T/N: Thanks so much to Sigh for the Kofi donation! Here’s a double update!

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When the three of them followed the traces and arrived at the study, they saw the broken brocade box on the ground and Huo Fenglie holding a piece of paper tightly in his hand. His head was lowered as he stood there blankly, as if all the strength had been drained from his body.

“Second Uncle?”

“General?”

As three of them called out, the steward’s voice sounded outside the door.

“Second Young Master, Qin-daren sent someone to deliver urgent news. It is said that the Jinyiwei are currently arresting the Imperial merchant Liu family. Their family is suspected of being involved in the Imperial Examination fraud, and they will all be placed in the Imperial Prison. Qin-daren asks, do you want to take charge of Young Master Liu Xiaozhu?”

“What? Uncle Liu is going to be arrested?” Huo Yunci and Huo Yunqian both looked shocked, and then looked at Mo Qi, who had just seen this person off.

Mo Qi’s expression changed, and he said: “This…..Young Master Liu’s carriage should still be at the east gate……”

Before Mo Qi could finish speaking, he felt a gust of wind in front of him. In the blink of an eye, Huo Fenglie had already reached the door and dodged to avoid the steward, who nearly bumped into him.

“Second Master, you…..” As soon as the steward spoke, he saw Huo Fenglie suddenly look up.

The steward’s expression changed drastically, because he saw a scarlet background in those cold, narrow eyes, and the collar that had opened slightly due to the movement revealed a faint, sharp, greenish-brown line under the collarbone.

But before the steward could react, Huo Fenglie had already used qinggong to fly out of the courtyard.

“It’s not good, the Second Young Master’s old illness has relapsed! Lieutenant General Mo, chase after him quickly!”

In front of the east city gate, the contingent began to move.

Liu Zhenqing and Jin Li were playing a game inside the carriage. Jin Li lost, and Liu Zhenqing’s punishment for him was to spin around and pray for this group to have good luck.

However, a commotion outside disturbed the carriage.

Jin Li stuck out his head to take a look, then immediately retracted it and said: “Master, why does the gate seem to be closed, ah?”

Liu Zhenqing opened the carriage curtain to see, and frowned at once.

Looking at the situation in front of the gate in the distance, there were extra guards walking around the people in line and driving the crowds away. This was clearly the routine of closing the city down. 

What was going on?

Just as he was thinking, he suddenly saw that the guard Mo Qi had met with before was talking to another officer. Judging from his attire, he was……Jinyiwei!

The guard immediately pointed their way, and at the wave of the Jinyiwei’s hand, a team gathered and rushed toward them quickly.

Being pointed out by the Jinyiwei was not a good thing, and since there was such a big commotion, it was likely that he would be arrested.

Liu Zhenqing’s eyes narrowed slightly. Since the situation was unclear, it was better to run first. He immediately gave orders to everyone in the carriage: “You all should get out of the carriage right away and disperse. Don’t take any risks, go back to Liu Manor and wait for news.”

After saying this, without waiting for anyone to react, Liu Zhenqing pulled Jin Li and jumped out of the carriage, passing through the crowd and into an alley.

Not to mention Jin Li, everyone was confused and forgot to react, so they were caught by the Jinyiwei who had come over.

They were only connected to the Liu family through an employment relationship, so of course they would not be loyal enough to cover for him. They hurriedly revealed the direction in which Liu Zhenqing had left.

But Liu Zhenqing had already decisively turned around to run in the completely opposite direction.

“Master, what…..what is going on, ah?” Jin Li asked nervously, panting as he ran.

“I don’t know, but something must have happened. Jin Li, let’s split up and return to Liu Manor. If…..if something really goes wrong, hide well by yourself!”

In fact, at this point, Liu Zhenqing’s initial guess was that it had something to do with what happened the day before. But on second thought, did the Eighth Princess and the First Princess have the ability to command the Jinyiwei to temporarily close the city? Unless they had found some reason to frame him.

He could either go back to Liu Manor or hide and see what happened. In any case, he couldn’t show himself rashly now.

Although Jin Li was anxious and worried, after procrastinating, he finally chose a path to return to Liu Manor, while Liu Zhenqing planned to observe for a while in the east part of the city.

