Unparalleled Beauty

Chapter C053

After instructing the servants to escort the person away, Fusheng turned back into the room.

Prince Wei was still lying on the couch, his eyes yet to open.

Fusheng recalled the sound of weeping he had heard earlier. He wanted to speak, but did not know where to begin, and could only sigh. Prince Wei lifted his eyes to glance at him, and he quickly leaned forward, asking, "Is Your Highness feeling any better?"

Prince Wei sat up. "Where is Song You?"

"This servant has not seen him either. I will have someone inquire at once."

Just as he finished speaking, a person walked in from outside the door. It was Song You.

His hair was a mess, the circles under his eyes darker than his eyes themselves, his face as pale as a ghost. He wore a rumpled long robe, and while walking, he yawned, saying, "Your Highness, the time has come."

Prince Wei, along with Fusheng, went with Song You to the west wing.

After entering, the door was tightly shut. Under Song You's direction, Fusheng pulled the curtain behind the door closed. This room had been specially arranged. Thick drapes hung on the walls and windows, and now the windows and door were completely covered by the drapes.

There was little furniture in the room, only a row of tall cabinets in the corner, upon which many oil lamps were placed. Now, all the oil lamps were lit. At first glance, there seemed to be dozens, illuminating the entire room as if it were daytime.

Looking at the walls, one could see many yellow talismans haphazardly pasted, densely packed and without any order. In the very center of the room was a wooden bathtub, filled with a brown medicinal broth, from which a faint white steam was now rising.

Prince Wei removed his outer robe, entering the bathtub in only his undergarments.

Fusheng shrank into the corner, not daring to make a sound. Song You, however, produced a yellow talisman from who knows where. With his left hand pinching the talisman and his right hand forming a hand seal, he paused his right hand, pointing at the talisman. The talisman in his left hand ignited without wind. He found a bowl filled with water, pressed the talisman into the water, and handed the bowl to Prince Wei, instructing him to drink it.

Prince Wei drank the talisman water and closed his eyes again.

At the same time, Song You produced a leather drum from who knows where. While beating the drum, he began to dance with strange, erratic steps. As he danced, he beat the drum. The drum sounds, combined with the ringing of the long bells hanging at his waist, and the incantations from his mouth, gradually coalesced into a peculiar stream of sound.

Fusheng felt his eyelids grow heavy, and he could not help but blink a few times.

And in the bathtub, Prince Wei seemed to have quietly fallen asleep.

***

When he found himself standing in a pitch-black darkness, Prince Wei knew that his real self must have fallen asleep.

He looked to his side and saw a pair of impatient eyes, knowing that he was not alone.

"You are truly tireless. I really don't see any use in this," the other person said. "Losing control is only temporary. Why go through so much trouble?"

Prince Wei did not speak. He began to walk forward, and the person who had spoken could only follow him.

They seemed to have arrived before a palace. The palace, which looked magnificent in the daytime, now seemed particularly eerie and terrifying.

A faint sound seemed to drift over, as if a woman were singing.

The song was ethereal and mournful, but the lyrics were unclear.

Prince Wei could not control himself and walked forward. As expected, a low curse came from his side. When he moved forward, the person following him also moved.

"What is so good about this place that you keep coming here? Is it that you are so eager to return to this?"

Prince Wei remained silent. His lips pressed tighter and tighter, almost forming a straight line. Finally, the singing woman came into view.

She was an extremely beautiful woman.

She was wearing white clothes and dancing under a tree.

It should have been a beautiful scene, but the place was too dim, and the woman's actions were so strange, that it caused a chill to rise from the bottom of one's heart.

Prince Wei looked at his own hands, and indeed, they had become smaller.

He then looked at the person beside him, who had also become as small as he was. In truth, if there were a mirror, one would see that the two looked exactly alike, except that one had his hair bound with a crown and wore the intricately embroidered robes of a prince, while the child opposite him was clad in black.

