After Being Reborn, He Became an Undercover Agent by My Side - Chapter 2

“…I never knew you had such tastes…”

***

Shi Zizhuo suppressed the sudden tremor in his heart, his expression remaining unchanged. “What nonsense are you spouting, Your Highness? What great crime have I committed to deserve being cut a thousand times and flayed by a thousand knives?”

Jing Si chuckled softly, the hand gripping the back of Shi Zizhuo’s neck loosening. His other hand slid down the bridge of Shi Zizhuo’s nose, coming to rest on his bloodless lips.

A predatory desire for conquest gleamed in Jing Si’s eyes. “Since you now belong to me, I must teach you the rules. First—”

“You are not to lie to this Prince, nor are you to evade the truth.” He pressed his finger down hard, bruising the pale lips a vivid crimson.

Shi Zizhuo sneered, his teeth clamping down on the fingertip. He spoke around the flesh, his voice muffled but defiant. “The Prince is far too confident.”

“Confident?” Jing Si’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Do you know how to train a dog? Training a hawk or a horse is no different… The Emperor of Wu Zhou set a precedent long ago, did she not?”

Shi Zizhuo knew the allusion. The Emperor Wu Zetian had once encountered the fierce Lion-maned Piebald horse and devised a method to tame it: “If the iron whip fails to subdue it, strike its head with a club. If it still refuses, stab its throat with a dagger.” In short, it was a method of breaking its rebellious spirit, crushing its fierce nature, and threatening its very life.

Shi Zizhuo deliberately provoked him. “Does Your Highness not know the saying? ‘When a fine horse rears and bites, one thinks it’s acting up and beats it with a whip and spur. But who knows that such a method only makes the horse sick?’ If one continues like this, even if it takes months and days, the horse will eventually collapse. What value is there in such a treasure?'”

Jing Si’s lips twitched slightly. He understood the meaning of those words: when a fine horse rears, you think it’s being rebellious and beat it mercilessly. With such training, over time, the fine steed will become a sick horse.

Jing Si deliberately drawled as he repeated Shi Zizhuo’s words, “‘What value is there in such a treasure? What treasure do you have?”

Jing Si’s hand moved with utter impropriety, stroking down the places Shi Zizhuo had just mentioned. “Is it this Treasure of the Throat, the Treasure of the Chest and Belly, or—”

His fingers traced down from the Adam’s apple, over the chest and belly, and then to the very spot Shi Zizhuo could no longer bear. He reached out to stop him, but Jing Si feinted, his hand instead cupping Shi Zizhuo’s face. “—Or is it this Treasure of the Face?”

Shi Zizhuo sneered. “Naturally, this face is a rare gem of priceless value. After all, it is identical to Yours, Your Highness… and you…”

He left the last part unspoken, silently mouthing the words: Admiring one’s own beauty, treasuring a broken broom.

Jing Si burst into laughter. “You really aren’t afraid of me, are you?”

“Why should I be?” Shi Zizhuo retorted. “It is Your Highness who should be afraid of me.”

“Oh?” Jing Si raised an eyebrow. “And why should I be afraid of you? Do tell.”

Shi Zizhuo listed his reasons one by one. “Your Highness is physically weak and no match for me. Are you not afraid of ‘blood splattering within five steps of the king’? You tried to stab me in the throat with a dagger, yet you couldn’t even hold it steady. Even with your own retinue, how could you ever sleep soundly alone at night?”

Jing Si’s interest was piqued. “I am no match for you? How formidable are you? Why don’t you take off your clothes and show me?”

Shi Zizhuo felt a mixture of emotions. “…I never knew you had such tastes.”

“Do you know me so well? How can you be sure I don’t have such tastes?” Jing Si rested his chin on his hand. “Could it be that you’ve long been infatuated with me? That you’d endure a thousand cuts and ten thousand slices just to seize the chance to be by my side?”

For the thirty-ninth time, Shi Zizhuo began to doubt himself: Was I always this insufferable when I spoke?

