How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

It’s a dark and windy night, a perfect time for a secret rendezvous.

The second in command felt sorry for his wife's frail body and was afraid that his brothers would drink and make noise at night, so he chose an extremely secluded and clean wooden house for his wife to sleep in.

However, it unexpectedly gave convenience to a "flower thief".

The side window creaked open a crack, and five slender fingers grabbed the horizontal bar at the bottom of the window and gently lifted it up. Then a pair of long legs in black boots fell silently into the room, revealing the whole tall and straight body. With the moonlight pouring in from the mountains, the moon was bright and clear.

The candle in the room had gone out. Shen Yuan gently closed the window and walked silently to the kang.

The kang was warm, and Xie Chengze curled up in the quilt with only his head exposed. His phoenix eyes were narrowed as if he had fallen asleep, and his long, dark eyelashes trembled slightly, making people want to play with them.

Shen Yuan put his hands behind his back, lowered his eyes and looked down at the young man's comfortable "sleeping face", and said softly, "Don't pretend, I know you are not asleep."

The young man on the kang remained motionless, and his breathing became increasingly steady, so steady that it aroused suspicion.

Shen Yuan raised his eyebrows slightly and took out the hand behind his back. He saw that the palm of his hand had grabbed a handful of snow, and then he stuffed it into the young man's neck with lightning speed.

"Fuck!"

Xie Chengze shuddered from the cold, his eyes widened suddenly, he jumped out of the quilt and began to brush the snow off his neck, "You bastard! You have no moral principles!"

Shen Yuan patted the snow stains on his hands and said slowly, "Your Highness knew that I was coming, but he still pretended to be asleep. It is obvious that your Highness's thoughts are hard to guess."

"Who knows when you will come? What if you are mentally ill and do the opposite and plan to come back in the early morning? I can't wait for you all night!" Xie Chengze argued, although his logic was perverse.

"You are quite good at putting the blame on someone else." Shen Yuan sneered, then lifted his robe and sat down, handing out a handkerchief. "Why is Your Highness here? Did you ask for permission as soon as you heard that I was missing, and rushed all the way from the capital to Liaozhou to rescue me?"

There was a hint of sarcasm in the man's smile, as if he was making fun of someone's unfounded worries. Xie Chengze began to secretly regret why he came here riding a horse instead of a donkey.

At least when Shen Yuan asked him about it, he could deny it rationally and confidently, saying that he did not rush here non-stop.

But the donkey keeps on running.

Xie Chengze took the handkerchief from the man with a pout and wiped off the water stains from the melted snow on his neck, saying, "If you insist on believing this, then believe this. After all, I love my subjects like my own sons, especially since this subject once swore that if he loses to me, he must call me daddy."

Shen Yuan: ...

Sharp teeth and sharp mouth.

"How are those craftsmen now?" Xie Chengze asked, "You stayed here to rescue those craftsmen, right?"

"Yes, but not just that." Shen Yuan glanced at Xie Chengze, and seeing his puzzled expression, his eyes flashed.

He asked casually, "Your Highness, do you still remember where Concubine Hua's hometown is?"

Concubine Hua?

Isn’t that the original owner’s mother?

Xie Chengze pursed his lips and began to rack his brains to recall.

In the original book, Concubine Hua does not appear very often. After all, she is a dead person and lives mostly in people's mouths. All we know is that she has a straightforward and heroic personality, and she is an excellent whip wielder. Even the concubines in the palace love and hate her.

As for her hometown...

He really couldn't remember such detailed information.

However, Shen Yuan mentioned this matter at this time and place, so it seems that there is a connection between them. Could it be... "Is it Liaozhou?"

His questioning tone made Shen Yuan's eyes darker, and he lowered his eyes to look at Xie Chengze meaningfully.

When investigating Concubine Hua, Shen Yuan did not find out the real cause of her death, but he knew that the Second Prince and Concubine Hua were very loving when they were young. Before she got married, Concubine Hua was a woman from the underworld, and she often liked to take the young Second Prince out of the palace to see the world, which must have included her hometown Liaozhou.

Although Concubine Hua's parents are deceased, her martial arts master settled in Liaozhou. After Concubine Hua rescued Wuhen and Wuji, she sent them to Liaozhou to learn martial arts. Therefore, whether he had been to Liaozhou when he was young or Wuhen and Wuji were always by his side, Xie Chengze should not have known where Concubine Hua's hometown is.

At least, Xie Chengze in his previous life would not be unaware of this.

Shen Yuan looked up and sighed, "Your Highness remembered it wrong, it was Shangjing."

"Ah!" Xie Chengze slapped his chin, pretending to be enlightened, "I remember now, it is indeed Shangjing. The two places are not far away, I got it mixed up."

"..." Shen Yuan looked at Xie Chengze with deep eyes, "Your Highness, I just lied to you. Concubine Hua's hometown is Liaozhou."

