Reborn To Be The Imperial Consort [BL]-Chapter 129: Dancing Daffodils — X

[Bonus Chapter 14]

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The storm of grief stretched out for a few long moments. Eventually, though, the twin sobs of a man and a beast faded, quietening until they ceased all together.

Much to Li Xinyuan’s relief. As a surgeon, he was far from accustomed to comforting people. Even after a failed surgery, the most words of comfort, he had ever used were:

’I am sorry.’

’We tried our best.’

’Unfortunately, the patient couldn’t make it.’

"You will not understand the reasoning behind my actions. And I pray that you may never come to understand it." Li Xinyuan whispered in a grave tone, his fingers petting the white fox’s back continuously. "But I beseech you to let me do this regardless."

With his other hand, Li Xinyuan ran his fingers through Hu Lijing’s hair. His heart clenched, breaths tight when he felt the amber-haired man shudder.

"Why?" Sniffling, the nine-tailed fox whispered. His amber eyes flitted upwards to take in the sight of Li Xinyuan’s expressionless face.

Li Xinyuan simply shook his head. His voice was thick, rumbled in his chest as he spoke. "Simply know that I am doing this because I am living my second life."

Hu Lijing drew in a deep breath, full of forbearance, he nodded. "I... understand." His voice was hoarse, his amber locks rubbed against Li Xinyuan’s shoulder and throat.

Li Xinyuan heaved a trembling sigh. "No matter. Have you had your catharsis now?"

Hu Lijing pursed his lips into a thin, straight line. His eyebrows drew together in a frown. "To an extent."

"Good." Li Xinyuan nodded, patting Hu Lijing’s head comfortingly. "Then..." He glanced down at the—now quietened—white fox spirit. "We cannot allow this untimely winter to continue forever, can we?"

The white fox whimpered, its voice shaking in its chest. Li Xinyuan wasn’t entirely too knowledgeable on what the creature endeavoured to communicate, but he had a slight gist.

"Lijing, dare I ask you a favour? It may be tremendous, in your eyes." Considerate as he was, the surgeon forewarned Hu Lijing.

The nine-tailed fox turned his head to bury his face in Li Xinyuan’s shoulder. Reluctantly, he nodded without a word. It seemed he, too, was not unaware of the favour.

Li Xinyuan shifted on his feet. He had been standing rooted to a single place for quite a while now. His feet were beginning to feel as though he was standing on pins and needles rather than the iced floor.

Moreover, his body was seemingly divided into two opposing sensations. His left half of the body was ice cold due to the white fox’s powers. His right was not better off either. Hu Lijing, the nine-tailed fox of divine flames, was nuzzled against his left shoulder.

The surgeon voiced no complaint against the sensation of being frozen alive while being boiled simultaneously.

Small price to pay, he told himself.

"You must teach Bai Huiqi to be in control of his powers. Lest he bring greater destruction to his environment."

Hu Lijing swallowed back a scoff threatening to leave his throat, and nodded mutely. Fleetingly, he spared Bai Huiqi a single glance. He had lost some of his hostility after weeping.

Further, it seemed childish of him to bear such poisonous resentment towards a creature who was a mere babe in comparison to him. What was four hundred years in front of nine centuries?

Even if the said four-tailed fox had been the cause of his tragedy.

With much displeasure allowed into his voice, Hu Lijing nodded slowly. "If you must insist." His cadence could not be more contemptuous and drawling.

And so, two men and a fox came to a mutual understanding.

Exactly three weeks later, the seemingly endless agony of winter thawed. The howling winds calmed down, the ruthless onslaught of snow gradually ceased, and the trees began standing tall again. Finally, they had been liberated from the weights of the white catastrophe.

Following the end of the blizzard, Li Xinyuan, along with Hu Lijing, worked to provide the affected villages reprieve from the disaster by providing them with medical attention as well as food rations.

As such, a month and a quarter passed by before Li Xinyuan, Hu Lijing and Bai Huiqi—still uncomfortable with his human appearance, thus a fox—finally resumed their journey to the depth of JiangHu.

In all the hubbub, the surgeon had not allowed himself to forget the primary objective of his travel around the treacherous JiangHu abyss.

—He had to meet and acquaintance himself with the female lead at all costs to assess how far her influence of the plot reached.

Li Xinyuan allowed himself to absently comfort the purring fox who rested on his lap. His eyes, however, remained on the ephemeral scenery of the mountain ranges gradually left behind.

A beautiful scenery indeed.

If only anyone of the three remembered a certain bird the surgeon had dispatched to the Crown Prince with a missive which was nothing but alarming.

...

A place, still frigid but thawing from the brunt of winter, shook to its core whence a blurred shadow with a vague resemblance to a man landed on the ground.

"Where is Xinyuan?" Liu Mingyun, the Crown Prince of DaHuo, frowned thunderously while looking at the maw of a dark cave in front of him.

In the skies above him, Xueyue flew in circles, its wings beating the air in distress. With a discordant squawk, the bird swept down to sit on the prince’s shoulder.

"Master had instructed Yueyue to bring Your Highness here!" Xueyue despaired. "But now the Master’s scent fades!"

Liu Mingyun himself couldn’t suppress a sudden burst of anxiety in his heart at the bird’s words. "Enough." Swiftly, the Crown Prince expanded his Qi senses to see what was within the cave.

Only, he found nothing. Neither the monster ferocious enough to require his assistance, nor his Xin’er and his attendant, Hu Lijing.

Not even a corpse was in the cave.

Liu Mingyun’s lips twisted in a frown of worry. Without putting much thought into his actions nor caring of his imperial dignity, the Crown Prince immediately knelt on the wet, soft forest floor and pressed his hand on the ground.

With his eyes slid shut, Liu Mingyun expanded his Qi senses to take in his surroundings.

Fortunately for him and Xueyue, Liu Mingyun did not need to search for a long time and was able to detect weeks old impressions of carriage wheels.

Surely, these were from Li Xinyuan’s carriage. They had to be.

Now that he knew his betrothed to be safe and away from harm, Liu Mingyun—who had escaped from the Forbidden City to assist his Xin’er—should be well on his way back.

Strangely, though, the Crown Prince couldn’t suppress the desire to meet Li Xinyuan and see of his well-being with his own eyes.

Had he been a better Crown Prince, a better man, Liu Mingyun would have returned. But today, just today, he told himself; he gave into this all consuming desire.

His crimson eyes gleamed breathtakingly as Liu Mingyun stood up on his feet and followed after the carriage’s trail with the help of his Qinggong.

Li Xinyuan was safe.

Liu Mingyun just wanted to be completely sure, nothing more.