A Thousand-Mile Exile, An Encounter with an Old Friend - Chapter 19

“Of course it’s true,” Zhu Qinghou said, naturally spreading out a scroll on the desk. He traced the surface slowly and asked casually, “Why? Did they not find it?”

This time, for some reason, Li Zhen did not stop him from looking at the documents. His voice remained flat. “No.”

Zhu Qinghou looked up in feigned surprise, his gaze shifting away from the dense pinpricks on the scroll. “I thought the people of the Prince of Su’s manor were capable of anything. Surely they wouldn’t fail at such a small task?”

Even if Li Zhen’s men were divine beings, they couldn’t conjure thirty million taels of silver out of thin air.

Li Zhen’s features were exquisite, yet his expression was barren—a coldness so absolute it bordered on the ethereal. His voice was equally detached. “If something does not exist, where are they supposed to find it?”

At those words, Zhu Qinghou arched an eyebrow. His fingertips continued their rhythmic tapping on the scroll, his expression and tone remaining perfectly steady.

“It doesn’t exist?” He laughed. “Since you don’t believe me, then let’s pretend it doesn’t.”

Rather than offering a long-winded explanation or defense, this nonchalant, fearless attitude was far more likely to win trust. If there was even a ten-percent chance of belief and a shred of doubt in Li Zhen’s mind, it would be enough for him to survive.

Li Zhen’s face, as clear as ice and jade, showed no emotion. Even the curve of the white silk over his eyes remained unchanged.

“Is that so?”

His voice was chillingly calm. It lacked any overt malice, yet it made Zhu Qinghou’s heart skip a beat.

“Believe what you want,” Zhu Qinghou tossed the remark aside and fell silent. He went back to stroking the scroll, appearing focused, though he didn’t actually read a single word.

Last year, the Ministry of Justice had exhausted every possible means to extract the location of those thirty million taels from him. Compared to them, Li Zhen was positively soft-hearted.

Light filtered through the room, falling on the young Prince’s sharp, cold features. The white silk cast a faint shadow across the bridge of his nose, creating a sharp contrast between light and dark.

“So, you are saying it was their incompetence?” Li Zhen asked softly.

Zhu Qinghou had no intention of letting the blame fall on the Prince’s subordinates. He rested his head on the back of his hand, leaning lazily against the desk. “There is no shortage of people with overwhelming power in Yejing,” he stated.

For example, the Eldest Prince Li Jue, or the current Chancellor, Lin Hanyi.

Hypocrites of the highest order. Greedy for power, devoid of gratitude.

He didn’t state their names directly. By speaking in half-truths and leaving things to the imagination, he was more likely to sow the seeds of suspicion.

Li Zhen remained still, making it impossible to tell if he had taken the bait. “Such as?”

Zhu Qinghou continued to lead him. “Who manages the Department of State Affairs now?” He couldn’t even be bothered to say Lin Hanyi’s name; just thinking about that cur made him annoyed.

Lin Hanyi—the most prized student of Zhu Qinghou’s father and the most trusted retainer of the Zhu clan.

The man came from nothing; he was a little beggar Zhu Qinghou had picked up off the streets as a child. Even his name had been given to him by Zhu Qinghou.

Later, it was this very man who collaborated with the Censorate to impeach the Zhu clan, betraying his benefactors in the name of “righteousness.” He was praised by the Emperor and took over the position of Chancellor after Zhu Qingping’s death.

“Lin Hanyi?”

At the mention of the name, Li Zhen’s voice remained steady, but his tone grew inexplicably colder.

Zhu Qinghou lay on the desk, tilting his head and idly twirling a lock of Li Zhen’s hair. “What? Do you also think he’s a piece of filth?” He muttered under his breath, deciding to dump the entire “missing silver” blame onto Lin Hanyi. “Perhaps he’s the one who secretly embezzled the money.”

Lin Hanyi, oh Lin Hanyi. You framed the Zhu clan with the Censorate; sooner or later, I’ll return the favor.

Zhu Qinghou’s eyes, usually full of mirth, flashed with a cold light.

Surprisingly, Li Zhen’s focus wasn’t on the money. “You think he is a ‘piece of filth’?”

Zhu Qinghou was startled. He hadn’t expected Li Zhen to repeat such crude language.

He looked up in curiosity, only to find the Prince’s face as stoic as ever—that same “dead-man” look of a refined gentleman, even when using such words. However, for some reason, he felt that Li Zhen seemed… slightly pleased?

“He’s not just filth,” Zhu Qinghou corrected himself quickly.

Li Zhen “watched” him through the silk, the faint, almost invisible smile at the corners of his mouth vanishing.

“He’s worse than filth.”

Zhu Qinghou launched into a passionate tirade against Lin Hanyi, calling him a beast in human skin.

Li Zhen remained silent throughout the rant, his lips curving into a very slight, fleeting smile.

Zhu Qinghou spoke until his throat was dry. He reached for the ear-cup beside him and took a long drink. Only after he finished did Li Zhen speak slowly: “That was mine.”

“It’s fine,” Zhu Qinghou said, magnanimously “forgiving” Li Zhen for the use of the cup. “We even shared clothes when we were younger.”

Li Zhen is older now; why is he more shy than he was as a boy?

Li Zhen: “…”

With that bit of banter, the tense atmosphere dissipated. The topic had shifted from “Whether Zhu Qinghou is a liar” to “Lin Hanyi is a sub-human beast.”

