After Mo HuaYan left, he never showed up again. ZiLi really did not understand why he was imprisoned here.
This secret room was completely isolated from the outside, and without any reference, ZiLi could not tell how long he had been here. He could only roughly estimate the days by the number of times food had been brought in through a small opening in the door. He had eaten a total of six meals, but you could not use the logic of three meals a day, and thus equate six meals to, six divided by three, two days. The reason for that was that ZiLi suspected that bitch of an Emperor was deliberately mistreating him by allowing him only two meals a day. Sometimes he had one in the morning and evening, sometimes in the morning and around noon, and sometimes even for breakfast and late-night snack. Heaven knows that the thing he could not bear the most was the mistreatment of his stomach, and now he had been caught and treated so badly that ZiLi had already become dizzy with hunger and even worse his heart was hurting!
ZiLi had in fact studied the invisible door, and moved all the vases, bonsai trees and other furnishings in the room that looked suspicious and could be the key to opening and closing the door. He even had moved furniture such as chairs, the desk, the bed and the table, but the result was still that the stone door had not moved a single millimeter.
ZiLi leaned weakly on the bed with his limbs, then turned pale and clutched at his terribly aching heart.
*Huff, huff* It was really painful, as if an invisible hand was clutching him tightly, and every breath he took was accompanied by a deadly struggle against the closing five fingers. Just when ZiLi thought he was going to die from the pain, the pain that weighed on his heart suddenly disappeared and his face returned to normal. Thinking it was strange how quickly the pain had come and gone, ZiLi wiped the cold sweat from his face as he rose from the bed, when suddenly the hand holding the carved rail at the head of the bed sank, causing the stone door to open with a rumble.
Truly a case of ‘A carefully bedded flower may not blossom, while a casually planted willow may survive’ 1 ! It turned out that the mechanism of the stone door was the dragon’s mouth on the carved railing at the head of the bed, and all you had to do was press the palate!
ZiLi cautiously walked out of the secret room, outside there appeared to be a study. The furnishings and decorations were unusually clean and tidy for a secret room. On top of the writing desk were the Four Treasures of the Study 2 and all sorts of exquisite cultural recreational antiques. The walls were filled with calligraphy and paintings of civilian court officials, and openwork window frames 3 with the characters for ‘Longevity’ 4 . The red sandal wooden chairs with carved dragons, the book boxes 5 , many treasures, furniture made of fragrant sandalwood and nanmu wood, books, calligraphy and paintings, antiques and precious items for entertainment, filled the room, and the curling smoke from the burning pine and cypress branches, mixed with the scent of books and ancient paintings, had been hanging in this palace room for a long time, and even the dust in the air seemed to emit the scent of books. Truly an Emperor living the best life!
“You came to the palace today just to question me?” Suddenly, a furious voice sounded from next door.
Shit, it’s that delusional bitch of an Emperor! ZiLi immediately bit his fingernails nervously, not knowing whether to run back to the secret room or run straight out and escape!
“Yan, I am really not questioning you. You know, I just――”
The voice that followed made ZiLi’s heart burst with joy. It’s Mo CangJing! Great, if he comes, he’ll surely be able to get me out! He was about to ask for help, but Mo HuaYan’s sobbing cry made ZiLi feel like he had been hit by a bucket of cold water!
“I don’t know, I don’t know anymore! We clearly intended to let him be just a pawn for us to control Bei Ling, but now, Mo CangJing, you are hindering it in every possible way. What exactly is your intention, don’t tell me you have already fallen in love with him and are unwilling to let him go?” As soon as he had entered the room, Mo HuaYan immediately abandoned his pretense of being pleased and not showing his anger as he did in the Imperial court hall and abruptly turned to cast and angry look at Mo CangJing, who had been absent from the Imperial court for three days in a row to look for that person, and yet came running to the palace today to ask him for that person.
“Yan, I―― I am not like that!” Mo CangJing said in an unstable tone as he looked at the almost hysterical Mo HuaYan in front of him.”
“You are lying!” Mo HuaYan glared at him fiercely.
“Yan――” Mo CangJing felt uneasy in his heart when he saw that those beautiful eyes were already covered in a layer of watery mist, and sure enough, not long after, teardrops trickled down like a broken thread!
“Jing, you must not like him, okay? Don’t abandon me, okay?” Mo HuaYan pleaded, tugging at his sleeves, as soon as he had relaxed, after suddenly dispelling his hostile aura and tense expression.
Mo CangJing’s heart ached at the sight of this, and he hurriedly comforted the person who would just like a child come crying to him whenever he felt wronged, “How could I abandon you? Yan, I will not abandon you!”
“Jing, I don’t want to be an emperor at all! I just want to be with you!” Mo HuaYan wailed, “So you cannot like others and abandon me!”
“I won’t, Yan. Even if all the people in the world turn their backs on you, I will not abandon you!” Mo CangJing soothed in a soft voice.
