Chapter 29 – Be Nice To Him

You Shu swore that he had no intention of guilting him by doing such a heroic thing like blocking the sword with his body. Although he did have selfish thoughts of becoming closer to him, he never thought of manipulating him to earn his goodwill.

It was mainly because his body had acted without his control. The moment he saw Xiao Weixin in danger, he subconsciously rushed over without considering anything else. At that time, his mind had gone blank and he had no time to think about it at all.

Alas, he wouldn’t die like this, right?

You Shu weakly leaned against the tree and thought helplessly, feeling slightly bitter in his heart. After fighting tooth and nail for survival for so many years, it would be such a pity if he were to die like this. But, thinking about it, if he can leave behind a glorious, majestic and heroic image in the protagonist’s heart, [this sacrifice] would definitely be worthwhile. Maybe after all this is over, he would even confer a posthumous title on him.

This wave is not a loss¹It is a Chinese meme from gaming. Although the game is being lost and there is no advantage or silver lining in sight, the final result is not that bad. A delulu type of thing like everything is bad but as long as you stubbornly say that it’s good bc it wasn’t worse, then all is well. Wave is a gaming term ig..

You Shu comforted himself. The pain in his chest did not allow him to think too much. He tried to open his eyes and vaguely saw Xiao Weixin holding his sword and skillfully attacking the assassins with a majestic momentum, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

As expected of my male idol, he is so handsome even when fighting.

Then his vision blurred and his senses completely plunged into darkness.

When Xiao Weixin came back with his sword, which was still dripping blood, he found that You Shu had closed his eyes and felt his heart stop for a moment. He quickly stepped forward to check his breathing, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Still alive.

But that sword was coated with poison and it would be very dangerous if he could not seek medical treatment in time. Xiao Weixin helped You Shu up, removed the signal flare from his waist and fired it up. After a while, Ying Er arrived. He looked at the wounded corpses and the blood splashed all over the ground then at the unconscious and severely wounded You Shu, and immediately realized what had happened. He hurriedly rushed over to take You Shu [from Xiao Weixin and] onto his back.

Xiao Weixin ordered with a cold face: “Take him away first.”

Ying Er was worried about his safety but he could only obey the order. He turned around and disappeared into the forest with You Shu on his back.

Xiao Weixin stood over the unconscious figure of Xiao Weishen, gripping his sword. Countless complexities flashed in his eyes. Although he had stopped You Shu from assassinating him, when such an opportunity was presented to him, he also could not restrain himself and the hostility in his heart overflowed.

With just one strike of the sword, this lowlife would be beheaded immediately and he would successfully avenge his mother.

Xiao Weixin slowly raised the sword in his hand but, in the end, he did not strike.

His reason still prevailed. As long as the Xia family did not die, this country would still have no hope of a bright future and his enmity would remain unresolved and unavenged. The death of Xiao Weishen was far from being enough.

Xiao Weixin decisively twisted the sword around and slashed his arm. Blood instantly poured out, soaking his white clothes. The sound of countless footsteps rang in his ears and he knew the Imperial Army had arrived. He supported himself on the tree and slowly fell down.

No one could believe that someone would have the guts to sneak into the spring hunt and attempt an assassination. In the hundred-odd years that had passed since the establishment of Great Xia, this was the first time such a thing had happened and everyone was extremely panicked. Empress Dowager Xia’s face became white [with fright] and, supported by the maids and the Empress, she quickly rushed to the emperor’s tent.

Xiao Weixin was also in a rush, making Hua Chun, who had been summoned urgently, think that her prince had been gravely injured. This thought frightened her to the point of having her knees weaken. However, when she rushed into the tent, she found her prince sitting in front of the bed calmly. Before she even had the time to breathe a sigh of relief, she heard him whisper: “Come and check him quickly.”

Hua Chun saw that he didn’t look seriously injured as the rumors said so she didn’t ask any more questions and immediately went over to check on You Shu. You Shu had been placed on Xiao Weixin’s bed and the front of his clothes had been cut open, revealing the bone-deep wound.

Hua Chun was born in a medical family. When she was a child, she was specifically selected by Consort Xian to look after Xiao Weixin’s health and she naturally has excellent medical skills. After careful inspection, she found that the flesh surrounding the wound and the blood oozing from it were both black, and understood that he had been poisoned. She brought out her silver needles and sterilized them, then pierced them into several major acupuncture points. She then asked Luo Yao to heat a dagger over the fire, so that she could cut off the dead flesh and sew the wound shut.

Although Luo Yao usually behaves like a coquettish young miss in front of You Shu, when it comes down to it, she is focused and steady, assisting Hua Chun in a disciplined manner, without causing any mess or delay.

Xiao Weixin couldn’t assist them so he stood slightly away from the bed and watched them with a tense frown on his face. Although You Shu’s eyes were still closed, his brows were knitted together, as if he was in great pain.