The woman was still dancing, but Prince Wei had no mind to watch, for the person beside him was far too talkative, uttering nothing but complaints.

When the woman spun in a circle and fell to the ground, Prince Wei knew it was about to end.

He could not control himself and ran forward, calling out "Mother," as if wanting to help the woman up, but unexpectedly, he was pushed harshly to the ground by her.

"I am not your mother, do not call me mother…"

"If it weren't for you, I would have left this place long ago…"

He fell with great pain, his hands and feet aching, and his heart aching as well.

Standing before him was a black-clad child with an impatient expression, who said, "Pay her no mind, she's gone mad! She was offered to Father Emperor by her clan for the purpose of marriage alliance. If she didn't want to come, she shouldn't have come from her homeland. Now that she's here, what's the point of all this whining?"

***

The two left that place and went to a small garden.

In the garden were several children also dressed in fine clothes, some older than them, some younger. They all looked at the two with strange gazes, muttering about madness.

At this time, Prince Wei no longer remembered that he was Prince Wei. He seemed to have become young and weak. He wanted to retort, but he could not out-argue those people. Soon, he was surrounded by these children, and their weak fists rained down on him. Nearby, palace servants spoke words of dissuasion, but no one listened, and the scene descended into chaos.

Just at that moment, someone suddenly rushed forward.

It was the black-clad child. His body was as strong as a young calf, and he charged headlong, knocking all those people to the ground.

Not content with just knocking them down, he pinned each of the children to the ground and beat them, striking and cursing with each blow.

At this point, many palace servants came forward to dissuade him, and some tried to pull the child away, but the child acted like a madman, flailing his fists and feet, and uttering harsh words: "If any of you dare to offend this Prince again, I will report it to Father Emperor and have all your heads moved!"

In the end, all the palace servants retreated, watching helplessly as the child beat everyone.

The black-clad child, who had just finished beating everyone, was actually covered in injuries himself, but he was very pleased with himself. He looked at him with a mix of smugness and disdain, saying, "Why bother reasoning with these people? Just beat them. Once they're beaten into submission, then my reasoning is the only one that matters."

***

They went to many places. Most of the time, the black-clad child would get hurt, and the wounds on his body grew more numerous, but the unyielding, smug, and arrogant look on his face never faded.

When they arrived before a familiar palace, Prince Wei knew that this was about to end, and the black-clad person also changed from being talkative to having a solemn expression.

What met their eyes was a scene of blood red, as if the entire palace was shrouded in blood. Palace servants were screaming, and there was chaos everywhere. There were many voices, and the two were involuntarily pushed to the door of a palace chamber.

The entire palace chamber was decorated in crimson red, and the dragon and phoenix candles burned high, which only made the bloodstains on the ground appear more striking and glaring. The further they walked, the more bloodstains there were, and the end point was the wedding bed covered with a crimson dragon and phoenix mandarin duck quilt.

The bed was now in disarray, and upon it lay a naked woman. On the woman's neck was a bloody, gruesome wound. It seemed that all the blood in the palace chamber had gushed from this wound. The wound was still gushing blood, yet ironically, the woman was still wearing the diadem that only a princess consort could wear.

Prince Wei's head began to ache, and he involuntarily clutched his head. The black-clad person beside him also clutched his head, as if a reflection.

But the other quickly reacted, drawing his sword and rushing out. By the time Prince Wei caught up, it was too late. The palace was filled with death and injury, and the other had already rushed out of the palace.

Prince Wei chased after him all the way, until they reached a palace. Many guards came to try and stop him and the black-clad person, but the black-clad person moved as if in an empty space, cutting down everyone in his path until he stood before a man in fine clothes. Prince Wei, however, was surrounded by guards. They held their swords, but their faces were filled with fear, and they whispered to each other, "The Third Prince has gone mad."

The Third Prince has gone mad, gone mad...

***

Prince Wei suddenly opened his eyes.

Beside him was Fusheng, his face filled with worry, and Song You, who was so exhausted that he could only collapse on the ground.

