Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Xie Chengze looked over.
Shen Yuan wore a magnificent robe of moonlit silver-white, its borders accented with sober, deep-indigo silk. A green jade belt circled his waist, setting off his tall, slender figure with the open, luminous elegance of a clear moon after rain.
Half his ink-black hair was swept high beneath a green jade crown, while the rest draped like fine gauze over his broad shoulders and back. It was neither too plain nor dull, and lent him just the right touch of rakish charm.
At the sound of someone entering, he turned his head slightly and looked sideways, revealing an extraordinarily handsome young face.
Shen Yuan had an innately noble appearance. Two slender brows curved like strokes of black lacquer, and beneath them, his bright eyes glittered with the streaming light of stars, vivid and full of life. A barely perceptible smile rested on his slightly thin lips, unable to conceal the uninhibited, romantic nature of the man beneath.
Yet the smile vanished in the next instant. Xie Chengze keenly caught the flash of disgust in Shen Yuan’s eyes the moment he recognized the newcomer.
Disgust?
Xie Chengze could not begin to understand how he had offended Shen Yuan.
“Chengze.” Emperor Jian smiled kindly when he saw him and gestured at Shen Yuan. “This is Shen Yuan, grandson of the Grand Tutor. You should have met in childhood.”
As a child, the Crown Prince had loved clinging to Xie Chengze. Since the Grand Tutor was the Crown Prince’s teacher and Shen Yuan followed the Crown Prince, he had naturally met Xie Chengze once or twice.
Shen Yuan put away his smile and lowered his head slightly. In a tone that was neither warm nor cold, servile nor overbearing, he said, “Shen Yuan greets Your Highness.”
Xie Chengze cast Shen Yuan another surprised glance.
That was not right. He remembered that at this stage, Shen Yuan referred to himself as either “this commoner” or “this Shen.” Why was he suddenly calling himself Shen Yuan?
In the original novel, Shen Yuan’s changing forms of self-address also reflected his rise in power. From “this commoner” to “this humble official,” from “this official” to “Shen Yuan,” each change marked another step along his path from a man without rank to the most powerful minister at court.
Still, Xie Chengze could not be bothered to care about any of that. As far as he was concerned, if he kept his head down, stopped breaking the law and taking bribes, and abandoned all designs on the imperial throne, he could sleep soundly and spend his whole life as a second-generation imperial heir wallowing in wealth and privilege.
Naturally, Shen Yuan would then have no reason to kill him.
His most important task right now was therefore to make his report, clock out, go home, and sleep like the dead.
He nodded by way of greeting. Recalling how the original Xie Chengze behaved in front of Emperor Jian, he happily seated himself beside the writing desk, poured a cup of tea, gulped it down, and cried, “Father! We have our smallest donor!”
At those words, Shen Yuan lifted his eyelids slightly.
A donation?
Emperor Jian gave Shen Yuan a brief but enthusiastic account of the morning’s events at court, then praised them. “Chengze and the Crown Prince coordinated that move splendidly. With two short remarks, they saved the treasury a considerable sum of silver and relieved Us of no small burden!”
Shen Yuan’s heart sank slightly.
At this time in his previous life, there had been no official donation. The Crown Prince had merely proposed adding an optional question to the spring imperial examination. Then Xie Chengze, attempting to steal the limelight, had hurried to the Imperial Study after court and asked His Majesty for the post of overseeing the examination.
No wonder Shen Yuan had not met Xie Chengze on the way here. He had assumed some unexpected change had occurred, but Xie Chengze had simply gone to the Ministry of Revenue on business.
Even if these events differed slightly from the previous life, Xie Chengze’s purpose in seeking His Majesty – to demand authority over the spring imperial examination – would certainly remain unchanged.
Shen Yuan knew Xie Chengze far too well: ravenously ambitious, vicious in his methods, forever reaching beyond his abilities, and incapable of accomplishing anything worthwhile.
Emperor Jian might have indulged him and let him bask in the Crown Prince’s reflected glory today, but who had truly benefited? The Crown Prince. And who had offended every official at court? Xie Chengze.
As foolish as ever, and still unaware of it.
Though contempt filled Shen Yuan’s heart, his expression did not change. He raised his hands in congratulation. “Your Majesty has two remarkably talented princes at your side. It is Your Majesty’s good fortune, the Jian’an Dynasty’s good fortune, and the good fortune of every commoner under heaven.”
Xie Chengze stole a glance at Shen Yuan.
Hey, the protagonist was praising him.
Did that mean he had made a decent first impression on Shen Yuan?
“Tell Us. Who donated the least?” Emperor Jian’s smile faded. His face grew slightly more solemn, as though he placed considerable importance on the answer.
“Well…” Xie Chengze appeared somewhat hesitant. “This son does not know how to say it.”
“What is it?” Emperor Jian asked patiently, though inwardly he already had his answer.
