Chapter 674 Adding insult to injury
At three o'clock in the night, the Rong Palace was completely silent.

Suddenly, a bright lantern came closer and illuminated the darkness, while also illuminating a team of patrol guards following behind the lantern.

The guards filed through the corridor, carefully observing the movements around them. When they saw that the inner house was quiet and everything was normal, they turned the lanterns and walked away in an orderly manner.

As the guards gradually walked away, a figure suddenly appeared hanging upside down from the beam of the corridor.

The man was wearing night clothes, with a black scarf covering his face. He was very agile. He kicked off the top of the corridor with his feet, did a series of somersaults, and landed silently without even raising a speck of dust under his feet.

After landing, the man in black half-crouched in the corridor, looking around carefully through the gap between the railings. His pair of bright and deep black eyes occasionally revealed a breathtaking gleam.

After a moment's silence, the man in black suddenly rose into the air, clinging to the inner wall of the corridor like a gecko, and then floated past like a ghost, disappearing into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, the young prince Zhao Yu was sleeping soundly in his room, mumbling some unclear words in his sleep from time to time.

Two maids were guarding the outer room, sitting at the table, one on each side. They looked at the flickering candlelight and the curling sandalwood incense, and dared not make any sound as they felt more and more sleepy.

"pat..."

Suddenly, a crisp sound came from the roof, immediately waking the two maids from their trance.

"what sound?"

"It's probably the cat making trouble on the roof again."

"Let's go out and drive the cat away. We must not wake up the little prince."

After discussing, the two maids stood up and walked towards the door.

In the reflection of candlelight, two slender figures gradually appeared on the window.

"Whizzing!"

"Crack! Crack!"

Suddenly, two stones broke through the paper window at lightning speed and hit the two maids' necks squarely, causing them to go black and faint on the ground.

At the same time, the tightly closed window was gently pushed open a crack, and the man in black slipped into the room.

However, Zhao Xie was completely unaware of everything and continued to snore and talk in his sleep.

The man in black looked around and finally set his sharp gaze on Zhao Chen who was soundly sleeping.

"Well...ahem..."

Zhao Xie, whose nose was suddenly pinched, found it difficult to breathe. He subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva and struggled to wake up from his sleep.

"You...who are you?"

Seeing a masked man in black standing beside his bed, Zhao Xie, who had just woken up from a dream, was instantly frightened and broke into a cold sweat. He immediately lost all his sleepiness and subconsciously shouted at the top of his voice: "Hurry up, someone..."

"Hush! Don't panic, little prince, it's me!"

The man in black hurriedly covered Zhao Xie's mouth and nose with his hands, and at the same time pulled off the black scarf on his face, revealing Liu Xunyi's handsome but extremely haggard face.

"master?"

After recognizing Liu Xunyi's appearance, Zhao Xie couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and at the same time, a hint of joy of reunion after a long separation appeared between his brows.

"My young prince, it is me..."

However, before Liu Xunyi, who felt relieved, could finish his words, Zhao He's face suddenly darkened, he snorted coldly, and then turned his head away angrily, as if he didn't want to pay attention to Liu Xunyi.

"This……"

Seeing this scene, Liu Xunyi was stunned. He thought about it again and again in his mind, but he really couldn't figure out how he had offended Zhao Chen.

"Liu Xunyi, what are you doing here?"

At this moment, Zhao Xie changed his usual "kindness" and not only called Liu Xunyi by his name, but also used a very stiff tone, even with a hint of blame.

"Young Prince, you...what's wrong with you?" Liu Xunyi looked confused. "We haven't seen each other for a long time, why do you..."

"Do you and I know each other well? Why do I have to see you?" Zhao Yu pouted, looking unconvinced and stubborn. "Besides, this is the inner house of Prince Rong's Mansion. How dare you, an outsider, barge in? If you have any ill intentions, wouldn't I be in danger?"

"This……"

Liu Xunyi was completely confused. He knew Zhao Xie's character. If he had not offended him in any way, he would never be so "heartless".

"My Lord, I..."

"Kneel down!" Zhao Yu ordered arrogantly, "You are a servant, and I am the young prince. Don't you have to kowtow to me when you see me?"

"Yes..." Seeing Zhao Yu's serious expression, Liu Xunyi did not dare to overstep his authority. He slowly knelt on the ground and apologized, "If it were not an emergency, I would never dare to break into Prince Rong's mansion at night. I deserve to die for disturbing the young prince..."

"You deserve to die!" Zhao Yu turned over and got out of bed, pointing angrily at the confused Liu Xunyi, and scolded, "But you are not sorry for me, but for Sister Xin!"

Just these words, Liu Xunyi was struck by a blow, his face suddenly changed, and he hurriedly responded: "To be honest, I came here tonight for the princess..." "Sister Xin is no longer the princess, she is now Princess Xinde." Zhao Yu said unhappily, "Don't you know?"

"I've heard about this from the Marquis." Liu Xunyi's expression darkened, and she said sadly, "The Emperor sent her to Mongolia to marry, so she was promoted to a princess out of the ordinary..."

"Since you know, why did you come to me?" Zhao Yu said coldly, "You sent people to visit Prince Rong's mansion several times, but I avoided them all. Don't you understand my feelings?"

"I understand! The marriage was strongly promoted by Prince Rong. Due to the status of the little prince, there was nothing he could do, so he avoided seeing him..."

"Ouch?" Zhao Yu glared and laughed angrily, "From what you said, it seems that Xiao Wang owes you something?"

