Playing games

"Ah."

Seeing Ju Zi's expression, Xu Tianyuan sighed inwardly.

Getting someone to change their opinion of him really was difficult.

He knew his own situation perfectly well.

He had played the useless fool for sixteen years, and his reputation had long since rotted through. Expecting a few words to convince anyone was pure fantasy.

"From the look on your face, you're questioning my abilities?"

He waved a hand magnanimously. "That's fine. I'll give you time."

"Three months."

"For these three months, you can do nothing at all, or you can keep working for Xu Tianran. I won't interfere."

"After three months, if you're still unwilling to work for me, you'd better find somewhere to end your life."

"Otherwise..."

He left the last sentence unfinished, but his meaning was perfectly clear.

Ju Zi understood.

In fact, she even thought the proposal was fairly reasonable.

She was just about to ask about a few details when Xu Tianyuan spoke again.

"Go see Xu Tianran today."

Ju Zi froze. "Today?"

"Yes." Xu Tianyuan nodded, smiling. "Take him some intelligence. Tell him I've been throwing my weight around at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy-that I not only hit you, but also called him all sorts of nasty names."

Ju Zi was completely bewildered.

She turned those words over in her head three times, making sure she had heard correctly.

What?

This guy wanted her to go complain to Xu Tianran?

Wasn't that practically offering his own head on a platter?

Confusion covered her face. "What are you..."

"Just do as I say." Xu Tianyuan spread his hands. "After all, it's the truth. I did hit you, and I did insult him just now, didn't I?"

An exceedingly crafty smile appeared on his face.

The abacus in Xu Tianyuan's mind clacked away furiously.

He really couldn't kill Xu Tianran right now.

But being unable to kill him didn't mean he couldn't infuriate him.

On the surface, Xu Tianran was gentle and refined, treating worthy men with courtesy. In reality, his mind was twisted enough to rival his two crippled legs.

He had long since regarded Ju Zi as his private property. No one else was allowed to touch her.

If he found out I'd hit Ju Zi...

Just imagining that scene felt satisfying.

Xu Tianran would fly into a thunderous rage, then have to choke it down because he couldn't do anything to Xu Tianyuan for the time being.

Little damage, tremendous humiliation-that was what this was.

"Remember this." Xu Tianyuan lowered his voice, enunciating every word. "When you see Xu Tianran, tell him I mocked his crippled legs and his inability to perform as a man. Tell him I said someone who can't even sire a son is dreaming in broad daylight if he thinks he can become emperor."

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, counting the points off on his fingers for Ju Zi.

"Hitting you, insulting him-those things really happened today. You only need to recount them truthfully. No need to add oil to the fire. You can do that, right?"

Ju Zi was still utterly dazed.

But after thinking it over carefully, she really couldn't find anything wrong with it.

She would merely be telling Xu Tianran the truth. That wasn't actually betrayal.

"I don't want to..."

She had barely opened her mouth when Xu Tianyuan's palm arrived.

Smack!

One slap knocked her back to the floor.

Ju Zi lay on the floor, clutching her face, her voice trembling with grievance. "What are you doing?!"

"I was just going to say that Xu Tianran and I always meet in the middle of the month, so I planned to tell him in a few days. Otherwise, he might get suspicious."

"Why did you slap me again without even finding out what I meant?"

Xu Tianyuan scratched his head.

This time, he was genuinely embarrassed.

He had thought Ju Zi was about to refuse. Besides, after all the earlier slaps, his hand had gotten into the habit, and he hadn't managed to rein in the reflex.

He needed to fix that habit. Developing muscle memory for hitting people was hardly a good sign.

"Well..."

He tried to come up with a few words to salvage the situation and restore his imposing image.

Just as he was racking his brains to find the right words, an urgent knocking suddenly came from outside the door.

Bang, bang, bang!

Ke Ke's furious shout followed immediately.

"You bastard! How dare you hit Ju Zi? I saw everything! Open the door, or I'll tell a teacher!"

Xu Tianyuan frowned.

He was familiar with having people pound on his door.

After sixteen years of playing the groveling fool in the palace, with maids and eunuchs barging in every few days to catch him doing something bad, he had no shortage of experience.

After a moment's consideration, he went over and opened the door anyway.

The moment the door opened a crack, a green figure shot inside, slipping straight under his arm.

Ke Ke rushed into the living room and immediately spotted Ju Zi sitting on the floor.

Her face was so swollen it barely looked human, blood stained the corner of her mouth, and her eyes were red from crying.

Something in Ke Ke's head snapped on the spot.

"Ju Zi!"

She rushed over and helped Ju Zi up, then turned to glare fiercely at Xu Tianyuan, her eyes all but spitting fire.

"So that's how it is! If Ju Zi hadn't told me she was coming to see you this morning, I'd never have known how brazen you were!"

"You really are the debauched prince from the rumors-defying heaven and decency, committing every evil imaginable! I'll make sure everyone knows about your crimes!"

As she spoke, Ke Ke draped one of Ju Zi's arms over her shoulders and started supporting her toward the door.

Xu Tianyuan planted himself across the doorway and spread his arms, blocking it completely.

"You've misunderstood."

His expression was perfectly serious, and he didn't so much as blink. "We were playing a game just now. She agreed to it."

Ke Ke laughed in outrage.

"Who do you think you're fooling?"

She pointed at Ju Zi's face. "Who plays games like this? What game leaves someone looking like that? Do you take me for a three-year-old?"

With a perfectly solemn expression, Xu Tianyuan pointed at the corner of Ju Zi's mouth.

"Ask her if you don't believe me."

Those words stopped Ke Ke short.

Because Xu Tianyuan's expression was simply too open and unashamed.

So unashamed that it made her skin crawl.

Someone telling a lie would avert their eyes, sound uncertain, or twitch at the corners of their mouth.

Yet the sixth prince before her stood perfectly straight, wearing an expression of calm that said, "I'm telling the truth, believe it or not." There wasn't a single crack in his facade.

Ke Ke swallowed, her gaze traveling back and forth between them twice before finally settling on Ju Zi's face.

"Ju Zi, he's lying, isn't he?"

Ju Zi parted her lips.

She desperately wanted to spill the whole truth.

She had even composed the words in her head: He threatened me, he slapped me, he forced me to take insults to Xu Tianran...

But in the last instant before she spoke, her gaze met Xu Tianyuan's.

His eyes were calm, with a warning that hovered somewhere between a smile and no smile at all.

A sheen of sweat instantly broke out across Ju Zi's back.

She rapidly weighed her options.

Judging by this man's behavior earlier, if she accused him, Ke Ke probably wouldn't make it out of this door either.

And he was a prince. Even if he really slaughtered them both, at most he would be expelled from the academy. Afterward, he would still be a prince, still eating, drinking, and enjoying himself.

What good would telling a teacher do?

Would a teacher dare rein in a prince?

Besides, there was a saying: don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Previously, if she wanted revenge, Xu Tianran had been her only hope.

Now she had Xu Tianyuan as well.

Even if this guy was boasting, even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance, it was still another path.

And for now, the price of taking that path appeared to be a few slaps.

With that thought, Ju Zi made a decision that even she had to admire.

She told a barefaced lie.

"Ke Ke, I really was playing a game with Xu Tianyuan just now... I agreed to all of it."

She forced a strained smile. "Please, whatever you do, don't tell a teacher."