Translator: Flying Lines

The empress glared at him, frowning. “Son, you made sense. But it’s more complicated.”

Long Yichen still wanted to argue, but the empress stopped him. She turned around to Long Yinfeng and said quite unwillingly, “So much for today. I’m tired. You may leave.”

Long Yinfeng replied coldly, “For your information, Mu Xiyue is my wife. Whoever dares to embarrass her will be challenging me!”

After he finished his words, Mu Xiyue wheeled him out of Fengqi Palace, in which case no one dared to stop them again.

Noble Concubine Shu stood up and curtsied to the empress, “I’m leaving, too, Your Majesty.”

“So are we.” said other imperial concubines. They got out of their seats and walked out of the palace.  

After they all disappeared, the empress slapped Long Yichen and yelled angrily, “Why do you always get so excited? Why did you get the guards in with swords! If your father knows, he’ll punish us severely!”

Long Yichen, feeling aggrieved, covered his flushed face and asked, “Mother, I don’t understand. Long Yinfeng used to be the commander of troops and had military power. Even Father dreaded him. But now, he’s a powerless cripple. Why do you still make concessions?”

Sitting in her throne, the empress sighed heavily and explained, “Looks like he is powerless. But he still keeps a group of strong bodyguards. That agonizes your father, too. Anyway, his maternal grandfather was the great tutor who all men of letters over the world respect. If we really hurt Long Yinfeng, I’m afraid they’ll defame your father.”

Long Yichen thumped on the table and gnashed his teeth! “I don’t believe I have no way to deal with him!”

“How many times have I told you?” said the empress, trying to comfort his son, “You must calm down. Suppress a moment's anger may prevent a day of sorrow.”

She added, “Think about Long Yinfeng! He can no longer do any harm to your position. All you should do is to make more contributions. When your father is pleased, maybe he’ll make you the crown prince.”

Ling Yichen replied nothing. Anyway, whenever he thought of the arrogant look on Long Yinfeng’s face, he was annoyed!

“You’re my son,” said the empress, “And you were the first prince to be titled. Never ruin your future for something insignificant. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mother.” replied Long Yichen helplessly.

After Mu Xiyue and Long Yinfeng went back to their own palace, she asked Mo Heng to carry the latter to bed. She then closed the door. Well, from now on, she would start to cure Long Yinfeng of his legs.

She pinched his legs as she asked, “Do you feel anything?”

Long Yinfeng grabbed her hand and said faintly, “You don’t need to rush.”

Mu Xiyue ignored him and shook off his hand. She continued the pinch on his legs, but seemed like he couldn’t feel anything.

Then, she pinched one of his acupoints hard when he immediately frowned!

She took back her hand and said, “Tell me what happened five years ago. I was too young to remember.”

Long Yinfeng looked at her. Suddenly, she took a set of silver needles out of nowhere and stuck them into all his acupoints on his legs. His leg finally felt some pain after feeling nothing for years.

He stared her, who was doing the acupuncture carefully and replied, “Five years ago, I went out to a battle on the border, under the command of His Majesty. Together with me was your dad.”

“Was my dad a general?” Mu Xiyue looked up and asked.

“Yes. He’s a great man.” replied Long Yinfeng.

Looked like he was stuck in old memories five years ago.

He then continued in a cold and rancorous voice, “I rushed to the border with 200 thousand soldiers. I had everything ready and had planned to kill all the enemies the next day. Unexpectedly, someone in my troop sold me out and leaked my plan. The next day, we were beguiled into ambush and most of my soldiers were killed, lying all over the battlefield. That was when my legs were disabled. To keep me alive, your father lured away the enemies with a team of picked soldiers. None of them returned. With all my efforts, I finally snatched a victory out of defeat. However, only a few soldiers survived and came back to the capital with me.”

As he told the story, he looked so sad and the pain appeared on his face. So many soldiers died in that battle. He must have been sad and self-condemned.

Again, he added, “I was too young and arrogant! If I had been more careful, there wouldn’t have been so many deaths.”

As he murmured, he bunched his hands into fists.

Mu Xiyue sat beside he and patted his shoulder, trying to comfort him. “The dead men never come back. Let the bygones be bygones.”

He grabbed her hand and said, “Five years ago, I was too sick to care for your family stuff. It wasn’t until I got better did I know your mom suicided for love and you were married to Long Yichen. I thought you could have lived a good life with him. Unexpectedly, you still come to me in the end.”

“My mom suicided?” asked Mu Xiyue.

She looked at him, trying to remember something. Sadly, her head was totally blank.  

Long Yinfeng nodded and replied, “I just heard about it. But I think there’s something behind her death. You were too young at that time. I met your mom for a few times. She looked educated and reasonable. Even if your father died, she shouldn’t have left you alone.”

Hearing the whole story, Mu Xiyue thought about it in her heart. Then she asked, “May I take it this way? Five years ago, you were betrayed and your legs were hurt. It was a scheme. And there was something behind my mother’s death. Possibly related to your accident?”

“Clever girl.” Long Yinfeng smiled with a look of appreciation.  

Mu Xiyue asked again, “Didn’t you check up on that?”

“I did, after I got better,” replied he, “But all clues were gone when I traced down to your mom. Since then, I’ve made no progress.”

Mu Xiyue frowned and felt more suspicious, “Could a mere woman like my mom got your legs hurt?”

Long Yinfeng shook his hand and replied, “I’m sure she was just used as a chessman.”

“You were young, with great military power,” Mu Xiyue analyzed, “And you’re the eldest prince. A lot of people must have been jealous of you. In our nation, the eldest son is always the crown prince, instead of the son of the empress. So, someone set a trap because he wanted the throne of crown prince. After you became a cripple, you would no longer be a threat.”

Well, it was a fight for throne that Mu Xiyue only saw on TV. She did never expect herself to be involved in.

“How do you know that?” asked Long Yinfeng. It made him more curious about her. Seemed like she had as many secrets as he did.

Mu Xiyue blinked playfully and replied, “I guessed.”

Meanwhile, she pinched acupoints on his legs repeatedly and said, “Your legs aren’t completely disabled. They were just numbed because of the blocked blood vessels. Did you feel something when I gave you an acupuncture?”

“Yes. I felt slight pain.” replied Long Yinfeng. He felt he could hope to stand up and walk again.