"No Wedding Unless Enemies and Lovers" 《不是冤家不拜堂》Chapter 96

 The third prince remained where he was frowning, the more he thought about it the more he felt something was wrong, was that man in the devil mask actually his second brother? He knew him well enough to effortlessly break doctor Li's traps.

But that day he personally saw his second brother succumb to poison, falling over the cliff edge, that poison was potent, in twelve hours it could seep to the bottom of someone's heart with no cure, a person who was poisoned and it was incurable, how could he live for so long?

The third prince was caught in his own thoughts, so much so that he didn't notice he had been surrounded.

Finally it was his attendants who called his attention, that's when he came back to his senses, he saw shining cold arrowheads aimed at him, these archers were well trained, noiselessly approached him, and behind the bows and arrows stood a tall and straight figure, a man wearing white, in the darkness only that little bit of white could be seen, it was very striking.

The third prince squinted his eyes, asking: "You are Prince Chen, Xiao Yi Chen?!"

Over these years he had only heard the name Xiao Yi Chen but never met the person, he had been angered because of that man in the mask just now, thinking that he was prince Chen.

The man in white nodded, "I am he, I heard your majesty kidnapped my princess, this prince has come especially to take back the princess, I wonder where my princess is?"

The third prince's lips twitched, he had waited half a day for Xiao Yi Chen and now a "Cheng Yaojin" had arrived,1 the person had just been taken anyway, and only then did Xiao Yi Chen come demanding the person from him, he was holding back his anger, wishing that person who had acted against him would be caught and die from a thousand cuts, where did he have the energy to waste on Xiao Yi Chen.

Hold on, this was such a coincident, could Xiao Yi Chen have planned this?

The third prince's eyes moved around, he smiled saying: "This prince...I don't know what you're saying, what princess, I only have trees and mountains here, no princess of yours, maybe you found the wrong person?"

Xiao Yi Chen raised his hand, the sound of the bowstrings being tightly drawn were very piercing, a disdainful smile appeared on Xiao Yi Chen's lips, "If you don't want to become a hedgehog, reply honestly, this prince's patience is limited."

His assertive words were carried by the wind, the third prince gritted his teeth, it really was a terrible feeling being controlled by someone.

The atmosphere turned grave momentarily, Xiao Yi Chen and the third prince looked at each other, silently declaring war.

Despite being surrounded by enemies on all sides, the third prince still looked very relaxed, his attendants surrounded him acting as human shields.

The third prince laughed saying: "If I said, your princess has eloped with another man, would you believe me?"

Xiao Yi Chen took the bow and arrow from the archer next to him, pulling the bow to take aim at the third prince, he smiled, "I don't believe you." As soon as he spoke, his hand loosened, the arrow flew from the bow.

The third prince was stunned for a split second, prince Chen really had no patience, he stamped his foot, the ground beneath him suddenly collapsed, he and his attendants completely disappeared from where they stood.

Xiao Yi Chen's arrow landed on the ground, that mechanism had already closed at a high speed.

Xiao Yi Chen said: "There's actually a secret passage underground, dig down three feet to find the princess."

"Yes." The bodyguards around him replied, immediately splitting up to look for the mechanism to enter.

Walking down the mountain in moonlight was very tricky, Ru Ge pulled Ji Ling Xue along running frantically, his complexion turned more and more pale, more fine sweat appeared on his forehead, his breathing also turned deeper.

Ji Ling Xue asked: "Are you alright?"

Just now that short arrow had brushed passed his sleeve, cutting a long thin line of blood.

Under the devil mask, Ru Ge's deathly pale complexion was as white as snow, he forced a smile shaking his head, of course he wasn't feeling well, the arm that had been scraped by the arrow had already turned numb.

Seeing the man in the mask didn't reply, Ji Ling Xue torn open his sleeve to see, the sky was very dark, but it reflected on the smooth flesh of the arm, a faint smell of blood couldn't be ignored.

