ADENCPIFPM Chapter 13

“That bastard Lu Jing did this on purpose!” Chu Chen cursed as Mutou carried him into the tent, his voice strained with pain. “My leg is nowhere near the ball… Ah! Ouch!”

Mutou gently set Chu Chen on a chair, then knelt on the floor and rolled up his trouser leg. A large swelling had formed just above his ankle. When Mutou lightly pressed the area, Chu Chen broke into a cold sweat, his knuckles turning white as he gripped Mutou’s shoulder.

“Easy… be gentle…” Chu Chen’s eyes reddened from the sharp pain.

“The bone is fine, but it’ll probably take a while to heal—maybe half a month,” Mutou said. He had someone bring a cold towel and began applying it to the swelling himself. “It’s my fault. I should have looked after you better.”

Chu Chen quickly replied, “What does this have to do with you? It’s all that Lu bastard’s fault!”

Mutou lowered his head, a fleeting shadow of guilt crossing his eyes before it vanished.

“Your Highness,” Chongyang said as he entered, “Young Marquis Lu is waiting outside. He’s asked to come in and see you.”

“Tell him to leave!” Chu Chen snapped. “It’s just crocodile tears!”

Lu Jing, standing outside the tent, heard every word Chu Chen said. In fact, he had even heard the earlier insult when Chu Chen called him a bastard. ‘The Sixth Prince’s temperament has truly changed,’ Lu Jing thought. From their first meeting until now, he had repeatedly confirmed his own judgment…

“Young Marquis Lu…” The Second Prince, having rushed over upon learning of Chu Chen’s injury, greeted Lu Jing as he saw him standing by the entrance. “Why aren’t you going in?”

Lu Jing managed a wry smile. “His Highness is still angry with me. I’d rather not go in and upset him further.”

Just then, the Fifth Prince also arrived in a hurry. After greeting Lu Jing, he followed the Second Prince into the tent.

Shortly after, the physician arrived. After examining Chu Chen’s injury, he reached the same conclusion as Mutou: the injury hadn’t damaged any bones or tendons, but Chu Chen would likely have difficulty walking for a while, let alone riding a horse.

“It’s all my fault for being so careless,” the Second Prince said guiltily. “I should have provided you with leg guards.”

“Oh, what a shame,” the Fifth Prince lamented, looking at Chu Chen. “Sixth Brother won’t be able to join us for the horse race tomorrow.”

Chu Chen’s wound had been cold-compressed by Mutou for a long time and was no longer as painful, but he was still somewhat unhappy in his heart, so he said, “It’s a pity, this prince will not be able to get the top prize in tomorrow’s horse race.”

“Sixth Brother’s leg is injured, I don’t want to go either. Why don’t I accompany Fifth Brother back to the city tomorrow morning?” the Fifth Prince said.

Hearing this, the Second Prince smiled and said, “Sixth Brother was injured by Young Marquis Lu, he must be very angry in his heart. If Fifth Brother is willing, he should seize the top prize for Sixth Brother tomorrow.”

“Second Brother is right!” The Fifth Prince heard this and said to Chu Chen, “Sixth Brother, don’t worry, with me there tomorrow, I will definitely not let that Lu-named person steal the spotlight.”

Hearing this, Chu Chen forced a smile and looked meaningfully at the Second Prince.

The Second Prince’s reverse psychology could fool the Fifth Prince, but it couldn’t fool Chu Chen.

He just didn’t know what arrangements the Second Prince had made for tomorrow…

That night, Chu Chen slept very uneasily and kept having nightmares. One moment he dreamed of the Fifth Prince being shot dead by a rain of arrows, the next he dreamed of the Fifth Prince, covered in blood, coming to claim his life… Chu Chen woke up in terror in the middle of the night, felt the space beside him was empty, and Mutou, who had originally slept on the same bed with him, was gone.

Chu Chen’s sleep-deprived mind was still reeling from the nightmare, and he found himself unable to return to slumber. He rose and hopped out of the tent on one foot.

