Chapter 72
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“That time, I even said I was Xu Chunmu. It was just a casual lie. Why does Your Majesty suddenly recall these old things?”
The foot still wasn’t lifted. Chu Xie, in a rare good mood, knocked on his knee, “Lift your foot; your boots are soaked.”
It was raining heavily, and he didn’t even use an umbrella. The road might be short, but they couldn’t do this. If he had known, he would have just stayed in the Chengluan Palace for discussions.
“Why did you say you were Xu Chunmu back then?”
Chu Xie paused.
Looking up, he saw the clarity in the young emperor’s eyes, seeming drunk yet not drunk.
“Was it to seek reward for Xu Chunmu?”
Chu Xie furrowed his brow, thinking this was such a ridiculous statement. “I didn’t even know him at that time.” The person released his foot, and Chu Xie smoothly removed the other boot. He thought to himself that helping someone take off their shoes was a much more troublesome task than he had imagined, thinking to the times Jiang Yanchi did it for him.
After settling him on the bed, Chu Xie hesitated for a moment, considering whether to squeeze onto one bed or go to the side hall.
He was a bit worried that Jiang Yanchi might go crazy in the middle of the night.
“Why?”
Ah, bringing up old accounts endlessly. Chu Xie could only respond, “Because Xu Chunmu is a good person, honest and pure, the grandson of Marquis Zhenguo. I borrowed his identity so that Your Majesty would believe me.”
“He is a good person…”
However, Jiang Yanchi pondered this statement carefully, “Yes, Xu Chunmu… is gentle and simple. He has never been to the capital, not tainted by the dirty world. He… is a good person.”
“Chu Xie.”
Under a sudden thunderclap, Chu Xie saw Jiang Yanchi’s eyes turn red, looking somewhat pitiful yet also a bit cold. “But I… am not a good person.”
“…”
“My father despises me, everyone dislikes me because I have half of the Yue Clan blood. I’m wrong just to live in this world… I always have to try my best to grasp the little things I want. Endure everything just to protect that remaining warmth.”
“When not liked, even struggling to survive becomes annoying.”
“I cannot be a good person.”
Chu Xie shrugged it off, “Then don’t be a good person. After all, this world is not a good world.”
“Xu Chunmu is different from me.”
Why bring up Xu Chunmu again?
Chu Xie furrowed his brow.
“He grew up under the care of his father, loved and cherished by his grandfather. He grew up carefree in the Northern Border. Xu Yi once said he wished him to stay in the Northern Border for his whole life, meaning to keep him by his side.” Jiang Yanchi spoke calmly but with an imperceptible hostility, “Chu Xie, you really like that kind of… simple, precious, and kind-hearted person.”
“It’s more like admiration than liking.” Although he knew he was talking nonsense because of being drunk, Chu Xie still responded accordingly. He had decided to share a bed with him tonight, “Your Majesty, sleep early. I’m a bit tired…”
“Don’t sleep.”
Jiang Yanchi, unusually, stopped him, “Talk to me a bit more.”
“Okay, then.”
The little emperor today is truly strange.
“What does Your Majesty want to say?” Chu Xie switched to a child-soothing mode, resting with closed eyes, “Say it.”
“Has Xu Chunmu seen your daytime personality?”
The sleepiness Chu Xie was cultivating vanished instantly. His eyes opened wide, looking at the Jiang Yanchi beside him in surprise.
“Never seen, right?” Jiang Yanchi’s lips curved with a hint of a smile. “Why?”
Why? Oh d*mn, wait a second, let me come up with something on the spot for why.
Chu Xie, being watched by those eyes, awkwardly scratched the bedsheet and stammered, “I-I, it’s just—”
“If you’re going to lie to me, don’t bother explaining.”
“I… I’m not lying to you. I lied to you before, but I’m not lying to you now.”
Chu Xie, hearing his chilly tone, brushed aside the wet hair and said, “What’s wrong with Your Majesty today? You seem a bit different from usual.”
“You, on the other hand… have always been like this.”
“It seems that no matter what I do, you won’t change at all.”
Why does it seem a bit… weird?
Chu Xie lost interest in the conversation and turned away, saying, “I’m really a bit tired.”
“Tired.”
The voice behind him came softly, “Then sleep.”
Chu Xie closed his eyes and had a dream. In the dream, he laid in a cold coffin, unable to move, tightly pressed against a mass of ice. The cold penetrated his bones.
