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One day after the court, Li Shu received invitations from both the eldest and fourth princes.
Seeing two men dressed as scholars blocking his way, Li Shu furrowed his brow in annoyance. He had already turned away several groups of people recently. Why were they coming now? One was the attendant of the eldest prince, and the other belonged to the fourth prince. For some reason, they appeared together in front of him.
The Eldest Prince and the Fourth Prince had sent people over before, but Li Shu always refused under the pretext of being busy with his duties. This time, he used the same excuse to turn down both of them, but these two were more troublesome than before.
Especially when they found out each other’s intentions, their attitudes became even more firm. What started as polite invitations now carried a hint of coercion.
“Master Li, His Highness is still waiting for you at the mansion.”
No matter how much Li Shu was favored by the emperor, he was still a fourth-rank official, and he did not have a deep foundation in the court. The princes sought to win him over not for his current status, but for his potential.
Li Shu hated being threatened, so he immediately turned cold and said, “You both want me to go with you, but I can only go with one. Whom do you want me to go with?”
Naturally, they both wanted Li Shu to go with them, but they couldn’t say it directly. Although the two princes were fighting tooth and nail for the throne, their servants didn’t dare to offend each other openly, or they wouldn’t even know how they died.
Locking eyes for a moment, neither of them wanted to give up. Bringing Li Shu back was a matter of saving face in front of their masters.
“Master Li, my master has prepared a feast and is eagerly awaiting your arrival.”
The other one didn’t want to fall behind and immediately stepped forward, “My master has acquired a rare treasure and wishes for Master Li to appreciate it.”
They argued back and forth, each vying to bring Li Shu back, their faces turning red with exertion. They were willing to do anything, short of fighting in the street.
Li Shu stood aside with his arms folded, watching everything that happened in front of him with cold eyes. He knew why the two princes were trying to win him over during this time, but he had no interest in meddling in their struggle for the throne. Moreover, with the male protagonist around, those two wouldn’t last long.
Turning around to leave, the two bickering men suddenly stopped, “Master Li, please wait.”
They couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.
“Do you intend to stop me?” Li Shu stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes narrowing slightly, emitting a sense of pressure. He didn’t react because he couldn’t be bothered to deal with these minions. Did they really think he was easy to bully?
“We dare not!” Trembling with fear, they thought to themselves: No wonder he’s known as the sharpest blade in the emperor’s hands. If Li Shu had shown this aura from the beginning, they wouldn’t have dared to act so boldly.
However, unwilling to give up this hard-won opportunity, they apologized verbally while their actions contradicted their words. They stood in front of Li Shu and refused to leave.
Just as Li Shu was about to lose his temper, a familiar voice came from behind.
“Why is Zi Shu here?”
A man dressed in black walked along the palace wall, his sharp gaze sweeping over the two arms blocking the way. Both of them involuntarily shrank back, retracting their hands and stepping back to bow, “Greetings, Your Highness Prince Qin.”
Turning away from them, the man walked straight to Li Shu and asked, “Is Master Li going to the outskirts of the city?”
This road was a must-pass route to the north of the city. There were usually few people passing through, otherwise, those two wouldn’t have the guts to block someone on the official road.
“It just so happens that I also have matters to attend to there. master Li, care to join me?”
“This, Your Highness Prince Qin…” The man in gray beside them was unwilling to give up. He had made a mistake before and was rejected by the Fourth Prince. Now that he had a chance to redeem himself, he wasn’t going to give up easily.
Without saying a word, Prince Qin simply glanced at him, and in that moment, the man in gray felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss. A bone-chilling coldness creeped up from the soles of his feet, and he quickly shut his mouth, too afraid to speak.
What kind of eyes were those? They seemed like a gaze from hell itself, ready to drag him into eternal damnation if he let his guard down.
Only when the two figures had completely disappeared did the man in gray dare to climb up from the ground. His tense nerves relaxed suddenly, and he realized that his back was soaked in cold sweat despite the hot weather.
At that moment, he realized with great clarity that Prince Qin didn’t get the title “Bloodthirsty Killer” for nothing.
Li Shu had no interest in getting involved in the struggle between the Eldest Prince and the Fourth Prince. Leave alone the fact that he knew those two had no chance at the throne, he couldn’t afford to get involved in his current situation. Otherwise, the first person to make him suffer would be the emperor, who seemed to favor him greatly.
Fortunately, the arrival of the male protagonist solved a major problem for him. He had no objections to accompanying Prince Qin to the outskirts of the city. He had originally planned to go there anyway, he just didn’t expect that the Eldest Prince and the Fourth Prince would be so persistent and would directly send someone to intercept him on the road.
“Are they the people of the Eldest Prince and the Fourth Prince? My two brothers are not easy to get along with. Zi Shu, be careful.” Facing Li Shu, Prince Qin showed none of the coldness he displayed to others, offering rare warmth to him alone.
Seeing Prince Qin’s slightly nervous demeanor, Li Shu’s lips curved up slightly, and the unpleasantness from earlier dissipated. “Thank you for coming to my rescue, Your Highness. I will be careful.”
