The Beautiful Top Being Pursued Relentlessly [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 39

BANG.

The moment the door was kicked open, it kicked up a powerful gust of wind.

His internal energy was so formidable it felt physical, instantly toppling the several screens standing in his way.

The occupants of the private room felt a buzzing in their ears. Before they could even see who had arrived, a blood-stained longsword had already pierced deep into the table.

The man in brocade robes sitting by the window jumped in shock, stumbling off his wooden chair and onto the ground. “Who dares to be so”

Before the last word could leave his lips.

BANG!

Another heavy sound.

Xie Cheng entered the room with unhurried steps. He walked to the man’s side, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and stared with genuine interest at the man’s paling face. After a moment, Xie Cheng shifted his grip to the man’s hair and slammed his head violently against the tabletop.

Wood splinters flew, embedding themselves in the man’s flesh. Blood immediately began to flow, masking his entire face in a crimson blur.

“How dare you. argh!”

The man gasped for air. The hand clutching his hair suddenly shoved forward, dragging his face across the rough wooden surface. The pain made him scream several times.

He tried to speak again, but a cold, dazzling light flashed before his eyes, and his breath hitched instantly.

The longsword embedded in the table was incredibly sharp. The blood-slicked blade pressed against his neck, drawing closer, inching in, slowly scraping against his skin.

“AH! AHHH!”

Panic-stricken, the man screamed repeatedly, struggling recklessly.

“Quiet,” Xie Cheng said. He placed his other hand on the hilt and shifted it a few inches. The blade now pressed directly against the man’s eye. His movements were swift, devoid of even a hint of hesitation.

“AHH!”

The man’s screams lost their strength.

The voice coming from above him was far too familiar. For a long time, he had lived in the shadow of that voice; wherever it appeared, he became a non-entity.

Xie Cheng!

“Publicly attempting an assassination… you’re quite bold,” Xie Cheng sneered. He yanked the man’s head up. “Tell me, where did you get the information that I was leaving the estate today?”

“Xie Cheng, let me go!”

“Let you go?” Xie Cheng repeated the words softly. “What kind of nonsense are you spewing?”

“I am your Royal Brother!”

“Royal Brother?”

The great antagonist of the plot, Prince Xian the original host’s third brother, Xie Yuan didn’t seem like a particularly bright man. To bring up “family ties” now, which were as fragile as a thin noodle, showed he had lost all the arrogant courage he’d had before. His dignity was completely gone.

Xie Cheng leaned down, putting his lips close to the man’s blood-drenched ear. This ear had been sliced by the sword during his struggle; it was in the exact same spot as Jiang Yi’s wound.

If anything, this one was deeper, heavier, and messier.

In short, it looked terrifying.

“When you sent men to fire cold arrows, why didn’t you think about who you were then?” Xie Cheng’s grip tightened, his fingertips nearly digging into the man’s skull.

He slammed the man’s head onto the table once more. The sword on the table pressed against the other’s rapidly bobbing Adam’s apple.

“My patience is wearing thin.” Xie Cheng suddenly smiled, though the warmth didn’t reach his eyes. “Talk, or don’t?”

“What assassination? Don’t go throwing your dirty laundry on my head!” Xie Yuan forced himself to stay calm, but his voice wouldn’t stop trembling. His face turned a flushed red from the pressure. “You have no proof. Do you really think you dare to kill me?”

Anyone with a brain knew you couldn’t admit to this.

Xie Cheng looked down at his half-red, half-pale face and replied airily, “Why not?”

“If I kill you today, who in this world would dare to hold me accountable?”

It wasn’t a question; it was a cold statement of fact.

Xie Yuan’s blood seemed to freeze in his veins. He looked into Xie Cheng’s abyssal eyes there was no anger there, no cruelty, only a profound indifference, as if he were looking at an ant.

It was this very indifference that made him believe Xie Cheng truly would kill him. Even more hateful was the realization that, in this world, truly no one could do anything to him.

Xie Yuan’s face twisted for a moment as he shrieked, “No, you can’t! Xie Cheng! If you kill me, you are murdering your own kin! The court will denounce you! Even if Imperial Father protects you, the spittle of the masses will drown you!”

“Hahaha.”

Xie Cheng gave a short, sharp laugh. “A lonely ghost in the wilderness… who would investigate?”

“This is a busy street” Xie Yuan lost all his strength. This fright had already cost him half his life.

“A busy street? How about a fall from a building?”

Xie Cheng suddenly raised his leg and ground his foot into the back of Xie Yuan’s knee. The sound of a bone snapping mixed with a scream. He then stepped firmly onto Xie Yuan’s back.

Half of the man’s body was pushed out the window, hanging precariously over the drop. Xie Yuan’s vision blurred with blood.

“Prince Xian was listening to music in a teahouse when he suffered a sudden fit, climbed the window, and accidentally fell to his death.”

Xie Cheng spoke slowly. He turned slightly, glancing at the few officials who were kneeling on the floor, trembling. He continued: “And those with him failed to notice, leading to Prince Xian’s tragic demise.”

Thud, thud, thud.

The sound of heads hitting the floor in kowtows was frantic and uneven.

“This lowly official is terrified! May Your Highness show mercy!”

“We were wrong! Your Highness, spare us!”

“It was all  it was all Prince Xian’s idea!”

Xie Cheng pointed a slender finger at the official who claimed it was the Prince’s idea. He spoke: “You. Tell me. How did Prince Xian come up with this idea?”