Li Zhen didn’t bring up the thirty million taels again, presumably having accepted the story.

Zhu Qinghou breathed a silent sigh of relief. He thought to himself that while Lin Hanyi was indeed scum, he made for a very practical scapegoat.

To prevent Li Zhen from having quiet time to find flaws in his story, Zhu Qinghou began making as much noise as possible. He spread out the scrolls in front of him and started reading aloud: “Sizhou, thirty thousand stones of rice…”

As it happened, this scroll was related to the grain delivery from Sizhou.

Did Li Zhen let me see this on purpose? Did he realize I was snooping a few days ago?

Zhu Qinghou’s mind raced, but he didn’t let it show. He kept reading, determined to make Li Zhen’s head buzz with the noise.

Li Zhen: “…”

Outside the study.

The officials of Yongzhou, lined up and waiting for an audience with the Prince, were bewildered. “…”

Who is chanting in there?

The voice was actually quite pleasant.

A soldier cautiously announced them. He kept his eyes strictly forward, ignoring the young man in purple sprawled on the desk “chanting,” and informed the Prince that the newly appointed officials had arrived.

Some of these officials had been transferred from Yejing by imperial decree, while others came from different provinces. After a long journey of nearly half a month, they had finally arrived in Yongzhou and were eager to pay their respects to the Prince of Su.

“Let them in,” Li Zhen ordered calmly.

The soldier gave Zhu Qinghou a troubled look. It was hardly appropriate for him to stay while the new officials were being received. If word got out that the Prince was handling government affairs with a “male favorite” in the room, it would…

If Zhu Qinghou had any sense, he would have let himself out through the side door.

But Zhu Qinghou had no such sense. He stretched lazily, propped himself up on a cushion, and looked perfectly at ease.

“What are you standing there for? Let them in.”

Soldier: “…”

If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were the master of this manor.

The Prince didn’t say a word, which was a tacit endorsement of Zhu Qinghou’s arrogant behavior. The soldier had no choice but to lead the group of trembling officials inside.

They had all heard of the Prince of Su’s terrifying reputation—that he was a cold-blooded executioner who ruled with an iron fist. They entered as if walking on the edge of an abyss, bowing with extreme caution.

After a long wait, they finally heard a clear, youthful voice: “You may rise!”

The Prince’s voice was so…

So.

Lively?

One of the bolder officials stole a glance. His eyes moved upward to see a splash of purple, and then, beside it, a figure in cold, dark robes.

Looking further up, he saw the Prince, his eyes covered in white silk, his presence radiating a freezing intensity.

Official: “!!!”

He immediately looked down, not daring to look again. For a moment, it felt as though the Prince were a predatory beast guarding his food, refusing to let anyone catch a glimpse of his captive treasure.

…Was it just his imagination?

Zhu Qinghou was completely oblivious to the undercurrents. He began acting as if he were in charge. “Everyone, stand up!”

He didn’t care if he was stealing Li Zhen’s thunder. He leaned over to flip through the personnel records in front of the Prince and asked casually, “You there. Where are you from?”

“Reporting to… Great One,” the official stuttered, unsure how to address him. Seeing the beauty of the young man and the red mole between his brows, he suspected it was Zhu Qinghou. But given the history between the Zhu family and the Prince, how could the Prince possibly allow him to sit by his side so comfortably?

He couldn’t figure it out, so he answered cautiously, “This humble official is from Yejing.”

“Yejing?” Zhu Qinghou looked him over. He didn’t recognize him; likely just a minor official from some obscure corner. “That’s quite a distance. Let’s have the manor compensate you for your travel expenses and ‘shuxiu’ (teacher’s gift/stipend), shall we?”

The official was overwhelmed, but also feared this was a trap set by the Prince to use him as an example. He knelt immediately.

“This official does not dare.”

“If you want it, take it. If you don’t, say so,” Zhu Qinghou said lazily. “What do you mean, you ‘don’t dare’?”

His tone was light and breezy, carrying a hint of genuine confusion. The atmosphere in the study relaxed significantly. The other officials grew bolder and began to look at the pair behind the desk.

The young man in purple was leaning back in his chair, tilting his head to look at the scrolls. A few locks of dark hair escaped the purple silk ribbon tying his hair.

As for the man beside him—the supposedly violent and terrifying Prince of Su…

The officials all fell into deep thought.

On that note. where on earth did the little tinkling braids in the Prince’s hair come from?

Li Zhen was well aware of their stares. He didn’t move to touch the braids. Instead, he subtly tilted his head, making the braids even more visible.

The faint silver glint of the ornaments in his dark hair looked entirely out of place, yet possessed a strange, eerie harmony.

Officials: “…”

Is it just us, or does it feel like he’s showing them off?

The official who had been questioned earlier gathered his courage and spoke with extreme caution: “This servant has a salary and requires no extra stipend. Thank you, Your Highness and Great One, for your concern.”

In short: I have money; please don’t give me more.

The moment he said it, he regretted it. He was only sent to this godforsaken place because he didn’t have money to grease the wheels in the capital. He secretly hoped this “Great One” would be stubborn and insist on giving him the money anyway.

Zhu Qinghou said, “Fine, if you don’t need it.” He then asked the others, “Does anyone else need a travel subsidy? Step forward and give me your names.”

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