CH 106

Chapter 106: Wait For Me To Come Back.

“If you go, you will die.”

When he heard Lin Baihu’s words, Qin Yicang stared at him with wide eyes. Then, he opened the fan on his hand and swung it, making a wind sound. “Little White Bird! You have very little trust in me, don’t you? I’m the Tiger King of Kunlun Mountain!”

Lin Baihu looked up at him and said: “But before….you….”

“How long has it been since then?” Qin Yicang interrupted him. “Furthermore, at that time I was still young and inexperienced. I liked to play down the mountain and didn’t cultivate diligently. Nowadays, I’m very different from what I used to be.”

Once again, Lin Baihu fell silent.

Qin Yicang carefully observed Lin Baihu’s expression. Then, he closed the fan, and with the fan handle, he gently lifted Lin Baihu’s chin: “I will be fine, don’t worry. Once I go to Pingding Mountain, you and State Master Li must hurry to rescue Bian Zhonghua. After that, come to Pingding Mountain to find me. What do you think?”

Lin Baihu didn’t reply or nod his head. He simply stared at Qin Yicang for a long time before saying: “You said….”

“What?” Lin Baihu’s voice was so soft that Qin Yicang couldn’t hear what he had said.

Lin Baihu gently closed his eyes and tried to calm down his tangled and complicated emotions. When he opened his eyes again, in a louder voice, he said: “When we had to part because I had to go deal with the Taotie, you said to me: ‘Even if you can cover the sky with one hand and fix the whole world with the other, I will still not feel at ease. That’s what parting means.’ I feel the same way right now, I can’t feel at ease.”

“Ah,” Qin Yicang didn’t expect that Lin Baihu would be able to remember his words so clearly. And since his own words cannot be justifiably refuted, Qin Yicang didn’t know what to say for a long while.

They were both silent for a while. But in the end, it was Lin Baihu who broke the silence: “Can you hug me?”

Qin Yicang was stunned. After reacting, his heart was pounding hard against his chest, so he replied incoherently: “Al-cough, alright!!”

Qin Yicang wrapped his arms around Lin Baihu, caressing his back as he kissed his temple. Qin Yicang whispered: “Little white bird, I have always felt very guilty that because you saved me from Qiongqi that time, it ended up causing a huge disaster for your clan. But now I have a chance to make amends for my mistake. I believe the Heavens have sent me this opportunity.”

Lin Baihu didn’t say a single word. He simply hugged Qin Yicang tightly, squeezing his clothes with both hands.

In his entire life, Lin Baihu had never felt disgusted by anything.

But right now, he discovered that separation can be such an unpleasant thing.

“Alright, alright. Pingding Mountain is far away, and it’s still not too late. I’d better go now. Don’t worry, I’ll give Qiongqi a tremendous beating!” Qin Yicang smiled confidently, and still holding Lin Baihu, he shook him from side to side.

Lin Baihu nodded his head and slowly released Qin Yicang. However, he was still reluctant to part with him.

“Now that the Four Fierce Beasts have escaped from the seal, they will surely come looking for Bian Zhonghua. Therefore, you and State Master Li have to be very careful here in the Capital,” Qin Yicang said.

Lin Baihu nodded again.

Qin Yicang reached out and stroked Lin Baihu’s chin. Slowly, Qin Yicang raised Lin Baihu’s head to gently kiss him.

It was an extremely sweet, affectionate kiss. Without any urgency or pressure. It was just like a several years old relationship, without the need to be vigorous and powerful. A deep love that didn’t seem to disappear even over the years.

After Qin Yicang kissed Lin Baihu, he held his face and gave him a long kiss on his forehead: “Wait for me to come back!”

“I’ll wait.” Lin Baihu replied.

Once they were done, Qin Yicang and Lin Baihu walked out of the inner room, only to find State Master Li waiting outside. His hands were resting behind his back, looking into the distance.

State Master Li withdrew his eyes and looked at Qin Yicang and Lin Baihu. Guessing by the look on their faces, he asked Qin Yicang: “When will you leave?”

Qin Yicang replied: “Now.”

State Master Li sighed and nodded: “Hm, go.”

After seeing Qin Yicang off, State Master Li and Lin Baihu discussed how to deal with the enemy.

State Master Li picked up a divination tool, frowned, and said: “If this is true, Taotie and Taowu are on their way here. We must stop them at the Southern Mountain, 800 miles from the Capital. Otherwise, many innocent lives will be affected!”

Lin Baihu asked: “Aren’t we going to save Lord Bian?”

