Chapter 110

Chapter 110

Meng Shuping immediately quickened his pace, simultaneously covering his face with his hand. "They didn't see me, they didn't see me! Ugh... what am I going to do? I haven't decided whether to take responsibility yet!"

However, he had only taken a few steps when someone grabbed him by the back of his collar. Jiang Cihe pulled him back by the collar and deliberately asked, "Who are you hiding from?"

Meng Shuping let out a dry laugh. "Oh, that? Too many people want to chat with me, so I'm just covering my face."

"Who else but him? Why are his eyes so sharp? I didn't even get away."

Jiang Cihe found it strange. Why would Little Bold avoid him for no reason? Was it because he had bumped into him that day and felt awkward? But what did he mean by "taking responsibility"? Just bumping into someone shouldn’t be that big a deal, right?

His lips curved into a smile. "Is that so? Then let's walk together. That way, no one will bother you."

Meng Shuping wanted to refuse but couldn’t find a good excuse, so he stiffly nodded. "Alright then."

The two walked out of the palace together. As soon as Meng Shuping saw his own carriage, he breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he could leave. Pretending to be calm, he turned to Jiang Cihe. "I’ll get in now."

Jiang Cihe nodded. But as soon as Meng Shuping boarded, he saw Jiang Cihe follow him inside. Surprised, he asked, "Why are you coming in too?"

Jiang Cihe sat down beside him. "My carriage broke down on the way here. Mind if I catch a ride with you?"

Meng Shuping stared at him speechlessly. "He’s definitely lying. How could a prince’s carriage break down so easily? Does he think I won’t call him out on it?"

He opened his mouth and said, "Would you like some pastries?"

"Dang it! Is he betting that I won’t expose him?"

Jiang Cihe smiled involuntarily. "Sure."

Meng Shuping had only been making conversation, but since Jiang Cihe agreed, he had no choice but to pick up a pastry and hand it to him. Then, he took one for himself.

Jiang Cihe glanced down at him. Meng Shuping’s cheeks were puffed up as he ate with great relish. Jiang Cihe’s Adam's apple moved, and he inexplicably thought of a phrase: "a feast for the eyes."

For a moment, the carriage was very quiet, with only the sound of the two eating. Meng Shuping stole a glance at Jiang Cihe. "Maybe I should just take responsibility? It’s not like I’d lose out, right? After all, he’s quite good-looking—it’d be a pleasure to see him every day!"

"No, no, how can I be so casual? Such a big matter can’t be decided so rashly! What if I regret it later?"

"But then again, he’s a good person, wealthy and powerful too. I’d come out ahead!"

"Sigh, I still can’t get over that mental block. I can’t take responsibility just for money, could I? What kind of person would that make me?"

Jiang Cihe chuckled to himself. Meng Shuping’s conflicted expression was just too amusing. He leaned closer to Meng Shuping. "Why is your face so red all of a sudden?"

Meng Shuping’s heart leaped, and he immediately flinched back. But his back was against the carriage wall, leaving him nowhere to retreat. So, he stiffly pressed against the wall. "Is... is it? Maybe it’s because I drank some wine?"

He pushed Jiang Cihe away with both hands. "No, why does he always pull these surprise moves? He scared me so much my heart is racing."

Just as Jiang Cihe was about to speak again, the carriage suddenly jolted violently. He quickly braced his hands on either side of Meng Shuping to steady himself, but still lurched forward and ended up face to face with Meng Shuping.

Meng Shuping gasped, and he trembled uncontrollably. Suppressing the tingling feeling, he gently pushed Jiang Cihe away. "What happened?"

But as soon as he spoke, the carriage shook violently again, even beginning to jolt continuously. Jiang Cihe swiftly pulled Meng Shuping into his arms and called loudly, "What’s going on out there?"

Meng Shuping, caught off guard, crashed into Jiang Cihe. At the same time, the waist that Jiang Cihe held felt faintly warm. Trying hard to ignore the strange feeling in his heart, he heard Xing Lai’s panicked voice from outside: "Prince Zhao, Young Master, the horse has gone wild for some reason, and the carriage seems to have a problem too."

No sooner had he spoken than the carriage suddenly tilted to the side. Since the two were already holding each other, they both rolled that way.

Meng Shuping tightly shut his eyes. To his surprise, the severe pain he expected didn’t come. Instead, he heard Jiang Cihe groan in pain. He immediately wanted to ask if Jiang Cihe was alright, but Jiang Cihe was holding him too tightly, and the carriage was shaking too violently for him to speak.

After what seemed like forever, the horse outside suddenly stopped. Ling Feng quickly walked to the carriage and lifted the curtain. "Your Highness, are you both—"

Jiang Cihe and Meng Shuping were still holding each other. They both looked up, and Ling Feng quickly dropped the curtain. "Sorry to interrupt."

Meng Shuping: "Huh?"

"What’s he interrupting? Shouldn't he get us out first?"

He quickly sat up. "Let’s get out of here first."

When Emperor Qianyou learned that the carriage carrying Jiang Cihe and Meng Shuping had been in an accident and that Jiang Cihe had been injured, he was shocked. "What? Seventh is injured? How serious is it?"

The messenger quickly replied, "Your Majesty, Prince Zhao should be fine."

Emperor Qianyou was still worried. "Let’s go see him."

...