He put on the hood of his cloak and hid in the narrow alley, using the accumulated debris there as cover as he watched the Jinyiwei team split up to search. Their goal was clearly to find him.

Liu Zhenqing weighed his options, and was thinking about the next step when he suddenly felt a cold chill suddenly approach behind him.

When he was Prime Minister Liu, he had been attacked so many times that he was conditioned to be vigilant. Liu Zhenqing turned sideways to avoid it, only to see a big saber slash past his ear and hit the wooden boxes directly behind him.

Liu Zhenqing kept away along the wall, and soon, five people dressed as commoners appeared in his field of vision. However, they looked menacing and were holding sabers, so they were clearly thugs.

The most important thing was that they looked familiar. Liu Zhenqing’s memory was amazing, and he had an impression of these appearances from when he was calculating the length of the contingent before.

“Who are you people? Do you intend to kill me?” Liu Zhenqing grabbed a wooden stick and quickly repelled the person who rushed toward him. He didn’t know martial arts, and had no chance of winning against so many people at once, so he could only think of other ways. “Let’s calm down and talk this out, I can pay you.”

Suddening, an eerie laugh came from deep in the alley. Liu Zhenqing looked to the side, and his eyes instantly widened.

He saw Rong Shiming standing not far away, wearing something like a mask. “Liu Xiaozhu, I will take your life today!” Because half of his teeth were chipped, his voice was accompanied by the whistle of air, and sounded very strange. But Liu Zhenqing had no time to laugh. This guy was really going to kill him.

It was clear that Rong Shiming held a grudge. Knowing that he would leave the capital today, he had arranged for the killers to join his team. They had probably intended to wait for him to leave the city and follow him out, then intercept him on the way. However, since the city was closed, they could only surround and kill him inside the city instead.

That was to say, the matter of sealing the city and the Jinyiwei at least had nothing to do with the First Princess.

Liu Zhenqing had no time to think about it. This person was already insane, and begging was useless, so…..

“Help, ah, Jinyiwei, Liu Xiaozhu is here!” Liu Zhenqing shouted loudly. The Jinyiwei had just left, so they must have heard him.

Now he could only pray that the delay would work.

But the difficulty was too high, and the narrow alley quickly became a hunting ground. Liu Zhenqing was forced into a desperate situation before he could run a few steps, and his stick was knocked away. If he hadn’t happened to be wearing the Liu family’s special clothing, which was thick and strong, he would have been cut just now.

Rong Shiming saw that a blade was about to hit Liu Zhenqing in the head, and just as he started to laugh ferociously, he saw Liu Zhenqing point in his direction and shout: “Huo Fenglie!”

Rong Shiming was startled for a moment. The fear of being beaten made him cry out, and he quickly crouched down and turned around, which also caused the thugs to turn their heads and look at their employer.

But when Rong Shiming saw that there was no one behind him, he knew he had been deceived, and became furious at once. When he turned around to look back, Liu Zhenqing had already seized the opportunity and dashed toward the entrance of the alley.

“Chop him to pieces for me!”

The thugs took their orders and rushed over, while Liu Zhenqing glanced back at the situation and ran forward with all his strength. Just as he was about to run out of the alley, his body’s danger sense suddenly felt a more chilling sense of crisis than before, but…..it didn’t seem to be murderous.

Too late to react, he turned around to look back and bumped into someone with the side of his face. Although it was as hard as an iron plate, it was indeed a man’s chest. And then his arm was grabbed tightly, with a force that almost crushed his forearm.

Liu Zhenqing immediately paled, thinking that they had a sixth person. He raised his head, but unexpectedly ran into a pair of familiar yet unfamiliar eyes. They were familiar because of the person who had come, but unfamiliar…..because the eyes were red? It was an abnormal dark red that seemed to hide chaos and madness.

“G….General Huo?”

Liu Zhenqing cried out in surprise, but the person behind him was temporarily invisible due to the angle.

Rong Shiming yelled: “The dog still wants to use his master’s name to make threats? Hurry and chop him to pieces!”

Huo Fenglie seemed to be unaware of the others, and simply grasped Liu Zhenqing by the arm to stare at him closely.

But Liu Zhenqing suddenly felt at ease. Although he didn’t know what was going on with Huo Fenglie, with him here, it would not be easy for those people to kill him.

