CH 169

May 30, 2023Merchie

The circle of soldiers continued to close in on them. Not far away, Cheng Feng had also been surrounded, and was fighting at close quarters with those soldiers.

Pei Zheng held Qi Changyi against his chest with one arm, while he swung his blade with the other. Although it was a bit difficult, he did not allow the person in his embrace to sustain even the slightest injury.

Qi Changyi’s head had been hurting since earlier. His mind was a tumultuous sea; something was surging through it, screaming, trying to free itself from its fetters and escape.

But what was it?

“Master!”

Cheng Feng slowly made his way toward them, the ground beneath his feet littered with corpses. Although one could not tell that his black robe was soaked with blood, the winding trails of scarlet that dripped down his blade were terrifying.

The three had finally regrouped. Cheng Feng and Pei Zheng protected Qi Changyi between them, facing the thousands of barbarian soldiers before them.

“Master! Are you all right? Your hand-”

The hand Pei Zheng had used to grab that sword earlier twitched; all could he feel was a sticky sensation in his palm.

“It’s fine. I won’t lose it.”

As he spoke, the two began to swing their swords again, striking down any man who charged at them.

The city gates were wide open. One could see that there were still countless soldiers who had not yet entered the city; if they killed a few people, more troops would immediately fill in for them. It looked like they would never be able to kill them all, and they would never walk through these city gates.

One of Qi Changyi’s hands was gripped by Pei Zheng, while the other was clutching his head. He still had a headache.

Suddenly, Qi Changyi looked up and spotted a soldier coming from Pei Zheng’s side, about to stab him. The situation was critical; he shouted, “Look out!”

At that moment, Pei Zheng twisted his body and dodged the sword. But he grabbed Qi Changyi and yanked him to the side; immediately afterwards, a blade stabbed toward the place Qi Changyi had just been standing.

The sound of a sword slicing through flesh sounded right after.

Qi Changyi watched as that blade whizzed past him and pierced straight through Pei Zheng’s stomach. His eyes widened, and he began to tremble uncontrollably.

“Pei-gege!”

Pei Zheng still reacted quickly, and swung his sword parry the blow. Then, he stuck the sword into the dirt. His body slowly lowered, and he knelt to the ground, bowing his head and panting a few times.

The sword had come too quickly from behind; Pei Zheng did not have time to pull Qi Changyi away before drawing his blade, so he merely carried out the first step, yanking Qi Changyi aside, completely disregarding the fact that the sword would stab him.

That sword was still stuck in Pei Zheng’s body. Blindingly bright scarlet continuously poured down his abdomen. After soaking into his robe, it flowed onto the ground, mixing with the blood that had already pooled on the dirt.

I can’t fall, I can’t fall down. I can’t close my eyes. Pei Zheng, hold on. You can’t die here. You still have someone to protect, how can you feel at ease, leaving him all by himself?

Pei Zheng thought to himself, but he could not stop his eyelids from growing heavier and heavier, as well as his body from growing lighter and lighter.

His body swayed, and he collapsed to the side.

Qi Changyi’s head was throbbing. He could not keep his tears from rolling down out of his eyes.

Just now, as he watched Pei Zheng’s sword in that split second, too many things had rushed into his mind, and it had become a jumbled, chaotic mess.

He was in pain, so much pain. It was so painful that he was about to die right then and there.

But after that single instant, everything became even more painful. Like a silkworm’s cocoon, everything had tangled and rolled into a ball in his mind. All of those once blurry scenes had now become unusually clear.

Just as Pei Zheng was about to fall, Qi Changyi flung himself toward him, hugging his body and pulling him into his chest, before the two of them slowly lowered themselves to the ground.

Cheng Feng also tried with all his might to shield the two of them behind him.

Qi Changyi held Pei Zheng, unable to restrain his trembling. His tear pattered as they dripped down onto Pei Zheng’s chin.

“Pei-gege, Pei-gege, I remember now, this time, I remember everything. I’m not just Qi Changyi, I have another name-”

“My… my name is Shen Shijiu…”

Qi Changyi’s little hands continued to catch the blood flowing from Pei Zheng’s abdomen, but his hands were not big enough, and he could not stop so much blood, so it still oozed from between his fingers.

All the while, Pei Zheng remained silent and did not respond.

“I remember… you weren’t just my Pei-gege, you were my Lord too… we even agreed that… when no one else was around, I would call you Pei-gege, right…”

Pei Zheng’s body was cool, and the blood flow was slowing down. Qi Changyi’s sobs became even more wretched.

“I-I remember, Shen Shijiu and His Lordship first met at Yi Pin Xiang. That time, Xiao Miaowu was the one who happened upon Shi’s Pei-gege… I really miss Xiao Miaowu, can you take me back to see him? I’ll be good and I’ll go back with you, okay?”

No one answered him. There was only the whizzing sound of Cheng Feng’s blade coming from beside him.

Qi Changyi muttered and he gripped the sword that was stuck in Pei Zheng’s abdomen. He knew medicine. He still remembered.

“I remember Shen Shijiu and His Lordship went up to the rooftop to look at the stars. The stars that night were so big and bright, and the sky was full of them. It was so, so pretty…

Shen Shijiu and His Lordship went to the mountain villa together, and admired the snow together. His Lordship carried Shi on his back through the snow, and left a footprint with every step, as he slowly walked back…

Every time Shen Shijiu faced something difficult, His Lordship would always be by his side. Shi… really liked His Lordship, but he never got the chance to say it, before so many things happened. Later, he didn’t have a clue about who he really was…

But now, I remember everything. A prince and Shen Shijiu… they’re both me… Shi has already forgiven you, Pei-gege, so I forgive you too. It’s true, Pei-gege… you can’t die…”

With a forceful yank, he pulled the sword out.

