When the Deposed Crown Prince Was Reborn as Troublemaker - Chapter 95

The army sent to suppress the rebellion had arrived, but it was all too late — the young man who had collapsed on the long steps had long since drawn his last breath.

Standing in the rain, Huo Xiling raised his eyes. The emperor, astride his black warhorse, drew back his powerful bow, and amid the sound of an arrow splitting the air, Huo Xiling watched as it pierced You Yushan’s heart, pinning him to the gates of Xuanzheng Hall as terror filled You Yushan’s eyes.

“Kill!”

At that single command, guards clad in black armor charged forward with spears in hand, their momentum ferocious, driving the Prince of Wu’s forces back step by step.

“Prince Wu and Prince Qi have both been executed — surrender and your lives will be spared!”

Standing in the rain, Huo Xiling murmured to himself, “Surrender and your lives will be spared? Surrender and your lives will be spared?”

In his view, every single one of them deserved to be cut into a thousand pieces.

A great clap of thunder rang out, and the lightning it cast blazed bright enough to illuminate the entire sky.

It was at that moment that Huo Xiling jolted awake from his dream.

The instant he opened his eyes, he found His Highness the Crown Prince standing at his bedside, glaring down at him.

“Your Highness.” Huo Xiling stared blankly at You Yusui in the candlelight, and in that moment, the rush of emotions that came with having lost and found him again surged up from the depths of his heart.

“Why did you not sleep beside me?” You Yusui stood barefoot on the floor, his bearing lofty and imperious, and the first thing out of his mouth was an accusation — yet he was inexplicably clutching the rabbit-fur pillow that he had already worn to a state of shabbiness, which lent him an oddly endearing air.

Huo Xiling suppressed the regret of being unable to save You Yusui in the dream, and the anguish of having watched You Yusui die before his eyes, then smiled and said, “Does Your Highness not find it too warm with two people together?”

“If it’s too warm, have them bring ice — otherwise, why does this prince spend money keeping them around?” said You Yusui, lifting his chin.

Then he lowered his head and studied Huo Xiling’s expression carefully, his slender, pale fingers tracing lightly across the corner of Huo Xiling’s eye.

“You slept alone, did not call out this prince’s name, and shed no tears in your dreams. Do you think that just because you no longer have nightmares, you no longer need this prince’s company?” You Yusui asked.

The distance between them at that moment was exceedingly close — almost cheek to cheek — each one’s breath nearly entwining around the other.

“Your Highness.” Huo Xiling’s throat moved with a quiet bob of his Adam’s apple, his low and slightly hoarse voice carrying an unnameable longing.

But You Yusui turned and withdrew, spinning away as he said, “Since young General Huo no longer suffers nightmares, there is no need to sleep beside this prince from now on.”

“That is not so.” Huo Xiling reached out and caught hold of You Yusui’s sleeve, cursing himself in that moment for his own clumsy tongue.

Yet You Yusui, his sleeve caught, curved the corner of his mouth in a place where Huo Xiling could not see, and then said, “Are you not going to hurry up and get into bed to warm this prince’s feet?”

Hearing that, Huo Xiling could not help but let out a quiet sigh of relief, knowing that His Highness was teasing him.

“I will go warm Your Highness’s feet.” And with that, Huo Xiling willingly climbed into You Yusui’s bed.

On the wide sleeping couch, two handsome young men of similar age pressed close together, their black hair intertwining with each other, carrying an indescribable loveliness and warmth.

“Your Highness, are you warmer now?” asked Huo Xiling, who was cupping You Yusui’s feet in his hands to warm them.

Although it was summer, the stone floor tiles at night were still ice cold, and You Yusui had been treading on them barefoot for so long just now that his feet had gone completely chilled.

“Mm.” You Yusui nestled into Huo Xiling’s arms and answered drowsily, murmuring, “You have a little sense, I suppose.”

“From now on, you are not allowed to sleep apart from me.” Having said that, You Yusui fell completely and soundly asleep.

Huo Xiling stroked You Yusui’s jet-black hair as he lay in his arms. How could he not want to sleep beside You Yusui? It was only that he did not wish to remain in the dark — he wanted to find the cause of that strange feeling about You Yusui, and then help him untie the knot in his heart entirely.

