Zhang Fengxi's return was received with a round of horrendous cries.
"DEAR HEAVENS!" Lady Song cried out in terror when she heard the news. She consequently leaped to her feet and ran out of her bed chamber. Once she caught sight of her son, she clawed into her face in distress.
Standing in the courtyard with his clothes dyed red, the heir to Longjing Palace looked like he just bathed in the blood of his mortal enemies.
"Fengxi, what happened??? And, oh, Crown Prince, thank you so much for taking him back home," Lady Song bowed before Xie Jianyu before she rushed to take a look at his dejected son.
Xie Jianyu gave the mistress of the palace a slight nod.
Zhang Fengxi pursed his lips.
Take him back home? Xie Jianyu did nothing but follow him back home! How was that an achievement???
If speaking did not hurt that much, Zhang Fengxi might just complain out loud then and there. Instead, he pressed a hand against his stomach and furrowed his brows in pain.
"Mother, I don't feel good," he said in a low voice. "I want to rest for a little bit."
"Oh! Of course. Xiang'er! Xiang'er!!!" Lady Song shouted to summon her head maid.
Xiang'er hurried outside and curtsied before her mistress.
"Yes, Lady Song?"
"Take Fengxi to his bedroom. Clean him up and attend to his wounds."
"Yes, Lady Song."
Xiang'er looked at the two guards who stood like statues in front of the main palace building. They swiftly placed themselves at Zhang Fengxi's sides and helped him inside.
"Zhang Fengxi, wait," Xie Jianyu called out to him.
"What is it?"
"My gourd."
"..."
Zhang Fengxi gaped at the crown prince in disbelief. Did Xie Jianyu follow him back home just to retrieve his gourd in time? Was the gourd that expensive? That special??? Where did he get it from???
Zhang Fengxi hissed from pain when he untied the gourd from his waist and threw it at Xie Jianyu.
"Take your damn gourd back, you stingy prince," was what he muttered under his breath. Naturally, no one heard him.
In the next hour, cries of pain were heard from Zhang Fengxi's bedroom. Once the blood-crusted clothes had been removed with a lot of effort, Zhang Fengxi's wounds were seen clearly. On top of that, he broke a few ribs and cracked his upper left arm.
The palace physician shook his head in a mix of disbelief and admiration.
"That snake must have posed a great challenge," he mused as he fixed Zhang Fengxi up.
"Prince, you have worked hard. Although it was inferior to the demon that the crown prince slayed, you should be proud of your achievement."
Zhang Fengxi groaned in response.
If only the physician knew, he thought bitterly. Only he knew the truth.
Zhang Fengxi fell asleep after he drank a bowl of sedatives. His sleep was tormented by a nightmare. In the nightmare, he was steeped in a cauldron full of hot oil.
"Help!!!" Zhang Fengxi shouted many times, but no one came to rescue him.
And then, he saw a pair of almond eyes that peered at him from the edge of the cauldron.
It was Xie Jianyu.
"Jianyu, help," Zhang Fengxi begged. "Please. It's so hot in here."
"I don't want to," Xie Jianyu told him. "Fengxi, you are so cruel. You cut me into a thousand pieces and burned my corpse. If I cannot reincarnate, why should you?"
"But Jianyu..."
Zhang Fengxi tried to swim to the edge, but he was unable to move. His wrists and ankles were bound by heavy chains made of black iron.
"You killed my child," Xie Jianyu continued.
At the mention of the lost child, Zhang Fengxi roared like a wounded animal. He pulled at the chains, causing them to dance under the hot oil surface, but they stubbornly clung to him.
"Jianyu, I am sorry," Zhang Fengxi begged. "Jianyu, please help..."
The hot oil was reflected in Xie Jianyu's cold eyes. There was not a single ripple in his gaze.
He meant to kill Zhang Fengxi.
Slowly, Zhang Fengxi's body disintegrated inside the hot oil.
"Jianyu," he called while looking straight at Xie Jianyu's face. "Jianyu, I am sorry."
"I am sorry..."
Just when Zhang Fengxi slowly drowned inside the oil, a slender hand reached out and pulled him upward.
When Zhang Fengxi broke into the surface, some of the hot liquid flooded his breathing passage. Zhang Fengxi coughed violently in an attempt to dispel all the liquids from his body.
When Zhang Fengxi opened his eyes again, he looked at Xie Jianyu's icy expression. He was covered in a brownish liquid that slowly trickled down his otherwise silky and smooth hair.