Ji Ling Xue said: "You're injured!" 

The next moment, the man in the mask swayed, leaning on a tree, his eyes weakly looking at Ji Ling Xue, he bitterly laughed: "They're going to catch up soon, follow this road down the mountain, the prince's people are already waiting for you at the bottom of the mountain, I'll lure them away."

Ji Ling Xue frowned, "You're injured, it's very dangerous if they catch you, we have to go together."

They had escaped twice from the perverted third prince's traps, if they were caught, that third prince would fly into a rage from the humiliation, their ends would be very miserable.

Ru Ge said: "Us two together would have more chance of being caught, I know martial arts, it's easier for me to escape, you would only drag me down."

Ji Ling Xue's lips twitched, she was called a deadweight, she wasn't happy at all, if she hadn't thrown that powder just now, they would still be fighting bitterly with that perverted third prince!

Today's outing had been sudden, she hadn't brought any poisons with her, what she had just thrown was wood shavings grinded into powder.

Recalling the reason why she was kidnapped today, Ji Ling Xue took note in her heart, she definitely will never go anywhere with Xiao Yi Chen again.

Ru Ge placed his hand on Ji Ling Xue's shoulder, smiling at her, "Once you escape, can't you come back to save me?"

Ji Ling Xue firmly nodded fixing her eyes to his, before they parted, Ji Ling Xue helped Ru Ge bandage his wound, even though she didn't know what poison had been on the arrow, Ji Ling Xue fished out a hundred poison pill from her person  and gave it to him to eat, only then did she run down the mountain without turning around.

Maybe it was because Ru Ge had lured the third prince's men away, she was able to reach the bottom of the mountain without coming across anyone, and she still had time to breath, the next moment her foot became unsteady, a net completely enveloped her.

Ji Ling Xue rolled her eyes to the sky, countless curses ran through her mind.

A torch light appeared, breaking through the darkness, and allowed Ji Ling Xue to gradually see what was going on.

Chi Feng had just raised the torch to her face, he was very startled.

Ji Ling Xue said: "Chi Feng, you treat this princess in this way, it seems your salary has been paid in vain these few years, do you want this princess to get the prince to change professions to a butcher?"

Salary given in vain? Because a thankless wretch has been raised.

Chi Feng hurriedly waved his hands to show loyalty, "Princess, you've mistaken...I am carrying out orders..."

He really was carrying out orders, capturing the kidnappers hiding on the mountain, he didn't expect at all the princess would be caught in his trap.

The first thing the Ji Ling Xue said when she left the net was: "Where is the prince?"

Chi Feng passed a pouch of water over to Ji Ling Xue to curry favour, then he said: "Prince took a group of people up the mountain to negotiate, we didn't think the princess would come back by herself."

Ji Ling Xue sighed, "There was a little incident, how many people did you bring, come with me to rescue someone."

Chi Feng awkwardly put up two fingers, the emperor was keeping a close watch on the prince's residence, how did he dare to bring a lot of men to parade about ostentatiously.

Ji Ling Xue frowned: "Twe...twenty..." This number couldn't even compare to the bodyguards of the third prince...

Ji Ling Xue began to question Xiao Yi Chen's sincerity when he came to rescue her, she had thought even if Xiao Yi Chen had not brought a thousand men, he would have brought several hundred, at least enough to capture that perverted third prince alive, she never imagined he would bring so little men, how did it look like he was here to rescue someone.

Chi Feng proudly said: "These twenty people are personally trained by the prince, one can fight against ten."

Ji Ling Xue didn't believe in these boastful words, "Do you know who kidnapped this princess?"

Chi Feng said: "I know, people from Dayan right, prince and Dayan have fought for so many years, the Dayans actively plotted on infiltrating the capital to take revenge."

However there was someone behind them, otherwise how could they have been active in the capital for so long without anyone noticing.

