If One Day I Leave Your Side

Zhou Ye's breath suddenly caught.

He lowered his eyes to Wei Mingxiu's face, watching him wait eagerly for praise. After a long while, he finally spoke, as though conceding defeat.

"Yes."

"You accounted for all of us in your scheme, all on your own. Not only did you get the Third Prince placed under house arrest, you also managed to have yourself placed in Her Majesty the Empress's care. From now on, you have the mother of the nation as your backer and the Feng Family behind you. The scales are tipping entirely in your favor."

"This time, Your Highness, you won a complete victory."

Hearing him say that, Wei Mingxiu saw the admiration and respect Zhou Ye had never concealed in his eyes.

It seemed as though even his wound no longer hurt.

A touch of youthful stubbornness showed on his face as he asked Zhou Ye, "Then, Junior Preceptor, will you still say I'm little from now on?"

Zhou Ye froze.

All the anger he had been building up was scattered by Wei Mingxiu's question.

For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

After all that, Wei Mingxiu was still holding a grudge against him over that.

Now that he had accomplished something great, he had proved himself, and the moment he woke up, he had hurried to demand an answer from Zhou Ye.

He might seem clever, but this alone showed that Wei Mingxiu was still a child after all.

"I won't say it anymore," Zhou Ye said with a smile. "From now on, I won't say such things to Your Highness again."

With that promise, Wei Mingxiu felt much better.

He said to Zhou Ye, "I've never forgotten what you taught me, Junior Preceptor."

"As for what I did today, I only felt safe putting the plan into action after I'd learned where my organs were and secretly asked Young Master Yun whether the wound would be fatal and could be treated."

"And to be honest with you, Junior Preceptor," Wei Mingxiu said, a cold glint of killing intent flashing through his eyes, "even if the plan had failed, I wouldn't have lost my life to Wei Chengye and those villains."

"If I'd really wanted to act, not one of them would have been alive by the time you arrived."

Zhou Ye was startled.

When he looked at Wei Mingxiu again, the boy had already concealed the killing intent in his eyes.

He said, "So there was no way this plan could have left me with no way out."

"Besides, I set this whole thing up because I knew I had you behind me, Junior Preceptor, and that the Feng Family weren't fools like the Zhao Family. Once I'd set the stage, I left the rest to you. That was my trust in you."

"And isn't that exactly what you taught me about choosing people: trust those you employ, and don't employ those you distrust?"

Wei Mingxiu's words were well reasoned and supported.

Every word struck at the heart of the matter.

Even Zhou Ye was stunned.

He couldn't help saying to the little system in his mind, [Good Baby, Wei Mingxiu's so young and already this clever. Won't he be defying the heavens when he grows up? I'm beginning to suspect the author wrote Wei Mingxiu out of the story on purpose. Otherwise, how ridiculously overpowered would the male lead have to be to beat him?]

[Hmm, in the latter half of the novel, Wei Mingxiu had already given up. He didn't want to live anymore, so he let the male lead take his throne.]

Zhou Ye was shocked. [Huh?? Why didn't he want to live?]

The little system checked its information again and said, [Because you died.]

[...What? I died, so he didn't want to live? What kind of logic is that?]

Zhou Ye couldn't help finding the logic strange.

But when he thought of Wei Mingxiu's ending in the original story, then looked at the boy before him, whose features and personality he liked so much, he felt uncomfortable.

After thinking for a while, he said to Wei Mingxiu, "I didn't expect Your Highness to have thought everything through so thoroughly. What I said earlier was clearly unfair to you."

"I hope Your Highness won't take offense."

Wei Mingxiu rubbed his fingers together and said softly, "I won't blame you, Junior Preceptor. Or rather, I actually like it a little when you get angry with me, because it shows how much you care about me."

Zhou Ye looked momentarily taken aback. Several times, he started to speak and stopped, but in the end he said, "Your Highness, if one day I leave your side, I hope you'll still be able to plan everything as calmly as you do now. Don't drift through your days and let yourself go to waste."

