In her sleep, Mo Qinghuan sensed that the person beside her was in a rather strange mood. Rubbing her eyes, she propped herself up.
When she took a look, she was shocked. Mu Yanming, who was lying beside her, had the veins on his forehead bulging, and his forehead was covered with a fine layer of thin sweat.
His hands tightly grabbed the quilt, and his pained expression stabbed directly into Mo Qinghuan's heart.
She picked up a handkerchief and wanted to wipe the sweat off his face. Before her hand could touch Mu Yanming, he suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed her wrist.
He sat up straight away, with a cold aura surrounding him. His pair of blood - red eyes stared fixedly at Mo Qinghuan.
Just as Mo Qinghuan was about to say something, Mu Yanming pushed her down and pinned her on the bed.
His left hand protected her head. When their eyes met, Mo Qinghuan seemed to catch a glimpse of the hatred in his eyes.
"What's wrong with you?"
Her voice was very soft, completely different from the heart - rending state in his dream.
Mu Yanming took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Plop!
A clear tear fell on Mo Qinghuan's face, so scalding that it almost burned her skin.
He let go of Mo Qinghuan's hand and got up to sit in front of the bed.
Mo Qinghuan got up and hugged him from behind.
"Did you have a nightmare?"
She had never seen Mu Yanming so panicked before. That sense of loneliness, as if he had been abandoned by the whole world, made her heart ache so much that she could hardly breathe.
She and he had almost the same experience. She was an orphan and never knew who her parents were. It was her master who raised her and taught her all the medical skills.
As for him, his parents were killed by his own uncle when he was a child, and he also grew up with his master. However, he suffered even more. He carried a sworn feud on his back. It was already hard enough, but the murderer was right beside him.
Even though he had enough ability to avenge his parents and could directly force the emperor to abdicate and kill him, he couldn't!
If he did so, wouldn't he be the same kind of person as Mu Linyi? That was why he was so painful and helpless now.
"Mu Yanming, I'm here with you. I'll always be here."
She let go of him, got out of bed, and squatted in front of him.
Looking up at him slightly, he looked at Mo Qinghuan with tenderness in his eyes and gently stroked her face with his hand.
"Really? Will you always stay by this king's side?"
Seeing his cautiousness, Mo Qinghuan reached out her hand to smooth the wrinkles between his eyebrows. Blinking her eyes, she said with a light smile, "Of course. You can't drive me away. I won't leave you."
Mu Yanming gently helped her up and pulled her to sit in his arms.
"Good. You said this. You'll never leave. If you leave one day, this king will catch you back, break your legs, and then keep you by his side forever."
Seeing his serious look, Mo Qinghuan couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Okay. It's not dawn yet. Let's sleep for a while longer."
He hugged Mo Qinghuan back to the bed and tightly held her in his arms.
...
At this moment, a black - clothed man sneaked into the prison.
He knocked out the prison guards and took Mu Shengze away from the prison.
After pulling Mu Shengze out, Mu Shengze struggled free from his hand and questioned, "Who are you?"
The black - clothed man snorted coldly, turned around, and took off the hood of his cloak.
Mu Shengze stood still on the spot. "You! You're not here to rescue me, are you?"
The man snorted again. "That's right. I'm here to see you off to your doom!"
Saying that, he drew out the soft sword from his waist and directly put it on Mu Shengze's neck.
Mu Shengze threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Good! Very good! Excellent!"
Mu Shengze leaned back. When his hand touched the ground, he kicked at the man's chin.
The attacker obviously didn't expect Mu Shengze to be so good at martial arts. His face turned solemn.
"Good! I underestimated you!"
The two fought with each other, which alarmed the patrolling guards.
"Who's there!"
Seeing a dozen or so guards rushing over, the black - clothed man glared angrily at Mu Shengze and then turned around to escape.
Mu Shengze walked up to the guards. "What are you all doing? You didn't even know that the black - clothed man knocked out the guards and took this king away."
The leading guard laughed heartily. "Come on. Have you forgotten that you've been demoted to a commoner? Stop pretending to be a prince in front of me! Someone, drag him back to the dungeon."
Two guards immediately stepped forward and grabbed Mu Shengze's arms.
"How dare you! No one is allowed to touch this king, or I'll take his head right now!"
The leading guard ignored him and impatiently waved his hand.
Two more people immediately stepped forward to subdue him. Mu Shengze knew that he couldn't run away now. Otherwise, he wouldn't have put these little minions in his eyes at all.
"Report to this king. I want to see the emperor!"
Suddenly, there was a light cough from behind. "What's all this ruckus about?"
The leading guard suddenly cowered. He walked up to Mu Yichen, bowed, and said respectfully, "Your Highness, the King of Qi, why are you in the prison?"
Mu Yichen gave him a cold look. "This king is here to see my elder brother. What? Do I have to report to you in advance?"
"Your Highness, the King of Qi, you're embarrassing this lowly one. This lowly one certainly doesn't mean that. Please come this way."
Mu Shengze looked at the leading guard and snorted coldly in his heart. Status and power, indeed. If you lost both of these things, you would live worse than a commoner. If he had to live like this for the rest of his life, he would rather die!
Mu Yichen dusted off the non - existent dust on his clothes, walked up to Mu Shengze, leaned over, and whispered in his ear, "If you want me to save you, you'd better cooperate with me obediently. Otherwise, you should know that with your status as a commoner, you won't be able to stir up any waves!"
Mu Shengze looked up at Mu Yichen with a cold and detached expression. But after hearing what he said and thinking for a while, he put on a faint smile. "Your Highness, the King of Qi, thank you for coming to see me."
Mu Yichen ignored him. He turned to the guards and said, "No matter what, he is the son of the current emperor and the queen. You'd better be sensible. Otherwise, you won't end up well."
"Okay, send the person back to the prison. This king should go on a city patrol."
Saying that, he turned around and left. Mu Shengze glared angrily at his back.
"Sure enough, you're really this king's good second younger brother. All these years, this king misjudged you!"
During his patrol, Mu Yichen met Mu Yefeng and Mu Yanming who were entering the palace.
The two of them sized him up, and their movements and expressions were quite synchronized.
This made Mu Yichen feel dazed for a moment, as if the two of them were real brothers.
"Your Highness, the King." He bowed slightly to Mu Yanming.
Mu Yefeng, who was now the crown prince, was automatically ignored by him.
Mu Yefeng was neither angry nor annoyed. He turned to Mu Yanming and said, "Your Highness, the King, let's go quickly. Father is waiting for us to discuss important matters."
Mu Yanming lazily glanced at Mu Yichen and then walked towards the imperial study.