Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Xie Chengze lifted his index finger and waved it from side to side. With a serious expression, he said, “Lord Shen must be joking. This prince’s ten thousand taels are certainly not in his hands.”
“Where do you suppose they might be now?” Xie Chengze put on a troubled expression as if he were genuinely worried. “Not in Yizhou, not in Zhuolu County, and not in Chenghuan Hall… Oh dear. Could they possibly be…”
Refusing to yield, he leaned toward Shen Yuan’s face. Shen Yuan slowly narrowed his eyes and held his ground. For a moment, their mingled breaths seemed equal parts intimate entanglement and open confrontation.
Then Xie Chengze’s ill-intentioned voice floated eerily between them. “Could they possibly be… at the Ministry of Revenue?”
Shen Yuan’s eyes flickered.
“What exactly are you trying to do?” Shen Yuan stared fixedly at Xie Chengze. For the first time, he could not see through his mortal enemy’s intentions.
“Young Master Shen, oh, Young Master Shen. I am not that vicious and ruthless Second Prince. You really need not treat me with such hostility.” Xie Chengze laughed softly and patted his shoulder. “The night is turning cool. Go to bed early.”
With that, he bent at the waist and slipped from between Shen Yuan’s arms like a slippery little loach, then headed toward his own room.
Xie Chengze could now say with near certainty that this Shen Yuan was not the gifted scholar Shen Yuan from the novel.
More precisely, Shen Yuan was very likely the powerful minister reborn.
Only that powerful minister could hate “Xie Chengze” so deeply, flare with killing intent at their first meeting, and know with certainty that Xie Chengze would visit the silver vault in the Zhuolu County yamen to reclaim the ten thousand taels he had donated – enough certainty to hide among the rafters and witness it all.
But he was not “Xie Chengze.” If Shen Yuan sought to kill him to appease his hatred, then Xie Chengze would never sit quietly and await death.
…
Shen Yuan did not sleep all night. Seated at the tea table, he repeatedly turned Xie Chengze’s words over in his mind.
At dawn the next day, a noisy commotion sounded outside his door. When Shen Yuan rose and stepped out, he saw more than a dozen yamen runners bustling back and forth, carrying wooden chests onto the carriages.
Dressed in gold, Zhu Xiaobiao stood in the center of the courtyard, waving his hand as he bellowed instructions. “Move faster! Have none of you eaten? This silver is a voluntary donation from my father, given out of pity for the disaster-stricken people of Yizhou. Not a single piece may be lost!”
Xie Zimiao joined the excitement. Planting his hands on his hips, he imitated Zhu Xiaobiao’s domineering manner. “Move faster! Otherwise, this prince won’t let you eat lunch!”
Shen Yuan swept his gaze around and found that County Magistrate Zhu was nowhere to be seen.
How had such a commotion failed to wake him?
Shen Yuan arched a brow. Several times more chests were being moved now than he had seen in the silver vault yesterday. By the look of things, Zhu Xiaobiao had dragged out the entire fortune his father had amassed through years of corruption.
It seemed even father and son would betray one another without hesitation when their own lives were at risk.
In that respect, Zhu Xiaobiao possessed a ruthlessness much like Xie Chengze’s. Yet he was never wholly wicked and took pity on beauties who suffered. Shen Yuan was curious how Zhu Xiaobiao would feel if Xie Chengze ordered those beautiful concubines put to death.
And could Shen Yuan exploit that opportunity to buy Zhu Xiaobiao’s allegiance and make him a secret informant?
As he considered the matter, Xie Chengze emerged from his room with a yawn. The satisfied look on his face made it obvious he had slept wonderfully.
“You still haven’t finished?” Xie Chengze rubbed his eyes, which quickly went from drowsy to clear and brilliant.
“Your Highness, we’re almost done,” Zhu Xiaobiao hurriedly answered, stepping forward.
“Still not done…” Xie Chengze laughed and gave him an indifferent glance. In the next instant, he raised a leg and kicked Zhu Xiaobiao in the stomach, his face abruptly turning savage. “Useless! You can’t even move this paltry amount? What good are you?”
His expression changed so swiftly that everyone was caught by surprise. They stopped what they were doing and stared.
Xie Zimiao, who had been throwing his weight around a moment ago, instantly ducked his head and went silent. Shen Yuan frowned in their direction, only to see the kicked Zhu Xiaobiao “fly” several yards backward with a wildly exaggerated motion. After rolling across the ground several times, he cried out miserably, “Your Highness, spare me – Your Highness, spare me! This lowly one is to blame! I won’t ever do it again – !”
Shen Yuan: “?”
What game were they playing now?
Shen Yuan certainly did not believe that Xie Chengze, who possessed no martial arts whatsoever, could send the nearly two-hundred-jin Zhu Xiaobiao flying so far with that slender little leg.
