The Villain Runs Wild

Ch 68 - Ruthless Crown Prince x Foolish Prince: Awakening In A Dream


“Then, is big brother not angry? Want to eat candied haws?”

Yan Qin still had a happy look on his face, and Lin Sui couldn’t help but feel a little at a loss for a moment.

He didn’t know if there really was something wrong with his brain after having been foolish for so long, but Lin Sui didn’t see anything wrong in his eyes.

Even if the other party’s acting skills were excellent, according to Lin Sui’s understanding of Yan Qin, he would always be able to make out a few faults, but not today.

Lin Sui tilted his head, looking down on him.

Yan Qin also knew that the Crown Prince, who’d grown up with luxuries, looked down on this kind of thing from a streetside stall, so after assuming that attitude, he just ate it himself.

The dealings with his grandfather just now had gone very smoothly, his grandfather was very happy he’d recovered his right mind and bluntly said he would do his utmost.

Of course, this utmost was not for the struggle for power, he was currently not at that stage yet, but he took advantage of the time when no one happened to be paying attention to him to secretly work hard.

Lin Sui’s personal guard knocked on the sedan door, pulled the curtains open slightly, and spoke to Lin Sui in a low voice: “Your Highness, this subject seems to have seen His Highness King Qing and a man walking into that restaurant out front together.”

Lin Sui looked outside through the small crack, asking: “Do you know who that other person is?”

“This subject only had time for a brief glance, he seemed very unfamiliar, this subject didn’t recognise him.”

“Send someone to investigate, let’s return to the palace first.”

Lin Sui finished speaking, and the guard let go of the curtain.

As the party entered the palace, when Yan Qin wanted to walk into the main palace hall behind Lin Sui, Lin Sui drew the guard’s sabre from his belt and pressed it against Yan Qin’s throat, forcing him to stop in his tracks.

Bao Su’s face paled with fright, but she didn’t open her mouth, fearing it would make His Highness the Crown Prince’s mood even more unpredictable.

“If they hadn’t found you today, then it would have been this One’s fault. If this matter had been deliberately used as an in by someone looking for a pretext to condemn this One by word and by pen, do you know how this One would have been punished?”

By their nature, many things could be big or small, if no one made a fuss, then they could be lightly dismissed and would not be worth bringing up, but if someone recklessly publicised them and thereby escalated to the throne, then it would be another war of words.

Lin Sui knew Yan Qin didn’t intend on using this matter to scheme against him, he just wanted to have the opportunity to leave the palace and meet his grandfather Pei Xinian, but he still had to pretend on the face of it, so although he was furious on the outside, he was somewhat carefree on the inside.

People would sometimes have to act against their will and do many things they wouldn’t normally due to their situation, just like how if Yan Qin didn’t use him or use other people, he would only be able to die trapped inside this deep palace.

Power was never freely given, rather, it had to be fought for. This was why he’d always been very clear on what he had to do, and now Yan Qin understood this as well.

Bao Su had knelt down with the first word the Crown Prince spoke, if the Crown Prince wanted to appoint fault, she had to bear the blame.

Yan Qin’s eyes were filled with panic, but he didn’t open his mouth to use ignorance as a way to shirk the blame, instead he knelt on the ground like Bao Su had done.

“Big brother Crown Prince, I didn’t mean to harm you, I never thought about harming you, you can punish me.”

With the Fifth Prince kneeling like this, the surrounding maids and palace guards all knelt down as well.

The ice-cold edge of the blade pressed against his skin, Yan Qin looked up at the young Crown Prince holding the sabre and silently waited for his judgement.

He’d known this matter probably wouldn’t be easily written off, so he’d long since made preparations for punishment.

“Get up.”

The expression of the youth in front of him became even colder, his eyes sharper than knives, cutting Yan Qin’s body.

Yan Qin stood up, and felt pain on his neck due to the too-large movement.

The edge of the blade had presumably cut into his neck, leaving behind a thin gash.

“I didn’t take you away from Eighth brother that day for you to kneel for me today. No matter how stupid and humble you are, you’re still the Master of this palace. If you kneel for me today, will you kneel for King Qing some day in the future? Aside from the Master of the Land, you should kneel for no one.”

The Master of the Land that Lin Sui spoke of was not the current Emperor, but rather the future him.

He actually didn’t mind that Yan Qin knelt for him, sometimes playing like this could even have a distinctive kind of feel, but at this moment it wasn’t just the two of them. With so many watching eyes surrounding them, these news could flow into any palace tomorrow.

Lin Sui believed that a man should kneel before no one[1], so even if Yan Qin was really a fool right now, he would still have said the same things.

No one was deserving of him kneeling for them.

