CH 32

Compared with Liu Yuan’s slightly changed expression, Lin Fei’s face was the same. He just continued to ask Shuangxi: “What happened afterward? What else occurred?”

Shuangxi shook his head and said, “Nothing more. When I woke up, I saw the Governor of Chang’an and the others.”

On the side, Li Yuan seemed to have grown tired of cursing as well. He stopped and let out a cold snort.

Lin Fei’s eyes fell on Li Yuan.

Even though Li Yuan was used to being arrogant and domineering in his daily life, for some reason, when he was stared at by Lin Fei’s icy eyes, he felt inexplicably uneasy. It was as if those eyes could see through a person’s heart, leaving him with a sense of resistance and awkwardness that he couldn’t quite explain.

However, not one to back down easily, Li Yuan tilted his chin up and met Lin Fei’s gaze. “What are you looking at? I’m handsome!”

Lin Fei didn’t say much. He simply raised his foot and circled around Li Yuan, observing him from different angles. As he completed the second circle and came around behind Li Yuan, he suddenly stopped and extended his finger, pressing it against Li Yuan’s back.

Li Yuan, who was screaming, uttered a scream of “ah”, and cursed: “Lin Fei, what are you doing, you bastard? Plotting against me? It hurts me to death!”

The voice from behind was calm and indifferent: “You have hidden wounds! When did it happen?”

Li Yuan, who was screaming in pain, was stunned for a moment as if he had realized something, but he still refused to give in to Lin Fei, and shouted: “What nonsense are you talking about? Where did I come from? It’s obvious that you plot against me…”

Lin Fei ignored him and turned to look at Shuangxi who was beside him.

Shuangxi jolted and without much thought, he said, “On that day when we returned, shǎoye1 felt a bit uncomfortable in his back. It might have been due to bumping into the cabin wall, and I also got a stiff neck, so the shǎoye’s discomfort was likely the same. After that, he was thrown into the prison cell and couldn’t sleep well, which could have worsened his condition.”

This surrender was really thorough enough.

Li Yuan was so angry that he could not jump on his feet, turned to Shuangxi, and questioned him: “Where’s your backbone? Why don’t you have any backbone at all?”

Shuangxi’s lips twitched in a mixture of frustration and hesitation. He wanted to speak out but held back: if he had some backbone, he wouldn’t have to watch as the young master took his breakfast every day.

Lin Fei turned his head to face the person on the side, regardless of the movements between the master and servant. He said to Zhao You: “Take it off, let me have a look!”

Zhao You responded and went to pull Li Yuan’s clothes.

The servants who had such courage to watch were even more amazed: Only the servants like Zhao dared to take off the clothes under the glaring gaze of the Xiǎo Jùnwáng2.

Li Yuan, who was tied to the stake, cursed again, but the tie was too strong, no matter how hard he struggled, it was futile.

When the clothes were stripped off and the young man’s back was exposed, there was no sound in the cell, and even the bystanders who hadn’t done anything during the whole process showed astonishment in their eyes.

There is no other reason. They originally thought that the back of this noble Xiǎo Jùnwáng must be the same as that of ordinary rich and powerful children, with thin skin and tender flesh. Not to mention scars on his body, there won’t even be a trace of mosquito bites.

But when they saw the shocking and crisscrossed scars on the boy’s back, everyone was stunned. Some people wiped their eyes subconsciously, thinking that they had misread it.

How could this Xiǎo Jùnwáng have such a back… Who dared to beat him?

Shuangxi beside him trembled, his eyes turned red, and he murmured: “Don’t…don’t look at it.”

The crisscrossed scars should be old wounds, the difference was that a bruise on the scar had turned purple. Yes, this was where Lin Fei pressed just now.

Right now, this scar was fully exposed in front of people, and the obvious ring shape of the wound cannot be explained by simply saying that it hit the bulkhead.

“Someone hit you with a stick.” Lin Fei said indifferently and glanced at Shuangxi who was at the side, but saw that Shuangxi’s face was full of shock. This boy was obviously unaware of this matter.