"Your Highness…"

Song You climbed up from the ground and asked, "How are you?"

Prince Wei shook his head.

"Such matters cannot be rushed. There are no precedents, so we can only proceed by trial and error. My previous statement still stands: whether he can be cured has little to do with external forces; it mainly depends on the connection between you and him."

Prince Wei did not speak.

Song You continued, "Very well, I must go and rest. I truly cannot hold on any longer. The remaining matters shall be left to Chamberlain Fu."

Fusheng saw Song You off. By this time, Prince Wei had already emerged from the bathing tub. Fusheng quickly clapped his hands a few times, and several chamberlains carrying the tub entered from outside the door.

The chamberlains placed the tub down and filled it with warm water. Prince Wei entered the tub and washed himself once more before rising to change into clean clothes.

Returning to the main room, Prince Wei went to the inner chamber to lie down, and a voice echoed in his mind.

[I simply don't understand. How does doing this cure any illness? What illness is it even curing? I feel perfectly fine now, better than ever. I'm not ill. It's just that I lost control and fainted that day. But before I fainted, I handed my body over to you, and nothing untoward happened.]

[Could it be that having a dream with you every night will cure the illness? Are you a masochist? You're just asking for trouble. Do you really want to experience those things again? Aren't you tired?]

Ji Yang's incessant chatter did not elicit any response from Prince Wei.

He grew impatient and said, [Anyway, I've cooperated for several days now, and I've given you my time. I'm going to find her tomorrow. You'd better be sensible and not provoke me to rebel.]

[Have you not considered how we will conceal this after we are married?] Prince Wei could not help but ask.

[If we can't conceal it, then we won't. What's there to conceal?]

Prince Wei was silent for a long while before asking again, [Then have you considered how we will interact after marriage? How will we distinguish between day and night?]

[That's simple. Just like now, you during the day, me at night. I can't sleep at night without her now,] he said matter-of-factly.

[Then who will be in the bridal chamber?]

[Of course, it will be me. Surely not you? You just go and busy yourself with your grand affairs. Just let me know when you need my help.]

Prince Wei finally fell silent.

***

Little did he know, Wushuang was also pondering this question after returning. She was thinking about how to interact with Prince Wei after the wedding, and how to spend their wedding night.

After thinking for a long time, her mind was a complete muddle. She was also very tired, so she went to sleep after dinner.

The next day, she had someone summon Mei Wuxia.

Without saying any unnecessary words, she placed the porcelain bottle in front of her.

"What is this?"

"This is something that will prevent you from suddenly changing your mind and stabbing me and Prince Wei in the back. I will have someone send you an antidote once a month from now on. I hope you can be more honest and not do anything you shouldn't."

Mei Wuxia's face changed drastically. She looked at her in disbelief, "Mei Wushuang, we are sisters, how can you treat me like this?"

Wushuang glanced at her, "When you harmed me, you never showed any mercy, did you? I'm not harming you; I'm just taking precautions."

"Did Prince Wei give you this medicine?"

"It doesn't matter who gave it to me. Just take it."

"Then if I take it, and you don't help me, who will I turn to?"

In the end, she just didn't want to take it, yet she wanted someone to help her. How could there be such a good thing in the world?!

Wushuang smiled, glancing at her again, “Rest assured, this medicine is more valuable than you are. I have no interest in using it to harm you.” When Prince Wei had someone give it to her, he had said that this medicine was very precious and that he must personally watch her take it.

"So it was indeed Prince Wei who gave it to you!" Mei Wuxia sneered. "Then, at the estate, was it also Prince Wei who helped you? And the things in Great Aunt's hands are now in yours?"

Wushuang did not deign to deceive her, saying, "The things of my family should naturally be in my hands. Is that so strange?"

"Good! Good! Good! So you were aware of my plans all along, yet you pretended not to know, watching me rack my brains to scheme against you, while you and Prince Wei played the fisherman, first harming Commandery Princess Minghui, and then me…"