CH 162

April 10, 2023Merchie

That hand let go of his waist just in time.

Jiang Yubai happened to walk over at this moment, “Lord Pei, what a coincidence, hahaha.”

He laughed drily.

“It wasn’t a coincidence.”

Pei Zheng glanced at Qi Changyi, whose head was still lowered. He could still see the red flush that remained on his fair earlobes.

Of course it was not a coincidence. He had purposely come to look for him.

At this moment, not far away, the crowd that had been ready to disperse had gathered together again, noisily jostling about; who knew what was going on this time.

Qi Changyi lifted his head slightly and looked toward the crowd, his gaze filled with curiosity.

“What happened over there? I thought they were all leaving. Why are they shouting again?”

Jiang Yubai also looked back. Unfortunately, he could not see a thing through the crowd.

“We’ll know once we take a look.”

Pei Zheng’s fingers hooked onto Qi Changyi’s cuff, pulling the small man along as he walked toward the crowd.

It turned out that after the disobedient new recruits had been dealt with, the other soldiers had begun to mock them, insisting that Zhao Litang show off a few more of his skills.

Zhao Litang did not refuse. He picked up a crossbow from the side and aimed it at a distant target board. The arrow flew out and hit the bull’s-eye.

The crowd around him immediately erupted into cheers.

That crossbow was a trophy of war that had been obtained during a previous battle with the barbarian tribe. It was extremely heavy, and it was quite difficult to pull the bowstring back. An ordinary person probably would not even be able to hold the crossbow straight, much less shoot with it.

Zhao Litang asked the crowd, “Does anyone want to come up here and try it out?”

Indeed, a few brave souls stepped forward. Unfortunately, they could hardly lift the crossbow, let alone nock the arrows.

After several people failed at the task, derisive hoots began to sound throughout the crowd.

The crossbow eventually returned to Zhao Litang’s hands.

“Anyone else?”

Zhao Litang’s eyes swept over the crowd, “If anyone else thinks that they can do it, please step up.”

The other soldiers all exchanged looks with one another. No one else dared to step forward; that would be seeking embarrassment.

“Since that’s how it is, you can all leave now. Additional group training-“

“Please wait a moment.”

A voice sounded from within the crowd, interrupting Zhao Litang. Everyone’s eyes immediately darted over.

Qi Changyi also turned his head to look at Pei Zheng, who was standing beside him.

There were so many eyes pinned on him, yet Pei Zheng merely looked down at the little prince, before his lips tugged upward into a light smile.

In a low voice that only the two of them could hear, he said softly, “In a little bit, you have to tell me… who is more amazing.”

Then, Qi Changyi watched as Pei Zheng walked straight up to Zhao Litang.

Everyone began to whisper among themselves.

“Can Lord Pei do it? Isn’t he an official, how can he dance with a blade and fiddle with a gun* in our barracks?”

“Right? In my opinion, if you’re done with your mission, you should hurry on back to the Imperial City. Serving His Majesty is Lord Pei’s duty.”

“Ai, if he can’t even lift it up, that would be embarrassing as hell. He wouldn’t be just a tad worse than our general.”

The murmurs of discussion were not loud, but Qi Changyi could hear every word.

These soldiers were people who could not stand those who flaunted their status, those officials who only knew how to fight with their sharp tongues. In their eyes, those were nothing more than arguments. On top of that, most of them had been staying the barracks or on the battlefield for a long time now. They had only heard a few rumors about Pei Zheng, so they did not understand him.

When Qi Changyi heard their words, his heart could not bear it. He took Pei Zheng’s side and spoke up for him.

“Lord Pei… is very amazing. He knows everything, and he can do anything. Stop talking about him like this.”

Those soldiers realized that even the prince was telling them this, so they hurriedly shut their mouths, and did not dare to say anything more.

But Qi Changyi was still irked by this. He cast a cold glance at those soldiers, but it really did not look frightening at all; it was actually a little cute.

It was just that this scene seemed a little familiar to him.

At one point, it seemed that he had witnessed a scene like this, in the midst of a crowd of bubbling voices.

At the center of the field, Pei Zheng picked up the crossbow. He nocked two arrows and shot them both at the same time. They flew toward the bull’s-eye, and the arrow that Zhao Litang had shot earlier was pinched between them.

The crowd around them fell silent. The soldiers were all shocked; they never expected that Pei Zheng’s archery skills would be this extraordinary.

Only Qi Changyi, whose air of arrogance seemingly appeared out of nowhere, straightened up as he stood among the crowd. His eyes were about to curve up into the sky. But when Pei Zheng’s gaze shifted to him, he quickly averted his eyes, as though he were trying to cover something up.

He tossed the crossbow back to Zhao Litang. In front of everyone’s staring eyes, Pei Zheng walked back toward Qi Changyi.

He was getting closer and closer. Qi Changyi suddenly swiveled and slipped out of the crowd through a small opening, as though he were trying to escape.

When he emerged from the crowd, Qi Changyi’s footsteps still had not stopped; he continued to focus all of his energy on running.

He had a feeling that, if he did not run now, he would never have another chance.

A little figure sprinted out of the drill field. In the end, just as he turned a corner, he crashed right into someone.

“Aiyo!”

“Aiya!”

Both of them yelped in pain, and they fell over onto opposite sides.

Yue Nu was innocent; he had been walking and minding his own business, when suddenly, he was knocked to the ground. His waist had even bumped into a rock, which made his entire body go numb, and he immediately lost his strength.

