CH 73

Chapter 73: I Have Something To Tell You, But You Must Not Tell Others!

Bian Zhonghua smiled: “It seems that I’ll be wronging His Highness to share a bed with me again.”

Qi Ci covered his lips and coughed lightly: “What ‘wronging’ is Lord Bian talking about? He must be joking. Besides, the winter night is cold, by squeezing together in the same bed we can remain warm.”

However, the problem wasn’t that Qi Ci didn’t want to sleep with Bian Zhonghua on the same bed. The problem was that he didn’t know whether he’d be able to fall asleep.

The bed was too small for two men to share, not to mention that they could only sleep on their sides, so their backs would end up touching.

As both of them laid down on the bed, Bian Zhonghua took the side against the wall, while Qi Ci slept close to the edge of the bed. For fear of squeezing Bian Zhonghua, almost half of Qi Ci’s body was hanging outside the bed, while tightly curling up his body with great prudence.

Qi Ci was struggling to maintain his stiff position, when all of a sudden, he felt a curtain of long black hair touching his neck.

Of course, it was Bian Zhonghua leaning over him.

Bian Zhonghua lowered his eyes, and without knowing whether it was intentional or not, he leaned over Qi Ci’s ear to whisper: “Your Highness, forgive me if I offend you.”

Before Qi Ci could react, Bian Zhonghua hugged his waist and pulled him close to his body. At that moment, Qi Ci’s back hit Bian Zhonghua’s chest.

Bian Zhonghua chuckled: “Although I’m being impolite, in the end, we’ll sleep more comfortably like this. I hope His Highness can tolerate it.”

Qi Ci replied vaguely. Without knowing where to put his hands and feet, Qi Ci’s eyes drifted around the room haphazardly, trying to hide his inner panic as well as the strong palpitations from his heart. Finally, his eyes fell on a painting on the wall.

Bian Zhonghua lowered his eyes again and said: “Given that His Highness hasn’t scolded me, I’ll take it as His Highness’s tacit approval. Alright, I’m going to blow out the candle.”

After saying that, Bian Zhonghua prepared to move his sleeve with a motion that would provoke a slight breeze to extinguish the candlelights on the table.

“Wait!” Qi Ci suddenly shouted out.

Bian Zhonghua didn’t think that Qi Ci would care that much, so his heart filled with loss. However, he noticed that Qi Ci had patted him to gain his attention. Then Bian Zhonghua heard Qi Ci’s surprised tone as he pointed to the painting on the wall: “Look at the painting!”

Bian Zhonghua looked at the painting Qi Ci was pointing at, seeing that it had a similar style to the one painted on the wall of the outer hall. This painting, however, depicted a gentle and beautiful woman holding a child in her arms. Bian Zhonghua looked at it carefully and couldn’t find anything weird. Right when he was about to ask Qi Ci what was wrong, he suddenly noticed the signature in a corner, staring at it with wide surprised eyes.

At the lower right corner of the painting, a person’s name was written in small letters.

Qi Rulan.

The name of Qi Ci’s mother.

Qi Ci and Bian Zhonghua were so shocked to see this that both sat up at once.

Bian Zhonghua then turned his palm and recited a spell. This spell copied the mural and turned it into a painting on paper, which flew into his hand. Then, Bian Zhonghua handed the copied painting to Qi Ci and said: “Take a look, does it look like your mother’s handwriting?”

Qi Ci held the painting and looked at it carefully. Not entirely sure, he said: “It’s similar, but I don’t have my mother’s self-portrait to compare it. Since it’s in the carriage, I’ll have to go look for it tomorrow.”

Bian Zhonghua said: “Why not now?”

After saying this, he recited the spell again, and in a short moment, a painting flew in silently from the window.

Qi Ci hurriedly put the two paintings together.

At first glance, the similarity in style was quite clear. This time, Bian Zhonghua didn’t even need to give Qi Ci the confirmation, because Qi Ci himself was able to see that the two paintings were made by the same person.

At that, they couldn’t help but stare at each other.

“Is, is this….?” Qi Ci stammered, unable to say anything.

“Don’t panic, ask Granny Yao in the morning. She should be able to explain this. Maybe your mother landed in this village after running away from the Capital, before settling down in the north.” Bian Zhonghua comforted Qi Ci.

Qi Ci nodded and put the two paintings away with mixed feelings.