When he woke up again, it was already bright outside.
The emperor, who got drunk last night, was really strange. Chu Xie called Little Xizi early in the morning and asked why he didn’t come to attend to him last night. Little Xizi said that His Majesty dismissed everyone last night and wanted to be alone with Niang Niang.
Chu Xie waved his hand, and Little Xizi approached. He said, “Prepare a bowl of sobering soup for His Majesty. Also, tell him not to drink so much at night in the future.”
“I dare not say the latter part, Niang Niang. You can tell His Majesty yourself.”
Little Xizi smiled charmingly, “Niang Niang, what would you like to eat today? The small kitchen has prepared porridge; would you like some?”
“Yeah.”
Shaking his head, Chu Xie, while attending to breakfast, discarded the strange feeling and said, “His Majesty has gone to attend court.”
“His Majesty has not gone to court; he has left the palace.” Little Xizi greeted the servants bringing in the porridge dishes and said, “He should be back in the afternoon.”
***
Zhao Prison.
On the dark blue stone floor, a few more drops of blood splattered after the whip struck. After the whip stopped, the person in the dark cloak turned his fingers, tapping the table slightly.
“Still not talking?”
Lowering his gaze, lightly pursing his lips, the person with a feather-like eyelash slightly lifted his eyes to the side, only using peripheral vision to watch the person beside him. “Then continue.”
The sound of the whip rang out again. This man, who had fought alongside Xu Chunmu for over a decade and followed the Xu family for about twenty years, was guessed by Jiang Yanchi that he wouldn’t easily speak, so he had the whip soaked in saltwater. After a night of questioning, he still hadn’t squeezed out a single word.
The jailer came to remind him. If he continued to interrogate like this, it was feared that before anything was extracted, the person would have already lost his breath.
This person looked like a tough nut, not afraid of this kind of physical pain. It would be better to first administer some drugs to confuse his senses, then proceed with threats and inducements.
The emperor tapped his fingertips, signaling the whip to stop.
Soon, a bowl of dark medicine was forced down, and after a night of exhaustion and blood loss, the man’s eyes gradually became unfocused.
Jiang Yanchi slowly stood up. “Four months ago, during the negotiations in Changye County, how did it happen?”
“I… really, do not know…”
“If you still can’t remember, I’ll have to ask Young Marquis Xu.”
The man’s expression changed instantly, and Jiang Yanchi sneered, “I wonder if Young Marquis Xu can withstand the whips of this prison.”
“Your Maje—”
“Speak.”
The emperor coldly glanced at the blood-stained whip, “During that negotiation, did the Xu family force Lord Chu to go?”
“Whose idea was it in the end? Clarify, and I won’t blame anyone.”
The man turned his head and coughed up a mouthful of blood, his gaze becoming more scattered, “This matter… has nothing to do with the Xu family…”
“Oh?”
“It was Lord Chu who wanted to negotiate himself.”
Jiang Yanchi took a step back and sat back in his chair, saying in a deep voice, “For no reason, why did he go for negotiations?”
“On that day in Changye County… there were only 3,000 Changming cavalry, stationed with 25,000 troops. Young Marquis… Young Marquis…”
He seemed lost, shook his head forcefully, unwilling to say more. The emperor had someone whip him a few more times. When the drug gradually took effect, the man’s consciousness further dissipated, shouting, “Stop hitting, I’ll talk…”
“Young Marquis… Young Marquis was severely injured and not yet recovered. Lord Chu said he couldn’t go to the battlefield again, asking him to recover properly… he said he could go for negotiations…”
The paper on the table was gradually crumpled, but no emotions could be discerned on the surface.
He only said indifferently, “Continue.”
“Lord Chu… he delayed for a few days, and he had the ability to make the Northern Xiongs retreat ninety miles. He even secretly obtained the jade pendant… then, Young Marquis could launch a night raid on the supply army…”
The knuckles in his sleeves turned green, and Jiang Yanchi kept his eyes lowered. He asked again, “What about Xu Chunmu? Did he not care whether Chu Xie lived or died?”
“How could he not care… in order to return to the camp a minute earlier, he took a high-risk tactic of a fire attack during the surprise attack. His own arm was burned extensively. He said that if it had been a moment later, Lord Chu might have lost his life… fortunately, Young Marquis came out unharmed. Otherwise, how would I explain to the Old Lord?”
