First Kiss on the Mountain Pass (xii)
Edited: 04.10.2023
When Xiao Ziming heard the sound of the flute, the black snakes in the cave suddenly became quiet. It was as if they were possessed as they stretched their necks and swayed in place and he couldn’t help but laugh: “Cheng’er, you came to help this Prince.”
A young teenager slowly walked out of the darkness. He was dressed in red and had silver chains around his neck, wrists, and ankles. He was unusually fair and handsome, with neat eyebrows and narrow eyes, which seemed to attract anyone who laid their eyes on him.
Longcheng Sangjiu saluted Xiao Ziming and said lazily: “Your First Imperial Majesty always leaves Cheng’er with so much mess, you sure don’t feel sorry for me.”
Xiao Ziming laughed loudly and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. The young man was startled slightly and his face turned a little red as he pushed his hand away shyly.
Xiao Ziheng watched with cold eyes, gripping the sword in his hand tightly: “Are you that Southern Border Young Lord who was brought to the Prince Yi Manor?”
Longcheng Sangjiu glanced at him for a while as he absently held the bamboo flute in his hands. He played around with it before laughing: “Your Second Imperial Majesty has good eyesight. I was brought to Dayan as a hostage at the age of nine, and it has been around ten years now.”
Xiao Ziheng snorted disdainfully and said mockingly: “When we attacked the Southern Border, Your First Imperial Majesty was the one who led the troops and came back with great success. Your father and mother were all killed by His First Imperial Majesty. Logically speaking, you should hate him to the core, but I never thought that you would be acting in collusion with one another and do this kind of harm to the world.”
When Xiao Ziming heard him sowing discord, he suddenly became anxious and cursed angrily: “How dare you, Xiao Ziheng! Although I destroyed Cheng’er’s motherland back then, I had to follow the Emperor’s order. Otherwise, how could I risk offending the Emperor to save him? I’ve treated him like a brother over the years, that’s why Cheng’er is willing to help me. Human beings have emotions, this is just repayment!”
After saying that, Xiao Ziming looked back at him anxiously, begging for confirmation: “Isn’t it, Cheng’er?”
Longcheng Sangjiu patted him on the shoulder and smiled meaningfully: “Of course. Although I am from the Southern Border and have been good at using poison since I was a child, I can’t compare to His First Imperial Majesty’s sweet words and his ability to steal hearts.”
When these words came out, everyone present froze and Xiao Ziheng couldn’t help but sneer: “Huh, so it turns out to be a pair of dog couple who illicit sexual favors.”
Xiao Ziming’s face flushed bright red as he glared at him fiercely. He turned around quickly to save face and shouted: “Stop talking nonsense, kill them all!”
“As you wish.” Longcheng Sangjiu looked at him affectionately before his face darkened. He took out his flute and started playing it. It was no longer melodious like before but became more ruthless. When the snakes heard the sound, they immediately rioted and rushed towards them with open mouths.
“Back up!” Xiao Ziheng shouted and the guards drew their swords to kill the black snakes that rushed towards them. However, since the enemy outnumbered them, they were soon unable to resist and were forced to retreat. Xiao Ziheng was worried. Before he could find out if Wang Qian had rescued Ruan Qing and the civilians imprisoned here, he was already unable to save himself!
“There’s no time, retreat!” Xiao Ziheng gave the order and the well-trained guards surrounded him and fled towards the entrance of the cave. The sound of the flute was like a reminder of death. The black snakes were red-eyed and completely unafraid of the swords in the hands of the guards. Many people who were hit by the attack immediately passed out with foam at the mouth. It was obvious that the poison was extremely strong and fast-acting.
“Your Majesty, behind you too!” Following the guard’s exclamation, Xiao Ziheng looked back. Sure enough, the black snakes had already passed them and formed a wall at the entrance of the cave. They surged up fiercely, covering both front and rear, waiting to pounce.
Damn it! Could it be that he, Xiao Ziheng, with a lifetime of fame, was going to be buried in the mouth of the snakes?!
“Your Majesty, lie down!”
Xiao Ziheng was startled. Before he could think about it, a torch suddenly flew over his head, followed by several oil buckets. For a moment, the ground was filled with flames. The black snakes were beasts after all, and had a natural fear of fire, so they immediately dispersed and a large area opened.