Meanwhile, the world was spinning in Qi Changyi’s vision. After he collapsed to the ground, he clutched his bruised forehead and gulped for air.

“Ah, it hurts so bad…”

A chuckle suddenly sounded from above his head.

“Do you still want to run?”

Qi Changyi peeked through the gaps of his fingers and saw an enlarged face hanging in front of him.

Pei Zheng removed his hand from his forehead, and saw that a patch of his fair skin had turned scarlet as a result of the collision.

He gently brushed his fingers upon it, which made Qi Changyi hiss as his eyes reddened.

“All right, stand up first.”

Pei Zheng stretched out his palm.

Qi Changyi sniffled pitifully and placed his little hand upon it.

With little effort, Pei Zheng tugged him up off the ground, and took the opportunity to pull him into his arms.

Yue Nu had already sat up, and was clutching his waist, his brow creased slightly.

Qi Changyi saw that the person he had crashed into was Yue Nu, and he hurriedly tried to go and help him up.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose, are you okay-“

But Pei Zheng kept him pinned against his chest, and did not let him go.

Qi Changyi shot Pei Zheng an accusatory look; he did not understand why he was stopping him.

At this moment, someone strode over and helped Yue Nu up.

“General-“

Yue Nu tried to stand on his own, but he almost collapsed again. Fortunately, Zhao Litang supported him and held him in place.

“Where were you hurt?”

“I don’t think I’m hurt anywhere, I was just numb for a moment. It’ll be fine in a little bit.”

Zhao Litang “mm”d, but he did not let go.

While the pair across from them were talking, Pei Zheng asked in a low voice, “What’s your answer?”

“Ah? What answer?” Qi Changyi was confused.

Pei Zheng leaned down, “About who’s more amazing.”

Qi Changyi felt hot breaths on the back of his neck. His body stiffened slightly, and he tried to stand a bit further from Pei Zheng.

Pei Zheng saw that he was hesitating and refusing to reply, so he purposely pressed his body against the other’s legs.

Qi Changyi’s legs suddenly went limp, and he began to tremble. He held Pei Zheng’s arm in order to maintain his standing position, but now, soldiers would occasionally pass by them, which made him extremely nervous.

“You…”

“Hm? I didn’t hear you.”

The corners of Pei Zheng’s eyes curved into a smile. He pressed his knee against the back of the small man’s leg, “Darling, say it louder.”

“Ah!” Qi Changyi cried out softly, before he clenched his teeth.

“You you you! It’s you! It’s you! It’s you!”

Zhao Litang and Yue Nu both heard his shouts, and the people who were passing by all directed their eyes toward them.

Pei Zheng let go of him with a smile, “Your voice really is quite loud.”

Qi Changyi took a long stride to the side. Now, he was not just clutching his forehead; he was covering his entire face with his sleeve.

Zhao Litang asked, “Changyi, what’s wrong?”

Pei Zheng said, “Nothing. He’s happy.”

“Happy about what?”

“He’s happy… that I’m going to take him out to play.”

Qi Changyi peeked at Pei Zheng, his eyes flashing with obvious excitement.

He did not hear wrong, did he? They were going out to play? He could leave the barracks?

“What, you don’t want to go?” Pei Zheng asked, “If you don’t want to-“

“I-I want to go.”

QI Changyi’s voice was like a kitten’s, soft and cute; he was afraid that they really could not go out to play.

“No! Changyi has only just recovered, he should be resting. He can’t just do whatever he pleases. Moreover, this is the nation’s border. There are too many things to be wary of.” Zhao Litang argued.

But in the end, Qi Changyi’s wish was granted, and he happily walked out of the barracks, off for a stroll to relieve his boredom.

But besides Pei Zheng, he was also accompanied by Zhao Litang.

And because of Qi Changyi’s gracious invitation, Yue Nu was also dragged into coming with them. Qi Changyi said that he wanted to treat him to a delicious meal as an apology for crashing into him.

The group walked through a street in one of the small bordering towns. They really did attract too much attention.

Qi Changyi did not notice this at all. He pulled Yue Nu along, glancing over this and that in excitement and curiosity. He could spend ages at each stall.

After strolling for a while, he finally started to feel hungry.

Yue Nu knew more about the border than he did, so he took him to a bustling noodle restaurant.

The two of them chattered the entire way, nonstop. Sure enough, whether they had those past memories or not, well-matched people would always fit together perfectly.

After they entered the noodle restaurant, they could tell that the place was incomparable to the Imperial City’s Yi Pin Xiang. There was only a main hall, and it was full of all kinds of people. Qi Changyi and the others could only be seated in the main hall.

The noodles arrived. There was a thick layer of beef on top, which looked luscious and tempting.

Qi Changyi and Yue Nu both busied themselves with eating, and Zhao Litang picked up his chopsticks as well.

Only Pei Zheng, as he looked at his shabby and noisy surroundings, had no appetite at all. When he saw the small man slurping and eating with vigor, he felt that, as long as the little prince liked it, anything was fine.

Qi Changyi really was famished; he quickly finished his bowl of noodles. He had even drunk every drop of the beef soup, and his face was flushed red with warmth.

He licked his lips and glanced at Pei Zheng’s bowl. It was full of meat and noodles, completely untouched. The savory fragrance wafted into his nostrils.

Pei Zheng smiled and pushed his bowl in front of him.

“Here, you little glutton.”

Notes

Omg our little prince is eating! Finally some good fucking food

Thanks for reading~~