Chapter 0182: Stubborn Jealousy of Xie Jinyu, Drunken Cursing of Father by Xie Chengze
After Cao Qingran left, Qing Momo glanced at Xie Jinyu standing in place with a face that had shifted through multiple expressions and softly sighed.
“Your Highness, Her Majesty has never placed spies around you,” Qing Momo defended Cao Qingran. “Nor has she ever interfered with your influence. Please believe Her Majesty—she would never harm you.”
“Hah.” Xie Jinyu let out a light scoff, finding it utterly ridiculous. “Keep such words to yourself if you believe them.”
Never harm him?
When she physically punished him as a child, leaving him wounded and alone facing the icy darkness and blizzards, she had never shown an ounce of mercy.
He had long passed the age of questioning whether she loved him or not, and he no longer cared why a mother would treat her own child this way. He had his own eyes and judgment, and he clearly understood that Cao Qingran cared for nothing except placing the Cao family’s bloodline on the throne.
Xie Jinyu turned and left in anger. Though he disliked Cao Qingran, he knew she wouldn’t lie to him. The mastermind behind those two officials must be someone else.
Who could it be?
In the Imperial City Prison, Xie Jinyu found Shen Yuan imprisoned.
The handsome, untamed man sat on a pile of rotten straw, yet not a shred of his elegant, moonlit demeanor was diminished. His clean face and prison clothes showed no trace of filth, clearly indicating he was being well cared for.
As for who that person was, it was obvious at a glance.
“It seems Lord Shen is living quite comfortably in this prison,” Xie Jinyu couldn’t help but sneer, thinking about how closely Shen Yuan was connected to Xie Chengze.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince has arrived.” Hearing Xie Jinyu’s voice, Shen Yuan showed no surprise. He slowly opened his eyes, looking at the young man standing beyond the cell door—his expression obscure, his gaze dark with jealousy—and softly sighed.
He was still so stubborn. If not for this lifetime’s Xie Chengze being obedient and kind-hearted, Shen Yuan dared not imagine how Xie Jinyu would tread the path of repeating past mistakes, nor how difficult his own attempts at persuasion would be.
“I thought the Crown Prince wouldn’t come to find me,” Shen Yuan stood and walked to the cell door. “After all, I always seem to anger Your Highness.”
“I told you not to get too close to Second Brother,” Xie Jinyu stared at him with a heavy gaze. “Why are you helping Second Brother in every way now?”
“Hmm…” Shen Yuan lightly tapped his chin. “Helping the Second Prince? If you think about it from another angle, I suppose I am helping him?”
Xie Jinyu frowned.
Only from another angle was it helping Second Brother?
Then what about from the original angle?
“What does that mean?” Xie Jinyu stepped forward and gripped the cell bars. “What are all of you plotting?”
Why did he feel that Cao Qingran seemed to be scheming something, and Second Brother and Shen Yuan were also scheming something?
Was it for the dragon throne?
But he vaguely sensed it wasn’t just about the throne.
They seemed to be colluding together, keeping him in the dark alone.
“Rather than answering that, Your Highness, I heard the Cao family has changed leadership?” Shen Yuan looked at him. “Could it have been the Empress’s doing?”
Xie Jinyu fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
“Then it seems the Empress sent Your Highness to find me,” Shen Yuan guessed.
“You!” Xie Jinyu sharply looked up. “How did you know? Could it be that you’re—”
One of Cao Qingran’s people?
Shen Yuan smiled faintly and shook his head. “I am a subject of Jian’an, not affiliated with any particular faction. The Empress sent you to me, likely hoping I would tell you which faction those two ministers who took their own lives belonged to, am I right?”
That Empress was truly the most unfathomable one. For some unknown reason, she had been unwilling to assist the Crown Prince until his life was in danger in the previous life, when she mobilized a force even he found surprising. Only then did he realize this Empress was not to be underestimated.
Xie Jinyu stared intently at him. “As expected of Lord Shen. Even imprisoned, you remain so well-informed.”
“Your Highness flatters me. It was all relayed to me by the Second Prince’s people.”
