CH 58

Xie Ke was confused for a while because of these words, and then said: “Maybe… Shen Yang mentioned it during the conversation?”

Shen Yang only told him what Zhiyu had said. He didn’t say anything about the overall conversation. It was also possible for him to mention it by the way.

“It’s not just this,” the system said, “When after the Qianyuan Battle you ran to his residence and fainted, the only time he used the Shadow ring, he made that gesture.”

“At that time… I gave him the instructions along with it.”

“I don’t think he read them. He didn’t want to keep that thing at all,” the system said, “But he used it accurately at that time. I always think that Fu Zhiyu knows something he shouldn’t know, or that he has known it a long time ago. It’s a sort of intuition.”

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Xie Ke said, “Zhiyu knows this… so what? Maybe he noticed it in his previous life.”

The system was silent for a while, then changed the subject and said, “Shen Yang has a point. Think about it for yourself. Regarding my own doubts, I will track it down.”

If Fu Zhiyu didn’t have so many abnormalities, the system wouldn’t be so sensitive, but if all abnormal things happened to one person, it had to pay attention.

Xie Ke was still huddling there. He felt the temporary departure of the system, and he was really the only one left in the tent.

“…Shouldn’t I have come back?” He murmured to himself, “Zhiyu doesn’t want anything, he doesn’t want anything from me… I know, the last thing he wants is me.”

If there was no him in Zhiyu’s life, Zhiyu would live happier.

Xie Ke couldn’t help thinking about it, unable to suppress his self-doubt.

He knew that he was very impulsive when he first came back, because he hadn’t seen Zhiyu for too long, because he had recovered what he had lost. He really couldn’t suppress his desire for control. But at that time he obviously felt something was wrong. In the eight months of the Qianyuan Battle, he calmed down and gradually recalled the choices he had made, the choices that caused him to make mistakes again and again, and finally step into the abyss. After talking to the old shepherd couple again, he slowly understood a little bit.

Xie Ke knew that when he first came back after the reboot of the world, he didn’t actually think clearly about what he had done wrong. He felt that it was just an accidental misunderstanding that caused everything. As long as he could make amends, Zhiyu would come back.

When he first saw Zhiyu so calm, he even thought for a while that the things weren’t that bad. But later he discovered that this calm state of mind was worse than hating him to the bone or being hysterical. At least that would mean that Zhiyu still had some emotions towards him.

As time passed, Xie Ke’s excitement about recovering his loss gradually cooled down, and he felt that he and Zhiyu seemed to be getting farther and farther away. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he seemed to be standing in place, or even regressing.

He originally thought that the so-called truth was the key to solving the problem. As long as he could one day make Zhiyu in the ancient world understand the things that were beyond common sense, everything would turn around. But the further he got, the more doubts he had about this matter.

Xie Ke actually knew what the system meant, but he was no longer sure anymore.

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It was not that Zhiyu couldn’t understand; to be precise, he should already know part of it. Would things get better when he really told him the truth and the whole story? Wouldn’t it… go in a more ugly direction?

This night was destined to be uneventful.

After Fu Zhiyu sent the people away, there were still a few soldiers left around, and a few elite ones had been sent to the hunting ground, just waiting for the news to come. He didn’t fall asleep all night, following the situation at the hunting ground.

If it didn’t happen tomorrow, the Xue and Lin families would probably never have a chance in their lives, so tomorrow was the time to decide everything.

When Emperor Qingyuan woke up this morning, he only felt very uneasy, as if something was about to happen.

But today was a sunny day, a rare good weather for the autumn. The accidents that had happened a few days ago were also left behind. There would always be some accidents during the autumn hunting. It was not uncommon for people to be frightened and injured, and it had nothing to do with him. But Emperor Qingyuan always felt that the worry in his heart couldn’t be suppressed.

Today was the last day, he comforted himself. After the hunt was over, the gathering of the four countries would be over too, and everything would be fine when it was back on track.

Today he also called Xie Lin and Xie Ke to hunt with him. Xie Ke didn’t come because of an arm injury, which made the emperor a little unhappy. But Xie Lin was there, and the Lu family and the Du family were also there, surrounding by him layer by layer, which calmed down Emperor Qingyuan’s somewhat turbulent heart.

If something could happen to him, it would mean that he had lived this life in vain.

The hunt began as usual. Emperor Qingyuan only felt that today was particularly smooth, and the prey was better than last time. It was the best day ever. This completely calmed down his uneasy mood from the morning.

He was chasing a fleeing deer. Even in this situation, he had a circle of guards around him, riding horses. This was where Emperor Qingyuan’s sense of security came from.

However, when he raised his bow and shot at the deer, he felt the horse under him tremble violently. When the arrow hit the deer, it was clear that an arrow had also hit his horse.

Emperor Qingyuan fell to the ground with his horse all of a sudden. He reacted quickly. When he fell, he protected the vital parts. Except for a little scratch, there was nothing else wrong.

At this moment, he heard a cry of “guards!”, which sounded like Xie Lin’s call, and his guards immediately came up. Xie Lin dismounted, bowed down to help the emperor up, and asked, “Is Your Majesty okay?”