The stout official, thinking he’d been granted a reprieve, wheezed out his words: “The Prince… no, the criminal said that Your Highness was going out for a private excursion with a certain young master today and wouldn’t bring many attendants. He said it was the perfect time for an assassination. We didn’t expect”

The official stopped himself and shouted, “Your Highness is wise and brilliant!”

“Oh, he even knew that. The mole was planted quite deep.” Xie Cheng looked back at the nearly fainting Prince Xian. “Isn’t that right, Royal Brother?”

The official looked up cautiously, wearing a fawning smile. “Your Highness, I have told you everything. Can I… can I make amends for my crimes now?”

“Make amends?”

The official nodded vigorously.

“Did I ever say you could?”

The official’s face turned deathly pale. “Your Highness”

“My Prince! My Prince!”

Before the person even reached the door, their anxious voice preceded them. Xie Cheng looked up to see a sweaty head popping in, a blood-stained sword gripped in hand.

Jiang Yi didn’t pay much attention to the scene inside. He didn’t stop until he reached Xie Cheng, throwing him a messy, filthy hug holding him incredibly tight.

“There were so many assassins, they kept blocking me… My Prince, you can’t run off like that next time.”

Xie Cheng felt like he was being strangled.

Particularly because his current posture wasn’t suited for a hug. However, he noticed the several bleeding gashes on Jiang Yi’s arms, and for a moment, he couldn’t bring himself to push him away.

After a beat, he only managed one word: “Filthy.”

And he truly was filthy, wasn’t he?

Setting aside the dust-covered clothes that looked like he’d rolled on the ground several times, just seeing the blood matted in his hair made Xie Cheng feel a bit overwhelmed.

Even if he himself was messy on occasion.

“My Prince, you’re calling me filthy?”

Jiang Yi looked up, biting his lower lip hard. Tears welled in his eyes, shimmering.

“What are you crying for?” Xie Cheng frowned.

“Waaa. I was scared. I was just scared.”

“I don’t do things I’m not certain of.”

“Waaa. I know, but I was still scared.”

Xie Cheng raised his hand, hesitated for a second, and then patted the top of the boy’s head. “My point is, remember that. Keep those words in your heart forever.”

“Waaa.” Jiang Yi continued to sob.

Xie Cheng’s gaze shifted over the boy’s shoulder to his guard, Shui Shi, at the door. He ordered, “Bind them all. Hand them over to the Capital Prefecture for processing.”

Shui Shi bowed. “How does the Prince wish for them to be handled?”

“What do you think?”

“This subordinate understands,” Shui Shi replied.

…

“Nom, nom. so good, so good.”

There was a restaurant near the teahouse with a good reputation. Since it was noon, Xie Cheng wasn’t in a hurry to return.

He tossed a bag of silver to the waiter, ordering several signature dishes and a plate of braised chicken legs.

Jiang Yi’s forehead was practically touching the round table. He was “crying” while stuffing his face with chicken legs. The sight was quite ridiculous, and Xie Cheng couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“My Prince shouldn’t run off next time,” Jiang Yi mumbled through a mouthful of meat.

Important things should be said three times, but he had already said this ten times over.

Xie Cheng grew impatient. “Shut up.”

Jiang Yi complied obediently, but before long, he couldn’t help himself. “My Prince, my good Prince, can I ask you a question?”

“Ask.”

“Why are you so. swish swish swish” Jiang Yi used his chopsticks as a sword, dancing them through the air. “So powerful? You’re so, so amazing.”

“Practice,” Xie Cheng replied.

“Could it be that the Prince is like those characters in the storybooks.” Jiang Yi didn’t finish; he covered his own mouth in shock.

Xie Cheng looked at him. “Like what in the storybooks?”

“The kind of ‘pig eating the tiger’ the idle prince who acts like he doesn’t care about the world on the surface, but secretly builds his own power, waiting for the right moment to topple the entire Dongli Dynasty.”

“Are you finished?”

“Mhm.” Jiang Yi nodded.

“If you’re finished, I’ll send you to the Capital Prefecture.”

“No, no! I was just talking nonsense! Pretend you didn’t hear it!” Jiang Yi grabbed Xie Cheng’s arm.

“As for ‘playing the pig to eat the tiger’.” Xie Cheng continued with an unreadable tone, “This Prince eats tigers in broad daylight.”

Eat. eat the tiger.

He was the one who brought it up, but hearing the Prince say it, why did it sound a bit… strange?

So strange.

Jiang Yi patted his burning cheeks.

The Prince eating the tiger.

When exactly would the Prince “eat” the tiger?

“What kind of nonsense are you thinking about now?” Xie Cheng’s gaze lingered on his flushed cheeks for a few seconds.

This person’s actions were bold, but his face… it was far too sensitive.

“Nothing, it’s nothing!” Jiang Yi quickly buried his head back into his chicken legs. “Eating tigers is good. Eating tigers is very good!”

Xie Cheng: 

Can’t you keep the act up for even a moment?

Perhaps because both had sensed some underlying meaning, they stopped talking and focused on their meal.

About half an hour later, Shui Shi, who had taken the prisoners to the Prefecture, rushed back. He knocked twice on the door. “Your Highness, the matter has been settled.”

Xie Cheng gave a soft “Mhm,” then added, “When we return, search the Zhao Prince Estate thoroughly, inside and out.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Keep this from Mother. Don’t let her worry.”

Shui Shi went silent.

“What is it?”

“Your Highness. on the way to the Prefecture, this subordinate ran into the Crown Prince. I suspect the news has already reached the Palace. The Empress likely already knows.”

Xie Cheng: 

The big-mouthed Crown Prince.

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