Shen Yuan’s gentle, lingering smile made Xie Jinyu find it even more irritating. He hissed in a low voice, “Enough! I didn’t come here to listen to your boasting!”
If not for fearing his second brother would resent him, he would have long since—!
“Very well.” Seeing Xie Jinyu’s anger, Shen Yuan finally wiped the smile from his face and spoke seriously. “Your Highness, the imperial court has always been a place where truth and falsehood are indistinguishable. Since we can no longer extract answers from the dead, we must trace back to the source. Observe who is now taking charge of the isolated and helpless Second Prince.”
Just as Su Qinghe had only marriage alliance value in the eyes of the Su Family, Xie Chengze naturally only held value as a puppet emperor in the eyes of the mastermind behind the scenes. And the first step to making someone a puppet was undoubtedly to strip them of their power, leaving them with no choice but to be controlled.
Xie Jinyu’s eyes widened in shock, then he immediately turned to leave.
“Crown Prince.” Shen Yuan called out to stop him, his tone grave. “The Second Prince has his own plans. You must not act rashly and disrupt his arrangements.”
“I naturally trust my second brother.”
With these words, Xie Jinyu quickened his pace and departed.
Watching him go, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but shake his head.
It seemed that even with his guidance, without the tempering of the journey to Yi Province and the calamity of the snow disaster, the Crown Prince was ultimately maturing more slowly than in his previous life.
But it didn’t matter.
Both he and Xie Chengze could wait patiently for him to grow—until the day he could protect Jian’an.
……
“I want more! I want more to drink!”
In Cheng Huan Palace, a stunning young man clad in scarlet palace robes, reeking of alcohol, sat on the floor clutching a wine jar with no regard for decorum. Yet, none of this diminished his radiant beauty. His fair cheeks were flushed a striking red from intoxication, and the resentment and grievance mingling in the corners of his eyes made him all the more pitiable, stirring a desire in others to ease his sorrows.
“Damn Emperor Jian! Damn Crown Prince! You’re just jealous of me! What haven’t I done better than you? Without me, could you have resolved the floods in Yi Province? Could you have helped the northern commoners survive the snow disaster?”
“I’m the one fit to be emperor! You’re all worthless! Just like beggars, utterly worthless!”
“Wahh… You Xies all bully me! Mother, if you were still alive, you would stand up for me…”
The gorgeous young man slumped over the steps of the writing desk, weeping bitterly. His drunken, flushed cheeks glistened with tears, and his slender body trembled with each sob, looking utterly heart-wrenching. One couldn’t help but want to hold him close and comfort him.
“Who has reduced Your Highness to such a state?”
Just as Xie Chengze was weeping bitterly, he suddenly heard a voice echoing through the hall. He froze momentarily, glancing around but seeing no one. Startled, he exclaimed, “Who’s there? Who’s speaking?”
“Has Your Highness forgotten this humble servant’s voice so quickly? How it wounds me.” The man chuckled softly before adding, “Why not look up? The moonlight tonight is truly a feast for the eyes!”
Xie Chengze blinked his teary eyes and raised his head, discovering that a section of the roof tiles above had been removed—the voice was coming from there.
Rubbing his eyes, he scrambled up from the floor and hurried out of the hall into the courtyard, gazing upward toward the eaves.
There, perched halfway on the rooftop, was a man in a fitted dark purple robe that accentuated his tall, elegant frame. With one leg bent against the blue-green tiles, his slender fingers gripped a jar of Lan Qiao Feng Yue Wine. Meeting Xie Chengze’s gaze, he raised the wine jar in a casual toast.
Sheng Shihai’s handsome face broke into a warm yet roguish smile. “Second Prince, what’s the fun in drinking alone? Why not let this humble servant accompany you in admiring the moon and sharing some wine?”
Xie Chengze glanced around but found no ladder. He couldn’t help pursing his lips in frustration. “I can’t get up there!”
Sheng Shihai let out an amused laugh. Rising smoothly, he leaped down from the roof, his black boots landing soundlessly beside Xie Chengze. In one fluid motion, he wrapped an arm around the prince’s waist and effortlessly carried him back up to the rooftop.