Chapter 31#
Past Events: Little Pei’s Theater, Curtains Up!#
Wang Yelai returned to the Wang residence. As soon as he entered the study, his father scolded him mercilessly: “You worthless bastard! Your wings aren’t even fully grown, but they’re harder than iron. Who gave you the dog’s nerve to provoke the Cage Crane Bureau?”
Wang Yelai dodged the book his father threw at him and said stubbornly, “It was You Zong who was unreasonable.”
“Even your own father has to address him respectfully as ‘Lord You,’ and you dare to call him by his full name? What kind of prince are you supposed to be?” Master Wang grabbed the family discipline rod he had prepared earlier, charged out from behind the desk, and lashed the beast across the body with a rattan cane. “Let me tell you, if Lord You had truly been unreasonable, you would have been carried back from Lanyin Street in a pool of blood today!”
Wang Yelai quickly dodged and said defiantly, “All because of Pei San?!”
Master Wang’s hand trembled. He stared at Wang Yelai in disbelief—sometimes, he truly wished he could be as “tough” as this stupid son of his. That way, he could die of anger while also angering this beast to death, and neither of them would survive!
“His father is a fifth-rank official, while your father is only a deputy fifth-rank. Where the hell do you get the audacity to look down on him?” Master Wang jumped up and struck another gash across Wang Yelai’s back. “Let me tell you, he’s a concubine’s son of the Pei family, not a concubine’s son of our Wang family. Your precious legitimate son’s temper doesn’t apply to him! And even less so now that Pei San has entered the Cage Crane Bureau!”
Wang Yelai yelped in pain, dodging frantically under the relentless cane. Between gasps, he roared, “He’s just a clerk, not even holding an official rank—”
“He’s still a man of the Cage Crane Bureau, a disciple of the Crown Prince!” Master Wang struck again with a crack, forcing Wang Yelai back two steps. He shouted, swinging the cane through the study air with a loud whoosh, “You go to the Cage Crane Bureau’s territory to kidnap one of their men, and Lord You catches you red-handed? You might as well take your father’s official hat and kick it around like a ball! Who gave you the courage? Who gave you the nerve? Even in our Wang family’s heyday, when your deposed uncle was serving as Grand Censor, he wouldn’t dare show the slightest disrespect to the Fifth Prince, let alone now!”
Master Wang took a deep breath, his face red and his neck bulging as he glared at Wang Yelai, who stood with lips pressed tight. “Our Wang family is already in an awkward position. Your father can still serve as an official in the capital only by the Crown Prince’s mercy, and you still dare to run wild in the Cage Crane Bureau? Are you pitying this old lone sprout of your father’s, left trembling in the court day after day, longing to take his pots and pans back to the countryside to farm?”
“…” Wang Yelai’s chest heaved, his face also flushed as he panted heavily. Whether he was finally scared or simply in pain, he stuck out his neck and eventually admitted he was wrong.
Master Wang asked, “Truly wrong?”
Wang Yelai said, “Mm!”
“Slap!” Master Wang pressed the rattan cane onto the desk, sat back down, and took a moment to calm himself before saying, “Son, do you know how the Third Prince died?”
Perplexed, Wang Yelai said, “Wasn’t he killed by a tiger while hunting in the mountains? They say his arms and legs were torn off. If the imperial guards hadn’t arrived in time, even his head wouldn’t have been saved.”
“Yes, that’s the dignified way to die,” Master Wang said.
Wang Yelai let out a “Ha.” “That’s dignified?”
Master Wang said, “What if I told you that the beast that killed the Third Prince wasn’t a wild animal from the forest, but the Crown Prince’s ‘hound’?”
Master Wang’s eyes, though clouded with age, were sharp as he gazed deeply at his son. Wang Yelai shivered involuntarily.
What a pathetic display!