Jing Si continued, talking to himself, “You’re right, I really can’t sleep soundly alone at night. How about you sleep with me? That way, if I die, everyone will know you killed me. With a nationwide manhunt underway, do you think you could ever change your face again?”

Shi Zizhuo was shocked. “Utter nonsense!”

“How is this nonsense?” Jing Si said with mock seriousness. “This Prince thinks it’s a brilliant idea. As the old saying goes, ‘Every monkey has its own leash.’ You, my big monkey, belong leashed in my embroidery room.”

Shi Zizhuo went mad with frustration. “There is no such saying!”

“This Prince says there is,” Jing Si declared shamelessly. “Hurry and wash up. You’re attending my bed tonight.”

Shi Zizhuo stared in disbelief. “Your Highness, how can you allow another to sleep beside your bed?”

Jing Si’s gaze turned meaningful. “There is no ‘another’.”

“What do you mean?” Shi Zizhuo’s heart skipped a beat.

Jing Si reverted to his usual flippant tone. “You were sent to me, so aren’t you my person? You can’t be ‘another’.”

Shi Zizhuo scrutinized him, but Jing Si remained completely composed.

…Too composed.

Jing Si clapped his hands and called out, “Mi Yi!”

Shi Zizhuo froze at the name. After bantering with Jing Si for so long, the sudden mention of someone else’s name momentarily stunned him.

Mi Yi was his personal attendant, the one who understood him best and whom he trusted most. Yet the memory of his death in his previous life’s dream had left Shi Zizhuo wary of everyone around him. The closer someone was, the more likely they were to betray him.

Mi Yi entered the hall at the call and bowed. “Your Highness, what are your orders?”

“Take him to wash up,” Jing Si ordered, pointing at Shi Zizhuo.

Mi Yi stepped aside. “This way, please.”

Shi Zizhuo had gone without washing for several days to maintain his disguise as someone Ji Shugui had picked up from the streets. He was beginning to find the lack of hygiene unbearable himself, and he also wanted to test Mi Yi, so he followed him.

As Mi Yi led him toward the West Wing, Shi Zhuo probed, “Have you served His Highness for a long time?”

“Twenty years,” Mi Yi replied.

“You must know His Highness very well,” Shi Zizhuo remarked.

Mi Yi’s mind was sharp. “What do you want to know?”

“Is His Highness close to everyone?” Shi Zizhuo asked.

Mi Yi smiled. “Of course not. To outsiders, our Highness is warm in manner but cold in heart. But to his own people, he is the best. If he scolds you, it may actually be a sign of his trust. However, if His Highness speaks to you with excessive familiarity, that is when you should be wary.”

“Wary of what?” Shi Zizhuo asked, surprised to learn how he was perceived by others.

“You see,” Mi Yi explained, “His Highness once had a page who stole from the Prince’s Manor to sell. His Highness remained gentle and smiling, saying the page must have stolen because the servants’ stipends were too low, and then he raised all our pay. But a few days later, that page was beaten to death outside.”

Shi Zizhuo’s expression remained impassive.

Mi Yi seemed to feel a lack of fulfillment. He asked, “Aren’t you curious about how he died?”

“Wasn’t he beaten to death?” Shi Zizhuo asked blandly.

Mi Yi shook his head. “He stole a secret recipe from the Prince’s Manor’s kitchen and sold it to a restaurant. That restaurant then used it to create a signature dish. But another restaurant came knocking, claiming the recipe was theirs and that the first restaurant must have plagiarized it. The restaurant that bought the recipe then found the servant. The servant was unable to defend himself and was beaten by people from both restaurants. A few days later, he breathed his last. His Highness even gave his family a sum of money for funeral expenses and made sure he was buried properly.”

Shi Zizhuo’s face showed no emotion. “What does this have to do with needing to be wary of His Highness?”

Mi Yi lowered his voice. “You’re so naive! This was clearly a setup by His Highness! He was killing the chicken to warn the monkey—making us see the man’s fate so we would submit wholeheartedly.”