Sure enough, at some point in the next second, Huo Fenglie took action. A cold black light flashed, and the two people rushing forward at the front fell silently beside Liu Zhenqing. They didn’t even have the chance to scream.

“Huo…..” Rong Shiming finally caught sight of him, and his legs weakened at once as he continued to retreat. “Quick, kill, kill……”

Those people didn’t see Huo Fenglie’s attack clearly, yet their companions were dead like this. Who would be stupid enough to rush forward? Thus, they naturally ran like crazy.

But Huo Fenglie might not have even looked at the enemy. His eyes never looked away for a moment as he continued to stare at Liu Zhenqing. 

He just raised his hand, and the Chunjun sword flew out of his hand at a tricky angle. It flew through the air with the low roar of a dragon, and the Hundred Steps Flying Sword killed the remaining three people in succession. With a finally clang, it plunged into the ground in front of Rong Shiming, penetrating down several inches. He was instantly shocked, and fell to the ground. The bloody smell it brought was so frightening that Rong Shiming wet his pants on the spot.

It was too late to get up and run, because Mo Qi had already fallen behind him and held his shoulders.

At this time, Liu Zhenqing finally breathed a sigh of relief and took two casual steps away. It truly was casual, but Huo Fenglie in front of him didn’t know this, and the hand holding his arm suddenly slid to his wrist and tugged hard as if he had been provoked, causing Liu Zhenqing to be knocked back again.

Liu Zhenqing looked up in astonishment at Huo Fenglie, who was closer than before. He could almost feel Huo Fenglie’s rapid, hot breath when he raised his head. The heat seemed abnormal, just like his eyes.

And what was even more abnormal was what Huo Fenglie was doing at this moment.

The God of War Huo Fenglie, who stood in front of thousands of troops with a calm expression, was now in a state of disarray. He gripped Liu Zhenqing’s wrist tightly as if he had lost his bearings, lowered his crimson eyes, and said in a slightly unsteady voice: “You…..where are you going?”

Liu Zhenqing: ? ? ? Did he not know he was leaving the city?

“I….I just wanted to leave the capital, but…..”

Huo Fenglie’s face changed slightly. His lips trembled faintly as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t speak, and the ends of his eyes gradually drooped. For a moment, Liu Zhenqing thought he had said something excessive and hurt him.

And Mo Qi was even more shocked, because he had never seen General Huo communicate with someone in a gentle manner when his old illness relapsed. This…..this could be considered tender.

Could it be that the general had taken medicine, or that the attack was not serious? But the red in his eyes hadn’t faded yet, ah.

Just as he was becoming frightened, Mo Qi heard footsteps and immediately warned him: “General, the Jinyiwei are here.”

Liu Zhenqing frowned and said hurriedly: “General, I’ll leave first, I can’t…..”

Before Liu Zhenqing could say anything, hurried footsteps came from outside the alley. It was clearly too late.

“Where is he?” The visitor asked loudly, but the moment he saw clearly, he lowered his head at once and saluted. “Respects to General Huo!”

Liu Zhenqing had no time to respond in this short amount of time, and was caught off guard by Huo Fenglie, who held him with one arm and used the other hand to pull up his cloak and cover him completely.

Liu Zhenqing was stunned for a moment before understanding, and cooperated at once. He didn’t move, allowing Huo Fenglie to hold him tighter and tighter. He just thought this was to hide his appearance, and worked hard to keep close, even pressing his cheek against Huo Fenglie’s collarbone.

At this moment, Liu Zhenqing felt that something was wrong with Huo Fenglie’s body. This heat…..was it a fever? And his stiffness was accompanied by a slight tremor. Was he in physical discomfort?

Because he couldn’t see, Liu Zhenqing was unaware of the horrified expressions on the faces of the people watching this scene.

Jinyiwei: This kind of scene, could they even dare to think about it? General Huo…..was…..holding a…..man, right? They weren’t blind, right?!