After all, he had just found his mother’s paintings in a remote village. Such a strange coincidence made Qi Ci feel a chill on his back, and because his mind was uneasy, he had a restless sleep. 

While still under the daze of sleep, Qi Ci could vaguely sense that it began to rain.

The rain fell irregularly on the earth, the lake, and the windows of the wooden house, however, the calming sound of the rain actually helped Qi Ci sleep better.

Unexpectedly, when Qi Ci woke up again, it was because he was awakened by a strong pain.

The birthmark on his chest hurt like a needle constantly pinching his skin, but then it felt as if he was being stabbed again and again by a sharp blade, pulling Qi Ci out of his sleep.

“Wha—?” Qi Ci said in a lowered voice as he pressed down his chest. When his confused mind finally woke up completely, Qi Ci was surprised to see that Bian Zhonghua was no longer beside him.

The sound of the rain was gone, but the faint scent of wet soil could be smelled from the narrow room. It was unclear whether the mud was caused by the heavy rain, or if the water of the lake rose due to rising tides. 

The pain in Qi Ci’s chest was so heavy that he could hardly breathe. Reluctantly, Qi Ci got up with the intention of lighting a candle to see what the hell was going on with his chest. However, as soon as he got out of bed, he tripped and fell to the ground.

Granny Yao, as an older lady, would usually wake up early, so she was naturally able to hear the loud noise coming from the guest’s inner room. She picked up a candlestick to see what had happened, only to find that Qi Ci had fallen to the ground and was struggling to get up.

“Aiyah! What happened? Where’s your friend?” Granny Yao hurriedly put the candlestick on the table and came forward to help Qi Ci.

Qi Ci’s face was pale from the pain, suffering so much that he was inhaling and exhaling air with the intention of relieving it a bit, so he couldn’t utter a single word.

“Are you hurt somewhere? Show me quickly.” When she saw his appearance, Granny Yao could guess something wasn’t right.

Qi Ci nodded, gritted his teeth, and then untied his robes, pointing the red birthmark on his chest.

At that moment, a gust of cold wind suddenly blew from outside through the window, shaking the candle fire as well as the shadows on the walls caused by the candlelight.

As soon as Granny Yao saw the red birthmark on Qi Ci’s chest, she was shocked to the point of taking a step back. Then, she squinted and looked at it more carefully, only to look at Qi Ci next. With a trembling voice, she asked: “Child, is your name Qi Ci? Is your mother’s name Qi Rulan?”

The pain in Qi Ci’s chest eased all of a sudden for an unknown reason. As he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, he nodded: “Granny, how did you—?”

Qi Ci wanted to ask Granny Yao how she knew both his name and his mother’s, but before he could do so, Granny Yao stepped forward and grabbed his wrist. As she severely pinched the skin, she asked again in an anxious tone that had a slight hint of anger: “Child! Why did you go to the Capital? Did you become a Prince? Why didn’t you listen to your mother and stay away from the Capital?!”

“Granny, I….” Qi Ci was confused, surprised, and a bit suspicious. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to reply to Granny Yao’s question or ask her how she knew that in return.

Granny Yao also realized that she was overexcited. After calming down, she mumbled something along the lines of ‘fate bestowed by the Heavens’, and then said to Qi Ci: “Where’s your friend? Where did he go? When will he return? Aiyah, child, I have something to tell you, but you must not tell others!” 

‘Right, where did Bian Zhonghua go?’

…

In fact, Bian Zhonghua was wandering around the lake because he had sensed a strange and unknown force coming from it.

Dawn had just broken, welcoming the pale light of early morning, bringing the aroma of the wet soil after it rained almost the entire night. Bian Zhonghua stood by the lake, carefully exploring the strange force, but he couldn’t understand its nature. He could only feel that there was some faint force resting at the bottom of the lake.

After pondering about it, Bian Zhonghua recited a spell and the shining blade flew out of his sleeve, heading towards the bottom of the lake.

However, the moment the blade entered the lake, the unknown force suddenly disappeared.

‘It seems that it’s trying to avoid me, but it could also be hiding.’

After that, no matter how much Bian Zhonghua tried to search on the lake, he couldn’t find the source of that force again, let alone could he find anything odd inside the lake. Feeling helpless, Bian Zhonghua had to give up. After standing up, he went back to the wooden house.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived outside the main door of the wooden house, he heard Granny Yao say to Qi Ci: “Child, I have something to tell you, but you must not tell others!”