Corriendo de un lado a otro y desempeñando papeles secundarios

Capítulo 17

"With Brother Zhan gone, we probably can't beat them with our small force."

"You trust Guard Zhan a lot?"

"Yes!" He nodded vigorously.

"But he has a wife."

"What does it matter to me if he has a wife?"

"It's none of your business."

...

After applying the medicine, Prince Xin reluctantly put her hand down: "It's alright. You should feel much better tomorrow. You should rest now. I'm going back." His gaze fell on the cold Chinese medicine on the table. He sighed and reached out to take it: "I'm taking this medicine with me. Don't let Lord Xu see that you've wasted his good intentions."

Li Yuxuan immediately nodded: "Your Highness, you are such a kind person."

"I'm not a good person, I'm just a fox."

Hehe, Li Yuxuan chuckled: "There are good foxes too, right? For tonight's sake, I'll treat you as a good fox."

puff--

"Go to sleep. We'll rest and recuperate here for the next two days. Take good care of yourself. The plateau is just beyond here. If you don't get better, you'll suffer from altitude sickness."

Seeing that Prince Xin seemed to have something else to say, Yinzi quickly ran over and opened the door: "Your Highness, please wait."

Seeing that Yinzi had seen the guest off, Prince Xin knew that it was indeed time for him to leave as well. Looking at Li Yuxuan, who had already shrunk into the quilt, Prince Xin could only rub his temples, pick up the medicine bowl, and go out.

The moon was cool in the mountains. He didn't go back to his room. Instead, he carried the medicine bowl into the courtyard of the inn and poured the medicine under a big tree.

This Li Yuxuan, sometimes she really is like a spoiled little girl. Why hasn't anyone noticed this for so long?

How would he then cover for her lies before the Emperor? The crime of deceiving the Emperor could be serious or minor, entirely depending on the Emperor's whim. Given his father-son-like relationship with the Emperor, with his intercession, it wouldn't be too difficult. The real challenge was how to keep her disguised as a man from being discovered.

If he can discover it, others can too. Like Zhan Zhao. Like Xu Qingzhi.

The more people who discover her, the greater the danger she faces.

Dangerous

For Li Yuxuan, after the Prince of Xin left, he finally spent a silent night.

The next day, ignoring the deafening noise outside, she stayed in bed until lunchtime. The two men, as if by unspoken agreement, didn't bother her again.

The little girl, who was sparring with the soldiers in the courtyard, saw Yinzi leave and immediately sidled up to her room. The little girl probably genuinely mistook her for a man; even she, who had been so arrogant the day before, showed a hint of shyness in her presence.

Li Yuxuan didn't want to continue this mistake, so he deliberately distanced himself from her and acted coldly. However, the girl didn't seem to care; she was having a good time by herself, laughing and joking, even though he ignored her.

What interested her most were the handwritten copies of Tang Dynasty tales that Li Yuxuan had brought with him to pass the time on the journey. She hadn't expected to have no time to read them at all. The journey had been so exciting; the word "boredom" was hardly an option.

The Prince's medicine was very effective; the bruises on her hands had turned purplish-red. After lunch, the military doctor delivered the Chinese medicine on time. She elegantly ignored Yinzi's resentful gaze and poured the medicine into the ditch behind the courtyard. Of course, she did this very discreetly. If the military doctor knew, it would be a blow to his pride! The fruits of others' labor should be respected.

The little girl was clearly also interested in the dark liquid, and kept asking Yinzi questions about being sick and taking medicine.

Li Yuxuan found it strange that this little girl knew little about Han culture, yet could recognize Chinese characters. She remembered that at this time, the Western Xia had their own script, but with Genghis Khan's brutal massacre of the Western Xia people, their decline and desolation, and the disappearance of Western Xia culture, the Western Xia script became a historical legend.

The day passed in this leisurely manner. Nothing more to say.

The next day, nothing was said.

