Realms In The Firmament

Meng Zi-Xiao thought that his life and his career as an official had been difficult because Ye Nan-Tian had been placing obstacles in his way to make him suffer.

As of this moment, he thought that it was a good chance to take his revenge because it was the Crown Prince’s Palace and Ye Xiao was here alone and helpless. That’s why he took Guan Zheng-Wen’s turn to speak in haste. And naturally, he brought up the past in his heart and seized the chance.

And he had led the conversation to an irrevocable situation.

He seized the chance to deal with Ye Xiao in order to suppress Ye Nan-Tian and let the crown prince have an extremely negative judgement on the house of Ye. Therefore, once the crown prince became king, he would get all the people of the Ye Clan killed… That would be the same as God realizing his wish…

Being challenged like that, Ye Xiao wouldn’t be able to bear it. However, if he ran wild, he would be offending the crown prince. If he offended the crown prince, he would be disregarding the royal power. That meant that he would be committing treason!

If so, it would be easy to put any criminal label on him!

However, he was wrong about one thing. Ye Xiao wasn’t disposing the royal power; in fact… he never saw the crown prince in his eyes! Besides, Meng Zi-Xiao didn’t know how important Ye Nan-Tian was for the king.

Ye Xiao naturally didn’t know anything about the story, but he clearly felt that Meng Zi-Xiao had hostility against him since he had arrived. Now that he was messed in such a way, it would be an extremely strange thing if he could still bear it.

Ye Xiao laughed and said, “Meng Zi-Xiao, the nobody, right? It was not your role to say if I am playing a fool or not, and not your place to make any judgement about whether or not I am planning something! You don’t have the right to say anything about the royal power. And it is absolutely not your right to judge the great general! Who do you think you are? Believe it or not. If you dare to say any words against my family again, I will throw your dead body to the streets of the capital. Hmm. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe I am going to do it now!”

“I don’t know whether the great general is good or not, but I am sure about one thing. A man like you is worth less than a dog or a bird for the great general. ‘A man worse than a beast’ [2] is a description that perfectly fits you!”

Ye Xiao smiled and stared at Meng Zi-Xiao peacefully. He spoke blandly, “If someone wants to question me, he should better send a qualified man to do it. Such a nobody, a garbage! How dare you question me? That is just ridiculous! A huge joke! A little garbage who never know how to respect seniority rules. No wonder the king decided never to recruit that somebody!”

“That is truly ‘dog meat can never get on the table’ [3]!” Ye Xiao sneered, “No. It is insulting to dogs to call you a dog! You wouldn’t think that if you are willing to be someone’s dog, your master will surely give you bones, would you?”

“And you threatened me… Even the crown prince didn’t do so. You wouldn’t think that you are better than him, would you? As the crown prince wants to talk to me, he has invited me for dinner… And you are nothing but a little garbage… What the hell! Just shut your mouth already and wave your tails!”

He shouted and all the people kept quiet. The whole hall was in silence!

Nobody would have thought that this Smiling Lord, who was one of the ‘three foppish lords’ actually shouted during the feast that was hosted by the crown prince. He was like a gangster, shooting without any restriction!

He was shouting at the crown prince’s man in front of the crown prince!

Meng Zi-Xiao’s face turned purple as he stared at Ye Xiao fiercely. At this moment, the anger and disgrace in his heart nearly made him want to kill himself!

Ye Xiao’s words, on top of being threatening, was also exposing his intent. And he added unmerciful sneering by saying that he was a dog that wasn’t liked by his master, he was treated even worse than a dog…

Meng Zi-Xiao was furious inside and he nearly couldn’t hold his anger. If he could, he would rip Ye Xiao into pieces so as to calm his anger. However, he only dared to think about it; he absolutely had no guts to do so.

First of all, he was the son of a great general that he couldn’t mess with. Secondly, it was the crown prince’s home and the crown prince was holding a feast. Even though he felt extremely angry, he wouldn’t dare to take any actions before the crown prince gives the order. Thirdly, Ye Xiao wasn’t joking when he threatened him.

It wouldn’t be a difficult thing for the house of Ye to make Meng Zi-Xiao disappear. Even if somebody would find out, nobody would mess with the house of Ye for a dead man!

Meng Zi-Xiao was not the brother-in-law to the crown prince after all.

He was extremely furious, but he could do nothing about it. He could only stare at Ye Xiao fiercely while he spoke, “I will keep your words in mind. There will be a chance in the future for you and for me to meet again. Let’s wait and see then.”

“Look at him…” Ye Xiao pointed him with a finger and laughed loudly, “What a pussy. He was shouted like that, yet what he would do was nothing but remembering… What do you remember? Don’t wait for the future. Meng Zi-Xiao, let me give you an advice today! I believe you will be thankful for what I will teach you today!”

Meng Zi-Xiao spoke fiercely, “I wonder what good advice you would have for me. I ask for it sincerely. I am listening and will never forget it my whole life.”

