Chapter 8. Tyrant (8) I heard I killed my father to usurp the throne

Three days later, in the evening, a person stood in the study.

In the same place, but the person standing there has changed.

Yuan Buwei sat lazily beside the book case. The posture was casual, but the person standing opposite him did not dare to relax at all.

The man was dressed in a blue cloth robe with white lines, with his hair tied with cloth strips of the same color. He had a beautiful appearance and a thin body, but his eyes were energetic.

There is also a scar about half a finger long under the left eye.

“Doctor Xiao told the bodyguard that he wanted to meet Gu secretly, without letting other people find out. For what reason?

He was not looking at him with disinterest.

Xiao Zhi tidied up his sleeves and bowed deeply: “This humble servant is here to apologize to your highness.”

Yuan Buwei raised an eyebrow: “Oh?”

Seeing his relaxed and calm appearance, Xiao Zhi breathed out and relaxed a little.

“… Sure enough, your highness already knows.”

That day, Xiao Zhi thought he had carried out the best response.

At the critical moment, he quietly guided other people’s ideas, exhausted all means to mislead other imperial doctors. Leading them to the result that the poison was not a long afflicted one but a recent addition from the crown prince’s recent visit to the eldest princess’s mansion.

As for why he only lessened the symptoms rather than give a full cure?

Such a powerful poison being solved at once would be really suspicious and will also dissatisfy the behind the scenes mastermind.

He thought his response was appropriate and meticulous enough, but when he looked back later, he always felt uneasy.

Until recently running into Qin Mo within the mansion.

——His whole person seemed to have the aura of standing desperately at the edge of the cliff. Not like a confidant who should be “Loyal to the crown prince, eliminate hidden dangers and make great contributions”.

With a martial artist’s keen sense, when Xiao Zhi approached and greeted him, he didn’t realise. It can be seen to what extent his mind stuck in a trance.

This sight validated the unease in his heart these days. Thinking to this point, Xiao Zhi shook his head.

“To tell you the truth, this humble servant has seen such expressions before, but they are people loitering at the gate casinos. Those gamblers who lose all their money but are unwilling to give up, to struggle to reverse the scale… That’s probably similar to the current situation.”

At that moment, Xiao Zhi suddenly understood where the uneasiness came from and guessed why Qin Mo’s mood was so abnormal.

——Since the person behind the scenes was determined to harm the crown prince, how can they only send him, a person with excellent poison skills, this  late in the game? Besides him, there must be at least one person more trustworthy than him, who is arranged beside the crown prince to keep tabs.

Except for Qin Mo, who is acting sneaky, he can’t think of a second person.

Everything suddenly made sense. If Qin Mo really betrayed the person behind the scenes and took refuge in the crown prince, how could he look so restless?

“This humble servant repeatedly analyzed that day. Coming up with only one possibility. Everything was set up by his highness the crown prince. And this humble servant may have fallen into the trap. Those small means that he thinks are clever have long been seen through by his highness. He alone is acting ridiculous, while thinking himself clever.”

Xiao Zhi shook his head and sighed, while quietly complimenting Yuan Buwei.

“This humble servant cherishes life and is afraid of death. In order not to offend his highness the crown prince further, he can only come to his highness first.”

With these words, he hung his head again, stood in silence, and looked as if he were at the disposal of his highness the crown prince.

There was a moment of silence in the study.

“So you concluded from Qin Mo’s reaction. It seems that you are much smarter than Gu imagined.”

Yuan Buwei, who was silent until now, opened his mouth suddenly to show his appreciation.

He picked up a stack of documents at the corner of the table and handed them to Xiao Zhi, allowing the other party to look at them at will.

However, the current Xiao Zhi was not excited by the prince’s appreciation. He looked through the stack of documents and became more and more frightened. Cold sweat flowed down.

It was full of information about him, from trivial to important. The most frightening thing for Xiao Zhi is that he found out all this within three days.

The symbolic meaning behind this is frightening.

If he didn’t take the initiative to reveal himself  and delayed for another day or two, it would not be a quiet study but a dark and gloomy cell waiting for him.

Originally, there were still some cruel schemes, all of which have converged at this moment.

Looking at the prince’s eyes, which were calm from beginning to end and showed no real emotion, Xiao Zhi sighed and chose to surrender completely.

“What does your highness want to know? This humble servant will tell everything he knows.”

There is no good end to those who are indecisive in loyalty. Since he has made a decision, he unreservedly told Yuan Buwei everything he knew.

Unlike Qin Mo’s who was carefully cultivated by the mastermind from the beginning, Xiao Zhi was pulled onto the ship six months ago.

He was born in a small official family, originally the son of the official wife. After his father remarried another as his stepmother, he was repeatedly suppressed and framed. Once a well known genius, after many mishaps and accidents he failed the imperial examination. The last beating was serious enough that he almost became disabled.

These so-called accidents are naturally man-made.

After realizing this, Xiao Zhi acted frustrated, abandoned himself and gave up on the imperial examination. As expected the probability of accidents directly decreased.

He was unwilling to give up and always kept looking for opportunities.

Fortunately, he had a grandfather with excellent medical skills. Because of his vigilance towards his stepmother, he practiced medicine diligently since childhood. With an unparalleled talent advantage, Xiao Zhi was superior to many at a young age.

During a banquet, he seized the opportunity to save a Jun Wang¹ who had a sudden ailment with excellent medical skills.

