Chapter 32 (1/2)
The Prince's escaped fiancée (Arc 2-15)
Su Yang pursed his lips lightly as he lowered his head. From this angle, he could not see Jing Cheng's expression, but he could still tell that the man seemed rather unhappy. Or, to be more precise, he was in anguish.
But how can this be, Su Yang thought. Wasn't Jing Cheng the one who hurt him to begin with?
Su Yang drew back his hands. “They said, the peak of summer in Yancheng, is very very hot,” he muttered. “Everyone is avoiding the heat, but I'm the only one who feels cold.”
Jing Cheng went still, his hands slowly curling into fists.
Su Yang added, “They also said, my face is pale, like I have a serious illness, and that I may not live much longer…..”
Jing Cheng suddenly looked up, a bloodthirsty light glinting in his eyes. He gritted out through clenched teeth, “Who are they? Who has been spreading malicious gossip in front of you? I will see to it that those who carelessly wag their tongues will never be able to open their mouths ever again!”
His eyes were filled with vengeful cruelty, as if he had found an outlet for which to vent his emotions. Su Yang tensed up in fear for a moment, then the rims of his eyes reddened as he stuttered, “Don't ask who, tell me, is it true? Am I-am I going to die?”
“No!” Jing Cheng answered bluntly. With heavy emphasis on every word, he said slowly, “I will never allow that to happen.”
He stood up and tidied Su Yang's robes, which had fallen into disarray. The crazed light in his eyes gradually faded away.
“Don't think too much. You caught a common cold, that's all. And your body is delicate to begin with, it's inevitable for you to be more p.r.o.ne to sickness than the common folk. Wait till we return to Jianzhou, your husband will summon the Imperial Physician over to treat you. Very soon, you'll be just as healthy as before.”
He knew that what he was saying were lies. Even if the key is found, his little puppy will never regain his previous health. His body has already received too much damage. Even if he were to be fed with medicinal soup everyday, his lifespan may never reach that of a normal healthy person's.
But Jing Cheng is not one to be resigned to fate. Whatever it may cost him, he is willing to pay the price, all for a chance at seizing on to the slimmest thread of hope.
Su Yang stared at him numbly. He thought that, even now, Jing Cheng was still lying to him.
Jing Cheng sat down on the bedside and pulled Su Yang into his arms. “You would rather believe in the nonsense you heard from outsiders, than believe in your Fūjūn?” he asked.
Su Yang shook his head, a thin film of tears glistening in his eyes. He choked out, “Yu-er believes Fūjūn. So, so, Fūjūn must not lie to Yu-er, alright?”
Jing Cheng was silent, but he tightened his hold around Su Yang.
Su Yang blinked away his tears as he whispered, “Yu-er does not want to die. Dying means never seeing Mother, never seeing Granny, and never seeing Fūjūn again. If Yu-er misses Fūjūn, I won't be able to find you.”
Jing Cheng said, “Little idiot, Fūjūn will always be by your side, you don't have to worry about not being able to find me.”
Su Yang had more to say, but his lips were sealed in a heavy kiss. Somehow, he thought he could taste the bitterness from Jing Cheng's kiss.
After that day, Su Yang no longer saw those three people around. Jing Cheng arranged for his own men to be positioned in every corner of the relay station. Every bit of news about Su Yang, be it big or small, had to be immediately reported to him.
Su Yang could tell that Jing Cheng valued him deeply, but he still fretted about the days that lay ahead of him. The progress bar has reached 90%, and has remained stagnant there for the past few months. But his body was steadily deteriorating.
Although the system kept a.s.suring him that as long as Jing Cheng continued to impart him with the Tiāngāng's yáng qì, he would live for several more years at least, he could no longer bring himself to trust this money-grubbing fraudster.
Before he learned of the truth, besides feeling cold, he had not thought that there was anything exceptionally abnormal about the body he was using. But now, he was constantly plagued with the niggling feeling that from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, everything felt wrong. He would often wake in a start at the dead of the night, his fragmented dreams scattered, and his clothes soaked in cold sweat.
He was not sure if it was due to his nightmares, or if it was some sign that his illness was worsening. Regardless of the reason, it began weighing heavily on his mind, festering like an untreated wound, and developing into a mental burden which sapped the strength from his already weakened body.
Jing Cheng watched anxiously as he slowly wasted away, and sent wave after wave of his secret guards to search for Great Master Jue Qing.
Back then, after handing over the Tiānshān Lock to him, Great Master Jue Qing had asked him if he wanted the key. Jing Cheng had thought the question exceedingly ridiculous. His methods have always been ruthless and decisive, never leaving his opponents with a way out. What use would he have for a key?
Jing Cheng had not thought that there would be a day when someone could soften his heart and make him feel as helpless as he did now.
If he had known…. if he had known, he would have held the boy up to the skies in wors.h.i.+p from the very beginning, never letting any harm befall him, never hurting a single hair on his head.
He hugged Su Yang tightly and said, “When we return to Jianzhou, let's hold another wedding ceremony. Previously, I was held back at the Eastern Palace by Jing Sheng and missed the chance to escort my bride. We have not held the ritual to bow to Heaven and Earth either. We'll do it all over again properly, alright?”
{T/N: Wedding ceremony where the bride and the groom bow to heaven and earth, to their family's elders, and lastly to each other.}
Su Yang shook his head and answered peevishly, “Yu-er doesn't want to.”
Jing Cheng smiled. “Is Yu-er angry with your Fūjūn? I arrived late the last time, it was my fault. Let Fūjūn make it up to you, alright? This time, I promise I will not keep you waiting. Fūjūn will always stay by your side.”
But Su Yang kept shaking his head, and muttered, “Getting married is very tiring. I'm not allowed to talk, and not allowed to eat. The wedding robes has many many layers, it takes too long to wear them, and it's difficult to walk in them……”
Jing Cheng's thoughts drifted back to the day he returned from the Eastern Palace, to discover his little puppy missing from the side palace hall. Then he found out that the little puppy had actually scaled the garden's dividing wall and had snuck into his own quarters. Under the moonlight, the youth had been sprawled on the ground in resplendent crimson robes, with his dark hair gleaming like watered silk as it framed his lovely face and spilled over his shoulders. Those eyes had been glistening as they stared at him in panic, and it felt like his soul had been captured with that gaze.
At that moment, his heart had suddenly thudded against his chest, seemingly foreshadowing this moment. Back then, if he had listened to his heart, and reconsidered his options, how much grief he could have spared himself.
His pride and willful arrogance had overridden that one moment of doubt. He had been offered a priceless pearl, but he had treated it as a fish eye.
{T/N: To pa.s.s off fish eyes for pearls, is a Chinese idiom for pa.s.sing off fake products as genuine. The eyes of a cooked fish will turn shrink and turn white, and hence resemble a ‘pearl'. Pic}
He suppressed the aching sorrow that rose in his chest, and said gently, “Yu-er looked very beautiful in the wedding robes.”
Su Yang scrunched his brows, immediately pulling on an aggrieved expression as he complained, “Last time, after getting married, you, you locked me up. I waited for you everyday in the room, but you never came. When the sky turned dark, I was so afraid.”
Jing Cheng pressed a light kiss to his fingertips. “I was wrong, I won't do it again in the future.”