Chapter 326 Extra Story—Having an Argument
Yun Muxi felt at ease enjoying such a peaceful and beautiful moment. Her parents had been busy with their work and left her alone at home since she was a child, and luckily, she had a good friend, Xuanxuan, accompany her; otherwise, she would have left a lonely life. She was quite satisfied that now Duanmu Gongyu accompanied her, took care of her, and loved her. She enjoyed the peaceful moment quietly.

…

At sunset, the carriage arrived in Xinyang City. As soon as they entered the city, Duanmu Gongyu sensed something strange. He said to Hei Ye in a cold tone, “Hei Ye, put on your guards.”

Since Duanmu Gongyu always had a keen instinct, Hei Ye put on his highest guard at Duanmu Gongyu’s reminder. Lan Yun surveyed around warily and looked out for everything that would happen.

Hei Ye drove the carriage to a tasteful hotel, which was neither the biggest one nor the most luxurious one in the city. The reason why he chose such an inconspicuous hotel was that he was afraid that there were traps in those luxurious hotels.

When they entered the hotel, the waiters welcomed them warmly and arranged rooms for them before leading them into a tastefully furnished private room. After everyone took their seats, Hei Ye ordered some lightly flavored dishes instead of meats or fish because Yun Muxi had wounds on her.

While Yun Muxi chatted with Duanmu Gongyu, dishes were placed on the table one after another, and the puppy in Yun Muxi’s arms raised its head to sniff.

Yun Muxi chuckled at the scene and teased. “Oh, what a greedy puppy. You can’t help drooling over any good, can you?”

Yun Muxi scanned the dishes on the table and found them all in light flavor. She then picked up one green vegetable and put it in her hand to feed the puppy. The puppy sniffed the food and started to bark, “Bow-wow… Bow-wow…”

Yun Muxi thought that the puppy disliked vegetables and wanted to eat meat. She then said with a smile of anger, “Greedy puppy, you want nothing but meat, right?”

However, with a tight frown and cold face, Duanmu Gongyu knocked the food out of Yun Muxi’s hand and said in a low voice, “The puppy didn’t eat it because it found the food was poisoned.”

Duanmu Gongyu’s voice was so low that only the people in the room could hear it.

Yun Muxi was shocked by the words. She shot a glance of surprise at Duanmu Gongyu and then at the puppy. The puppy nodded its head and mumbled before resting in Yun Muxi’s arms.

Since Duanmu Gongyu did not speak out his findings loudly, Yun Muxi guessed that he had other plans. She looked at Duanmu Gongyu in silence and waited for his further actions.

Duanmu Gongyu pretended to say in a calm voice, “Since our dishes are all here, let’s start eating.” He then picked up some foods with chopsticks and pretended to send them into his mouth, but in fact, he put the foods on the handkerchief in his sleeve in secret.

Taking in his actions, Yun Muxi, Hei Ye, and Lan Yun all understood that Duanmu Gongyu was trying to meet plot with plot to draw the man behind all this out.

Following suit, they pretended to enjoy the meal like Duanmu Gongyu. After a short while, Duanmu Gongyu suddenly furrowed his eyebrows hardly, sweated a lot, and covered his belly. In several seconds, he rested his head on the table.

Watching aside, Yun Muxi was dumbfounded by the scene. “Wow, his performance should win him Best Actor Award. If he were to travel to modern times, he would win one Oscar.” Yun Muxi could not help but cheer for Duanmu Gongyu’s performance in secret.

Following suit again, Yun Muxi, Hei Ye, and Lan Yun pretended to have been poisoned and put their heads on the table. Holding the puppy tightly in her arms, Yun Muxi hoped that the puppy would cooperate and not ruin their plan. As if the puppy could read Yun Muxi’s mind, it rested in Yun Muxi’s arms quietly, eyes closed.

Seeing the puppy’s cute look of pretending, Yun Muxi laughed wildly to herself. “What a group of good actors. Even the dog also knew how to pretend.”

While Yun Muxi exclaimed to herself, the door of their room was pushed open lightly, and it sounded as more than one person came in.

The newcomers were three men. One of them ordered in a hoarse voice, “Go to check if they have died.”

The voice made Yun Muxi extremely nervous. In the fear that she would be caught pretending, she got flustered inside and read incantations to herself repeatedly to stay calm. She closed her eyes and held her breath.

She heard footsteps approaching, and it sounded that the man firstly stopped beside Duanmu Gongyu. The man reached out to check Duanmu Gongyu’s breath under his nose and then felt Duanmu Gongyu’s pulse on his neck.

