After Being Mistakenly Taken for a Fellow Traveler by Emperor Long Aotian - Chapter 119

A light rain fell between the two of them. They looked at each other across the stone-paved street, with raindrops splashing on the ground. Zhou Xun paused for a long time before speaking: “Long time no see.”

Yan Jia said nothing and did not smile. He seemed to have aged many years overnight, his expression calm and indifferent. Zhou Xun knew that Yan Jia had been taken around from place to place by his father recently. Now, appearing on the list with Zhou Xun and being overshadowed by him might be a humiliation for him.

But their paths were different. One was the son of the Yan family, the other the enemy of the Zhou family. From their respective identities, they were fundamentally opposed. Zhou Xun thought that the ancients who wrote “道不同不相为谋” (Different paths do not conspire) were really remarkable. From the beginning, their paths had diverged. What seemed like traveling together was merely a brief encounter at a crossroads. After this segment, they would become strangers again, even if they met again, it would not be as old acquaintances but as enemies.

“Zhou Cai will return to the capital to report on his duties in a few days. For the past six months, he has been in Yunzhou, assisting Magistrate Ma Yi. Ma Yi has done well in forest management, but his mobility is limited. So Zhou Cai will return to report on his behalf,” Yan Jia said. “The day he returns will also be the day my sister marries him.”

He spoke very plainly but kept his eyes fixed on Zhou Xun, as if trying to see even the slightest hint of gloating on his face.

However, after a long while, Zhou Xun only said one sentence.

He said: “Is your sister happy?”

“Whether she is happy or not, what does it matter? My sister is supposed to marry him. That’s her fate,” Yan Jia said quietly, as if he had anticipated Zhou Xun would ask this question. “Since it’s fate, what difference does it make if she is happy or not?”

“And you, are you happy?”

The question was like a pebble thrown into a lake. Yan Jia’s eyelashes fluttered, and his demeanor became more guarded: “What are you trying to say?”

“If you were happy, you wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to come here and say this to me. What are you expecting, Yan Jia? You disclosed Zhou Cai’s upcoming return to me, knowing the entanglement between him and me… What are you hoping I will do?” Zhou Xun said.

His words seemed to lay bare Yan Jia’s concealed thoughts, hidden under a pretense of reproach. Yan Jia took a few steps back, shocked by his perceptiveness and greatly wary of him: “I didn’t…”

“I just remembered you from a year ago. A year ago, in the Ink Garden, you went alone to find a book for your sister who was depressed over her marriage. For that book, you traveled a long distance alone. Back then, you were not like now, frequently attending high society events with your father. You were running on the road, with your boots covered not in perfume but in mud. Back then, you knew your sister was unwilling, and you even told your revered father that you didn’t want your sister to marry. I remember that young man, even though he was just an ordinary person at that time, not a top scholar or a champion. And you, Yan Jia,” Zhou Xun said淡淡ly (dàn dànly), “Do you still dream of him?”

“What are you trying to say? Are you trying to provoke discord between me and my father?!” Yan Jia said sharply. He himself did not know whether his sharpness was due to anger or… fear.

“You have achieved success now, Yan Jia. I once knew a young man who was in a similar situation as you were then. The difference was that while you were facing your father, he was facing a family. I know that young man eventually succeeded and seemed to be able to return home in glory, but the only thing he could do was to dig up his mother’s grave with his own hands, instead of embracing her. He was just an ordinary person at that time, but you, Yan Jia, are different now.” Zhou Xun said, “You didn’t have any achievements before, and no one would listen to you. You had to keep running and searching for that book on that street. But now, you’re different.”

“What exactly…” Yan Jia’s voice trembled slightly, “What exactly do you want…”

Zhou Xun looked up at him again, his eyes very dark, as if they could see into a person’s innermost depths. He said softly: “See you at the palace examination.”

“See you… at the palace examination.”

Zhou Xun left.

As he turned to walk away, he heard the sound of an umbrella falling behind him, but he did not look back. Xiao Duo, following him, said quietly: “Master…”

“What’s wrong?”

“You seemed…”

Like a devil who bewitched people’s hearts. Xiao Duo silently swallowed the rest of the sentence.

Zhou Xun smiled, as if he knew what Xiao Duo was about to say but did not take it to heart. He said: “Let’s hurry back to the residence.”

“To the residence?”

“Someone should be waiting at the residence by now,” Zhou Xun answered as he took a less-traveled path due to the crowd. “We need to go back…”

“Zhou Xun.”

The voice was sharp and thunderous!

Xiao Duo and the guards behind Zhou Xun cried out in pain, as if they had been knocked down and quickly dragged away with their mouths covered. Zhou Xun, without thinking, glanced behind him—he had already moved far from the crowded area!

Even if he shouted for help now, it would be hard to be heard!

