Chapter 603: Ziyue Roumu

It was the first time Li Yao had seen Liheng, Lian Lin, and the others receive such a terrifying scolding.

The men and the female relatives were still chatting happily in the hall, but when he was led in by the girl, his cheeks bruised and his clothes soaked and disheveled, all conversation came to an abrupt halt.

And so, things were as they were now: he stood stiffly in the corner, watching those unfamiliar uncles pour their rage onto his drenched older brothers and sisters, their eyes occasionally casting cold, fierce glares in his direction.

"You see, they are just as weak as you are under greater authority, and they are even more afraid to resist than you," the girl said, glancing down at him, her mouth slightly bulging as she chewed on a candied fruit, the sweet scent of orange drifting out.

But Li Yao did not speak. He sensed that this was only a brief respite; they would not be at the General's Mansion forever. This was just a one-day visit. If a rushing torrent is temporarily dammed, it will surely surge with even greater force when it breaks through.

He silently turned his head to look at his concubine mother, who was staring at the hall with a pale face.

After such an unpleasant incident, the visit could not continue for long. The tall men exchanged a few final pleasantries, and the carriages were gradually prepared outside the gate.

Then he heard Zhao Bai bi say crisply, "Madam, I want to play with him for a few more days."

"..." Li Yao raised his head. The girl, who was slightly taller than him, was looking at him with great interest, having swallowed the candied fruit in her mouth.

Li Yao stared blankly, clutching the *Six Secret Teachings* in his hands a little tighter.

"No matter how they bully you, you never get angry?" Lying on an unfamiliar bed while a maid applied medicine to his wounds, Zhao Bai bi lay on the edge of the bed, staring at his face and asking.

This angle and distance made him inexplicably blush, and he subconsciously looked away.

"Follow me from now on, and I'll take you to bully others," Zhao Bai bi imagined. "How old are you this year?"

"Twelve."

"I'm thirteen."

"In the future, when I roam the *Wu Lin*, you will be my first little brother, how about that?"

"... Thank you."

"You're welcome! But my subordinates must all have their own strengths," Zhao Bai bi said, resting her chin on her hands as she looked at him. "Otherwise, it would be a disgrace to me, Heroine Zhao—do you have any strengths?"

"Young Master Li's wounds have been dressed," the maid reminded him with a gentle smile. "Miss Zhao, it's almost time for the lessons Master Zhu arranged for you."

Zhao Bai bi narrowed her eyes, and her legs stopped swinging.

"I can..." Li Yao hesitated for a moment before saying carefully, "help you with your homework."

Spring flowers and summer swimming, autumn pears and winter snow—boys and girls of this age rarely played together, but Zhao Bai bi quite liked listening to Li Yao tell stories from history books, watching him write those exquisite and neat sentences on paper, and even composing them into melodies.

Li Yao preferred standing under the window after lessons, waiting for the girl to take him running wildly everywhere. Following behind that figure, the unfamiliar world was no longer frightening and gradually became interesting.

What made him gradually raise his head even more was that once-unfamiliar General's Mansion. He became familiar with that tall, upright man, listening to him explain past battles and the military strategies in books. Whenever he stood beside him, he always felt a powerful sense of peace. He grew close to that calm and gentle Madam, who always wore simple clothes and seemed never to get angry. He was only a little unaccustomed to being near Master Zhu, even though the girl seemed most familiar with her.

Days passed one by one. By the time the boy's head was level with the girl's, nearly two years had passed. Li Yao never felt anything was wrong, except that the man taught him military strategy less and less frequently in recent months, and the Madam was sometimes nowhere to be found.

But the world does not stop changing because a youth fails to perceive it. The dark clouds outside the children's field of vision finally brewed a sudden, torrential rain.

On the twelfth of the first month, Li Yao returned from the Imperial Academy on horseback once again, passing through the long street in front of the Imperial City. His feet could already step firmly into the stirrups. The young girl had only taught him horsemanship last month, ordering him to learn it quickly so he could carry her to the banks of the Feng River to play when the spring flowers bloomed.

Li Yao still had some fear of the large beast beneath him. He often had this feeling—it wasn't him controlling its pace, but it controlling his destination. If it suddenly bolted somewhere, Li Yao found it hard to imagine what he could do. In this state of mind, he gripped the reins very seriously and cautiously, not even raising his head as he passed the Imperial City gate.

Then he heard the sound of a horse galloping past from the side, as fast as the wind and as heavy as thunder.

His saddle seemed to be stained with a patch of fishy red, and the rider shouted something Li Yao didn't understand: "The Grand General has been executed!! Behead him immediately for all to see!!!"

Li Yao raised his head blankly. The setting sun was burning fiery red, with gray clouds draped over it, like the desolation of the battlefield in poetry.

He stood stunned for a while until the horse beneath him began to stomp its hooves in agitation. He subconsciously looked toward the south and saw a towering fire rising from the Grand General's residence in the distance.

