He no longer cared about his profusely bleeding thigh. Dropping to his knees, he slammed his forehead against the ground several times and stammered, "Your Highness, please spare my life!"
"What are you all standing there for? Come over here and plead for me!"
The men and women of the Shen family, young and old alike, rushed over and dropped to their knees, knocking their foreheads against the ground. "Please have mercy, Your Highness!"
It had to be said that although this old bastard had a rotten character and sometimes did things that were despicable to the core, he knew how to get things done.
Before he became an official and afterward, he had always been adept at reading people's expressions and acting accordingly.
This time, he had stumbled badly. Going up against the Crown Prince was a death sentence. After all, no matter how closely anyone studied the Crown Prince's expression, they could never guess what he was thinking.
Shen Yangge watched silently.
[-If you knew it would come to this, why do it in the first place? People really are better off knowing their place and living honestly, with their feet on the ground.]
[-Uh, except... Chu Xuanzhen, of course.]
"Drag him away."
"No... please don't, Your Highness! I... I cannot die yet! That's right, my family owns property in Lingnan. You probably have nowhere to stay on this trip to Lingnan. I can... I can arrange everything for you!"
Shen Zhi settled for his next-best option. Even if the Crown Prince went back on his word again, he had no choice but to gamble.
He seethed inwardly. If the Crown Prince had been the one abducted, he would have been free by now. The Crown Prince was far harder to deal with than those mountain bandits.
Unfortunately,