The Emperor Doesn't Despise Me? Why Is He Still Using Force! - Chapter 7

While saying these words to Pei Yan, Xiao Jing’an unassumingly placed the hand that had just taken Pei Yanning’s pulse behind his back.

He carefully wiped it with a handkerchief.

Pei Yan’s mind was entirely consumed by his little dad, so he failed to notice what Xiao Jing’an’s hand behind his back was doing.

At this moment, Xiao Jing’an’s words yanked his attention away from his little dad.

He furrowed his brow slightly, his gaze landing on Xiao Jing’an.

His eyes held a hint of confusion.

“What matters does the Eighth Prince want to clear up with this commoner?”

As soon as he finished speaking, he realized what “matters” Xiao Jing’an was referring to.

However, he was worried about his little dad.

Right now, he was in no mood to clear up those matters with the Prince Bastard in front of him.

Xiao Jing’an seemed to perceive Pei Yan’s thoughts.

“Your… dad will be fine, you can rest assured.”

Pei Yan was startled; his expression shifted, but it vanished instantly as his handsome face bloomed with a smile. “The Eighth Prince certainly knows how to joke. How could this commoner address someone of his own age as ‘Little Dad’?”

Pei Yan recalled the “Little Dad” he had instinctively blurted out earlier when Pei Yanning was in danger.

Xiao Jing’an averted his gaze from Pei Yan’s smiling, pretty, fair face.

“Just now, this prince heard you address him as such.”

“Is the Eighth Prince certain?”

The four words Pei Yan suddenly threw out caught Xiao Jing’an off guard. He paused for a beat and replied to the matter he wasn’t entirely sure of: “Certain.”

Yet that one-beat pause was captured by Pei Yan, confirming that Xiao Jing’an was actually uncertain.

And Pei Yan had suddenly asked that question precisely to test him.

Based on the test results, he would determine his next course of action.

“Eighth Prince, this commoner addressed him as ‘Brother’, not ‘Dad’.”

Pei Yan explained in a gentle tone.

“The situation was chaotic just now, so the Eighth Prince misheard.”

Xiao Jing’an’s thin lips opened and closed as he softly tasted the words: “‘Dad’, ‘Brother’!”

Pei Yan adopted a respectful and obedient demeanor. “Of course, if the Eighth Prince wishes for this commoner to address him as ‘Dad’, this commoner will naturally obey your command.”

Pei Yan’s remark completely terminated the topic.

A trace of displeasure surfaced in Xiao Jing’an’s brows and eyes.

“What kind of talk is that from Yan Qing?”

[Human talk, obviously. But I’m talking human talk to a bastard, so of course he doesn’t understand.]

Pei Yan cupped his hands in a salute: “This commoner overstepped; please forgive me, Eighth Prince.”

His gaze fixed upon the direction where Sheng Nan was carrying the unconscious Pei Yanning away a place already shrouded in pitch darkness, devoid of any human trace.

He failed to notice just how unsightly Xiao Jing’an’s expression was at that moment.

“What was your purpose in coming to the North Mountain with your… brother in the middle of the night?”

The cold and intimidating aura in Xiao Jing’an’s tone sent a sudden, piercing chill straight to Pei Yan’s heart.

The North Mountain was an imperial hunting ground and not a place anyone could wander into casually.

In severe cases, trespassers would be dragged off to the purgatory-like Northern Bureau of Investigation for harsh interrogation.

Therefore, this matter could be big or small, and the consequences were simply unimaginable.

Sheng Dong, leading a group of secret guards, hid by the roadside to watch the spectacle.

He was crystal clear in his heart about just how ruthless his master’s methods against enemies could be!

“Please spare my life, Eighth Prince. We had no ulterior motives whatsoever; we merely strayed into the North Mountain by accident.”

With that, Pei Yan raised a hand to point toward the sturdy wire netting ahead.

“We were heading to the East Mountain to look for someone, never expecting to find a gap in the wire netting. With the night being deep and visibility blurred, we inadvertently stumbled inside. By the time we realized we had mistakenly entered the North Mountain and wanted to leave, we were shocked to find that the wire netting had already been completely repaired. As for everything that followed, the Eighth Prince is already fully aware.”

Having said that, Pei Yan straightened his robes and made as if to kneel and plead guilty.

After all, serving a monarch was like keeping company with a tiger. Though the tiger had not yet ascended the dragon throne, he was still a fierce beast nonetheless, making him truly difficult to fathom.