Only then was Mo HuaYan satisfied and gradually stopped his crying!
Seeing that his mood had stabilized somewhat, Mo CangJing spoke slowly, “Yan, you always worry too much. How can I like a mere pawn! An JinYu has neither talent nor looks, as you said, even the eunuchs in the palace are several times better than him. How could I fall in love with someone like him? I am just deliberately trying to get close as a friend so that he will take a liking to me and we can carry out our plan in the future, nothing more!”
“Really?”
“Really! All right, it is not a good idea for you to imprison him like this. Why not let me act as a good person and save him once more? That way, his favorable impression of me will increase and it will make things more convenient in the future!”
“All right!” Mo HuaYan turned his tears into laughter, and said nodding towards the secret room, “He is in the secret room inside! I will go back first, lest I make your heroic rescue plan of saving the beauty fail!”
“Saving the beauty? But no one is as beautiful as the person in front of me!”
“…”
*Click* The door of the secret room slowly opened, and in the gradually expanding line of sight, the person he had been searching for several days stood upright in the middle of the room, lips in a smile that seemed it would break at a touch, and with his gaze fixed on him, saying softly, “CangJing, you have come?!”
***
The night was as cool as water, and the only thing left in the unadulterated sky was a snow-white as jade bright moon inlaid in the center.
Behind a rock garden in the Prince’s residence, a figure carrying a bundle cautiously poked his head out to see if no patrolling Imperial bodyguards were passing by, then nimbly leapt out and landed in the grass, after which he walked towards the back garden, while hunching his body.
*Snap* An unexpected soft sound under his feet immediately alerted the Imperial bodyguards.
“Who is it? Who’s there?” the Imperial bodyguards exclaimed as they raised their swords and then slowly gathered around ZiLi’s hiding place. ZiLi was so frightened that he no longer cared that he would be exposed and immediately leaned forward to take his heels and made a dash for it!
“Assassin, there is an assassin!” The entire residence lit up in an instant, and ZiLi, who had nowhere to hide, could only be exposed by this heavy siege.
“What happened?” Mo CangJing steadily approached.
“Answering Your Highness, it is Young Lord ZiLi. This subordinate thought he was an assassin and startled you, Your Highness!” the head of the Imperial bodyguard immediately stepped forward and reported back.
Mo CangJing looked at ZiLi, who was dressed as if he was going on a journey, and his expression darkened slightly, then he asked gently, “ZiLi, what are you going to do in the depth of the night, not sleeping and carrying a bundle with your belongings?”
"I have to go, thank you big brother CangJing for taking care of me all this time!” ZiLi said woodenly to him, cupping his hands.
“Go? Where would you go, ZiLi? It is not safe outside. You better stay in my residence, okay! Someone, please take Young Lord ZiLi back to his room!”
“Don’t come any closer.” ZiLi immediately took out one of his self-made poisonous concealed weapons and smashed it in front of them. The ruptured sachet bursting out with poisonous fluid caused the flowers and plants that were hit to instantly rot and turn black, turning them into a thick liquid that coated the ground. It was a shock to all who watched. If mere flowers and plants already became like this, what horrific sight would be seen if it hit a human being.
“Come any closer again and I’ll make sure you won’t even have bones left!”
Mo CangJing frowned, “ZiLi, stop making trouble, come, I will take you back to your room!"
ZiLi panted heavily, his eyes fixed on the hand reaching out to him, then suddenly glared at Mo CangJing with hatred and snarled, “Put away your pretense, you hypocritical, despicable villain!”
Mo CangJing was stunned when he heard those words, and then a helpless, wry smile appeared on his face, “No matter how you see me, I― will not let you leave!”
“That depends on whether you have the ability to keep me here or not!” With a look of desperation, ZiLi stared at the Imperial bodyguards who were cautiously getting closer and closer, then stealthily fished out a few smoke bombs and suddenly smashed them on the ground.
A thick red smoke immediately filled everyone’s view.
*Cough, cough* The crowd could not help but choke and cough, unable to open their burning eyes. It actually turned that chili powder had been added to these smoke bombs!
“Your Highness, this――” As the thick smoke cleared, how could there still be a trace of ZiLi?
“The city gates are already closed, he will not get far, search the whole city immediately.”
ZiLi staggered to an alley to hide while clutching his heart.
“It really hurts!” It came again, that pain that seemed to crush his heart!
In a cold sweat, ZiLi slid down against the wall and sat on the ground, his mouth opening and closing, desperate, like a fish without water.
The sounds of chaotic footsteps and people frantically searching for him outside made him anxious, but his body had already lost the strength to walk! His oxygen-deprived brain was hit by bouts of dizziness and his vision was gradually fading.
The sound of footsteps came closer and closer, and as his consciousness was falling completely into darkness, ZiLi saw a face emerge silently from the shadows――