CH 17

Chapter 17: Are You Really Going To Kneel Down For The Prince?

After making sure no one was eavesdropping on them, Bian Zhonghua said to Qi Ci: “I don’t think you should go to the Prince’s residence.”

Qi Ci asked: “Why?”

Bian Zhonghua, however, asked him in return: “That ‘Xu Run’ is pretending to be you, the Prince, right now. If you go to the Prince’s residence, what will happen if he recognizes you and tries to kill you?”

Qi Ci replied: “I don’t think that’ll happen. I think he’s just jealous of me. He’s determined to save his sister, so he won’t cause any trouble, I’m sure of that. If he really tries to kill me, as soon as I see even the slightest hint, I’ll immediately show my identity and confront him.”

Bian Zhonghua was stunned at first, but then he smiled: “Didn’t you say that you didn’t want to become a Prince? Why have you suddenly changed your mind?”

Qi Ci abruptly asked instead: “Do you really want to kneel down for the Prince?”

Bian Zhonghua smiled: “Yes. Not to mention myself, but even State Master Li, and so on….”

Suddenly, Bian Zhonghua understood something, looking at Qi Ci with astonishment from head to toe. Qi Ci, who was being observed like that, couldn’t help but feel somewhat nervous: “I-….”

“You!” Bian Zhonghua said with wide eyes, “So you’re holding a grudge, huh? I only teased you a couple of times, but you actually can’t wait to see me kneeling in front of you?”

Qi Ci choked: “No… no…. I…..”

Before he could explain, Bian Zhonghua pinched Qi Ci’s face. The pinch was neither light nor strong. As he laughed brightly, he said: “It seems that I’ll have to tease you even more before you become the Prince, otherwise, I won’t be able to tease you in the future.”

Qi Ci’s face hurt after getting pinched, but after a while, he didn’t say anything in his defense and simply swallowed those words back into his stomach. Since he was unwilling to show any weakness, he also pinched Bian Zhonghua’s face.

‘Forget it.’ Qi Ci thought. ‘It’s still unknown whether I’ll become a Prince or not. So I’d rather not express my true feelings openly.’

The reason for that being: If one day he actually becomes a Prince…

He won’t let Bian Zhonghua’s knees bend even for half a minute.

On the other side, Steward Wu, who couldn’t hear what they were talking about, watched the legendary, ruthless and perverse Lord Bian, together with an unknown handsome teenager….

Pinching each other’s faces.

Pinching their faces.

Their faces….

So, who’s going to tell Steward Wu whether he has gone crazy, or if those two are the crazy ones?!

…

In April, when the early warbles were competing for the warmth of the trees, and the thick clothes were being replaced by thin ones, there was a new accountant in the residence of Prince Chongfeng.

He had to settle the accounts as well as calculate them.

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Since Prince Chongfeng’s residence was still under renovation, it was messy everywhere, and Xu Run, as the Prince, had hardly set foot in other places aside from the West Courtyard. So he had never seen Qi Ci ever since he got there.

In the Prince’s residence, at the account room, the shadows of the peach and apricot hanging on the branches fell through the window. Qi Ci was sitting on his desk, carefully calculating the account book, murmuring to himself: “7 liang1 of ginseng for the West courtyard. Why so much medicine? Could it be…. ”

‘Could it be that Xu Li is in the West courtyard, recuperating?’

Through the details of the account book of the past two days, Qi Ci roughly figured out the situation of this residence. Thanks to this, Qi Ci’s plan of getting back the relics of his mother had gradually taken shape.

“Qi Ci, I brought you the account book.”

After a clear voice came from outside the account room, a young man came in from the outside. Then he started to place the stack of books in his arms onto Qi Ci’s bookcase.

“Thank you for your help.” Qi Ci nodded his head and thanked him.

“It’s no trouble. Of course I should help, it’s my job to run around the whole residence.” The young man grumpily picked up the water on the table and took a sip.

Qi Ci rolled his eyes gently and then asked with a smile: “Hey, why is His Highness living in the West side of the courtyard? Have you ever seen the Prince?”

“Yes, His Highness has been living there all this time.” The young man touched his mouth and continued: “I’ve never seen the Prince. We’re like grass for His Highness, he doesn’t like to talk to people, and he rarely goes out. Besides, there are Secret Servants in the West side of the courtyard, so it’s not easy to enter.”

When he heard the word ‘Secret Servant’, Qi Ci suddenly thought of someone.

Bian Zhonghua should also be in Prince Chongfeng’s residence, guarding the West side of the courtyard against evil people and demons.

They were separated by a small courtyard, but ever since Qi Ci came to the Prince’s residence, he had never seen Bian Zhonghua again.

Qi Ci shook his head, and then, he heard the young man ask: “Hey, Qi Ci, why do you have a scar on the back of your neck? I didn’t notice it with the thick clothes before, but is this ….”

The young man seemed to recognize something as he squinted his eyes to take a closer look.

“Ah….” Qi Ci covered the back of his neck and retreated uncomfortably to avoid the young man’s approach: “I accidentally hurt myself.”

“Oh.” The young man nodded, but his gaze became a bit odd. As he stepped back, walking away, he said: “Then continue to settle the accounts, I won’t bother you anymore.”

“Yes, see you later.” Qi Ci sent him away kindly, but he didn’t get out of the account room. After the young man left, Qi Ci took a bronze mirror and tried to see the back of his neck. But no matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t able to see the back of his neck. After sighing defeatedly, he threw the bronze mirror aside.

Once that scar healed, and it didn’t hurt anymore, he actually forgot he had a scar on the back of his neck.

That scar was made when Qi Ci was sold into the brothel, his head was pressed down, and his neck was burned. Now, when he covered that part of his neck with his palm, he could still faintly feel it burning.

He was then immersed in a trance, as if he could taste the bitter despair of that day. When his hands were tied and he was forced to kneel in the dirty woodshed, the Madame took the red-hot iron plate and placed it on the back of his neck without mercy.

After hearing him scream in pain, the Madame said slowly: “It’s done. From now on, you will be an object owned by this brothel.”

Qi Ci shook his head, trying to throw the embarrassing memories away. Then he rubbed his wrist to continue calculating the accounts. When his left hand gripped his right wrist, he found a hard and cold object. As Qi Ci bowed his head, he saw the copper coin strung into a bracelet with red rope on his right wrist, rubbed it carefully for a while, and then stuffed it into his sleeve.

In the end, he couldn’t resume calculating the accounts for a while. At that moment, the sound of footsteps came from outside. Qi Ci thought that the young man must have left something behind, so he simply raised his head to ask. But as soon as he saw who it was, he froze.

The one who came was a maid of about 15 or 16 years old. The maidservant bowed her head shyly as her cheeks blushed red, and her voice was extremely low and light, so it was difficult to understand what she was saying. Only after hearing her carefully for a while did Qi Ci hear what she was saying: “Ah, I’ve been asked to bring you a letter.”

After saying that, the maid shoved the letter in her hand into Qi Ci’s arms, turned around, and ran away.

“Ah!” Qi Ci didn’t shout at her, but looked at the letter in his hands with a confused expression.

However, when he opened the letter and just finished reading the first sentence, his face suddenly changed.

The letter said: I know the purpose of your stay at Prince Chongfeng’s residence. If you don’t want others to get implicated, then meet me today at Youshi hour2, under the old acacia tree on the East wall at the Western courtyard.