The heavy snow was falling, and both sides of the army and horses were staring at the eerie scene in front of them in disbelief.
“Jiang Rongyu?!”
“That’s actually the Crown Prince of the Jiang Empire?!”
People who have never seen the true face of the Crown Prince of the Jiang Empire were surprised, but those who have seen him were even more surprised. For example, subordinates such as Chen Qi and Jiang Yuping, as well as trusted subordinates such as Xu Qiao and Fan Qi. Chen Qi almost turned pale. How could it be? How could it be him? Even Jimo Qingyu’s eyes suddenly widened. After a moment of confusion, he came to a sudden realization. “No wonder…”
Snowflakes fall silently.
Sui Heng looked at the chess piece with a stiff expression. In an instant, countless images flashed through his mind.
Suddenly, it was the scene of him sitting alone under the window of the plum garden, dressed in a green robe, reading a book. Then, it was the scene of him lightly curling his lips, sitting by the Qushui River with his sleeves spread out, looking up at him. Then, it was the scene of him sitting on the Linglong Pagoda—a glance of a thousand years.
“Doggy Sui, I really like you. Do you like me as much as I like you?”
He’s been searching for him for two years, and he’s almost out of his mind. He never expected that they would reunite in this way.
Sui Heng’s fingers trembled lightly, but he never went to pick up that chess piece.
After a while, he asked, “What do you want?”
Actually, there’s no need for Jiang Yun to answer.
The moment Jiang Yun walked out of the city gate alone and met him with his real face, Sui Heng understood Jiang Yun’s meaning.
He wants to take all of his anger on his own in exchange for the people of his Jiang Empire.
Sui Heng thinks.
As a Crown Prince, he is being teased in such a way, and the degree of this teasing is increasingly breaking through his dignity and bottom line. He is the one who should be so enraged that he could even just kill him with a single blow.
But in this moment, Sui Heng remembered many things again.
Many unrelated matters.
For example, he once wandered to Qingque Terrace, for example, the hidden “slave” character sealed on the back of his waist.
This is not what the Crown Prince of a country should be like.
But in public, he wouldn’t be so bold, pretending to be the Crown Prince of Jiang in front of all the soldiers and generals of the Jiang Empire.
He even remembered the black iron arrow that he mercilessly shot during the meeting on the river that day, which had deeply penetrated his arm. Sui Heng’s heart contracted fiercely.
Jiang Rongyu.
This name suddenly became somewhat unfamiliar at this moment.
That should be a hypocritical and ugly monster who only engages in scheming. He has a face that is extremely ugly. His articles were written by someone else, and his zither music was played by someone else. Due to his ugly appearance, he wears a mask all year round and dares not show his true face to others, he has nothing to do with beautiful words like “gentleman” and “elegance”.
At least in these years, all the information he has learned about this person is like this.
“Gu doesn’t remember anymore.”
Sui Heng spoke up.
His eyes were dark and gloomy.
He clenched the handle of the sword and said coldly, “You’ll never get Gu to remember.”
Jiang Yun was stunned.
He had expected this result.
Expected that Sui Heng would deny everything that had ever happened between them because of his bone-deep hatred.
That past, that spring and March that was like a dream for him, to Sui Heng, it will only be a humiliating memory and past.
But when he really heard him say these words, he still felt a bit sad.
Between them, in the end, it could only be so.
He obviously knows best what kind of bitter consequences such an identity and position would bring about, but he still held a faint hope, even though he knew that this hope was even weaker than a cluster of flames on the snowy plain.
But Jiang Yun also felt a sense of relief.
He finally took off all his disguise in front of him and was able to face him honestly.
He no longer needs to be awakened by nightmares one after another at midnight, feeling guilty.
In the world, the only thing he can’t rest assured of is the little one.
Jiang Yun regained his smile.
He withdrew the white seed and said, “It was my rudeness.”
“However, Your Highness is a man of his word. Since I have kept my promise, shouldn’t Your Highness also release the person as promised?”
This unfamiliar and distant tone made Sui Heng’s heart cramp again.
Sui Heng lowered his eyes, his eyes still cold and heartless.
Jiang Yun’s heart sank slightly.