Thinking thus, Huo Xiling lowered his gaze. Perhaps he ought to ask Cui Yan carefully about what had happened that day at Jinyun Temple in Dayang County, and not let the smallest detail slip past him.

And so it was that You Yusui slept beautifully through the night until dawn, and by the time he woke, Huo Xiling had long since left to train the Eastern Palace guards.

“Your Highness, have you woken?” Eunuch Fubao called from outside the door.

“Mm.” You Yusui turned over, then sat up from the bed with the pillow held in his arms.

Hearing sounds from within, Eunuch Fubao immediately led the eunuchs and palace maids behind him into the inner chamber, attending upon You Yusui as he dressed and washed.

Sitting before the mirror as his hair was combed, You Yusui watched his own reflection and asked, “Where is Xiling?”

Had it been any other morning when he rose from bed, Huo Xiling would have been the first to come see him — even if he was in the middle of training the guards, he would have paused and come to find him.

Eunuch Fubao immediately replied, “Young General Huo has gone out of the palace. He said he would bring back the finest pastries in Chang’an for Your Highness upon his return.”

You Yusui smiled and said, “I hope it is not candied hawthorn skewers again — I cannot get used to them.”

The hawthorn inside was too sour; once stripped of its sugary coating, it was nowhere near as pleasant to eat.

“What Your Highness likes and dislikes, young General Huo has committed every last detail to memory,” said Eunuch Fubao with a smile from the side.

“Mm.” You Yusui felt that Eunuch Fubao had spoken truly, and gave a smiling nod.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Huo Xiling left the palace and went straight to Cui Yan’s private residence.

Cui Yan’s private residence was situated in the western part of the city, a dwelling of the wealthy and distinguished. The garden was arranged with exceptional refinement and elegance, and within it was the medicine study — the vessel of all his life’s work. So long as Madam Cui did not insist he return home, Cui Yan could remain in his medicine study for ten days or half a month without interruption.

At that moment, Cui Yan was in his medicine study preparing the sterilization medicine that Li Xiyue had requested of him.

The medicine was similar to a Xijiwan pill — it could be placed in the navel to nourish the skin, filling a woman’s body with an ethereal fragrance and making her waist supple, drawing men into endless temptation. But with each intimacy, the medicine within the woman’s body would seep into the man’s, and after ten such encounters, both parties would become permanently infertile — no matter how a physician examined them, not a trace of it could be discovered.

And so Cui Yan had named the medicine “Zhufang Pill” — not only because it made use of many flower petals, but also because of the saying, “when all the blossoms have been destroyed, there can be no fruit” — if there are no flowers left, what fruit could there ever be?

Just as Cui Yan was absorbed in his work, a young attendant came from outside to deliver word that Huo Xiling of the Eastern Palace had come to call.

Hearing this, Cui Yan had no choice but to set down the medicine in his hand, asked the attendant to bring the visitor to the flower hall to one side, then changed into fresh clothes and went to receive Huo Xiling.

The moment Cui Yan stepped into the flower hall, he spoke first. “Young General Huo, what a rare guest — was His Highness the Crown Prince truly willing to let you out of the Eastern Palace?”

A faint smile spread across Cui Yan’s refined and elegant face, carrying a sense of everything being understood without needing to be said, and he took considerable delight in teasing Huo Xiling.

Huo Xiling paid Cui Yan’s words no heed, and simply said directly, “I ask that Imperial Physician Cui tell me everything that happened that day at Jinyun Temple in Dayang County — every last detail.”

At the time, when he had arrived, the Crown Prince had already fallen unconscious. Consumed with worry for His Highness, he had had no opportunity to ask about the particulars, and after that he had spent every waking moment without rest tending to the Crown Prince. Once His Highness had woken, they were immediately occupied with examining and adjudicating the case — and somehow he had never managed to find time to ask Cui Yan for the specific details.

“Why do you ask about this?” said Cui Yan, and even now, as the memory of that scene returned to him, he could not help but feel a chill.

“I only wish to know what happened to His Highness the Crown Prince,” Huo Xiling replied.

