Chapter 5 A Hostage From Ling Kingdom

"Who are you?" asked Yun Canglan.

He sat on the wall and looked down into the neighbor's courtyard, where a boy squatted under a tree playing in the mud.

The boy raised his head, shook the mud off his hands, looked at Yun Canglan and asked in curiosity, "Who are you?"

The boy's little face and expensive clothes were covered in mud. Yun Canglan hated the mud and turned away in disgust.

"Who the hell are you? And why are you sitting on my wall?" he asked impatiently. The important thing was how had Yun Canglan managed to get there.

"None of your business and by the way, this is my wall, not yours." said Yun Canglan. He didn't know when such an impolite boy moved to the next door.

The boy shook the remaining mud from his hands and walked to the wall. He looked up to see Yun Canglan.

"How did you get there anyway, with a ladder?"

Of course he had a ladder, he kept that to himself, to the boy he simply said, "Why should I tell you? When did you move in?"

"Yesterday. Are you playing by yourself?" The boy asked Yun Canglan hopefully. Yun Canlang accurately captured the loneliness in his eyes.

"No, I'm not" Yun Canglan replied. It was he who chose to not play with the others.

"Could you please come down and play with me?" The boy asked Yun Canglan innocently, believing him to be lonely too.

"I'm not playing with you. My mom asked me not to play with the stranger" Yun Canglan replied.

The boy suddenly looked sad and said: "My name is Yang Gezhi. What's yours? We can be friends from now on."

"You are Yang Gezhi?" Yun Canglan's echoe was more of a question. Yun Canglan knew this name. He was the tenth Prince of Ling Kingdom and was sent to Can Kingdom as a hostage.

Yun Canglan felt sorry for him.

"Yes. What's your name?" he asked again. Yang Gezhi craned his head with an innocent look on his face.

'How innocent he is!' thought Yun Canglan. But he forgot Yang Gezhi was only seven years old and he should be innocent. Yun Canglan was only five, and if it wasn't for the soul in the body, he would also be an innocent kid.

"My name is Yun Canglan." Yun Canglan couldn't help but answering his question while noticing his expectant and innocent look.

"OK. We are friends now. Could you come and play with me?"

Yun Canglan jumped down without hesitation. It was difficult to climb up the wall, but easy to get down.

Yun Canglan walked towards Yang Gezhi, but stopped in a distance away because he was covered in mud.

"Look. I made this mud figurine. Isn't it beautiful?" asked him as he held it up.

Yang Gezhi held Yun Canglan a mud figurine as if it was a priceless treasure. Yun Canglan looked at the mud figurine over in disgust, and couldn't recognize it as more than mud.

"Are you sure this is a mud figurine?" He asked.

After hearing Yun Canglan's words, Yang Gezhi looked depressed and said: "It's no good, I was trying to make a figurine of my mom, but I failed."

Mom?

Yun Canglan felt sorry for him again. Such a young boy was taken from his family and kept hostage in Can Kingdom.

"Do you miss your mom?"

"Yes, I do, but I can't see her anymore. Waah..." Yang Gezhi's little face turned red, and suddenly tears streamed down his face.

"Don't cry!" Yun Canglan was taken by surprise and didn't know how to react. He had to comfort him: "Waah..." Yang Gezhi cried even harder and choked back sobs: "My mom fell sick and died. I can't see her anymore."

So that's it.

"Hey, don't cry. I'm good at making mud figurines. I'll make one of your mom for you." How strange it would appear to anyone watching, to see a child of five comforting a seven year old.

"Really? You can make figurines? The boy looked hopeful until he realized, "You don't know my mom." Yang Gezhi looked like he would cry again.

Yun Canglan had to said: "You can tell me what she looks like, and I'll make it as you describe her."

"You're so smart, Canglan." Yang Gezhi smiled through his tears and looked at Yun Canglan in adoration.

Yun Canglan grabbed a handful of mud saying, "Let's begin."

"OK", speaking of his mom, Yang Gezhi looked happy and spoke cheerfully: "My mom was the most beautiful women in the world. She liked to wear a long dress with long sleeves, and the butterfly jade hairpin which was sent by my dad. She had curved eyebrows..."

Yang Gezhi kept talking, and Yun Canglan kept working on the little mud figurine.

After a while Yang Gezhi saw a vivid rendition of his mom as a mud figurine in Yun Canglan's hands.

"Mom. Let me see it. Let me see my mom." he said eagerly.

"Be careful. The mud isn't dry yet, and the figurine will easily break." Yun Canglan carefully passed the fragile treasure to Yang Gezhi.

He looked down at the sculpted piece of mud in his hands awestruck and praised: "Mom. It looks like my mom!"

Seeing his cheerful face made Yun Canglan happy. It surprised him that he would feel like this after doing a good deed. However, he also felt a little awkward as he had never performed such deeds. Why did he do that for a stranger?

"Canglan, you're so brilliant. I adore you so much!" Yang Gezhi grabbed his sleeve, shaking it vigorously.

In his mind, Yun Canglan was daring, jumping from heights and brilliant because he could make a figurine of his mom. Although Yun Canglan was just a child, he grew in stature in his mind.

"Canglan, you're so smart. I'll follow you from now on, and become as smart as you." he promised.

"Really?" Yun Canglan asked. Yun Canglan sized him up and asked: "Will you do whatever I ask you to do?"

"Yes. No matter what you ask me to do, I'll do it." he answered.

"You should share your snacks and toys with me. When there is danger, you must stand in front of me. If I do something bad, you should cover it up for me." Yun Canglan said viciously.

"OK..." Yang Gezhi didn't know what Yun Canglan meant, but he nodded his head and said: "I'll do whatever you ask me to do."

Yun Canglan laughed to himself. He didn't expect to meet a dumb boy here.

"Will you play with me often from now on?" he asked.

"No problem, I'll come whenever I'm free." Yun Canglan promised.

"Great! I have someone to play with now. I have a friend!" Yang Gezhi shouted in a cheerful voice, hoisting Yun Canglan in his arms. Although he was short too, he was two years older than Yun Canglan, so it wasn't difficult to hoist him.

Yun Canglan was mad.

"Let me go! You're all muddy." he shouted. Now he had mud on his clothes too.

Yun Canglan grabbed Yang Gezhi's arm and was about to force him away, but the moment he grabbed his left arm, Yang Gezhi suddenly let go and grabbed the arm he had held in pain.

"Ouch! Ouch! It burns!" he cried.

"Are you okay?" Yun Canglan asked. What did he mean by it burns? Was there a fire?

Yun Canglan looked at his hand, and saw no fire.

"That hurts. Waah..." Yang Gezhi grabbed his arm tightly, as his face puckered in cold sweat.

Yun Canglan squatted down, and saw nothing except his twisted face. He was about to take off Yang Gezhi's shirt and check his arm, but he heard someone coming.

Someone must've heard Yang Gezhi cry out.

Yun Canglan had to drag him to the gate where he had been standing before he ran off.

The moment Yun Canglan left, a man aged about 40 to 50 went over and picked Yang Gezhi up.

"Your Royal Highness, what's the matter? You are scaring me. Hello, is anybody there? Please call the imperial physician to come over!"

The man's shout alerted a guard of Can Kingdom, who immediately left his post to call the imperial physician after seeing Yang Gezhi's situation.

Yun Canglan, hiding in a corner, left after he saw Yang Gezhi was carried into the house.

Did Yang Gezhi have some hidden disease? Was there any hidden disease of the arms?