Hua Chun held her breath, and used the dagger to slice open the flesh on his chest, allowing poisoned blood to flow out and into the basin. The blood was black from the poison and emitted a foul stench but Xiao Weixin, who had always been mysophobic and cleanliness-obsessed, for once didn’t feel disgusted. He continued to stand there quietly, his eyes locked on You Shu’s face.

The pain of having your chest cut open with a dagger is unimaginable but You Shu remained silent. Despite being unconscious, the habits the years had ingrained into him and the training he had gone through made him choose to endure it silently. Even though the pain was agonizing to the point that it felt as if his soul and body were being torn apart, he did not let out so much as a groan.

This is his what it means to be a shadow guard.

Hua Chun managed to treat the wound in a timely manner. In addition, the shadow guards usually undergo poison training and have a stronger resistance to poison than ordinary people so she was given enough time to detoxify him. On the other hand, if it were her own prince [in his place], the outcome would be uncertain.

An incense stick’s time later²Between half an hour and an hour. My guess would be 40 minutes., Hua Chun finally finished the treatment. She then used a silver needle to stitch the wound together slowly and then carefully wrapped it with medicinal gauze. By this time, the back of her clothes had been soaked through with sweat.

“How is it?” Xiao Weixin asked her after seeing her put down the scissors.

Hua Chun wiped the sweat from her forehead and replied softly: “Eighty percent of the poison has been removed, and the remaining toxins will have to be discharged slowly over the recuperation period.”

“Fortunately, he himself prevented the poison from flowing into his main artery³I have no idea what this could be referring to or if it’s possible to block one particular artery without medical equipment. But this is fiction, and we have accepted stranger things so let’s just roll with this. in time and the main artery was not damaged so there is no need to worry.”

Hearing what Hua Chun said, Xiao Weixin breathed a sigh of relief: “That’s good.”

Hua Chun noticed that his arm was also injured and hurriedly got up and brought gauze to bandage him. She asked rather reproachfully: “Since Your Highness is injured, why didn’t you ask Wang Chen or the others to deal with the injury?”

It’s not that Xiao Weixin didn’t want Wang Chen to handle it, it was just that asking him to do so would create an unnecessary fuss and later on, he himself forgot about it. “It doesn’t matter. I caused this injury myself.”

Hua Chun was a little surprised.

“I didn’t leave any of those assassins alive, so you should try to make my injuries look worse.” Xiao Weixin whispered, “Xiao Weishen will definitely come to visit later.”

Hua Chun knew what he wanted to do and immediately wrapped up all the visible parts of Xiao Weixin’s body. At first glance, it looked like he was truly severely injured.

Xiao Weixin: “…”

There’s no need to bandage even my head.

He gently carried the still unconscious You Shu into another tent for him to rest. As soon as he lay him down, he heard Wang Chen’s loud voice announcing at the door: “This lowly subordinate greets the Emperor!”

Hua Chun stood beside the bed with her head lowered. After a while, Xiao Weishen came in, showing great concern for his brother on the bed.

Xiao Weixin was leaning on the bed with half-closed eyes. Xiao Weishen saw the thick black blood in the basin under the bed at a glance, and he was filled with guilt for a moment: “How is Seventh Brother?”

Hua Chun bowed respectfully and replied: “Answering the Emperor, His Highness, he… he is seriously injured. The sword wound on his body was poisoned. Although this servant has cleaned it up, it has damaged his foundation. It is likely that it will take several years for him to recover fully from this.”

After Xiao Weishen listened to her words, his face filled with slight guilt. It didn’t look like he was deceiving him and he still remembered that he had pushed this person out to block the sword. No matter how he twisted it, he was the one at fault. Even if the Seventh Brother was resentful because of this, it was normal.

Even someone as vicious as Xiao Weishen felt that he had gone too far, so he softened his tone unconsciously and said softly: “You should take good care of yourself. Zhen will ask the imperial doctor to come and take a look at you later. Miss Hua Chun, this emperor has great faith in your medical skills but it would be more reassuring if the imperial doctors could also examine him once⁴This complete POS…. even after pushing your own brother in front of a fking sword you still want to poison him and think he’s lying to you (i mean he is but you most certainly deserve it).

“Don’t worry. Zhen will not let your injury be in vain. Those assassins will definitely pay the price!”

Xiao Weixin’s face was pale and his lips were purple. After listening to his words, he nodded weakly: “Imperial Brother, this minister’s injuries are nothing to worry about. But, have the origins of those assassins been discovered yet?”

“It must be the Quzhou rebels.” Xiao Weishen said bitterly, “Zhen will definitely destroy their lair!”

Xiao Weixin coughed a few times and spit out a mouthful of blood. Xiao Weishen was worried that he would scare him by saying anything more, so he told Hua Chun to take care of him and went out with a thunderous look.