With no hope of rescue and no chance of escape, Zhou Xun remained still. He lowered his head, looking at the ground and said: “I wonder what brings the prince to find me today.”

“… Zhou Xun.”

He didn’t hear Rong Fan’s reply for a long time. The person did not answer his question but gently called his name again, as if summoning some gentle illusion.

Zhou Xun then looked up. Standing before him was indeed Rong Fan, who should have been under imperial confinement, along with his guards. The guards, standing at a distance, were holding Zhou Xun’s own attendants, seemingly to create a space between them.

Zhou Xun calculated Rong Fan’s purpose for coming here—revenge on him? Revenge on the emperor? Or both? Today was the day of the spring examination results, and Rong Fan must have known that Zhou Xun would be here, so he likely lay in wait nearby. Moreover, he surely knew that today was the happiest day for Zhou Xun. Falling from the sky to the ground—if it were him, he would also seek to exact revenge on those he wished to.

Zhou Xun tensed his shoulders and warily looked at the man he had not seen for nearly a year. But what he did not expect was…

What he saw was not a face filled with malice and hatred. Instead, Rong Fan’s expression was surprisingly dazed.

Rong Fan looked at him as if he were a fleeting shadow that would soon dissipate. For a moment, Zhou Xun felt that Rong Fan was not looking at him but rather through him, seeing a life and a time he might have had.

He did not know what Rong Fan was thinking. But he could sense that… what Rong Fan saw through him was something extremely beautiful. Something extremely happy, extremely good, something once… within easy reach.

The expression on Rong Fan’s face was truly strange. This man had always looked at him with condescension and arrogance. He always saw himself as an exalted noble while feeling he was unrecognized. Whenever Rong Fan looked at Zhou Xun, there was always an unacknowledged pity and condescension, even when he was dragged out of the palace and confined in the royal mansion, Rong Fan’s eyes had only held hatred, confusion, and the anger of betrayal…

When had Zhou Xun ever seen this person look at him with such an odd expression?

“Are you looking for my brother, Zhou Cai?” Zhou Xun guessed a possibility and said coldly. “The Zhou residence is empty now. Zhou Cai is at the border in Yunzhou. There’s no need for you to look for me.”

“… I’m not here to find him.” He heard Rong Fan answer, but the response made him even more uneasy—Rong Fan’s voice did not sound like he was speaking to him but rather to some fantasy. “I’m here to find you… Zhou Xun.”

Not to find him, but to find you… In such an alley, Rong Fan speaking in such a manner was truly terrifying. He stood in this rainy early spring alley, as if he had stepped onto a stage of his own drama. On that stage, it seemed that peach blossoms were in full bloom. And there, under the peach blossoms, Rong Fan looked at nineteen-year-old Zhou Xun and vaguely said: “I’m not here to find him, never was… I’m here to find you, Zhou Xun.”

Such a scene was even more terrifying than any revenge scenario Zhou Xun had imagined—this terror came from the imperceptible, from the unknowable. He subtly took a step back and said hoarsely: “What do you want?”

“……I had so many opportunities. You wrote so many things, how did I not notice?” Rong Fan looked at him, as if still mumbling to himself in a dream. “You could participate in the imperial examinations, you could become a top scholar or a flower champion. But back then, you lived in my mansion. You knew nothing, had seen nothing, could smile at everything… At any moment, I could have reached out… Why didn’t I notice?”

“What are you talking about?!” Zhou Xun was truly terrified now. He turned around urgently, hoping to see an escape route, but Rong Fan grabbed his arm.

The moment Rong Fan grabbed his arm, Zhou Xun shouted: “Let go of me!”

“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid…” Rong Fan seemed to awaken from a dream, frightened and releasing his grip. “I won’t do anything to you, don’t be afraid, okay?”

Zhou Xun’s trembling shoulders finally stopped, and he took a deep breath. He knew it was difficult to escape from here at the moment, but fortunately, Rong Fan seemed only to appear crazy and did not seem to intend to harm him.

He could only calmly ask: “What do you want?”

What do I want…

Rong Fan was momentarily at a loss for words.

He had meticulously planned this escape from the royal mansion for an entire month. With a few attendants, he had quietly waited in this deserted alley for a long time, until he saw Zhou Xun approaching.

He had waited a very long time for this moment. Along the way, he had thought about what he would say to Zhou Xun.

What should I say?

He crouched here, watching Zhou Xun come in. Zhou Xun was not accompanied by Rong Xuan, which was good. He feared that seeing this scene might drive him mad.

But when he finally stood before Zhou Xun, he found… he couldn’t say a single word.

**Author’s Note:** Prince: Nostalgic for the gentle old shadows (Zhou Xun: Doesn’t exist), fantasizing about holding Zhou Xun’s hand under the peach trees. Zhou Xun: Airplane ears and panting. Emperor: Woof woof woof!! (Bullying my wife behind my back!!)