After he said that, Zhao Yelan ignored him all night and went back to his room after dinner.

Yan Mingting knew that he had hurt his self-esteem, and gradually returned to his sanity. In the past few days, he hadn’t drank as much as before, and had become more sober.

He lingered outside the door for a long time, thinking about how to apologize. The door opened at this moment, the person inside about to come out. The two looked at each other.

After a moment, Yan Mingting spoke first: “Where are you going?”

Zhao Yelan glanced at him, holding a pack on his shoulders. Just as he brushed past, Yan Mingting suddenly grabbed his arm.

“You want to leave?” Yan Mingting frowned. “That won’t work, the army will arrive in Nanjiang tomorrow. The southern border will be in chaos, and a person with no strength could easily encounter danger.”

Zhao Yelan pursed his lower lip.

“You go back and rest first, and when the southern border is stable, I’ll have someone send you back in person, okay?”

Zhao Yelan lowered his head and didn’t answer.

Seeing this, Yan Mingting pulled him back and said: “I made a slip of the tongue just now, and there will not be a next time. But this is a matter of life and death, so you must listen to me. We are also friends, and I won’t harm you.” Yan Mingting said, “Otherwise, I will send someone to guard you day and night. Are you willing?”

Zhao Yelan shook his head violently.

“Then promise me you’ll stay here these days?”

Zhao Yelan nodded, then gestured a few more times.

Yan Mingting guessed: “Are you asking when I’m leaving?”

Zhao Yelan nodded.

“I will set off early tomorrow morning. It may be as short as a few days, or an unknown amount of time longer. But don’t worry, if I don’t come back for a long time, someone will send you back,” Yan Mingting said.

Zhao Yelan frowned. He wanted to know what he meant by not coming back for a long time, but Yan Mingting couldn’t guess what he meant. He only told him to take good care of himself, then turned and left the room.

Zhao Yelan was inexplicably flustered. Yan Mingting’s tone of voice was normal just now, but he couldn’t help feeling like something was wrong.

At this time, there was some movement outside the inn. He opened the window and saw Yan Mingting riding a horse, leading a group of people and horses to disappear down the road without looking back.

Didn’t he say he was leaving tomorrow?

This liar!

Zhao Yelan hurried downstairs, trying to catch up, but was stopped by the guards at the door.

“Young Master, the General has ordered that you are not to go out. We will protect your safety,” a guard said.

Zhao Yelan pointed angrily in a distant direction. There must be something wrong with Yan Mingting, otherwise, why would he lie to him?

“I’m sorry, I’ll have to offend him.” Seeing that he wouldn’t listen, the guard knocked him unconscious and took him back to his room.

When he woke up again, it was already noon. Zhao Yelan went downstairs to stare angrily at the guard.

The other party smiled at him and said: “I know that you are also worried about the General, but if I didn’t knock you out, you may have affected the General’s plans. But don’t worry, he is the most powerful god of war in our Xuan Dynasty. Even the strong Mongolian army fears him, and the southern border is nothing to worry about. The army has already joined him, and there will be good news in a few days.”

Zhao Yelan couldn’t eat for several days, and sat in the lobby to wait for news. The guards received very little information, and most of it came from the mouths of transient commoners who came and went. 

People said that Yan Mingting had led the army into Nanjiang to rescue the old king, and joined forces with the Second Prince to attack the Third Prince and Eighth Princess. Nanjiang was already in chaos.

Some Nanjiang refugees fled to the Xuan Dynasty and insulted Yan Mingting at the inn for meddling in the internal affairs of Nanjiang. They were poisoned by Zhao Yelan that night and lay paralyzed in bed for a few days before recovering.

One night more than ten days later, Zhao Yelan was arranging herbs. The poison on his face had nearly recovered, and he felt relieved after taking the mask off.

And after he slowly put on the mask again, he reached out to hold a teacup, but it suddenly fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. He crouched down to pick up the pieces, but accidentally pricked his finger.

He looked at the red droplets of blood overflowing from his fingertip, and felt uneasy again for no reason.

He didn’t know how Yan Mingting was doing.

A few days later, he received news from the guards that Yan Mingting was about to return to the Imperial court. He breathed a sigh of relief at last, and packed his luggage together with the guards.