Torches lit the camp. Chu Chen stood at the tent’s entrance and scanned the area, but Mutou was nowhere to be seen. The nightmare had left him feeling slightly anxious. He borrowed a spear from a patrolling guard, using it as a walking stick as he wandered the camp in search of Mutou.

‘Surely he wouldn’t have slipped off to another tent for a midnight tryst?’ Chu Chen thought. ‘That would be a truly scandalous betrayal.’

Torches flickered all around the camp. After only a few steps, Chu Chen noticed a shadow stretching across the ground—someone was following him. He rounded the corner of a tent, leaning on his spear. As the figure behind him closed in, Chu Chen suddenly thrust the spear forward. But the newcomer had anticipated the move. He seized the shaft, yanked it forward, and sent Chu Chen stumbling off-balance.

“Your Highness, there’s no need for such a grand gesture. I’m afraid I cannot accept it,” the man said, catching Chu Chen and offering a smile.

“You?” Chu Chen frowned, his tone sharp. “Young Marquis Lu, why are you stalking me in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”

Lu Jing smiled and said, “That’s my question, Your Highness. Why are you outside my tent in the middle of the night?”

Chu Chen froze for a moment, then stubbornly replied, “My second brother’s men set up this camp. I can go wherever I please.”

“Of course, Your Highness is always right,” Lu Jing said, his hand still gripping Chu Chen as he pulled him closer. He leaned in and whispered in his ear, “Are you still angry with me?”

“How dare you!” Chu Chen tried to push him away, but Lu Jing continued to whisper, “Leave as soon as possible tomorrow morning. Don’t ask about what happens next, and don’t overthink it. It’s best to pretend you know nothing at all.”

Chu Chen was stunned. “What do you mean?” he asked instinctively.

“You’ll find out after tomorrow,” Lu Jing said with a meaningful smile. “No need to thank me. Just consider it a meeting gift from me to you.”

With that, Lu Jing handed the spear back to Chu Chen, bowed deeply, and returned to his own tent.

Chu Chen looked up and saw Mutou standing nearby, watching him.

“Where have you been?” Chu Chen asked Mutou.

Mutou strode forward and scooped him up in his arms. “I saw you tossing and turning in your sleep,” he said. “I went to get some calming medicine from the physician.”

Chu Chen’s expression softened slightly. “Lu Jing told me…”

“I heard everything,” Mutou interrupted. “He’s right. Your Highness should leave this place of turmoil as soon as possible.”

“But… what if…” Chu Chen glanced around, unable to bring himself to finish the sentence.

Mutou already understood. “The Second Highness will personally arrange the horse. If anything goes wrong, he will be the one held responsible. You needn’t worry about the others.”

Chu Chen felt a wave of relief. Mutou’s words made perfect sense. No matter how ruthless the Second Prince and the Crown Prince were, they wouldn’t risk the Fifth Prince’s life, would they?

As long as the Fifth Prince was safe, Chu Chen’s anxiety subsided. ‘Consider this even for the time he drugged me,’ he thought. ‘We’re square now.’

The next morning, Chu Chen and Mutou set off for the capital.

Throughout the journey, Chu Chen considered countless possibilities, but he couldn’t unravel the mystery. He had no idea what the Fifth Prince would face.

It wasn’t until the next day that news arrived from the palace: the Fifth Prince had gone missing during a horse ride.

“How could he have gone missing?” Chu Chen asked, greatly surprised.

“Your Highness, please do not worry. The Second Highness sent men to search for him that very day, and they found the Fifth Highness shortly after,” Chongyang said quickly. “The Fifth Highness is safe and sound, without a single scratch. It was the horse that had the problem—it went mad and ran into the mountains, refusing to come out.”

Chu Chen’s face showed a hint of confusion. “Ran into the mountains?”

