Chapter 517. Shrink Back (2/2)
Head Steward Liu, ‘My little ancestor, please stop sighing over this! If you don’t come out now, this old servant will have to eat a lunchbox from hell ah!!’
The current Zhu Junyang was like a puppet being completely controlled by his heart devil. He felt like every blade of grass, every tree, every tile, and every brick was imbued with the heavy aura of malice. This type of malice entwined around him and fettered him so tightly that he almost couldn’t breathe. His heart only had one thought: destroy everything! He needed to tear down everything that was around him in order to eliminate all of the sources of malice that were shackling him down.
“AHHHH——” A scream ripped from his throat as if it was a voice coming from hell. It couldn’t be described as a human sound and more resembled the anguished cry of a beast. Everyone that heard it trembled in fear.
Yu Xiaocao could hear the pain and despair that Zhu Junyang felt within that cry and a flood of tears involuntarily came to her eyes. Just as Zhu Juyang was lifting a stone lion about the height of a grown man in the direction of Head Steward Liu, who was no longer able to move, a heavenly voice seemed to have cut through the darkness with him, lighting up the dense dimness around him. The voice seemed to dispel some of the thick malice around him and it flittered into his ear brightly, “Zhu Junyang——”
Who? Who was calling his name? Zhu Junyang slowly turned around with the stone lion still high above his head. A flicker of reason seemed to shine through his bloodshot phoenix eyes.
“Zhu Junyang, the stone lion must be very heavy. Isn’t it tiring for you to raise it up so high ah? Quickly put it down!’ Yu Xiaocao wasn’t the least bit frightened by the malevolent expression on the prince’s face. Instead, she slightly frowned and looked at the stone lion in his hands with an expression full of pity and worry.
The sound of that voice seemed incredibly familiar and pleasing. It was as if the coldest spring water was currently being poured onto his head. His muddled mind somewhat regained a bit of logic, ‘Who? Just who was calling his name in that manner?’
The elders who were close to him would all call him ‘Yang’er’, whereas those of the same generation who had a good relationship with him would call him ‘Junyang’. Those who were a bit more distant would call him ‘Royal Prince Yang’. It seemed like there was only one person in this world who always boldly called him by his entire name. He had resisted many times as he wanted her to call him ‘Older Brother Yang’ but he had never succeeded in convincing her to do so.
Zhu Junyang continued to have a perplexed expression on his face as he shuffled a few steps in the direction of the voice while he still held the stone lion high above his head.
Dong Dali, who was in slightly better shape, had already sneaked by and gotten to the place where Head Steward Liu was lying. He wanted to bring the eunuch someplace safe. When he saw the scene in front of him, Dong Dali remarked in worry, “Head Steward Liu, will the master harm Miss Yu ah? If that happens, once the master regains his senses, he will feel so regretful.”
At first, Head Steward Liu was also quite anxious about something like that happening. However, once he saw his master stop rampaging as soon he heard Miss Yu’s voice, he felt that his decision in bringing her over was one of the wisest ideas he ever had. He fished out a pill to heal internal injuries from his clothes and popped it into his mouth. After coughing up a lot of clotted blood, his chest felt a lot more comfortable. The medicine that Miss Yu personally made herself was truly very excellent.
“Don’t worry, even when he’s rampaging, the master couldn’t bear to harm even a single strand of Miss Yu’s hair. Let’s just watch and see ah!” Head Steward Liu managed to slowly sit up with Dong Dali’s help. He leaned against the damaged wall and gradually caught his breath.
“Zhu Junyang, snap out of it and come back to reality. I’m so worried about you!” Yu Xiaocao’s voice seemed a bit choked with emotion as she slowly headed towards Zhu Junyang. Despite her roiling emotions, she kept that smile he liked so much on her face. He had once told her that her smile was his savior. Even though tears continued to drip down her face, her smile never wavered.
Zhu Junyang cocked his head to the side and the stone lion in his hands fell with a thud to the ground, leaving behind a deep crevice. The malevolent expression on his face slowly disappeared and he felt like his head was becoming clearer. It was his little lass! Darn it! How did he forget his little lass? The sound of her voice, the smile on her face, and her way of directly calling him by his given name had already been deeply engraved within his heart and soul.
“Xiao...cao?” Zhu Junyang still felt a bit muddled inside but the darkness around him seemed to be dissipating. That delicate and skinny little figure in front of him was becoming more and more clear. A sweet aroma seemed to be wafting off her body and all of that malice surrounding him was rapidly being eradicated by that smell.
The smile on Yu Xiaocao’s face deepened and she went forward two steps and stretched out her pale little hands. The tears in her large eyes made them seem even more limpid and clear as she said, “That’s right! It’s me——Yu Xiaocao! Come, I’m going to bring you home!”
Home was that safe harbor without the glint of knives or swords. There was no scheming or cheating, no backyard tricks and no overflowing malice. Because there was her, he could relax…
“Don’t...don’t come over! I...will hurt you…” Zhu Junyang suddenly stopped reaching towards her hands when he saw a red line cutting across Xiaocao’s white and tender little face. He forced himself to retreat a few steps. As he distanced himself from his savior, the heart devil within him started to stir again.
Yu Xiaocao wiped a hand in the direction that he was looking at and felt a twinge of pain. This must have happened during the battle earlier as she probably got cut by a piece of rubble flying in the area. She secretly dripped a few drops of highly-concentrated mystic-stone essence onto her hand and rubbed that area clean. The small cut instantaneously healed and the scab also fell off, leaving behind only a faint pink line.