CH 152

March 1, 2023Merchie

Shen Huan watched as Pei Zheng leaned down. Her eyes widened in shock, and she looked around.

No one dared to even peek in their direction. Only that guide’s gaze met with Shen Huan’s over a few people’s heads.

Shen Huan subtly shifted her body sideways and blocked the two figures beside her.

Pei Zheng straightened up, wiping away the medicinal juice on his mouth with his fingers, before touching the tip of his tongue to the corner of his lips.

“Lord Pei,” Shen Huan said in a low voice, “It’s not very appropriate to be so shameless. There are so many people here, who knows how many people will see this-“

“Whoever dares to look will have their eyes dug out.”

Shen Huan obediently shut her mouth; it seemed that just now, she was the only one who had dared to look.

After resting for a bit, the convoy resumed the journey.

For the next few hours, they didn’t stop to rest again. They traveled until the sun set, when the temperature suddenly dropped. The guide said that they couldn’t continue; they had to stop and set up camp.

“It’s extremely cold at night, it’s even colder here than when it snows out there. Everyone must stay inside their tents and make the right arrangements to keep warm.”

After the guide was done speaking, everyone began to set up their tents.

Qi Changyi was settled inside the warmest tent to rest. There wasn’t a bed, so they could only spread several layers of cotton bedding over a heap of sand.

Qi Yirou gave Qi Changyi a bit more blood; in this short period of time, the contaminated blood couldn’t infect the fresh blood. The small man’s complexion had improved slightly, and he even showed signs of awakening.

Pei Zheng stayed away from the crowd and was standing on the empty sand dunes. His black-clad figure almost seemed to melt into the night as he silently gazed out at the endless expanse of sand in the distance.

Cheng Feng ran over, “Master, His Highness is awake!”

When they hurried into the tent, Qi Changyi was alone inside; who knew where Shen Huan had gone.

Pei Zheng walked over. When the small man lying there spotted him, he visibly stiffened, before he averted his eyes and turned over, his back to Pei Zheng.

He appeared to be in a rather sulky mood.

Pei Zheng wanted to grab him, turn him around, and wrap him tightly in his embrace. He wanted to pinch that little chin and force the small man to look at him, leaving him no way to escape.

But he didn’t do any of that.

“You’ve been lying down for a whole day, are you tired?”

Hidden under the blanket, Qi Changyi’s hands clenched. He bit his lip and didn’t speak.

Pei Zheng saw the fragile bones jutting out of his back. His heart ached, and he wanted to touch them, but he merely pulled the blanket upward over the small man’s body.

“Did you dream again today? What did you dream about?”

The corners of Pei Zheng’s lips hooked, “Did you dream about me?”

After a long while, a soft voice muttered.

“No…”

Pei Zheng’s eyes softened a bit. He hardly cared about the small man’s cold tone, saying in a low voice, “No what? You didn’t dream, or you didn’t dream about me? Hm?”

Qi Changyi felt as though this voice had come from right behind his back. His body tensed up.

“I didn’t… dream about you…”

Pei Zheng didn’t actually care about his answer; anything was fine as long as he was willing to talk to him.

“Is that so? But yesterday, you even called my name.”

Pei Zheng’s breath sprayed over the small man’s ear, “You called it so many times.”

Qi Changyi argued back in a weak voice, “I didn’t, I didn’t…”

Aggrievement surged into his heart. He didn’t feel wronged because of what was happening in the moment. He felt wronged about everything he had remembered.

The corners of the small man’s eyes moistened, but he was adamant on not letting his tears fall.

Pei Zheng said quickly, “All right, you didn’t, I must have heard wrong, right? Sweetheart, be good, don’t cry.”

When the small man heard Pei Zheng’s gentle, coaxing voice, his tears suddenly rushed out like water breaking through a dam.

“I-I’m not ‘sweetheart’, I have a name, my name is Qi Changyi, I remember everything…”

“You remember everything?” Pei Zheng said, “But how could you forget that you’re my little sweetheart?”

Qi Changyi suddenly felt a splitting pain in his head, hadn’t he recalled everything? Why did it seem like there was something else that he had forgotten? But he couldn’t remember it, no matter how hard he tried.

Besides Qi Changyi, who was he?

“My head hurts, it hurts so much…”

Qi Changyi clutched his head, his brow creased tightly.

But Pei Zheng remembered what Shen Huan had said; right now, the small man’s memories were probably a complete mess, so he couldn’t push him too hard; he could only give him time to slowly remember.

Pei Zheng looked at the huddled-up little prince. He ignored everything else; he reached out and lifted the small man into his arms, and gently kneaded his temples.

“All right, if it hurts, don’t think about it. If you’ve forgotten, you’ve forgotten. Let’s not think about it anymore, okay?”

At this moment, Shen Huan entered the tent. She had just gone to fetch Qi Changyi’s medicine, and she happened to hear Pei Zheng’s words as she came inside.

Qi Changyi drank the medicine; it had a calming effect, and his head didn’t hurt anymore. He slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Shen Huan and Pei Zheng exited the tent.

“Lord Pei, what did you say earlier, ‘if you’ve forgotten, you’ve forgotten’? Stop thinking about it? Don’t you want him to remember everything that happened to Shen Shijiu?”

“I would rather not force him.”

“But… he doesn’t even remember me now.”

Shen Huan sighed deeply and glanced out at the never-ending sand dunes in the distance.

