CHAPTER 153: CHAPTER 48: THE AFFLICTIONS AND CONNECTIONS OF TEN YEARS AGO (PART 2)

"Xiao Yi, I don’t like this place, this is where you first met Yue Jinghua, isn’t it?" Although she didn’t notice the bleakness in Fa Xiao Yi’s eyes, driven by a woman’s intuition, Lie Sisi raised her head and looked around.

The expression on Fa Xiao Yi’s face darkened, and beneath his sleeve, his hand clenched into a fist. He answered deliberately, word by word, "Yes... It was here that I met that little wretch and her despicable father."

Having said that, Fa Xiao Yi suddenly struck out with his palm, hitting an old cherry tree beside him, and a flurry of cherry blossoms fell to the ground.

In the same place, with the same people around, Yue Jinghua’s mind seemed to have grown a pair of tender, small hands, slowly piecing together the missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Following Fa Xiao Yi’s cold narrative, her memory puzzle gradually revealed its full picture.

The Cherry Blossom Garden remains the Cherry Blossom Garden, only the green leaves of one tree had turned into pink cherry blossoms.

"Put me down," a handsome boy, not seeming human, was bound to a cherry tree by several eunuchs.

His clothes were stripped, hands tied behind his back, his emerald eyes filled with panic and anxiety.

During the cherry blossoms season, this boy, merely over ten years old and hung on the tree, became a bizarre sight in Little Shang Palace.

Not far from the cherry tree, a young man with a jade crown and several palace dancers were drinking and making merry.

With a smile, the young man said, "Look, my father’s most beloved Young Prince is begging for mercy. Won’t anyone of you go and save him?"

A burst of laughter erupted, and no one stepped forward to help.

"Elder brother," the boy, with tears in his eyes, sobbed. He couldn’t understand why his elder brother, always so kind to him in front of others, would lure him here and tie him up when the Emperor and the Empress went out.

The young man with the jade crown picked up a cup and threw it, hitting the boy, who cried out in pain as blood appeared on his forehead.

The blood dripped onto the ground, mingling with the brilliant pink cherry blossoms.

The young man with the jade crown laughed cruelly, "Who is your elder brother? There’s no kinship in the Tian Family. You are nothing but a demon who covets my Imperial Throne and the lands of Shang Kingdom."

He stood up, spat out a mouthful of wine onto the boy’s face, saying, "Don’t think I don’t know, when your mother gave birth to you, the fortune-teller said you were born with a noble fate, as if you..." With a snap, a streak of Dark Energy crossed the boy’s body.

"I am not a demon," the boy choked out.

Another round of abusive laughter ensued.

It started to rain, the cherry blossoms drifted down, and the crowd dispersed.

The boy hung on the tree, and that night, the cherry blossoms fell and bloomed, bloomed and fell, as if a thousand years had passed.

In the early morning, the drizzle tangled before people’s eyes like women’s hair strands, refusing to leave.

"Father, there’s a person hanging here, he looks very handsome. Can we take him down?" A father and daughter appeared in the rain.

The girl looked beautifully exquisite in a butterfly gauze dress, with an intricately styled hairdo. The man beside her, tall and handsome, wore a white robe with blood cherry blossoms.

These two were not from the palace.

The boy trembled his eyelashes and saw clearly the two people under the tree.

"What a handsome boy. Huahua, tell Daddy, is he more handsome, or is your big brother Minzhi more handsome," the man stroked his chin, asking the girl in a roguish tone, completely disregarding the feelings of the boy on the tree.

"Mmm, he is handsome," the girl said, straining her neck and carefully making the comparison.

"Is he handsome, or is daddy more handsome," the man shamelessly continued.

"He is handsome, no, daddy is more handsome. Daddy, quickly let him down. He’s going to pass out," the little girl, though young, very much understood her father’s temperament.

"Hey, kid, what is your name? My precious daughter really likes you," the man said with a tinge of jealousy as he shouted at the boy.

"My name is Xiao Yi, I am the Young Prince of the Shang Kingdom. Sir, please help me down. My mother and the Emperor will surely reward you handsomely," the boy, who had been hanging all night, spoke somewhat inarticulately.

He thought that by revealing his identity, the man would immediately let him down. But little did he know...

"The name sounds vaguely familiar. Xiao Yi, indeed, he seems to be the Young Prince of the Shang Kingdom. Tsk, my daughter, this boy cannot be saved. How many times has daddy told you, in this world, the worst thing to be is someone who swells his face to look good," said the man in a white robe embroidered with cherry blossoms, lifting his daughter onto his broad shoulders.

"Daddy, you are indeed the kindest good Samaritan, that’s what mother always says. Why won’t you save him?" The girl protested.

"Silly Huahua, are you really my own child? Saving people requires discernment; saving the poor and lowly is like raising a loyal dog. Saving the rich and noble is like raising an ingrate. He is a Prince; whoever dared to hang a Prince up there could only be that person. His mother is a concubine from a foreign land, with questionable bloodline and unclear status. Once the Emperor dies, at best, he could merely be a decorative Prince. A powerless Prince is just like a plucked chicken—neither appealing nor useful. If I were to save him, Huahua, you would certainly fall for him, and you would have to kneel to the Emperor, the Empress, and all the palace concubines. I, Yue Nian, the Grand Duke Xue Ying, do not wish to see my precious daughter become a wooden fish, having to kneel wherever she goes." The man rambled on and then, carrying the girl, was about to leave.

The young boy closed his eyes, feeling a burning heat spreading within them. The man in the white robe embroidered with cherry blossoms was right; in this life, he was merely a decorative Prince.

"But daddy, if he doesn’t become a Prince, then he wouldn’t have to kneel and wouldn’t be wronged. Huahua wouldn’t have to suffer with him," said the girl, her voice tender and pleasant.

Not to be a Prince, the young boy suddenly opened his eyes, only to discover that the man in the white robe embroidered with cherry blossoms had already turned back and was under the tree again.

The two men, one large and one small, looked at each other.

A brief exchange of glances seemed like they had reached an agreement.

Rainwater dripped down Xiao Yi’s face and continued running down onto the man’s face.

It was the first time the young boy saw a face even more handsome than his own.

In the man’s eyes, there was contemplation and also scrutiny.

"Huahua, do you really like this boy?" the man asked with a smile.

"I do," the girl hurriedly nodded.

"Like you like your teal palace dress, and those little snacks you love to eat?" the father raised his voice slightly.

In the girl’s clear eyes, a trace of confusion flitted by, but she quickly became resolute, "No, like I love daddy, mommy, and big brother."

"You missed one," the man said seriously, "What did you promise daddy?"

"Daddy is the most annoying, alright, another one then, my little brother Yue Chen. As long as daddy saves him, Huahua will treat the little brother just like a real brother," the girl pouted.

"That’s more like it. Huahua, remember this, if it’s love, it must be deep and constant to death." The man impishly grinned, pulling something out from his sleeve.

A sharp pain shot up his leg, and Xiao Yi felt severe pain around his ankles. Before he could think further, he passed out.

The girl’s voice intermittently reached his ears: "Ah, daddy, why did you let the snake bite her."

"Because daddy wants to snatch a good husband for our Huahua," the man’s hearty laughter was lingering in his ears.