Yan Qin stared at Lin Sui in a daze, each word he spoke made the blood all over his body boil and surge, and his fingertips felt numb.

The cold moonlight fell over the roof tiles and the eaves of the corridor, and the eyes of the Crown Prince holding the blade were ruthless, his posture proud.

After he became foolish, he head hear innumerable mockery and ridicule, and the mismatch between his identity and character, and the cold treatment he’d received made it so everyone could step on him. There was only one person who, even if he looked down on him and cursed him as a lowly concubine’s son, would also tell him that he was born to be respected.

“Get out of the Eastern Palace, this One doesn’t want to see you today.”

Everyone held their breaths, and Yan Qin walked out of the Eastern Palace a little dazed.

Bao Su wanted to say something, but Yan Qin lifted his hand slightly, so she remained silent.

When Yan Qin came back to his senses, he was already seated back inside the Zhongyu Palace, and the scar on his neck had turned into a thin pale red line.

He hastily took a bath, then fell asleep with his messy thoughts.

On Yan Qin’s birthday, his dreams were filled with moonlight and the cold edge of a blade, with the faint smell of blood and a warm fragrance blending together.

His older brother stared at him out of the corner of his eye holding a blade, graceful and charming, and he couldn’t hear the vague words that came out of his mouth. When he caught sight of his brother leaving, he staggered to follow until he came to an old and crumbling palace wall.

Red pillars and green vines inside a patch of grey mist, making the black clothes particularly distinctive.

Yan Qin found himself approaching quietly, and his heartbeat accelerated unconsciously, it seemed like he wanted to see something?

See what…?

Just then, the young Crown Prince’s ruthless eyes shone with water, and the lips biting the cloth were bright red.

In a flash, the dilapidated palace walls became wide, lofty halls, and the young man on the bed had his fine black hair draped over the quilt, staring at him coldly as he held a book.

He was laying on the ground, two bare feet stepping on his chest.

In his dream, Yan Qin did something he didn’t dare to do in reality, he grabbed the young man’s ankle.

Yan Qin couldn’t clearly remember what happened afterwards, he just remembered excitement and satisfaction, it was a beautiful dream.

In the early morning of the next day, Yan Qin felt a little dazed, it was only when he heard the sound of Bao Su coming in that he quickly yelled for her to stop, but it was already too late.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed, Your Highness, this is completely normal, it means Your Highness is already an adult.”

Bao Su was twenty-four this year, in fact, she was already at the age where she could be let go from the palace, but she worried about her little Master staying alone in this lion’s den, so she voluntarily stayed.

When faced with the matter of Yan Qin becoming an adult, Bao Su was a little happy at first, but then she felt at a loss.

If the Madam had still been here, she would have arranged things, but her Master was still laying low for now, so how could she go out looking for those things?

“This servant will find some books for You to read later, first, this servant will draw a bath and get a change of clothes for You.”

Bao Su left with a smile. Yan Qin got a little red in the face and ears, he faintly knew what had happened, but he didn’t understand it too clearly.

He had wanted to find some books thinking about the Crown Prince’s actions that day, but had tossed the matter to the back of his mind.

Bao Su came back with a fire-preventing diagram[2], she then helped Yan Qin tidy up his bed quilts and told him to remember to hide it after reading it, so as to prevent people from getting any clues.

Yan Qin had only flipped through it for a moment when he closed it with a start, continuously nodding his head.

When he was a kid, he had read “The Analects of Confucius” and “The Classics of Rites”, and he had recently listened to “Policy Affairs” and “The Spring and Autumn Annals”. Nowhere did he ever gain knowledge about these sorts of things.

After flipping through a few pages, Yan Qin became disinterested again and stood up, staring at the ground in a daze while thinking about last night’s dream, his mind in a mess.

Even though he had little love for his family, he knew that had been a person he shouldn’t have dreamt of, but he was still happy.

Yan Qin put his hand on his heart, frowning slightly.

From the Zhongyu Palace, he looked out into the distance at the Eastern Palace. They were clearly not very far apart, but the distance seemed hard to cross.

In the afternoon, Yan Qin planned on going to look for Lin Sui. In any case, what his big brother the Crown Prince had said was that he didn’t want to see him yesterday, which did not necessarily apply today.

On his way there, he ran into the Seventh Prince.

They hadn’t seen each other in a while, he head that the Seventh Prince had come down with a rash and the imperial physician had said that he couldn’t go outside, so the Seventh Prince didn’t leave Yuehua Palace for a long time. When he’d come out, Yan Qin happened to be staying in the Zhongyu Palace or the Eastern Palace, so all together they hadn’t seen each other for a few months.

“Fifth brother, are you looking for the Crown Prince?”

The Seventh Prince’s lips curled when he thought about what he heard when he was sick.