To be honest, he didn’t want them to recognize each other as father and son, but at the moment, there seems to be no better way to save the little boy’s life besides telling the truth.
Jiang Yun was about to speak when a sharp and piercing sound suddenly came from the air.
Fan Zhou, Yun Huai, and others standing on the city gate tower all paled and shouted together, “Your Highness, be careful!” Yun Huai quickly bent his bow and drew an arrow, trying to shoot down the hidden arrow that had flown out of the enemy’s formation.
However, it was already too late, and the iron arrow carried a sharp sound as it headed towards Jiang Yun’s throat.
Fan Zhou was shocked and pale. As he saw the sharp arrow about to strike his Highness’s neck with a thunderous force, he opened his mouth in vain and couldn’t make a sound due to extreme panic. Unexpectedly, a hand suddenly reached out in midair, and in midair, he directly held the powerful cold arrow in his palm without even looking at it and threw it back with his backhand.
A Sui soldier fell to the ground with the longbow in his hand.
Fresh red blood flowed out of Sui Heng’s palm.
“Your Highness!” Xu Qiao and other trusted generals also suddenly paled. Unexpectedly, someone dared to shoot an arrow without instructions.
Sui Heng raised his hand to stop them without paying attention to the injury on his hand or speaking. Instead, he suddenly reached out and snatched the chess piece from Jiang Yun’s hand.
Sui Heng held the chess piece expressionlessly.
He continued the previous topic expressionlessly. “Do you want to fight Gu?”
Jiang Yun looked at his bleeding hand and said, “If Your Highness needs, no matter what method, Rongyu will accompany you to the end.”
“Don’t mention those two words; otherwise, Gu afraid Gu won’t be able to resist and kill you with one blow now.”
“Then what does Your Highness want me to call?”
“Called concubine.”
“……”
Sui Heng laughed coldly and rode his horse back slowly, holding the chess piece in his palm.
Jiang Yun knew he intentionally wanted to humiliate him, so he ignored him. He just looked at him strangely as he suddenly turned around and left.
Fan Qi still hadn’t recovered from the immense shock.
“General Fan, what should we do now?” Asked Yang Shuo, another general.
Fan Qi casually said, “I guess we’ll have to withdraw our troops.”
Yang Shuo: “……”
Just because the enemy Crown Prince came out of the city gate and said a few words to His Highness?
His Highness has been preparing for this southern expedition for a year and a half. The Mount Li Battalion training ground is almost being disturbed by their Qinglang Battalion everyday, causing the ground to sink three feet and leaving no grass to grow.
His Highness has always been resolute in his words and prohibitions. How could he suddenly declare a ceasefire on such a decisive day?
However, Sui Heng declared a ceasefire.
The reason given by Sui Heng was also absurd: the weather was bad, and he didn’t want to fight anymore.
But the Qinglang Battalion only follows the orders of Sui Heng, their Commander. Sui Heng said not to fight, no one dared to refute it. Most people were just puzzled. It’s strange, what does that Crown Prince of Jiang actually say to His Highness that made His Highness suddenly stop attacking the city?
The soldiers and generals of the Jiang Empire guarding the city were even more confused and puzzled than the Sui army.
“Your Highness!”
Seeing that the Sui army had truly retreated like a tide, Fan Zhou, Yun Huai, and others immediately ordered the city gate to open and rushed to the outside, looking at Jiang Yun, who was still wearing a jade belt and green clothes, standing alone in the snow.
“Your Highness.”
Everyone called out.
Jiang Yun turned around and looked at them.
He said: “Let’s go back to the pass first.”
Fan Zhou and others were confused, but they didn’t dare to ask.
As they walked out of the pass, the people in the city poked their heads out of the windows or through the cracks in the doors and looked as if they had survived the disaster. Everyone thought that today was going to be an unstoppable and horrible war with blood flowing down the river. Although the Crown Prince personally presided over it, the terrifying reputation of the Qinglang Battalion still caused fear among the people involuntarily.
They were ready to coexist with this city, but unexpectedly, the fierce and ferocious Sui soldiers suddenly retreated.
No matter what tomorrow is like, at least today they can eat, sleep, and enjoy a rare peaceful life normally.
