Chapter 8: The Lost Soul

  (After spending a whole day, I finally modified all the pseudo-ellipses in the previous article, it was extremely painful! Old Mo guarantees to readers here that from now on, writing will be done with a rigorous attitude and attention to detail. Alright, no more words, let's start today's second update)

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  After a whole hour, Yun Qi felt very uncomfortable standing with his head bowed for so long, but Zhu Zi Dao still didn't call him. Yun Qi didn't know that Zhu Zi Dao was doing this on purpose, testing his endurance. He had always believed that those who achieve great things must first learn to endure. The Crown Prince had also told him before that the person in front of him was not ordinary, although on the surface he was just a book boy, but Yun Qi gave the Crown Prince the feeling that he was someone who could hide his true strength to the extreme. Zhu Zi Dao's actions were also intended to test this.

  After another hour, Zhu Zidao slowly put down the book in his hand, yawned with fatigue, stretched his limbs, and got up to walk towards the storage room. Not long after, Zhu Zidao returned with another book in his hand, completely ignoring Yun Qi on the side, continuing to sit on the soft couch reading. It wasn't until now that Yun Qi slowly figured out Zhu Zidao's intentions - was he testing him? Testing his endurance? Oh dear, this was a miscalculation. The timid and fearful Yun Qi, who feared his father, mother, and death, surprisingly didn't fear being stood up. As for why, it had already been explained in the previous chapter, so there's no need to say more here. Yun Qi thought to himself: Fine, you want to drag this out? Then let's drag it out.

  Time slowly passed as the ashes accumulated, and it was almost noon, time to eat. Yun Qi, who had been lifted out of bed early in the morning, didn't even have a chance to drink a sip of water, let alone have breakfast. By this time, his stomach naturally growled with hunger. Zhu Zidao, who was quietly reading in the study, also heard Yun Qi's stomach rumbling and smiled slyly as he patted his own belly, saying to himself, "Ah, after reading for so long, I feel a bit hungry, it's time for lunch." Everyone knew that this remark was actually directed at Yun Qi, and Zhu Zidao was now eager to see how far Yun Qi's endurance would go. The two were engaged in a test of wills.

  Yun Qi closed his eyes, pretending not to hear, secretly scolding his stomach for being uncooperative, and forcing his brain not to think about food. But Zhu Zi Dao was different, he shouted towards the outside of the door: "Someone's coming!"

  "Eunuch: 'Your Majesty, I am here.'"

  Zhu Zidao glanced at Yun Qi and continued: "Let the Imperial Kitchen send today's lunch to the Imperial Study, I will have my meal here today."

  "Eunuch outside the gate respectfully said: 'Yes! Your Majesty! I'll go right away!'"

  After finishing his instructions, Zhu Zidao continued to lean on the soft couch and read his book, as if Yun Qi didn't exist at all.

  After a while, the palace maid brought in the meal and watched as several eunuchs arranged the table, spreading out golden-colored placemats. The eunuch then ordered the dishes to be served. Ah! Good fellow, I saw over ten palace maids, each holding a food box, entering in an orderly line. Cloud Seven was certain that each food box contained one dish. This emperor was alone, did he need to eat so many dishes? Could he finish them all? However, it wasn't his place to worry about whether the emperor could finish or not. The emperor knew this himself, but his physical reaction couldn't be controlled. Watching as dish after dish of exquisite delicacies were brought out from the food boxes and placed on the table, Cloud Seven's stomach growled even more frequently and loudly.

  After dismissing the crowd, Zhu Zi walked alone to the table, where bowls and chopsticks were already neatly arranged. He casually rubbed his belly, picked up a piece of fish meat with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, chewed, and immediately exclaimed loudly: "The fish is tender and delicious, great!" Cloud Seven, who was standing beside him, swallowed hard, quickly looked away, and gazed elsewhere.

  Zhū Zǐ Dào looked at Yún Qī and didn't react, his playful heart surged, he picked up a piece of sugar vinegar spare ribs, put it in his mouth, chewed with relish, and deliberately smacked his lips, his mouth still savoring the aftertaste, praising: "The sourness and sweetness are just right, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, delicious! Delicious!"

  "Damn it!" Yun Qi cursed in his heart, suddenly thinking that he had become like this. In the past, when he was in the military, he had received training with a much higher intensity and cruelty than this. Who could resist the temptation of watching an educational video from a certain island country without being allowed to look up? Who could ignore a large sum of unclaimed cash placed in a deserted area? How many people could remain unmoved in front of a naked dancing girl? Every member of the Wolf Strike Special Forces, Yun Mo Yu, and the elite team known as Snow Wolf could do it. And so could Yun Qi in this world. It seemed that after coming to this world, he had become decadent and complacent. People's greatest fear was becoming complacent and turning from a lion into a sheep waiting to be slaughtered. At times, Yun Qi only remembered being a soldier in his past life but forgot that he was also Snow Wolf of the Wolf Strike Special Forces' third strike team, one of the strongest in the entire team.

  At this thought, Yun Qi no longer hung his head and stood still. He slowly lifted his head, puffed out his chest, and let his hands hang naturally by his sides, close to the seam of his pants. A special aura began to emanate from him. This aura was not the domineering air of an invincible warrior, nor did he have a tiger-like presence. It was an aura that only a proud soldier could possess, mixed with pride, confidence, courage, and fearlessness in the face of death. Only soldiers who had truly been on the front lines of battle in the Dragon Kingdom possessed this aura. At this moment, Yun Qi's eyes became crystal clear, yes, it was this feeling, this long-forgotten feeling that he repeated to himself over and over again.

  Zhu Zidao suddenly felt that Yun Qi seemed to have changed into a different person, and now looking at Yun Qi completely lacked the taste of a lowly book boy. This feeling was very peculiar, Zhu Zidao couldn't quite put it into words, he just suddenly felt that it shouldn't be like this towards him, he thought treating him like this was an insult to the other party, and also an insult to his own intelligence. Now he had a feeling, he thought the best way was to send Yun Qi onto the battlefield, let him experience countless battles, only then could he possibly erase that aura that made him involuntarily admire from the bottom of his heart.

  Zhu Zidao smiled and his tone also became softer. He opened his mouth to Yun Qi and said, "Come on, have a meal with me, I want to chat with you too."

  "Yes, Your Majesty!" Yun Qi's expression didn't reveal his inner emotions, he just smiled slightly and naturally walked up to sit in the seat one away from Zhu Zi Dao.

  He first poured a cup of wine for Zhu Zidao, then poured one for himself and drank it in one gulp: "Ah... wow! Good wine!" After finishing the cup, he refilled it again, but instead of drinking it, he picked up his chopsticks and picked up a piece of sugar vinegar ribs, putting it into his mouth. This whole process seemed to be done with ease and confidence. He was now certain that Zhu Zidao would not get angry or blame him, although he didn't know why, but he was certain of the soldier's keen intuition.

  Because Cloud Strife has regained his long-lost soul...

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