His words made Wei Mingxiu's smile freeze on his face.

Wei Mingxiu remembered that day at the Imperial Academy, when Zhou Ye had also said something about leaving.

He had wanted to ask then, but hadn't had the chance. Later, he had been interrupted several more times, and as time passed, he forgot to ask.

Now Zhou Ye had brought it up again.

For no apparent reason, his heart began to race with panic.

He gripped Zhou Ye's sleeve and asked, "Didn't you say before that you were helping me because you wanted to become regent, Junior Preceptor? Isn't a regent supposed to stay by the ruler's side and help him govern? Why are you talking about leaving now?"

"Besides, the Zhou Family is here in the capital, and your family is here too. If you leave, where will you go?"

Zhou Ye was left speechless by his questions.

After all, he was the one who had said he wanted to become regent.

Now he had contradicted himself, so it was no wonder Wei Mingxiu was suspicious.

Still, he quickly came up with an answer.

He replied, "I only meant that people's minds can change. Perhaps one day I won't want to stay in the capital anymore, so I'll resign my post and return to my hometown in Jiangnan to live a carefree life. When that happens, I naturally won't be able to stay by Your Highness's side forever."

Wei Mingxiu stared intently at his face.

He wanted to know whether Zhou Ye was telling the truth, but Zhou Ye kept too tight a hold on his emotions.

Wei Mingxiu couldn't look into his eyes and see what was in the man's heart.

His fingers clenched, and after a long while, Wei Mingxiu seemed finally to accept Zhou Ye's explanation.

He asked Zhou Ye, "Then when that time comes... can I come find you?"

Zhou Ye pressed his lips together. In the end, he couldn't bear to shatter Wei Mingxiu's hopes.

He replied, "If Your Highness has time, you may come visit me."

Only then did Wei Mingxiu's expression finally ease a little.

After that, the two of them tacitly avoided the subject.

Once they returned to the imperial palace, Wei Mingxiu moved into the residence where Wei Zeyu lived and shared it with him.

With Empress Feng's protection, his food, clothing and daily necessities were finally fit for a prince, and the number of palace attendants caring for him increased from Xiao Wu alone to six.

The eunuchs and palace maids responsible for cleaning the residence were also replaced with an entirely new group.

They were diligent, but their motives were less than pure.

Even with the empress in control, Wei Zhao still managed to plant quite a few people there.

After all, Wei Zhao had already made up his mind at the hunting grounds.

While Wei Mingxiu was still young, he would destroy this puppet destined to be used by Empress Feng.

And so a new struggle in the shadows began.

But to Wei Zhao's frustration, no matter how many palace servants he sent in to poison Wei Mingxiu, assassinate him, or arrange an accident for him,

they all entered Kunning Palace on their own two feet, only to be carried out horizontally.

Wei Mingxiu, meanwhile, seemed immune to every poison and impervious to harm. No matter what was done to him, he wouldn't die.

Only then did Wei Zhao finally realize that perhaps the one who had set the trap that day wasn't Empress Feng,

but his own unremarkable son, Wei Mingxiu.

But it was already too late to take back the order placing Wei Mingxiu in the empress's care.

Wei Zhao was so vexed that even his meals lost their flavor.

Just like that, five years passed in the blink of an eye.

A major event came to Great Wei.

The eldest princess of Great Wei, who had been married off to the State of Chu to secure peace, died of illness in a foreign land. An envoy from the State of Chu brought its third princess to the capital to pay respects to Wei Zhao. They appeared to be reporting the death, but in fact they wanted to marry the third princess to a prince of Great Wei, renewing the marriage alliance.

But once a prince married a princess of the State of Chu, he would lose his claim to the throne.

And so Wei Zhao set his sights on Wei Mingxiu.

He's grown up! Our Xiuxiu has finally grown up!!!

We can finally have a little romance!!

Please, please send little gifts (* ￣3)(ε￣ *)!!