Seeing the richly dressed boy unconscious on the couch, everyone was startled. They stared in horror at Zhao Zhefang standing to the side. One person stepped forward excitedly, saying, “Are you mad? Kidnapping the Prince of Ding’s heir in Licheng!” Just thinking about the bloodshed on the Prince of Ding’s hands over these years made them shiver. With the Prince’s omnipresent guards and the Qilin, if the Prince learned of this, not just them but their entire extended families, down to their cats and dogs, would hardly escape death.
Zhao Zhefang smiled bitterly, somewhat helplessly, “How would I have the ability to kidnap the Prince of Ding’s heir?”
“Then what’s going on?” Everyone looked at Zhao Zhefang with grave expressions.
Zhao Zhefang sighed, “Who’s been taking care of you these days? I don’t need to guess, right?” Hearing his words, the three men’s expressions changed. Zhao Zhefang continued, “He already told me, that’s why I called you here. News of the young master’s disappearance can’t be hidden for long. When that happens, the Prince’s guards and Mo family troops might search house by house. By then… we probably can’t hide anymore.”
The three men’s faces looked unpleasant as they stared at Zhao Zhefang, “What use is telling us about this?”
They had originally been influential noble families in Great Chu, but after pledging allegiance to the Prince of Ding’s mansion, they were disregarded. This time when the Prince was extensively appointing officials, he excluded most noble families. Afterward, various families nearly fought to the death for an empty Left Chancellor position, but in the end, the Prince gave it to an outsider, Chen Xiufu. By then they understood – the Prince didn’t need them. Following the Prince, these noble families that had passed down for generations were destined for decline. So when Mo Jingli came to find them, they quickly became interested. Not just because of the benefits and future Mo Jingli promised, but because they had to make a desperate attempt.
A cold smile twisted Zhao Zhefang’s aged face, “You think you can escape if the Prince discovers this? The Prince’s mansion is searching everywhere for him now. If he’s caught, do you think he won’t give us up?”
Hearing this, cold sweat broke out on everyone’s brows. They secretly regretted being too impulsive in agreeing to Mo Jingli’s plan. Perhaps they were all dizzy from the Prince’s mansion’s cold treatment and losing the Left Chancellor position – would following someone like Mo Jingli really lead to a future? But by now, they couldn’t turn back. Not to mention the Prince would never tolerate traitors, Mo Jingli held some leverage over each of them, so they had no way to return.
“Then what do you plan to do?”
Zhao Zhefang lowered his eyes and thought for a long time, then shook his head, “The young master still has great use, we can’t hurt him. But… keeping him in my mansion isn’t safe.” Everyone exchanged glances and nodded. The Zhao mansion had no secret places to hide people – keeping the young master here would indeed be unsafe over time.
“Then what should we do?”
Zhao Zhefang thought and said, “We must first find a hidden place to conceal the young master.”
“What about the young emperor? Given that person’s nature, he probably won’t keep him alive either, why don’t we…”
“Not yet – if the young emperor doesn’t attend tonight’s banquet at the palace, it will raise the Prince’s mansion’s suspicions,” Zhao Zhefang shook his head.
“Master, the Prince of Yu from Great Chu requests an audience,” a guard reported softly from outside.
Under the eaves outside, Mo Xiaobao sat on the carved beam beneath the eaves, bending down to eavesdrop on the plans inside through the window above, a big smile spreading across his delicate face.
After a while, several people filed out of the study. Before leaving, Zhao Zhefang instructed the guards at the door to watch those inside well, then left with the other three. Today, anyone of note in Licheng was gathered at the Prince’s mansion – if they didn’t appear, it would arouse more suspicion.
Seeing Zhao Zhefang and the others leave, Mo Xiaobao silently dropped down from the eaves and frowned at the two men guarding the door. His eyes quickly lit up as he took a delicate little device from his sleeve and gently pressed it toward one of them.
With a slight whoosh, one guard at the door collapsed. The other guard was startled and just opened his mouth to call out when his vision went black and he also fell to the ground. Xu Zhirui stood behind a pillar with a cold expression, glaring at Mo Xiaobao. Mo Xiaobao grinned at him and pulled him into the study together. Outside, two black-clothed guards silently landed in the courtyard, looked at the fallen guards, and smiled at each other. Soon, the two guards were moved to a hidden spot, and two unremarkable men in guard uniforms appeared at the study door.
