Xiong Xiaobao followed Meng Duo’er’s gaze and saw Baili Weisheng sitting with his head down, and didn’t bother saying anything about it.
There were three kinds of people Xiong Xiaobao disliked: people Baili Xiaosheng disliked, people who cried too easily, and people who were slow to react.
Unfortunately, Meng Duo’er seemed to check every one of those boxes.
“What I mean is, you’re to guard the southern border gate. If our main forces are ever forced to retreat, and can’t hold the border line, that’s when your barrier technique comes into play—to block Nanzhao’s troops right at the gate!” Xiong Xiaobao explained earnestly.
Only then did Meng Duo’er understand, and she explained in turn, “The instant sealing technique I can cast has a limited range. If it’s Nanzhao’s Beast Clan flying beasts, it simply won’t be able to hold them back at all!”
“You just need to focus on guarding the southern border gate properly. Don’t worry about the rest,” Xiong Xiaobao said, seeming quite confident.
Meng Duo’er was curious, and hesitated for a moment, but in the end didn’t press further, saying simply, “I’ll go take a look at the southern border gate first, then.”
With that, she left as well, leaving only Baili Weisheng and Xiong Xiaobao in the room.
Xiong Xiaobao let out a breath, dropping his serious expression entirely, and sat down lazily. He took a sip of tea, then looked over at Baili Weisheng. “Uncle Scholar, all of this—you taught me all of this. Do you remember?”
Back then, when Baili Weisheng had taken him and Baili Xiaosheng onto the battlefield to cause no end of trouble for Xuanyuan Lige, he’d taught the two of them quite a lot.
Back then, Baili Weisheng had said that once they had sufficient troops, once they had something to hold the Beast Clan’s army and the Poison Clan’s toxic forces in check, they could simply declare war on Nanzhao outright, without going through all this trouble to hunt down the secret of “Parting Sorrow”!
Seeing no response from Baili Weisheng, Xiong Xiaobao sighed like a weary old man and continued, “Uncle Scholar, do you remember how you once made a bet with me, that my father would never fight a battle without being sure of the odds, that he wouldn’t declare war so quickly? We agreed that if you lost, you’d have to take me traveling the world with you!”
Bringing up that particular matter, Xiong Xiaobao grew quite earnest. Privately, plenty of people had whispered to him that he was destined to become emperor one day, destined to rule over all of Longyuan!
But he had absolutely no interest in that kind of life, day after day buried in official documents in some palace. Let his father and mother have another kid to be emperor instead!
He wanted to conquer the world, tame every beast and bird under heaven, roam free and unrestrained across the martial world!
He’d thought it over for a long time—if the one person who could take him away from his father and mother was Baili Weisheng, and Baili Weisheng couldn’t manage it, then no one could!
Thinking of this, Xiong Xiaobao grew excited and immediately hopped down from his high perch, rushing right up to Baili Weisheng. “Uncle Scholar, whether you remember or not, either way you—”
But before he could finish, Xiong Xiaobao noticed something was wrong with Baili Weisheng!
Was this guy… trembling?
He’d had his head down this whole time, saying nothing—since when had this started?
Startled, Xiong Xiaobao tried to lift Baili Weisheng’s head. “Uncle Scholar, what’s wrong?”
But the instant he touched him, Baili Weisheng flung his hand away. “Don’t touch me!”
Xiong Xiaobao froze, instinctively stepping back!
That voice, that tone—it was so familiar!
Not the serious, overly formal tone of the timid scholar, but exactly the cold, sharp edge of the wretched scholar when he got serious!
So fierce, and yet so, so warmly familiar!
Could it be that this man…
Xiong Xiaobao felt a rush of excitement, yet didn’t dare get too close. He could only crawl along the floor, pressing his small face to the ground, peeking sideways—and that was when he finally saw Baili Weisheng’s face.