Xie Chengze: ...

Xie Chengze: Grass (a kind of plant)! I was careless!

"You're lying to me?" Xie Chengze was a little upset, and he just threw the can down and said, "Okay, I'm an unfilial son who forgot where my mother's hometown is! So what!"

Shen Yuan sighed, "Of course there is nothing we can do. But if Your Highness and the Imperial Concubine don't have a good relationship, I'm afraid it will be difficult to bribe these bandits."

Xie Chengze looked at him suddenly, "What do you mean?"

Shen Yuan glanced at him and pretended to be thoughtful, "Your Highness, do you really want to know?"

"Of course!" Xie Chengze excitedly moved his butt and sat next to him. He even generously pulled the warm quilt over Shen Yuan, just like a kid hiding in bed in the middle of the night to listen to ghost stories. He said expectantly, "Go ahead and tell me. I'm listening!"

"But I don't trust Your Highness and don't want to say it." Shen Yuan shook his head.

The smile on Xie Chengze's lips froze a little, "Stop it."

"I am not fooling around." Shen Yuan pulled down the blanket and stared at the young man with a deep look. "What is there about Your Highness that is worthy of my trust?"

The man's serious expression did not seem fake, as if he really did not trust the Second Prince, which was why he could admit his grudge so frankly.

However, such words were like a bomb in the pond, touching the young man's taboo, causing his ears to ring for a moment. He felt a surge of anger in his heart, and his tone became sharp, "Shen Yuan, are you kidding me?"

Xie Chengze suddenly jumped up from the kang, grabbed the collar of Shen Yuan's neck, looked down at him and said angrily, "I rushed to Liaozhou from the capital without stopping, and my butt was fucking worn out! In order to find you, I even disguised myself as a woman and took the risk of being kidnapped to Qianjin Village where I don't know if you are there, and you say you don't trust me?"

He was so angry that his eyes were red. The fatigue and grievances from running around for many days burst out at this moment, as if someone had stabbed him in the sore spot. He felt helpless and sad. "Do you trust the crown prince? If you trust him so much, why didn't your crown prince come to save you? Instead, I, the unlearned, ruthless, and distrustful second prince, came to save you!"

He was just one day away from getting his passport and finding his parents, but he was hit and killed on the street. He was so ecstatic when he regained consciousness, but he was so desperate when he found out that the face was not his.

He knew clearly how corrupt and dirty the court was, and how poor and miserable the people of the dynasty were. The villains were eyeing the throne, thinking that a beggar's son was not worthy of the supreme position, while the decent people were pointing fingers at him, thinking that a person without any royal blood should not stand in the court and show off his power.

His life and position were in jeopardy.

He was afraid that the "favor" of Emperor Jian and the Crown Prince would disappear when they found out that he was not the second prince; he was afraid that the "loyalty" without a trace would betray him because he was not the second prince; he was afraid that he was inferior to others in skills and would die at the hands of the villains before dying at the hands of Shen Yuan; he was also afraid that this backward dynasty would gradually collapse, and he would wander alone in this strange world, not knowing the way home.

He had repeatedly screened people in this world who could be trusted, and finally chose the protagonist Shen Yuan, a minister who was upright and loyal, would not betray his master, and had repeatedly persuaded the original owner to mend his ways.

When he found out that Shen Yuan was a reborn person, he was even more ecstatic, because it meant that in this world, only he and he were special and could be connected together.

Even though time travel is different from rebirth, he felt like he had found a kindred spirit and longed to gain Shen Yuan's trust. He carefully probed and groped, hoping that Shen Yuan would be on his side, and even feared that Shen Yuan would have an accident, leaving him alone to face this strange world.

This is a reader's subconscious dependence on the protagonist of the book when he is feeling panic and helpless.

Therefore, when Xie Chengze heard Shen Yuan say that he didn't trust him, he felt helpless and so scared and panicked.

The reborn Shen Yuan has one flaw, which is that because of the past, he only trusts the prince and not himself. Even though there are many differences between him and Xie Chengze, and even though he has already noticed something strange, he still refuses to trust him, and still maintains a relationship of mutual restraint and exploitation, unwilling to break the ice.

Therefore, he did not dare to give his full trust, fearing that if he was not careful, he would fall into an irretrievable situation.

Shen Yuan has the crown prince, the Shen family, and the emperor who wants to promote him behind him, so he can gamble as much as he wants. But Xie Chengze has nothing, so he can only gamble once, and he is gambling with his life.

The more Xie Chengze thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. After venting his anger, he lay back in bed, facing the wall with his back to Shen Yuan, and said nothing. He felt that he was really meddling in other people's business.

He is worried about the other person's safety, but the other person may not necessarily need his worry.

Xie Chengze, you really are like a dog.