Seeing this, Master Wang shook his head and said in a low voice, “When the Crown Prince was still the Fifth Prince, he often traveled abroad. You only ever thought he was a golden jade wandering out of a wealthy nest, but you didn’t know he was a rakshasa who had fought his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. A prince wandering abroad is like a meat bone thrown into a pack of wild dogs. Countless people wished they could tear him apart and devour him. But the Crown Prince trampled their bones and returned to the capital—and the Third Prince was among those people.”
Wang Yelai had never heard this before. He listened quietly as his father revealed the bloody insides of that past event.
“It was the spring of the thirteenth year of Xining. That day, the Third Prince went hunting in the mountains. He caught plenty of game, but in the end, he himself became the hunter’s prey. The Fifth Prince didn’t even set a trap for him. Five arrows,” Master Wang held up five fingers, looking at Wang Yelai. “They pierced the Third Prince’s wrists and ankles, nailing him to the wild boar he himself had killed. The last arrow shot through his throat. Later, when the palace sent people to collect his remains, the blood had dyed the boar’s hide red.”
Wang Yelai’s pupils dilated. “The Crown Prince deliberately humiliated and tortured the Third Prince?”
Master Wang did not answer immediately. Instead, he said, “Do you know why I’m so clear about this? Because at that time, His Majesty was in the forest opposite. Your father was following behind him.”
“His Majesty didn’t stop it?” Wang Yelai said in shock. “I remember the Third Prince’s birth mother was very favored back then, and the Third Prince was said to be deeply loved by His Majesty…”
“Consort Li’s favor was nothing compared to Consort Wan’s back in the day. If the late emperor had chosen a daughter from our Wang family for the position, the Crown Princess would undoubtedly have been Consort Wan. A mother’s standing carries weight. The Third Prince couldn’t even compare to the Fifth Prince. A prince of mediocre civil and martial skills, arrogant and willful, versus a prince versed in both, calm and self-possessed—which one do you think is more important?” Master Wang sighed. “Besides, it couldn’t be stopped. At that moment, father and son glanced at each other from afar. The same calm steadiness ran in their blood. Your father here didn’t dare dwell on the sparks in the air; I was too weak to even crawl away.”
The wounds on Wang Yelai’s body throbbed as his father continued, “Do you know why I’m telling you this story? Not just to tell you that if the Crown Prince ever wants to kill you, you won’t even have a chance to kowtow and beg for mercy.”
Wang Yelai said, “Then what else?”
Master Wang didn’t answer but asked instead, “Do you know why the Crown Prince killed the Third Prince?”
“Wasn’t it because the Third Prince first sent assassins and got found out?” Seeing his father’s profound gaze, Wang Yelai rolled his eyes in exasperation and said impatiently, “Then what other reason is there? Just say it straight. It’s not like I witnessed it in person. How would I know? Stop pretending to be mysterious.”
This rebellious son! Master Wang took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to beat him again, and said in a low voice, “Because the Crown Prince wanted him to pay with his life for You Jing.”
Wang Yelai asked, “Who’s that?”
“He was a young boy who, back then, protected the Crown Prince and took several arrows. In the end, an arrow pierced his throat, and he was pinned to the Crown Prince’s back shoulder. They say he was only twelve years old that year,” Master Wang said. “He was Lord You’s younger brother.”
The image of an arrow seemed to scrape against Wang Yelai’s own wounds. He shuddered all over, seized by an inexplicable chill.
“The Crown Prince is protective of his people. Touch anyone beside him, and it doesn’t matter who you are—nothing will stop him. Remember this: Pei Xiting is now also one of the Crown Prince’s men. Even if he stands at the very last seat, the white jade steps that separate you are higher than the sky. Besides,” Master Wang’s gaze grew complicated, “do you really think that a useless, cowardly incompetent could enter the Cage Crane Bureau?”
Wang Yelai felt as if he had been slapped hard. He stood there, his face pale with red streaks, looking utterly awful.
“Who are you making that sour face for?” Pei Xiting frowned at the dog blocking his way. “Move.”
He had been strolling back after work and hadn’t expected a stray dog blocking his doorstep.
Shang Guan Jie was easily irritated by this man. He said in a low voice, “Have you now lost even the surface-level, hypocritical notions of respect and propriety?”