“Since it was an accidental trespass, I absolve you of any guilt; there is no need to kneel.”

“This commoner thanks the Eighth Prince for his magnanimity.”

Pei Yan lowered his head and cast down his eyes, cupping his hands together and respectfully executing a gesture of gratitude.

Upon closer inspection, a thin layer of cold sweat had already beaded across Pei Yan’s fair brow.

Xiao Jing’an glanced lightly at Pei Yan’s pale forehead, a faint, subtle smile seeming to flash across the corners of his lips.

At the same time, inside his dark sleeve embroidered with flowing-cloud patterns, his hand tightly clutched the jade pendant carved with the four-clawed python design, while his lips parted to silently mouth the three characters: “Pei Yanning.”

Pei Yan was still worrying over Pei Yanning.

“If the Eighth Prince has no other matters, this commoner will take his leave first.”

Xiao Jing’an unassumingly stowed away the jade pendant.

His gaze fell upon Sheng Dong and the other secret guards hiding by the roadside, who were thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.

“Just now, Yan Qing asked why I was alone in the mountain. I am not the only one here.”

Following Xiao Jing’an’s gaze, Pei Yan looked toward the tree thicket by the roadside.

Clearly, he was well aware that Sheng Dong and his party were hiding inside, watching his misfortune.

“It was this commoner who was foolish earlier and spoke nonsense without thinking.”

[Alright, stop dawdling and hurry up and let me leave.]

Pei Yan was burning with anxiety to go check on his little dad, but someone stubbornly refused to let him have his way.

“Today, I am accompanied not only by these secret guards, but also by the Jinyiwei. It’s just that they were sent by me to the East Mountain to check if any wolves escaped, so as to avoid harming innocent people.”

Pei Yan was absent-minded: “The Eighth Prince cares deeply for the common people; you are truly a model for us all.”

[Are you ever going to finish? What do your affairs have to do with me? So annoying!]

Three subtle little green veins throbbed implicitly on Xiao Jing’an’s forehead. Following that, he closed his phoenix eyes, as if enduring something.

“The hour is late. Accompany me out of the North Mountain.”

“You, someone entirely devoid of martial arts skills, would be truly dangerous leaving alone.”

A smile instantly surfaced on Pei Yan’s face as he cupped his hands in a salute: “Sorry to trouble the Eighth Prince; this commoner thanks the Eighth Prince right here.”

Xiao Jing’an had already stepped forward and begun walking ahead.

After taking a few steps, he said, “Yan Qing, from now on, address me as ‘I’ [wo], just like when we first met.”

“Understood, Eighth Prince.”

Pei Yan caught up, his gaze falling upon Xiao Jing’an’s profile.

The man’s eyes were calm, resembling a pool of unrippled lake water. The sharp, well-defined lines of his profile exuded an air of detached and aloof indifference.

“And do not address me as the Eighth Prince.”

Pei Yan asked with a measure of caution: “How should I address you?”

[Eighth Prince, Prince Bastard—I’m genuinely worried I might accidentally let loose a curse word and hurl abuse at him. But how does he expect me to address him? I certainly can’t call him ‘Your Majesty’, right? Hahaha.]

With a trace of anger staining the tips of his brows, Xiao Jing’an pondered how to make Pei Yan address him.

[An, he used to demand that I call him by that name, but I never did. How could I ever dare to address a Supreme Ruler with such an intimate nickname? That would be an act of sheer lèse-majesté, something I could truly never bear.]

At this moment, Pei Yan’s expression turned desolate, plunging into some sort of sorrowful memory.

Xiao Jing’an lifted his eyes to gaze at the pitch-black night sky and murmured softly, “This night sky is so mysterious; how am I supposed to probe all his secrets and figure out what kind of face he truly wears underneath!”

[Isn’t this guy supposed to be thinking about how I should address him? Why is his attention so scattered?]

Pei Yan followed suit and looked up at the night sky.

[It’s just pitch black, what’s so mysterious about it? It’s actually a bit terrifying, looking just like a bottomless abyss.]

Just as the two of them were staring fixedly into the night sky, the large tree by the roadside suddenly rustled. Following that, several dark shadows leaped into the air directly from the tree branches.

They turned out to be a group of assassins clad in black garments and masked in black, brandishing gleaming, cold broadswords as they charged ferociously toward Xiao Jing’an all at once.

The chilling, bone-piercing intent to kill seemed to materialize into physical substance.