The people can breathe a sigh of relief, but Fan Zhou and others dare not.
The behavior of the Crown Prince of Sui was quite peculiar and unpredictable. They were very worried that retreating was just a cover, and the other party intentionally made them relax before launching a sudden attack.
Because the Sui army directly set up camp five miles away this time and did not retreat to the beacon tower, it was clear that they wanted to intimidate the entire Muyun Pass. If they want to launch a fierce attack, they can make a comeback at any time with the speed of the Qinglang Battalion’s iron cavalry.
When Sui Heng returned to the camp, he first severely dealt with the soldier who fired cold arrows without authorization and then sat in the tent with a gloomy face.
No one dared to go in and disturb him without authorization.
In a standoff between the two armies, it is taboo to shoot cold arrows without authorization, especially in a strictly disciplined army like the Qinglang Battalion. From top to bottom, all generals and officials of all sizes have been dismissed and dealt with.
Those generals dared not go to Sui Heng to complain, they could only go to Xu Qiao to complain.
Xu Qiao said mercilessly, “What’s the use of shouting grievances? It’s better to check it out. A soldier of no rank, where did he get the guts to disobey the palace’s orders? Shooting the arrow behind His Highness’s back. It’s been so many years since the Qinglang Battalion has been established and we have never had such a shameful incident!”
Most of the generals gathered outside the tent with Xu Qiao to inquire about the news.
“General Xu, what’s going on with His Highness?”
Xu Qiao doesn’t know how to say it.
Xu Qiao’s brain has been lagging until now. How could the young gentleman, who has been missing for nearly two years, be the Crown Prince of the Jiang Empire?
This is just ridiculous and outrageous.
Yet, with the facts in front of him, there was no room for disbelief.
He did, not to mention His Highness.
His Highness was someone who values pride and self-esteem. He has been deceived by his beloved young gentleman, and the other person also—can’t imagine his mood.
Xu Qiao was somewhat worried about Sui Heng’s condition. After sending everyone away, he resisted the pressure and lifted the tent to go inside.
Sui Heng sat on the ground, one hand holding the wolf head sword while the other was holding a half burnt wooden branch, cutting the branch with the sword expressionlessly. A lot of debris fell on his robe.
Xu Qiao saw that he was gradually cutting off the burned area.
Xu Qiao took the wound medicine and bandage over and said, “Your Highness, let’s treat the wound first.”
Sui Heng didn’t answer for a while, and without looking up, he asked, “Do you think Gu is like a joke?”
Xu Qiao froze and busily said, “This subordinate wouldn’t dare.”
Sui Heng laughed at himself and continued to cut the flower branches expressionlessly.
After finally removing all the burnt black areas, Sui Heng said, “Gu will definitely take down the Muyun Pass and punish and humiliate him in the harshest way possible.”
“He… actually betrayed Gu, cheated behind Gu’s back, gave birth to a son with someone else, and even tried to use the old feelings to get Gu to let his son go.”
There was a click.
Xu Qiao looked down and saw the newly peeled, clean flower branch in Sui Heng’s hand, broken in half.
**
The guards of the Muyun Pass watched vigilantly for a whole day, and the Sui army didn’t even make a comeback.
Yun Huai and Fan Zhou became increasingly puzzled, but the generals still dared not relax their vigilance to prevent the Sui army from launching a surprise attack in the middle of the night.
Jiang Yun also couldn’t sleep peacefully.
Sui Heng withdrew his troops in a cloudy manner and did not release the little boy to return.
He is worried that Sui Heng may have new misunderstandings.
At night, when he was lying in bed with a heavy heart, he suddenly noticed that the curtain moved, as if a corner had been blown open by the wind.
Jiang Yun did not move, nor did he turn his head to look, and after waiting for a few moments, he noticed that someone behind him had covered his body and pressed down, lying down on the outside.
A pair of sturdy and powerful arms immediately wrapped around his waist.
Jiang Yun was taken aback and wanted to turn back, but his shoulder was pressed down.
“Don’t turn back.”
That person’s voice was as cold and heartless as the day.
“Jiang Rongyu.”
Like a ghost, he squeezed those three words between his teeth.
He said, “You were sent by heaven to play with Gu, right?”
