That day, little A’Jin was being pulled by his mother’s hand as they fled the palace.

He struggled stubbornly the entire time.

“Mother, I need to find Lianque, I need to find him.”

The Former Queen paid no heed to his crying and struggling, her hands gripping his tightly: “We can’t find him anymore, we can’t find him anymore.”

“No, I want to wait for him, he’ll come! Can we wait a little longer? Lianque promised me. He definitely won’t let anything happen to me. I want to wait for him. Mother, please…”

“A’Jin, we can’t go back anymore!”

“Mother Consort… no… no…”

No matter how much his small body struggled, he ultimately couldn’t break free.

His crying was utterly heartbreaking.

He kept turning back again and again, but what entered his vision was only that expanse of crimson behind him.

He watched helplessly as the great hall was engulfed in flames.

The sounds of the palace siege were already approaching.

The trumpet call of the new king’s ascension also filled the skies above the Huyi Royal Palace.

Everything was slowly being devoured…

“No… don’t!”

…

In the dimly lit room, Baiyin was startled awake.

He sat up from the bed drenched in sweat.

Gasping for breath!

A nightmare, it was truly a nightmare.

And such a dream was too strange.

Lianque?

Heavy rain?

Queen?

A sea of fire?

What on earth… was this?

His head suddenly exploded in pain. Instinctively, he clutched his head with both hands.

The pain was excruciating.

He clenched his teeth hard!

This startled Lang Bo, who shared the room with him.

Ever since last time when Song Zhi had been pinned under Lang Bo on the bed for an entire night, causing aches all over his body that took several days to recover from, Lang Bo hadn’t noticed anything at first. After asking a few questions, Song Zhi had been evasive and unwilling to say, but later under his pressing interrogation, Song Zhi finally confessed.

He said he was being pressed down every day.

Unable to move!

So his whole body ached.

During the day, he couldn’t even concentrate on reading.

Lang Bo felt very embarrassed, thinking he couldn’t delay a scholar’s studies. So the next day, he built a simple bed in Baiyin’s room using several wooden planks.

Sleeping alone, he was quite content!

So Lang Bo and Baiyin had been sharing the room for several days now!

At this moment, Lang Bo, who had been sleeping soundly, heard the commotion and woke up groggily. His first reaction was to immediately grasp the longsword placed beside his bed, assuming an alert posture.

Then through his bleary vision, he saw Baiyin sitting on the bed.

“Baiyin, what’s wrong with you?”

“…”

“Say something.”

Baiyin didn’t respond to him.

Lang Bo felt something was off and got out of bed to walk over.

He lit the oil lamp on the table as he went.

He slowly approached Baiyin, whose face was deathly pale and drenched in sweat.

Seeing him in this state, Lang Bo was immediately alarmed.

He quickly asked with concern: “What’s wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“…”

“I’ll go tell the Prince.”

He was about to leave…

But Baiyin grabbed him by the hand instead, saying in a rather gloomy voice: “I’m fine, I just… had a nightmare.”

What?

Lang Bo thought he had misheard.

After being stunned for a few seconds…

He burst out in snickering laughter. He slapped Baiyin’s shoulder hard and mocked: “What guilty deed did you commit, boy? You actually had a nightmare! Having a nightmare is one thing, but you were actually scared awake by it. Aren’t you supposed to be a wolf of the grasslands? Aren’t you someone no one can kill? How could you be scared awake by a nightmare?”

What blatant mockery!

Baiyin’s face had been deathly pale, but after hearing these words, a surge of rage welled up in his heart.

He was this close to drawing his twenty-meter-long blade!

Lang Bo felt unsatisfied and, holding the oil lamp in his hand, sat down directly beside Baiyin, bringing the lamp close as he said: “Tell me the truth, what exactly was this nightmare? Tell me about it.”

Let me have some fun.

Baiyin had completely recovered from the nightmare by now.

His hands gripped the bedsheet beneath him tightly, veins bulging on the backs of his hands.

Lang Bo was naturally someone who enjoyed plucking hair from a tiger’s backside!

He felt this wasn’t enough.

He continued: “Don’t be shy! Go ahead and tell me. It’s just the two of us in the room. What’s there that can’t be said?”

“…”

“Don’t worry, my lips are sealed tight. I absolutely won’t tell anyone, not even the Prince.”

“…Leave!”

“Go where? You want me to go out with you? Should we go outside to talk?”

“I said, get away!” Baiyin glared at him fiercely.

Lang Bo went “aiyoyo”: “It’s just a nightmare, what’s there that can’t be said?”

“You…”

Rage surged up.

Burning fiercely in Baiyin’s chest.

His grip on the bedsheet grew tighter and tighter.

He looked like he was about to get into a fight with Lang Bo…

But unexpectedly, he threw off the bedsheet, got out of bed, and left.

Leaving Lang Bo with a back view wreathed in flames!

Lang Bo found it extremely boring. He yawned, shrugged, and muttered: “If you won’t say it, then don’t. Why are you running?”

Then he blew out the oil lamp and went back to bed to sleep.

Pulling the covers over himself, he fell into a deep slumber.

…

Outside, after Baiyin went out, he somehow found a bottle of wine and sat alone under the corridor drinking.

A lantern hung under the corridor, flickering faintly, its light falling on his face full of melancholy.

Completely flushed.

Perhaps it was because he had drunk some wine.

The nightmare from earlier still reverberated wildly in his mind.

Unlike before when it would grow increasingly blurry, it was instead extremely clear.

Increasingly clear!

He leaned back against that large red pillar, tilting his head back to pour a mouthful of wine down his throat.

Drinking it all in one gulp.

The wine entered his throat, but instead made his melancholy even more intense.

Suddenly—

A cold wind blew from the distance, stirring the solitary lantern at the corner.

Baiyin instinctively raised his hand, trying to block that cold wind.

When he lowered his hand, he saw a figure standing at the far end of the corridor.

Immediately, he placed the wine bottle on the ground, stood up, and walked over.

His hand instinctively moved to the short blade at his waist.

As he slowly approached, he asked: “Who are you?”

The person stood there without moving.

Baiyin had already drawn his blade.

That figure gradually drew closer, a face revealing itself under the lamplight.

It was Lianque!

What was he doing here so late at night?

“What are you here for?”

“Nothing much, I just wanted to come take a look.” Lianque said.

“Take a look? What are your intentions?”

“I told you, I just came to take a look.” His voice was very soft, his eyes carrying visible sorrow as they fell upon Baiyin’s face, his hands gripped tightly together.

Baiyin felt somewhat uncomfortable being stared at with that strange gaze.

So he said: “This late at night, you come here, exactly what…”

“Are you… truly called Baiyin?” Lianque suddenly asked him this way. If he really was A’Jin, why didn’t he recognize him anymore?