After Being Mistakenly Taken for a Fellow Traveler by Emperor Long Aotian - Chapter 120

“Actually…” Zhou Xun only heard Rong Fan’s voice after a long while. Rong Fan spoke with particular care, as if biting his lip, “I just want to take you to a place… Would you be willing to come with me to see it?”

To see it?

Zhou Xun glanced back at the deserted street and then at the guards from the prince’s mansion on either side, holding swords. He fluttered his eyelashes and said, “Do I even have the right to refuse?”

Rong Fan was overjoyed to hear this. He said, “I just want to take you to see it… Really just to see it. Don’t worry, I will make sure to bring you back. I won’t do anything to you.”

Zhou Xun softly replied with an “Mm” and nodded.

He got into the carriage with Rong Fan, and before boarding, discreetly unfastened the tassel from his waist and threw it into a inconspicuous corner. The emperor had said he would wait at Zhou Xun’s home after the court session. When he realized Zhou Xun had not returned for a long time, he would surely come looking for him.

As for Rong Fan… He did not seem to have any intention of harming him, so for now, this was the best compromise.

The carriage moved quietly through the capital. Rong Fan sat opposite Zhou Xun, neither making any physical contact nor moving closer. He only carefully glanced at him from time to time. Neither of them spoke. Zhou Xun quietly noted the route of the carriage.

The carriage traveled through the city streets and alleys, heading south and west… past Hongmei Alley… then to Yanyun Alley… Near Yanyun Alley, the carriage stopped.

Good, since it’s still within the capital, there should be a way to escape. Seeing the carriage stop, Rong Fan was the first to get out. He extended his hand to Zhou Xun, saying, “The road is slippery, hold onto me…”

Zhou Xun did not take his hand. He jumped down from the carriage himself.

Rong Fan’s hand awkwardly remained in the air. Before he could say anything, he had to withdraw his hand, saying, “…Alright.”

That “alright” had no response, and it was unclear who he thought he was saying it to.

“This is the southwestern corner of the city, here is a tall clock tower with a river beneath it. The river flows from outside the city and continues into the city. When I was young, I liked to come here. I liked to sit in the clock tower, hug my knees, and look at the capital… alone. No one would notice me from the clock tower, and only then did I feel that there was a place in this world that belonged to me.”

Rong Fan chattered on, looking at the river and the distant clock tower with a look of almost yearning. “Do you know? Actually, I have very little. The palace belongs to Rong Xuan, the capital belongs to Rong Xuan, the praise from the emperor and the admiration of the court officials also belong to Rong Xuan. Only here do I feel that something belongs to me… Would you come with me…”

He spoke with a strange, almost sharing tone. Zhou Xun understood the implication clearly—Prince Rong Fan wanted to share this clock tower with him, a place from his childhood that he wished to show to Zhou Xun. He wanted Zhou Xun to accompany him to see it.

The emperor had not arrived yet. And Prince Rong Fan inexplicably began telling him his story, with an undertone of even “making amends.”

—Is he trying to make amends? Why would he want to make amends with him? What happened?

The very idea of making amends was strange. Even stranger was the tone of his voice, which seemed apologetic, as if he knew he had done wrong… An attitude Zhou Xun had never encountered before, an apologetic attitude.

Zhou Xun shook his head.

“…I know you won’t forgive me.” Rong Fan seemed dazed, turning to look at the clock tower in the dusk, speaking in a dreamlike tone, “If I had known back then…”

“The one who should be here with the prince is not me, but Zhou Cai,” Zhou Xun said sarcastically. “Why does the prince care so much about a ‘counterfeit’? Are you trying to make a fool of me with these meaningless words?”

“…No, of course not Zhou Cai.” Rong Fan remained lost in his dreamlike imagination, “From the beginning, the ones who should have been here are you and me.”

—You and me?

Zhou Xun was startled. This was the first time today that he felt something other than disgust and indifference—surprise. He looked at Rong Fan’s back beneath the clock tower, remained silent for a long time, and then said, “Why should it be you and me?”

He vaguely felt that he had caught a glimpse of the source of Rong Fan’s odd behavior. And realized that this strange statement seemed like a sharp thorn or a knife… severing the past self and a certain fate.

“Because…” He heard Rong Fan suddenly falter, and after a long while, cautiously spoke, “Zhou Xun, tell me, if we had met in Jiangzhou back then, what would have happened?”

Zhou Xun still did not understand what he was saying. But he smelled a trace of blood—a scent that made his teeth clench, a scent that would keep him awake until he knew the truth. It was like the whisper of a devil, telling him to come and listen… all the truths he wanted to know were here. For that scent, his eyes darkened, and he suppressed his sarcasm and all his revulsion, and quietly said, “What would have happened? I don’t know. At least, I wouldn’t have just seen my name on the list today.”

At that moment, he heard Rong Fan’s breathing as if it were choked—like a soldier on the battlefield with a broken leg, trying to stifle his breath to endure the pain. After a long time, Rong Fan said, “Yes, you should have participated in the spring examination three years ago. I… I should have found a true confidant long ago. I should have met you in Jiangzhou. We would have become good friends. We are so alike, both having a brother a thousand times better than ourselves… And I would have helped you surpass Zhou Cai, seeing you as if I were looking at myself…”

“…What nonsense are you talking?!” Zhou Xun felt a more intense scent of blood in his throat. “What are you saying?! Why are you saying this?!”

Rong Fan was startled by his voice, as if waking from a dream. Zhou Xun’s expression was so terrifying that Rong Fan took a step back, stammering, “I…,” “Tell me!” Zhou Xun demanded, stepping towards Rong Fan. “Tell me!!”

Something fell from Rong Fan’s body… It was an old, faded flower note. Zhou Xun bent down and picked up the note before Rong Fan could crouch down.