Mo Qi: The general was holding Liu Xiaozhu? Even if he wanted to save the person, there was no need to make this kind of sacrifice! With his status as a general, protecting Liu Xiaozhu was just a matter of a few words. At the worst, he could go back and apologize to the emperor and explain. Although the general was not obsessed with cleanliness, he rarely had such contact with others, ah! And the way he lowered his head and gaze, disregarding the people approaching and only caring about the person in his arms, seemed like there was a feeling of vulnerability and fear of losing something. No, what bullshit description was this! He must be hallucinating!

The atmosphere was strangely silent for a few seconds before the Jinyiwei  reacted and quickly said: “We were ordered to arrest the Liu family suspects. We just heard…..huh? Rong Shiming. General, this Rong Shiming is also a wanted criminal and must be arrested…..” The Jinyiwei was shocked upon realizing that there were other people there.

Rong Shiming had originally thought he would be saved when they came, but didn’t expect that he would be arrested. “Are you crazy? What are you talking about? I’m…..”

“Bias and fraud were discovered in this year’s Imperial Examination. The Emperor ordered this morning that there will be a thorough investigation, and you are on the list of people to be detained.”

Rong Shiming realized something, and his expression suddenly changed.

“General?” Mo Qi asked for Huo Fenglie’s intentions. Seeing that Huo Fenglie didn’t care at all, he followed regulations and handed the person over to the Jinyiwei.

Rong Shiming only returned to his senses once he was taken into custody. Although he was in a panic and wanted to drag the other person down with him, when he pointed at the person Huo Fenglie was holding and tried to speak, his jaw was broken by a fist from the quick-sighted Mo Qi.

Rong Shiming screamed with a mouth full of blood. All his remaining teeth were gone. This time, he could no longer say anything, and could only scream.

The Jinyiwei regarded Mo Qi with strange expressions.

“Sorry, there was a private grudge from before, and I feared there would be no chance to get back at him in the future.” Mo Qi rubbed his fist with a smile.

The others were no fools, and naturally guessed something. The leader of the Jinyiwei happened to be standing near Huo Fenglie, so he stepped forward and said: “General, we have been ordered to arrest this person……”

As soon as he reached out his fingers, he was stabbed by a gaze full of danger and warning. Those dark red eyes seemed to be bloodshot, and were so lethal that he didn’t dare look into them directly. They seemed to say that if those fingers got closer, they would be gone.

The leader of the Jinyiwei quickly retracted his hand, and just as he was about to speak, he heard a low, hoarse voice. It was like a beast holding prey in its mouth, warning those around him not to covet it.

He announced without hesitation:

“This person is mine.”

Jinyiwei: ? ? ?

Mo Qi: ! !

Liu Zhenqing: Er-gou was stealing someone from the Jinyiwei. Was he trying to protect him? Was…..his kindness toward the twins worth Huo Fenglie protecting him like this? And when Huo Fenglie was protecting him before, he had a cold and distant attitude toward him. Why did it feel like something wasn’t right now?

The uneasiness in his heart made Liu Zhenqing instinctively want to keep a little distance from this embrace, but after only moving a little, he was suddenly hugged tightly again. One arm tightly restrained Liu Zhenqing’s waist as if to cut it off, and the other hand also came up, making Liu Zhenqing unable to move at all.

Jinyiwei: Huh….it feels like General Huo is using his behavior to act out what “mine” means.

Mo Qi: This possessive and…..childish performance must be an illusion.

But Liu Zhenqing only thought that Huo Fenglie was preventing others from seeing him.

The footsteps of the Jinyiwei soon faded, and Liu Zhenqing nudged Huo Fenglie, who had not yet moved.

It wasn’t until this moment that Huo Fenglie let go of Liu Zhenqing.

Liu Zhenqing raised his head to look, and found that Huo Fenglie’s eyes had returned to black. They were as indifferent and calm as before, but with something hidden in them that gave him a feeling of unpredictability. 

Liu Zhenqing was a little worried, but still said: “Thank you, General Huo. I…..”

Before Liu Zhenqing could finish speaking, he heard Huo Fenglie say in a low voice: “You can’t leave. Come home with me.”

Liu Zhenqing: ? ? ?

Seeing Liu Zhenqing’s shocked expression, Huo Fenglie lowered his eyes and repeated in a lower but equally firm voice:

“Come home with me…..

…..Young Master Liu.”

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Chapter Twenty-Six << Table of Contents >> Chapter Twenty-Eight