The silence made Li Yuxuan very uncomfortable. What was wrong with those two? They were actually avoiding her whenever they saw her. Especially Xu Qingzhi, who was practically hiding from her, leaving early and returning late every day, busy with who-knows-what. She hadn't seen him at all in the past two days. When she asked the guards, they all gave the same answer: "Lord Xu has gone out, and Lord Xu hasn't returned yet."

Damn it. I didn't bully him.

He actually treated her like a monster, avoiding her at all. Wasn't it just that little bit of her that made him feel like he had the potential to be a homosexual?

He can only blame himself for his poor judgment. Why couldn't he learn some shrewdness from Prince Xin? That scoundrel Prince Xin most likely saw through her disguise. The way he looked at her hands last night, with such lustful eyes, wasn't the way a man looks at another man. He was clearly a lecherous man seeing a beautiful woman.

Don't think she's truly unaware just because she pretends not to know; her eyes are wide open. However, adhering to the principle of peace and tranquility, she always adopts a "I won't offend others unless they offend me" approach.

They set off on the third day. They traveled along the Hexi Corridor towards Liangzhou. The little girl insisted on riding a horse, saying her horsemanship was top-notch in their region. At sunset, they camped on a high ground.

Soon after, a caravan also set up camp not far from where they had encamped. The soldiers went up to check them, but unfortunately, they couldn't understand their language, so they had to invite Li Yuxuan and Xu Qingzhi over. They spoke a lot of unintelligible dialect to her and Xu Qingzhi, roughly saying that they had no ulterior motives, they just wanted to stay close to the army for safety.

Xu Qingzhi was kind-hearted and agreed to their request. He did not send them away, but simply ordered the soldiers on duty to strengthen their protection.

Li Yuxuan finally managed to stand next to Xu Qingzhi and was about to ask him what had happened these past two days when, before she could even change the smile on her face, Xu Qingzhi had already turned and left, leaving her with only the back of his head.

She was instantly driven to a frenzy of frustration. This bookworm was actually trying to act cool in front of her... The world is changing so fast, the sun must be rising in the west.

Her face darkened, and she simply sat down by the campfire the caravan had already lit to study the camels so close at hand. She had only ever seen these things from afar in the zoo before, and apart from their awful stench, she hadn't felt anything special about them.

She saw that the caravan had 10 camels, some with dromedaries and some with two humps. They were probably well-fed, as they didn't have much of an odor. Li Yuxuan felt that apart from the two extra things on their backs, they weren't much different from horses, at least their eyes were similar.

While studying the camels, she gestured and chatted with a strong man in the caravan. The caravan consisted entirely of middle-aged men in their thirties and forties, and the man she was chatting with was probably the leader.

After listening for a while, she could understand some of his meaning. She knew they came from northern Guizhou and were going to Hanhai City in the desert via Liangzhou. They planned to exchange the silk and tea they brought for jade and jewelry, and then sell them back home. The man told Li Yuxuan that jade was very cheap there, and most of the jade in the Central Plains came from there.

Li Yuxuan had no interest in these commercial matters. She noticed on the other side of the campfire that a man was holding a toddler of about three or four years old. The toddler was deathly pale, devoid of color, and expressionless. The man was also expressionless, and both of them sat by the fire with their heads bowed.

Li Yuxuan pointed at the little baby: "Why would you bring a baby on the road? Is the baby sick?"

Upon seeing the two people, the man quickly pressed Li Yuxuan's hand down, his expression turning strange, and he gave them a "don't look, don't talk" look.

Li Yuxuan observed that the man's eyes were filled with fear when he saw the doll. This piqued her curiosity, and she couldn't help but glance at them a few more times. The man and the doll kept their heads down and didn't look at anyone, sitting silently by the fire, oblivious to the world around them.

This is so strange. How can a three- or four-year-old child be so quiet? And why would his relatives travel such a long distance with a small child?

