Xiao Huayong raised his head and took a deep breath silently and slowly. He had accepted this cruel fact long before he went to find her. He still felt a dull pain when he heard it now, but it didn't seem unbearable.
"Do you know why I know there is an abandoned place here?" Xiao Huayong suddenly asked.
Shen Xihe shook his head slightly.
"The first time I came to the hunting ground was when I was six years old." Xiao Huayong's eyes were dazed, and his thoughts were far away. "I rode a pony and chased the prey with the guards. I don't know when the guards around disappeared. I was the only one left. I turned around and wanted to go back, but I ran into a big insect."
The tiger pounced on him, and he escaped by rolling off the horse. Perhaps because the horse was food, the tiger did not chase him. But he did not dare to be careless. The way down was blocked, so he could only go up, hoping to stand on a high place and shout.
Later, when he was halfway through his run, he heard the roar of a tiger. He did not have time to think and could only run upwards desperately. Soon he saw the figure of a tiger. At that time, he was not far from here. The crevice leading to here was extremely narrow, and the big beast could not get in, so he escaped with his life.
"How could Your Highness be lost?" Shen Xihe frowned.
"Among our ancestors, there are emperors who were lost. I am just a crown prince, so it is not uncommon for me to be lost." Xiao Huayong smiled calmly, "I dare not go out from here, so I pulled out all the edible things."
In order to fill his stomach, he deliberately dripped blood at the entrance of the stone wall, and used his body to lure the beast, so that when it attacked him, it got stuck in the crevice of the stone. He stabbed it to death with the dagger hidden in his boots, broke it into pieces, and dragged it in.
Drink animal blood to quench thirst and eat raw meat to fill the stomach.
"I waited for three days but no one came to look for me. Then I saw the direction of the wind, so I tore my robe into pieces, bit my finger, wrote a letter in blood, and let the robe fly down. I don't know how far it flew, but eventually one of my guards saw it and came looking for me. That was also seven days later."
The Crown Prince has six commanders, each of whom has three to five palace soldiers. Apart from Your Majesty, he has the most guards.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince is extremely wise." Shen Xihe couldn't help but admire him.
At the tender age of six, he remained calm in the face of danger, survived in adversity, and was resilient.
Many six-year-old children dare not walk alone, let alone in this desolate valley and on the edge of a cliff surrounded by wild beasts.
"I returned to the palace, and the guards who followed me to hunt and got separated from me that day were dead." Xiao Huayong's tone was calm, and there was not a trace of resentment or pain on his face when he mentioned these past events. "From that moment on, I knew that the people around me were blades that could take my life at any time. I began to learn to distinguish between people and ghosts, and learned not to trust or rely on others easily."
"Your Highness, no one can fool you now." This is the price of growing up and becoming powerful.
With a light laugh, Xiao Huayong turned his head and looked deeply into Shen Xihe's eyes: "That's why I no longer trust others easily. Why doesn't the princess believe in love between men and women?"
It turned out that he told her about his childhood because he was curious about why she didn't believe in love between men and women.
Shen Xihe did not hesitate: "The world is unfair."
Xiao Huayong was slightly stunned, seemingly confused.
"A man can have one wife and many concubines, but a woman can only be faithful to one person forever." Shen Xihe said, "I don't understand how you can accept others if you are in love with him. If you are not in love with him, how can you force a woman to treat you with all her heart?"