Chapter 35 Chapter 35 Biezhi threw herself into Prince Su's arms...

Cheng Jin's ears rang with the shadow guard's report, and he carefully assessed his master. "Jingqing seems to have expressed his feelings to Miss Biezhi."

He spoke cautiously, avoiding Jingqing's actual words.

Hearing Jingqing's clear declaration of his feelings, not forcing Biezhi to take it to heart, but asking her not to feel guilty about being hurt, he was willing and happy to accept it.

Fu Huaiqing lowered his eyes, no unnecessary emotion visible.

Seeing this, Cheng Jin and Jiang Yue's expressions became more solemn than before.

The lingering aura of the study almost made them double over, their breath choking for a long time.

Jiang Yue, who had already heard what Qin Xiao said, thought to himself that something was not good. The current situation was quite unfavorable to the prince. Putting aside Ji Ran's identity, even Jing Qing and Qin Xiao seemed to have closer dealings with Bie Zhi than the prince. What's more, Bie Zhi was also eagerly waiting to marry Ji Ran after the mission was completed.

Fu Huaiqing remained silent for a long moment, then asked calmly, "Why did he suddenly bring this up?"

His words were so gentle, yet Cheng Jin's back stiffened. He opened his mouth and said, "It's related to the assassin who came a few days ago. Miss Biezhi seemed to have asked Jingqing to help investigate them..."

Cheng Jin glanced at his master's gloomy expression. He paused, then continued, "From what they said, Jingqing had an accident while investigating and had a confrontation with them. Miss Biezhi believed he was injured because of her and felt extremely guilty."

Hearing this, Fu Huaiqing's dark eyes darkened.

Almost instantly, he understood why Jingqing had been injured because of Biezhi. The assassin who came to assassinate her must have wanted to find out who was behind it, and now she couldn't escape. Of her fellow apprentices, only Jingqing had time to spare.

Fu Huaiqing rested his fist on the table and remained silent for a long time.

He closed the memorial spread out in front of him with his backhand, stood up and said, "Enter the palace."

Cheng Jin looked up suddenly, not understanding what the prince meant. He was clearly talking about Biezhi's affairs, so why would the prince suddenly enter the palace? He glanced at Jiang Yue, who shook his head and followed his master's steps.

Biezhi left the yard and hurried to Xu Wenche's place.

She had originally planned to meet him by chance today as the second lady of the Qin family, but now she was really not in the mood. She was afraid that he would notice something strange, so she had to find a place to follow him nearby.

Fortunately, Xu Wenche had no intention of staying outside today, and returned to the mansion near dusk. Biezhi caught a glimpse of a figure walking towards the woods, and seemed to have seen it in the prince's mansion before. Only then did she realize that she was going to the Prince Su's mansion after dark.

When she arrived at the prince's mansion, it was exactly the time of Xu.

Cheng Jin stepped forward, nodded slightly, and said, "Young lady, follow me."

Biezhi followed him inside without looking away. As she walked, she realized that the path Cheng Jin was leading wasn't towards the study or the small pavilion in the backyard, but rather the courtyard she had never set foot in.

She was stunned when she saw the weapons filling the courtyard. Apart from a few guards, there was no one else inside. Prince Su was not there either. She thought it was a replay of the incident from last night, and that he was testing her again. She

looked at Cheng Jin. "Is the prince not here?"

"Yes," he said. Cheng Jin led her deeper into the courtyard.

An archway sat to the southwest of the massive pavilion. As she approached it, Biezhi heard a clear, panting sound from within. It was a stark contrast to Prince Su's voice, and even had a hint of childishness.

She walked in suspiciously, only to see a young man, his brow beaded with sweat, staring up at the impassive Prince Su. The tip of his shoe rested against a spear, weighing perhaps forty or fifty pounds, not much less than the young man's own weight.

Fu Huaiqing had spotted Biezhi from the start. His gaze slowly fell on the girl, whose almond-shaped eyes held a hint of doubt. His clear, piercing eyes sized up the boy before him.

"Come here," he said.

Biezhi paused for a moment, the doubt in his eyes vanishing, replaced by an unstoppable astonishment.

Was it her imagination?

Why did Prince Su's voice seem even worse?

If the previous sound had been that of a young buffalo, now it was like a buffalo that had aged ten years overnight, suddenly mooing at the sight of someone intruding on its territory.