After he walked away, Xiao Weixin sat up calmly. His face was pensive and he carefully thought about the all the suspects who could possibly be responsible for the assassination.

Unlike Xiao Weishen, he didn’t quite believe that the Quzhou rebels were responsible for what happened this time. It’s not that he doesn’t believe what Xiao Weishen said. After all, he has no need to lie to him at this time. But the Quzhou rebels had been eradicated almost fully three years ago, and the few people remaining do not have the capability of organizing such an assassination.

The Quzhou rebels were the former subordinates of Yi Wang⁵翼王 (yì wáng) Offline and mostly mentioned character. He was, I think, the Second Prince. , who had been Xiao Weishen’s strongest competitor for the throne.  After Yi Wang was murdered by Xiao Weishen, his old troops refused to give up without taking revenge and had been operating in the Quzhou area in the past few years in an attempt to raise troops. But they were all suppressed forcefully and after several campaigns, they had been defeated completely and went into hiding long ago.

Xiao Weixin felt that this incident seemed more like Xirong’s doing. If Xiao Weishen died at this time, Xirong would benefit the most. They could take advantage of the subsequent chaos to quickly gather their troops and attack the border.

Xiao Weixin thought of the hostage prince Na Sutu again. Did he know something?

After thinking over this for a while, he remembered You Shu who was still unconscious, and got up to go and visit him quietly. The tent You Shu was currently resting in was behind his own tent. Originally, Qi Han and Wang Chen lived in it together, but now it was being used by You Shu to recuperate from his injuries. Anyway, those two people were rough-skinned and didn’t need such a good tent.

When he walked in, You Shu was still unconscious. Luo Yao, who was tending to him, turned around when she noticed him and spoke in a low voice, “Your Highness, he seems to have a fever.”

“Where’s Hua Chun?” Xiao Weixin walked over to the bed and sure enough, he saw that xiao⁶Xiǎo (小) means little. It can be used as a prefix to someone’s name to call them with a nickname. Like Xiao Yingwei means little shadow guard which has been used till now by XWX. I am introducing it only now because it will become more common from now on and I want you guys (if unfamiliar with C-novels) to know when it’s the surname and when it’s the nickname.-You Shu’s face was flushed red [with fever].

Luo Yao shook her head and said, “Sister Hua Chun said that fever is normal and asked me to tend to him carefully. He can’t be given any medicine.”

Xiao Weixin frowned and watched Luo Yao put the wet towel on You Shu’s forehead over and over again, but the little shadow guard’s condition never once improved.

Seeing him so weak, Xiao Weixin suddenly felt that all his previous considerations [about his loyalty] were unnecessary.

At the critical moment, the little shadow guard stood in front boldly, clearly prepared for death. At the most dangerous moment, a person subconsciously makes the decision they want to make the most. Not even the Shadow Guards are not completely devoid of survival consciousness [so they would not be so unhesitant when taking that sword]. Moreover, he would always remember his firm and powerful back when he stood in front of him.

Xiao Weixin felt that something had gently tugged at his heartstrings and suddenly he wanted the little shadow guard to recover soon.

He wanted to try to be nice to him.

T/N: Hey guys. I have exams starting next Monday and assignments piling up bc apparently teachers get off on assigning the most work in the week before the mid terms. Life is NOT FUN and this chapter may or may not be my way of procrastinating on studying but whatever. I have already reached the state of no fucks given with my uni life.

About the chapter, this chapter we got You Shu being his awesome, lovable and fanboy self, Xiao Weixin having realizations (not discussed explicitly but the effect is or rather will be pretty obvious), Xiao Weishit being disgusting as always and hint at future plot. Hope you enjoyed.

Next update will most likely be after 2 December. See you then!

• 1
  It is a Chinese meme from gaming. Although the game is being lost and there is no advantage or silver lining in sight, the final result is not that bad. A delulu type of thing like everything is bad but as long as you stubbornly say that it’s good bc it wasn’t worse, then all is well. Wave is a gaming term ig. ↩︎
• 2
  Between half an hour and an hour. My guess would be 40 minutes. ↩︎
• 3
  I have no idea what this could be referring to or if it’s possible to block one particular artery without medical equipment. But this is fiction, and we have accepted stranger things so let’s just roll with this. ↩︎
• 4
  This complete POS…. even after pushing your own brother in front of a fking sword you still want to poison him and think he’s lying to you (i mean he is but you most certainly deserve it) ↩︎
• 5
  翼王 (yì wáng) Offline and mostly mentioned character. He was, I think, the Second Prince. ↩︎
• 6
  Xiǎo (小) means little. It can be used as a prefix to someone’s name to call them with a nickname. Like Xiao Yingwei means little shadow guard which has been used till now by XWX. I am introducing it only now because it will become more common from now on and I want you guys (if unfamiliar with C-novels) to know when it’s the surname and when it’s the nickname. ↩︎