Chapter 67
Chapter 67
Xie Jinyu finally left.
Xie Chengze opened his eyes, his nose full of the sweet-tart scent of fruit peel. Turning his head, he discovered that every piece of tribute fruit on the table had been peeled. Even the cluster of crystal grapes had not escaped, each one stripped smooth and gleaming.
Xie Chengze: Hmm…
The Crown Prince had rather unusual tastes, didn’t he?
Fine. As a well-educated university student of the modern age, Xie Chengze could not laugh. He had to respect other people’s peculiarities.
Xie Chengze rolled over and was about to reach for a piece to taste when Zhu Xiaobiao, Wuhen, and Wuji hurried into the room.
Seeing Xie Chengze reach toward the fruit, Wuji hissed and warned, “Your Highness, aren’t you afraid it might be poisoned?”
Xie Chengze snatched his hand back and said with belated fear, “Oh, right.”
Xie Jinyu might care deeply about brotherly affection, but Xie Chengze was not the real Xie Chengze. What if the other man noticed something suspicious and secretly decided to kill him?
He had just put his hand around Xie Chengze’s throat, after all. In the original novel, Xie Jinyu had never done anything so vicious!
Tsk!
Xie Chengze fumed. Why did this damned little hand always move faster than his brain?
Wuhen stood before the table, looking at all the peeled fruit, and frowned slightly. Wuji noticed and asked, “Wuhen, did you just roll your eyes?”
Xie Chengze’s attention was immediately diverted. He looked at Wuhen’s eyes, wrapped in black cloth.
He could tell even through that? Seriously?
Wuhen: “…You’re too noisy.”
Xie Chengze: Ah. No denial. So he did.
Xie Chengze was intensely curious about what Wuhen looked like rolling his eyes. According to the original novel, Wuhen was a silent, taciturn block of ice. It was hard to imagine him making such a lively expression.
Unfortunately, Xie Chengze could not see it, nor could he force Wuhen to roll his eyes solely for his benefit.
Wuhen handed Xie Chengze the meticulously cleaned tangerine. He watched in silence as Xie Chengze ate one segment, then he and Wuji picked up the fruit platters and carried them out.
Ever attentive to what needed doing, Zhu Xiaobiao hurried forward, picked up the remaining platters, and followed them.
Once they reached a deserted place, Wuji tipped his platter over. The smooth, glistening crystal grapes tumbled to the ground, where he stomped them until their juice burst out.
Wuji said coldly, “It appears he realized His Highness was pretending to be unconscious.”
Following his example, Zhu Xiaobiao threw his fruit onto the ground. Then he suddenly registered what Wuji had said. “He realized?”
Wuhen crouched down and buried the fruit neatly, one piece to each hole. “As long as he won’t hurt His Highness, it doesn’t matter.”
“How do you know he won’t hurt him?” Wuji demanded. “Others may not understand what he wants, but how could you and I not know? His Highness had no one at his side. If Noble Consort Hua had not left that dying wish, you and I might never have had the chance to stay beside him!”
Zhu Xiaobiao looked up blankly. What did he want?
Wuhen also looked up, his voice puzzled. “Does wanting that count as hurting him?”
Wuji choked. “D-Did you forget? It hurts a lot! That’s what they all said at the time! So how could it not count as hurting him?”
Zhu Xiaobiao: ??? What hurts? Who is hurting whom???
Wuhen fell silent for a moment. “Then you want to hurt His Highness too.”
Wuji: ?
Furious, Wuji kicked at him. “Don’t you? Why don’t you slit your own throat?”
Wuhen dodged, lowered his head, and continued burying the fruit. “Save it. You splashed grape juice all over me. You can wash my outer robe later.”
Wuji: “I won’t! I’ll tear it to shreds, and you can buy another with your monthly wages!!”
Zhu Xiaobiao fretted beside them. “I’ll wash it, I’ll wash it! Colleagues, what exactly is this feeling you were talking about?”
Wuhen said nothing. Wuji glanced at Zhu Xiaobiao, his handsome peach-blossom eyes suddenly curving with a wicked smile. “It’s~ the same feeling you have for Jing Ze~”
…
…
A moment later, Zhu Xiaobiao covered his scarlet face. Ah – ! That wasn’t the kind of feeling he had at all!
