Quick Wear: Don't come over here, you are looking for trouble

Qi Xiuran was anxious to talk to Xu Bai alone, but he was worried about Xu Bai's health. He hesitated and felt caught in a dilemma.

"come in."

Xu Bai was not sleepy. He also knew that Qi Xiu Ran had been staring at him hesitantly since he came back in the morning. He just... just didn't know how to tell him.

"You still look so ugly." Qi Xiuran was telling the truth. During the days when Xu Bai didn't come back, he comforted himself while thinking that if Gu Nian died, he would die with him. They had agreed to go to Jiangnan together, and if they couldn't see him while alive, then they would go together after death.

Qi Xiuran knew the young master very well, and he even hoped that he would not read the guilt in Xu Bai's eyes.

"...You." His heart wrinkled and his throat was dry. "You are not going to Jiangnan with me, right?"

Xu Bai lowered his head. He couldn't hide anything in front of Qi Xiuran. His eyes were sore and swollen. "Xiuran, we... will set off tomorrow. You should find a chance not to return to the palace. I don't need you by my side. You - you should have your own life and marry a wife. If you want to go to Jiangnan, you two can go there to make arrangements..."

"Gu Nian."

The young master's hands were tightly grasping the corners of his clothes. He was shaking all the time and spoke quickly to try to conceal it, but he couldn't hide anything at all. He was shaking more and more violently, and finally it seemed like he was having convulsions.

Qi Xiu Ran has a gentle temperament, but even the gentlest person will get angry when encountering such "teasing" and "betrayal". He called him because he wanted to make things clear to him, saying that he would not leave, that he had finally found him, and that he would never leave no matter what.

"…I am sorry for you…"

He murmured with his pale lips, and his pointed little face was slightly tilted up, as if he was waiting for Qi Xiuran to punch him, but how could Qi Xiuran be willing to do that?

When Xu Bai realized that he was being hugged by Qi Xiuran, he trembled, opened his eyes slightly, his eyelashes fluttered, his pupils were clear, and covered with a layer of mist.

"I told you." Qi Xiuran patted his back with great restraint. His back was so thin that he could easily feel the bones. "No matter what choice you make, I will be with you."

"But you shouldn't sacrifice yourself for me, you shouldn't waste your time on me..."

Qi Xiuran stopped talking. Xu Bai pinched his fingers repeatedly and began to breathe rapidly because of nervousness and excitement, "I..." It's not worth it.

What's more, for a dying person, why bother to be entangled with others? He should just cut off all ties.

"This is my own business." Qi Xiuran did not take the next step. In fact, when they had their first quarrel, his intuition told him that the young master already had feelings for Xie He.

But he just didn't want to believe it. How could a young man have feelings for his enemy?

His voice was hoarse. “I wanted to do it myself.”

……

Xie He didn't take him to see the lake because there was a hint of unrest in the court and they had to go back as soon as possible.

"Next time we'll make a special trip here."

Xie He held Xu Bai's hand and slept soundly for a long time. His face was rosier than before. "Just the two of us together."

The young master was a little unhappy. The shaking of the carriage made him feel really uncomfortable, but he couldn't sleep. He was hanging in the air, neither up nor down. "Your Majesty, is the matter of the Gu family really the Fourth Prince's?"

He still didn't quite believe it, always feeling that it couldn't be that simple.

Xu Bai: [You are just trying to trick the pampered young master. You don't even think about the fact that Xie He used ruthless means to capture all the few brothers in just a few hours. How could the Fourth Prince still get the token to mobilize the military, or even lead so many people to the Gu Mansion to kill people? ]

Liu Er: [!] I really didn’t expect this.

"Yes." Xie He nodded without hesitation, and then presented a more convincing piece of evidence, "When we get back, I'll let you meet the Fourth Prince and make him admit it in person."

"Then I'll kill him for you."

Xu Bai gritted his teeth and said, "No... If it's true, I will definitely... kill him with my own hands."