He watched Xie Chengze snatch the long saber from a nearby yamen runner’s waist and charge toward Zhu Xiaobiao, his face full of rage. “Useless thing! This prince will slaughter you!”
The yamen runners retreated in terror, afraid their own lives might be caught up in the violence. The convoy’s attendants and guards did not dare meddle either. For a time, not a single person dared plead for Zhu Xiaobiao.
Clutching his stomach, Zhu Xiaobiao crawled wretchedly across the ground, shouting for help without pause. Xie Chengze pursued him, swinging the saber in his hand faster and faster. Just as the blade was about to strike Zhu Xiaobiao, several doors to the wing rooms suddenly burst open. A scattered handful of beauties rushed out and threw themselves over Zhu Xiaobiao!
Though their bodies shook with fear, they shielded Zhu Xiaobiao with all their strength and cried hoarsely, “Your Highness, show mercy! Please spare Lord Zhu!”
“You insolent commoners dare obstruct this prince?” Xie Chengze snarled, his saber whistling through the air. “Move! Otherwise, this prince will kill you along with him!”
“How can Your Highness slaughter innocent people?” An exceptionally delicate and handsome young man rushed forward. Spreading both arms, he planted himself between the two sides and met Xie Chengze’s gaze without fear. His voice rang with conviction. “His Majesty loves the people as his own children and urges officials everywhere to care for their subjects. Your Highness now abuses his power to kill the innocent. How can you serve as an example to the realm?”
“This prince has no patience for your nonsense!” Xie Chengze swung the great saber, sending the air roaring around it. “If you don’t move, this prince will make you the first to taste his blade!”
“Then strike me first! I merely wonder whether Your Highness can bear the charge of murdering an innocent commoner!” The handsome young man stubbornly raised his chin. His arms and lips trembled faintly, but his body refused to shift so much as an inch. He appeared truly ready to risk his life.
“Jing Ze, move!” Zhu Xiaobiao pushed away the beautiful concubines shielding him and roared at the young man. “All of you, leave! Why throw away your lives with me?”
“My lord once saved our lives. They have belonged to you ever since!” Jing Ze growled. “We could never stand by and watch while you are in danger!”
He squeezed his eyes shut and shouted at Xie Chengze, “If Your Highness wants to kill him, you must step over my corpse first!”
“Good! Very good!” Xie Chengze laughed in fury. With a broad wave of his hand, he issued an order. “Men! Tie these people up and put them in the carriages! Such rare beauties would be a pity to waste in death. This prince will take them to Yizhou and ‘care for’ them properly along the way!”
At his words, the accompanying guards recovered and promptly dragged every one of them into the carriages.
“Release me! Release me!” Jing Ze struggled fiercely and shouted in fury, “You corrupt official! You are unworthy of being a prince! Kill me if you have the courage!”
He, Jing Ze, would rather die than endure humiliation a second time!
Xie Chengze picked at his ear and pretended not to hear.
Watching it all, Shen Yuan more or less understood what Xie Chengze intended.
After the assassination in their previous life, the frightened and enraged Xie Chengze had learned the truth and immediately sentenced Jing Ze and the others to death. He had not clearly seen the faces of the others, and many years had passed since then, so Xie Chengze had likely forgotten which people had been utterly loyal to Zhu Xiaobiao.
That was why he coaxed Zhu Xiaobiao into staging this scene last night: to lure out those willing to avenge him.
Buying and exploiting the people who had assassinated him in his previous life as his own death-sworn agents was precisely the kind of vicious amusement Xie Chengze had always enjoyed.
He was still himself. A little smarter, a little more cunning, but the venom at his core had never changed.
Disappointment filled Shen Yuan’s heart. He did not know why he felt disappointed. Perhaps it was because, for one brief instant, the young man with those clear, brilliant eyes had reminded him of the little boy who once shared a sweet tangerine with him.
Even after leaving the capital in his previous life, Shen Yuan had continued to think of that boy. In the end, however, the person he remembered had changed. By the time Shen Yuan came to his senses, the two of them had already taken utterly different paths, and reconciliation was no longer possible.
Once the beautiful concubines had been gagged, bound, and shoved into the carriages, Zhu Xiaobiao nimbly climbed to his feet, with none of his earlier fear or panic remaining.
Every chest on the ground had been loaded onto the carriages. Xie Chengze stepped into his own carriage, his previous ferocity long since vanished as well.
He said mildly, “Depart. We are going to Yizhou.”
Only after the carriages left the county yamen and the sun stood high in the sky did County Magistrate Zhu and Madam Zhu, who had been drugged with a sleeping draught, slowly awaken.
By then, the Second Prince’s convoy had long since departed with the treasures County Magistrate Zhu amassed through ten years of corruption. All that remained were the magistrate, wailing and cursing, and Madam Zhu, wearing a peculiar expression as they gazed miserably at the empty storerooms.