Ever since ZiLi came to this place, he felt constantly in fear and like he was always walking on thin ice. In this majestic Imperial Palace, there always seemed to be an inescapable smell of conspiracy in the air. No matter how careful 1 and discreet 2 you were, it would follow you and there was no way to escape it. Not to mention the extremely difficult to handle and unpredictable Emperor.
ZiLi was lazy, but he was definitely not stupid. From this assassination incident he could see that the current situation was very unfavorable for him! Not to speak about the unfathomable Emperor who usually resided in the Ming Hall. No matter what ZiLi did, he could barely counter all the Emperor’s overt attacks. But most frightening were those black-hearted people who were hiding in the dark and brewing a trap to kill him at any moment. Their moves like dark arrows 3 , the arrowheads glowing with cold light, aimed 4 at his vital points. As soon as he would let his guard down, the sharp point of the arrow would immediately pierce his abdomen.
ZiLi had already suffered this kind of pain once, both physically and mentally, and he definitely did not want to go through it a second time.
Faced with such a dangerous 5 environment, after ZiLi had thought about it thoroughly for a while, he finally decided to carry out his escape plan earlier than originally planned. But before this plan could be implemented, based on the experience gained from the TV movies and wuxia novels he had seen in the past, ZiLi still had a few things to prepare in advance!
First of all, money! After all, isn’t there a saying, ‘Money is not everything, but without it you cannot do anything!’ Now that he was planning to escape, he would definitely have to go into hiding in the future, so money was essential to protect himself.
Second of all, something to disguise himself, such as a mask made of human skin, which were often mentioned in those novels! This method should definitely not be underestimated. In the past, those people from Jianghu 6 would use a thin mask made from human skin to cover their faces, to avoid trouble or to hide from pursuing enemies. With such a mask, the beautiful could be made ugly, the ugly beautiful, a face full of pockmarks could be made to appear smooth and bright, and even the shifty-eyed 7 could be instantly changed into someone with sword eyebrows and bright eyes 8 . With these applications, one could say that this method was truly amazing! Therefore, the tools used to change one's appearance were absolutely indispensable.
And finally, a real weapon to defend himself! But when faced with this problem, ZiLi was a little troubled 9 , what would be good to use? A knife? He could not use that! A sword? He could not wield that! Darts? He would be afraid that if he threw them, they would fly back to him! A bow and arrow? He would probably be killed before he could even shoot the arrow! A meteor hammer 10 ? He might as well stay where he was and let himself be caught! A chain whip 11 ? He would probably get himself tangled up in it! Nunchucks? He had tried to imitate Jay Chou 12 once to act cool, but then he had hit his head! Nope, nope, those were no good!
ZiLi paced restlessly around the room, muttering incoherently as he frowned. Suddenly ZiLi clapped his hands and said happily, “How could I forget? Heh heh, I will choose that then!” Once ZiLi had figured out which items he needed to prepare, he immediately took action! Of course, the collection of these items was done in the utmost secrecy, not even Ming Yue was allowed to know!
The money issue was actually quite easy to solve! Looking around the palace, there were jade antiques everywhere, and even a layman like ZiLi knew that those were expensive. The curtain of jadeite pearls, the lion carved out of gold, the pearls the size of an egg, they were all worth tens of thousands, but he did not know exactly how much money they could be exchanged for. But that did not matter, as long as he could exchange it for money.
“Tsk, even the place where a Hostage Prince lives is extremely extravagant and luxurious. This treatment must be too good to be true! Wow, this thing has amazing quality!” ZiLi clicked his tongue and exclaimed, stuffing small pieces of jadeite, gold ornaments, pearls and gems into his pouch as if his life depended on it.
As he put the items in his pouch with his brows raised in delight, he suddenly heard someone approaching outside the door. ZiLi was startled and hurriedly stuffed the stolen goods under the bed. Before he could stand up, the door was pushed open and Ming Yue entered.
“Your Highness, His Excellency 13 Lian requests to meet you!” Ming Yue who was bowing looked up and saw him crouched by the bed, and not surprised but puzzled she asked, “Huh, Your Highness, what are you doing on the floor? Did you drop something? If so, should Ming Yue help you find it? ”
“No― no that’s not necessary. I was just tying my shoelaces. Ah, I mean, fastening my shoe buckles. *Cough*, who did you just say wanted to see me?”
“It is the Official of Tributes and Sacrifices, His Excellency Lian Pan.” Ming Yue knew that ZiLi would not remember him, so she explained it specially.
“Oh,” ZiLi nodded and asked again, “ what does he want to see me about?” “Well, he must be looking for Your Highness again to drink in a brothel outside the palace,” Ming Yue said somewhat angrily and embarrassed. This Lian Pan person was really not a good thing. His love of frequently visiting brothels was not a problem, but he had to drag His Highness along with him to fool around. Although Ming Yue was very unhappy that Their Highness was friends with such a person, but since that person was an Official, even if it was a position with practically no obligations, they as servants would not dare to drive him out. Therefore, without any other option, they had to reluctantly inform Their Highness of his presence.
“To go out of the palace? To drink in a brothel?” ZiLi’s eyes widened, “Holy cow, I can actually leave the palace?”
Ming Yue looked at ZiLi in confusion.
“Ming Yue, why didn't you tell me before?”
“Because you never asked, Your Highness!”
It was no wonder that ZiLi was so surprised, in his understanding a Hostage Prince was the same as a hostage. How could a hostage who was confined to the Imperial Palace be allowed to wander outside? Were they not afraid he would run away?
Of course, if ZiLi could think of this possibility, how could a sophisticated person like Hong Xu not think of it? He allowed ZiLi to leave the palace at will, but of course he would secretly deploy people to keep a close eye on him. So, if ZiLi wanted to run? Heh heh, that would be simply harder than reaching the sky 14 !
But when ZiLi learned that he could leave the palace at will, he was ecstatic 15 . He saw this possibility as an absolute advantage for him to carry out his escape plan. ZiLi happily said to Ming Yue, “Since someone has invited me to have a drink outside the palace, it would only be polite to accept. Ming Yue, I won't be back for lunch, I'm leaving, bye!”
“Eh, Your Highness??????”
Only one chapter today, because of my exams (◡﹏◡✿)
There will probably be just one chapter next week as well, I'm afraid.
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