The next step is simple.

With the recommendation of the Jun Wang and the fact that Xiao Zhi himself was talented, he was able to enter the imperial medical department.

His stepmother’s younger brother, however, fell ill when he was having fun in the brothel, and is still paralyzed in bed. Therefore, the stepmother washed her face with tears and was worried sick in bed everyday.

——Just as Xiao Zhi’s accident was not a coincidence, the fate of the mother and son was certainly not a coincidence.

Compared with medical skills, his poison skills are superior.

At this point, Xiao Zhi shook his head: “At the beginning, I was still too impulsive and inevitably left some flaws…”

Therefore, when someone brought the evidence to the door, Xiao Zhi had to agree to the other party’s request. The act of poisoning the crown prince is enough to destroy nine generations of a family.

However, he also kept his vigilance and always tried to seize the clues of the other party and find a chance to resist.

Yuan Buwei nodded his head to express understanding: “If the evidence of you poisoning your brother is released, you are the only one going down; if evidence of the prince being poisoned was found, the whole family would suffer together. If it was me, I would also choose the latter.”

Xiao Zhi was stunned by his natural tone.

He sounded so reasonable, that he became speechless.

However, when the crown prince said this, did he completely forget that he was also a victim of poisoning?

Besides——

“Your Highness doesn’t think my practice is too, too…” Speaking to this point, Xiao Zhi hesitated.

He didn’t say it, but Yuan Buwei continued: “Too vicious?”

Xiao Zhi nodded.

In an era when the father is the son’s guide and the son has to be punished first when the father commits wrongs, Xiao Zhi’s thinking and practice are really outrageous.

Although the rules of etiquette and law are not so strict in the world where he was born, they also condemn such behavior. Unfortunately, Yuan Buwei is also an outlier.

“I’ve done much more than that…”

He secretly lamented in his heart and while he outwardly showed nothing, his eyes were full of sarcasm.

What’s more, his current identity is also an eternal tyrant who went down in history for killing his father the emperor.

Although he didn’t explain, Xiao Zhi understood something from his look.

He rushed to show Yuan Buwei a flattering smile.

After a heart to heart conversation, they seemed to have an invisible tacit understanding. In other words, it is the tacit understanding unilaterally considered by Xiao Zhi.

He no longer hid it and said, “The poison on your highness is the prescription I created, and only I know how to solve it.”

Then he took out a brush and wrote down a prescription.

Not worried at all that Yuan Buwei would kill him after he lost his usefulness.₂

Yuan Buwei took the prescription he handed over. He didn’t look at it carefully, merely stored it away.

“No hurry. I’m more interested in the poison recipe in your hands.” he looked at Xiao Zhi for a moment. “It would be better if there was poison ready for use.”

Xiao Zhi was vaguely aware of something, and his eyes showed a little surprise: “Your Highness, are you going to…?”

The candle in the study was quiet, and the flickering candle illuminating the youth’s frosty eyebrows, reflecting in his deep, ink-like pupils.

He gave a sudden laugh.

After a chuckle, the young man leaned forward with his fingers on his chin. His eyes looked at Xiao Zhi deeply, bringing a strong oppression: “… Guess what happens to people who know too much?”

Yuan Buwei sounded indifferent, but his deep and beautiful voice seemed to contain some unspeakable meaning.

Xiao Zhi understood the warning. He immediately shivered and tightly shut his mouth.

“… This humble servant knows nothing.”

The study dank into silence. Before Yuan Buwei smiled.

Looking at Xiao Zhi’s back, system 999 couldn’t help wondering: [Is the host going to kill him afterwards?]

… this is the conclusion it came to after experiencing the host’s villainous methods.

As a villain white washing system, 999 also wanted to persuade his host not to be so cruel, but to it’s surprise it heard: “How can you suggest that?”

He was distressed: “I didn’t expect that your villain’s white washing system looks mild and simple on the surface, but in fact, your heart is very bad!”

System 999: [? ? ?]

Changing black to white. System 999 was so angry it can’t stop itself: [Obviously it’s the host. You just said that people who know too much …]

“So, people who know too much always think too much.”

He gave a solemn sigh.

“You see, that doctor Xiao is like this, and so is system 999!”

System 999 who watched the entire intimidation process: [???]

The author has something to say:

Why should the protagonist take in the other party instead of killing him? It’s very simple. Killing him will make the hidden mastermind notice. If you don’t kill him, you can use him in turn. For little cuties who don’t understand. Think about the spy war drama’s you’ve watched. After exposing the spy, plotting is the way to squeeze the maximum use value, and killing is the greatest waste.

After all, politics has never been black or white. If you kill all the enemies and don’t accept any defectors, they’re definitely not suitable to be an emperor. A tyrant doesn’t mean a fool, how can he control his ministers without some IQ?

The person who wants to harm the protagonist is the behind the scenes mastermind, and others are just the tools used. Why should the protagonist destroy the tools instead of taking the tools from the opponent and turning them into his own, and then turn this tool back against his opponent?

Moreover, before they dealt with the original host, not the protagonist. For events before the protagonist transmigrated, he has no need to seek revenge. (Even the original owner chose to escape and has no intention of revenge). The protagonist doesn’t hate them, so why can’t they be used?

¹ 郡王 = Jun Wang = A rank of nobility after prince

²卸磨杀驴 = to kill the donkey when the grinding is done (idiom); to get rid of somebody once he has ceased to be useful

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