Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

76. Prince Rui Testing Him

Translator: Flying Lines

Su Jie did not know about what had happened at Prince Qin’s residence. During that time, he was reading with Xiao Shengnian in the House of Auspice.

Su Jie was reading ‘History of Yanhui’ and the book Xiao Shengnian was reading was… ‘History of Yanling’.

The two sat in the same house reading about their respective countries’ history. Yet, Xiao Shengnian didn’t know about this. Su Jie was the only one who felt a peculiar emotion as he leafed through the book. For a moment, he wasn’t sure what he was thinking about.

“Has little slave been to State Yanling before?” Perhaps Xiao Shengnian could sense Su Jie’s absentmindedness as he read. He closed the book in his hands and asked.

Su Jie shook his head, answering, “I have lived in State Yanhui for as long as I can remember.”

“Right, I have found the murderers who killed the Wen couple. What do you plan to do with them?” Xiao Shengnian pulled the conversation to another topic. His voice was level and tranquil, which meant that no one could hear any hints of emotion from his voice.

“You’ve found them?” Su Jie was quick to immerse into his acting. Although he was less developed in the emotions department, his reaction speed and acting were superb. Su Jie immediately leapt to his feet and a complex emotion shone from his eyes.

In all fairness, Su Jie had never met any Wen couples. The Wen couple they were talking about were killed by the Guqin Master’s underlings. This was done to give Su Jie a suitable cover to facilitate him approaching Prince Rui. The real Wen Nianxuan was also killed. Su Jie was only borrowing the name Wen Nianxuan so that he could have a cover identity.

However… the person who had killed the Wen couple was already dead… Just who did Xiao Shengnian find?

Or he was testing him?

Obviously, Xiao Shengnian didn’t trust Su Jie enough. After all, there had been something strange about the way they met. So, after he had met with his ninth brother, Xiao Shengnian had Zhui Xing find a few people and deliver them to him in the afternoon. He estimated the time, and they should arrive about now.

Xiao Shengnian nodded. “En, the murderers have been found. They are also the murderers who caused you to be injured at the beginning. Zhui Xing will bring them here in a bit.”

Su Jie didn’t say anything. His breathing quickened and displaying sufficient sorrow and rage, he walked to the room’s door and then back to Xiao Shengnian’s side. This repeated a few times until Xiao Shengnian held onto him. “Don’t pace. Watching you makes me dizzy.”

Su Jie picked up the teacup on the table and drank the already-cooled tea in one go. He returned to his seat on the other side of the table gloomily, like he had to force himself to settle down.

As Xiao Shengnian watched Su Jie’s reactions, he couldn’t help but nod inwardly. He felt that this handsome youth was filial and kind.

And also very much worth his affections.

Not long after, Zhui Xing entered along with a few servants. The servants carried two corpses that were covered with white cloths and brought four middle-aged men into the room.

When Su Jie saw the pair of corpses that were covered with the white cloths, the corner of his eyes twitched mildly, foreshadowing a sticky situation.

He could not recognize any Wen couples. The thing was he didn’t know whether the two corpses were fake. Wouldn’t he blow his cover if he bawled over them?

“Here, they have arrived. Do whatever you want.” Xiao Shengnian lifted his hand and a few servants placed the corpses onto the ground, the white cloths still covering them.

Then, the suspected murderers knelt down with an expression that seemed to admit to their accusations and kowtowed to Su Jie several times.

“Young Master Wen, please forgive us. We only killed your parents because we were lied to. Every injustice has its perpetrator. You should go find the mastermind instead. We beg of you to let us go! We are also people who have families…” One of the men chanted this brokenly for a good while. The man, who had a scar on his face, kowtowed as he begged for mercy.

With a face full of gloom, Su Jie did not say anything.

Xiao Shengnian narrowed his eyes slightly. In an air of languidness, he touched the ring on his right thumb with his other hand. The ring was emerald green and full of intricate details. Every move he made had an indescribable elegant charm.

“Why did you kill my parents?” After he waited for the man to finish begging, Su Jie asked this.

“On that day, there was someone who came to find us. They wanted us to kill the Wen couple. Although we knew martial arts, we were struggling to make money, so we just accepted the job.”

“There are only four of you? What about the one who chased after me?” The corner of Su Jie’s eyes twitched. Of course, he knew they were lying but he must continue acting in front of Prince Rui.

The man froze because he was just someone pretending to be a murderer. When did he ever kill a Wen couple? But he answered almost immediately with a bout of inspiration, “He… He had already betrayed us long ago! He was the one who chased after Young Master Wen. That’s got nothing to do with us…” In all reality, these people really were terrified of Su Jie not saying anything and drawing his sword. After all, they were impromptu ‘murderers’ that Zhui Xing had found.

“You all… should die!” Su Jie walked forwards a few steps and stretched out his hand to take the sword on Zhui Xing’s waist.

“Little slave, you should first see your parents. We have also found the corpses of the Wen couple.” Xiao Shengnian interrupted at this moment to stop him.

Su Jie was sure at this point that this indeed was a trap, but he did not know any Wen couple!

Because Su Jie had stayed mostly at City Yang before, he was not familiar with Prince Rui’s residence that was right under the Emperor’s jurisdiction. At that time, Su Jie explored the terrain near the Prince Rui’s residence and the Guqin Master arranged for a man of sacrifice to lay the foundations of Su Jie’s cover. It was that man of sacrifice who had buried the Wen couple. Originally, this fact was insignificant but the key thing was that the man of sacrifice had a very strange temper. After he killed the Wen couple, he even made a grave for him. On the grave, it was written: ‘The tomb of the Wen couple, erected by a well-meaning passerby.”

After the mission, the man of sacrifice reported his results to the Guqin Master. Su Jie was present at that time. He watched with his own eyes as the man of sacrifice was tortured to death by the Guqin Master. At that time, the Guqin Master had said, “Now this person has died, your cover identity would be safer. Remember, do not have your cover blown during this small mission.”

Right now, Su Jie felt that his cover was about to be blown.

He knew that the faces of the Wen couple must have decayed to the extent that no one would be able to recognize them. The main question was whether Zhui Xing had immorally dug up the corpses from the grave. If he hadn’t dug them up and the two bodies here were fake, Su Jie would expose his cover the moment he cried. After all, no matter how decayed the corpses might be, he should at least be able to recognize his parents’ robes, right?

Kneeling by the pair of corpses, numerous thoughts had already crossed Su Jie’s mind but he put on a mask of desolate desperation. He lifted the white clothes with trembling hands.

The smell of flesh decaying that was enough to make people vomit rushed towards him.

Su Jie’s forehead didn’t even crinkle. He had seen the most bloody of sights before. He was naturally not scared by this.

Only, how should he display his emotions now?

The only way to appear like Wen Nianxuan was to kneel here and cry?

Su Jie suddenly re-covered the corpse with the cloth. He stood up with his back to the pair of corpses like it was agonizing for him to spit out the two words, “… Bury them.”