Ruan Qing ran in with a pant. He was covered in realgar and wearing armor that was extremely inconsistent with his figure. His funny look couldn’t help but make Xiao Ziheng laugh: “Didn’t I tell you to leave, why are you back?”
Ruan Qing sprinkled realgar around them, covering them as they retreated: “I came back to save you! Otherwise, if Your Second Imperial Majesty is buried by snakes because of me, wouldn’t the Emperor skin me and rip off my tendons?”
Xiao Ziheng raised the corners of his mouth and drew out his sword to protect him by his side. He chopped down the black snakes that pounced over and over again and soon managed to successfully exit the cave entrance. Xiao Ziming was unable to open his eyes from the smoke, and seeing that the black snakes were unable to withstand the fire and had already fled, he couldn’t help but say anxiously, “Cheng’er! We can’t let them go!”
Longcheng Sangjiu pulled off a piece of his sleeve and dipped it in water. He covered his mouth and nose with the fabric and laughed: “They won’t be able to run. Your Majesty, leave first so that you don’t get burned, leave the rest for Cheng’er to handle.”
Xiao Ziming always trusted him to do things and quickly called the Green Uniform Guards to leave the cave. Longcheng Sangjiu stood there with a smile before shouting: “Your Majesty, if Cheng’er helps you get rid of them, the promise that you will take me in as your bride will still count, right?”
Xiao Ziming froze at his words and looked back at him. He wanted to say something but hesitated. He then turned around and silently followed the Green Uniform Guards to retreat.
Longcheng Sangjiu stood alone in the sea of fire, holding a bamboo flute and a pair of scimitars. He smiled somewhat self-deprecatingly and then his expression became serious. The shrill sound of the flute cut through the sky. The black snakes were summoned and they immediately became overwhelming again, galloping towards the entrance of the cave and disappearing into the vast forest.
“Kill Xiao Ziheng, kill everyone on this mountain so that His Majesty will be able to rest easy from now on.”
Longcheng Sangjiu’s lips lightly touched, seemingly sparking with killing intent.
Ruan Qing and Xiao Ziheng fled all the way down the mountain and from a distance, they saw a person coming up the trail. They were so frightened that they immediately drew their swords to defend themselves. Unexpectedly, the person took off their veil, raised his hands, and shouted: “Your Majesty, I am Wang Qian!”
“Wang Qian?” Xiao Ziheng put away his sword and looked at him with some doubt, “Didn’t I tell you to meet me at the bottom of the mountain, why did you……”
He stopped in the middle of his sentence, suddenly having a bad feeling.
Wang Qian nodded his head sorrowfully: “The Green Uniform Guards have blocked the road……”
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Ruan Qing couldn’t believe it and said anxiously: “Are you kidding? It’s going to be night soon and there are black snakes all over this mountain. If we don’t go down the mountain as soon as possible, won’t we all be killed by the snakes tonight?”
Wang Qian also looked embarrassed and knelt down in front of Xiao Ziheng with shame: “Your Majesty, it is my incompetence.”
Xiao Ziheng pulled him up and said calmly: “No worries, what happened today was sudden. We were far less prepared than Xiao Ziming. It was expected that we would end up in this situation.”
Ruan Qing stood aside obediently and didn’t dare to speak. After all, if it had not been to save him today, Xiao Ziheng wouldn’t have led just a few guards into the enemy camp. In the end, he was the one who caused him trouble……
“What are you thinking about?” Xiao Ziheng touched his head and saw that the little guy’s face was grim. He smiled secretly and comforted him: “I don’t blame you.”
Ruan Qing was stunned for a moment and looked up at him cautiously. Seeing that there was indeed no anger on Xiao Ziheng’s face, he felt a little relieved.
“Let’s go, first let’s head back to the place where we set up camp and take shelter.” Xiao Ziheng ordered Wang Qian. Wang Qian nodded and led the remaining guards down a rugged path, next to the rocks and in the lee of the wind. Not only was it easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it also helped with warmth. If they defend properly, they may be able to hold on until reinforcements arrive the next day.
The group entered a mountain pass, where many weak men, women, and children were resting. They all had more or less shocking scars on their bodies. At a glance, he knew that they were Liangzhou City civilians who were imprisoned here by Xiao Ziming for epidemic experiments.
“Many of them are seriously injured, go and take a look at them first.” Xiao Ziheng ordered Ruan Qing.