The next three days were a nightmare.

Shouts of killing and clamor from unknown origins filled the entire city, and there were cries and screams everywhere. It took him a day and a half to return to the old residence of the Wise Prince. The lintel had been completely burned down, and the entire house had been ransacked. His concubine mother lay in the courtyard, her stomach stabbed into a mess of rot. Several maid sisters and the coachman, Uncle He, had all been killed in the courtyard. After one night, these broken corpses and blood had all frozen into ice.

Li Yao did not know how long he had wandered here with a blank mind. In trembling and fear, he took down the sword hanging on the wall for the first time, mounted his horse, and galloped toward the Grand General's Mansion.

Everything he passed was no longer as it had been. The night before, he had walked fearfully through the alleys, avoiding the firelight and the sound of armor; now, galloping on the road, many people with blood-stained blades merely glanced at him before returning to their own business.

It was not until he neared the mansion that had always symbolized strength and safety in his heart that the guards of armored soldiers finally began to show signs of martial law. The entire mansion was almost gone; those familiar pavilions had all collapsed into broken charcoal. The armored soldiers at the gate were lifting corpses one by one, placing them on the street for inspection. The clothes were all ones he recognized.

Even so, he still did not want to give up. He dismounted, trembling from afar, recalling the girl's living quarters and searching for a way to climb the wall in the winter bushes.

Just as he spotted an opportunity and wanted to rush up, a hand suddenly covered his mouth and dragged him into an alley.

The girl's dirty face was pressed against his. Her hair was half-tangled, her clothes were dirty and stained with blood, and there were two wounds bandaged on her shoulder and leg.

This face had been very serious, but as soon as she saw him, her mouth puffed out twice, and she actually laughed, whispering, "Li Yao, your face has become a cat's face."

Li Yao burst into tears.

Perhaps no one cared much about the orphaned son of the Wise Prince, and Zhao Bai bi was not regarded as a person of the General's Mansion. The two lonely youths found a dirty, broken place to stay in the war-torn city—it was the cellar of a ransacked house.

"If it weren't for finding you, I wouldn't have been injured." Whenever Li Yao changed Zhao Bai bi's medicine, she would always nag him.

They hid here for a month, and both of them became dirty. Gradually, the city should have completely settled down.

"Hey, I heard that the palace has issued a notice looking for the scattered Li bloodline." Zhao Bai bi returned this day and said to Li Yao, who was cooking noodles in the corner of the courtyard, "Do you want to go?"

A few days ago, they had already moved up from below. Li Yao was unwilling to return to any residence, so they temporarily settled here.

Li Yao turned his head slightly, stunned: "Is it over?"

"It seems to be over."

"Then, why did they fight?"

"The Grand General's old subordinates mutinied and rebelled, and the Imperial Guard ordered them all to be killed. That's probably it." The girl, who always went out to find food, knew the situation relatively well, but she didn't seem to care much. "Li Yao, do you want to answer them?"

Li Yao was silent, looking at her helplessly.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Bai bi handed him a tender yellow winter jasmine she had just picked on the road. "Look, is it pretty?"

"I was thinking... I don't know." Li Yao took it, sat cross-legged, and said in a low voice, "Bai bi, I don't know where I should go anymore... The home is gone, the concubine mother is gone, the Grand General and the others are gone..."

The boy revealed his weakness again: "I don't know what to do either."

"Look at your useless appearance," Zhao Bai bi jumped onto the swing beside her and swayed. "Isn't there still me accompanying you? Why bother with so much? If you want to live a happy life, I'll take you to hide in the five lakes and four seas, and no one will find us!"

"..." Li Yao was silent.

Zhao Bai bi was also quiet for a while, tilted her head and said: "Li Yao, what do you really want to do in your heart? If you don't even dare to say it, what is the meaning of life?"

Li Yao lowered his head and was silent for a moment, then whispered: "I want to go."

"Hmm?"

"I don't like them, I hate them... but my aunt always says that I am of the virtuous prince's bloodline, a member of the Li clan, and that the blood flowing in my veins is that of the former Yu. She hopes I will become a person of talent and restore the prestige of the virtuous prince's family." Li Yao lowered his head and said, "I never thought about these things before... but in this past month, I have seen many people who shouldn't have died, die."

"Hmm."

"Bai bi, I think this is a problem for people surnamed 'Li'." Li Yao raised his head, his face delicate, his eyes clean.

"So, I still want to go. I want to... change some things." He stood up.

"Then put on your shoes first." Zhao Bai bi swayed. "Then, you are going to do great things, are you still going to be my little brother?"

The boy lowered his head and pulled on his boots hard, then looked up at the young girl: "Of course, Bai bi, I like you the most."

"..." The girl was caught off guard and felt a little embarrassed. "What are you talking about?"

Li Yao blushed and looked at her: "Really, in the future, when I conquer the world, I will give you everything!" ===== CHAPTER 604 =====