Chapter 188: My Dear Majesty, Please Let Go (18)
Translator: Guy Gone Bad
“I see.” Baili Jue responded.“What are you doing?” When he looked back, he saw Xia Liang putting on her clothes.
“Let"s go and have a look.” Xia Liang finished dressing up very quickly. She jumped out of the bed swiftly and then dragged him forward to the door.
“Let go of me. When did I say that I will go and have a look? I am your master. Have you ever asked for my permission?” Baili Jue was not happy and even shook off her hand like a child.
He had a feeling that he was always led by her.
Who was the master? Who was in charge actually?
Baili Jue didn"t realize that he was so childish in front of Xia Liang. As an emperor, it was not appropriate to focus on such small things.
“Master, shall we go and have a look? It is very important.” Xia Liang jerked to look at him with expectation in her eyes. Her eyes were bright, which was hard for Baili Jue to refuse.
“Hum,” Baili Jue made a noise, grabbing her hand, “let"s go and have a look.”
Baili Jue"s kung Fu is great. Despite holding Xia Liang in his arms, he could follow Lou Feng at ease. Soon they arrived at Xia Yuanzheng"s study from Xia Liang"s yard.
Giving it a thought, Baili Jue jumped to the roof at ease without making a sound like a mysterious cat.
He put Xia Liang aside, quietly removed a tile, then looked down into the study with her.
Lou Feng and the other guards were guarding somewhere outside the study to look out for them.
“Official Xia, you"d better think it more. If you don"t agree, I can"t guarantee that your wife and your son and your daughter will be safe enough.”
A man in a black night coat, with his face covered, threatened in a low voice.
Xia Liang was outraged when she heard this. Her face was ice cold and her fists were clenched tightly.
Baili Jue reached for her hand and kissed it. Then he unclenched her fists, hold her hand in hand, and rubbed it tenderly to comfort her.
“Are you threatening me with my family?” Xia Yuanzheng punched abruptly at the table and yelled angrily.
“Haha…” the man laughed sarcastically, “the prince gave you a lot of chances these days. As long as you do this for him, your family will be fine.”
“Are you not afraid that I will tell his majesty about this?” Xia Yuan said sullenly.
“Even if you do, do you think the emperor will believe you? Official Lu, from Jiangnan General Office, is one your students. You are very close to each other. He is solely supervising to make those weapons and arrows. Now that there is such a big problem with those weapons and arrows, whom do you think the emperor might execute if you report to the emperor? And there is no way they could find out the prince is behind all of these. If you testify against the prince, things will be worse for you!”
“If I were to give those weapons and arrows to our enemy, I would be guilty of aiding our enemy. How does it not worse than what you said?” Xia Yuanzheng narrowed his eyes and said,
“I will die anyway. I don"t want to die of being convicted of treason and to become a disgraceful person in history.”
“You are righteous and loyal to the emperor, which I admire.” The man clapped his hands and teased.
Xia Yuanzheng glared at him and said nothing.
“For your information, those weapons and arrows are defective. If you gave them to our enemy, you would not be betraying your country but instead doing a very good deed. Once the two countries are in war, the enemy would use those defective weapons. By then we would kill them at ease. Besides, we can make a lot of money out of those weapons and arrows and then we can use the money to remake a batch of qualified weapons. In this way, you can cover up what Lu Kun did, which all of us should be happy about. I don"t see why you say no to this.”
“I don"t believe you!” Xia Yuanzheng said.
“Do you think you get to make a choice now? The secret will be out very soon. You"d better make your decision as soon as possible.” The man said.
“I need a few more days.” Xia Yuanzheng said after thinking it quietly for a while.
“You will have two days, tops.” Then the man pushed open the door and left.
Obviously there was nothing in the Minister of Finance"s house for him to guard against.
Xia Yuanzheng fell on a chair after the man left. His face was pale and his mind was messed up.
On the roof.
Baili Jue quietly put the tile back and jumped off from the roof with Xia Liang in his arms, then went back to Xia Liang"s yard.
“Master, the man is a liar.” Xia Liang said after Baili Jue let go of her.
“Why do you think so?” Baili Jue asked, raising his eyebrows.
“It"s an easy guess. If it"s a thing that everyone should be happy about, he wouldn"t have had to threaten my father.” Xia Liang said.
“They are making my father a scapegoat. The weapons they plan to give the enemy are probably not defective as they said. besides, there would be letters and contracts of both parties if my father would sell weapons to the enemy. By then, they would have evidences of my father"s treason.”
Baili Jue was amazed by Xia Liang"s a.n.a.lysis. She was smart and observant, even more sensitive than he could imagine.
“It"s possible.” Baili Jue looked at her, “but your father"s att.i.tude is the key. If he really agrees, it would be treason. And your entire family would be beheaded.”
“But my father is threatened!” Xia Liang frowned.
“Being threatened is not an excuse. I know it"s hard to believe. But as long as he did it, on his will or not, it would be a treason. I might spare his life if those weapons he sold were defective. But if not…”
Baili Jue didn"t finish but both of them knew the rest.