Chapter 9 – Fright

Editor – Chubby Dragon
Proofreader – Happy Bubbles

Long Junhao had a dream that night.

In his dream, he had returned to his original world and was being pampered by his empress mother and brothers and could do as he pleased. The general he had always cared about had gone on a military campaign and there wasn’t any guarantee that he could make it back alive. Long Junhao begged his empress mother to permit him to leave the palace. Long Junhao watched him from afar and then walked over. This time, he didn’t take any liberties with the young maiden that had set up a stall by the roadside. He actually didn’t know why this was happening. All he knew was that when he rushed over and stood before the general, and before he could speak, the general had already shouted, “Men, seize this scoundrel!”

“Aye!” Two soldiers immediately appeared from behind and strode to him.

Long Junhao felt astonished. “What have I done?! I didn’t take liberties…” Spasmodic sobbing broke out beside him before he even finished his sentence. Long Junhao turned over and saw a young lady bawling into her handkerchief. He became stunned and stiffly turned his head back.     

The general sneered. “What else do you have to say?”

“No, I didn’t! I just wanted to get your attention.” Long Junhao trembled as he saw the soldiers approaching. He then met the general’s gaze. “I am the prince. You can’t can’t capture me, I…I like you…”

There was no change in the general’s expression. “No one is above the law! Tie him up!”  

Long Junhao felt a sharp ache in his shoulder but he didn’t cry out in pain and continued staring straight at him. “I like you.”

The general replied coldly, “I have no interest in a cut-sleeve¹ An euphemism for gay relationships in Chinese!”

His icy cold eyes didn’t hold a single bit of warmth. Long Junhao had never known this person could be so terrifying and couldn’t help falling to his knees. Pale and in a daze, he uttered, “But… but we have clearly kissed…”

The general’s demeanor became even colder. “What wild accusations are these? Men, drag him away!”

“Wai… Wait!” Long Junhao was being pinned down and used all his strength to slightly shift his body forward. He stared, unblinking, at the tall, imposing person before himself and thought hard on how to explain his actions. But when he opened his mouth to speak, the only words that came out were, “I like you…” His tears even started flowing. “I really… really like you very much…”

The general observed Long Junhao and fell silent for a moment before responding, “I don’t like you, the person I like is…”

“NO——” Long Junhao suddenly sat up straight and was greeted by the familiar scene of his room. Thunder roared as a heavy storm brewed outside.

“Phew…” Long Junhao wiped away the perspiration on his forehead. “Luckily, I’m still here. That was scary…” He placed a hand over his pounding heart, then suddenly paused before wanting to give himself slaps.

“Lucky, my *ss. If I was captured, my brothers would still have saved me. Who do I have here?!” He rolled about on his bed and chewed at the covers. Finally, he felt like he had vented enough and was about to head back to sleep when his door was suddenly kicked open with a loud bang. Long Junhao was startled and turned his head slowly. At that moment, a flash of lightning lit up that person for a brief moment. Long Junhao fell off his bed face first. He trembled for quite a while before he dared to peek over again.        

As his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, Long Junhao vaguely saw the outline of this person. Why did it appear to be so familiar? He clutched the corner of the bed frame while thinking hard. It would probably only be one amongst three that would dare kick his door open in such a noisy manner in the middle of the night… Thus, Long Junhao carefully inched his way towards the door and reached up to flick the light switch at the entrance of his room. 

The room immediately lit up and he saw Comrade Shu Wen standing there stiffly and without any emotion, like a statue.

Long Junhao shuddered because this person was staring fixedly at him. Shu Wen’s gaze was stuck onto Long Junhao no matter where he shifted at. It was a kind of fear that gripped Long Junhao and he couldn’t help shiver. He remembered asking this person to go kill himself and also knew that he was now ‘pregnant’. Pregnant women would view their own children with utmost importance, so could this person have come… to get payback?

The prince watched carefully. This person had a rather imposing vibe when he wasn’t speaking. Long Junhao gulped and shuddered again.

He was actually very timid, and as there was no one else around, he didn’t know what would happen if Shu Wen went berserk. Long Junhao contemplated running outside. He definitely wasn’t going to risk his precious life going up against this lunatic. Therefore, the best thing to do right now was to run out and find his attendants, but this person was blocking his doorway… However, he grew up in the palace and even if he hadn’t mastered the ability to not show his emotions, he could still put on a slightly calm front. “May I know… what’s up?”

Comrade Shu Wen continued standing there expressionlessly and not saying a word.

Long Junhao coughed. He tensed up and tried to show his most amiable smile. “I heard that Madam is expecting. Congratulations.”

Comrade Shu Wen continued staring straight at him.

Every muscle in Long Junhao’s body tightened and he felt his tiny heart pounding. He continued in a steady tone, “Madam, if there is nothing else, I will take my leave.” Long Junhao started to go past him but Comrade Shu Wen extended an arm to block his escape route. Still, he maintained his cold, silent manner.

Long Junhao felt his legs going soft. He could remain calm, but only for a short while. Now, he found himself gasping and asked, “I didn’t know you were expecting back then. Really, if I had known, I wouldn’t have told you to kill yourself. It’s true…” 

Comrade Shu Wen still didn’t say a word.