“Lord Pei, do you think we’ll still be able find it?”

Pei Zheng’s eyes narrowed slightly, “Mm.”

They would definitely be able to find it.

***

The next morning, the convoy set off once more.

After Qi Changyi woke up last night, he was unconscious for the entirety of the next day. Pei Zheng was still in charge of feeding him medicine, and Shen Huan had already gotten over her initial shock.

They journeyed for two more days, but they didn’t find any trace of an oasis. On top of that, everyone in the convoy was gradually tiring out; the food and water supply had also been slowly depleting.

But according to the guide, this trip of theirs was actually going quite well; they hadn’t encountered any quicksand, nor had they been caught in any sandstorms.

In the evening, the soldiers set up their tents once again, and prepared to retire for the night.

A shadow guard in charge of scouting hurriedly ran over with a report for Pei Zheng.

“Master, a group of suspicious people on horseback has been spotted, their identities are unknown. They are currently heading in the direction of our camp.”

As he spoke, that group of people had already appeared in front of them.

This group of people were all riding wild horses, and each of them had a long black stick strapped on their backs. Judging by their attire, they weren’t foreigners. The only other possibility was that they were barbarians.

These visitors obviously didn’t harbor any good intentions. The soldiers who had been planning to go to bed had all quietly retrieved their weapons. They stared at the group of people across from them; for the moment, neither side made any rash moves.

One of the people on the opposite side grabbed that long stick on his back and tore off the black cloth it was wrapped in; it was the handle of a long knife.

He yelled incoherently, and the others drew their knives as well. They all bellowed in unison, galloping on their horses and charging toward the camp.

Someone in the camp yelled, “Protect the prince!”

The tent Qi Changyi was in was immediately encircled, while Pei Zheng entered the tent.

Cheng Feng stood outside the tent, bow in hand, and pulled back the arrow. Even though everything around him was shrouded with darkness, he still managed to pierce the skull of that barbarian man who had shouted earlier.

The group of people on horseback appeared to be bandits. As they fought with the Celestial Dynasty’s soldiers, they kept yelling a few unintelligible words. Every time they killed someone, they would begin to shout with glee.

Although the soldiers of the Celestial Dynasty had numbers on their side, because they had already marched through the desert for several days, their minds and bodies were exhausted. In a few moments, they were dispatched by a few dozen tall, energetic bandits riding huge horses.

The sounds of battle outside continued.

The moment Pei Zheng entered the tent, he immediately wrapped the small man, who was still in a deep sleep, in the blanket and lifted him up bridal style.

Qi Changyi was woken up. He slowly opened his eyes. After he saw that the person carrying him was Pei Zheng, he was still a bit muddled and didn’t seem to realize it. He reached out and grabbed the lapel over Pei Zheng’s chest.

After he regained his senses, he tried to struggle out of Pei Zheng’s arms.

“I usually concede when you argue with me, but not now. Be good.”

Pei Zheng didn’t even allow him to struggle. He turned and was about to walk out of the tent.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the tent was suddenly flipped over. At some point, a strong gale had picked up outside, and the air was full of flying sand and pebbles, flipping over the rest of the tents as well.

That guide was being protected by several guards. He shouted at everyone, “Oh no! It’s a sandstorm! Quickly, get down next to the camels, otherwise we’ll all be blown away!”

The wind began to grow even more powerful, hazing everyone’s vision. The sand blowing around filled everyone’s nostrils and clothes; even the sand dunes in the distance began to change shape and shift position.

The sound of fighting gradually quieted. Amidst the intense storm of wind and sand, everybody began to search for a place to hide.

Those barbarian bandits were very experienced; they all dismounted and crouched down beside their horses.

But some of the Celestial Dynasty’s soldiers could avoid the storm in time, so they were enveloped in the wind and sand, and immediately disappeared without a trace. Who knew if they had been buried in sand or swept up into the sky.

At night, it was already freezing; now that there was such a huge sandstorm, the cold became bone-piercing.

Pei Zheng was carrying Qi Changyi. Walking through the storm became increasing laborious. Cheng Feng was at the side, protecting the two of them, as all of them shifted toward the nearest camel.

Just as they were about to reach the camel, a black-clad figure suddenly appeared in front of them; it was one of those barbarian bandits.

They had actually been waiting nearby for the right opportunity. At such a dangerous moment, it was very possible that all of them would be forcefully swept away by the sandstorm, but right now, they didn’t care about their lives anymore.

Those bandits charged toward Pei Zheng. With great effort, Cheng Feng repelled them, but he could hardly aim his strikes amidst the storm.

But these people seemed unwilling to waste their time with Cheng Feng; they kept trying to pursue Pei Zheng.

With a flash of cold light, Cheng Feng caught a clear glimpse of the long knives these people were holding.

He suddenly understood; these people were different from the others. They weren’t bandits at all, but barbarian soldiers! Their goal wasn’t to rob them, it was to assassinate Pei Zheng!

“Master! Be careful!”

Cheng Feng shouted, but when he looked back, he suddenly froze.

There was no one behind him.

At some point, Pei Zheng and Qi Changyi had disappeared.

Notes

Sigh… I’M LOCKED INTO USING ‘SWEETHEART’ AND I DON’T WANT TO, F*CK YOU PEI ZHENG AND YOUR STUPID WORDPLAY KJHSKJDHJKAYFKDKJSHK

AND OF COURSE THEY DISAPPEARED

AGAIN

THANKS FOR READING