"No!" Liu Xunyi was horrified and apologized quickly, "I just said something wrong! The young prince doesn't owe me anything. On the contrary, I have always been grateful to the young prince for his kindness..."

"Alright, alright!" Zhao Yu waved his hands impatiently, "Stop pretending in front of me. I'm not Sister Xin, and I don't want to listen to your sweet talk. Liu Xunyi, if you still have a trace of conscience, you shouldn't come to me tonight. You'll only bring shame upon yourself if you come!"

"Why?" Liu Xunyi became more and more confused as he listened. "Could it be that the young prince blames me for not being able to visit him in person after returning to Lin'an for several months? The young prince doesn't know that I have been under house arrest in Tianji Pavilion since I returned to Lin'an City. If I hadn't learned about Xin'er's situation tonight, I would not have dared to disobey orders and come out..."

"You know that these are not what Xiao Wang cares about!" Zhao Yu interrupted, "At this point, you still dare to pretend to be confused in front of me. How hateful and abominable!"

"Pretending to be confused? What are you pretending to be confused about?"

Zhao Yu asked in return: "Let me ask you, what are you doing here tonight?"

"I want to see Xin'er and ask her in person..."

"That's it!" Zhao Yu's face flushed with anger, and he stamped his feet repeatedly, "It was obviously you who wronged Sister Xin, but not only do you not feel guilty at all, but you also blame her as if Sister Xin had wronged you. Ask her in person? How dare you say such a thing! Xiao Wang really regrets that he recognized you as his master. I never thought that you would be such a despicable and shameless hypocrite..."

"My young prince, water has a source, and trees have roots. You can scold me, beat me, or even kill me, but you should let me die knowingly!" Liu Xunyi was full of doubts, ashamed and angry, "What are you talking about? It was wrong for me to leave for so long, but you said I was sorry for Xin'er... It's really a huge injustice!"

"Unfair? Bah! Shameless!" Zhao Xie said angrily, "Sister Xin is right. No man in the world is trustworthy!"

"What?" Liu Xunyi's heart tightened, and he asked, "Did she really say that? Why? Why did she say that?"

"You really won't cry until you see the coffin! Liu Xunyi, Liu Xunyi, I thought I was thick-skinned enough, but I didn't expect you to be even thicker-skinned than me. The thing I regret most now is that I have been secretly helping you and Sister Xin to have a tryst for so many years, but I didn't expect that the result was not to help her, but to harm her!"

After saying that, Zhao Yu walked quickly to the cabinet, rummaged around, and then threw a palm-sized sandalwood box at Liu Xunyi, angrily saying: "You know what you did!"

"what is this?"

Liu Xunyi opened the wooden box in a hurry, and something that was so familiar to him appeared before him.

The thing in the box was the handkerchief that Zhao Xin gave to Liu Xunyi before they parted.

"This... this is the handkerchief Xin'er gave me. Why is it in the hands of the little prince?"

Zhao Yu sneered and said, "Sister Xin has already thrown this thing away. I kept it so that I can hold you accountable and seek justice for Sister Xin!"

"Impossible!" Liu Xunyi was furious. "The handkerchief is a token of love between Xin'er and me. How could she throw it away so easily? This..."

"Wrong!" Zhao Yu said righteously, "In the beginning, it might have been a token of your love. But now, it has become a token of your ruthlessness!"

"What?" Liu Xunyi's mind buzzed, "She... why is she so heartless..."

Zhao Yu was so angry that he screamed and scolded: "Liu Xunyi, it was obviously you who was greedy for pleasure and pursued women, and then abandoned you. How dare you pretend to be innocent?"

"Me?" Liu Xunyi was stunned. "Where did you get this from?"

"Let me ask you, have you ever married a young lady from the Yingchuan Pan family?"

"This……"

"Let me ask you again!" Zhao Yu did not give Liu Xunyi a chance to explain, and asked in rapid succession, "Have you ever been close to a man who calls himself the 'King of the North', and made a marriage contract with his daughter in public?"

"Actually, this matter..."

"No need to say more, you just need to answer me whether I have these two things?"

Facing Zhao Yu's questioning, Liu Xunyi was uneasy and sweating profusely. After hesitating for a long time, he nodded gently: "It is true! But..."

"That's enough!" Zhao Yu said indignantly, "Liu Xunyi, you coveted the beauty of Pan and Luo, and in order to show your loyalty to them, you even sent someone to return the token of love that Sister Xin gave you, to show that you have severed all feelings and owed nothing to each other..."

"Nonsense!" Liu Xunyi finally caught a clue and flew into a rage. He no longer cared about Zhao He's identity. He stood up suddenly and rushed to him. He grabbed Zhao He's shoulders tightly with both hands and asked anxiously, "Who told you that I coveted the beauty of Pan Yuyin and Luo Ningyu? Who told you that this handkerchief means that we have no ties and no friendship, and we owe each other nothing? Who is it? Who is behind the separation between me and Xin'er?"

Zhao Yu was frightened by the furious Liu Xunyi and his face turned pale in an instant. The righteousness and hatred of evil just now disappeared completely, and was replaced by a look of fear and trepidation.

"Liu...Liu Xunyi, calm down. This is Prince Rong's Mansion, and I am the young prince..."

"Tell me, who is behind this?" Liu Xunyi waved his arms, almost shaking the frail Zhao Xie apart, and urged, "Hurry up and tell me!"

"If it was not someone related to them, how could Xiao Wang and Sister Xin believe it?" Zhao Yu replied tremblingly, "The person who told Sister Xin everything was your good brother... Qin Wei."

……

(End of this chapter)