His brow was furrowed tight, sweat already beading on the tip of his nose without him noticing, as though he were struggling to remember something, and struggling painfully at that!
Xiong Xiaobao’s heart pounded wildly. How he wished Baili Weisheng would suddenly lift his head and call him “Xiong Bao” again.
Xuanyuan Lige’s death had consumed his mother’s entire heart, causing her to overlook Uncle Scholar entirely. But as for Xuanyuan Lige’s death, he himself felt nothing special about it at all.
He barely knew the man, and only thought that he’d hurt Qianqian—dying was no great loss.
What he cared about most was his Uncle Scholar.
This was the very first person, besides his mother, that he’d laid eyes on in the world of poisonous beasts, back when he was three years old.
And he was also the kind uncle who’d been the first to stand up for him amid Dream Elder Five’s furious roar!
If Mommy and Daddy ranked first and second, then Uncle Scholar ranked right after them, in third place!
“Uncle Scholar, what exactly is wrong with you?”
“Did you remember something? Just say something to me, please!”
…
No matter how much Xiong Xiaobao pleaded, Baili Weisheng showed no response at all, his brow furrowed so tightly his eyes had scrunched shut.
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he suddenly clutched his head with both hands and began pounding on it!
Qianqian?
Why did that name feel so familiar!
Who exactly was this “Qianqian” that Xiong Xiaobao had just mentioned?
Why did that feeling surge back the instant he heard that name—as though there were something terribly important, something he absolutely had to do, but he’d forgotten it!
Qianqian?
Who was she?
Baili Weisheng struck himself with tremendous force, both hands coming down together, again and again.
“Don’t!” Xiong Xiaobao screamed, scrambling up from the floor, throwing himself forward without a second thought!
But his strength was no match for Baili Weisheng’s at all, and he was immediately flung aside!
It hurt!
His head felt like it was about to split open, the pain unbearable!
“Thump!”
Another blow—Baili Weisheng brought both hands down together again, his whole body shuddering from the force!
“Don’t! Stop it!”
Xiong Xiaobao burst into tears, more frightened than he had ever been in his life, like a helpless child not knowing what to do. He scrambled up and threw himself forward again, clinging tightly to Baili Weisheng’s arm, sobbing and shouting, “Don’t! You can’t do this! I won’t let you!”
Xiong Xiaobao gathered every ounce of strength in his body, clinging on with all his might, and at that, Baili Weisheng finally began to calm down.
He slowly turned to look at the child beside him, now reduced to tears, and felt a sudden, sharp ache in his heart, as though this child were somehow his own.
Slowly lowering the hands pressed against his forehead, he unconsciously reached out and ruffled Xiong Xiaobao’s hair, smiling so pale, and yet so tender and doting. “I won’t die. Don’t worry.”
Xiong Xiaobao pressed his lips together, took Baili Weisheng’s hand and wiped his tears with it, saying pitifully, “Did you remember me?”
Baili Weisheng gave a helpless laugh, teasing, “I can say for certain you’re not my cub.”
“Obviously!” Xiong Xiaobao said, his face still streaked with tears, rolling his eyes over and over, looking both pitiful and comical at once, and Baili Weisheng couldn’t help but pinch his cheek.
“It seems like whenever I start to remember something, my head hurts,” Baili Weisheng murmured to himself.
Xiong Xiaobao’s eyes went wide with alarm, and he hurried to ask, “So what did you remember?”
Baili Weisheng thought about it, and after a long moment finally asked, “This ‘Auntie Qianqian’ you mentioned just now—who is she? Do I know her?”
“You do! She used to be the Princess of Xijing, and now she’s the Empress of Xijing,” Xiong Xiaobao said.
“Oh.” Baili Weisheng responded thoughtfully, seemingly lost in thought.
Xiong Xiaobao had wanted to say more, but the matter of Auntie Qianqian being wronged surely wasn’t good news—he hesitated for a moment, and in the end, said nothing more.