–
After being transferred to the Ministry of Justice to serve as Vice Minister of Justice, Shen Yuan acted with swift, decisive force. He settled accounts with many officials implicated in the Yizhou corruption case, leaving the rest terrified and secretly furious at this arrogant newcomer who did not know his place.
As a result, every hateful, furious gaze turned toward Shen Yuan, and the officials temporarily forgot that an unconscious Second Prince even existed.
That was precisely the result Xie Chengze wanted.
Shen Yuan made an excellent shield. As long as Xie Chengze later insisted at court that Yizhou’s accomplishments had nothing to do with him and that he had merely coveted the fruits of Liang Wanda and Shen Yuan’s labor, those ministers would leave him alone.
After all~
The image of the Second Prince as mediocre and greedy for credit had long since taken root. Rather than believe he had devised the Land of Abundance Plan, the ministers would much prefer to believe that Xie Chengze was vain and ambitious and had deliberately stolen the credit from Liang Wanda and Shen Yuan.
After “lying” in bed for half a month, by which time Shen Yuan had dealt with nearly everyone, Xie Chengze finally “slowly regained consciousness.”
The moment Emperor Jian heard that Xie Chengze had awakened, he ordered the imperial procession to Chenghuan Hall and came to visit him.
“My Zeze!” Emperor Jian embraced him in anguish, as though he had nearly lost his dearest treasure. Tears streamed down his face. “You’ve suffered! Does the wound hurt? Would you like Father to blow on it?”
Xie Chengze burst into loud sobs, his expression even more affected than Emperor Jian’s. “Father! It hurts so much! That sword was only 0.01 chi from my throat, but then its owner spared me because I decided to tell a lie. I have told countless lies in my life, but I believe that one was the most perfect of all!”
“I said: You should do it, and I deserve to die. Once, a true and sincere love stood before me, but I failed to cherish it. Only after losing it did I drown in regret. There is no greater agony in this world. If Heaven gave me another chance, I would say four words to you, the one I loved at first sight: I truly love you!”
Xie Chengze wiped away tears that did not exist and continued wailing hoarsely. “The assassin was clearly stunned by my beauty and my lie and decided to spare my life. But he still had to answer to his master, so he stabbed me twice, once in the arm and once in the right leg!”
“Father! Thank goodness you and Mother Consort gave me beauty so great it sinks fish and fells geese! Otherwise, you would never have seen me again. Boo-hoo – ” Xie Chengze howled like a ghost.
Emperor Jian: …
Emperor Jian nearly lost the heartfelt mood he had worked up. This wretched child was as skilled at talking nonsense as ever. Even the emperor no longer knew how to respond.
Eunuch Zhao covered a smile beside them and teased, “Your Majesty, it appears the Second Prince is truly terrified of leaving you.”
“Ahem.” Emperor Jian cleared his throat. “Indeed. And how could I not feel the same? Chengze, you suffered on this journey to Yizhou. Tell me what you want, and I will grant it!”
As he spoke, he studied Xie Chengze without appearing to do so.
Shen Yuan was now sweeping through the court with drastic measures. It was not difficult for the ministers to see that the emperor had tacitly permitted his actions. But those being purged now were merely small fry. The true vermin infesting the court could not yet be touched, or the court would become unstable and bring the people endless harm without a single benefit.
Yet this also gave those vermin a chance to catch their breath. To escape future reckoning, they would inevitably seek a new patron and consider pledging themselves to another ruler.
Emperor Jian’s earlier scheme had backfired, winning Xie Chengze immense fame among Yizhou’s people and scholars across the realm. With his arrogant nature and susceptibility to provocation, he was the perfect choice for those men to raise as a puppet emperor of the Jian’an Dynasty.
But… Emperor Jian knew that the current Xie Chengze was by no means as mediocre as he appeared.
If he truly began to desire the throne…
As Emperor Jian pondered this, Xie Chengze lowered his head and smiled shyly. “Father, can I truly ask for any reward?”
Emperor Jian’s eyelid twitched with foreboding, but he forced himself to smile. “Of course. Even if Zeze wanted this realm, Father would give it to you.”
Xie Chengze raised his little head, his eyes bright and expectant. “Then may I stop attending court from now on? Waking so early every day is exhausting. I’m becoming ugly.”
Emperor Jian: …
Emperor Jian roared, “No!”
Xie Chengze: Tsk. (;￢＿￢) You old scumbag. You just said I could have anything.