Chapter 18: The Shameless Corpse Baby

  After Xuan Yuan returned in the evening, I told him what Yang Chen said during the day.

  Xuanyuan Mu furrowed his brow slightly: "At the time of my death, he must have seen something, and at that time, he was still a child. I didn't expect him to see it. As for Xuanyuan Qi, why would he want to harm Princess Yulan? She doesn't pose any threat to him. However, some things can't be helped, in this 'conspiracy', anyone could be an enemy."

  Xuanyuan said that he wouldn't have to go back to the small building tomorrow night, I don't know what method he used to suppress the evil energy on the bamboo forest side, I asked him and he refused to say.

  The more he hides, the more I want to know. It seems that during the day, I need to go back to the small building. I hid my return to the small building and drove away the people around me, changed into men's clothes, and headed out of the city.

  When I arrived at the small building, seeing what was inside made my blood almost flow backwards. A tiny, human-flesh-made child stood there, about two feet long, without facial features or distinguishable limbs, yet it could move, run and speak.

  "I am Xiao Xuan Yuan Mu, you are my queen, Ling Xue!" That small, blurry flesh and blood child was standing right in front of me.

  "Do you know me?" I asked him, suppressing the discomfort in my stomach.

  "Of course, we're family."

  "What? What are you made of?" Although I already had an answer in my heart, I still wanted to confirm it.

  "The flesh on Da Huan Yuan's body, he cut it off piece by piece, and then sewed me up like you would stitch together a body. He even gave me a brush of his soul, and I was able to move, able to take care of the house. Da Huan Yuan said this is your home with him, and told me to guard it well."

  I rushed back to the palace, and the guards almost didn't recognize me in my men's clothes. All I could think of on the way was one scene: Xuan Yuan Mu Ye's body was mangled and incomplete under his luxurious clothes. He used this method to suppress the Black Bamboo Forest.

  Another Xuan Yuan at dusk, so small and ugly, like a rotten doll with threads exposed outside.

  I can imagine that when night falls, he sits in the small building, using a knife to cut off the "flesh" from his body bit by bit, and then uses silk thread to sew them together. Because he doesn't know how to do needlework, that's why the "flesh" doll is made so ugly.

  Will it hurt? How did he feel when he cut his own flesh? Was he hiding from me because he was afraid I would worry?

  "Xuanyuan! Xuanyuan!" I shouted loudly in the courtyard, with sweat on my face, but there was no sign of him in the room.

  "Your Highness, the king has not returned yet!" Zhang's nanny replied as she stepped forward.

  "Xuanyuan...!" I'm still calling out, isn't it that every time I call him, he'll appear? Why hasn't he appeared this time?

  "What's wrong?" Xuan Yuan finally returned, and he looked slightly surprised when he saw me dressed in men's clothing.

  "Let's go inside and talk!" I stepped forward, grabbed Xuan Yuan Mu, pulled him close to the room, closed the door, saw the hidden 'yin' soul Xuan Yuan Zi in the corner, pointed at the door and said: "You get out..."

  Xuanyuan Mu saw me getting angry and suddenly laughed, couldn't help but grab my shoulder, and seriously asked me: "What's wrong?"

  I didn't respond, seeing that little 'yin' soul leave the room afterwards, I went forward and directly used my hands to remove the clothes on Xuan Yuan's body.

  Xuanyuan's smile grew wider as he blinked at me, seemingly surprised that I was being so proactive.

  He finally opened his clothes, and inside was smooth all over. I couldn't believe it, so I directly took off all the clothes on his upper body and checked him from front to back and left to right. There wasn't a single scar on his body, let alone any signs of flesh being cut.

  "Ling Xue?" Xuan Yuan Mu reached out and lifted my chin, making me look at him, then he lowered his head and 'kissed' my 'lips'.

  I feel like there's something under him pressing against me, I feel like he's holding me tighter and tighter, as if he wants to melt me into his flesh and blood.

  "Hmm..." My struggles seemed insignificant under his power.

  "Xue, thank you!" Xuan Ye finally let go of me when I was about to suffocate.

  "What's there to thank?" I glared at him for a moment, my face flushing up.

  "Thanks for everything!" Xuan Yuan Mu bowed his head and kissed me again.

  "What are you hiding from me?" I thought of that blurry flesh in the small building, Xiao Lou's little secret.

  "I think it's unnecessary for you to worry about this small matter, I won't let their scheme succeed!" Xuan Yuan Mu said, a hint of anger flashing across his face.

  I heard this and felt like we two are talking past each other.

  "What I'm saying is that the small building you used to make a 'flesh' dwelling in." I feel like she's been so busy these past few days, not necessarily all for investigation, maybe also dealing with those people.

  "Have you gone home?" In Xuan Yuan's heart, that haunted house was his home, and also mine.

  "Ah, I see that little guy."

  "I'm fine now, I thought you were going to make a move on me, I was even wondering why you never did this kind of thing before, turns out it was for this."

  "Does it hurt a lot?" I asked in a low voice, with the image of him cutting flesh flashing through my mind.

  "I'm a dead man, how can I feel pain! Unless I was hurt by something like cinnabar, otherwise it doesn't matter!" Xuan Yuan Mu replied calmly.

  My heart tightened, no one knows my pain, what about his? I just didn't have loved ones since childhood, but he was actually dismembered and beheaded by the people closest to him. In comparison, he suffered more than me.

  I stretched out my hand and held him in my arms: "Xuanyuan Wu, let's worship heaven and earth!" Whether it was true or false, or whether he was using me, at this moment, I suddenly wanted to be with him.

  "Good!"

  Just as Xuan Yuan said "good" out loud, a hurried knocking sound came from outside.

  "Brother Huang, hurry up and open the 'door'!" It was the Fourth Prince Xuan Yuan Qi.

  I quickly helped Xuan Yuan Mu tidy up his clothes and opened the door to see Xuan Yuan Qi rushing over in a hurry.

  "What's wrong?" Xuan Yuan asked strangely.

  "The imperial edict has arrived!"

  "It's too late, your resistance over the past few days has been in vain!" Xuan Yuan Qi said only this one sentence before walking away.

  Xuanyuan furrowed his brow and looked at me in men's clothing, and couldn't help but push me into the house. "Change your clothes, we'll go receive the imperial edict together!"

  After receiving the imperial edict, I finally knew what Xuan Yuan had been busy with these past few days, and also understood why Xuan Qi said those words just now.

  The emperor originally wanted to take in a concubine for the Third Prince, and it was two at once. Xuan Yuan Mu used all methods to make the emperor retract his decree, but unexpectedly, the imperial edict still arrived at the Mu Wang Fu in the evening.

  Two concubines who were forced into the imperial harem are Mei Linghua, the eldest daughter of the Left Prime Minister's Manor, and Yang Qingdai, the adopted daughter of the National Preceptor. It is said that Yang Qingdai was a princess from Fengyu Country and had taken the National Preceptor Yang Xi as her godfather, thus becoming half a citizen of Tiancang Country.