Ye Xiao casually picked up a chicken leg in front of him and threw it onto Meng Zi-Xiao’s face. It immediately made his face turned oily. Ye Xiao spoke, “The advice is… since you chose to be a dog, you must act like a dog! When you are told to eat, you eat; when you are told not to, you can only watch even if the food was thrown to your face.”

He sneered and spoke blandly, “When you are told to bark, you bark twice; if you bark wrong, you will be ripped out and your skin will be my dish that goes with liquor! Understand? Now get the fxxk off!”

Meng Zi-Xiao was trembling. His face was pale, then it turned red, and then it became pale once again. Obviously, he was feeling extremely terrible.

However, nobody would pity him at the moment.

Because he asked for it.

He thought that the son of Ye Nan-Tian was only a foppish fool so he wanted to humiliate him as a revenge. Yet he would have never thought that surprisingly, such a foppish fool had the capability to deal with him. And it was harsh!

He who wanted to humiliate people got himself humiliated!

It was completely silent!

When they were preparing to question Ye Xiao, he burst in front of everyone in advance.

And it was so violent, so unmerciful, so barbaric!

The chicken leg dropped on the floor from Meng Zi-Xiao’s face. - Pah! - Ye Xiao seemed to feel pity and sighed, “What a good chicken leg. Such a waste throwing it to a dog. Fine. It was cheap anyway…”

Meng Zi-Xiao shouted and rushed out covering his face.

Silence took over the hall once again.

The crown prince kept his face cold all the time before he finally opened his mouth, “Lord Ye Xiao, how sharp your words are; how fierce your methods are. However, what you did happened to be underestimating me, wasn’t it?”

Ye Xiao laughed and said, “You are being sensitive, your highness. I was just helping you for giving your dog a lesson. It was a small favor. No need to mention it. You are very welcome, your highness.”

The crown prince spoke blandly, “Meng Zi-Xiao is not a dog. He is my counselor! He is like my brother!”

When he said that, many of his men felt warm in their hearts.

[He truly is a crown prince. He is so elegant and generous.

With these words, he actually said, we won’t be regretting doing anything for him.]

Ye Xiao laughed, “Not a dog? A brother? Oh I see! No offense. How was I supposed to know that such a garbage prick was actually your brother? Hmmm… It was ‘like a brother’… Well that’s close enough! However… Your highness, when I shouted on him, why didn’t you stop me? If you stopped me earlier, I would have considered your feelings. Even though I could never see that guy in my eyes, I would have shown him mercy! Hmm. You didn’t say anything at all. Can I see it this way? You actually agree with me that he talked in a wrong way. And it pissed you, so you didn’t stop me. Right?”

The crown prince seemed angry and was speechless.

“… Moreover, when he ran out, why didn’t you let him stay?” Ye Xiao said blandly, “Brother… Is that how you treat your brother?”

Guan Zheng-Wen spoke seriously, “Lord Ye!” His voice was harsh!

“Wait if you want to talk. I haven’t finished yet.” Ye Xiao spoke blandly, “The crown prince mentioned ‘brother’, and it made me want to laugh… The two guys who are fighting against you for the throne, are they not your brothers? The biological ones!”

“You fight against each other among your true brothers… Now that you told me Meng Zi-Xiao was your brother! Hey hey… How is this kind of brother compared to your biological brothers? I really have no idea about it!”

Ye Xiao sneered.

He had prepared to fall out with the crown prince, so naturally, he wouldn’t care about talking wildly!

What he said had totally destroyed the atmosphere. He talked even more boldly than Meng Zi-Xiao!

It stunned everyone!

[This Ye Xiao is really unscrupulous!]

The crown prince’s face was really gloomy.

Was the relation between them completely broken?!

Guan Zheng-Wen trembled.

What Ye Xiao had just said completely ripped off the fictitious mask of the crown prince. Without any reservation!

The guys became silent for a while and then burst with accusations, “What a bastard. How dare you talk like that!”

“The crown prince is kind and just. How could he possibly be like that!”

“You are slandering the crown prince!”

“How dare you, Ye Xiao! You are committing treason!”

Facing the accusations from everyone, Ye Xiao didn’t say anything for retort. Guan Zheng-Wen was quiet too. The crown prince was also quiet, looking at Ye Xiao.

Guan Zheng-Wen’s eyes were scanning, understanding, and then finally confirming.

The crown prince’s eyes were cautious, careful, and… a bit utterly discomfited.

Ye Xiao’s eyes were like a deep pool in the autumn, which was silent and extremely profound.

…

—————-

[1] ‘Xiao’ (笑) means smile.

[2] ‘worse than a beast’ (禽兽不如), means being a bad guy who has a terrible personality.

[3] ‘dong meat can never get on the table’ (狗肉上不了正席), means a man is lame and never can be better.

3rd regular chapter of the week!

Translated by: Rain

Edited by: Alpha, Arch