TL: Hua
Chapter 24: Hot Spring – “Still good-looking?”
After dealing with the last assassin, Yu Shaoyun wiped the blade and sheathed it. Eunuch Lai, wearing a slightly crooked hat, saw him turn around and go down the mountain, so he followed him and said, “What are you going to do?”
Yu Shaoyun didn’t answer. He quickly walked a distance and then stopped.
Eunuch Lai, following closely behind, also saw the scene in front of them. There were more than a dozen fresh corpses lying in the forest, blood mixed with rainwater seeping into the soil. On the side of the road, there was a carriage.
The two approached the scene. Yu Shaoyun used the handle of the blade to sweep across the neck of a corpse. Looking at the fatal wound on it, he said: “Killed with a single slash. Judging from the shape and depth of the wound, it should have been a dagger or a short blade. The action was extremely fast as well.”
“These people just died. This place is not far from the mountain. We were fighting just now, and there was also fighting here, but there was no big noise. The person who did it was quick and light. It’s not something that ordinary people can do.” Eunuch Lai sighed. Yu Shaoyun raised his eyes to look at the carriage.
There was a person sitting in the carriage, leaning against the door with his arms and legs curled up. His hat covered his drooping face, as if he was asleep.
Yu Shaoyun walked over and pushed the man’s shoulder with the handle of his blade. The man pushed him away with one hand, pouted his lips, turned his head and continued sleeping. After two breaths, he suddenly opened his eyes and said subconsciously: “Young Master, you’re back… uh, who are you?”
“You are the servant from Pei-wenshu’s courtyard, right?” Yu Shaoyun looked at the man’s eyes under his hat and smiled slightly, “Pei-wenshu has gone up the mountain. You drive with me to pick him up.”
The servant agreed and quickly held the reins, turning the carriage around. When he saw the corpses on the ground, he gasped in fear and pulled down his hat to cover his eyes, not daring to look more.
Yu Shaoyun crossed his arms while looking at the servant who was stiff all over, holding the reins with shaky hands.
Eunuch Lai approached Yu Shaoyun and asked softly, “Is there something wrong with this man?”
Yu Shaoyun looked at the back of the carriage and said, “That’s up to His Highness to decide… Let’s go up the mountain.”
Yuan Fang’s hand holding the reins stabilized again. He touched his chest expressionlessly. There were two drops of blood there, but luckily the fabric was dark enough to not be seen.
*
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, Pei Xiting said with a little excitement, “I saw the villa.”
The person waiting in front of the villa immediately stepped forward to take the umbrella and said respectfully, “Your Highness, the bath is ready.”
“No need to serve,” said the Crown Prince, “and prepare a clean set of clothes.”
“Yes.” The eunuch glanced at Pei Xiting beside the Crown Prince, confirmed his stature, and turned around to prepare.
Pei Xiting followed the Crown Prince to the hot spring pool, which was an indoor hot spring. All the furniture was very elegant, mainly consisting of fragrant nanmu and water nanmu trees, with solid color and aromatic scent. Some surfaces even had natural mountain and water patterns, making it an excellent piece of wood. The nanmu fragrance blended with the light bamboo fragrance burning in the two lotus incense burners on the left and right of the shore created a light and comfortable atmosphere.
Pei Xiting was very uncomfortable with being wet all over. He couldn’t wait to get into the pool at this time. “Your Highness, shall we take a bath together?”
The Crown Prince had never been in a pool with anyone, and he had no intention of allowing Pei Xiting to go into the water with him. Hearing this, he tilted his head and glanced at Pei Xiting—the latter’s eyes were emitting greedy light, looking just like Little King asking him for meat.
The Crown Prince paused and said, “You can choose to wait until I finish.”
Pei Xiting immediately said, “I would be marinated with this smell by then. We’re all men, so there’s no need to avoid suspicion. Let’s soak together.”
As if he was afraid that the Crown Prince would regret it, Pei Xiting took off his dirty clothes in a few seconds, leaving only a pure white inner garment that was wet and stuck to his flesh, showing the slender and thin outline of the young man, with a thin waist and long legs, but only a little flesh on his buttocks.
But he didn’t think there was anything wrong. While untying his hairband, he looked up at the Crown Prince, who was standing still, “Your Highness, what’s wrong with you?”
The sound of rain outside was dull, but the sound of water dripping from the hem of the pure white inner garment to the ground was clear and continuous, which made it impossible to ignore.
The Crown Prince looked at the oblivious Pei Xiting and remained silent.
Pei Xiting also fell silent. He remembered the Crown Prince instructed the servant not to serve him. He reflected for a moment and asked in confusion, “Do you want me to serve you?”
The Crown Prince did not like to have someone watching him while bathing, so he naturally had no such idea. However, he said, “Do you know how to serve people?”
Pei Xiting had never served anyone before, but he did not regard it as serving in his heart. Why? Because it’s an opportunity to observe the human models. So he readily invited, “Would you like to be the first one?”
The Crown Prince looked at Pei Xiting and slowly opened his arms, “Come here.”
The voice was very pleasant. Pei Xiting’s ears were a little itchy. He walked over to find the Crown Prince’s belt and took a look. Fortunately, it was not a complicated style. The belt fell to the ground, and the robe loosened. He walked around, raised his hand to undo the agate button on the collar of the outer robe, took it off unskillfully, and then unbuttoned the inner garment.
The Crown Prince looked at the person who was circling around him and didn’t stop him. When his inner garment was opened, Pei Xiting was indeed surprised.
The body in front of him was indeed carefully carved, even more than imagined, as sharp and beautiful as a knife. But this was not a smooth material. There were scars on the heart, chest, and abdomen, old scars, which showed how serious the injury was.
Pei Xiting’s breathing was slightly stagnant, but he didn’t think it was ugly. This was a gorgeous sword that had been unsheathed from the box. It had experienced wind and frost, suffered damage and cracks, yet the edge remained sharp with a hint of bloodthirstiness.
The Crown Prince lowered his eyes to look at the stunned Pei Xiting and asked, “Still good-looking?”
Pei Xiting came back to his senses and took off the Crown Prince’s inner garment. When he turned behind the Crown Prince, he found several hideous old scars again—what had the almighty crown prince experienced in the past?
The former fifth prince traveled out of the kingdom all year round, and this trip was too intense.
The Crown Prince did not want to hear the answer. Just as he was about to turn around and go into the water, he heard the person behind him say, “Painting does not have to be done on pure white paper and silk. Painting on walls, ground, snow, leaves… will add another layer of color, which is the background color of the ‘canvas.’ Therefore, if I paint Your Highness, I must sign your name when I finish the painting, because this painting has your ‘color’.”
The Crown Prince paused and asked, “What is my color?”
“Your Highness is not only as beautiful as ice and jade,” Pei Xiting said, “but also as strong as gold and iron. The blade can pierce but not shatter.”
The Crown Prince’s heart trembled as he turned around. Pei Xiting blew out a lotus chandelier by the pool with a “whoosh.” The world was split between light and darkness while a fierce rainstorm hammered the roof.
Pei Xiting looked up at him, but his eyes were filled with drizzle, like a demon that appeared from behind the mist at night.
—But perhaps Pei Xiting himself didn’t even notice that his gaze was disoriented.
The glass rosary that he carried all year round slipped off his wrist. The Crown Prince pressed it down and rubbed it heavily, as if he was suppressing something.
Pei Xiting saw the deep gloom in the Crown Prince’s eyes, but he didn’t understand why and asked blankly, “Your Highness, shall we go in?”
The Crown Prince lowered his eyes and was silent for a moment before saying, “Yes.”
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