Ji Ling Xue said: "Since you know, why did you only bring twenty men, it's not even enough to cast a net."

Chi Feng helplessly said: "This last few years the emperor has been restraining the prince out of fear, it is strictly prohibited to keep personal soldiers in the prince's residence, these are the prince's bodyguards."

Ji Ling Xue made an understand sound, turning around she walked off, but was pulled back by Chi Feng, he said: "Princess there's no rush, nothing will happen to the prince."

Ji Ling Xue mocked in her mind: I need to save someone, I'm really not worried about Xiao Yi Chen.

Under Ji Ling Xue's coaxing and pestering, Chi Feng finally agreed to send four men with her up the mountain to save that person, the others continued to keep watch at the bottom of the mountain.

While Ji Ling Xue had gone up the mountain with the others, Xiao Yi Chen's men had already captured the top of the mountain, on their way they had seen the charred remains from the fire, quite a lot of weapons were scattered over the ground, but the perverted third prince's men were not seen.

Xiao Yi Chen wearing a sturdy black armour with a dark red cloak over him was just listening to a bodyguard's report, on hearing Ji Ling Xue was not imprisoned on the mountain, his heart eased, however he was puzzled.

The bodyguard reporting to Xiao Yi Chen saw Ji ling Xue and the others from afar, happily saying: "Prince, princess has come!" The princess had finally been found, they no longer needed to face the prince's black face.

When Ji Ling Xue saw Xiao Yi Chen blood rushed to head, she pointed at Xiao Yi Chen's nose: "You scoundrel, if I waited for you to save me, it would have been too late..."

Ji Ling Xue had not finished speaking when she was pulled into a warm embrace.

Ji Ling Xue was thrown off for a moment, only after a while did she react pushing Xiao Yi Chen away with her strength, glaring at him with reproach.

She looked like she wanted to make things clear, "Prince isn't treating me like a younger sister right?"

Xiao Yi Chen was surprised, he gazed at Ji Ling Xue for a while, then said lowly, "Sorry."

Xiao Yi Chen apologised very sincerely, this was his fault, when he had chosen moon gazing lake as the gathering location, he had not properly inspected everything, so much so that the kidnappers exploited the situation.

Ji Ling Xue blinked, somewhat in disbelieve at what she had heard, such an arrogant person as Xiao Yi Chen, he actually took the initiative to apologise.

Ji Ling Xue said: "Prince don't blame yourself, it's my fault, if I wasn't playing at the bow of the boat I wouldn't have fallen into the water."

Then everything else wouldn't have happened, Xiao Yi Chen didn't pay attention to Ji Ling Xue's peculiar words, he looked her up and down to see if she was wounded, "Are you hurt, this prince brought the mysterious doctor along, let him take a look?"

Ji Ling Xue shook her head, the wounds were on her feet, even though she had treated it simply at the bottom of the mountain, it still hurt when she walked, only her feet couldn't just be seen by anyone.

Xiao Yi Chen: "Ji Ling Xue, you did a great job today, Dayan's stronghold in the capital has been cleaned out just like that, they will have to think more carefully if they want to make another move."

Ji Ling Xue spread out her hands, "Since this is an achievement, what reward is prince giving me?" She couldn't be blamed for being a money grubber, there was nothing more reliable than money in this world.

Xiao Yi Chen's lips twitched, silently looking at Ji Ling Xue, was there nothing apart from reward in her mind? Was there only benefits between them?

Xiao Yi Chen held Ji Ling Xue's hand, smiling he said: "We're a family, these are words of an outsider, this prince is yours."

Ji Ling Xue's lips twitched, pulling her hand back she looked around changing the subject: "Have you seen someone, wearing a mask...he thankfully save me just now, otherwise I would have become a chess piece used by the third prince to threaten you."

Hearing Ji Ling Xue mention another man, Xiao Yi Chen's heart panicked, so she hadn't come up the mountain for him.