Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Shen Yuan could not have been mistaken. While traveling with Grand Tutor Shen in the past, he had seen countless tricks employed by child beggars. He was certain Xie Chengze’s money pouch was on one of them.
When he reached to search them, the child struggled even harder and shrieked at the top of his lungs, “He already said we didn’t steal! Why won’t you let us leave? Release me! You beast! Aaaaaah – ”
Nearby pedestrians turned to look and pointed at Shen Yuan, disgusted that a grown man would extort child beggars.
“Lord Shen.” Beside him, Xie Chengze’s voice also deepened slightly, warning in his eyes. “I said he didn’t steal it.”
Shen Yuan grew angry. He had rarely shown enough kindness to help Xie Chengze recover a stolen purse, yet not only did the man refuse to take his side, he actually rebuked him with that look?!
Fine! It was not Shen Yuan’s money being lost!
He never should have meddled!
“When Your Highness cannot pay for his meal later, don’t ask this Shen for money. I have only just taken office and possess none to squander!” Shen Yuan snapped.
Xie Chengze looked at him. “Angry?”
Shen Yuan did not understand how Xie Chengze had the nerve to ask.
Did he truly believe that by pitying child beggars and pretending to be kind and generous, he could compare himself with the Crown Prince and become the Crown Prince?
Had the Crown Prince done this, Shen Yuan would have found it natural and understandable. But when Xie Chengze did it, he found it impossibly hypocritical.
“How would this subject dare be angry?” Shen Yuan said coldly, lowering his eyes to conceal his disappointment. “But this subject must still remind Your Highness that this solves nothing!”
Xie Chengze raised a brow. “Oh?”
Seeing him appear willing to listen, Shen Yuan calmed somewhat and explained, “These child beggars are clearly being exploited. Since the fifty-sixth year of Jian’an, every prefecture has been ordered to establish a Children’s Relief Office to shelter orphans, so no starving child will wail beside the roads. Children begging in the streets of Cangfu County means its County Magistrate must be held responsible. Send the beggars to the Children’s Relief Office and eliminate the beggar den exploiting them as thieves. Only then can the root of the problem be resolved!”
“Surely Your Highness does not imagine that giving a little money to begging children counts as some supreme act of charity?” Shen Yuan could not resist mocking him.
Xie Chengze drew out an “Oh~” It was impossible to tell whether he had listened. He called toward a woman selling wontons by the roadside, “Ma’am, three bowls of wontons!”
Then he turned to Shen Yuan. “Do you eat spicy food?”
A vein twitched at Shen Yuan’s temple. “No!”
Was food truly the issue right now?
“It’s delicious.” Xie Chengze’s phoenix eyes curved into smiling slits once more. Like a cunning little fox, he plainly harbored no good intentions.
“This subject does not like spicy food!” Shen Yuan was deeply displeased by his change of subject. He could only think that rotten wood could not be carved. To imagine he had just entertained the delusion of teaching Xie Chengze how to handle affairs!
Xie Chengze shrugged and reflected with some emotion: *Little Shen Yuan really was online and raging every day. Wasn’t he afraid he’d make himself sick with anger?*
He pulled Xie Zimiao down to sit, then finally asked, “Does Lord Shen know what would happen to those two children if you truly recovered the money pouch they stole?”
“Naturally, the old beggar who taught them to steal would scold and beat them,” Shen Yuan answered instinctively. When he realized what he had said, he fell silent and looked darkly at Xie Chengze.
He had nearly forgotten.
“But this solves nothing.” Shen Yuan frowned. “These beggars have made a habit of stealing. What use is shielding them?”
Just like Xie Chengze. His rotten nature had long since taken shape. Even if the Crown Prince yielded to him and loyal officials admonished him, he would ultimately become a calamity to the nation.
Were the tragedies of their previous life not the finest proof?
“Then does Lord Shen believe these child beggars can still be saved?” Xie Chengze looked at him.
Shen Yuan returned his gaze. For some reason, he felt Xie Chengze appeared to be discussing the beggars but was, in truth, speaking about himself.
– If Xie Chengze behaved honestly in this life and no longer committed corruption, perverted the law, or murdered loyal and worthy men, would Shen Yuan still kill him?
Shen Yuan instinctively gripped the azure sword at his waist.
He also instinctively avoided the question.
Xie Chengze wanted to become a good man?
How ridiculous. Did he imagine that because the people he killed in their previous life were alive in this one, his sins could simply be erased?
Shen Yuan still remembered.
And Shen Yuan would never forget!
“Even if they can be saved, they cannot erase the fact that they once stole,” Shen Yuan enunciated.
Xie Chengze nodded and said nothing more.
Yet Xie Chengze’s obedient silence only made Shen Yuan more agitated. He did not even touch his wontons before addressing the Crown Prince’s guards following not far away. “Protect the Second Prince. I have something to handle.”
Then he swept his sleeves and departed.
Watching his back, Xie Zimiao tilted his head in confusion. “Second Brother, why do I feel like Lord Shen is always either angry or well on his way to getting there?”
Xie Chengze could not help laughing. He pushed the abandoned bowl of wontons toward Xie Zimiao. “If he won’t eat them, you can.”
“Mm-hmm!” Starving, Xie Zimiao immediately lowered his head and began devouring the food.
The little fellow ate quickly, unlike Xie Chengze, who chewed every bite slowly. By the time he finished two bowls of wontons, Wuhen – the personal guard at Second Brother’s side – appeared before the stall carrying the County Magistrate of Cangfu County.
The magistrate knelt obsequiously, his rolls of fat jiggling painfully before the eye. “Y-Your Highness! This lower official did not know you had come from afar and f-failed to welcome you.”
Xie Chengze gave him an indifferent glance. “County Magistrate Liu, you’re making this very tiresome.”
In the summer heat, several drops of cold sweat rolled down County Magistrate Liu’s face. “This lower official is dull-witted. What does Your Highness mean…?”
“Honestly, this prince understands that every county has its difficulties. Heaven grows harsher by the year. What household doesn’t have a few beggars these days?” Seated on the bench, Xie Chengze blew on the steaming wontons and said mildly, “But the beggars here have formed an entire theft industry, even exploiting children for profit. This has truly broadened this prince’s horizons!”
Terrified, County Magistrate Liu immediately flattened himself against the ground. “This lower official didn’t know! I truly didn’t know! Please grant me some time, Your Highness. This lower official will certainly investigate the matter!”
Xie Chengze added two spoonfuls of chili broth to the wontons. The vivid red surface instantly resembled a cauldron of boiling oil for cooking people. His lips curved in a smile. “As master of a county, if you had occasionally gone outside and walked around, you would never have accumulated quite so much fat…”
County Magistrate Liu understood the implication. Xie Chengze was saying that had he ever gone outside, he could not possibly have failed to discover the matter.
He hurriedly kowtowed and admitted his mistake. “This lower official will remember Your Highness’s instruction! From now on, I will certainly go out and walk around more often!”
The moment he left, he would arrest every beggar and let them taste the delights of prison!
Xie Chengze sighed and ate a red-soaked wonton. “It seems County Magistrate Liu does not know that this prince loves the color of blood – especially the great spray when a head is severed. What a pleasing sight.”
“This prince gave you a chance just now, but unfortunately, you’re useless.” Xie Chengze turned to Wuhen. “Kill the useless thing.”
Wuhen drew his saber at once and swung it toward County Magistrate Liu’s neck!