The note was very light, almost disintegrating after many years and repeated handling. But Zhou Xun picked it up as if it were the weight of the entire world.

When he saw the writing on the note, a world suddenly opened up to him.

He had never imagined he could be so calm. His teeth did not tremble, and his bones did not shake. Zhou Xun was so smart—how could he not see the story hidden behind this clearly treasured note?

This note… If it were left by chance, how could it be so treasured? And Rong Fan’s strangeness today…

He heard the sound of the world slowly sinking around him, and his soul slowly rising. His voice floated in the air like a feather:

“…What is this?”

**”I…”** He heard Rong Fan’s voice, **”Zhou Xun, I… we took the wrong path.”**

**”…”**

**”Back in Jiangzhou, the young master of the Zhou family, I thought, I thought that… Why didn’t I realize at that time that person was you?”**

**”…”**

**”I should have found you. We would have been friends. I would have taken you out of the Zhou family, brought you to the capital, and found the best teachers for you. You are not like Zhou Cai; we would have been friends. And you would be the person I idealized. It’s fine if you became the top scholar, if not, I would have kept you in the prince’s mansion… finding the best things in the world for you, not just a few baskets of peaches… Zhou Cai was not that person after all. He only tells me that family pressure makes him need my help. But you are different, you are like the person in the flower note, we would understand each other, and you would empathize with me, and I would help you…” Rong Fan rambled, “Why did it turn out this way?”**

He heard Rong Fan speaking about an illusion—a young man who would smile at him, heal his heart’s scars, sympathize with him, and walk with him freely on the road.

He said he missed out on him—missed out on a life with that person. For so many years, he had been completely unaware…

Zhou Xun smiled.

He smiled beautifully, beautifully. He softly said, **”Let’s go up to the clock tower and have a look.”**

**”The clock tower… alright!”** Rong Fan, who had been flustered, seemed to grasp his lifeline at this moment, showing a look of being saved. **”Alright! Let’s go up and see, see…”**

Zhou Xun followed him step by step up the stairs.

He recalled a foreign myth he had once heard—a man who had committed many sins fell into hell after death. All the sinners in hell were crying, and the only salvation extended to him was a spider’s thread—thread from a spider he had once saved.

**”…Here is the top of the clock tower,”** he heard Rong Fan’s voice, carefully and with an ingratiating tone, **”When I was young, I always thought that when I found someone I liked, I would bring them here. We would stand here and look at the capital—the scenery of this capital, something I knew only, something not shared with my brother.”**

The sinner climbed up the spider’s thread. It was a thin and long thread, his only salvation. But behind him, countless sinners climbed the thread too, dragging him and the thread down—

**”…We will look at the twilight together, and I will tell them many things from my childhood. We will stand here like this. I will look at the capital, and they will look at my back…”**

Zhou Xun saw Rong Fan’s back.

The spider’s thread was about to break. He wanted to leave this hell, but how could those other sinners climb the thread and leave with him?

So the spider’s thread swayed in the air… swayed… and was about to break…

**”…I didn’t expect that we would waste so many years because of such a matter, such a misunderstanding, and our lives would be greatly changed.”**

**”Yes.”** Zhou Xun said gently, **”I didn’t expect it either. Just this matter, just this thing… shattered my entire life.”**

The sinner took one last look at the direction of heaven. There, was the only spider willing to save him. The sinner extended his legs, kicked off all the other sinners, and then…

He saw his own hand—so pale, so slender, a hand meant for holding a pen. A hand that his mother, Lin Yan, once said could write magnificent works.

This was a hand meant for holding a pen.

He placed that hand against Rong Fan’s back, who was still chattering and looking out at the clock tower.

The spider’s thread snapped.

With just a gentle push, this person would disappear from this world forever. This person who had destroyed his life for such a ridiculous reason, leaving so many scars, and was still talking inanely about the imagined, sympathetic youth…

Just a gentle push. That person was still looking at the city under the twilight. It was truly laughable, wasn’t it? For such a trivial and laughable reason, to let him…

And this man was still unaware of his actions! Was he still immersed in his fantasies? Still dreaming of speaking everything out and making amends… Making amends?

His palm pressed against Rong Fan’s back.

**“Snap.”**

He heard the sound of the thread breaking—not the spider’s thread, but the bowstring! Something shot toward their direction!

It was an arrow!

The arrow cut through the air, like an unstoppable army, a sharp blade, or something that could pierce fate, slicing through the twilight and heading straight for the clock tower!

It was as swift as lightning, as fast as wind! As if nothing in this world could be faster, it could pierce through everything… take everything away!

Zhou Xun saw the blood splattering into the sky and Rong Fan falling beside him. The arrow had pierced through Rong Fan’s body with tremendous force, making him fall backward!

At that moment, the sounds of screaming, blood splattering, and Rong Fan’s heavy fall were all distant, close, and distant again. Zhou Xun stood there, watching his hand brush against fate, as Rong Fan screamed in agony—soon followed by one arrow, then another, the first arrow bringing him down, the second and third arrows accurately hitting his knees as he fell. The three arrows were incredibly precise, not a single one wounding Zhou Xun who was close by.

The sharp wind from the arrows swept Zhou Xun’s long hair—his black hair fluttering in the wind, revealing his dark eyes. His sleeves also fluttered in the air.

From thirty yards away, as his hair flew, he saw the figure on the distant clock tower.

That person, holding a bow, maintaining the pose of drawing the bowstring, had no warmth in their eyes.

Zhou Xun looked down at his hand, still in the position of pushing that person off. Anyone seeing his current actions would not misunderstand that he originally intended to push someone off.

He thought, the Emperor with the bow saw.