Well, her maternal instincts were overflowing, and she always had an inescapable tenderness for children. She said to the man beside her, "Don't be afraid. If the child gets sick, we have military doctors who can treat her." Then she walked towards the child, saying, "I'll go take a look. I know a little about medicine."

The man seemed to understand what she was saying. He hurriedly grabbed her hand and shook his head vigorously, with a strange look of urgency and panic.

This fueled Li Yuxuan's curiosity even more. However, she was afraid of dying, and seeing the man's strong opposition, she knew there must be something strange going on, so she stopped. Just then, the little girl skipped over from the camp and grabbed her left hand: "Hey kid, let's go, it's time to eat, we've been waiting for you."

Kid—

Li Yuxuan couldn't help but pat her head: "I have a name, call me Brother Li."

"You brat!"

...

The two walked back to the tent, where Prince Xin and Xu Qingzhi were waiting for her. Upon seeing her, Xu Qingzhi's face flushed red again, and he lowered his head. Li Yuxuan didn't want to argue with him now, so she took a stool and sat down between them, and started talking about the mysterious man and doll she had seen over there.

Xu Qingzhi and Prince Xin both turned pale upon hearing her description. After she finished speaking, they both walked out simultaneously. Li Yuxuan followed, seeing that they were heading towards the merchant caravan across the street. They were probably going to watch the spectacle. She had been curious, but now that someone had emboldened her, she followed them.

The man and the child were nowhere to be seen by the campfire. The three of them circled their tent, but did not find them again.

The unusual solemnity of Prince Xin and Xu Qingzhi made Li Yuxuan even more puzzled. Both of them were the kind of people who would remain unmoved even if everything collapsed before them. Could it be that the man and the little child were really abnormal?

The three returned to the tent, and Li Yuxuan, who had been talking to himself for a long time, could no longer hold back and asked, "What's wrong with you guys? What happened?"

Prince Xin whispered a few words to Xu Qingzhi, who then turned and walked out.

Li Yuxuan wanted to follow, but Prince Xin grabbed his arm and said, "Come here, I have something to ask you."

The two sat down by the fire in the tent. Prince Xin's face tightened: "Are you sure you heard clearly that they came from northern Guizhou?"

"I'm sure."

"Are you sure the doll you saw was deathly pale, bloodless, silent, and just had its head down?"

"I'm sure."

"Alright, you'll sleep in the same tent with us tonight!"

Sleeping in another tent? "No way!"

“You have no choice; Miss Li will sleep with us too.”

The little girl was clearly used to this kind of mix-and-match style and didn't object at all: "I'm willing."

Li Yuxuan looked at Prince Xin and asked uncertainly, "Why? Because of that little child? What is his background? A bandit? A hero? A zombie?" —Looking up at the sky, please forgive her lack of imagination; she truly knew nothing about the martial arts world!

Prince Xin took her hand and said, word by word, "We suspect that he might be a kind of corpse child!"

"Corpse Child?" Li Yuxuan nearly coughed up blood. The name was terrifying; just hearing it sent shivers down his spine. "What does 'Corpse Child' mean?"

"The Corpse Doll is a secret technique of the Miao people in northern Guizhou. However, according to rumors, only a Miao tribe called Gomo possesses this technique. Neither Lord Xu nor I have actually witnessed it; we only saw it in the records. Your description matches the records exactly, and since they came from northern Guizhou, we made this guess. However—" Prince Xin smiled self-deprecatingly, "Perhaps we are overthinking it. Why would a group of merchants bring such an unlucky Corpse Doll on their journey?"

"This road is too unsettling. Perhaps they didn't intend to harm anyone, they were just protecting themselves." Li Yuxuan recalled the expression on the man's face as he tried his best to stop her. Luckily, she didn't let her maternal instincts get the better of her, otherwise she might have lost her life in such a muddle.