At Prince Zhao’s manor, Jiang Cihe sat upright in a chair while Physician Li, who had been summoned, carefully applied medicine to his wounds. But as soon as Physician Li touched Jiang Cihe, Jiang Cihe flinched in pain. "Ow... be gentler."

Physician Li was baffled. He was already being very gentle—was it really that painful? So, he lightened his touch even more. But as soon as he moved, Jiang Cihe hissed in pain again. "If you can’t do it, get someone else."

Physician Li: "..."

Still too hard? Even the imperial concubines aren’t this delicate!

Meng Shuping absentmindedly clutched at his clothes, his face full of concern. "Wow... is he really that badly injured? Just looking at his expression, it seems so painful. Is this physician too rough?"

But as soon as he glanced at Physician Li, he met the physician’s questioning gaze. "Would you like to try?"

Meng Shuping was stunned. "Huh?"

Before he could collect himself, Physician Li pulled him in front of Jiang Cihe. He had no choice but to take the supplies from Physician Li and look at Jiang Cihe. "Shall I do it?"

Jiang Cihe nodded reservedly and leaned closer to him.

Meng Shuping leaned in close to the injury and applied the medicine to Jiang Cihe’s body with the lightest touch he could manage, carefully blowing on it a few times as he did. Jiang Cihe felt a tingling feeling where Meng Shuping touched him, and it took all his self-control not to laugh.

Finally, after applying the medicine, Meng Shuping looked up and met Jiang Cihe’s smiling eyes. He was momentarily stunned before coming to his senses. "All done."

Just as the medicine was applied, Emperor Qianyou entered with a group of people. "Seventh, I heard you were injured?"

Jiang Cihe quickly stood up. "It’s nothing serious, Father Emperor. No need to worry."

Emperor Qianyou looked Jiang Cihe up and down and, seeing that he was indeed fine, felt relieved. "What happened?"

Jiang Cihe explained, "The carriage we were in suddenly went out of control and raced wildly through the streets. The carriage also broke."

Emperor Qianyou’s expression turned grave. "Was it done by someone?"

Jiang Cihe looked at Ling Feng, who said, "Your Majesty, the carriage axle was sabotaged, and the horse also seemed to have been tampered with."

Meng Shuping only learned this now and was shocked. "What? This was deliberate? Holy cow! Who wants to harm me?"

He suddenly turned to Jiang Ciyi. "Could it be him? I wondered why he was suddenly being nice to me—he must have been trying to lower my guard so he could kill me!"

"Right, right! His last imprisonment was partly because of the prince, so he must hold a grudge against the prince too. If something had happened to us today, wouldn’t that have gotten two birds with one stone?"

"Tch, tch, no wonder his sister treated me so poorly. She must have known he was pretending!"

Jiang Ciyi was stunned—why was he being dragged into this again? What did it have to do with him? Noticing Emperor Qianyou and the others eyeing him suspiciously, he snapped, annoyed, "Why are you all looking at me? Surely you don’t suspect I did it?"

Meng Shuping grew even more suspicious. "If it wasn’t him, why is he so flustered? It’s him, it must be him!"

Jiang Ciyi was at a loss. "It wasn’t me, really, it wasn’t! I didn’t even know the Seventh Prince would ride in Vice Director Meng’s carriage. Besides, Vice Director Meng and I don’t have that big of a grudge. If anyone holds a bigger grudge, it’s Fifth Brother!"

"That makes sense."

Meng Shuping immediately turned to Jiang Cian. "If we’re talking about grudges, his feud with me is bigger than Prince Ning’s. Looking at it that way, his motive seems stronger."

Jiang Cian felt utterly wronged. "I didn’t do it, don’t spout nonsense! Sure, I’ve had conflicts with Vice Director Meng, but I’ve already served time in prison and straightened up!"

In a panic, he pointed at Minister of Justice Cao Jie. "If we’re talking about motives, I think Lord Cao has one too! He’s also had issues with Vice Director Meng before."

Meng Shuping turned to Cao Jie. "Could it be him? Now that I think about it, he’s always targeted me in the past!"

Cao Jie was startled and quickly denied it. "No, I didn’t! Even if I disliked Vice Director Meng, I’d only give him a hard time with his duties. I’d never resort to such underhanded methods!"

Meng Shuping looked at him, shocked. "Wait, so making things difficult for me with my duties is considered honorable? No wonder I kept getting assigned tough cases—it was him targeting me all along!"

Cao Jie quickly turned away, couldn’t look Meng Shuping in the eye out of guilt, and swiftly shifted the blame. "In my opinion, such despicable methods are more in line with Lord Shi’s style."

Meng Shuping looked at Minister of Works in horror. "So he’s a repeat offender? How brazen! Absolutely brazen! Since he wasn’t thoroughly investigated last time, he’s only grown bolder! He nearly killed the Emperor’s son—he must be punished! He must be held accountable!"

Minister of Works turned red with rage. "Cao, you’re slandering me! Even if I had issues with Vice Director Meng, I’d only scheme against him in court. I’m a scholar—though I may be cunning, I’d never use crude methods!"

Meng Shuping winced. "If it’s not him, then it’s not him. But why does he sound so proud? Is he actually boasting about scheming against others in court?"

Then, Minister of Works shifted gears. "It might’ve been General Hong! Military types—they always take the direct approach, don’t they?"

Everyone turned to look for Hong Da, but after scanning the room, they realized he wasn’t there. So Meng Shuping heard several people say in unison, "It must’ve been General Hong! He’s the one!"