Xiao Zhi fixed his gaze on the blood trail on Xiao Qian’s face: “Why has Imperial Brother come here?”
“Tsk,” Xiao Qian touched his brow. “Your little tiger bites.”
Xiao Zhi shot him a sideways glance. “?”
Xiao Qian gave a cheeky smile and sighed wistfully, “Oh dear, it’s the middle of the night. The Imperial Kitchen is closed. How are you going to feed your tiger?”
Lunatic. Xiao Zhi stomped heavily on Xiao Qian’s shadow and strode off.
He took a few steps, then stopped and looked back.
Xiao Qian seemed to sense it and raised a hand in a casual wave.
The moonlight stretched out two long shadows.
One person returned to the Prince Huai’s residence, dejected. The other walked toward the pinnacle of power.
.
Xiao Zhi descended into the secret prison and immediately sensed something was wrong. A familiar scent came from the corridor—identical to the one on his imperial brother.
“Did Prince Huai come by earlier?”
The guard at the door dropped to his knees with a thud: “Your Majesty…”
“Useless!”
The corridor twisted and turned. Xiao Zhi’s dragon robe brushed against the narrow walls, making a rustling sound.
The noise tugged at the nerves of the starving creature in the cell. Yun Yi lay limp, completely motionless. Many hours had passed. At this rate, she’d dry up into a shriveled corpse. The best way to reduce her body’s energy consumption was to sleep.
The guard opened the cell door. Xiao Zhi glanced in and saw the little thief sprawled across the lounging chair in a very awkward position—
No, on what was left of the lounging chair. She was using her back and calves to connect the two broken halves.
Xiao Zhi steadied himself. His favorite lounging chair from his youth had been subjected to some unknown external force and snapped in two.
Look at the mess she’d made!
This scene, combined with the injury on Xiao Qian’s forehead, made Xiao Zhi’s blood boil: “You can sleep?”
Yun Yi pried her eyes open. The dog emperor had returned. She shot to her feet.
Food. She couldn’t help getting excited.
“Did you bring the prison meal?”
The little thief’s movements were a bit too big. Her slender wrists were bound with hemp rope. When she stood up, she dragged the broken half of the chair along with her.
The guards gathered in front of the emperor to protect him.
Xiao Zhi flicked his hand. His wide sleeve stirred up a gust of wind, forcing the guards to retreat to the doorway.
Yun Yi lifted her chin. An unusual sparkle lit her pupils. Her dark eyes followed the emperor’s sleeve. She took a small step forward, dragging the broken chair half across the floor. Squeak, squeak…
“Is it in your sleeve?” Yun Yi thought of the steamed dumplings her father used to hide in his down jacket during the depths of winter.
Xiao Zhi looked puzzled: “?”
Seeing her eyes fixed unblinkingly on his sleeve, he took pity on her and lifted his left sleeve.
Empty.
Her eyes shifted to the other side.
Xiao Zhi flicked his right sleeve.
Also empty.
The breeze from his sleeves stirred up the musty smell of the dungeon.
Yun Yi was stunned. Her dry, cracked lips parted: “You didn’t bring any food?”
Xiao Zhi sneered: “In your dreams.” She’d hidden his imperial seal, refused to confess, and still wanted to eat?
Yun Yi’s eyelids shot up. For an emperor, his language was so crude?!
“Then why did you come back?”
“The imperial seal isn’t in the study. Where did you hide it?”
Yun Yi didn’t want to go over the same pointless argument again. She couldn’t prove her innocence, nor could she return his seal to him.
Now she was a prisoner. No food. No water. Her sense of smell was overwhelmed by the stench of mildew. Even if this was a dream, this was far too unlucky.
Suddenly, she spread her fingers and jabbed fiercely at the dog emperor’s chest. “Aren’t you the best at torture? Go ahead! Here—take my hands!”
The little thief was quite aggressive. Xiao Zhi frowned. “Fine. I’ll give you what you want. Guards—”
The bodyguard squad charged into the cell to protect His Majesty!
The prisoner lost control and lunged at him like a hurricane.
Xiao Zhi was swept away by her.