Li Yuan stared and said loudly: “No, I hit it myself! Don’t talk nonsense!”

Of course, no one would believe this.

Lin Fei didn’t argue with him either, and only asked Zhao You to help Li Yuan put on his outer clothes again, and sent him back to his original cell.

After Li Yuan and Shuangxi were sent back, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but said: “How can the Xiǎo Jùnwáng…”

Lin Fei glanced at him: “Did you notice how that boy called Li Yuan?”

Liu Yuan listened for a while. Startled, he blurted out subconsciously: “…Shǎoyé.”

Liu Yuan didn’t feel that something was right until he realized it belatedly.

It was just that Li Yuan was called “yé3“, but the servant Shuangxi actually called Li Yuan “Shǎoyé”.

In ordinary households, servants might address their young masters as “gōngzǐ4“, and “shàoyé” could also be used, though it was less common. However, in Chang’an, the term “gōngzǐ” was more frequently used, and “Shǎoyé” was seldom employed.

But even calling him “gōngzǐ” was wrong. Because Li Yuan was not the son of ordinary dignitaries, he was the xiǎo jùnwáng of the Pingxi Jùnwángfǔ5 and had been sealed by the court. Not to mention he was the only child of the Pingxi Jùnwángfǔ. Even if that weren’t the case, he should still be addressed as “xiǎo jùnwáng” to reflect his noble status.

Yet, both Li Yuan and Shuangxi, this master-servant pair, were using “shàoyé”! Even that young servant, Shuangxi, in theory, being the sole heir of the Pingxi Jùnwángfǔ, with such an important status, should have an astute personal servant. However, Shuangxi didn’t seem as sharp-witted as one would expect from someone of his stature. He didn’t appear to be someone handpicked for the Jùnwángfǔ’s service.

Why was that?

“When Xiǎo jùnwáng was a little child, he was kidnapped and sold by human traffickers, experiencing a lot of hardship before he was rescued,” Lin Fei explained. “Shuangxi was a young child who was also abducted and sold along with him. Both of them endured a lot of abuse. After the Little Prince was rescued, Shuangxi remained by his side.”

This “shàoyé” address, which was different from others, was probably a habit developed after being abducted.

For someone like Li Yuan, it was only natural to be upset about others seeing his scars. So, was that why he reacted so strongly just now? No, that didn’t make sense. He was clearly struck by someone. Why didn’t he speak up about it? Had this young prince noticed something? Or did he know something?

Liu Yuan looked at Lin Fei: “Lin Shaoqing, if the king of Xiaojun is willing to speak…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lin Fei shook his head and advised Liu Yuan, “Don’t waste time prying into his thoughts right now. Once you bring the person before him, he will speak up on his own. There can’t be too many people that Li Yuan would personally protect.”

Liu Yuan came back to his senses and quickly answered “Yes”.

With a new direction in the investigation of the “water ghost case,” Liu Yuan’s mood improved. As he left the prison and passed by Ji Caimai’s room, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Looking at the scorching sun overhead, he pondered for a moment before deciding to remind Ji Caimai that it was time to prepare for summer drinks like “sour plum beverage.”

When he got to the door, he saw that the door was ajar. Ji Caimai was carefully picking up a round cake shaped like a small pumpkin and taking a bite.

Liu Yuan was about to speak, but he didn’t expect Ji Caimai’s eating manners to be so refined. Just as he was observing, a mixture of brown caramelized sugar sauce and crushed peanuts oozed out from the round cake.

Upon seeing the filling spilling out, Ji Caimai quickly opened his mouth to catch the oozing mixture, not willing to waste any bit of it. As he ate, he couldn’t stop praising the taste with a continuous stream of delighted sounds, his eyes narrowing in contentment.

Just looking at it like this made Liu Yuan’s saliva almost flow down. Without even thinking about it, he pushed the door open and walked in: “What did Ji Cai buy? It smells so good?”