off-guard, never dreaming that Pei Xu had already broken free from the ropes, let alone that he had the nerve to hide a blade and commit murder.

A single strike to end a life.

The body hit the ground with a heavy, dull thud. Duan Xi, who had been sitting regally not far away, froze. Out of sheer terror, he stood up instinctively, his face a mask of horror. “You… you dare to kill someone within the palace gates?”

“As long as I survive, someone will be able to clean up the mess for me.” Pei Xu gripped the dagger tightly. “I don’t need to consider any of that. It is enough for me to simply live.”

Duan Xi gritted his teeth and shouted to the remaining three men, “What are you standing there for? Seize him! The Crown Prince gave orders—don’t kill him.”

Perhaps because he looked so sickly and harmless, these men hadn’t taken him seriously at all before arriving. They hadn’t even brought a proper weapon, making the dagger in Pei Xu’s hand one of his few advantages.

In the chaos, after another man had his eye gouged out by Pei Xu, the remaining two moved in: one strangled him fiercely from behind while the other tried to wrestle away the dagger.

He held on so tightly that the only way to get the blade was to pry his fingers back by force. It seemed a finger had been snapped… every single one ached; he couldn’t tell which one it was.

He was being strangled to the point of oxygen deprivation. If this dragged on any longer, it was questionable whether his frail frame could endure it. In his left sleeve, he had a hidden sleeve-arrow coated in poison, but there was only one shot. He had no room for error. With a flick of his left hand, a four-inch short arrow flew from his sleeve.

The man let out a scream and momentarily released his grip. Pei Xu didn’t have time to see where he had been hit; he shifted the dagger to his left hand and stabbed backward. Perhaps terrified by his suicidal desperation, the man behind him refused to let go even after being stabbed in the abdomen, instead tightening his stranglehold.

The order to keep him alive no longer mattered; the man only wanted to kill him immediately to save himself. Pei Xu did not hesitate either. Every thrust of the blade went deep. When the man still wouldn’t let go, Pei Xu changed his target, hacking at the man’s arms and the backs of his hands.

The two were locked in a stalemate, each trying to outlast the other, but in the end, Pei Xu gained the upper hand. The man lost too much blood from his abdomen and could no longer hold on. The moment he was released, Pei Xu’s vision went white. If it had been a moment later, he would have been strangled to death.

Unable to stand, Pei Xu collapsed to the ground, clutching his neck and coughing painfully, spitting out a mouthful of bloody froth.

Now was not the time to rest. He propped up his weightless body and stood again.

He wasn’t used to exerting force with his left hand, and he feared that if he used his right hand—which had lost all sensation from the pain—to hold the dagger, it would slip. So, he tore off a strip of cloth and bound the dagger and his hand together firmly.

Staggering to his feet, Pei Xu went to every man lying on the ground and slit their throats. Once he was certain everyone of them was dead, he wiped the blood from his cheek and turned his gaze toward the terrified Duan Xi. He offered a smile of profound, lighthearted relief.

He said, “It’s your turn.”

When Ji Yuanhui arrived, his heart skipped a beat at the sight of the scene.

The floor was a mess of blood and wreckage. The robes on Pei Xu’s body were so soaked in blood that their original color was indistinguishable. He sat there, his expression weary and drained, staring blankly at a stick of incense that had burned down to its final stub.

Without a second’s hesitation, Ji Yuanhui knocked out the Fourth Prince with a hand-chop and tossed him aside like trash.

Fragments of memory flashed through his mind like snowflakes. Fear gripped his throat like a venomous snake. Ji Yuanhui didn’t have time to think; he was so terrified he could hardly breathe. He ran over frantically. “Rongrong…”

Pei Xu turned his head slowly. Upon seeing Ji Yuanhui, his eyes suddenly brightened. “Your Highness.”

Before the incense burned out, His Highness had found him.

[His Highness did not abandon me.] [His Highness is different from them.]

His previously dull and exhausted eyes suddenly regained their spirit. He seemed to want to stand up, but he was too tired. His physical strength was spent, and his silhouette swayed unsteadily.