Xie He was startled by the sudden burst of ruthlessness, and then he hugged him and coaxed him, "Don't be angry, your body is not well, and you will feel uncomfortable again in a while."

The return journey was surprisingly smooth, taking almost half a day faster than the return journey.

The young master was groggy and didn't wake up even when he reached the palace gate. He had to be carried down by Xie He himself.

This time, everyone truly realized the supreme status of this "male favorite" and that he might surpass them to become the queen.

He slept in a daze for most of the day, and when he woke up it was already dawn. Xie He was guarding beside him. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but his eyes were red, as if he had been crying.

"Your Majesty..." There was a salty and bitter taste in his mouth when he spoke, as if someone had fed him something while he was unconscious.

"Awake?" Xie He's attitude was strange. "I'll take you to see him."

Liu Er: [He knows you are going to die.]

[The imperial physician was beaten with twenty boards and sent back to his hometown.]

...I'm sorry, buddy.

The Fourth Prince had been imprisoned for so many years, and coupled with the deliberate torture in the past two days, he no longer looked like a human being. He was even more terrifying than the famine refugees they saw on the road.

Xie He protected Xu Bai and let the young master ask the question himself.

"You..." Xu Bai's urgency for the truth overcame his fear of seeing the Fourth Prince in this state, "You were the one who led the soldiers into the Gu Mansion and wiped out the entire Gu family?"

The haggard man hung his head and said, "Yes."

"……Why?!"

Facing the question, the man actually acted nonchalant, "Why? He wants to arrest me." He pointed at Xie He, "I knew he was good friends with the young master of the Gu family, so I went."

“There are more than a hundred people in the Gu family...you, you..." The young man’s head buzzed, his body shook, and his pale lips were pursed into a straight line.

"One hundred and fifteen." The fourth prince said unscrupulously, "I remember it very clearly."

He said it so easily, as if the people dying in his hands were not humans but lowly animals.

Among these 115 people, there is a father who buys him candied haws and a mother who coaxes him to sleep every night...

His stomach began to cramp, his body shook violently, and his teeth bled.

"Near!"

Xie He wanted to hug him, it would be best if this matter ended here.

Then he glared at the disheveled man as a warning.

No one expected that Xu Bai would have the strength to break free, and he even pulled out the dagger hidden in his boot with a "clang".

The young master had already made preparations. As long as he found the murderer who killed his father, mother and more than a hundred people in the Gu family, he would definitely kill him!

In a flash, the dagger had already stabbed the Fourth Prince.

Everyone was stunned.

Xu Bai's fingers trembled, and the dagger went deeper and deeper.

Blood splattered on his pale face, and the young man seemed to be crying and laughing, "Dad, Mom, did you see it——"

"Ahhhh!!!"

The Fourth Prince screamed and tried to retreat frantically. The young master was not strong enough and did not stab the right spot. In addition, the blade of the dagger was not long, so it failed to pierce the heart. The Fourth Prince howled in pain but had nowhere to hide. "Xie He, you bastard! Beast! You said you would protect me! You said you would not let me die! That's why I'm ah ah!"

"……What did you say?"

Xu Bai held the dagger in both hands, tears streaming down his cheeks like a river, "What?"

"Xie He! It's him! He sent troops to kill the Gu family, he—"

A knife was inserted into the Fourth Prince's heart and then quickly pulled out, splashing a large amount of blood!

He fell down with his eyes wide open, hitting the ground heavily.

Xu Bai still maintained the posture of holding the dagger with both hands. He turned his head stiffly and stared at Xie He, his eyes barren. "What did he just say?"

Repeated again, "What did he just say?"

"Ahem, ahem...what did he just say!"

Xie He threw away the knife and came up to hug him, "Nian Nian, you..."

"Get out of here!" Xu Bai coughed violently, blood spurted out of his mouth, but his body softened uncontrollably and was inevitably caught in Xie He's hands.

“Get out…” With his eyes rolled up, the young master’s limp and powerless body suddenly rose up, then sank down motionlessly into Xie He’s arms.