Chapter 3: Chapter 63: Lost Red Pearl; Inadvertent Eyes Red with Desire (Part 4)
Xie Lian was curious, "Why can't I drink this?"
The queen reached for the small jaded cup and took it from him, poured a bit of its contents on her handkerchief, and pressed it gently a few times on her face, "Mount Taicang recently sent in a batch of fresh fruits. I don't like cherries, but there was a method of making it into paste for facials, so I squeezed some for fun. There's not much use for it and I was about to have it thrown out, so I can't possibly have you drink it!"
Xie Lian smiled as he listened but suddenly recalled the events of the day before. There were very few times in a year where Mu Qing's mother could taste cherries, and Mu Qing himself would get bullied just for trying to pick some. It's somewhat of a sensitive topic and Xie Lian was afraid Mu Qing would be uncomfortable listening to this, so he smiled and changed the subject, "Then do you have anything that I could eat?"
The queen chuckled, "The way you make it sound, others will think I starve you, but you've been a picky eater ever since you were young, I can't plump you up. You've gotten so thin since you entered the mountain, today you'll eat whatever I tell you to, no fuss."
The mother and son conversed for a while, and the queen asked about the incident during the Heavenly Procession, sounding quite concerned, "By the Guoshi's report, it sounds serious. What's going to happen? Will you be punished?"
Xie Lian didn't have the chance to answer and Qi Rong cut in, "Hmph! That wasn't cousin Crown Prince's fault. The one who fell off the wall wasn't him, if anyone must be punished, then it should be that little fiend!"
'What, little fiend?' Xie Lian thought in annoyance. He hadn't corrected Qi Rong but the Queen laughed. Just then she noticed the two outside the manor, "Who's the child next to Feng Xin? It's the first time I see another person by your side."
Xie Lian replied cheerfully, "That's Mu Qing. He was the one who played the ghost on stage yesterday."
Hearing this, Qi Rong slightly raised his brows while the queen said, "Really? Have him come in so I can see his face. Feng Xin can come in too."
Thus, Feng Xin and Mu Qing entered the chamber and knelt before the queen. She took her time looking over Mu Qing and said to Xie Lian, "I thought he fought rather well yesterday, a good, courteous child. Looking at this face you'd think he'd be a gentle minister, but who knew he could be that tenacious using a sabre."
Xie Lian grinned, "Right? I think he's really good too."
Qi Rong on the other hand, commented coolly, "Oh? The ghost from yesterday was him?"
Xie Lian heard his tone and felt dread, and sure enough, the next second Qi Rong suddenly exploded, snatched that small jaded cup from the little tea table, and swung it at Mu Qing's head, "Here! Your reward!"
Fortunately Xie Lian was faster, and smacked Qi Rong's hand forcing him to drop the cup so the splash didn't make it to Mu Qing's face. Xie Lian pulled him back by the collar, "Qi Rong, what are you doing!"
Even whilst being held, Qi Rong was still rampant, "Cousin, I'm helping you discipline an impudent servant! Before you made it yesterday, he sure was enjoying himself, taking in all the limelight! Who the fuck do you think you are? The star of the Heavenly Procession? Gonna overthrow the heavens too?!!"
The queen was stunned, "Rong, wh... what are you doing?"
Mu Qing's face was spared of the splash but his clothes didn't, yet because the queen hadn't given word, he remained kneeling on the floor, his face grim and pale. Xie Lian passed Qi Rong to Feng Xin, "Don't let him hit anyone." Feng Xin only used one hand to restrain Qi Rong, but Qi Rong was kicking and punching, spitting as he shouted, "And who the fuck do you think you are to have the fucking nerve to touch me so casually!"
Xie Lian could feel his head aching, "Qi Rong, you're getting more and more out of control!" Then he turned to the queen, "Mother, I forgot to mention something. Please take away his golden carriage."
Qi Rong was shocked and yelled, "NO! NO! WHY? THAT'S AUNTIE'S BIRTHDAY GIFT TO ME!"