In the end, he found that the guards were not sending him to see Yan Mingting, but were bringing him to Nanjiang again.

He quickly grabbed a guard’s sleeve and pointed at the city gate, waving his hand and gesturing. “You don’t want to go home, but you want to see the General?” the guard asked.

Zhao Yelan nodded.

“That won’t work, ah. Before the General left, he only said that we should send you home once everything had settled down, and didn’t say that he wanted to see you. And he has already led the army back to the Xuan Dynasty, so you won’t be able to see him.”

Zhao Yelan was stunned, and couldn’t react for a while. The other party had simply left.

He returned to the house in Nanjiang again, and the guards also departed.

“Why did you come back alone? I thought you would bring that man back,” the cousin joked when he came out.

Zhao Yelan put down his luggage expressionlessly, and was suddenly at a loss for what to do.

Now that Yan Mingting had gone back, his identity would not be easily discovered, and he could think about where to go next. But he was completely uninterested, standing in the courtyard like a desolate dead tree.

The cousin asked while cleaning, “I only found out in the past few days that the person who took you away was the General of the Xuan Dynasty. You and him have known each other for a long time, right? Are you from the Xuan Dynasty?”

Zhao Yelan turned a deaf ear to him.

“A few days ago, he beheaded the Eighth Princess with his own hands, and I heard from the neighbors that he was smiling when he came out,” said the cousin.

Zhao Yelan thought to himself: He took revenge with his own hands, why should he not smile?

“He’s been poisoned, but he was still smiling. It’s unbelievable,” said the cousin.

“Poisoned? What kind of poison?!” Zhao Yelan looked at him fiercely.

“Don’t you know?” The cousin frowned. “The Eighth Princess was a master of poison. She poisoned him before she died. The king saw signs of the poisoning and wanted to find a witch doctor for him, but he refused and left with his army. If he doesn’t get treatment, he probably won’t live half a year. I don’t know what he’s thinking, he really doesn’t care about his life.”

Zhao Yelan felt that his whole body was drained of strength, and trembled as he grabbed the other’s collar: “Are you telling the truth?”

“It’s absolutely true. Many people in Nanjiang know about this. If you don’t believe me, go and find out for yourself.”

Zhao Yelan turned around and went into the room. He picked up his luggage and ran out the door, hired a carriage, and rushed off in the direction of the Xuan Dynasty.

If he was returning with the army, he should have taken the official road. He chased along this route for several days, but was entirely unable to catch up with the speed of the army.

At this time, the coachman told him that he could take a different trail, but the terrain was a bit rough.

Zhao Yelan resolutely chose the trail. The carriage shook for a long time, and then they reached a mountain.

“This carriage can’t go up the next mountain. You can climb over yourself, and hire a new carriage when you get to the town over there,” the coachman said.

Zhao Yelan began to climb the mountain with his pack on his back, but the things on his shoulders became heavier and heavier. He opened the pack and threw all the gold, silver, and jewelry onto the mountain, and discarded some other heavy objects before starting on his way again. Finally, at dawn, he found a new carriage and lay down inside it to catch up on sleep.

After constantly taking shortcuts like this, he finally caught up with the army on the eleventh day.

At this time, he was already at the Nanjiang border. He went to the post station to inquire about the speed of the army, and the post worker said that it would take half a day for them to arrive.

Only then did he support himself on a table and sit down tremblingly to order a pot of tea. He drank half the pot in one breath, then rubbed his sore and swollen legs.

In the evening, there was the sound of horseshoes outside, their speed very fast. As soon as Zhao Yelan heard the sound, he ran to the door and saw the momentum of thousands of troops and horses from a distance. But Yan Mingting was not in the lead.

Just when he was pondering, the person at the front tightened the reins and shouted to the people at the post station: “Go and find some doctors!”

Zhao Yelan’s heart skipped a beat. He held onto the door with one hand, his fingers tightly gripping the edge. Then he saw a carriage pull up from behind, and several people carried the unconscious Yan Mingting out.

When he passed by, Zhao Yelan subconsciously reached out to hold his hand, but was pushed away by the soldiers.

Yan Mingting was sent to a guest room on the second floor, and not long after, several doctors hurried over.