From the moment they met, Qi Mingxuan’s attitude toward Li Shu had been different from others. Therefore, he didn’t notice anything unusual. The system’s knowledge of the male protagonist was based solely on the world’s plot, and neither Li Shu nor the system realized anything was amiss.
Qi Mingxuan was still worried. He knew the characters of his two brothers very well. In such a critical period of succession, the young man was so conspicuous that his two brothers were bound to have a “get it or destroy it” attitude towards him. It seemed that he needed to dispatch more people to protect the young man in secret.
Compared to before, the outskirts of the city were much more orderly now. Qi Mingxuan and Li Shu occasionally went to check, and the people living in the northern suburbs were well aware that their good days were largely thanks to these two. Qi Mingxuan’s identity was no secret, and the common people generally had a kind of fear towards officials, let alone someone like Qi Mingxuan. Therefore, their attitude towards Qi Mingxuan was a mix of gratitude and fear.
Li Shu, on the other hand, was different. When he came here, he was dressed in ordinary clothes and was approachable, so people relaxed more in his presence.
The common people treated officials and ordinary individuals with completely different attitudes.
They were both appointed by the emperor to take charge of this area, so along the way, he discussed many related matters with Li Shu.
Li Shu cared about the fruits of his labor so he listened attentively. Because of this, he didn’t notice a child rushing towards them with a large bowl in hand.
Qi Mingxuan was discussing crucial points about future arrangements when suddenly, there was a loud “bang.” Li Shu sucked in a breath as the hot contents splashed on him. Qi Mingxuan’s expression immediately darkened.
The child fell to the ground, the large bowl shattered, and the porridge spilled everywhere. After sitting there in a daze for a moment, the child burst into tears.
Though young, the child was often reminded by adults and knew that these two were their benefactors. Now that he had accidentally bumped into one and spilled hot porridge on him, did he cause a big disaster?!
“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to…” The child was shocked and frightened, crying and apologizing at the same time.
Li Shu didn’t have time to deal with the crying child now. A large bowl of hot porridge had splashed on him, sticking to his skin along with his clothes. The skin on his left thigh, where most of the porridge had landed, burned painfully, and he had to hold back the tears.
Aware of the fragility of this body, Li Shu usually acted with caution, but this pain was unbearable.
“How are you? Are you okay?” Qi Mingxuan supported Li Shu’s shoulder. “Let me take you to get it treated.”
At this moment, Qi Mingxuan only saw the young man sweating profusely from the pain, and had no time to pay attention to the crying child nearby.
Hearing the commotion, many people rushed over. Seeing the scene, they urged, “Quick, take the benefactor to treat the wound. We have clean cold water here, please follow me.”
Li Shu’s leg was scalded, with almost all of the hot porridge landing on his left thigh. He supported his body with his right leg, unable to put any weight on the injured left leg.
It seemed that he was severely scalded. The young man kept taking small, labored breaths, and Qi Mingxuan felt extremely distressed. After a moment’s thought, he directly picked up the young man.
“My apologies.”
Li Shu was enduring the pain when he was suddenly lifted and looked at the man holding him blankly.
Such a young man was different from usual. Physiological tears had welled up in his eyes due to the pain, and a red hue had appeared at the corners of his eye. His face was pale, and fine beads of sweat covered his forehead. Fragile yet moving, one couldn’t help but want to cradle him in their hands to protect him.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be okay,” Qi Mingxuan reassured the young man softly. Then, he turned his head and his voice turned cold, “Lead the way, quickly!”
Qi Mingxuan was tall and had long legs. He could cover twice the distance with each step compared to others. Feeling the guide’s pace was too slow, he directly asked for the location, carried the young man with swift strides, and instructed An Yu to fetch a doctor.
Placing the young man on a wooden chair, Qi Mingxuan brought clean cold water and began treating the wound. Out of personal preference, he handled it himself. Someone nearby wanted to help, but he kicked him out of the house.
The injured area was too private, and Qi Mingxuan didn’t want anyone else to see.
The moonlight-colored robe was brushed aside, and the cold sensation reached the scalded area. Li Shu finally snapped out of his shock, holding Qi Mingxuan’s hand, “Your Highness, let me do it myself.”
“It’s my fault that you were injured this time,” Qi Mingxuan moved his hand away, his voice gentle as if it could squeeze out water. “Don’t worry; it’ll get better soon. Does it hurt a lot?”
When he held the young man, he felt that the young man’s body was trembling. Qi Mingxuan’s heart ached. He wished he could transfer the pain to himself and spare the young man from suffering.
Qi Mingxuan had lowered his head so Li Shu couldn’t see the expression on his face. However, he could feel the concern emanating from him. Retrieving his hand that was held, Li Shu stopped resisting, “In that case, I appreciate your help, Your Highness.”
The skin under his touch was fair and tender, now contrasting with the scarred and frighteningly burned area. The hand that often wielded a sword trembled uncontrollably at this moment, and Qi Mingxuan struggled to control the instinctive trembling.