“Oh,” Pei Xiting stepped back, cupped his hands, and bowed his head. “Greetings to the Young Marquis. The Young Marquis deigning to stop at my humble abode brings it immeasurable honor. Does the Young Marquis have any orders?”
…Ha, truly hypocritical enough, superficial enough!
Shang Guan Jie took a deep breath, grabbed Pei Xiting’s arm, and said, “Come with me!”
Pei Xiting stumbled two steps, shook off his hand, and said, “Strange. Is my doorstep so attractive to mad dogs? Two of them have come in a single day.”
Shang Guan Jie turned around, his star-like eyes blazing with fury. “You dare call me a dog?”
Pei Xiting couldn’t be bothered to say another word. “Wang Yelai is your dog, isn’t he? You can’t control your dog. He came to piss on my doorstep at noon, and you still aren’t satisfied, so you have to come and spray your own share?”
“Well, well. Now you’ve learned to fabricate lies and slander people?” Shang Guan Jie glared at Pei Xiting. “I left the city yesterday and just got back!”
“Even if you didn’t order it, it’s because of you. I have no grudge against that Wang fellow. He comes to act cheap again and again—isn’t it just to curry favor with you? Everyone knows,” Pei Xiting laughed, “that Wang is always licking the Young Marquis’ boots, almost kneeling to polish your shoes, isn’t he?”
Shang Guan Jie stared at him for a long moment, then suddenly laughed. He said bluntly, “Fine. I did order it. So what? What can you do about it?”
“Nothing. But what can you do?” Pei Xiting looked at Shang Guan Jie coldly. “Young Marquis, you’re still above others, but I’m not what I used to be.”
Shang Guan Jie sneered. “Don’t think that entering the Cage Crane Bureau means you can turn the world upside down!”
“I don’t want to turn the world upside down. But as it happens, now only the heavens can cover me. After all, I stepped through the door of the Cage Crane Bureau, didn’t I?” Pei Xiting’s tone was resigned, but laced with cold thorns. “That’s a government office where not even the exalted Young Marquis here can have me driven away without cause, my Shang. As long as I remain in the Cage Crane Bureau for one day, you won’t be able to treat me like a whore.”
Pei Xiting stepped forward, tilted his head slightly, and looked into Shang Guan Jie’s gloomy eyes. His voice was very light. “Using authority to oppress, using power to crush—the Young Marquis is quite adept at it, isn’t he? Today, you’ve merely tasted a little bit of that flavor. Don’t get angry.”
As his words fell, Shang Guan Jie grabbed him by the back of the neck and yanked him close. He said menacingly, “Then you’d better hold firmly onto You Zong’s thigh. Because once you touch the ground, I’ll cut out that arrogant tongue of yours, pull out those sharp teeth, and tie a leash around that unruly neck of yours. I’ll make you kneel on the ground like a mute dog that only knows how to swallow seed and take cock.”
Born from a smut novel—of course, he talks crudely.
Pei Xiting thought coldly as he met Shang Guan Jie’s eyes. After a few seconds, the corner of his eyes lifted slightly, and he flashed a light, quick smile.
For some reason, Shang Guan Jie’s eyelid twitched. The next moment, Pei Xiting suddenly shoved him away, fell on his ass, clutched his collar, and screamed: “Young Marquis, just kill me! I’d rather die than be your bed toy!”
Shang Guan Jie: “?”
Dumbfounded, Shang Guan Jie stared at Pei Xiting—only to see him suddenly stand up, stagger toward his own courtyard gate, and actually try to dash his head against it to kill himself!
What the hell?!
Shang Guan Jie didn’t understand. Instinctively, he moved to stop him, but a gust of wind swept past him. Someone else seized Pei Xiting’s arm first and used his own body to shield Pei Xiting from the gate.
Pei Jintang hugged the trembling Pei Xiting, raised his eyes toward Shang Guan Jie, and said coldly, “What is the Young Marquis doing?!”