Ji Yuanhui rushed forward and caught him before he could fall. His hands trembled as he tried to untie the cloth binding the dagger to Pei Xu’s right hand to check the injury, but the fresh blood he touched was too slippery; he failed twice to undo the knot. The more Ji Yuanhui looked, the more his heart ached, until he nearly forgot how to breathe.

“Your Highness, it’s not my blood… don’t worry so much.” Pei Xu used his left hand to squeeze Ji Yuanhui’s shaking hand. “I killed people.”

“I know, I know…”

Pei Xu felt cold lips press against his brow in a soothing gesture before Ji Yuanhui continued to struggle with the dead knot on his hand.

“Were you scared? Does it hurt?”

[Why are you asking me if it hurts…] [I caused such trouble… shouldn’t you be questioning why I was so reckless? Is it because you don’t know that one of the dead is the son of an official?]

Pei Xu blinked slowly. He stared at Ji Yuanhui’s profile. “I also killed the son of General Duan.”

Silly Rongrong. He had never been the cleverest since they were children. Even injured like this, he didn’t know how to pity himself; he was only worried about causing trouble for his prince.

“I know. I know everything.” Ji Yuanhui finally untied the knot. Looking at Pei Xu’s mangled, bloody hand, his voice grew hoarse as he asked again, “Does it hurt?”

Pei Xu was dazed. His left hand braced against Ji Yuanhui’s shoulder, and he bit his lower lip as if trying to hold something back.

“How is it that you don’t even know how to cry anymore… in the past, if you even scraped your finger, you’d hold it up for me to see.” Ji Yuanhui’s throat felt parched. “Cry, Rongrong. If it hurts, just cry.”

Ji Yuanhui’s heart was twisted into a knot, dripping blood. The person he cherished and protected like a treasure had been ground down into this state. He was even cautious about crying, living a life of constant apprehension and shrinking away from the world.

“It hurts…” Pei Xu clutched his clothes tightly. It was as if his grievances finally found an outlet; tears burst from his eyes. “Your Highness, it hurts so much…”

Ji Yuanhui pulled the person in his arms closer. Pei Xu’s crying made his heart tremble; the tears felt like blades piercing his body. Pei Ji really deserved to die… even death wasn’t enough; he should be dragged out and whipped every single day.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I came late again…”

Ji Yuanhui picked him up. The sound of several footsteps echoed nearby; Consort Shu’s people had arrived.

Seeing the scene before her, Consort Shu’s elegant brows furrowed slightly in concern. She spoke to the maid beside her, “Go to the Imperial Academy of Medicine and invite Physician Sun to the Zhaoyang Hall. If Physician Sun is not there, invite Physician Wang. Do not disturb anyone else.”

The maid took the order and left. “This servant understands.”

“Mother.” The blood on Pei Xu was too conspicuous. Ji Yuanhui took off his outer robe to cover the person in his arms. “I will leave things here to Mother.”

She nodded slightly. “Take the child to Zhaoyang Hall first. Qinghe has already gone to fetch the physician.”

At her feet lay the unconscious Fourth Prince. She commanded with a face devoid of emotion, “Send the Fourth Prince back. It was just a scuffle between brothers; it is no great matter.”

Watching the two of them leave, Consort Shu withdrew her gaze and looked at the carnage in the room. She recognized the person lying by the door and murmured, “The Duan family child…”

“Such a young child. A pity his character was not upright.”

Then, she waved her hand to the palace attendants behind her, signaling them to come forward. “This one is broken; feed him to the fish. Pull the others to fill the well. Burn the clothes. Do it cleanly…”

“Honestly, a perfectly good family banquet, ruined again by the Crown Prince.”

Pei Xu vaguely remembered leaning into Ji Yuanhui’s arms and crying until his strength failed and he fainted.

He had a very long dream, the contents of which were no different from a nightmare to him. Thus, he struggled to wake up, but his weakened body was not yet under his control. He could faintly hear a muffled conversation nearby.

A woman spoke in a low voice, “The Crown Prince is filing a complaint with that bruised face of his. Your Imperial Father will likely have no choice but to punish you.”

“Let him punish me if he wants. Has he punished me a few times? A thief is pressing against your face, reaching into your pocket to feel for your house keys, and chatting with your wife while he does it…”

Ji Yuanhui sneered, his voice still on the edge of fury. “If I didn’t beat them, I wouldn’t deserve to be born a human in my next life! If I had the patience to swallow that breath, I might as well have been born a tortoise! They should thank their ancestors I didn’t beat them to death!”