Cui Yan was silent for a moment, then dismissed the attendants and began to recount that day’s events to Huo Xiling in careful detail.

“That day, we were surrounded inside the prayer hall by soldiers under County Magistrate Li’s command — dozens of soldiers with spears encircled His Highness the Crown Prince on all sides.”

“And His Highness the Crown Prince, with nothing but the longsword in his hand, struck off every last spearhead in a single sweep.” Cui Yan looked at Huo Xiling as he spoke.

Huo Xiling glanced at his own hands. He was wondering whether he himself could have cut off all those spearheads in such a short span of time.

The answer was yes — but this was not something His Highness the Crown Prince, whose health was poor, should have been capable of.

“Afterward, His Highness the Crown Prince kicked up the fallen spearheads from the ground and drove one through County Magistrate Li’s chest. At the sight of this, those soldiers were so frightened that they all raised the wooden shafts of their broken spears and struck them down upon His Highness.”

“What happened after that, you already know.” Cui Yan took a sip of tea to steady himself before continuing.

His Highness the Crown Prince, as though seized by madness, had slaughtered every soldier present — and had Huo Xiling not arrived, it seemed His Highness would have gone on killing in that frenzy without end.

“You said those soldiers all lunged at His Highness with their broken spear shafts at once?” Huo Xiling asked.

In that moment, the image his mind conjured overlapped with the scene from his dream — the Crown Prince being stabbed to death by dozens of spears.

All at once, Huo Xiling was engulfed by a tremendous dread.

If the dream was real, then His Highness the Crown Prince, in times he had known nothing of, had already died in agony more times than he could count.

And Cui Yan, still submerged in recollection on the other side of the table, had not yet noticed that something was wrong with Huo Xiling’s composure. He only said, “I too cannot understand why His Highness the Crown Prince — who has always been raised within the palace and has never known the fires of war — should carry such a heavy and ferocious killing aura.”

Huo Xiling came back to his senses at those words and turned to Cui Yan. “My gratitude for what you have shared today. I ask that Imperial Physician Cui not breathe a word of this to anyone outside.”

Cui Yan smiled. “Young General Huo may set his mind at ease.”

After that, Cui Yan produced the Zhufang pills he had prepared and handed them to Huo Xiling. He explained their effects and properties in full, then asked Huo Xiling to deliver them to Li Xiyue.

“You have many methods at your disposal — you will certainly find a way to get them into the Prince of Yan’s residence without anyone noticing,” said Cui Yan with a smile.

Huo Xiling: ……

Since such important information had already come to him through Cui Yan, this favor he naturally had to repay. When the time came, he would have Jiang Yan — who had a way with birds — deliver them into Li Xiyue’s hands.

“Then I shall take my leave.” With that, Huo Xiling bid Cui Yan farewell.

Leaving Cui Yan’s private residence, Huo Xiling made his way to a long-established pastry shop in Chang’an and purchased a package of osmanthus cakes and a package of lotus blossom shortbreads before returning to the Eastern Palace.

Inside the Eastern Palace, You Yusui, who had been reading a story book, broke into a smile the moment he saw Huo Xiling return.

“You’re back?” You Yusui said, then looked at the oil-paper parcel in Huo Xiling’s hand. “What have you brought this prince?”

“Osmanthus cakes and lotus blossom shortbreads — does Your Highness like them?” Huo Xiling asked, then exchanged a glance with Fubao, signaling him to take the young eunuchs and withdraw.

Fubao was naturally glad to leave the two of them their time alone, and departed with the palace attendants.

By now, You Yusui had already unwrapped the oil-paper parcel and taken out an osmanthus cake.

Drizzled with osmanthus honey, the pastry carried with it a sweet and fragrant air — so lovely it seemed almost too good to be real.

Then Huo Xiling sat down at You Yusui’s side and said quietly, “Your Highness — that day at Jinyun Temple, when you suddenly fell into a killing frenzy, was it because you had experienced the sensation of being pierced through the body by dozens of spears?”

The words had barely fallen when the osmanthus cake You Yusui had bitten into tumbled from his hand and dropped to the floor, the pristine white pastry and the sweet osmanthus honey both gathering dust.