Fu Mingzhan, standing beside Fu Huaiqing, suddenly widened his eyes, his expression as horrified as if he had stumbled upon a ghost at night. He stared blankly at his brother, about to ask a question when he met his

brother's half-hearted gaze, swallowing the words that were already on his lips. Even Fu Huaiqing, who had been prepared, couldn't help but blink a few times at the sight. The medicine Shanju had sent had indeed prolonged Yi Sheng's recovery, and the side effects had worsened.

He remained expressionless as he looked at the girl, whose steps hesitated slightly, and spoke to redirect her attention: "You will teach him self-defense in the future."

Biezhi was still immersed in the shock the man had just caused her, and hadn't heard what he said. She only felt that if his voice, with its steady pace, and that face, were changed, it would surely captivate thousands of girls.

It was said that Prince Su was already twenty-five years old and unmarried.

In all her visits to the palace, she hadn't seen a single woman besides herself, not even concubines, and apparently no maids in the palace either.

Logically, Prince Su's face was enough to attract women. Aside from the rumored Qin Wan, there were no other women around him—

could it be that his voice had scared them away?

No, she'd have to research it when she had time to see if there were any medications that could improve his voice. Biezhi nodded firmly, thinking this.

Suddenly, her vision went dark.

The man's handsome face suddenly came into view. Biezhi's eyes widened, frozen in place. His tall nose almost touched hers, and his eyes slowly and methodically examined her from bottom to top. Then, their eyes met, so close she could even count the number of his thick, fan-like eyelashes.

Biezhi's breath hitched.

The man's gentle breath drifted slowly towards her, like the warmth radiating from a charcoal stove on a winter's day, slowly warming her.

The girl's eyes held an unconcealed gaze, and Fu Huaiqing's breath dropped slightly. Knowing she'd fall for it, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and he looked at her with a half-smile.

Just as Biezhi was counting the man's eyelashes, a faint sound rang in her ears, and her wandering thoughts were suddenly pulled back.

Subconsciously, she raised her hand and pushed the man. When her palm separated from the man's shoulder, Biezhi saw him stumble back a few steps, and suddenly, her palm also froze in mid-air.

Fu Huaiqing was completely focused on her and was indeed not on guard. He was pushed back a few steps by her, stopped and saw her panic-stricken face, brushed off the wrinkled sleeves, and said: "He is not good at using swords, and he can't draw a bow for archery at the moment. Just teach him the basics."

Biezhi was relieved to hear that Prince Su had no intention of pursuing the matter. She quickly suppressed her thoughts that were misled by her beauty, and followed his words to look at the young boy with surprised eyes. The boy's eyes moved back and forth between them, and he nodded as if he had suddenly realized something.

Biezhi had never seen a young man in the palace before. He looked to be no more than ten years old. Looking closely, his eyebrows and eyes seemed to be somewhat similar to those of Prince Su.

Her eyelashes trembled.

In the whole world, there was only the little emperor who was in his early teens and looked like Prince Su.

Although the little emperor had no real power, he was the emperor after all.

Standing next to him was the regent who held real power.

If either of them was slightly displeased, his head would fall to the ground in an instant.

Biezhi felt a little short of breath. She was just an ordinary person. She had only learned some fighting and killing skills. She had not yet mastered the self-defense skills herself, so how could she teach the little emperor?

There must be many generals with profound skills in the court. Passing on a little bit of skills to the little emperor would be enough for him to defend himself.

However, did Prince Su want her to teach the little emperor the self-defense skills?

For the first time, Biezhi experienced the panic that the scholars talked about. She even forgot to kneel and kowtow. She looked at Prince Su indecisively and said hesitantly: "Thank you for your appreciation, Your Highness, but--"

"He doesn't like military generals in the court." Fu Huaiqing knew what she wanted to say and interrupted her: "To be precise, he doesn't like to fight."

Biezhi: "..."

At this moment, she didn't like it either.

If she had known that Prince Su was talking about the little emperor who needed to learn self-defense, she should not have taken the memorial yesterday and spent five hundred taels of silver to buy it in the mountains.

If she accidentally hurt the little emperor, she might end up in all the prisons in the capital, tortured and then beheaded.

She was silent and whispered: "I only have one head."

If she made a mistake accidentally, she would be beheaded!

Her life would end here.

Hearing this, Fu Huaiqing couldn't help laughing as he looked at the slightly pouting girl and said, "If he got hurt, it's his own fault. It has nothing to do with you."

Biezhi raised her eyes suddenly, unable to believe it: "Really?"

Fu Huaiqing raised an eyebrow, noncommittal.

Biezhi looked at the man's face, and when she found the negligible tenderness in the depths of his eyes, she vaguely realized that what the man said was true. If there really was an accident, it would not have anything to do with her no matter what.

