Chapter 561: The Secret About the Past (179)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Upon hearing his snide remark, An Xiaoning began taking smaller bites and followed him quietly.
Tuoba Gucheng chucked a hand inside his pocket and strode forward quickly.
Once they reached the car, Tuoba Gucheng turned around abruptly and instructed his bodyguards, “You don’t have to come along.”
“Your Highness…”
“I’ll bring just Mu Ning along. We’ll be attracting unnecessary attention if there are too many of us.”
They then got into the car and set off to Tuoba Danxue’s mansion to pick Tuoba Danxue, Zhi Yin, and Tuoba Shuo up.
After everyone got inside the car, they proceeded to meet Byron at the foot of the mountain.
As expected, Byron only brought Lance along.
Together, they all made their way up the stairs to the peak of the mountain.
The air was exceptionally fresh and the cool breeze made the weather much more enjoyable.
They took more than one hour to reach the summit.
Upon arriving at the peak of the mountain, everyone took a deep breath and took some photos together.
However, An Xiaoning chose not to take any photos.
“Why aren’t you taking any photos? Didn’t you bring your mobile phone along with you?”
“I don’t feel like taking any. Your Highness, you didn’t take any photos either,” said An Xiaoning.
“I dislike taking photos.”
“Me too.”
There were no photos at all in the mobile phone An Xiaoning had brought. She was so careful that she did not save anyone’s phone numbers to her contacts list, seeing as she could tell who it was just by the mobile numbers of the people she contacted regularly. She made it a point to erase her call history and delete all text messages once she finished reading them, including all communication software and chatting apps, lest she create any trouble for herself if she were to lose the mobile phone.
Apart from them, there were only very few passersby at the peak of the mountain.
An Xiaoning casually took a glance at Byron and Lance, only to find that they seemed to be having a whale of a time while snapping photos. Byron was acting like a young lad, even though he was already in his forties. He and Lance took several photos of just the two of them.
Once she looked away, she was plagued with a familiar, ominous feeling, which caused a grave expression to form on her face.
She would often feel flustered out of nowhere before every mishap she met with. It was a phenomenon that had been proven time and time again.
“Your Highness, shall we hurry and leave the mountain?”
“Why? We just arrived a while ago,” Tuoba Gucheng asked in puzzlement.
“My sixth sense has always been exceptionally spot on. I have an ominous feeling now. Trust me,” she whispered.
“Psht… only a fool would believe you,” he retorted, clearly not taking her words into consideration.
Noticing how doubtful he was, An Xiaoning sulked and said, “Prince Byron is here for a vacation in S Nation. The ties between both nations would definitely be affected, should anything happen to him here. I’m not trying to jinx anything, but I really feel uneasy right now. Something disastrous would follow every single time I felt this way.”
Tuoba Gucheng was half-believing toward her words upon realizing that she seemed to be speaking the truth. Indeed, she probably would not dare to joke about such stuff casually.
At this point, he found that her concerns were not uncalled for, especially since they did not bring too many bodyguards with them.
Thus, Tuoba Gucheng waved at everyone and said, “Shall we head back now?”
“Brother, are we leaving so soon? We just reached the peak a while ago. Isn’t it a little too early to leave?” Tuoba Danxue whined in displeasure.
After a moment of silence, Tuoba Gucheng said, “We only brought a few bodyguards with us, so it’s safer not to stay too long. Let’s head back.”
An Xiaoning had decided to inform Tuoba Gucheng of her ominous hunch solely because she was the only bodyguard amongst all of them there and she was not confident that she could protect all of them.
She was sparing a thought for only herself.
Although they were rather reluctant to leave and wanted to stay a little longer, they nonetheless heeded Tuoba Gucheng’s advice and headed to the bottom of the mountain.
Clearly, it was much easier to descend the mountain than to hike it.
Tuoba Gucheng could tell clearly that An Xiaoning was ill at ease.
Noticing the look of dismay on her face, he slowed down his pace and asked, “Are you feeling queasy again?”
Shaking her head, An Xiaoning answered, “Thank you for your concern, Your Highness, but no, I’m not.”
Recalling what she said earlier, Tuoba Gucheng asked, “Is your sixth sense really accurate?”
“Yes.” An Xiaoning raised her head to look at him and said, “It’s extremely spot on. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have dared to tell you those things.”
“How should I punish you if what you said isn’t true?”
“If it’s true, how are you going to reward me? How about you stop forcing me to abort the fetus?” An Xiaoning questioned in response.
Although she did not know how much longer she would have to remain in the Autumn Palace before she could find out the truth about her mother, she did not wish to give up easily. Neither did she want to give up the child she was carrying.
“No, ask for something else,” he refused.
“Give me a day off then,” said An Xiaoning.
“Not within these two weeks.”
“…”
An Xiaoning was speechless.
“Can’t you ask for money or a house or something similar?” he questioned in bewilderment. This was his first time encountering someone who did not ask for a monetary reward.
“Those are just material possessions to me. I don’t care for them.”
“You’re truly such a weirdo,” Tuoba Gucheng muttered under his breath.
“It can’t be helped. I’ve gotten too used to being peculiar since a young age.”
“…”
Tuoba Gucheng had never encountered any bodyguards or servants who had the audacity to speak to him so freely without restrictions. Yet, she sounded casual and at ease when she spoke to him, seemingly treating him like an ordinary man for she did not appear to be afraid of him at all.
The point is… she was a hideous and unsightly woman with boorish mannerisms, despite having a killer figure!
To make matters worse, he even had a passionate night with such a woman before.
He felt aggrieved at the mere thought of it.
He could not feel any more wronged.
They did not see any other hikers along the way. However, an elderly man began to approach them slowly with a straw hat in hand when they covered a quarter of the distance.
Being sharp and vigilant, An Xiaoning hurried toward the front and scrutinized the elderly man.
But clearly, there was nothing suspicious about him.
Tuoba Danxue chuckled and said, “Mu Ning, you’re too paranoid and tensed up.”
An Xiaoning responded with a smile and did not say anything else.
They continued walking.
When they were halfway through the journey down, a man and a woman walked toward them, dressed in casual clothes and holding hands with each other. They were definitely a couple.
The couple was chatting merrily while walking, both donning sun hats.
To the rest of them, there was nothing particularly unusual about the couple.
However, their feet had caught An Xiaoning’s attention.
There were soil stains on the bottom of the woven shoes they were wearing on their feet.
The path from the bottom of the mountain to where they were was all cemented. Besides, the soil on the mountains was of a different color.
An Xiaoning turned around to shoot Tuoba Gucheng a knowing glance, after which she stood in front of Tuoba Danxue when the couple approached.
The couple walked past them normally, showing no suspicious signs while An Xiaoning hurriedly followed behind them. Seemingly having realized that An Xiaoning was exceptionally vigilant, the couple continued to walk forward, hand in hand.
When they approached Byron, a black object appeared in the woman’s left hand. An Xiaoning rushed forward immediately and kicked her hand, causing the woman to be thrown off balance by the sudden, unexpected attack. The gun in her hand immediately fell to the ground and fired off with a cackling sound.
Tuoba Gucheng immediately whipped his gun out to shoot the man.