An uninvited guest

After being rebuffed by Xie Huizhou, the Eighth Prince, Xie Tingchun, returned to his tent in a sullen mood.

Passing Zhou Yanqing, he was captivated by his beauty, but the thought that he might belong to the Imperial Preceptor kept him from trying anything.

Along the way, hearing everyone praise Xie Huizhou left him increasingly disgruntled, and he began thinking of ways to make trouble for him.

What did they mean, Xie Huizhou naturally possessed the bearing of a prince? Then what did that make him?

"Go stir things up. We can't just let them keep praising him. It displeases me."

Xie Huizhou was a prince who had been raised outside the palace since childhood. How could he possibly be allowed to seem more princely than him, to outshine him?

But more than that, the Eighth Prince was worried about something else.

His father had always treated Consort Yu differently. Though he had taken his anger over her difficult labor out on Xie Huizhou, once he saw him, who could say he wouldn't recall his past affection for her?

At the Eighth Prince's prompting, the families backing him began exerting themselves, disparaging Xie Huizhou. Such things were hardly uncommon in struggles within the imperial family.

"So this is the Ninth Prince? What great things can a pretty face alone accomplish? He spends all day hanging around those disreputable friends of his."

"His Majesty has despised him since birth. Who knows whether he's truly of imperial blood?"

The others made no attempt to conceal their mockery from Xie Huizhou and his friends. The obvious malice in their words was unpleasant to hear.

Their anger blazed.

Xie Huizhou's close friends were immediately incensed and wanted to teach those people a lesson right then and there.

"What are they saying? Our Zhouzhou is a prince, after all. Since when did they have the right to bully him?"

"Zhouzhou, don't take it to heart. They just can't stand you and want to bully you."

"We'll go give them a good beating..."

Their homes were close together, and they had all grown up together. They considered Xie Huizhou, who had skipped lessons at their private school with them, a brother. They knew better than anyone how kindhearted he was. How could they listen to those people slander him with such nonsense?

This was a provocation.

They couldn't stand seeing their good friend bullied.

Xie Huizhou stopped their impulsive actions and pressed them back into their seats. "Ahem, sit down and have some tea to cool off. A few remarks won't hurt me physically. The Eighth Prince holds the advantage here. If you make trouble here and offend him, he's petty enough to come after you."

If the Eighth Prince, Xie Tingchun, could seize on an excuse to make trouble, he wouldn't waste the opportunity. Xie Huizhou couldn't let his friends take that risk.

There had been a scene like this in the original novel. The Ninth Prince Xie Huizhou's lackeys had clashed with other nobles and happened to offend the Eighth Prince. In a rage, the Eighth Prince had seized the chance to make trouble and beaten them half-crippled.

Then he had turned around and accused Xie Huizhou of wrongdoing before the old emperor?

The Ninth Prince had allowed others to bully the weak, and his reputation had instantly become notorious, making the old emperor loathe him even more.

The Eighth Prince, meanwhile, had earned a fine reputation for being honorable and standing up for others.

Xie Huizhou wasn't someone who had transmigrated into a novel to complete missions. He couldn't watch his friends become cripples while trying to stand up for him, young noblemen with boundless futures ahead of them.

"Openly drawing hostility is a bad idea. Getting someone behind their back without anyone finding out is the best approach." Xie Huizhou remained perfectly rational and soon came up with a good way to retaliate. "We'll sneak up on them at the hunting grounds and club them. If we're clean about it, no one will find out."

Xie Huizhou never waited too long to get back at someone. If he could retaliate on the spot, he did. If not, he struck in secret.

Even if someone suspected him of taking revenge, without any evidence, they could only swallow their grievance in silence.

One of his Shadow Guards was skilled in disguise. Xie Huizhou had already decided to leave the guard in his tent in his place to draw attention, while he disguised himself as a Shadow Guard and went to the hunting grounds to club the people who had just insulted him.

That way, he could both evade the Eighth Prince Xie Tingchun's assassination attempt and indulge himself in taking revenge.

Later, he would draw some of their dirty deeds into erotic illustrations and ruin their reputations!

Then he would see who still dared run their mouths.

As a reader of the original novel, he had carefully read the entire book from beginning to end. He knew exactly what leverage there was over each of them and what past events they couldn't bear to recall.

Later, he would stuff in his own material like mad!

He had already drawn the Imperial Preceptor's stories with added embellishments and erotic details. They could all go in there too.

His close friends found this very reasonable and agreed. "That makes sense, that makes sense. When it comes to deviousness, no one beats you. You really can't judge by appearances, Zhouzhou."

Xie Huizhou looked well-behaved and upright, but all their various methods of taking revenge had always come from his head full of wicked ideas.

Xie Huizhou said, "Are you sure you're complimenting me?"

Xie Huizhou had always considered himself an upright person. He was merely forced to fight back.

Only after he spoke did his disreputable friends reluctantly abandon the idea of beating those people up on the spot, secretly planning to strike underhandedly during the hunt instead.

With so many people at the hunting grounds, mistaking someone and injuring them was common enough.

Xie Huizhou casually pulled out a pile of laxatives he had swiped from the Shadow Guards. "Remember to feed anyone who runs their mouth some laxatives after you beat them. Let them shit until they collapse, so they won't dare try anything."

They were discussing which corners of the hunting grounds had no guards or watchers, where they could strike in secret.

Just then, the mocking voices outside the tent abruptly stopped. A deathly, frightening silence fell, and its sudden arrival alerted them that something was wrong.

Li Xu thought it over and found such a quiet Spring Hunt far too strange. "How odd. Why did they suddenly stop talking? What fun is a hunt if it isn't lively?"

They heard a carriage.

Was someone still arriving at this hour?

As the sound of the carriage drew closer, heat flared at Xie Huizhou's waist, and the snake markings began winding around it again. That familiar sensation suddenly gave him a bad feeling.

The last time this had happened was when the Imperial Preceptor, Zhang Lanhe, had come to visit. He was inclined to think that Zhang Lanhe's approach caused the unusual reaction.

Didn't he usually dislike attending occasions like this?

Curious about what was happening, Xie Huizhou poked his head out. As it turned out, Zhang Lanhe had come to the Spring Hunt in person for once.

Why had he come?

Don't panic. My string of outrageous maneuvers and the Shadow Guards' covert interference destroyed every last scrap of evidence.

Zhang Lanhe had stopped suspecting him long ago. Just now, he had also secretly steered suspicion toward Zhou Yanqing to muddy the waters. Nothing could lead back to him.

Emboldened by the fact that no one could trace anything to him, Xie Huizhou felt no panic at all. Growing bolder by the moment, he brazenly ran outside to watch the spectacle.

Holy shit, this is more pomp than even the old emperor gets!

Zhang Lanhe was extraordinarily brazen.

Look, the Eighth Prince's face has gone black, but he doesn't dare lose his temper.

Everyone's attention had been drawn to the Imperial Preceptor's lavish carriage?

Zhang Lanhe had come uninvited, with an entourage even grander than the Fourth Prince's. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was the host.

Before he even stepped out of the carriage, his deep, resonant voice drifted out.

"What are you all discussing so animatedly? Why not let me hear it?"