The wind howled into the ancestral hall. The villager in charge of cleaning had just put out a fresh new cushion when—plop—something landed at his feet.
The villager quickly picked it up.
In one corner of the sky, dark clouds scudded past. A rainstorm was bearing down.
The villager coaxed the ancestral tablet with many soothing words: “Ancestor! This is the second time you’ve fallen today. Earlier you hit that expert’s daughter on the head. It made the expert so angry he tried to give the village chief superglue to stick you back together.”
The tablet was wiped clean. Amid the incense smoke, the Xiao ancestors quietly gazed upon this land.
“What expert? He’s no expert—he’s a wrecking ball! He wants to tear down our village!” The villager bowed to Xiao Zhi’s tablet. “Ancestor, you must protect the Xiao clan and keep them safe. May Xiao Family Village stand strong forever.”
Yun Yi was woken up by the sound of windshield wipers.
“Dad?”
“You’re awake?” The driver was Xiao Liu, a graduate student under Yun Guoqiang. “Professor Yun and Professor Yu went back to the research institute for an emergency meeting. There’s been a major archaeological discovery at Xiao Family Village.”
“Oh…” Yun Yi looked dazedly at her hands.
Ten fingers, each one distinct. No finger presses. No torture.
In her dream, she had almost ended up like Ziwei.
A nightmare. A damned nightmare. She’d watched My Fair Princess way too many times.
Xiao Liu pulled the car into the Yun family’s underground garage. “I’ll be going now.”
Yun Yi took the car keys. “My dad’s not coming back?”
Xiao Liu gave a simple, honest smile. “Professor Yun is completely absorbed by that gold foil mask. He’s been staying at the institute for the past few days.”
“…Alright.” This was exactly why her mother had divorced her father. Who would want to live with an archaeology fanatic who was never home?
“I’ll go get Professor Yun’s suitcase.” Xiao Liu walked to the trunk. He pressed the release button with both hands, and the trunk slowly rose.
Yun Yi suddenly remembered something. She pressed the trunk lock button on the key fob. “Brother Xiao Liu, I bought new clothes for my dad. Let me go inside and get them. Wait for me a moment.”
With that, she rushed off in a flurry.
Xiao Liu stood in the garage and texted his girlfriend.
【Babe, I’ve been working like a construction worker on-site, and now I’m a chauffeur and a mover. This life is impossible. Our stingy advisor only pays this much.】
His girlfriend replied instantly.
【My darling is biding his time. Learn more grave-robbing techniques from Professor Yun, and one day our ‘Ping Xie Power Couple’ will go dig up Qin Shi Huang’s tomb!】
The graduate student’s name was Liu Ping. His girlfriend’s surname was Xie. Together, they had formed a couple duo imitating the “Ping Xie” (Wu Xie & Zhang Qiling) pairing from The Lost Tomb.
To comfort her boyfriend’s wounded soul, his girlfriend dropped a “bomb” in their WeChat chat, vehemently condemning Yun Guoqiang’s exploitation of his graduate students.
Bang.
Xiao Liu’s gaze lifted an inch and landed on the trunk.
Bang. A second “bomb.” The WeChat chat page was erupting with heated battle.
Xiao Liu furiously typed back to his girlfriend.
Yun Yi emerged pushing a brand-new suitcase covered with cute stickers of clouds, little trees, and other adorable designs. “Thanks, Brother Xiao Liu. Give this sticker to Sister Xiao Xie.”
Xiao Liu took it delightedly. His girlfriend was a fan of Yun Yi’s and would avidly study her study videos.
The sticker was a new design by Yun Yi. She winked. “It’s a sample. Not released yet.”
Xiao Liu: “I know! My girlfriend won’t post it online!”
The DiDi he had called pulled up at the villa gate. Thud. The sound of Xiao Liu closing the car door.
Yun Yi pressed a button. The automatic garage door slowly closed.
Thump. Thump.
A continuous, unbroken sound, jarringly loud in the enclosed garage.
It came from the trunk—a muffled thumping.
Yun Yi frowned suspiciously. The trunk was her father’s old suitcase, filled entirely with whatever dirty clothes didn’t smell bad enough to bother wearing.