Zhao Yelan couldn’t even squeeze through the door. Soldiers were standing outside the room, all of their faces full of worry.

“The General is awake!” Someone called from inside.

Zhao Yelan raised his head, but was blocked by the people in front, and couldn’t see at all. Only Yan Mingting’s casual voice could be heard: “Why are there so many people around, all of you go away. The doctor said this poison can’t be cured, so can you just let me sleep for a while?”

The people inside tried to persuade him to seek medical treatment, but Yan Mingting acted extremely stubborn: “The doctor said there is no way. There is nothing to be done. Go out and let me sleep for a while.”

In the end, these people were all driven out by Yan Mingting, and when the door was closed, he lay down in the room and slept soundly.

After all the people around had dispersed, Zhao Yelan walked to the door. He tried to push the door open and go in, but was stopped by someone: “Who are you?”

“I’m his friend. I can persuade him.” The guard looked at him dubiously.

“His given name is Fangli. When he was at the border, he liked to eat tanghulu. After returning to Beijing, he often goes to the training grounds. His birthday is the thirteenth of the sixth month.”

After a moment, the guard finally let him in.

He locked the door and went straight to the bed. The person laying there was still sleeping, and his brow was furrowed.

Yan Mingting used to say that Zhao Yelan frowned in his sleep, but now he was like this.

He sat down on the bed and took his hand.

The other party didn’t respond, so he squeezed a little tighter: “Yan Fangli, wake up.”

The person on the bed moved his fingers slightly, and slowly opened his eyes. When he saw him, he didn’t reveal an overjoyed expression, but looked as if he had known he would come. The corners of his mouth hooked up, and he said in a warm voice: “Mengting, it’s so good to see you again.”

Zhao Yelan’s nose was sore: “When have you seen me?”

“I see you every day, when I’m drunk and when I’m dreaming.”

Zhao Yelan choked up. Controlling his voice, he said slowly: “That’s not the real me.”

“It’s you.”

“This right now is the real me.”

“Of course I know you’re real. Every time you appear, you’re real.” Yan Mingting said so, but didn’t dare to reach out and touch him, lest this dream be shattered again.

“Mengting, I will come to see you soon.” Yan Mingting smiled. “It’s not that I was disobedient and voluntarily gave up my life. It’s because they were too vicious and insisted on my death.”

“When you went to Nanjian for disaster relief and to get revenge, you didn’t even intend to come back alive, did you?”

Zhao Yelan lowered his head, lines of tears hanging from the corners of his eyes.

Seeing this, Yan Mingting immediately sat up and reached out to wipe his tears. When he touched the other’s skin, he stopped abruptly and stared at him for fear that he would disappear. But not only did the other person not disappear, he even raised his wet eyes to look at him.

“Yan Mingting, follow me back to Nanjiang for treatment,” Zhao Yelan said.

“I won’t go,” Yan Mingting said. “I must go back to the capital and burn incense for my parents, and tell them that our grievance has finally been avenged. Then I must prepare my tomb. I will be buried in a double coffin with you, and we can sleep together every day in the future.”

“Yan Mingting!” Zhou Yelan shouted sharply. “I’m not dead and neither are you!”

“It’s not easy for me to get to see you once, don’t say that you’re not dead. Come and see what I brought you from Nanjiang.” Yan Mingting felt in his robes, then took out an oddly-shaped hairpin. This was given to me by the king of Nanjiang. He said it is a priceless item. I thought it was very suitable for you at first glance, so I accepted it. Take a look, do you like it? If you like it, can you stay a little longer?”

“Yan Fangli, I’m really not dead.” Zhao Yelan held his face with both hands, and his lips were covered in tears when he bit him. There was a rusty taste in his mouth, and the tears were mixed with blood. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have deceived you.”

Yan Mingting couldn’t regain his senses for a long time. When the other party let go of him, he didn’t speak, but just licked his lower lip and looked at him without saying a word.

“Do you still not believe that I’m real? Would the me in your dreams do such a thing to you?” Zhao Yelan asked.

“Yes, ah.” Yan Mingting smiled shyly. “You’ve done it several times even more intimately, and then you would take off my clothes.”

Zhao Yelan: “…….”

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Extra 11: Faking Death (4) <<Table of Contents >> Extra 13: Faking Death (6)