Chapter 58: You Enjoy Yourself, but Don’t Drag Me Into It

Chapter 58: You Get Excited, But Don't Drag Me Into It

Li Zhiming's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull.

It wasn't the steamy scene that grabbed his attention—it was the Crown Prince's sheer insanity that blew his mind.

From what he'd gathered and knew about the Crown Prince, the guy was obsessed with his image, especially anywhere the Emperor might show up.

Word was the Crown Prince was a total dud talent-wise, and the Emperor had been mulling over picking a new heir for ages—this hunt was basically a test.

He only got the Crown Prince gig because he was the legitimate son.

The Crown Prince was scared shitless of being swapped out, and every ounce of him was bent on sucking up to the Emperor. His life's biggest goal was to win the Emperor's favor and keep his public image squeaky clean.

Plus, the Crown Prince's resemblance to the Emperor was probably all copied and pasted.

What dad wouldn't love a son who mirrored his every word and move? It was like having a carbon copy of himself—a big shot like the Emperor would eat that up.

But you can't fake talent.

And now he wasn't even bothering to keep up appearances?

Li Zhiming shot Lu Zhao a look, and they both saw the same shock in each other's eyes.

They couldn't bail, but they couldn't stick around either.

The horses had no place to hide, and their necks might as well have been on the chopping block already.

Thump, thump, thump.

Hoofbeats rumbled from not too far off.

The Crown Prince acted like he was deaf to it, way too into his relentless humping, moaning like it was the best thing ever. His flushed face and glazed-over eyes were pure sin.

He ripped off his robe with the four-clawed python embroidery and chucked it on the ground, forcing the maid to sprawl face-down on it.

Lying on the Crown Prince's robe? That was a death sentence.

The maid shook like a leaf, sobbing and begging the Crown Prince to spare her, to let her go.

But the Crown Prince, full-on beast mode, backhanded her across the face. "Shut up!" He yanked her hair and shoved her head down hard, the maid choking on her sobs.

(⇀‸↼‶), damn, that's rough.

Li Zhiming was hesitating, clueless about his next move, when a flash of imperial yellow caught his eye.

Oh crap. This was bad.

The Emperor rode up on horseback, a whole entourage trailing behind him, heading straight for them.

Taking in this total train wreck, the Emperor's face went green with fury as he roared, "How dare you!"

At that bellow.

The Crown Prince flinched in terror, probably going soft on the spot. He rolled off that warm, sweet-smelling body in a flash, hit his knees with a thud, and shook like crazy.

This Crown Prince was supposedly the son who looked the most like the Emperor, and now he pulls this disgraceful stunt in front of everyone—wasn't that a direct slap to the Emperor's face?

The Emperor had stirred up his own share of trouble with past flings—no need to rehash that—so now he hated this kind of crap even more.

Sang Yu had shown up at some point, lurking quietly in the crowd behind the Emperor, watching the whole thing with a blank face.

The moment the Emperor spotted Sang Yu, his rage spiked even higher. He nocked an arrow and let it fly at the Crown Prince.

"Ah..."

It nailed him square in the calf.

The Crown Prince let out a pitiful shriek and rolled aside, the telltale stains making everyone whip their heads away, too grossed out to look.

The maids were all kneeling in a row—quite the spectacle.

The Emperor's lips quivered as he snarled, "You animal! I'm stripping you of your title as Crown Prince. Confined to your quarters for three months!"

Two guards stepped up to haul the Crown Prince away. He was shaking so hard he couldn't get a word out, all that swagger gone. His body was freezing, like a corpse.

He'd kept up this squeaky-clean image for so damn long, and on a day this important, how could this...

The Emperor was absolutely livid, and nobody dared to pipe up.

The guards hoisted him up by the arms, his clothes hanging off him in a mess, looking totally pathetic, like a dead animal being dragged off.

Then, out of nowhere.

"Father, Father!" the Crown Prince yelled. "Your son is innocent! I—I didn't mean it! Please, Father, have mercy!"

"Father, I swear I didn't plan this—it was them, they tempted me! Father... ah..."

Another arrow slammed into his other calf, cutting his cries short.

"Worthless piece of trash."

The Emperor's face was stone-cold, his voice dripping with disgust. His imperial fury shut everyone up.

Li Zhiming quietly sidled up to Sang Yu.

He didn't give a damn about the drama, or the Crown Prince's desperate begging, or what anyone else was thinking.

Every bit of Li Zhiming's focus was locked on Sang Yu.

Sang Yu's face stayed blank, but they lived under the same roof, saw each other every day, and had even shared a bed for a while. Nobody read Sang Yu's micro-expressions better than him.

That barely-there twitch at the corner of his mouth was pure smug satisfaction.

And thinking back to before all this kicked off, when Sang Yu had brazenly said he wanted to take down the Crown Prince—was that really just a coincidence?

No freaking way!

The Crown Prince got hauled out, and thanks to that insane interruption, everyone got a breather.

Li Zhiming shooed Lu Zhao off to entertain himself and sidled up to Sang Yu, murmuring, "You got something to do with what happened to the Crown Prince?"

Sang Yu flashed a grin. "Did the young master like that position earlier? Maybe we could give it a shot ourselves."

"You... you..."

Li Zhiming was blindsided by that sudden dirty talk, his face burning red and his neck puffing up.

But his brain couldn't help replaying what he'd just witnessed... hmm... and then he went and pictured himself and Sang Yu in that exact position. In a flash, every drop of blood in his body seemed to surge straight to his head.

His face was beet red, like it was about to bleed.

Sang Yu's gaze shifted in an instant. If a moment ago it was just a casual tease, now he genuinely wanted to do something about it.

Before Li Zhiming could react, Sang Yu grabbed him and dragged him deep into the woods.

"Hey, don't mess around, we just did it—"

"Quick and clean, no one'll find out. Hurry, or if people come before I'm done, we'll get caught for real."

Sang Yu said as he started to reach out.

"No!" Li Zhiming covered his own paws, dodging him, and pressed on, "Tell me fast, does this have anything to do with you or what?"

"Yes."

He answered flat-out, like he had no intention of hiding it at all.

Just because you're in a rush to do that???

Don't you know there's a sword hanging over your head? That just proved it.

Sang Yu didn't care about any of that. He pinned him against the tree trunk, coaxing in a sweet, gentle tone: "Young Master, don't you want to know? It was me. I slipped him something and set a trap, and he fell for it."

He was getting worked up now.

"!!"

Bro, get excited all you want, but leave me out of it. Help!

"I don't wanna know anymore now. Let's just drop it and head back. What if the emperor comes looking for us?"

If word gets out, we're dead.

"He won't. The emperor's too busy."

"But—"

"No buts." Sang Yu smiled, pinched his sensitive earlobe, and chuckled softly, "You saw clearly just now, right? That's the Crown Prince's real nature.

Him, acting all pure and imperial, is nothing but a dog in a yellow robe. I was set on stripping off that fake skin and making him show his... real face in front of everyone!"

"Ah! Sang Yu, what the hell is your problem!!"