Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

44. Prince Rui’s Doubt

Translator: Flying Lines

When Su Jie woke up, there was clear confusion in his eyes when he felt himself unable to move. Though his eyes were wide open, his mind was at the usual state of blankness after waking up.

“You awake?” Xiao ShengNian’s voice rang by his ear, with slight touch of laziness and magnetic hoarseness.

“En.” Su Jie wanted to move his numb arms a bit but couldn’t because he was still in Xiao ShengNian’s arms.

“Then get up. My body is getting numb.” Xiao ShengNian moved his body with some difficulty and groaned before he got up and put on his black boots to stretch himself.

He only got himself to blame as he didn’t have the heart to wake up Su Jie, who appeared to be so obedient and innocent in his sleep. For fear that he might disturb the innocent boy in his arms, he didn’t dare to move a bit the whole time, that was how he got all the stiffness.

“How long did I sleep?” Su Jie sat up and rubbed his dizzy head.

“Probably quite a long time.” Xiao ShengNian wasn’t sure either. He handed the water bag to Su Jie, “Drink some water. If you are hungry, have some refreshments. It will take two or three hours to get to the next city.”

“That long?” asked Su Jie as he took the bag and gulped some water, refreshed by the cool water.

“Yeah, there’re mostly villages here where won’t be places for us to stay for the night. We have to go through a mountain to reach the next city before we can settle down.” Xiao ShengNian explaned as he stretched his arms.

“Oh.” Su Jie handed the water bag back to Xiao ShengNian, his eyes lit up.

“What?” Xiao ShengNian thought he had something to say.

Su Jie didn’t say a word, he just stared at Xiao ShengNian till his gaze made Xiao ShengNian uneasy.

“Don’t stare at me like that!” Xiao ShengNian gave Su Jie’s head a slight pat, thinking to himself, “No one dare to stare at me like that. What? That nap damages my little slave’s brain?”

Su Jie stared at Xiao ShengNian, a somewhat strange feeling in his heart as he said with a smile, “You’ve been taking care of me the whole time.”

Xiao ShengNian gave it some thought and nodded before saying, “Looks like it is necessary to let Yu Che teach you how to serve me or others might take you as the prince.”

Xiao ShengNian thought carefully of everything happened ever since he met Su Jie and was surprised to find that indeed he, the prince, had been taking care of and tolerating the young boy before him the whole time. Su Jie had been obedient only once at the very beginning then he slowly showed his unrestrained nature. Now the pride in those bright eyes of this unruly boy was more evident, too captivating to be ignored.

Did his tenderness let the Jianghu boy unknowingly show his true nature? That led him to his doubt about his master shifu, Zhou Zaiyue, who had been living a secluded life on Mount Mengqi all these years, decided to go to the capital just for a jade pendant…Was it really because his little slave was the son of his friends? Or was it something else…

Xiao ShengNian pondered all this over in silence, finding Su Jie’s origin a mystery.

From their first encounter when he lifted that curtain of his carriage and found the unconscious boy in the bush to his order, “Save him” to the boy’s creeping into his study to ask to stay, then Zhou Zaiyue…There must be something between Zhou Zaiyue and the boy that had escaped his notice.

He then thought of the saying, “Dragon in seclusion aims big”. Zhou Zaiyue was a learned and resourceful dragon in seclusion who was always calm and composed due to his rich experience. Yet somehow, he couldn’t keep his cool when seeing the jade pendant…

Things were getting a bit interesting.

Xiao ShengNian curled up his lips in silence. As a man good at disguising himself, he was never afraid of challenges. He had the confidence to brave any storms and the patience to dig out the buried truth.