Time passed, clouds shifted, and the two figures, one black and one white stood once again on the mountaintop. The jests of the past echoed in their ears, but the carefree youths of yesteryears had quietly transformed.
Now, one had become an inscrutable emperor, the other a burdened general. Even though they returned to this old place, all that remained was vigilance and cold standoff.
Under Zhao Yan’s reprimand, the Feathered Forest Army finally retreated into the woods. Xiaodu shifted his gaze away from the retreating figures, arrogantly raising his chin and tightening his grip on the silver bow.
The sunlight reflected off the bow, causing Zhao Yan to squint slightly. But he wasn’t worried that Xiaodu would harm him; he knew this man too well. Even if Xiaodu were to disregard their past friendship, he still carried the lives of tens of thousands of people from the Hou Mansion and the Xia family army on his shoulders. He couldn’t act recklessly.
Zhao Yan smiled faintly and asked, “How did Chong Jiang know that I would come here today?”
Xiaodu replied, “I just guessed that Your Majesty would come to Bell Mountain for the hunt on your birthday, so I took a shortcut and waited here in advance. Who would have thought it would alarm Your Majesty? Are you going to punish me for it?”
Zhao Yan pretended not to hear the sarcasm in his words, only sighing softly, “More than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. How delightful it was for you and me to hunt on this mountain back then. It all seems like yesterday.”
Xiaodu’s face was filled with even more mockery as he replied, “Today, Your Majesty doesn’t need to put on such a show. I came here today just to ask one thing, and I hope Your Majesty will tell me the truth based on our past friendship. Over these years, have you been involved in all their schemes?”
Zhao Yan hadn’t expected him to be so direct. His expression turned somewhat ugly, and he sighed deeply, but he didn’t reply.
Xiaodu saw the answer in his expression. Although he had thought of this possibility countless times before, he still felt like his heart was being torn apart. He tightly gripped the bow handle, and his fingers couldn’t stop trembling as he said, “Very well, you know everything. Indeed, it’s you…” He gritted his teeth fiercely, unable to continue speaking.
Zhao Yan endured the sorrow in his heart and turned to look at Xiaodu quietly. He was his blood brother, and they shared the same blood. When their mother had told him this news with a face full of hatred, his first reaction had surprisingly been one of relief. So they were brothers; no wonder they had been so close. But his mother had shattered his illusion with a slap, using her blood-red nails to point at him and roar, “Remember, this kingdom is yours, and no one can touch it! That bastard should never have been born; he must die!”
Until the Battle of Pingdu Pass, his mother had intentionally instructed Xia Zheng to delay the supplies, hoping to trap Xiaodu alive in Shuyang City. He had knelt in her palace all night, begging her to spare his brother’s life.
At dawn, the Empress Dowager, dressed in a long robe, walked out with a cold expression. She didn’t even look at Zhao Yan kneeling on the ground but simply took him to a place.
It was the Jingyang Palace where the former Crown Prince had once lived. The deserted palace was cold and terrifying, with overgrown grass covering the blue bricks. Sunlight couldn’t penetrate, and occasionally, a few rats would scurry out, swaggering over broken porcelain bowls and gnawing on the bodies of unrecognizable insects.
Zhao Yan felt a chill from the soles of his feet; he had never known that the palace still had such a terrifying place. The Empress Dowager looked at his fearful eyes coldly and said, “This is where the former Crown Prince, your uncle, hanged himself. He was once above all and below none, but in the end, he fell to ruin and died at the hands of his brother. Since ancient times, no emperor’s throne has been clean. You better think carefully whether you want the throne or this cold palace. Remember, if you have any trace of softness, the one who will die is you!”
Zhao Yan couldn’t remember how he had escaped from the Jingyang Palace. That night he had many nightmares—sometimes he saw Chong Jiang being disemboweled by enemies at the border, and other times he saw himself with a fierce face plunging a knife into his own heart. Finally, he woke up covered in cold sweat, gazing into the deep and boundless night, silently telling himself: from now on, on this path of an emperor, he had no friends, no brothers.
So Zhao Yan closed his eyes heavily, and when he opened them again, they were devoid of emotion as he said, “If it were possible, I would also hope to be brothers with you for a lifetime. But it’s a pity that fate has its plans, and I’ve only done what I had to do.” He didn’t bother to justify himself anymore; since he had chosen to climb onto the throne that could only accommodate one person, he had no right to say he had no choice.
“And Yuanxi?” Xiaodu couldn’t help but blurt out, his face turning crimson as he said, “If you want to deal with me, why involve an innocent woman? After all, she’s surnamed Xia!”
Zhao Yan remembered the intelligent and stubborn woman and felt some reluctance, but he simply replied, “It wasn’t my idea, but I’ve always known about it. The Empress Dowager didn’t want you to have a legitimate heir, so she arranged for a daughter of the Xia family to marry you, ensuring that she couldn’t conceive.”
“Is that so?” Xiaodu struggled to conceal the bitterness in his heart, saying coldly, “How can you guarantee that I won’t divorce her and marry another wife?”
Zhao Yan smiled bitterly and said, “They didn’t expect you to find out about this so soon. According to the amount of medicine they used, it would be extremely difficult for the imperial physician to detect it. But even if you divorce her and marry another, they will surely have a way to deal with it. I guess Xia Zheng will take advantage of the situation and try to deal with you.”
Xiaodu didn’t speak again, just staring at him for a long time. Suddenly, he put down the silver bow, clasped his hands into his sleeves, and bowed, saying, “Thank you, Your Majesty, for being honest. Since today is Your Majesty’s birthday, let me give you another gift.”
Zhao Yan saw the cold light in his sleeves and took a step back in alarm. At this moment, he saw Xiaodu drag out a tiger skin cloak from the bushes. He widened his eyes in astonishment, seeing clearly that the cloak was made from the skin of the tiger they had hunted together. Xiaodu’s cold voice rang out as he split the cloak in half from the middle, saying, “Since this tiger skin was hunted by Your Majesty and me together, it shouldn’t be monopolized by me alone. Today, I will return half of it to Your Majesty, and from now on, we owe each other nothing.”
Zhao Yan struggled to maintain a calm expression, but when he saw the tiger skin split in half, his eyes couldn’t help but moisten slightly. That was the congratulatory gift he had risked his life to obtain for him. He seemed to see the time when they were young and full of life, all cut off in an instant.
Cutting the robe, it’s hard to turn back!
Ignoring the emotions in his eyes, Xiaodu simply lifted his half of the cloak and mounted his horse. Suddenly, he remembered something, waved his whip into the air, and said, “However, Your Majesty can rest assured. In this life, I will only have Yuanxi as my wife. Also, I will personally avenge all the harm done to her!”
Zhao Yan suddenly raised his head, only to see Xiaodu’s tall figure blocking the sunlight, exuding an aura of disdain for the world. At that moment, he felt a sudden fear in his heart, almost wanting to call the Feathered Forest Army hiding in the woods to kill him immediately. But he knew very well that if Xiaodu were to die, the border would be in chaos, and the Xia family would become even more unscrupulous. So, he couldn’t kill him yet.
Zhao Yan stood there in doubt for a long time until the Feathered Forest Army came to ask if they should return to the palace. He returned to his usual self and mounted his horse, then glanced at the half-tiger skin on the ground with cold eyes, coldly ordering, “Take away this useless thing and throw it away.”