“And the matter of Puyang County, did Chu Xie really have no involvement?”
“… No, the rebellion in Puyang County and the encounter with Lord Chu were accidental…”
With a single glance, the jailer struck the whip twice more.
“It really was… an accident…”
“If Chu Xie did not participate in the rebellion, how could Jiang Jingan die just then, and Xu Yi happened to arrive?”
“… It’s really a coincidence… Young Marquis Xu seemed to know that Chu Xie was going to kill Jiang Jingan. Perhaps, it was the Lord Xu in the capital who informed him… The timing was very precise, just to use the death of the prince and the war in the west to force the crown prince to abdicate, or to divert the northern army south…”
“Support… Jiang Silan, to ascend the throne… the Marquis said, the Crown Prince is sinister and ruthless, absolutely cannot ascend to the imperial throne.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yanchi emitted a cold snort.
“If it’s a coincidence, how did Chu Xie survive in Puyang County?”
“He… Young Marquis saved him…”
A glint of darkness gradually appeared in Jiang Yanchi’s eyes.
“Young Marquis angered Lord Marquis because of this. Lord Marquis gave the order not to harm Young Marquis’s life but must kill Chu Xie. Young Marquis was injured while protecting Chu Xie, falling off a cliff. Later, Lord Marquis regretted it, withdrew the pursuers, saying Young Marquis had a stubborn temper, and they couldn’t catch up…”
The little emperor’s breathing became heavier, and the back of his hand trembled slightly.
After taking two deep breaths, he asked slowly, word by word, “Chu Xie, what is the relationship between him and Xu Chunmu?”
“I… really don’t know…”
While speaking, he tilted his head and spat out a mouthful of blood. Jiang Yanchi said, “Take him away.” He then instructed to find a doctor to check on him, not allowing him to die in the prison.
Sitting in the Zhao prison for the entire morning, he watched the sunlight streaming in through the small window, feeling it piercing to the eyes.
Su Mingan even brought the woman who had helped Chu Xie in the village into the capital and settled her in the Shuntian Mansion. She immediately recognized both of them using two portraits.
“I remember. At that time, I thought both of them had clear features and even believed they were brothers.”
“But the injured young lord said they were husband and wife.”
Jiang Yanchi asked a few more questions, and the woman could vividly describe the distinctive features of Xu Chunmu and Chu Xie, showing no signs of falsehood.
Su Mingan was protecting Zhao Lingqu at the expense of Chu Xie.
In the end, Chu Xie was raised by Su Mingan. The skill of guessing people’s hearts was precise and ruthless.
Su Mingan, Chu Xie.
Both were spinning tales of lies with seven parts truth and three parts falsehood, each with its own motives, each pointing in a certain direction.
Su Mingan wanted to protect Zhao Lingqu.
Chu Xie wanted to protect Xu Chunmu.
In the mouths of the two, the same past was told like two completely different stories.
Which part was true, which part was false, tangled and difficult to distinguish.
But someone was really skilled.
Jiang Yanchi clenched his fists secretly, leaving several green and purple marks in the palm—He didn’t care about Su Mingan’s lies.
Chu Xie’s, however, was a knife stabbed into his heart.
And in Chu Xie’s narrative, Xu Chunmu was completely concealed, deliberately obscured.
He finally understood why he always felt that Chu Xie harbored secrets that he couldn’t share with him. No matter how he split his heart open and held it in front of him, he could never obtain his true sincerity.
He even naively thought that even if there was a millennium of cold ice, there would eventually be a day of melting.
But it wasn’t true.
From the beginning, Chu Xie never considered truly accepting him.
Because.
There was another person in his heart.
Author’s Note: Blackening value at 50%~
I saw comments expressing concerns that child Jiang might be deceived, but that won’t happen.
Child Jiang has always been clever, even more insightful than Chu Xie. Except for Chu Xie, he has never trusted anyone.
Sometimes, he may appear a bit clumsy because, from the beginning to the end, he has never schemed against Chu Xie. He only wanted to exchange sincerity for sincerity, and precisely because of this, once he faces a backlash, the injuries he suffers will be severe, and he might gradually lose his sanity.
Chu Xie is the opposite. His intelligence can be brought into play because he has never fallen for anyone. But once he does, he can’t lie smoothly anymore and will become full of loopholes.
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