Chapter 49: Brothers turn against each other (4)
"Your Majesty, Prince Jing is here to see you."
Zhou Cheng, who was concentrating on reading official documents, responded to the eunuch's words.
“…Xuan!”
What is coming will eventually come. Zhou Cheng had never thought of escaping, but he did not expect it to come so soon. It seemed that it was a bit difficult to attend the morning court on time. What was it? Zhou Yan's purpose...
When Zhou Yan arrived, Zhou Cheng dismissed everyone, leaving the two of them alone.
"It's been a while since we last met. Are you all right?"
Zhou Cheng said this expressionlessly. His attitude did not seem like a greeting from an elder brother to his younger brother.
"From the looks of you, I was overthinking it. Your injuries are healing faster than I thought."
Without waiting for Zhou Yan to answer, or rather without waiting for Zhou Yan to answer the question at all, Zhou Cheng continued.
"Don't talk so intimately. I won't be fooled by your hypocrisy anymore—"
Zhou Yan's extremely cold words silenced Zhou Cheng. He looked at Zhou Yan in silence, revealing the same cold look...
"You should understand your situation when you say this. I am the emperor—"
"Emperor? How ridiculous! Wearing a hypocritical mask, you dare to call yourself an emperor?"
The war had not started yet, but the flames of war were already gathering. Before they had even exchanged a few words, a strong desire to fight had already arisen between the two men. Zhou Yan's words also angered Zhou Cheng.
"You seem to totally ignore me, Yan— "
"So what?"
Zhou Cheng knew that this was just the beginning, and Zhou Yan had not yet told him the purpose of this, so Zhou Cheng did not panic.
"Tell me, what do you want to see me for?"
"Even if I didn't tell you, shouldn't you have known it?"
Seeing Zhou Yan being so confident, Zhou Cheng had nothing to say. Indeed, Zhou Cheng knew that Zhou Yan came for Yin Yin's matter, but he didn't understand what he was going to do. If it was for Yin Yin, he could do whatever he wanted. Anyway, he had already taken preventive measures.
"Then I'll just say it straight. I won't let you see Yin Yin—"
"Well, it's not up to you to decide—"
"What do you mean by that?"
Zhou Yan looked so confident and complacent that Zhou Cheng immediately became worried. He was worried about what Zhou Yan would do next, or whether he had already started to act.
"You are not worthy of her at all, you are a hypocritical person. You said nice things to let her make her own choice, but in reality you only abused your power to tie her to you, causing her to fall ill again and again. How dare you say you love her?"
Zhou Cheng was silent. He was powerless to refute Zhou Yan's words. This was the fact.
"What? Are you modest? I love her and can give her everything, but I won't indulge her on the surface while actually restraining her. I can give her what you can't. Her staying with you will only make her more miserable. This is the second time, and there is no guarantee that there won't be a third or fourth time, but how many times can she endure? Yinyin finally managed to save her life from the hands of death, but you didn't know how to cherish it. Instead, you gradually pushed her into the abyss of death, from which there is no return. Is this what you call loving her, but in fact you are just taking revenge on her?"
Zhou Cheng was shocked when he heard this. Revenge?
"I won't sit idly by any longer. Even if she hates me and kills me after she recovers her memory, I will not hand her over to you. This will be more painful for her than leaving her with me. So, I decided to take her away—"
"What?"
First he was shocked, then astonished. Zhou Yan's words brought one impact after another, making Zhou Cheng unable to react in time.
"Even if you want to stop it, it's too late—"
"What do you want to do?"
"I can do what I did before, and this is the last time we meet. From now on, I will never appear in front of you again, hum——"
After saying that, Zhou Yan immediately turned around and strode away...
"stop--"
Zhou Yan ignored Zhou Cheng's roar and continued to walk out.
"Yan, Tsk——"
Zhou Cheng slapped the table with both hands and leaped in front of Zhou Yan, blocking his way...
"Tell me what you did."
"What did you do? Even if it was you who forced me to do it, get out of the way—"
Zhou Yan gave orders to Zhou Cheng without any hesitation, without distinguishing their respective positions. Zhou Cheng certainly would not listen, and Zhou Yan did not think that he would listen, so he simply bypassed him. Zhou Cheng then tried to stop him again, and Zhou Yan attacked him, and the two started fighting...
" Did do anything to Yin Yin?"
“It has nothing to do with you!”
The two men started talking during the fight.
"Did you really do that to her?"
"It has nothing to do with you."
They were evenly matched as they talked and fought each other. It seemed that Zhou Yan's hand had almost recovered. It seemed so.
"You—someone come—"
After hearing Zhou Yan's words, Zhou Cheng could no longer bear it and shouted for help. Immediately, seven or eight guards came in.
"Capture Prince Jing for me—"
When Zhou Cheng saw the guards coming in, he stepped back and let the guards arrest Zhou Yan. This seemed to be the second time this had happened.
“Yes, yes—”
The guards, not knowing the reason, were a little at a loss, but they dared not disobey Zhou Cheng's orders and rushed towards Zhou Yan together. Zhou Yan dealt with the attacks from all directions without even blinking an eye. The difference from last time was that Zhou Yan's injuries seemed to have recovered. He turned from passive to active, and it seemed effortless to deal with the elite of the Imperial Guards. If Zhou Cheng had not seen it with his own eyes, he would not believe that Zhou Yan's injuries would heal so quickly. This shows the superb medical skills of Wang Ye and Xue Han.