“Calm your anger. That child is still sleeping.” The woman sighed. “Since you’ve openly broken ties with the Crown Prince and the others ahead of time, many things must be prepared early.”

Pei Xu finally woke from his dream. His vision was still a bit blurry. He blinked a couple of times until his focus returned, seeing Ji Yuanhui’s face looming large in front of him.

Ji Yuanhui had been guarding the bedside. Seeing him awake, he immediately leaned in and asked anxiously, “How are you? Do you feel any better?”

Pei Xu sat up, wanting to try moving his hand, only to find his right hand had been wrapped up like a zongzi.

When he had first seen Pei Xu covered in blood, Ji Yuanhui’s soul had nearly flown away in fright. After an inspection, he found that aside from the hand and the bruising on the neck, there were no major injuries on his body. Still, he wasn’t at ease until the imperial physician checked and said that, apart from resting for a month after the bone was reset, there were no other major issues. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

“Don’t move recklessly… your hand needs proper care.” Ji Yuanhui said, “It will take at least a month of rest to recover completely.”

Pei Xu seemed to suddenly remember something. He reached out hurriedly with his left hand to grab Ji Yuanhui’s sleeve. “Your Highness, where is my knife?”

Someone nearby holding a scabbard handed the dagger over, asking, “Is it this one?”

Pei Xu instinctively took the dagger. When he looked up at the person, his breath hitched. He froze, forgetting what he was about to say.

Panic, grievance, disbelief… various emotions intertwined as he stared at the person without blinking, like a child who hadn’t been home for years suddenly seeing his mother in a foreign land.

“Rongrong, this is Mother.” Ji Yuanhui observed his expression and made a silent guess. The Zhou sisters must have looked extremely similar; otherwise, Pei Xu wouldn’t have been dazed for so long.

“Our meeting today was too rushed to exchange pleasantries.” Consort Shu’s voice was soft and gentle. “When your injuries are healed, come back and sit with me for a while.”

She looked at the time and reminded them, “The palace gates are about to be locked. Don’t miss the hour to leave the palace.”

The wind was still cold in the early spring twilight. After walking a few steps, Ji Yuanhui suddenly turned back, saying he wanted to grab an old cloak of his to block the wind.

Pei Xu stood under the corridor waiting, and his gaze was inadvertently drawn to the red carp in the pond.

Those fish were strikingly red, and each was wide and stout, as large as an adult’s half-arm. He didn’t know how they had been raised to be so fat.

People naturally feel uneasy about things that defy common sense. Pei Xu felt a chill in his heart and looked away, not daring to stare any longer.

Ji Yuanhui returned quickly and draped a heavy cloak over him. Seeing that his face looked even worse than before, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Pei Xu looked at him. “Those fish… they grew so plump.”

Ji Yuanhui glanced at them casually and said truthfully, “Mother has always given them quite a good diet.”

Naturally, it was good—they never lacked for meat.

When the two returned to the manor, Steward Zhang came forward to pay his respects. “Your Highness, the Second Young Master Zhou has brought a friend over. They are currently resting in the guest rooms. Would Your Highness like to go see them?”

Ji Yuanhui really had no heart to worry about anything else today. He brushed it off perfunctorily. “It’s likely the friend coming to the capital for the exams that Second Zhou mentioned previously, right? There are many empty courtyards in the manor; let them choose one they like and settle in. No need to ask me.”

“Steward Zhang, wait a moment.”

Steward Zhang was about to leave when Pei Xu called out to him.

“Your Highness should go take a look. It won’t take much time. No matter how good the courtyard is, it doesn’t show the host’s respect for the guests as much as Your Highness going in person.” Pei Xu’s face looked very weak, yet he still tried his best to advise. “We are in a time where we need capable people. If this person is useful, it’s a good opportunity to use your cousin’s relationship to recruit him to work for Your Highness.”

“Alright.” Ji Yuanhui looked at his pale, bloodless face, unable to bear letting him worry about these matters further. “Eat something and rest early; don’t wait for me. I’ll go take a look and be right back.”