Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

62. Counterattack

Translator: Antonia

The assassin hadn’t expected that his question was flung right back in his teeth and immediately his face changed. But when he saw Shan Zhongli who was motionless under Ada’s restrain, a flash of resentment surfaced in his eyes, “Your Highness is really eloquent. You’ve received education in the palace, certainly I, a rural folk, can’t win the debate.”

Seeing this man started unreasonable denial, Du Chuxuan sighed helplessly. It seemed that his prince was competent in dealing with formal political affairs but had no means against this kind of rogue.

He took a step forward and stood exactly between Yuxing Tianrui and the assassin. The smile he was wearing subconsciously disarmed people’s guard, “What you said is full of loopholes. But for His Highness plans to give a chance to Shan Zhongli, I think you wouldn’t be breathing now.”

Finishing that, he unhurriedly picked up the token that Yuxing Tianrui had cast to the ground and showed it to everyone by firelight, “Look at the characters on it. If this isn’t a fake one, then, this man belongs to Manlou, a terrifying agency of hitmen in Wulin.”

He was the most suitable person to point this out, because although he was the Crown Princess, he came from a merchant family, so it was justified that ‘she’ knew things about Wulin.

“As far as I know, there are three rules in Manlou. The hitman doesn’t receive a mission when the he doesn’t like it, when the price isn’t satisfying, and when…” He made a deliberate pause, his eyes fixed on the assassin, and understood when he saw the panic in his eyes, “…when the mission is from an imperial member.”

“When I was young and naughty, I was curious about it and specially inquired about the reason. It actually could be traced back to the previous emperor. I guess there must be some reason why the previous emperor issued such an edict. Since the condition is so strict, how could a hitman of Manlou accept His Highness’s order?”

With one sentence, Du Chuxuan poked the lie of the hitman. The words also made those who didn’t trust the Crown Prince ashamed of themselves. That was His Highness! Just like Du Chuyue had said, he was born to be the Imperial Crown Prince. Why should he be jealous of a son of a duke?

Looking at Du Chuxuan who made the speech in a splendid manner and with glowing eyes, Yuxing Tianrui had a flicker of brilliance in his eyes. For a sudden, he actually wanted to hide him away and let no others see him.

The thought fleeted away so fast that even he himself didn’t notice. When he returned to mother earth, he saw Shan Zhongli’s contemptuous face, “As Her Highness said, if His Highness won’t do that, then why should I do it?” He hadn’t expected Du Chuxuan to know so much, but the Crown Princess happened to give him an excuse to rid of the accusation.

Du Chuxuan took a lazy glance at Shan Zhongli. He wasn’t afraid that the fool had means but that the fool didn’t speak. He clapped, and Dongxiang stood out, waiting for his order.

“When I was at home, I often read some novels, in which there are such plots that some children in the big families are traded by others. When I saw this assassin today, I found his face so familiar, very much resembling that of the son of Duke Ningyuan—”

The rest of the words were needless to say. Everyone here could fill the blank. Originally, nobody paid attention, as the assassin had been bowering his head and his long hair loosely hung on his shoulders. In addition, the sky was dim. Nobody had cared to look at his face.

Now, his face was suddenly raised by Aer, and everyone took a gasp. The son of Duke Ningyuan had a delicate face. When in the capital, some madams had always said that he shared the same face as the late Duchess Ningyuan. However, when compared his face against the hitman’s, they found they were nothing but splitting images.

“Good Heavens. What in heaven’s name is going on here? Why do they share the same face? Is that his brother?”

“How is that possible? The hitman looks much older than him. Probably—”

The words were needless to spell out and everyone knew already. Seeing that Du Chuxuan was revealing the secret he had been concealed all the time by a few words, Shan Zhongli blazed at him, eyes nearly bursting fire.

“You have no proof. I’m the son of Duke Ningyuan of Shenglan. You’re talking nonsense to defame me! I’ll put all of you into jail and never let you out!” He roared the threats but was suppressed by Ada, so his threatening had little deterrence.

Du Chuxuan took a languid glance at Yuxing Tianrui and found he was also surprised. Only then did he realize that Yuxing Tianrui hadn’t noticed this either. At the thought, he couldn’t help but feel smug and gave him a look of asking for praise. Mind you that just because of that book, his prince hadn’t talked to him for a long time.

Was he abandoned? His wayward train of thought was interrupted by Dongxiang who carried a basin of water and unhurriedly walked over. To keep the water stable, he wasn’t in a hurry.

“Your Highness, here is the water you ordered me to prepare.” Dongxiang said and put the water in front of everyone, taking out a knife, all smiles.

Only after he prepared everything did Du Chuxuan started, his gaze locked on Shan Zhongli, as if waiting for an interesting show, “I’ve read in the books that there is a way to decide kinship by dropping blood. Back then, I didn’t know whether it was useful or not, so I went to ask the doctors and they told me it did work.”

“With that knowledge in my mind, I’ve never tried it out. This time, I have to bother Lord Shan to do me this favor.” His way of saying it was irritating, but none of the people dared to show disapproval.

Yuxing Tianrui stood there with a smile on his lips, as if he didn’t mind Du Chuxuan playing the trick at all. He even motioned to Ada and Aer to bring over Shan Zhongli and the assassin.

No room of refusal was given to them. Shan Zhongli wasn’t able to struggle, while the assassin, drugged, was also powerless and could only be the wax in the hand.

Two drops of blood of them respectively fell into the bowl, hitting on the water and creating ripples. Almost simultaneously, everyone stretched their necks to look in this direction.