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

"Shen Yuan..."

Xie Chengze shrank his neck. The man's sniffing next to his ears was low and heavy. The big hands around his waist held him tighter and tighter, as if they wanted to crush his waist and break it, making him almost unable to breathe.

Sensing that Shen Yuan was angry, Xie Chengze swallowed slightly and said in a trembling voice, "Well, I can explain..."

Shen Yuan's eyes were gloomy and he didn't say anything. After a while, he sneered, his tone dangerous and mocking, "It seems that the Second Prince did not take my words to heart."

The smell of sulfur was so strong that it was difficult for him to pretend not to smell it.

"I bought sulfur powder for bathing, really!" Xie Chengze tried to get away with it, "You should know that putting sulfur powder into water for bathing can refresh the body!"

"Heh." Shen Yuan let go of his hand and took a step back. It was obvious that he didn't believe his nonsense at all. "Of course I believe it. It just so happens that I brought you a new set of clothes. The kitchen is also boiling water. How about you take the sulfur powder and take a bath and change clothes now?"

"What?" Seeing Xie Chengze standing there hesitating, Shen Yuan raised his eyebrows and sneered, "Or, Your Highness admitted that he just wanted to make gunpowder."

Xie Chengze: ...

Xie Chengze couldn't stand his sarcastic and provocative look, and his stubborn temper immediately came out. He shouted, "Wash it if you want! Who's afraid of you!"

He angrily sent someone to prepare a wooden barrel, and watched the servants pour bucket after bucket of hot water into the bathtub. Only when the water was almost full did he finally begin to back off and secretly glanced at the man beside him who was watching the whole process coldly.

Noticing his gaze, Shen Yuan turned his head and sneered, "Why, Your Highness, are you going back on your word?"

Xie Chengze grabbed the edge of the wooden barrel and frowned, "I am bathing, shouldn't you guys step aside?"

Shen Yuan chuckled, crossed his arms and tapped his fingers, and said slowly, "Your Highness is bathing, how can there be no one to serve you? I will stay here and be ready to answer your call at any time."

He deliberately reminded, "Your Highness, don't soak for too long, lest you get dizzy and forget to add the sulfur powder."

Xie Chengze: "...No need for you to remind me!"

Shen Yuan shrugged, turned his back and said nothing more. Seeing that he was determined not to leave, Xie Chengze had to grit his teeth, take off his old clothes, and get into the wooden barrel.

Because he was so angry, he threw the robe he had taken off on Shen Yuan's head as if to vent his anger, "You dog official!"

Shen Yuan: ...

The robe hung down on his head. Shen Yuan was angry and amused. He pulled off the dark red robe that had been worn to the point of gravel, rolled it up and wrapped it around his arm. "Your Highness, I have returned the clothes I owed you."

Xie Chengze didn't react at first, but when he came to his senses, he remembered that Shen Yuan was referring to the incident in which his red palace robe was rubbed on the way to Yizhou.

Xie Chengze groaned twice, "One is not enough."

He splashed the water twice, glanced at the place where the sulfur paper was hidden, and cleared his throat slightly, "Um, Shen Lang~"

When Shen Yuan heard him call Shen Lang, he knew he was up to no good again, "Your Highness, do not talk while eating or bathing."

Xie Chengze:? "Don't you talk while eating or sleeping?"

Shen Yuan sneered, as if he thought he was unreasonable. "You two can't help your feelings, how can you keep silent? Even if Your Highness has never tasted the forbidden fruit, you should have heard of it, right?"

Xie Chengze: ???

Did a car just drive over his face?

Xie Chengze touched his face in disbelief, opened his mouth, and then leaned against the barrel with despair, "...It's indeed the first time I've heard of it."

Shen Yuan did not comment.

After soaking in the bath for a while, Xie Chengze felt a little uncomfortable in his chest, probably because he added too much water, so he raised his buttocks slightly to relieve the pressure of the water pressure on his heart.

Shen Yuan heard the noise and asked casually, "Is Your Highness going to add sulfur powder?"