The world is a dangerous place—*sigh*. But she was still very curious about what this "corpse child" actually was. Wasn't it just a little baby? Could it really be a controlled zombie? It seemed somewhat like one.

"Your Highness, what exactly is this Corpse Child? Why is it so terrifying?"

"This corpse child..." Prince Xin pondered for a moment: "I may tell you, but you mustn't have nightmares tonight."

"I'm not sure, but even if I have a nightmare about it, I still want to know."

“You—” Prince Xin’s mood lightened at Li Yuxuan’s words: “The local Miao people have a custom that if they don’t want a newborn baby, they will catch a dead wildcat, wrap the baby and the cat together, and hang them on a tree in the mountains. In their culture, the cat represents the guide to hell. The baby and the cat’s body rot together. If the baby’s soul is strong enough, it will undergo a transformation under these circumstances, absorb the cat’s spirit, and return to the human world.”

The little girl clung tightly to Li Yuxuan's arm, looking at Prince Xin with a mixture of fear and intense curiosity: "And then?"

"Then, because this Corpse Child was transformed from an infant, and infants have no memories, the Corpse Child is actually a plant-type monster with no intelligence, wandering aimlessly. It becomes bloodthirsty when hungry, but is otherwise relatively docile. Because it is fused with a cat's body, it possesses many feline characteristics, but there is one thing that can guide it."

"And then what? Is it a mouse or a fish that's guiding you?" This relentless spirit of exploration is truly deadly. Actually, upon hearing this, Li Yuxuan felt a bit nauseous.

"If a jade artifact is stained with the blood of its mother at birth, it can be used to control the child. Corpse children are usually docile, but when they become terrifying, their power is astonishing, and it is rumored that they can control people's minds, driving them insane and causing them to commit suicide. Therefore, there are people who specialize in creating corpse children. Once they have created a corpse child, they usually sell it, because the corpse child only recognizes the jade as its master. This corpse child also has a characteristic: it cannot read, it can only see pictures. The person holding the jade needs to draw a picture to give the order. The corpse child will only follow the instructions in the picture. For example, if the picture tells it to kill someone, then no matter what others do to it, it will not react until it kills that person and becomes its master."

A storm is brewing

"What if the person holding the jade can't draw like me?" the little girl asked, still full of curiosity. "What if they have to kill a lot of people at once? How could the Corpse Child remember them all? Didn't you say the Corpse Child is like a plant? How could it recognize pictures?"

The little girl has a good ability to apply what she's learned to other situations; that deserves praise. Li Yuxuan patted her head, which was resting on his shoulder, as a reward: "Smart!"

"Hehe." Prince Xin laughed, "I haven't studied that. I'll just say what's written in the books. There are always some things about secret arts that can't be known to outsiders. Otherwise, if everyone knew, how could it still be called a secret art?"

“That’s true!” The little girl nodded. “It’s like the witchcraft in our area. No matter how much I want to learn it, no one will teach me.”

"Alright!" Prince Xin clapped his hands. "Let's eat first. It's just a legend. Besides, it might not even be targeting us."

Although it was the middle of nowhere, their food was quite good; aside from the lack of rice, the vegetables and meat were fresh. Li Yuxuan reached into the bowl to put some food in, but the little girl pushed his hand away: "You brat, you still dare to eat? Aren't you afraid there's something in there?"

Li Yuxuan was taken aback. So even this audacious little girl was afraid of ghosts. He then laughed and said, "With Prince Xin and Lord Xu here, are you still worried that the food isn't clean? I think you're so frightened by the Corpse Child that you don't even dare to eat."

"No, that's not it!" The little girl glared at them, her face flushed. "I'm not afraid of ghosts, I'm just afraid... afraid of being killed for no reason, is that not allowed?"

"Alright!" Prince Xin looked at Li Yuxuan: "This brat trusts me, this fox, and you trust his judgment too, right? Now that we've eaten our fill, if anything happens tonight, we'll have the strength to fight them, won't we?"