Ruan Qing nodded and went. When he just came out of the cave, he picked up some pink-purple herbs growing next to the snake pit. He was about to test his hypothesis, but he didn’t dare to use too much rashly. He first applied it to a few strong men and when he saw that the bleeding had stopped and the swelling had subsided, he couldn’t help but be overjoyed. God had mercy on him. This was indeed the antidote to the black snake’s venom.
After taking care of the patients, there were not many of the antidotes left. Ruan Qing wrapped them up in his arms distressingly. These were important medicinal materials for overcoming the epidemic.
That was right, he was only focused on helping others and he forgot about Xiao Ziheng, who had been fighting for the majority of the time. Not knowing whether he was injured, he ran over and squatted in front of Xiao Ziheng: “Your Majesty, are you uncomfortable anywhere?”
Xiao Ziheng was cleaning up the blood on his body. When he looked up and met Ruan Qing’s guilty eyes, he couldn’t help but want to tease him, so he pretended to be uncomfortable and stretched out his hand: “Yes, a little bit, please take my pulse, Mr. Ruan.”
When Ruan Qing heard his words, he immediately reached out to take his pulse. After feeling around for a while, he couldn’t figure out what was wrong. He even thought that it was because he was still lacking in this field and couldn’t help but become more anxious.
Xiao Ziheng snickered twice and asked him, while still pretending to be serious: “Mr. Ruan, as the lead doctor of the Prince Yan Manor, if you can’t even tell what this Prince is suffering……be careful!”
Before his words fell, a pair of bloody red eyes hiding in the shadows darted up and bit down hard towards the back of Ruan Qing’s neck!
“Ah!” Ruan Qing was pushed to the ground. As he struggled to get up, he saw that Xiao Ziheng had nailed the black snake to the ground with a dagger while pinching his already bruised wrist and gasping in pain.
“Your Majesty, are you okay?” Ruan Qing hurriedly stepped forward to check his injuries. The snake’s venom was really powerful. After a while, Xiao Ziheng’s hands turned purple and the poison threatened to spread along his arms towards his heart. Xiao Ziheng originally thought he would try to comfort him with a few words, but he couldn’t stand the surge of snake venom and fainted.
“Your Majesty? Wake up, Your Majesty!” When Ruan Qing saw that he quickly stopped moving, and the blood on his face faded completely. He burst into tears in a hurry, pinched his shoulders, and shook him with a shout: “Your Majesty. Don’t scare me, Your Majesty!”
“What’s going on?” Wang Qian rushed in at the sound and was also startled at the sight. He hurriedly reached out to probe Xiao Ziheng’s nostrils, “Mr. Ruan, he’s still breathing, hurry up and save His Majesty!”
“Okay, okay…….” Ruan Qing hurriedly took out the antidote in his arms and applied it to Xiao Ziheng’s wound, but the snake venom still did not subside. He forced himself to calm down and turned to Wang Qian: “General, quickly boil this herb and feed it to His Majesty. Only then can we curb the spread of snake venom. Go quickly!”
“Okay, I’ll go right away.” Wang Qian took the antidote and asked the guards to set up a fire to boil the medicine. Ruan Qing tied his handkerchief near the heart of Xiao Ziheng’s wound, took out a knife, and cut open the flesh to bleed him.
After a while, the spread of the poison gradually slowed down. Wang Qian also finished decocting the medicine and brought it to Ruan Qing. Ruan Qing took it and directly fed it to him.
Unfortunately, after several attempts, Xiao Ziheng was now completely unconscious and it was impossible to open his mouth to force the medicine down, which made Ruan Qing and Wang Qian break into cold sweats.
Ruan Qing had no choice but to say, “I’m sorry, Your Majesty” silently before taking a sip of the medicine and bringing his lips down to Xiao Ziheng’s face.
Their lips and teeth touched and the touch was extremely soft. The heat of the medicine mixed with the bitterness made Ruan Qing’s face burn. He passed the medicine to Xiao Ziheng in one mouthful. Because he was too close, Xiao Ziheng’s eyelashes brushed against his face, scratching him and making him panic. After he finally finished feeding him all the medicine, Ruan Qing’s face turned red and he wanted to run away from him.
But who knew that Xiao Ziheng would reach out to hug his waist in a daze.
☽ ⋆ℍalf 𝕄oon 𝕋ranslations⋆ ☾ 
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