Lose My Heart to the Lovely Kitten Princess - Chapter 92

Chapter 92 An impending storm
“Great.” Chu Jinshuo straightened out a little wrinkle in his robe nonchalantly. “It must be hard on you to help me and take care of your mother!”

Chu Jinshuo suddenly raised his head and sighed, “I can’t help remembering how loyal you are just thinking about this!”

Chu Jinshuo sudden calmness sounded ambiguous, so Su Ming didn’t know for certain whether he was commending him or implying otherwise.

Since Su Ming was unsure what Chu Jinshuo meant, he didn’t dare to speak.

Chu Jinshuo retrieved a small high-quality jade buddha from his sleeve and laughed without inhibition. “I got my hands on this baby recently. Why don’t you take a look at it?”

Su Ming’s expression instantly looked worried as he said in his heart, “Oh no.”

On the day he was made the deputy minister of the ministry of revenue, he obtained the jade buddha from the temple for his mother’s health and safety.

Why was it in the eighth prince’s hands now?

Su Ming was at a loss. He answered after careful thought, “Your Highness, why are you showing me this?”

Chu Jinshuo went quiet as he straightened his sleeve with his hand.

“You are quite a smart man for being capable of hiding this from me.”

Su Ming knew anything he said would come out wrong, so he could only humble himself and lowered his head even more.

Chu Jinshuo continued to sound calm and patient. “Stop pretending.”

Chu Jinshuo pulled out a few letters from his chest and tossed them on the table as he spoke.

They were clearly different from the letters he wrote the eighth prince.

Su Ming’s heart thunderously pounded when he saw the secret correspondences marked with a special symbol.

He felt as though his heart was in his mouth and had trouble breathing.

Su Ming thought he was more than careful. However, the eighth prince was powerful and had many men in his pocket, so Su Ming ended up slipping up.

Chu Jinshuo rapped his fingers nonchalantly on the rosewood table. “You ought to know best what these are.”

He acted sad as he looked at Su Ming. “Didn’t I treat you well enough? I always thought I was a generous man. Why are you helping my seventh brother to sabotage me?”

“Forgive me, Your Highness! It was all my fault! I made a mistake.” The moment Su Ming detected something amiss, he knelt with a thud and kowtowed.

Chu Jinshuo felt happy with Su Ming’s fear of him. He slowly burned the letters on the table.

As the light flickered, a dangerous glow radiated from Chu Jinshuo’s eyes while the smoke rose.

“Don’t worry. I’m not a petty man,” said Chu Jinshuo as he continued to look at Su Ming pretentiously. “I can present you all the crimes and evidence you need. I can even continue acting with you.”

Although Su Ming was shocked to hear this, he didn’t dare to raise his head and ask.

Chu Jinshuo told him what he wanted slowly, “Winner takes all in politics. I must be the one and only winner!”

Su Ming was so stunned that he shook nonstop.

Chu Jinshuo gestured in the air, and a masked secret guard appeared out of nowhere quietly.

“You just need to cooperate with me.”

The secret guard gave Chu Jinshuo a stack of paper, and he handed it to Su Ming.

“But your mother doesn’t seem to believe that you are helping both my brother and me! She is very worried about you. In order to protect your mother, I will help you take care of her for now, so you can focus on your work.”

Chu Jinshuo looked at Su Ming as he stood before him with his head lowered. He walked over to Su Ming slowly as he asked, “Why don’t you think about whether you were threatened in any way? You’re a smart man, so you should know what to do, right?”

Su Ming was shivering so badly that his forehead and back were covered with sweat.

He felt so cold that he thought he was in hell. A demon was waving at him, but he could only obediently cooperate.

Chu Jinshuo didn’t force Su Ming to make a choice on the spot.

He cast a thoughtful look at the ghastly pale Su Ming before adjusting his sleeves and walking away.

Su Ming was at a loss. He thought that after he became the deputy minister of the ministry of revenue, he could serve the people as an honest and upright official.

He thought he had seen it all after all these years of serving the country.

The eighth prince had a bad history. He had committed a lot of wrong since he was a conniving man.

The seventh prince was different. He was a kind man and helped Su Ming a lot.

This time around, the eighth prince was genuinely guilty of robbing the people by raising salt prices.

If he could prove Chu Jinshuo’s guilt, he would be helping to serve justice to the people.

Before he had even succeeded, he was in Chu Jinshuo’s control, and even his mother’s life was at stake.

Since the seventh prince recommended Su Ming to the emperor, Su Ming was always loyal to him.

If Su Ming were the only person implicated, he would have died for the seventh prince.

Now that Su Ming’s mother was involved, he had no choice but to take Chu Jinshuo’s side.

After the seventh prince left, Su Ming’s eyes were filled with pain when he recalled what happened six months ago.

Regardless of Su Ming’s resentment, he had no choice but to work for the eighth prince now.

The complaint laid out by the county magistrate’s assistant was just the beginning of this major conspiracy.

A storm was impending, so the howl of the wind could be heard throughout the capital.

The plot was still brewing, so the victims were still oblivious and having the time of their lives. The things that Cheng Xiaoxiao knew were only the tip of the iceberg.

Cheng Xiaoxiao was once more awoken by the sound of talking in Chu Yunshen’s room.