Corrupt officials naturally would not dare make the smallest donation. Whoever landed at the bottom of the list was likely a genuinely honest official – and such an official would inevitably stand opposed to Xie Chengze.
Emperor Jian knew perfectly well what Xie Chengze would say.
Yet the name Xie Chengze uttered next astonished him.
“If we judge by the amount of silver given, then this son donated the least.” Xie Chengze blushed, looking a little embarrassed. “This son donated thirty-nine taels, nine mace, and ninety-nine copper cash.”
Emperor Jian stared at him in disbelief and instantly understood that the honest official must have donated only forty taels.
But since when had his Chengze known how to spare another man’s dignity so deftly?
They said no one knew a son better than his father, yet Emperor Jian had never imagined that Xie Chengze, with that missing string in his head, possessed such skill in soothing and showing compassion to his officials.
Ordinarily, it would have been absolutely impossible.
Had the Crown Prince secretly coached him out of regard for their old affection?
But with Chengze’s petty temper, he would sooner offend every civil and military official than accept the Crown Prince’s help. Of that, Emperor Jian was entirely certain.
Emperor Jian could not help studying Xie Chengze in secret. He knew exactly how little ability those foolish retainers in Chenghuan Hall possessed. Had Xie Chengze recruited a new retainer capable of devising such a brilliant idea?
The matter of confiscating an estate that he had raised at court today had also surprised Emperor Jian. Xie Chengze might be ruthless in private, but he never displayed that side openly before the court.
If there truly was a new retainer, the man was promising. Perhaps he could guide Chengze back onto the proper path. Only, if that were the case…
In the middle of these thoughts, Xie Chengze began mumbling beside him again. “But… Father…”
At the sight of his dawdling and hesitating, Emperor Jian instantly felt that his useless little Chengze had returned. He could not help asking, “What is it?”
“If we count only those who donated silver, then this son did indeed donate the least. But…” Xie Chengze chose his words carefully and stole a glance at Emperor Jian, flawlessly imitating the original’s habit of watching the emperor’s face before he spoke.
His eyes, however, were too clear, lending him an extra hint of adorable cunning. “But what was said at court was that every civil and military official had to donate. Those who gave nothing are the ones who donated the least.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the other two men in the room saw straight through his meaning.
Shen Yuan sneered inwardly. He had known no good could possibly come from Xie Chengze’s mouth. Any official who had clung to the hope of escaping without a donation deserved the bad luck of being discovered by him.
Emperor Jian, meanwhile, wore a look of dawning understanding.
Shen Yuan was waiting to hear which unfortunate fool had been caught when Xie Chengze snickered, “The Crown Prince didn’t donate.”
“Cough – ” Shen Yuan choked and raised his head to stare at Xie Chengze in shock.
He could pin the blame on the Crown Prince even for this?
Then Shen Yuan decided it was only to be expected.
Yes. This was the real Xie Chengze, forever watching for the slightest loose end the Crown Prince left behind. The instant he caught one, he would mock and sneer, desperate to announce to the world that the Crown Prince was unworthy of his position.
Shen Yuan had fought Xie Chengze for too long – ten full years. He had nearly forgotten that Xie Chengze at this stage was still only a petty villain who targeted the Crown Prince from the shadows, not the vicious wolf and venomous serpent he became later, openly gathering a faction and confronting the Crown Prince’s forces head-on.
Shen Yuan was still scorning him inwardly when Xie Chengze went on with another snicker. “Fourth Brother didn’t donate either.”
Shen Yuan: ?
This time, Shen Yuan was genuinely dumbfounded.
In the previous life, Xie Chengze had never considered the innocent Fourth Prince worthy of being an enemy and ignored him as though he were dust. The Crown Prince had always valued brotherhood and therefore never dragged the Fourth Prince into the struggle for the throne, lest he meet the same fate as the Eldest Prince who commanded military forces.
Why, then, had Xie Chengze suddenly begun targeting the Fourth Prince today?
No… After a moment’s thought, Shen Yuan understood his intention.
By naming both men together, Xie Chengze could accuse the Crown Prince of lacking compassion for disaster victims without appearing to target him deliberately. The Crown Prince remained his true quarry. The Fourth Prince was merely an unlucky, pitiable creature caught along the way.
He had to admit that Xie Chengze’s brain had improved a little.
No. Wait…
Shen Yuan narrowed his eyes. Thinking of every difference between today and his previous life, an absurd possibility rose in his mind.
Could it be… that Xie Chengze had also been reborn?
His right hand moved unconsciously toward the green sword at his waist before he remembered that the palace guards had taken all his weapons at the gate. His gaze darkened as he watched Xie Chengze, and murderous intent flared in his heart.
In his previous life, he had overcome every obstacle and killed Xie Chengze. He could do the same in this life.
He would not allow the tragedies of the previous life to happen again.