Then, the man reported in a stuttering tone, “Big… Big Brother, this… man… is already… dead.”

The following sounds indicated that the stammered turned to check on Hei Ye or Lan Yun. Then, his stuttering voice echoed again. “Big Brother… This… man… died… as… as well.”

At this moment, the sound of another man coming in echoed. The man with a hoarse voice said, “Your Highness the crown prince, Prince Yu is dead.”

“Hahaha, good! Very good! Duanmu Gongyu, how can you show off again? Hump, enjoy your wonderful life in hell.”

Just as the voice fell, Duanmu Gongyu raised his head and sneered coldly. “Big Brother, sorry to disappoint you. I have a strong life that I won’t die in a short time.”

Duanmu Gongcheng was extremely surprised by the words. He said in astonishment, “You! Why are you…”

Duanmu Gongyu interrupted him in an icy voice, “It seems my surviving disappointed you much. I really don’t understand why you’re so determined to get rid of me even though I have declared that I gave up the throne. Do you hate me so much?

“I have no interest in the fame that you chase after, and I just want a quiet and peaceful life. Why can’t you just let me off? Whether it’s you or the second elder brother assumes the throne, it’s ok with me. I just want to live my life in peace.

“In fact, I have suspected you of plotting against me, but I didn’t want to believe it. When I was young, besides mother, you doted on me the most. But now… it’s actually you who want to take my life.” Though Duanmu Gongyu’s voice was cold, his words were emotional and sincere.

“Well, you only have yourself to blame for you have always been too outstanding, and it made me uneasy. I have once considered to let you off, but you were so excellent and impressive that you would be a threat to me someday.”

Duanmu Gongyu felt rather helpless at the words. “What should I say to make you understand that I don’t care about nor want to compete with you for the throne. I believe, if mother were still alive, she would not want to see we fight against each other.

“I will never forget about mother or what a happy family we had when she was still alive. Now, mother is gone, and I just want to live my life in peace, and protect the last good part of our family.”

Duanmu Gongcheng was deeply moved by Duanmu Gongyu’s words. He closed his eyes so long that he even forgot to breath. At last, he let out a sigh and ordered in an undertone, “Let’s go!”

He then left the room with his men.

Yun Muxi did not raise her head from the table all along. The words of the two brothers were cold yet sincere, and it was the first time that they talked in such an intimate way.

From this, one could see that it was also the first frank talking between the two brothers. The words might not be that moving, but it dissolved the dispute and hatred between the two. After these few simple words, both the two brothers felt as if they had talked with each other heart to heart.

Yun Muxi was so moved by their words that tears welled up in her eyes.

It took Duanmu Gongyu a long while in calm to regain his presence of mind. Turning around, when he saw Yun Muxi with her head still on the table, he was kind of afraid that she had taken it seriously and actually ate those poisoned foods. Thinking of this, he hurriedly took her hand and let her face him. To his surprise, Yun Muxi was not poisoned but crying.

Duanmu Gongyu asked her with concern, “What’s the problem? Why are you crying?”

Yun Muxi fondled Duanmu Gongyu’s cheek with pain in her eyes and said in a light voice, “I just had pity for you.”

The simple words of her amused Duanmu Gongyu and softened his heart. He rubbed Yun Muxi’s head tenderly and chuckled, “Silly girl.”

Since the crisis was solved, Hei Ye told the owner of the hotel to serve them another table of dishes. The owner came staggering to apologize to them but received no response or inquiry from Duanmu Gongyu, which made him even more nervous and frightened for he did not what Duanmu Gongyu was thinking about.

The owner of the hotel dared not to do anything more than serving them another table of dishes and wine and did not charge them any money and even treated them as gods.

When they finished their meal and returned to their rooms with a full belly, it was totally dark outside. Duanmu Gongyu took care of Yun Muxi cautiously and changed the dress of her wound before laying her on the bed and covering her with the quilt.

Yun Muxi lay on the bed with the bear in her arms, the puppy resting beside her pillow. Duanmu Gongyu took off his outwear and lay beside Yun Muxi. As Yun Muxi failed to fall asleep, she said, “Little Cutie saved us today!”

Duanmu Gongyu answered in an indifferent tone, “Yes.”

Yun Muxi spoke again. “So, you should treat it better as it saved everyone’s life.”

In an indifferent tone, Duanmu Gongyu answered again, “Yes.”