Emperor Qingyuan nodded and said, “What’s the matter?”

“It doesn’t seem like an accident,” Xie Lin said, “I’m afraid that someone has the audacity to plot against Your Majesty. It’s fine, I have prepared for this.”

After hearing these words, Emperor Qingyuan breathed a sigh of relief, and then keenly felt something was wrong.

What did it mean to have been prepared?

How could Xie Lin have been prepared, but he didn’t know anything?

It was noon now, the time when the sun was at its strongest in autumn, but Emperor Qingyuan felt cold all over his body because of this sentence.

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Fu Yanran didn’t go hunting today. He stayed in the camp to help Fu Yanxi apply medicinal oil.

The last time Fu Yanxi hunted, he had already injured his arm. When he came back, he couldn’t stand the sense of failure that he hadn’t hunted any prey. As a result, he practised archery for a whole day yesterday. He didn’t practise successfully and also sprained his arm. He woke up in the morning and it hurt all the time, he couldn’t even lift it up.

The hunting ground was not as good as the palace, there was no maidservant to serve, and Fu Yanxi didn’t dare to call the imperial doctor.

“If I call the imperial doctor, the emperor will know. If he knows, he will scold me again for being useless.” He said while applying the medicine, feeling painful and aggrieved, “I, I am just afraid of him, why is he so fierce…”

“Don’t practice if you don’t like it,” Fu Yanran glanced at him, and then rubbed the medicinal oil, “You, ah…”

“You can’t be perfunctory,” Fu Yanxi became serious. “Mother Consort says you have to be serious about everything you do.”

Fu Yanran felt helpless and said, “You are reading yourself silly. After these few days, it will get better.”

“It’s not going to get better,” Fu Yanxi shook his head and said sadly, “It’s not that you don’t know, Father Emperor is not only strict at this moment, he’s always like this. Because…”

When he said this, he also was sensible enough to lower his voice: “Father wants to teach us how to be the emperor.”

After listening to this sentence, Fu Yanran didn’t say anything, but just lowered his head and smiled.

“I also know that he originally wanted it to be the Ninth Brother, but now the Ninth Brother is not well, so he set his eyes on us,” Fu Yanxi’s arm hurt and he couldn’t help but complain, “If only the Ninth Brother was okay, Father Emperor wouldn’t torture me like this. I have often thought recently that if the Ninth Brother became the emperor, he is so nice, he would definitely not force me like this.”

“Doesn’t Eleventh Brother… want to be the emperor?”

“Of course I don’t want to, Mother Consort also told me to be careful,” Fu Yanxi lowered his voice again and said in a small voice, “She said, it’s easy to die as an emperor.”

Fu Yanran really laughed this time. He couldn’t help laughing while putting away the medicinal oil.

“Consort Yue is sensible,” he said, “Well, I see. Eleventh Brother, don’t go out today, just stay with me. Don’t worry, things will be different tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Fu Yanxi held his arm stiffly. He seemed to relax a little because of the conversation, and then said to Fu Yanran, “I want you to be the emperor, and I don’t want the Third Brother or the Crown Prince to be. I think you are better than them.”

“Eleventh Brother, people change,” Fu Yanran sighed, “I’ll… try to be good, okay.”

When Fu Yanxi was eating at noon, he couldn’t even pick up his chopsticks and was moved to tears by Fu Yanran stuffing food to him one bite at a time.

“Thirteenth, you are so kind,” Fu Yanxi said. “When I return to the palace, I will lend you all my grandfather’s most precious ancient books.”

For Fu Yanxi, those ancient books were probably the best things in the world.

“When we return to the palace?” Fu Yanran raised his eyebrows, “When we get back to the palace, there will be nothing, maybe… I can get you all the ancient books you haven’t read.”

His voice was so low that Fu Yanxi didn’t hear it. He started to feel sleepy after lunch and fell asleep on the bed.

In the afternoon, Fu Yanxi heard the noise outside. He originally thought it was the hunters who came back early and were showing each other their prey, but later he realised that it was not. His and Fu Yanran’s tent was surrounded by a circle of soldiers. Although there had been protective guards before, there were not so many.

It wasn’t until Fu Yanxi saw with his own eyes that the tent was suddenly soaked with a streak of blood that he was really sure that something was wrong.

“Don’t look,” Fu Yanran seemed to have known something a long time ago, comforting him, “Don’t go out.”

Fu Yanxi obeyed his younger brother in a daze; until the next morning, a man opened the curtain of the tent and walked in. It was Xie Lin.

“Your Highness Eleventh Prince,” he didn’t salute after he came in, but wiped the blood from his sword in front of the two of them, as if to report and also as if to condescendingly inform, “Yesterday, Xue and Lin, two rebellious subjects and traitors, conspired with the ancient countries of the Western Regions to rebel. The masterminds were beheaded by me. The Crown Prince, Wang Li and Wang Ming attempted to kill their father emperor and were captured.”

Fu Yanran lowered his head. He didn’t feel any surprise, just said “hmm” plainly, and then asked, “Where is Father Emperor?”

“Unfortunately, His Majesty was wounded by an arrow in the chaos of the battle. He was seriously injured and died early this morning.”