“The Prince must be in a good mood, having time to train the young master at a time like this.”
“At this level of difficulty, the Prince probably wouldn’t even bother getting involved.”
“The young master is quite bold, just forgot the aftermath.” If someone suddenly came and found two people lying at the door, wouldn’t that expose everything? So being guards meant always having to clean up after their masters.
“With the young master and young master Xu’s size, they couldn’t handle something this big.”
The two exchanged glances, both thinking: Did the young master stride in so boldly because he was certain they would help clean up?
In the study, Mo Xiaobao joyfully danced around, happily searching everywhere and quickly finding many interesting things. The Zhao family hadn’t moved to this residence long, so naturally there weren’t many secret places. Besides, even if there were any hidden mechanisms or passages, they could hardly escape the eyes of someone who had been clever and learned various skills since childhood.
Xu Zhirui sat on the couch, frowning as he watched someone rummaging through cabinets while keeping an eye on the two people lying on the couch. Many times, Xu Zhirui truly didn’t know how this cousin, not even two years older than him, had grown into such a character. Though Aunt was gentle and elegant, and Uncle Prince of Ding had an impressive bearing and kingly air, this cousin had grown into something else entirely. Except for his pretty face being worth looking at, he never had a moment of peace.
“Aren’t you going to check on these two?” Xu Zhirui asked unhappily.
Mo Xiaobao glanced up at him, casually tossing over a small porcelain bottle, “What’s there to look at? They’re drugged – let them smell this and they’ll wake up. Sister Yunge gave this to me, it can counter all sleeping incense.” With that, he went back to examining the letters and books he’d taken from Zhao Zhefang’s locked cabinet without looking up.
Wordlessly, Xu Zhirui held the medicine bottle under Qin Lie and Mo Suiyun’s noses. Sure enough, within moments Qin Lie woke first. Seeing Xu Zhirui, he wasn’t surprised but sat up silently. After a while, Mo Suiyun also woke, but he wasn’t as calm as Qin Lie and nearly cried out. Qin Lie and Xu Zhirui quickly covered his mouth from both sides.
Mo Xiaobao stood up from beside the bookcase, casually tucking a thin book into his chest – clearly, he had found what he was looking for. He waved his hand, “Don’t worry, our people are outside.” Mo Suiyun looked at Mo Xiaobao in plain clothes, then at Qin Lie beside him wearing dark formal clothes and looking even more like the Prince’s heir than Mo Xiaobao despite their identical appearance, momentarily speechless.
Mo Xiaobao completely ignored Mo Suiyun’s shock, smiling as he put his arm around Mo Suiyun’s shoulders, “Brother, thank you for this time.” Mo Suiyun, no fool, knew he had been used and irritably shrugged off Mo Xiaobao’s hand, pointing at Qin Lie, “Who is he?” Mo Xiaobao smiled, “That’s not important. Looks similar, right? Like twin brothers? This wasn’t easy to do.”
Mo Suiyun studied Qin Lie for a long time before saying, “Such masterful disguise skills – no wonder Uncle Prince of Ding could fool the Prince of Zhengnan of Western Ling and the Prince of Li.” Mo Xiaobao smiled broadly and reached up to tug at Qin Lie’s face, “This thing is especially hard to do, ordinary people can’t learn it at all. I can’t do it either…”
Qin Lie raised his hand and smacked away Mo Xiaobao’s hand playing with his face.
“He’s shorter than you,” Mo Suiyun said after careful observation. “He’s Qin Lie.” At the word “shorter,” Qin Lie’s aura instantly turned cold. Though his expression couldn’t be seen through the disguise, the cold light shooting from his eyes showed this was Qin Lie’s sore spot. Indeed, by age, Qin Lie was the oldest among them, but in height, he was barely as tall as Xu Zhirui. Note that Xu Zhirui wasn’t even ten yet. Being short was every man’s pain – and boys were no different.