"Even if it is it must be confiscated." Xie Lian said, "We almost ran into troubles on the streets! Best not to touch it again before you learn how to drive properly."
The queen "ah"-ed and asked, "Troubles? What troubles?"
Xie Lian retold to her the crazy state of Qi Rong's driving, and Qi Rong was furious, his eyes red around the rim, "COUSIN CROWN PRINCE IS WRONG! I DIDN'T RUN INTO A SINGLE PERSON!"
Xie Lian snorted, "That's because someone stopped you!"
Qi Rong struggled out of Xie Lian's hands and ran out of the Qi Feng Manor in a mad fit, not turning back even when the queen called out to him. She said sadly, "I'll talk to him tomorrow about confiscating his carriage. Sigh, that child had wanted a coach for the longest time, so when his birthday came around, I saw that he was still desperately wanting one, so I gifted it to him. Who knew it'd turn out like this? Had I known I wouldn't have given it to him."
"Why must he have a carriage?" Xie Lian wondered.
"He said it's so he could go to Mount Taicang whenever he want to bring you home." The queen replied.
Xie Lian fell silent, learning that at the end of the day it was a gesture of goodwill. After a moment, he spoke, "It's better instead to find him a good teacher, and restrain that temper. He can't keep going on like this."
The queen sighed, "And what teacher can restrain him? He only ever listens to you. We could hardly have him enter the mountain to go cultivate with you? Besides, the Guoshi would die before taking him in as a disciple."
Xie Lian found the idea both hilarious and horrifying and shook his head, "With a temper like that, if he should enter the Huang Ji Pavilion, he would raise hell for sure."
Both the mother and the son were deeply troubled by this, and couldn't think of any ideas, and so they let it go for the time being. That evening, after having seen his parents and caught up, Xie Lian rose to leave the palace.
Everyone knew that the Crown Prince was deeply obsessed with cultivation, and ever since he entered the Huang Ji Pavilion, he visited his parents less and less. The king didn't say much on the matter, but the queen was always reluctant to see him go. After leaving the palace, Xie Lian casually strolled around the royal capital, and accompanied Mu Qing to make a visit to his home, as suggested the day before.
The wealthy tall red gates and the impoverished slums were usually a street away from each other. Mu Qing's home was situated in a dark alley of the most bustling area of the royal capital.
The three of them just turned into the alley when five or six children in rags surrounded them, calling out, "Gege. Gege is back!"
Xie Lian was confused at first, wondering why they would call strangers 'gege', but then he discovered that the 'gege' they were calling wasn't him, but Mu Qing. The children called out to him sweetly but Mu Qing ignored them, "There's nothing this time. Don't call me anything."
His face was wooden, but his voice wasn't cold. He turned to Xie Lian, "Don't mind them, Your Highness, they're just kids from the block." However, that group of children were obviously very comfortable around him, having grown up playing together, and weren't afraid of him at all. They giggled and surrounded them, their dirty little hands extended, begging for munchies from Mu Qing. Finally, Mu Qing reached for the gem-like cherries in his bag and handed them out.
Feng Xin was astonished seeing this, as if Mu Qing doing anything of the sort was a miracle. After all, Mu Qing bore a pale face that looked extremely cheap, the type that despite seeing someone die from starvation on the streets would still keep a tight hold on his own food. Xie Lian on the other hand, wasn't surprised at all.
At first he had also wanted to find something to give to the children, but he didn't usually carry sweets on his person, and having Feng Xin give coins was too much like dismissing beggars that Xie Lian didn't think it appropriate. Suddenly, there was a boom of large galloping noise coming from the main streets, a long shrieking neighing of a horse, and people screaming.
The three of them stopped, then Xie Lian rushed out of the alley. All around the main street was chaos, stalls toppled and people on the ground. The pedestrians were all running to get away; apples and pears rolled all over. He hadn't figured out what was happening when he heard the crazed laughter of a young man, "OUT OF MY WAY, GET OUT OF MY WAY! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT IF ANY OF YOU GET TRAMPLED!"