Long Junhao felt he wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer. He finally made a decision to go all out in fear. He straightened his back, took on a defensive stance and pointed a finger. Just as he was about to ask what Shu Wen wanted, he saw tears slowly dripping down Shu Wen’s cheeks. Long Junhao became momentarily stunned as he heard Shu Wen’s shaky voice, “I… I am with your child…”

Long Junhao froze. His nerves were already in a frayed state from the nightmare. Now, with this creature’s disturbance topping it off, Long Junhao swore he really heard his mind’s rationality go ‘pop’. With a warped look on his face, he started searching the room for a murder weapon like a frenzied beast.

Comrade Shu Wen was totally unaware of the danger he was in and went on miserably, “You… you have to take responsibility…”

With his mind in disarray, Long Junhao grabbed that paddle and rushed over.

Gu Chen was woken up in the wee hours of the morning by his ringing phone. He answered it groggily and was greeted by the anxious wails of a nurse on the other side, “Dr. Gu! Hurry over to the institution. Our… our prince… Aiya, somebody is going to die!”

Every bit of sleepiness left Gu Chen’s body. “What happened?”

“Aiyo, I can’t describe it with just a few words. You have to hurry over to see…”

Gu Chen hung up the call, got off the bed to change before grabbing his car keys and leaving. His heart beat a little quickly and he placed a hand on his chest.

Impossible, those people wouldn’t act before he recovered. But… What if? If this is really the case, then what am I supposed to do…

Gu Chen sped all the way to the asylum without stopping. When he got out of the car and strode over, a nurse immediately scampered over when she saw him. Gu Chen asked, “How is he now?”

“I was just about to call and explain the situation to you,” The nurse spoke while matching Gu Chen’s pace, “The prince’s condition is already stable. But you should still take a look just in case. Both the parents of our prince and Mr. Shu have arrived and there’s a confrontation.”

Gu Chen frowned when he heard this. “What exactly happened?”

“Oh, we still aren’t too certain of the exact situation. All we know is that Mr. Shu snuck into the prince’s room and pissed him off in the middle of the night. We are still investigating how he managed to avoid all the staff on duty.” The nurse rattled on, “Our prince rarely hits anyone personally. This is the second time he has done so. This is really too scary.”

Gu Chen heaved a sigh of relief when he learned that Long Junhao was fine before asking curiously, “When was the first time he hit someone?”

“It was during the few days before he first started calling himself a prince.” The nurse recalled. “Mhm, during those few days, he beat up his primary doctor, Dr. He.”

Gu Chen suddenly became enlightened. The Director had raised him to the position of primary doctor after hearing about the gossip between him and Long Junhao. Gu Chen had originally wanted to decline but Dr. He had come over, fully wrapped in bandages and shed tears of gratitude while shaking his hand. Thus, Gu Chen had had no choice but to accept it, leading to the current circumstances. There was a slight moment of silence. “What was the reason back then?”

“Oh, at that time, nobody dared go close to the prince because of his explosive temperament. Dr. He had gone over to give him his medicine. When the prince asked what medicine it was, Dr. He said…” The nurse paused for a bit and tried her best to reenact Dr. He’s flattering tone, “Your Highness, this is actually the immortality pill that was Qin Shihuang’s² The first emperor of unified China lifelong dream. It’s 100% genuine.”

“…”

At the moment, the walkway in front of the asylum’s emergency room was thoroughly filled with a depressive atmosphere. Long Xi calmly watched the livid man standing opposite him while Xia Han stood in front of her son and protected him from the woman ahead who looked like she wanted to bite him.

Long Junhao was especially clever right now. He clutched Xia Han’s skirt and spoke in an innocent and retarded manner, “Mummy, I want to have sweets.” Humph, I am now mentally ill. I can’t be charged for killing someone, let alone beating, eh?

“Okay, okay. I will buy some for you.” Xia Han consoled her son but she didn’t budge an inch nor give way in the staring competition with the lady before her.

The man on the other side was absolutely fuming with rage. Both their families were formidable and both parties were basically unable to touch each other. Thus, he could only shout, “Bullsh*t excuse!” He pointed at Long Junhao and growled, “So what if my son entered his room? So what if it was just a scare in the middle of the night? It’s not like he would die from that! Furthermore, if he was afraid, what reason was there to beat my son into this state?!” The doors behind opened at this moment. A Shu Wen covered from head to toe in bandages was helped out. That man was even more furious upon seeing this. “See for yourselves! What has my son become?!”               

Shu Wen tottered over, ignoring his father’s fury and his mother’s tears. His gaze still stubbornly remained on Long Junhao and he spoke miserably, “I am really with your child…”

Silence——

The furious man immediately went rigid. He turned around and watched as tears flowed down his son’s cheeks. “It’s true… You… You have to take responsibility for me… If not, I will jump into the river…”

Shu Wen’s father became silent for a long moment before finally speaking, “If it was me, I… I would also hit…”

• 1
  An euphemism for gay relationships in Chinese ↩︎
• 2
  The first emperor of unified China ↩︎