Seeing Qin Lie about to explode, Mo Xiaobao quickly pounced over to hold him down, smiling placatingly, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry… the young emperor misspoke, we can’t afford to kill him… Master Shen also said you started martial arts too early so you’re developing late, after sixteen you’ll grow like crazy.” Being comforted by someone several years younger, Qin Lie felt no comfort at all.
Xu Zhirui stood to the side, arms crossed, watching them unhappily, “Are you leaving or not? Think this is your home?” Mo Xiaobao smiled, “Go… you and Qin Lie go, I’ll stay with the young emperor.”
“Nonsense!” Xu Zhirui glared at him coldly, showing quite a bit of the Second Young Master Xu’s manner. Mo Xiaobao’s face fell, “Brother Zhirui if we all leave and Zhao Zhefang discovers it when he returns, how can we continue playing afterward?”
Xu Zhirui said, “Didn’t you find what you were looking for? Give it to Uncle Prince of Ding and come back to arrest people directly.”
“What’s there to arrest? Mo Jingli is hiding who knows where in what rat hole – if I run, he’ll either not come out or cause who knows what damage. If he directly starts killing people and causing chaos in Licheng, ruining Xin’er and Lin’er’s first birthday celebration, what then? Besides, Father said he wants to put on a good show tonight to frighten those old men who don’t know their place – if the show is ruined, I’ll die very miserably!” Mo Xiaobao said righteously. Xu Zhirui rolled his eyes, “Then what do you want to do?” Mo Xiaobao took out the book from his chest and stuffed it into Xu Zhirui’s arms, “You and Qin Lie go back first, give this to my father and mother. I’ll stay here and see just how formidable this Mo Jingli is.”
Mo Suiyun objected, “If you want to stay, stay by yourself. I won’t stay here to risk my life with you.”
Mo Xiaobao gave Mo Suiyun a cold smile, “Brother, that’s not right. We’re clearly in the same boat. How can you desert now?” Mo Suiyun said, “I only agreed to cooperate in bringing you here, not to help you catch Mo Jingli.” Mo Xiaobao’s delicate face instantly twisted as he grabbed Mo Suiyun’s collar and shook hard, “Hmph! Want to leave after boarding this young master’s pirate ship? Will you do it? Will you? Won’t do it, right? Want to bet I’ll shout and tell Mo Jingli you conspired with me to trick him?”
Mo Suiyun angrily swatted away his claws, “You madman! Don’t you want to live?!”
Mo Xiaobao stared at him with a somewhat sleazy smile, “If Mo Jingli comes, I might escape with my life, but you… who knows?”
“I… got… it!” Mo Suiyun glared at Mo Xiaobao through gritted teeth.
Mo Xiaobao nodded satisfactorily, “That’s better. Be good and stay with me, I guarantee your safety. As they say… a friend would take a knife in the ribs for you, right? Aren’t we good brothers?”
Pah! Who’s your good brother? Getting stuck with you as a brother only means getting stabbed a few times yourself.
Having dealt with Mo Suiyun, Mo Xiaobao sat on the couch and waved to Xu Zhirui and Qin Lie, “Alright, Qin Lie, switch clothes with me. Then you two head back.” Qin Lie looked up at him coolly and said, “I’ll stay, you go back.”
Mo Xiaobao puffed up his cheeks like buns, glaring at the face identical to his own, “I’m the young master! I make the decisions! You secretly disguised yourself as me and ran out – I haven’t even settled accounts with you yet!”
Qin Lie gave him a cool look and said, “What can you do that I can’t? No need for you to stay personally.” Except for lacking someone’s sleazy, vicious, and dark psychology, he wasn’t inferior to Mo Xiaobao in any way, and those extra years weren’t for nothing.
“No way!” He still wanted to meet that pervert Mo Jingli – Father had told him something very interesting, and he wanted to verify it personally. It would be too much of a waste otherwise.
Qin Lie couldn’t be bothered to speak more. He casually drew Xu Zhirui’s defensive dagger and held it to his own throat, “Go.”
