“You—!”
With just those few words, Feng Xin got the gist of what had transpired. His eyes widened, and he pointed at Mu Qing, unable to speak. A moment later, he bent down and grabbed a sack, then flung it at Mu Qing.
“Get out!” he roared. “Get out, get out, get out!”
Mu Qing was once again hit in the face by the sacks of rice he had brought and backed two steps away. All three of them were panting harshly.
“I was wondering why you suddenly had a change of heart!” Feng Xin cried. “I can’t fucking believe this, holy shit… Don’t let me see you ever again!”
“Yes! I was wrong, I admit it, and I apologize!” Mu Qing exclaimed with a cracked voice. “But I wanted to solve our current problems before considering anything else! Your parents and my mother, the three of us, who knows how long we would have had to struggle in this quagmire! But I thought that if I went back first, maybe we’d still have a chance—”
“All fucking bullshit—enough with your bullshit!” Feng Xin cussed. “No one wants to hear your excuses! Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out!”
Mu Qing tried again. “If you put yourself in my shoes—”
Feng Xin cut him off. “I told you I’ve had enough of your bullshit! I’m not listening! I just know that even in your shoes, I wouldn’t have done what you did. No need to put myself in your shoes because you’re nothing more than a traitor!”
Mu Qing looked angry now, and he took a step forward. “When His Highness was in a tight spot, wasn’t he forced to commit robbery? So why can’t you accept hardship as an excuse when it comes to me?”
Feng Xin sputtered. “Huh? Robbery? Who committed robbery? His Highness robbed someone? What crap are you fucking saying?”
Xie Lian stopped breathing.
Watching Feng Xin’s rage gradually turn to shock, Mu Qing finally realized something wasn’t right, and he hesitantly turned to Xie Lian. “You…you didn’t…?”
It had never occurred to him that Xie Lian hadn’t told Feng Xin about what happened!
“Aaaaaaaaaah!”
Xie Lian went mad and grabbed a random object to chase Mu Qing away. Mu Qing realized that he seriously screwed up and didn’t dare to speak even after Xie Lian hit him multiple times. Yet when he looked back, the thing Xie Lian was using to chase him out the door was a broom. His face instantly darkened.
“Do you have to taunt me like this?!”
“Get out of here!” Xie Lian cried brokenly.
Sharp gales blew from the force of Xie Lian’s punch. Mu Qing dodged the brunt of the attack, but only barely, and he still received a thin, bloody cut on his cheek. He touched the wound, then looked at the blood on his hand with an unreadable expression on his face.
“…Fine. I’m leaving.”
Xie Lian was doubled over, racked with shivers from head to toe. Mu Qing took a few steps forward and placed the rice sacks back down on the ground.
“I’m really leaving.”
Xie Lian’s head shot up. When Mu Qing saw the look in Xie Lian’s eyes, he swallowed and didn’t linger any longer, leaving with a sweep of his sleeves.
Only then did the thoroughly stunned Feng Xin come running outside. “Your Highness! He’s bullshitting, right? What robbery?”
Xie Lian covered his forehead. “…Don’t ask anymore. Please, Feng Xin, I beg you, please don’t ask anymore.”
“No, of course I don’t believe it,” Feng Xin said. “I just want to know what really happened—”
Xie Lian screamed and covered his ears, fleeing back inside the cottage and locking himself in his room.
Feng Xin was genuinely convinced that he would never do such a thing, but that was precisely why this was the worst-case scenario!
Xie Lian wanted to just run away, to escape to a place where no one knew him. But when he remembered what White No-Face had said, he didn’t dare go too far. He could only shut himself inside his room. No matter how Feng Xin and the queen called for him, he refused to emerge.
It took two days for Xie Lian to feel calmer, and next time Feng Xin knocked, he silently opened the door.
Feng Xin stood there, holding a plate. “Her Majesty made you this earlier today and wanted me to bring it to you.”
The things on the plate were green and purple. It was a terrifying sight.
“Your Highness, if you’re scared for your life, I can eat it for you,” Feng Xin continued. “I won’t tell Her Majesty, ha ha…”
Xie Lian could tell that Feng Xin still really wanted to prod and ask about the robbery, but he was also scared that Xie Lian might lock himself up again. He had forced his curiosity down and pretended not to care, like the incident had never happened and there was nothing to question to begin with. However, he wasn’t good at joking, and his failed attempt at comedy only made things even more awkward.
The taste of his mother’s cooking was honestly terrifying to the extreme. The more times she entered the kitchen, and the more effort she put in, the more she progressed down the wrong path. Xie Lian had never cooked in the past either, but the meals he made now didn’t taste too bad. The only explanation was natural talent. Nevertheless, Xie Lian took the plate and sat at the table dutifully to eat it. He couldn’t taste anything he ate anymore, either way.
There was one silver lining. He was sure the king had overheard their argument a few nights prior, and Xie Lian had thought he was done for. But based on how things had gone over the past few days, it looked like the king and queen still weren’t aware of the robbery incident. Otherwise, considering the king’s temperament, he would’ve bawled Xie Lian out already. He knew Feng Xin would never tell them about it, so Xie Lian could relax for now.
As he was thinking, Feng Xin abruptly rose to his feet, and Xie Lian snapped out of it. “What are you doing?”
Feng Xin grabbed his bow. “It’s time for me to go busking.”
Xie Lian stood up too. “I’ll go with you.”
After a moment of hesitation, Feng Xin said, “Nah. You just rest a bit more.”
Although Feng Xin didn’t ask any more questions, Xie Lian still felt miserable all over—now that Feng Xin had heard what he’d done, he kept feeling like something between them had changed and that they could never return to the way they had once been. Every word and look Feng Xin gave him seemed take on a different meaning, worthy of deeper interpretation.
Xie Lian shook his head and sighed. “I’ll be honest with you. I don’t have the mind to cultivate right now.”
Feng Xin had more or less expected this, and he bowed his head, not knowing what to say.
“Since that’s the case, instead of rotting inside the house, I might as well go busk too,” Xie Lian continued. “That way I can earn us some money, so at least I’m not…”
At least he wouldn’t be an invalid, he meant to say. Yet for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to speak the word. Perhaps it was because he already felt like an invalid, so he didn’t dare say it so casually.
Feng Xin was still a little worried. “I’ll be fine on my own too. Your Highness, you’ve only had one meal over the past two days, so why don’t you rest for a while longer?”
The more he insisted, the more anxious Xie Lian was to prove himself, and he turned to look in the mirror.
“It’s fine, I’ll just clean myself up and—”
He’d planned to tidy himself up so he at least wouldn’t look like a disheveled, crazy beggar. But when he looked in the mirror, a horrifying image was reflected back.
The “him” in the mirror didn’t have a face. That was because his reflection was wearing a half-crying, half-smiling mask.
Xie Lian screamed, and Feng Xin jumped in surprise.
“What? What is it?!”
Xie Lian pointed at the mirror, his face pale. “Him! I… My… My…”
Feng Xin followed his pointing finger and looked at the mirror. A long moment later, he turned to look at Xie Lian again, bewildered. “What’s with you?”