Yun Muxi continued, “By the way, how did you know that the foods were mixed with poisons not drugs or something that would cause people to bleed in seven apertures on the head?”

Still in an indifferent tone, Duanmu Gongyu answered, “Mmm.”

At the words, Yun Muxi got angry. She sat up and turned to glare at Duanmu Gongyu, saying, “Hey, are you dumb? Can’t you speak more words when answering my question?”

Duanmu Gongyu sat up annoyedly and replied in an impatient tone, “I smelled it. After I sniffed the foods, I was certain that they were mixed with a normal poison named Life-taking Grass, after taking in which, the toxin will enter people’s hearts through blood and paralyze them later. The poisoned ones would have a symptom of colic at first and die soon. After I recognized the poison, I put the food in my sleeves. This is a basic way to handle the situation. Don’t think me a fool like you.”

Yun Muxi was irritated by Duanmu Gongyu’s sneering words. Never had she been sneered at as a fool, and what irritated her even more was Duanmu Gongyu’s indifferent attitude. She roared in a tone of anger, “How dare you call me as a fool? It’s you who are a fool, you!”

After saying this, Yun Muxi lay back on the bed, face to the wall, holding the bear, and no longer talked to him. As if the bear had sensed Yun Muxi’s anger, it crawled into Yun Muxi’s arms and rested.

Duanmu Gongyu felt extremely helpless at Yun Muxi’s anger.

He might look calm and did not show any emotion when facing Duanmu Gongcheng today, but in fact, he was quite shocked inside that his dear brother actually wanted to kill him and that they used to be families but ended fighting against each other. The fact pained him. Although he had sensed that his brother was dissatisfied with him and on guard against him and that his brother might be the one behind all these plots, he did not want to believe these things himself. When exposed to all these facts, he felt extreme pain inside.

He was not a man good at expressing his feelings, so, he did not tell Yun Muxi that he was very upset. However, now, it looked that he kind of took out all his emotions on Yun Muxi. Exhausted, Duanmu Gongyu did not explain for himself or try to comfort Yun Muxi.

He lay back on the bed, eyes open, sleepless. Mind occupied, both of the two did not fall asleep until daybreak.

Waking up in the morning, both the two remained silent. For Yun Muxi, the reason was that she was still angry with Duanmu Gongyu, and for Duanmu Gongyu, the reason was that he did not know how to beguile her. Both of them refused to budge or talk to each other, making the atmosphere extremely depressing.

Sensing the atmosphere, Hei Ye and Lan Yun dared not to make a noise. Even the puppy kept silent toward the weird atmosphere and rested in Yun Muxi’s arms quietly.

With the atmosphere, they set off again. There was dead silence in the carriage. Holding the puppy in her arms, Yun Muxi stroked its fur silently while Duanmu Gongyu leaned against the wall of the carriage and closed his eyes to refresh his spirit. At Duanmu Gongyu’s remaining silent, Yun Muxi got even angrier. She swore to herself that she would not talk to Duanmu Gongyu unless he apologized to her.

The carriage ran forward in silence, and everyone kept silent even during lunch. After having some solid foods, they hurried on their way again.

Hei Ye and Lan Yun could not help but shiver inside at the dead silence.

It was the third day after they argued, and neither Duanmu Gongyu nor Yun Muxi wanted to surrender during this cold war. Yun Muxi became increasingly angry in these days while Duanmu Gongyu was hesitant to apologize to her. As a royal prince, he never bent his head or apologized to anyone, and he never needed to do so. At the point, he was caught in a dilemma.

Because of the deadlock between their masters, Hei Ye and Lan Yun felt increasingly depressed, and the depressing atmosphere almost suffocated them. They had to drive the carriage wildly to distract themselves. As a result, the trip became smoother as they could cover twice the distance they did before. The carriage continued running fast on the road.

At the dusk, they arrived in Jiayu City and stopped in front of a hotel. They got out of the carriage and entered the hotel. After Hei Ye had everything arranged, Yun Muxi went to her room while carrying the puppy. In past days, they always had dinner before going to their own room. However, now, Yun Muxi was in no appetite and went to her room directly.

Hei Ye and Lan Yun cast their eyes on Duanmu Gongyu in concert. Toward this, Duanmu Gongyu had a bitter feeling. He watched Yun Muxi’s leaving back helplessly and shook his head. Then, he turned to Hei Ye, “Tell the owner of the hotel to prepare some foods and deliver to my room.”