“You’ve followed him for twenty years, yet we’ve only just met,” Shi Zizhuo said, his eyes hiding a cold glint as he looked at Mi Yi. “Why are you confiding in me like this?”

Mi Yi replied, “Don’t you understand? In the saying ‘killing the chicken to warn the monkey,’ you are that monkey.”

Shi Zizhuo had been compared to a monkey twice today. He was so angry he almost laughed, letting out a cold snort.

“By your logic, I’m not the monkey,” Shi Zizhuo said coldly.

“Then what are you?”

“I’m the chicken.”

As he spoke, he reached the West Wing. Shi Zizhuo spotted the steaming bath tub inside, stepped in, and slammed the door shut behind him.

The door banged shut in Mi Yi’s face. He stood outside and called out, “Don’t be mad. Do you want me to help you?”

“No!” Shi Zizhuo retorted from inside.

Silence fell outside. A moment later, the sound of receding footsteps echoed as Mi Yi walked away.

Shi Zizhuo stripped and stepped into the tub. As he scrubbed his body, Jing Si’s earlier words—”How tough are you? Take it off and let me see”, flashed through his mind.

A bizarre sensation washed over him, and Shi Zizhuo shuddered, his skin breaking out in goosebumps.

He looked down at his arms. This body was indeed stronger than his previous one. In his past life, to avoid drawing the suspicion of the man on the dragon throne, he had never learned archery or horsemanship. Even during the royal hunts, he had watched from a carriage, keeping his distance. When bribing the Ghost Messengers in the Underworld, he had specifically requested a body skilled in martial arts, so that in a life-or-death situation, he could at least defend himself.

But since his rebirth, he had yet to test the physical prowess of this new body.

Shi Zizhuo suddenly threw a punch. Though it struck only empty air, the force was so immense that it sent ripples surging across the water’s surface!

Shi Zizhuo was both startled and delighted. Just as he was about to try again, a soft sound came from the doorway.

“Who’s there?!” Shi Zizhuo demanded warily.

“It’s me.” Jing Si strolled in with a hand warmer in his grasp. His nose was slightly red from the cold, but he paid no mind to propriety and walked straight into the room.

As Jing Si drew nearer, Shi Zizhuo remarked, “Your Highness has no sense of decorum.”

“What decorum?” Jing Si replied, taking a seat at a table three paces from the bath tub. “This Prince is the decorum.”

Shi Zizhuo shot him a sidelong glance. “Your Highness’s decorum consists of watching a servant bathe?”

“What servant?” Jing Si chuckled. “You are no ordinary servant.”

“How so?” Shi Zizhuo asked.

Jing Si’s voice turned cool. “Haven’t you heard from Ji Shugui? You were sent here to die in my place. If your food, clothing, and expenses weren’t identical to mine, how could you pass for me? How could you willingly die in my stead?”

Shi Zizhuo sneered. “If Your Highness truly thought that, you wouldn’t be speaking to me like this.”

“Precisely,” Jing Si smiled again. “I never planned for you to die in my place. I figured it was best to clear that up with you early on.”

Shi Zhuozhuo countered, “Then what does Your Highness want from me? Mi Yi dared to speak those words, but I doubt he has the guts to act on them. Are you truly using him to ‘kill the chicken to warn the monkey’?”

“And which one are you—the chicken or the monkey?” Jing Si’s retort confirmed what Shi Zizhuo had suspected: Mi Yi had reported their entire conversation to the prince, word for word.

Shi Zizhuo replied coolly, “I don’t know if I am the chicken or the monkey, but Your Highness may not be the one killing the chicken.”

“Then what am I?” Jing Si asked.

Shi Zizhuo stared directly into his eyes. “A trapped beast in a cage. A frog at the bottom of a well.”

Jing Si laughed. “We are strangers who have only just met, yet you’ve insulted me twice already.”

Just as Shi Zizhuo was about to speak again, Jing Si abruptly changed the subject, his tone turning sly. “The steam is almost gone. Aren’t you going to come out and dry yourself?”

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