Apart from Murong Yi himself, no one could know that Murong Yi was going to Yueli Academy, and only Murong Yi could have intercepted his yuan iron weapons within Da Qian territory. Now he wanted to seize his recommendation letter to the academy, and incidentally trick the other princes into coming, solving them one by one just like he had solved him!
This family letter would definitely “accidentally” reach the ears of his various brothers, causing everyone to become restless and uneasy. Leaving others aside, Fourth Brother, who looked down on Old Eighteenth the most, had the worst relationship with him, and had the most explosive temper, would definitely rush over!
How could Fourth Brother be a match for Old Eighteenth!
Murong Duan’s emotions were complex for a moment—both tense and angry, yet feeling a subtle sense of balance about what Fourth Brother and the others were about to face. Of course, more than anything was his hatred for Murong Yi. “Stop dreaming! I won’t sign any of these papers! When I return to Liaodong, I must tell Father King everything you’ve done!”
“Oh my, I never realized Second Brother was so naive.” Murong Yi looked at him with amazement. “You actually still think you can return to Liaodong.”
Murong Duan’s heart sank.
“Besides, even if you do go back and tell him these things, do you think Father King would believe you—the one who secretly colluded with Da Qian behind his back to forge precious weapons—or would he believe me, who rushed to his rescue in his time of crisis?”
“You intercepted forty percent of the yuan iron weapons! Father King will never forgive you once he knows!”
“Father King personally took action but still couldn’t protect those yuan iron weapons. How could I, a down-and-out young man with no backing in Da Qian, manage to keep forty percent under pursuit by Da Qian’s troops? Are you flattering me or insulting Father King’s abilities? Where does that leave Father King’s face?” Murong Yi smiled as he took out a small porcelain bottle. Murong Duan’s face went white, but Murong Yi didn’t feed it to him. Instead, he shook the bottle and said, “This aphrodisiac medicine is for your tiger-like new wife. Oh my, the eighteen sons of the Murong family having one more die from excessive indulgence would indeed be quite rare.”
Murong Duan stared at the small porcelain bottle, his expression changing several times. Suddenly his shoulders gradually softened, and he collapsed onto the bed, whimpering in a low voice, “Little Eighteenth, don’t treat your brother this way. I even held you when you were small. We’re brothers—why must it come to this? You’ve bullied your brother enough now. I’ll give you everything you want. Just rescue your brother, and I swear on my life and fortune that I’ll never leak a single word of these matters!”
Murong Yi smiled and pushed the papers forward. Murong Duan then took out his seal from his chest to stamp the silver requisition order. Suddenly Murong Yi raised his hand and cold light flashed, then covered Murong Duan’s mouth with one hand, muffling his scream.
Murong Duan’s whole body convulsed, his eyes desperately looking toward his own hand. The little finger of his left hand was bloody—half of it had already been sliced off.
Murong Yi casually used his red groom’s robe to wipe away the blood, roughly bandaging it, and smiled. “It’s fine. Feel free to use the wrong one—I’ll just practice a few more times.”
Murong Duan gritted his teeth and this time finally took out the correct seal to stamp it, thinking that everyone had been careless in daily life—they hadn’t expected that this unpopular Little Eighteenth was actually a wolf that bit without barking. At the same time, he wondered how his information was so well-informed. During those unnoticed days in Liaodong, what exactly had he been doing?
Then Murong Yi took out paper and brush, and Murong Duan personally copied the family letter again, this time using the private seal specifically for family correspondence.
“The recommendation letter isn’t in my hands…” Murong Duan said. “You… if you rescue me… I’ll get the recommendation letter for you.”
Murong Yi put away the items and said in surprise, “Who said I was going to rescue you?”
Murong Duan: “…”
Thinking carefully, it seemed this thief really had never said he would rescue him.
“I only promised not to give this aphrodisiac to your wife.” Murong Yi put away the bottle. “As for the recommendation letter… I was just testing you. Since I’ve confirmed you have it, it must be in Liaodong. You don’t have academy connections, but your wife has a distant relative connected to the former dean, right? Given your wife’s personality, the recommendation letter should be with her… I’ll go ask my sister-in-law for it.”
“You!”
Murong Duan spat out a mouthful of blood.
A bone-deep chill rose in his heart.
This thief knew everything about his affairs inside and out—how long had he been lurking? What kind of power did he possess to know every detail? What about the others? Had they also been under this poisonous snake’s watchful gaze without knowing it?
Murong Duan shivered with a chill, looking at those beautiful eyes across from him, suddenly not daring to curse anymore.
Thinking about how the silver requisition order could take away half of his years of accumulated wealth, thinking about the additional losses that would follow, while the person across from him had obtained it all empty-handed, he felt like crying but had no tears, only able to say in a trembling voice, “Little Eighteenth, have pity on your brother…”
“Pity?” Murong Yi smiled. “Second Brother, what’s pitiable about you? When we were children, you pushed me into ice caves, tricked me onto snow fields, tried to assault me when you didn’t know I was a boy, and when I exposed you, you conspired with your mother consort to embellish the story before Father King, saying I was lowly and seduced my own brother… You were quite mighty and impressive then.”
Murong Duan’s face turned deathly pale, and he no longer dared to speak.
Murong Yi patted his face, then suddenly dislocated his jaw with a crack, flicked a pill into his mouth, reset his jaw, and whispered in his ear, “Since you promised not to leak a single word, you must guarantee you do it. Your character is poor, so I’ll use medicine to help you remember.”
Murong Duan gritted his teeth and made no sound. Murong Yi thoughtfully helped him pull up the blanket and said, “I haven’t congratulated Second Brother yet—congratulations on your wedding joy, may you have a hundred years of harmony and bear children soon.”
He drifted away to take his seat as a popular chef.
Murong Duan stared at the two crude red candles, watching the wax tears slowly drip, wishing he could also have a good cry.
Then his tears really did begin to flow.
When Tie Ci slipped into the bridal chamber, this was the scene she witnessed.
A handsome man with a sorrowful expression shedding tears by candlelight—it was quite heart-wrenching to see.
Tie Ci also felt touched as she took out two pieces of paper and handed them to Murong Duan.
“Second Prince, congratulations on your wedding joy, hundred years of harmony, and may you bear children soon. Here are two forms, please sign them.”
Murong Duan: “…”
The hungry wolf left and now came the fierce tiger.
What a pair of scoundrels.
Looking at those two papers again, the top one was also a silver requisition order.
Murong Duan: “…”
Wait, this pair of scoundrels, sharing the same bed but having different dreams, yet they’re quite in sync.
“Your Highness, do you want freedom? After signing these forms, you can…”
Murong Duan: “Bah!”
Still trying to trick me!
Tie Ci: “…”
Author’s Note: Today’s new format: Each update is two thousand characters, one update every hour.
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