This was a feeling he had never felt before. Looking at the wounds on the young man’s body, he felt that his heart was being twisted. At this moment, he regretted it extremely.
Why did he bring the young man here? Even if it was well-organized, this place was still a settlement for refugees. It was chaotic, and this time, the one who harmed him was just a child. What if someone came prepared next time?
At the same time, he blamed himself. He was completely immersed in the pleasure of talking to the young man and failed to notice the approaching danger in time. The young man was obviously so close to him, but he was still injured due to his negligence.
An Yu acted swiftly, and soon, a doctor stationed on the outskirts arrived.
The old doctor was carrying a medicine box and panting. After An Yu knocked on the door and signaled, he sent the doctor in and guarded the door.
Adhering to medical ethics, the doctor quickly calmed his breath and inquired, “Which patient is injured?”
Hearing the voice, Qi Mingxuan stood up, turned around, and frowned at the doctor. His voice was cold, “He was scalded on the leg.”
As the man stood up, the doctor finally saw the appearance of the two. One was Prince Qin, whom he had met briefly before, and the one sitting in the chair was… a very good looking young man.
Seeing the expression on Prince Qin’s face, the doctor’s heart skipped a beat. He had already learned about the patient’s condition on the way here, but looking at Prince Qin’s expression, it seemed more severe than he had expected.
After a hurried bow to Prince Qin, the doctor hurried to examine the patient. If a scald wasn’t treated properly, it could lead to serious consequences.
To facilitate the doctor’s actions, Qi Mingxuan had to move aside again. His face was gloomy and his eyes were fixed on the movements of the doctor’s hands. This frightened the doctor and he became even more cautious, afraid of making the slightest mistake.
What he didn’t know was that Qi Mingxuan’s intense gaze was partly due to the fact that he was too close to the young man. Especially, after observing carefully, it was a private area.
The burning gaze seemed to want to pierce through his hand. The doctor carefully examined the wound under the intense pressure. After he finished, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“The wound was treated promptly, so there won’t be a sequelae. However, this young master has a poor constitution. He might run a fever tonight. I’ll prescribe a medicine for him to take.” Opening the medicine box, the old doctor took out a tube of dark ointment. “Apply this ointment to the burn; I made it myself, and it works well. Apply it twice a day, morning and night.”
“Oh, by the way,” the old doctor said as he walked to the door carrying the medicine box, “Try not to touch the injured area these next few days to avoid secondary harm.”
Who said Prince Qin was cold-blooded? Isn’t he quite warm? The old eyes don’t deceive; Prince Qin’s concern for that young master didn’t seem feigned.
After the doctor left with the prescription, only Li Shu and Qi Mingxuan remained in the room. Qi Mingxuan studied the ointment in his hand for a while before suddenly speaking, “Let me apply the ointment for you.”
Without giving Li Shu a chance to refuse, Qi Mingxuan crouched down again, dipped his hands in the ointment, and spread it on Li Shu’s leg.
Qi Mingxuan’s slightly calloused hands sent shivers through Li Shu’s skin. Li Shu involuntarily pulled his leg back, but the man held it firmly. “Don’t move.”
“You don’t need to do so much, Your Highness. This incident was entirely accidental, there’s no need for you to blame yourself like this.” This kind of random occurrence can’t be predicted in advance.
Li Shu half-closed his eyes, and his eyelashes trembled slightly with Qi Mingxuan’s movements, resembling the fluttering wings of a butterfly.
At these words, Qi Mingxuan’s hands paused slightly, and his gaze rose from below to meet Li Shu’s, determined and sincere.
Li Shu sighed softly and averted his gaze first, tacitly agreeing to Qi Mingxuan’s actions.
Qi Mingxuan’s movements were gentle, as if caring for a precious and fragile treasure. He lowered his head, long eyelashes casting a shadow on his face. From Li Shu’s perspective, he could see the man’s straight nose and slightly pursed lips.
The man’s expression was earnest, and he applied the ointment to the wound meticulously. Li Shu was momentarily dazed. It was as if a long time ago, another man had treated his injuries in a similar way.
However, the current perspective seemed mismatched with the memory. In the recollection, he seemed to be looking up at the man who was bandaging him.
With the wound treated, Qi Mingxuan carried Li Shu once again. “I’ll take you back.”
“I can walk by myself.” Li Shu struggled. He only burned his leg; it’s not like it was broken. He could walk on his own.
“You’ll touch the burned area if you walk by yourself.” Qi Mingxuan gently mitigated the young man’s resistance, and calmly lifted him onto the carriage.
After struggling to no avail, Li Shu had no choice but to let him be.
But…
“This doesn’t seem like the way back?” Li Shu lifted the curtain of the carriage. Outside, the scenery was lush green, and the carriage was deviating further from the city.
“Well, I’m taking you to recuperate.”
Qi Mingxuan’s eyes darkened slightly. The court would soon be in chaos. He could only feel at ease of the young man stayed in his territory.
The author has something to say: Qi Mingxuan: Take Li Shu back to his nest√