“Xiaowu, do you have any news?”

“Master, according to our spies, there is a rumor that one of the princes has been using his status to make money without any regard for the people and lacks virtue. Things went out of control after Su Ming told his subordinates to turn a deaf ear on the matter,” said Xiaowu reverently.

Chu Yunshen nodded and gestured for Xiaowu to go on.

“Did they say which prince it was?”

“Master, they say it’s the eighth prince.” Xiaowu hesitated before he continued with his report. “Also… Prince Qing is here. He’s waiting right outside now.”

It was Xiaowu’s voice.

Who was Prince Qing? Cheng Xiaoxiao was still a little confused since she had only just woken up.

“Has the eighth prince lost his patience already? He couldn’t stop himself from coming here once he caught wind of the news.” Chu Yunshen told Xiaowu to send the eighth prince in expressionlessly.

Oh, it was that evil, eighth prince.

The moment Cheng Xiaoxiao learned there was gossip in store, she got out of bed instantly.

“Brother Yunshen.” Chu Jinshuo sounded surprisingly calm and unambiguous as he spoke innocently, “You have to help me!”

“What do you mean?” Chu Yunshen calmly listened to what he had to say about himself.

“Brother Yunshen, you have to help clear my name!” Chu Jinshuo went all out and angrily told Chu Yunshen about everything he heard.

Chu Yunshen interrupted Chu Jinshuo unhurriedly while he chattered on and sounded as though he was posing a question.

“So what should I do?”

“Brother Yunshen, you know me best. How could I do such things to our people? Someone must be framing me! We are such close brothers, so you can’t sit by and let them malign me! Just give the order to catch the mastermind and clear my name.”

Close brothers? That was sheer irony.

Chu Jinshuo looked at Chu Yunshen righteously. “Brother Yunshen, you are a fair person, so you are the best man for the job. I hope you can investigate the matter and find the truth!”

Although Chu Yunshen was expressionless, the look of ridicule in his eyes became increasingly intense, and things started to feel awkward.

Fortunately, he agreed to Chu Jinshuo’s request. “Go back! I will investigate this. once I get to the bottom of this, we will know who the culprit is.”

Chu Jinshuo quit while he was ahead and left as quickly as he can.

After Chu Jinshuo left, Xiaowu asked Chu Yunshen quizzically, “The eighth prince is a vindictive man. If he was really falsely accused, he would have already reported the matter to the emperor with evidence to prove his innocence. Considering his influence, he might even make life hard for the official who accused him. It’s quite shocking that he was magnanimous enough to leave it to the justice department this time, right?”

Chu Yunshen thoughtfully smiled as he joked, “It looks like things are starting to get interesting. My brother is clearly trying hard to stay calm.”

Xiaowu was even more perplexed. “Then why are you helping the eighth prince?”

“I only said I would investigate. I didn’t promise to find the mastermind and clear his name.” Chu Yunshen’s eyes went dark. “Also, I’m in no hurry. Why don’t you find out what’s going on with Su Ming first? Then we will wait and see.”

Xiaowu didn’t know what his master was up to. Since Chu Yunshen didn’t intend to speak further, Xiaowu could only start investigations.

There were two possible endings for the story now.

Chu Hongyi started to lead a healthy life after going back to the palace from the scare he suffered at Prince Jing’s residence.

Each day, he consumed a lot of tonic. Nanny Liu and the servants also kept a close look on him.

Life was as hard as it could get.

His memory started to recover as he was dying of boredom but incapable of visiting Chu Yunshen or playing with Cheng Xiaoxiao.

After thinking about the incident repeatedly as he lay in his silk bed sheets tossing and turning, he suddenly jumped from the bed in shock.

“Be careful, Your Highness!” Nanny Liu watched as Chu Hongyi jumped into the air. She was so startled that she clutched her chest while she reached out to hold him and stop him from moving.

“Get out of my way! This is important!” Chu Hongyi struggled free from Nanny Liu’s firm grip. He wasted no time and quickly straightened his clothing and strode away.

“Your Highness, what are you trying to do?” Since Nanny Liu couldn’t keep up with Chu Hongyi, she lost him before long. She was so upset that she almost pounded her chest and stomped her feet in fury.

“No, I have to tell Her Highness about this now.”

Nanny Liu turned to go to the imperial harem the moment she finished her sentence.

Chu Hongyi had already swiftly gone to Chu Yunshen’s residence.

“Brother Yunshen! Brother Yunshen! Get out of my way and let me in!” Chu Hongyi met Xiaowu at the door and did his utmost to avoid getting caught by him.

“Your Highness, please stop. His Highness doesn’t want to receive guests today, so please leave,” said Xiaowu patiently to Chu Hongyi.

“Xiaowu, get out of my way before I do something I’ll regret!” Chu Hongyi started to get anxious when he was incapable of getting past Xiaowu. “Brother Yunshen! It’s me! Come out and see me!”

“Who’s make such a racket?”

Chu Hongyi started to be even braver when he heard Chu Yunshen’s voice.

He attempted to charge past Xiaowu several times and shouted even louder, “Brother Yunshen! It’s me!”

Since Chu Hongyi was persistent, Xiaowu had no choice but to tell Chu Yunshen that he was here.

Chu Hongyi simply entered with him while he was at it.