Every time he came home, Yun Yi would unpack his suitcase for him and secretly throw away quite a few tattered, worn-out items.
Here was a respected expert (except by Xiao Family Village) living like a homeless man.
THUMP!
That same sensation of being instantly pulled into a dream washed over her again.
Yun Yi mumbled groggily, “It’s not a zongzi, is it?”
Her father worked in archaeology. Dealing with thousand-year-old dried corpses was a regular occurrence. Growing up surrounded by that, Yun Yi had developed considerable courage.
She grabbed the car keys and fumbled around the garage corner for a suitable tool.
Just as she was about to press the trunk release button, a muffled thud came from inside, and the trunk lid bulged upward.
Like a sharpened pyramid.
“…”
The trunk slowly rose.
A hand emerged from inside.
Yun Yi’s eyelid twitched. She nearly screamed. Fragments of chaotic scenes flashed through her mind: Yun Guoqiang leading a group of people in a standoff against the villagers of Xiao Family Village.
Had her father killed someone? Hidden a body?
She groped for the villa’s alarm system and pressed it hard.
The sight before her was too horrifying.
The “corpse” curled up in the trunk wasn’t dead. It slowly sat up.
Bang.
A suitcase flew out of the car.
It hit the ground and burst apart. Red light flashed from within—her father Yun Guoqiang’s red long underwear, because it was his zodiac year.
Bright red.
Yun Yi found herself staring into a pair of eyes that had survived mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Murderousness. Impatience. Both came rushing at her.
The last image Xiao Zhi had before losing consciousness was a pair of soft, boneless hands pressing against his chest.
For a moment, he had thought: Forget torture. Take a conciliatory approach. Give the prisoner some food and drink, keep her alive, then interrogate her properly.
When he opened his eyes again, the little thief had locked him inside a tiny, confined chamber.
He hunched over, running his fingers along the narrow walls.
Not a single crack to be found. It felt like a small coffin.
Something small dug into his leg—an even smaller coffin, as if meant for an infant not yet a month old.
His expression darkened. He must have fallen victim to the little thief’s sorcery.
Clunk. The coffin jolted. The curled-up emperor jolted along with it.
He was in a carriage.
The little thief had secretly smuggled him out of the palace.
He had underestimated her. Not only had she stolen the imperial seal, but she had also taken the Son of Heaven hostage.
Xiao Zhi couldn’t help but smile bitterly: This was his first time being emperor. He had no experience.
Even if he was going to die, he was determined to take a few rebels down with him.
With that thought in mind, Xiao Zhi jumped out of the coffin—and saw the little thief standing boldly not far away.
Did she think the emperor was a vegetarian?
Rage shot straight to the top of his skull. Xiao Zhi ripped off the trunk lid.
“You!” Yun Yi was so furious she didn’t know up from down. “My Porsche!”
The adult gift Yun Guoqiang and Cheng Su had given their daughter was this Panamera.
Divorced but not separated from their love—their love for their daughter was doubled.
Yun Yi cherished it dearly. The car had never been in a single accident.
The wretched emperor wouldn’t leave her alone. He had chased her all the way from her dream, and now, right from the start, he had smashed her Porsche!
He was living out some power-fantasy novel plot.
What about her?! A modern person fighting an ancient zongzi?
Yun Yi blindly grabbed a Christmas tree in the corner. Christmas was still two months away—she had bought it before the prices went up.
At the top of the Christmas tree was a cross-shaped star.
Yun Yi pointed the cross end at Xiao Zhi: “Evil spirit, begone! God, amen!”
That was how you fought zombies in vampire movies.
Xiao Zhi took a step forward: “Presumptuous! Where have you brought me?!”
He was dressed in a black dragon robe. His hair was disheveled. One sleeve was torn and hung limply at his side.
He looked utterly disheveled, yet from the depths of his eyes surged a madness Yun Yi had never seen before.
She was about to go mad herself.
Ding-dong.
The villa doorbell rang.
The alarm system had brought a security guard on patrol: “Hello? Is everything okay?”
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