The attendant froze at once, and the expressions of both the Prince of Badong and Kong Changyu shifted.
Kong Changyu feigned confusion. "Young Master Wang, what are you-"
Wang Yang picked up the bamboo tube and showed it to the Prince of Badong. "This man just gave me this, saying something about a message from his master."
The Prince of Badong frowned in surprise. "Oh! Something like that actually happened?!"
Seeing this, Wang Yang knew his guess had been right. The Prince of Badong had staged this entire affair to test him.
In that case, I'll play along.
He asked the attendant coldly, "Who are you carrying messages for? Why all the skulking? Who put you up to this?"
The attendant was frightened. Official Kong had told him to do this, but how could he dare say so? He stammered without answering.
Wang Yang barked, "You serve in the Prince's Residence, yet you take orders from someone else and secretly deliver confidential letters! Your loyalties are divided, and you are faithless to your master! His Highness is right here, yet you still refuse to tell the truth! Have you truly tired of living?!"
The attendant did not know that Kong Changyu had been acting on the prince's orders. Hearing Wang Yang make the matter sound so grave, he trembled in fright and dropped straight to his knees. Afraid of taking the blame for Kong Changyu, he glanced toward him, half deliberately and half instinctively.
Kong Changyu was getting a headache too. His ridiculous prince had insisted on staging this little performance, saying, "If Wang Yang has a guilty conscience, he will keep the letter and secretly open it." Kong Changyu had planned what to do if Wang Yang kept the letter, and had considered the possibility of Wang Yang handing