Chapter Six: Your Son Is Causing Trouble Again!

Forget it, it's only for a day—saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda. Besides, she’s needed to look after that troublesome son of his. Enduring her for a few hours—what could it hurt? Still, a physician must be called.

“Zhuo Yue’an!” Xiao Jingxuan instinctively called out the name, but then remembered he had just granted them leave to rest. Likely, calling now would be in vain.

“Present,” came a voice from outside the window, making Xiao Jingxuan pause and blush. This fellow had probably been eavesdropping at the corner for quite a while.

“Weren’t you supposed to be resting?” Xiao Jingxuan was a bit embarrassed and annoyed—why did Zhuo Yue’an enjoy listening at walls so much?

“Uh, yes, well, I’ll take my leave then.”

“Come back! First, go fetch a physician. The princess, Su Jingluo, is running a fever.” If not for the strange position in which Su Jingluo had him trapped, he would have gone himself. Ordering Zhuo Yue’an away, then calling him back moments later to run errands—how very undignified.

“Yes, sir!”

When the physician arrived, Xiao Jingxuan let him enter the room alone. The man's face immediately flushed bright red; the princess was clinging to the prince’s neck in a most compromising manner.

Xiao Jingxuan fixed the physician with a steely gaze, enunciating every word: “If a single word of what you see today gets out, you will not live to regret it.”

“Yes, yes, of course!” The physician knew well that the prince meant what he said. What rotten luck—witnessing such a scandalous scene and then being threatened for it.

He hurried through the acupuncture and prescribed medicine, eager to escape the prince’s predatory glare. The patient herself seemed unashamed, and the prince became angry if he so much as looked.

After the treatment, Su Jingluo woke briefly. Seeing herself clutching Xiao Jingxuan, she quickly let go, but in the next breath seized him again.

“What time is it? Is Yunbai still kneeling? I must go back.” But as soon as she sat up, she fainted once more.

Xiao Jingxuan turned immediately to the physician, his voice icy, “What’s happening? Why has she fainted again?”

“Please, Your Highness, do not be angry. The princess is physically weak and has overexerted herself. With acupuncture, medicine, and some food, she will gradually recover.” He was being glared at for the poor state of the prince’s wife, but dared not voice any complaint—he could only offer gentle reassurance.

After the physician left, he could not stop praising the deep affection between prince and princess to Zhuo Yue’an. Zhuo Yue’an was baffled by what had transpired in the room and pressed for details, but the physician only smiled slyly, infuriating him.

No sooner had the physician departed than Xiao Jingxuan sent Zhuo Yue’an to check on Xiao Yunbai, instructing him to bring the child along if he was still kneeling. He didn’t want the child harmed from kneeling too long.

It was quite a while before Zhuo Yue’an returned, grimacing in pain. His right hand was swollen like a mallet, and his left was wrapped tightly in cloth as he dragged a howling, cursing Xiao Yunbai, with Ruihuan trailing behind, tearfully begging for mercy.

Su Jingluo, having taken her medicine and feeling somewhat better, finally released Xiao Jingxuan. When she saw Xiao Yunbai, the child was wriggling like a little earthworm, struggling with all his might. But in the end, he was still just a child and couldn’t break free from Zhuo Yue’an’s grasp.

“Your Highness, the young prince was indeed kneeling. Ruihuan, moved by pity, was kneeling with him, letting him rest on her knees. When I tried to lift him, he mistook me for a villain and unleashed some kind of poisonous insect on me. Could you please persuade him to give me the antidote? It really, really hurts—I can hardly bear it,” Zhuo Yue’an explained in detail, desperate to clear himself. He truly hadn’t overstepped; it was the five-year-old who struck first. This job was becoming increasingly thankless. The poison was truly vicious: itchy and painful, and scratching only made the burn worse—worse than a wasp sting.

Xiao Jingxuan pressed his forehead. Su Jingluo was not someone to be trifled with. On most days, she was fine, but provoke her and it was like poking a hornet’s nest.

“Xiao Yunbai, you’re far too bold. Hand over the antidote at once.”

Xiao Jingxuan was nearly beside himself. This child was hopeless at everything—except poisoning. He’d just dosed a hundred mouthfuls, and now had subdued Zhuo Yue’an as well. A little scourge, a veritable young poison king. He’d meant to treat the child kindly, but this was too wild.

“Villain! Let me go. Where’s my mother?” Xiao Yunbai, dangling from Zhuo Yue’an’s grasp, didn’t dare get closer for fear of another attack.

“Is that any way to speak to your father? Hand over the antidote.”

“Give me back my mother!”

“Give me the antidote!”

Their exchange repeated endlessly, and Zhuo Yue’an was nearly in tears. For the first time, he had encountered someone even the prince couldn’t outmatch—let alone destroy. Was this his just deserts? His hand hurt terribly!

The shouting in the courtyard, repeating like a broken record, finally woke Su Jingluo. Her head throbbed as she saw Xiao Jingxuan standing on the steps, hands on his hips, red-faced and bellowing, while Xiao Yunbai twisted in Zhuo Yue’an’s grip like an exhausted earthworm.

“What are you two doing?” Su Jingluo asked weakly as she came out.

“Mother!”

“Princess!”

The cry of “Mother!” was, of course, Xiao Yunbai. The one calling her “Princess” more affectionately than his own mother was Zhuo Yue’an, who dropped Xiao Yunbai and fell to his knees, raising his swollen right hand close to tears.

“Princess, please save me! The young prince…” Zhuo Yue’an was utterly aggrieved. To be bullied by a five-year-old—if word of this spread in the martial world, he’d have no face left.

“Uh…” Su Jingluo could cure illnesses, but her son’s poisons required research for an antidote. Still, the boy’s dosing was always swift, accurate, and ruthless—killing quickly, striking decisively, and causing the most pain.

This child was too much. Su Jingluo was truly weary. She walked up to Xiao Yunbai, her face dark as she extended her hand.

Xiao Yunbai, about to rush into her arms, saw her expression and bowed his head, retrieving a small porcelain bottle and a pill from his robe. In a small voice, he muttered, “Apply the ointment from the bottle to your arm, and take the pill.”

“I apologize—the child is naughty. I’ll be sure to punish him properly when we return.” Su Jingluo took the medicine, full of remorse, and handed it to Zhuo Yue’an.

Zhuo Yue’an thanked her profusely and slunk off to a corner to treat himself.

Still defiant, Xiao Yunbai turned away and wiped his eyes.

“At your age, you don’t know right from wrong, and yet you strike so hard—how can you still cry?” Su Jingluo’s heart immediately softened at the sight, but she knew spoiling a child was harming them.

“Exactly—who would dare get close to you now?” Xiao Jingxuan joined in the reprimand.

Suddenly, Xiao Yunbai spun around, fixing Xiao Jingxuan with a venomous glare that sent a chill down his spine.

The eyes of a hawk, the gaze of a wolf!