Mo Xiaobao was stunned. He wanted to say something, but saw Qin Lie press the dagger down further, almost breaking the skin, “Are you going or not?” Mo Xiaobao stared in shock – for the first time in his life, he found himself being threatened. And the person threatening him was using his own life to do it. How absurd – you’re not even my wife. Mo Xiaobao grumbled internally. But those who wear shoes fear those who go barefoot, and those who go barefoot fear those who don’t value their lives. Compared to Mo Xiaobao who delighted in tormenting others, Qin Lie was the one who didn’t value his life.
After a moment’s stupefaction, Mo Xiaobao finally admitted defeat. He could only glare resentfully at Qin Lie before walking to Xu Zhirui’s side. Seeing Mo Xiaobao at a loss, Mo Suiyun became happy, “Now I finally understand why you’re so crazy.” Because none of you are normal people!
Leaving the study, Mo Xiaobao looked at the two guards standing at attention by the door, completely unsurprised, “Thank you for your trouble.”
“No trouble, it’s our duty,” one guard answered formally. Silently thinking: “Young master, causing less trouble would be the best comfort for us.” Mo Xiaobao nodded imperiously, “Protect the people inside well. Zhirui, let’s go.” Xu Zhirui wordlessly followed Mo Xiaobao. Even if this study was in a remote location with few visitors, did he have to act so at ease like it was his backyard?
Tonight, the entire Prince of Ding’s mansion was brilliantly lit. The main hall in the front courtyard specially used for entertaining guests was filled with distinguished visitors. Naturally, Mo Xiu Yao and Ye Li sat in the highest host seats. On the right were Master Qingyun and the Xu family members, on the left were Chen Xiufu, Xu Qingchen, and various important civil and military officials of the Prince’s mansion. Only further down in the guest seats were envoys from various countries.
Below, Mo Suiyun and Mo Jingyu sat in the Great Chu guests’ positions, though both seemed somewhat dazed. Across from them in the Western Ling delegation’s position, an official behind Lei Tengfeng whispered in his ear, “We haven’t seen the Prince’s young master all day.”
Lei Tengfeng looked up and indeed saw that below Mo Xiu Yao and Ye Li, the position belonging to young master Mo Yuzhen was still empty. And at noon during the two children’s first birthday celebration, Mo Yuzhen hadn’t been seen either. Lei Tengfeng glanced at Mo Xiu Yao and Ye Li’s composed expressions, raised an eyebrow, and smiled, “We’re guests here, no need to concern ourselves with these matters.”
Though Lei Tengfeng didn’t care, others did. A man with Western Region features stood up and asked curiously, “Prince of Ding, why haven’t we seen your young prince?” No wonder these Western Region envoys were curious – the Western Regions had little contact with the Central Plains. Others had at least seen Mo Xiaobao once or twice, but these Western Region envoys had never seen him. Naturally, they were very curious about the Prince’s mansion’s future heir.
Mo Xiu Yao smiled faintly, “The young master is slightly unwell, he’ll come later.”
Just this casual statement was interpreted differently by everyone present – some changed expression, some became thoughtful, and some looked worried.
Mo Xiu Yao coolly swept his gaze over the crowd below, his eyes lingering briefly on Mo Jingyu and Mo Suiyun. Mo Jingyu and Mo Suiyun instantly felt a heavy pressure bearing down on them like something tangible. Mo Suiyun’s face went white and he quickly lowered his head. Mo Jingyu’s wine cup shook, spilling some wine onto his sleeve. Ignoring the similar gazes from those nearby, Mo Jingyu hurriedly put down his cup, his hands beneath the table clenched tight.
Mo Xiu Yao stood up, raising a cup of wine and smiling, “Today is my son Yufeng and daughter Yuya’s first birthday. Thank you all for coming from afar. My wife and I toast to you all.” Beside Mo Xiu Yao, Ye Li also raised her wine cup, lifting it toward the guests below. Everyone quickly stood, saying, “We should be toasting to the young master and princess’s birthday.” Host and guests drank deeply, and the great hall instantly became livelier. Mo Xiu Yao waved his hand, and immediately serving girls wearing the Prince’s mansion’s uniforms came forward to pour wine for everyone. The sounds of silk and bamboo instruments rose softly in the hall, and beautiful dancing girls began their graceful performance. The entire great hall became a scene of drinking and revelry, extraordinarily lively.