Xie Chengze: ...Sulfur powder, sulfur powder, you only know sulfur powder! Is your brain filled with sulfur powder?

"Wait a little longer! Soaking that thing for too long is not good for your health. When I have soaked it almost completely, add it to the sandalwood soap!" After Xie Chengze finished speaking, an idea suddenly occurred to him. He then coughed lightly and said maliciously, "Since Lord Shen has said that he can obey my summons at any time, why don't you help me cut up the sandalwood soap on the shelf?"

Shen Yuan raised his eyebrows, "Your Highness, I don't have a suitable blade."

Xie Chengze's eyes fell on his waist, and he said meaningfully, "I think your sword is pretty good..."

Shen Yuan lowered his head: ...

"Alas! What he said about accepting my summons at any time seems to be just flattery. I just know that Lord Shen doesn't have me in his heart at all..." Xie Chengze sighed, covered his chest, and spoke with a heart-wrenching tone.

Shen Yuan: ...

After taking a deep breath, the man shook his head in compromise, took the sandalwood soap from the shelf, then drew the green sword from his waist and began to cut sandalwood soap for the difficult Second Prince.

In the original novel, Shen Yuan's green sword only killed treacherous villains and incompetent emperors, and cleared all remnants for the prince and the court. Readers jokingly called it the "Jian'an Sword."

But now, this world-famous Jian'an sword was sitting in a small shabby house, using the sword corner to cut sandalwood soap. Xie Chengze found it funny, but at the same time, he felt that Shen Yuan seemed... a little different towards him.

It’s hard to say what the specific difference is, but it might be because when Shen Yuan discovered that he was making gunpowder, the first thing he said was not to risk his own life, rather than risking the lives of the people.

Xie Chengze couldn't tell whether Shen Yuan was sincere at the time, but at least he liked to hear it.

If I were an emperor, I would definitely be a tyrant who would love to listen to the flattering words of treacherous ministers.

"Shen Yuan." Xie Chengze leaned on the wooden barrel with his arms, tapping the barrel surface with his fingertips unconsciously. "If I say that I can make gunpowder and there will be no danger at all, will you believe me?"

"Bang!" The sword tip slid across the center of the sandalwood soap, and the next moment it slashed out diagonally at a rapid speed, and with a "clang" it hit the ground diagonally. The half-cut sandalwood soap fell to the ground, covered with a little dust, looking pitiful and weak.

Shen Yuan turned his head and smiled grimly, "What did your highness just say? I was so focused on cutting the sandalwood soap that I didn't hear it clearly."

Xie Chengze: ...

Xie Chengze silently covered his mouth and sank to the bottom of the wooden barrel.

A threat! This is a threat! Naked danger!

"Your Highness should be almost done with the soak, right?" Shen Yuan picked up the soap box containing the sandalwood soap shavings, turned around and walked to the side of the wooden barrel, and said to Xie Chengze who was hiding inside, "Soak for a while longer, and your Highness will be done with the soaking sac."

"I think I can hold on for a while longer." Xie Chengze said stubbornly, "If we don't use gunpowder to blast the river channel as soon as possible, it will probably take seven or eight years to dig the Yuji Mountain, not to mention that we will have to dig several tributary rivers later. But we can't stay here for so long. Once you and I leave, Liang Wanda will definitely be dealt with by the people behind the scenes, and then the Tianfu plan will probably be a long way off."

No matter who is sent to Yizhou to replace Liang Wanda in the future, as long as the person behind the scenes is not eliminated, the prefect of Yizhou will inevitably be assimilated, and if he cannot be assimilated, he will die. The people of Yizhou have already built up their self-confidence with Liang Wanda as their spiritual core. If Liang Wanda dies, the spiritual blow to the people of Yizhou cannot be underestimated.

Therefore, if we want to complete the Tianfu Project as soon as possible, gunpowder is essential.

Shen Yuan lowered his eyes and remained silent. He naturally knew these principles. How could he not know?

But when Xie Chengze was thinking about these things, did he ever think about what would be the fate that awaited him once the gunpowder was made?