Blood immediately gushed out again. Qi Changyi hurriedly used a strip of cloth he had torn to bind the wound, but he had to begin treatment immediately.

The moment after he pulled out the sword, Pei Zheng let out a muffled groan of pain, but he quickly fell back into unconsciousness; his condition had reached an extremely dangerous point.

At this moment, someone on horseback had reached the city gates. He did not enter, and merely cast a glance at the three people who were surrounded in the distance.

“Who told you to hurt them?”

“Chief, wasnt that your order? That everyone from the Celestial Dynasty had to be killed?”

“Besides the two of them!” That man shouted angrily, “Bring them to me alive!”

“As you command!”

The barbarian soldiers had received their orders: They were to capture them alive. For this reason, their actions were visibly somewhat hesitant.

Cheng Feng took the opportunity to help Pei Zheng up alongside Qi Changyi and slowly retreated to the rear. In the end, they reached the street and entered a store before hastily closing the door.

The moment the door closed, Cheng Feng placed Pei Zheng’s body at the side, before he barricaded the door and stood guard at the entrance.

Qi Changyi pressed Pei Zheng’s wound with one hand, while he furiously wiped his tears with the other.

“Pei-gege, wake up, please, open your eyes and look at me, please…”

Qi Changyi suddenly caught a whiff of a medicinal scent. He turned to the side; there was indeed a large medicine cabinet. They were in an apothecary.

Qi Changyi hurriedly rose to his feet. He ran to the medicine cabinet and began to search for medicinal plants to make a formula, and even found a bundle of gauze for dressing wounds.

He made an ointment as fast as he could, before he gently lifted Pei Zheng’s robe.

Blood was still seeping from the horrible crimson hole below. Qi Changyi took a deep breath. His heart ached so much that tears began to fall from his eyes once again. He had been injured… just to save him.

He carefully bandaged Pei Zheng’s wound, before he dressed Cheng Feng’s wounds as well.

Cheng Feng was still tense. Now, he had to protect both his master and His Highness. Even if he lost his life, he had to make sure that the two of them were safe and sound.

When he saw Qi Changyi’s eyes, red and swollen from crying, Cheng Feng asked, “Your Highness, was what you said earlier…. true? Your memory has… completely recovered?”

Qi Changyi nodded as he put away packets of medicinal herbs.

“It’s true, A-Feng. I remember now.”

Cheng Feng smiled, “Good. Then everything Master did wasn’t in vain.”

When Qi Changyi heard this, his eyes reddened in an instant. He silently walked over to where Pei Zheng laid, and stared at him for a long while.

“A-Feng, when do you think Pei-gege will wake up? He’ll wake up again, won’t he? He still has a pulse, he’ll wake up, right?”

Qi Changyi knew medicine and was quite accomplished to boot. Yet he still asked Cheng Feng such a question. He was not looking for an answer; he was just scared, uncertain, and unsure.

“He will. Your Highness, I believe that he definitely will!”

Only then did Qi Changyi feel a little more at ease.

A disturbance suddenly sounded from outside. Someone was knocking on the door. Cheng Feng quickly gripped his sword, and peeked through the gap of the door.

The soldiers who had surrounded them had no idea when they had retreated. Currently, there were only a few dozen soldiers left outside.

“Whoever’s in there, open up! Our chief has something to say to you!””

Chief?

Cheng Feng glanced back at Qi Changyi.

The chief of the barbarian tribe was Ah Mu Le. Could it be that he had come to Anli in person?

Just as he was thinking about this, a familiar voice sounded from outside.

“Hurry up and open the door. Don’t wait for this chief to open it for you. When that time comes, we’ll be past the point of talking it out.”

The door remained shut.

Just as the man outside was about to raise his foot to kick the door in, it was suddenly pulled open from inside.

Qi Changyi was the one standing in the doorway. He held the door with both hands and happened to meet eyes with Ah Mu Le, who was standing outside.

Seeing him, Ah Mu Le immediately smiled, “Kid, what a coincidence. We meet again.”

But when Qi Changyi saw Ah Mu Le, he glared at him with eyes full of hatred.

All of the citizens and refugees in the city had all been killed under Ah Mu Le’s order. He was an enemy of the Celestial Dynasty. And now, because of the barbarians, Pei Zheng had also been injured. And because of that, Qi Changyi hated him

“Why are you looking at me like that? I told them that they weren’t allowed to hurt you, I even ordered them all retreat. Shouldn’t you be thanking me?”

As Ah Mu Le spoke, he tried to pat the small man’s head. It had been so long since he had last seen him. He had actually missed him a little bit.

Qi Changyi dodged Ah Mu Le’s hand in disgust, and was pulled half a step backward by Cheng Feng.

“I won’t thank you! You’re a damn bastard! You’re an evil person who kills people! You’re our enemy! I’ll only ever hate you!”

Notes

Sorry for the super lateness! I’ve got 1 more exam this Thursday, so I’ve been a good girl, studying and shit ;c

I TOLD YOU GUYS THERE WOULD BE DRAMA THIS IS BIG DRAMA

Also, I just realized that the ending of the last chapter was supposed to signify him regaining his memories. Somehow, it feels a little anti-climactic, since Pei Zheng is pretending to be dead again ;p