Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

78. What’s Your Real Name? (1)

Translator: Flying Lines

“What ‘I approached you’? You were the one who approached me. Who was the person who wanted to learn medical skills from me?” Zhou Zaiyue let out a snort.

Xiao Shengnian, “…”

“I will tell you what you want to know. Don’t make things difficult for him.” Zhou Zaiyue defended Su Jie as if he was a mother defending her children.

“… Fine. Let’s talk.” Xiao Shengnian nodded.

“Thank goodness I’m heading out tomorrow. If I headed out this afternoon, I would’ve had to collect the corpse of my old friend’s son when I return!” Zhou Zaiyue huffed, stealing a glance at Su Jie. Yet, there was not a hint of reproach in his eyes.

“Please take a seat, teacher.” Xiao Shengnian said.

Zhou Zaiyue did not move. Su Jie wasn’t seated so there was no reason for him to sit. He shook his head. “I will stand as I talk.”

Xiao Shengnian also stood. He was tired of going through all the conversational twists and turns so he simply cut to the chase. “Wen Nianxuan is not his real name, is it? Who sent him to approach me?” he asked.

“This child has had a hard life…” Zhou Zaiyue was sorrowful. His voice withered and the corners of Su Jie’s mouth twitched.

“Let me tell him.” Su Jie suddenly said.

He did not have the habit of being protected by others. In normal circumstances, Su Jie was the one who protected others. He was not weak to the extent he needed an elderly person to protect him.

Besides, Zhou Zaiyue’s melancholy tone made Su Jie uncomfortable. He was about to come of age at 20yet, Zhou Zaiyue was defending him as if he was a precious piece of treasure. This kind of feeling… Although it wasn’t annoying, Su Jie was not used to it at all.

There are some things that one must shoulder the responsibilities. No one else can be a substitute.

“I am a man of sacrifice. There is a Death Gu inside my body, so I have to follow orders. I approached you because it was my mission.” Su Jie’s expression was serene and his voice was calm. He used only a few words to give a brief explanation.

Even though he didn’t want to talk about this, he had to stay at Prince Rui’s residence because the Death Gu was still inside his body. This was what they called ‘submitting to the person in power’.

“Death Gu?” Xiao Shengnian had heard of the Death Gu’s power. When he heard that Su Jie had a Death Gu inside his body, he couldn’t help but become anxious. He asked subconsciously, “How long?”

“Nine years.” Su Jie said. His voice did not waver.

Xiao Shengnian felt a mix of complex emotions.

At this point, Zhou Zaiyue interrupted, “There had been no one to look after this child for so many years. He has suffered many hardships… I feel so sorry for him…” The old man’s eyes overflowed with turbid tears. There was no shortage of loyal subjects in State Yanling. He felt immense guilt towards the crown prince, His Highness, who had been missing for so many years. It was all his fault for not finding the crown prince sooner…

Seeing this, Su Jie frowned. His expression was stained with a trace of helplessness. Zhou Zaiyue was good in every way – it was this point that Su Jie couldn’t stand. He always treated him as a child in need of protection.

As Xiao Shengnian saw that Zhou Zaiyue’s expression was full of guilt, his tone of voice couldn’t help but become warmer. He asked Su Jie, “Who are you working for?”

Su Jie thought for a while like, he didn’t want to answer the question.

As a principled man of sacrifice, Su Jie felt that Xiao Shengnian was getting closer and closer to his bottom line.

Raising his gaze to meet Zhou Zaiyue’s, Su Jie let out a light sigh and answered in undertone, “… I take orders from Prince Qin, but the Guqin Master is the one who is controlling the Death Gu.”

“So, from the very start when you approached me, it was all a scheme?”

“That’s right. The Guqin Master wanted me to gain your trust.”

“You are a man of sacrifice. Why are you confessing the truth so easily?”

“Elder Zhou is currently detoxifying the poison for me. Until then, I cannot act against the Guqin Master so I can only continue with the mission and stay at your residence.” He could only tell Xiao Shengnian everything that needed to be explained.

“But you didn’t want to stay here?” Feeling his anger rising again, Xiao Shengnian asked lightly.

“This depends on whether you want me to stay or not.” Su Jie’s lips curled slightly. His attitude was causal.

“…” Xiao Shengnian suddenly felt that this kid was going to be the death of him. Su Jie clearly knew he was at Xiao Shengnian’s mercy, yet the kid’s attitude was not submissive at all. Other than at the very, very start, Su Jie had to compromise several times when he wanted to stay at Prince Rui’s residence. But after that, Su Jie treated Xiao Shengnian less and less like the prince he was.

Was he being tookind to this kid?

Xiao Shengnian’s eyes narrowed, traces of danger in his gaze. His smile was light and gentle but, there were some hints of wickedness and charm. He asked, “What is your real name?”

“My surname is Su. My name only has one character: Jie. Jie from jiebian, meaning alertness.”

“Su Jie?” Xiao Shengnian repeated these two words and reached a conclusion. “It sounds terrible.”

Zhou Zaiyue glared at him. Su Jie’s name was chosen by State Yanling’s founder. The name was derived from the phrase ‘the speaker is innocent, yet the listener is full of caution’. The founder hoped that Su Jie would pursue his studies diligently, reflect on his shortcomings, and become an excellent ruler. He had also chosen a courtesy name for Su Jie: Qiangao, hoping for Su Jie to ‘live proudly with humility’. However, Su Jie only knew his birth name and not his courtesy name.

“Oh, teacher is heading out tomorrow?” Xiao Shengnian asked as he suddenly remembered what Zhou Zaiyue had said before.

“That’s right. I am going to collect some herbs to kill the Death Gu tomorrow. It will probably take around a month before I return. During this time, I am entrusting him to you to look after.” Zhou Zaiyue paused and drink a gulp of water. “Since you already know his origins, remember to protect him. I hope to see not even a hair missing from his body when I return.”

From the start to the end, Zhou Zaiyue had not used Su Jie’s name. Whenever it involved Su Jie, Zhou Zaiyue would always use ‘he’, ‘his’ or ‘him’ instead. As a citizen of State Yanling, Zhou Zaiyue was not willing to utter Su Jie’s name. In his eyes, that was extremely disrespectful.

Xiao Shengnian nodded, agreeing to Zhou Zaiyue’s words. He turned and revealed a cool expression as he said to Su Jie, “Hear that? I’m only letting you stay here because of teacher. Otherwise, you would have died several times already.”

“Yes, I thank Your Highness for not killing me.” Su Jie’s eyes narrowed as he smiled. He didn’t let Xiao Shengnian’s vicious words get to him.

“Although I have let you off, I am still angry.”

“What do you want?”