State Master Li sighed again and replied: “Lord Bian is currently trapped in Hundun’s Illusionary Realm. We can’t save him….”

Lin Baihu frowned and asked: “Then, what should we do?”

State Master Li: “We wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“We wait for Hundun to go find the Prince. Hundun likes to torture the hearts and minds of its victims, so he will definitely find Lord Bian’s weakness. Lord Bian’s weakness….is the Prince.”

…

Recently, Qi Ci had been feeling a bit restless and distracted. He had no appetite, he couldn’t sleep, and when he did manage to fall asleep, he had the weirdest dreams.

Qi Ci knew that Bian Zhonghua would come looking for him as soon as he came back, so Qi Ci didn’t go to the Secret Servants’ Residence again. He simply waited for Bian Zhonghua day after day.

However, Qi Ci wasn’t idle either. After all, he had promised A-Lian that he would find Yu Muyao. Therefore, Qi Ci would often travel to the outskirts of the Capital to find any kind of information that would be of use.

Even though he couldn’t find Yu Muyao yet, Qi Ci never gave up. His optimism slowly influenced A-Lian, who had been living in the Prince’s Residence ever since Qi Ci found her.

A-Lian, who was already dead in life, without the slightest intention of surviving, was now sewing clothes for Yu Muyao. She said that Yu Muyao had left without luggage, so she wanted to make her new clothes for her to wear once they found her.

Although A-Lian had half her left arm cut off, she was still able to do housework, so it wasn’t difficult for her to do needlework.

Today, Qi Ci went to a post station outside the Capital to inquire about Yu Muyao. At that moment, Qi Ci heard the postman say that on the day it had rained heavily, he had seen a young lady running into the depths of the forest. The appearance of the young lady was very similar to the one described by Qi Ci. Therefore, Qi Ci resolutely headed towards the depths of the forest on the mountain to search for Yu Muyao. But it was all in vain, so he decided to come back the next day to search more carefully.

When Qi Ci returned to his Residence, he told A-Lian the news.

A-Lian was so excited she spoke incoherently and almost kowtowed to Qi Ci again.

Qi Ci hurried to stop her.

A-Lian’s eyes were red, and with tears falling down her eyes, she said: “Your Highness, I really don’t know how to repay you….”

Qi Ci laughed: “There’s nothing to repay. By the way, after finding the County Princess, do you have any plan about what to do next?”

A-Lian replied: “In fact, the County King has already paved the way for the Young Lady to escape. He used to be a General in the Northern border, where he met and helped many capable and intelligent people. That way, if the Young Lady goes to the Northern border, she won’t have any worries for the rest of her life.”

Qi Ci thought: ‘Of course, how could the King of Bei’an County, who has always loved his daughter very much, not give her a way to escape and have a comfortable life?’

Qi Ci nodded: “That’s good.”

After walking out of A-Lian’s wing room, Qi Ci got up and went to his own wing room.

It was already late at night, so the courtyard was completely silent. Even the limestone path on the ground made no sound as Qi Ci stepped on it under the moonlight. Suddenly, Qi Ci wondered: ‘What will Bian Zhonghua and I do in the future?’

Qi Ci had been reading many strange books and records to try to understand what happened to the water that night.

Although he hadn’t yet come to understand what had happened to the water, he began to be interested in those strange stories.

‘I wonder if Bian Zhonghua would be willing to travel the world with me, to see if those strange events told in these books are really true.’

When he thought of Bian Zhonghua, Qi Ci couldn’t help but touch his left wrist with his right hand. There, tied like a bracelet, he wore the token that Bian Zhonghua had given to him. Now that he missed its owner, Qi Ci gently rubbed it a few times.

All of a sudden, an old servant, who had been keeping guard on the door, came running towards Qi Ci in a hurry: “Your Highness! Your Highness!!”

“What is it? Don’t be in a hurry, take your time,” Qi Ci said.

The old servant ran out of breath and said: “Your Highness, outside, there’s a young woman, outside the Residence, on the steps! Outside!”

Qi Ci was dumbfounded, but he soon hurried towards the gates of the Residence with the old servant. Right there, on the stairs at the entrance of the Residence, there was a young woman lying face down, so it was impossible to know if she was alive or dead.

The old servant was timid and didn’t dare to act on his own. Right now, after Empress Dowager Xianyi had died, the Prince’s Residence had lost prestige and power. Since the Residence was quite deserted and had no guards, Qi Ci had no other choice but to go down and help the young woman himself.

After moving the young woman and seeing her face, Qi Ci became utterly stunned. So much so that he couldn’t stop himself from exclaming out loud: “Princess of Bei’an County?!”