If it weren’t for that idiot not telling the truth the time he fell into the water, why would the Crown Prince be helping him? Some idiots were really annoying.

Yan Qin nodded, he was hiding something in his heart, which had already flown away towards the Eastern Palace, so he was too busy to say much to the Seventh Prince.

“I guess even fools can cling onto a high branch, but don’t be too annoying, Fifth Brother. Big brother Crown Prince’s patience is not good, so if you offend him, it’ll be useless even if you kneel outside his palace all night and act like a slave.”

This was blatant mockery, he’d just come to know of what happened in the Eastern Palace yesterday.

Yan Qin’s face sunk, and he thought to himself that the Crown Prince should bring the Eastern Palace’s servant’s under control. Moreover, he wasn’t feeling very well on the inside, even if the Crown Prince was their older brother, why did hearing the Seventh Prince call him ‘big brother Crown Prince’ feel so harsh in his ears?

It was probably because the Seventh Prince wasn’t being sincere, so hearing it felt strange.

“It’s not your place to talk about big brother Crown Prince and me.”

Yan Qin rolled his eyes, not forgetting to act stupid, and pulled a face at the Seventh Prince, then ran away in a flash.

The Seventh Prince didn’t have time to retort as he watched Yan Qin run away into the distance, he stomped his feet angrily, but then thought about something and snorted out a laugh.

Yan Qin ran to the Eastern Palace, but the palace servants informed him that the Crown Prince was not inside.

“The chrysanthemums are blooming in the Imperial flower garden, so the Noble Imperial Consort invited the other wives and princes to view the chrysanthemums and eat crabs. His Highness the Crown Prince left for the banquet just now.”

Yan Qin nodded, no wonder the Seventh Prince had been walking down the path just now, he was probably heading to the Imperial flower garden from the Imperial College.

If this were the past, he wouldn’t go. Before the fever had messed with his head, he knew how to make the most of benefits while avoiding harm, but today was different from the past, and he could actually go take a look.

The Emperor sat on the main table with the Imperial Noble Consort by his side, the Crown Prince sat on the second position, with King Qing next to him. The princes sat on a row on one side of the Crown Prince, and the wives sat on the other.

When Yan Qin came in, he just happened to hear the Imperial Noble Consort saying: “His Highness the Crown Prince isn’t young anymore, sixteen is old enough to get married and have children, but Sister passed early and there is no one to arrange these things. Now that this Concubine is holding the phoenix seal on her behalf, wouldn’t it be better for this Concubine to look after the Crown Prince?”

The Empress’ seat was vacant, and the Imperial Noble Consort was managing the harem in her place, with the help of Consort Yue, Consort De, and Consort Shu.

When her voice fell, everyone saw the Crown Prince’s expression darken.

Just as Lin Sui was about to open his mouth to sneer at her, a voice came from the entrance of the Imperial flower garden.

“Why is it so lively here? Is everyone having dinner here today?”

The Fifth Prince looked at everyone naively and questioningly, and everyone’s attention was shifted in an instant.

“Turns out the Fifth Prince came here, this One[3] sent someone to look for you at the Zhongyu Palace but couldn't find you. Come here and take a seat.”

The Imperial Noble Consort had a loving smile on her face, and she filled the gap in time when the Emperor said nothing.

In reality, she had simply never thought about the Fifth Prince, and the Emperor had never asked anything about it when he sat down either.

“Thanking Noble Imperial Consort Madam, paying respects to Father Emperor.”

Yan Qin smiled. His facial features had opened up a bit and, without looking at those pure and clear eyes, he had a bit of the charm of a handsome young man.

“Can A-Qin sit next to big brother Crown Prince?”

How could Yan Qin not see that the seating was arranged in order of status? But he insisted on seating next to the Crown Prince, and since he ‘didn’t understand’ these things, the others couldn’t say anything.

“Of course,” Lin Sui beckoned, then made eye contact with King Qing and spoke with a slightly cold smile on his face, “Second brother, please make space.”

 

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The author has something to say:

Yan San: Although I don’t understand, no one can snatch away my wife [righteously]


[1] The expression here is actually “男兒膝下有黃金 a man has gold beneath his knees”, which means that a man’s dignity is very valuable, so they should not kneel to just anyone. ⤴

[2] A ‘避火圖 fire-preventing diagram’ is basically a scroll or booklet filled erotic drawings of men and women engaged in different “acts”, the ancient superstition was that if you put one on the main beam of your house, the deity of fire would become embarrassed when seeing the pictures and run away without burning the house down. ⤴

[3] For those who may have forgotten, the pronoun ‘本宮 bengong’ is used mainly by Consorts/high-ranking wives of the Emperor, but the Crown Prince can use it as well due to his position as heir to the throne. ⤴