Feng Xin swore, "It's Qi Rong again!"
Sure enough, Qi Rong stood atop that glamorous golden coach, his expression malicious, lashing his whip wildly, the white horse howling from the welting.
"STOP HIM!" Xie Lian shouted.
That golden carriage whooshed by them, and Feng Xin acknowledged, "Understood!" and charged on ahead. Xie Lian was about to go check for any wounded from all the toppled stalls and knocked over pedestrians left behind Qi Rong's mad trail when suddenly he noticed something wrong. He whipped his head around, and saw just behind that large golden coach, something was dragged along with a thick, long hemp rope. At the end of the rope was a gunny sack, and in that sack there seemed to be something struggling. It looked like there was a person in that sack.
That moment, Xie Lian could only feel his blood run cold. The next second, he rushed forward.
From all the whipping, that white horse was dashing like it's running for its life, spinning the wheels of that carriage furiously. Feng Xin went to hold the horse back but probably wouldn't be able to stop it immediately. Xie Lian raced up to the carriage in only a few steps, unsheathed his sword and struck down. That rope snapped in two, and the gunny sack dropped to the ground, rolled, and came to a stop.
Xie Lian bent forward to inspect it. That gunny sack had been dragged for who knew how long and was ripped from all the scraping. It was extremely dirty, covered in blood, looking like a dead body bag. Another swing from his sword, and the rope tied around the opening was cut. He opened the back and looked, and there was indeed someone, and, it was a young child!
Xie Lian ripped open that entire sack. The young child within was curled into a ball, hugging his head tightly, and his filthy clothes was covered either in giant footprints or fresh blood. Even his hair was tangled with blood. He was a mess, and it was obvious he was heavily beaten by someone, so much so that he didn't even look human anymore. Judging by his from, he was only seven or eight, a very small creature, shaking as if a layer of his skin was forcibly peeled off. Truly incredible that he was still alive after such a violent beating!
Xie Lian reached out a hand to feel his neck, and found that his pulse wasn't too weak, and sighed a breath of relief. He immediately picked up the small body, turned around and yelled, enraged, "FENG XIN! ARREST QI RONG!!!"
He could not believe that something like this could happen in the Kingdom of Xian Le. Under the light of day, on the main street, a noble, stuffed a live human in a gunny sack to be dragged behind a horse carriage! If he hadn't seen and stopped it, this small child would've been dragged to death that day!
Some distance away came the sounds of neighing and the angry roars of Qi Rong, and soon after, Feng Xin yelled back, "He's been stopped!"
Xie Lian rushed towards them just in time to hear Qi Rong howl in rage, "YOU FUCKING LOWLY SERVANT DARE HURT ME! WHO GAVE YOU THE BALLS?!!"
Turns out, Feng Xin couldn't stop him, so he tried to snatch the reins from him instead. Of course Qi Rong wouldn't let him, so the two pulled back and forth, and in a moment of carelessness Feng Xin bumped and pushed him off the carriage. He fell to the ground and rolled a few times, his knees scraped. Seeing that he was surrounded by bystanders, he felt nothing but rage and embarrassment. However, Xie Lian cut in, "I did!"
Qi Rong opened and closed his mouth a couple times before finally crying, "Cousin Crown Prince!"
Xie Lian said angrily, "Look at what you've done! Qi Rong I really..."
Just then, he suddenly felt the child in his arms twitch, seemingly to have loosened the hands hugging his head, and was peeking at him from the gap between his elbows.
Xie Lian immediately restrained his anger, and lowered his head to soothe him in a gentle voice, "How do you feel? Do you feel pain anywhere especially?"
That child was amazingly still conscious, not fainted from pain, not frozen in shock, and shook his head. Xie Lian saw that half of his bloody little face poked out and was about to check for other head injuries, but that child firmly covered the other half of his face with his hands, stubbornly refusing to show him.
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