“Yes,” Chongyang replied. “The men sent by the Second Highness found the Fifth Highness in the mountains. At the same time, they discovered a secret camp nearby. The camp held nearly a thousand private soldiers, all of whom were exceptionally skilled.”

Chu Chen fell silent.

‘So that’s how it is. The Fifth Prince was just a decoy. The secret camp must have been the real target of the Crown Prince and the Second Highness.’

“And those private soldiers… what happened to them?” Chu Chen asked.

“We don’t know,” Chongyang said. “But we heard that His Majesty is furious. He has already dispatched the Patrol Battalion to take control of the situation. We don’t know the outcome yet.”

Stationing troops secretly in the capital’s critical areas was a grave offense. The Emperor was bound to be enraged.

The Crown Prince and the Second Prince had joined forces, using Chu Chen to throw the Fifth Prince under the bus. The real target of their scheme was now painfully obvious.

Soon, the Emperor would discover that the private army belonged to the Fourth Prince—and that the very brother who shared his mother had been the one to expose him.

The Crown Prince and the Second Prince had played a truly vicious hand.

“Well, this is just great. Now we’ve completely alienated the Noble Consort,” Chu Chen sighed.

Mutou, applying a bruise-healing ointment to the injury on Chu Chen’s calf, said, “You returned to the capital early that day. This won’t be blamed on you.”

“I suppose I owe that to Young Marquis Lu…” Chu Chen sneered.

Mutou pressed harder on the wound. Chu Chen hissed in pain and pinched Mutou’s shoulder. “Tell me,” he asked, “how did Lu Jing and Third Brother manage to get so cozy after all these years apart?”

“If Your Highness is curious, you can ask him yourself the next time you see him,” Mutou replied.

“Hmph,” Chu Chen scoffed. “Don’t think I’ll be grateful just because he helped me once. He almost broke my leg!”

Mutou raised an eyebrow, his expression a mix of emotions.

***

In the Crown Prince’s study.

Lu Lei stood with his head bowed before the desk, his expression awkward.

“Young Marquis Lu, you’ve shown great thoughtfulness,” the Crown Prince said, a faint smile on his face, though his tone held a chill. “You weren’t afraid of getting involved yourself, yet you still thought to help my Sixth Brother escape.”

Lu Jing managed a wry smile. “His Highness and I haven’t seen each other in years. I wouldn’t have taken this initiative on my own for his sake. It was… ‘that person’ who personally asked me to intervene.”

“That person?” A flicker of surprise crossed the Crown Prince’s face.

“I thought that since ‘that person‘ had already allied with Your Highness, his instructions would likely have your tacit approval,” Lu Jing explained. “I never imagined he would act on his own this time, inadvertently ruining your plans.”

The Crown Prince smiled faintly. “My Sixth Brother’s escape isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just that I never expected ‘that person’ to…”

He had assumed that ‘that person’, forced into a subordinate position as a male concubine in the Sixth Prince’s Residence, would despise Chu Chen. But now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“Does my Sixth Brother know?” the Crown Prince asked.

“His Highness the Sixth Prince doesn’t even know that person’s identity,” Lu Jing said. “It seems I’ve reaped the benefit of this favor for free.”

“It is no matter,” the Crown Prince replied with a faint smile. “He has given me a surprise, and I will find a way to repay him.”

Lu Lei raised an eyebrow at this but dared not join the conversation.

Neither of these two was someone to be trifled with, and he truly did not wish to get entangled in their schemes.

Especially with the war at the front still unresolved, who knew what status that person would hold in the future?

The prisoner of today might, in the blink of an eye, become someone above ten thousand men.

Therefore, this favor, rather than being given to Chu Chen, was better said to be given to that person…

Chu Chen: “I don’t care about Lu Jing!” Also Chu Chen: spends the entire night worrying about the Fifth Prince and wondering what Lu Jing is plotting. Sir, your curiosity is showing! 😂 Meanwhile, your translator is waiting for readers to show some curiosity about my Ko-fi. ☕