Chapter 108 - Remember him for life

"He wrote it, Grandma." She recognized his handwriting.

Another moment of silence ensued. Grandma Liu sat for a while before she slowly got up and headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, mumbling, "This boy, how come he didn't even tell us he was leaving? At least, I could have prepared something for him to take with him. Is it because he's afraid we'll stop him if he tells us? Just hitting the road without even a little plate for the road, doesn't that worry us …"

Liu Yusheng hung her head and said nothing.

She knew that Grandma was sad.

The child that she truly and sincerely treated with all her heart and soul left without warning. Has he ever thought about how her family would feel?

And it didn't even seem like dawn when he left.

Grandpa Liu sighed, "It's fine. Just let him go. The child should have thought it through since he left a message. There must be something he wants to do once he goes back. He probably didn't want to bid us farewell personally because of the sadness of parting. Don't think too much about it and get back to work. Axiu has grown up. He has his own way of doing things, so we shouldn't worry blindly."

"Dad, how about this? I'll go to the town and the county later to look for him. Axiu left alone, so he shouldn't have walked far enough within this half hour. Maybe someone has seen him." Liu Dalin mulled over it and suggested.

"Okay. Don't wait until later. Go now, ask everyone and borrow Li's ox cart. Buy something on the street to pad your stomach if you're hungry."

Liu Dalin pocketed some money and went out the door. At the end of the day, the old man still wasn't satisfied and couldn't help but say, "Had I known, I could have bought a big black horse, so the journey is a lot faster."

"I've been thinking about it for a while now too. But can ordinary families buy horses? This end pays, and we could end up going on a trip to the government office." The old woman gave him a blank stare as if to vent her pent-up frustration.

"Look at you, you're taking this seriously. I'm just saying in passing." The old man softened. Of course he knew that horses were only bought by people of status and restrictions were imposed on ordinary people.

He was also anxious when he said that, and he blurted it out in a spur of the moment.

That morning, the atmosphere in the entire Liu courtyard was depressed.

Meanwhile, Axiu and his party had already disguised themselves and boarded the cargo ship that was heading towards the capital.

"The ship will dock at Xiangzhou Port. We will turn to a trail for a drive to Xuzhou, and take another boat there. As long as we attract little attention, we won't be discovered. We will be able to reach the capital in twenty-five days." Wei Zi took out the map and reported the next route.

Axiu leaned back at the edge of the cabin, tilted his head to look at the waves of the crystal river outside. "After arriving in Xuzhou, take the main road. There's no need for cover up."

"Prince, this will lead to danger! We don't have much time. We have to get back to the capital in the shortest possible time. Taking the waterway will save a lot of unnecessary trouble." By taking the avenue and not covering it up, the prince was clearly using himself as a living target to draw the enemy towards him!

"I didn't ask for your opinion, just do as you're told." The young man's words were faint, and his eyes remained unruffled.

Wei Zi reluctantly shut his eyes. "Yes, I'll do as you wish!"

Ignoring the hidden guard's thoughts, Axiu's thoughts drifted away.

As long as he exposed himself to the enemy's eyes, attention would be focused on him. Xinghua Village and the Liu family would then be safe and secure.

Besides, Xuzhou was already far away from Xinghua Village in Yunzhou, so even if those people wanted to trace the trails he left behind, it wouldn't be that easy anymore.

At this hour, Shengsheng should already have seen the paper he signed.

The grandparents and the others, they also knew that he had left, right?

He wondered if they were angry and sad, or worried and anxious.

He was inclined to believe that they would be worried and anxious about him. If they were angry, they wouldn't be angry for long. They were too kind and simple.

That was why he could never pull them into his world. They couldn't survive in his world.

In the small courtyard of the Liu family, Liu Yusheng tried to squeeze out a smile surrounded by a group of little children, chattering and asking where Brother Axiu had gone and why he wasn't present, but found it extraordinarily far-fetched.

"Brother Axiu has gone home to do something. It might … take a long time before he comes back." Or he might never come back again.

Even though she had never voiced it out, she knew that his family background was bound to be extraordinary.

If not, the cottage wouldn't have been burned down; Aunt Wanrong wouldn't have died; and he wouldn't have been so stimulated to the point of madness.

Now that he chose to return, his family must be surrounded by a pack of wolves. One careless move and he'd have no bones left.

How could he return?

He knew it himself, so he left quietly in the middle of the night, avoiding facing the sadness of farewell.

This man really had some bad habits he could never get rid of.

If he really was that decisive, why did he have to write a note telling her not to worry?

Don't worry about him.

That was his selfishness. Before he left, he still couldn't help but leave a little bit of his personal feelings.

At the edge of the cabin, Axiu's eyes were dark as ink as he looked at the river; sadness and sorrow seemed to interchange fluidly in his eyes.

Even if he died, he didn't want her to forget him.

Never forget him. When he died and turned into ashes, he wanted her to remember him for the rest of her life.

He has always believed that these overbearing and almost paranoid thoughts stemmed from his inability to part with warmth.

It was reminiscent of a blind man who suddenly saw the light and could no longer bear to fall back into the darkness.

It was only after a long, long time that it dawned on him that it was his ignorant, youthful emotions.

"At the boundary of Xuzhou, Wei Hong and Wei Lan, stay behind."

"16th Prince?" Wei Zi's heart tightened, not knowing what the young master was up to again.

Axiu ignored Wei Zi and directly ordered Wei Hong and Wei Lan. "The Liu family will develop a medicinal herb base after the new year, and a lot of manpower will be needed by then. You two will blend in and secretly protect the Liu family before the situation in the capital stabilizes."

Wei Zi's face changed. "Prince, no! The duty of the Hidden Guards is to protect the Emperor and the 16th Prince! In the Hidden Guard Battalion, everyone is an elite, but limited in number. Your Highness is already in danger, so leaving Wei Hong and Wei Lan behind at this juncture is equal to weakening our own strength and increasing the enemy's chances!"

He endured the prince's request to return to the capital with great fanfare, but he couldn't accept it when the Emperor's hidden guards were assigned to protect an insignificant peasant family!

How could those people's lives be exchanged for the Prince's safety!

"Right now, I'm still the master." With a cold glance at Wei Zi, Axiu turned to the other two. "If there is any slightest mishap, bring up your head and meet me! Do you understand!"

"Yes, your humble servants will do as you commanded!"

"Make sure to pretend you are Xuzhou refugees, and don't reveal a single flaw. Act more pitiful, and they will … take you in."

Wei Hong and Wei Lan looked at each other and immediately understood why the master had both this idea and why he hadn't instructed them to stay when they were in Xinghua Village.

As refugees who had strayed to Xinghua Village, the replacement of their identity certificates wouldn't be too strict.

It would be a long and arduous journey. Who would come all the way from Xuzhou to Yunzhou for the sake of taking a closer inspection of two refugees.

A randomly fabricated identity would be enough for them to get by.