For the first time, she felt that Prince Su was not as cold and heartless as people said, but rather had some humanity.

Fu Mingzhan, the person in question, looked at the girl with dimples on her lips with an indescribable look, then looked at the girl with the tenderness in her expression that he had just seen when he was young, and clicked his tongue in a pretentious manner.

It was obviously he who wanted to learn self-defense, so why didn't anyone ask him if he was willing!

Fu Mingzhan's lips slightly opened, and he met his brother's sidelong glance, and he silently suppressed the words that were on his lips.

Never mind, a gentleman also has the virtue of helping others.

Fu Mingzhan lowered his eyes to look at the spear lying on the ground, sighed deeply, and asked: "Where do I need to learn?"

Biezhi, who was bowing, was silent when

she heard this. Although it was her first time to see the emperor, she had heard from the people in the capital that the emperor always came and went. Suddenly hearing the little emperor call himself "I", she was still a little uncomfortable.

Seeing that she was silent, Fu Mingzhan chose something that he was somewhat interested in on weekdays: "Sword dance?"

Biezhi heard this and glanced at Prince Su.

She stared at him for a moment, and seeing that he had no intention of objecting, she nodded: "Okay."

Jiang Yue, who was waiting on the side, handed over two swords at the right time. Biezhi took one of them after Fu Mingzhan, and her eyes swept over the environment. She stepped forward and bent down, effortlessly picked up the spear that had been lying on the ground for a long time with one hand, and handed it to Jiang Yue.

Fu Mingzhan, who was slowly wiping the blade of his sword, stared at the scene in amazement. The spear in her hand weighed fifty kilograms, and an average adult man would not be able to shake it.

The woman had a petite figure, but she lifted it up easily, without changing her expression, as if the spear was as light as a feather and not worth mentioning.

Fu Mingzhan's mouth opened and closed, and he couldn't speak for a long time. While he was stunned, a dark shadow suddenly covered his head.

He raised his head and looked at the open palm of the person coming down. Suddenly, he understood and handed the sword in his hand to his brother with a faint smile on his lips.

Fu Huaiqing held the sword and said, "Let's try it."

Biezhi turned around after hearing this and nodded obediently without asking any questions. She had never fought with Prince Su, so naturally she didn't know his strengths.

In order to avoid hurting him, Biezhi decided to let him win.

It was not until she was forced to retreat repeatedly by Prince Su that Bie Zhi realized that the man's skills were far more advanced than she had expected. The moment the sword tip lifted the sleeve, the air stagnated for half a breath. She hurriedly adjusted her state and placed herself in the game.

The flash of swords and the sound of swords clashing were sharp and piercing.

The moment the man's big hand grabbed her wrist, Bie Zhi's eyes froze, and she swung the sword towards her left hand cleanly, as if the wrist being grabbed was not a part of her body.

Fu Huaiqing's pupils shrank suddenly, and she quickly let go.

The sword tip, reflecting light and shadow, cut through the sleeve, and a palm-sized piece of cloth fell quietly.

In an instant, a flash of anger flashed in Fu Huaiqing's eyes. She could be so cruel to herself in a mere game of chess. If she really encountered other malicious killers, wouldn't they use her as bait and act regardless of their own safety!

Biezhi was quick to sense the sudden rage rising from Prince Su, and her eyes narrowed. Could it be that because she had performed too well, he, who was usually in a high position, could not accept being on equal terms with her?

After pondering for a while, she could only adjust her state of mind again.

This time, when her wrist was grabbed, Biezhi struggled for a moment but failed to break free, so she just followed his movements and entangled for a while. Before she could stop, the man suddenly increased his strength and pulled her in his direction. She had no time to dodge and suddenly bumped into his strong chest.

Biezhi threw herself into his arms, her forehead hitting Fu Huaiqing's chest without any defense, and a hoarse groan sounded in her ears.

She subconsciously raised her hand, but before her palm could rise even half an inch, it seemed as if a force was luring her in another direction. In an instant, her soft palm tightly covered the man's tight waist and abdomen without any excess, without any gaps. The waist and abdomen muscles under her palm bulged with the man's breathing.

Fu Huaiqing lowered his head and looked at the girl in his arms who suddenly raised her almond-shaped eyes. She was as uneasy as a deer that had lost its way. The tip of her nose twitched twice, as if she was sniffing something.

His Adam's apple rolled, and he loosened his hand that was holding the girl's wrist. He forcibly suppressed the anger that surged in his heart, and his voice was mixed with the hoarseness of restraint: "You usually go on missions, and you don't take your life seriously?"