Chapter 518. Leaving? (1/2)
“Look! You didn’t harm me. It’s only just a stain!” The smile on Yu Xiaocao’s face was still as sweet as before. Her eyes were curved up in glee and they seemed to glitter with a bit of craftiness. They were so lively that it made a person want to stare at them endlessly.
Zhu Junyang looked at the faint red scar on Yu Xiaocao’s face and revealed a hesitant expression. At this moment, he was slowly becoming more clear-headed. He had a faint impression of what had happened when he lost control this time, which was different from previous times when he had no recollection whatsoever. Perhaps it was because his mind-reading ability was becoming more and more sharp, but he could clearly feel Head Steward Liu’s feelings and thoughts when he was fighting with him. He truly knew that the eunuch was his most capable servant yet he still had been deceived by his heart devil and couldn’t stop fighting.
Ever since he met Xiaocao, although he couldn’t always control the heart devil, he was always able to pull himself away during the past few years. He thought that he had the ability now to control the darkness inside of him. However, he didn’t expect that the heart devil was still inside of him, just waiting for an opportunity to explode.
Today, with Head Steward Liu by his side and fighting for his life, he managed to avoid massacring the Wu Family. Zhu Junyang actually didn’t care whether the Wu Family lived or died. However, what if one day he harmed the Yu Family or the Fang Family? Would Xiaocao hate him for the rest of his life? Or perhaps, when Xiaocao was by his side and he was taken over by the heart devil...he was too afraid to think further down that line. Maybe...staying far away from her was the best way to protect her!
Immense distress and sadness shone in Zhu Junyang’s eyes and Yu Xiaocao could clearly see that the prince had made the decision to decisively cut all ties with her. This made her feel incredibly flustered. She had a feeling that if she wasn’t able to resolve this situation perfectly, he would leave her forever…
“Older Brother Yang, I’m so scared, I want a hug…” Yu XIaoao shamelessly acted like a spoiled little girl and cutely asked for a hug.
A sorrowful feeling rose up in Zhu Junyang’s heart. His little lass was finally willing to call him ‘Older Brother Yang’. However, this was likely the first and last time that he would be able to hear her call him in such an adorable and sweet way. If he couldn’t give her happiness by her side, then he could only stay far away and watch as she lived contently.
Ordinarily, Zhu Junyang was always looking for an opportunity to get closer to her. If she ‘begged for a hug’, then he would gladly turn into a ‘hungry wolf’ and rush towards her. However, today, he actually retreated a few steps. His eyes shone with tenderness and were so filled with emotion that it made a person’s heart ache.
At that exact moment he turned around, Xiaocao felt like something was ripping her heart in two. ‘Zhu Junyang, you bastard, didn’t you say that you were going to stay by my side and guard me? That you were waiting for me to become an adult ah? Don’t tell me that your previous promises and oaths were as insubstantial as smoke ah?’
That wouldn’t do, she couldn’t let him just leave. Even if he had to go, he needed to make things clear first. Yu Xiaocao slightly frowned as she contemplated what to do. She didn’t believe that Zhu Junyang, who had always cared dearly about her, could harden his heart that easily and ignore her.
“Aiya——” She deliberately exclaimed in a distressed manner and gritted her teeth as she made herself fall towards the ground that had rubble strewn all over it.
In the moment she cried, Zhu Junyang, who had originally been jumping up onto the roof, glanced over with his phoenix eyes and clearly saw her headed towards the broken bricks and tiles on the ground. A distance of seven to eight strides was covered in a blink of an eye by his skills. He appeared almost instantaneously next to Xiaocao and reached out vigorously and supported her back up by grabbing her thin, slender arm. He gently lifted her and drew her into his arms as he anxiously asked, “What’s wrong? Did you twist your ankle? Did you fall anywhere and hit yourself?”
From the flurry of questions he just asked, she could tell just how deeply he cared about her. Then, why was he going to leave? Yu Xiaocao leaned into his embrace and tightly hugged his chest. She spoke in a voice that had a hint of a sob in it, “Don’t go. You told me that you were going to protect me as I got older. Don’t leave me…”
Zhu Junyang felt his eyes grow hot, and he gently stroked Xiaocao’s silky long hair as he sighed, “I’m afraid...afraid that one day I’ll do something that I’ll regret and can’t fix. I’m an unlucky and ominous person and will only bring unhappiness to the people I care about the most. Perhaps, staying far away from you is the best decision.”
“Nonsense! You’re not an unlucky and ominous person! You’re my God of Protection!” Yu Xiaocao raised her head and exclaimed, “Because of you, I’m able to relax and do whatever I want to do without having to think of auxiliary issues. This is because I know, that even if I rip a hole in the sky, you will help me patch it up.”
She sniffled and then tightened her arms around him even more, “All these years, if I didn’t have you around, then my life would have been much more difficult. Without you, the watermelons, early-ripening vegetables, and secret recipes I came up with in Dongshan Village would have long been schemed away by some evil person. Without you, my family’s braised food shop in the prefectural city would not have been able to open so smoothly and some local tyrant would have long snatched it away from us. Without you, the high-yielding crops that we planted in the Tanggu Farmstead would have had some local official taking credit for us instead. Thus, naturally, me becoming an official and titled a feudal princess wouldn’t have happened either.”
“The only reason I am so successful today is because you were by my side. Otherwise, I would still be in that tiny fishing village and living a downtrodden and difficult life!” Yu Xiaocao deliberately stated the worst case scenarios that could have happened, “Have you ever thought that if you leave, the emperor would lose a great helper at court and become angry? He might even become angry at me and take back all of the glory and honor he has given to me before. Perhaps he would send me back to be a little farmer’s girl in a tiny fishing village.”