With his eyes lowered, Shu Changyu sat at the table and slowly ate the food on the plate.
This was the first time he had experienced the feeling of food being completely tasteless.
The dishes on the table had already been reheated by Jing Mu’s order, and the tea in the cup had also been replaced with fresh tea. Yet sitting in front of him was a Jing Mu who stared at him without blinking.
For the first time, he hated his own useless body.
When he was eight years old, he had jumped into icy water to save someone. At that time, he had already practiced martial arts for two years, and he was far superior to others his age. But after that incident, he no longer even had the qualifications to continue practicing martial arts.
Originally, he had not considered this a serious problem. If he could not go to the battlefield, then he would enter the imperial court instead. That was also a way to serve the country.
But now, he did not even have the ability to resist a fifteen-year-old half-grown boy.
“Imperial Tutor.”
Jing Mu rested his chin on one hand and spoke with a smile.
“In the future, if I discover that you refuse to eat or drink again, I will go punish the prison guards who serve you. What do you think?”
Hearing this, Shu Changyu put down his chopsticks.
“Jing Mu, what exactly do you take me for?”
He raised his eyes and sneered.
“How many innocent people have died by my hands? You know better than anyone. What? Now you plan to threaten me with other people?”
Jing Mu, however, only smiled gently.
“Imperial Tutor, I won’t allow you to speak of yourself like that. I know exactly what kind of good person you are.”
Shu Changyu looked as if he had heard some ridiculous joke. He let out a mocking laugh, then picked up his teacup and took two sips.
“I’m finished eating.”
He said.
“If there is nothing else, Lord Jing may return now, yes?”
Jing Mu only shook his head with a smile.
“No need to hurry.”
Shu Changyu glanced at him and no longer wanted to pay him any attention. He simply put down the teacup and turned away.
“Imperial Tutor won’t be staying here for long.”
Jing Mu smiled.
“Otherwise, I would have already replaced all the bamboo outside the window with weeping willows. But such a large-scale change would take a long time, so I can only trouble Imperial Tutor to endure this place for now.”
Shu Changyu had never before witnessed Jing Mu’s remarkable ability to focus on completely unnecessary things while ignoring what mattered.
He gave a cold laugh.
“Today, I have already reported this matter to Father Emperor.”
Jing Mu continued.
“Father Emperor even instructed me to take good care of Imperial Tutor and not let Imperial Tutor catch a chill.”
Hearing this, Shu Changyu found it even more laughable. He deliberately spoke with sarcasm.
“The people of the Jing family really are all the same. I cannot believe that in my previous life, after more than ten years, I still failed to see that you and your father were cut from the same cloth.”
Jing Mu did not take offense at all. Instead, he sighed.
“Indeed. In Imperial Tutor’s eyes, I am no different from everyone else.”
Shu Changyu replied coldly:
“Do you not find it disgusting to say something like that?”
“I sincerely love someone. What is disgusting about that?”
Jing Mu smiled.
“Imperial Tutor, you do not know how many years I have carried these words in my heart. They have long since grown together with my soul.”
“Besides…”
He stood up and walked to Shu Changyu’s side. Lowering his head slightly, he whispered into his ear.
“Imperial Tutor, I have already done far more disgusting things than this. Does one more sentence really matter?”
Shu Changyu’s pupils contracted.
He shoved him away and took a step back.
This fifteen- or sixteen-year-old youth was like a sapling in spring, growing taller little by little. Before he even realized it, the boy who had once been his equal in height had already grown half a head taller than him.
Standing beside him like this, Jing Mu gave him an oppressive feeling that rose from the depths of his heart, making it difficult for him to breathe and filling him with an urgent desire to escape.
Jing Mu simply stood there, smiling as he looked at him.
Naturally, Shu Changyu did not know what Jing Mu was thinking at that moment.
Jing Mu was thinking:
Why had he not done this sooner?
Why had he not simply locked him by his side, broken his wings, and prevented him from doing those things that hurt others?
Although it would have been painful all the same, at least his heart would not have been empty like it was before.
After a moment, Jing Mu smiled and sat back down. He began chatting with him casually.
“Imperial Tutor, do you know that I am currently handling a case regarding the imperial examinations in Huzhou?”
Shu Changyu ignored him.
But Jing Mu knew that Shu Changyu was definitely listening.
He continued speaking to himself.
“In my previous life, there were two officials in Huzhou who accepted bribes and committed fraud during the provincial examination. Later, after the matter was exposed, they were escorted back to the capital and were about to be executed.”
He continued:
“Imperial Tutor, in this life, when these two men were escorted back, they were sent to the Court of Judicial Review. I personally went to reexamine the case, and unexpectedly discovered some other matters.”
“—Imperial Tutor, do you want to know what I found?”
“If Lord Jing has no other matters, then you may leave.”
Shu Changyu said.
“Even if Jing Mu continues serving in the imperial court, you are still an official of the Ministry of Works. Matters concerning criminal trials are not something you should interfere in.”
He only wanted Jing Mu to leave as soon as possible.
Yet Jing Mu did not move.
He continued:
“These two men were actually connected with the Governor of Huzhou, and also connected with my eldest imperial brother. The local examinations, local officials, and the central Ministry of Personnel were actually all connected into one chain.”
“The most important link in this chain…”
“was Fan Yuan’an, Imperial Tutor.”
Hearing that name, Shu Changyu paused.
He turned around.
Seeing his reaction, Jing Mu smiled with satisfaction and explained:
“The examination officials in the local area were originally people of my eldest imperial brother. Because of their connection with the Governor of Huzhou, they leaked the examination questions to Fan Yuan’an.”
“After he entered the capital, Fan Yuan’an joined the Ministry of Personnel and became someone my eldest imperial brother could use.”
“You are framing Fan Yuan’an and trying to use this matter to have him sentenced to death?”
Shu Changyu frowned as he asked.
Although Fan Yuan’an had caused him to lose his leg in his previous life and had even nearly taken his life, Shu Changyu understood Fan Yuan’an’s talent better than anyone else.
With Fan Yuan’an’s abilities, he did not need anyone to leak the questions to him. Becoming the third-ranked scholar in the imperial examination was something he could achieve easily.
The imperial examination was the most important matter of the court in any dynasty. Once fraud occurred, the officials involved would inevitably face death.
Just like in his previous life, after those two officials were executed, the group of examinees from Huzhou was summoned to the capital and forced to retake the examination.
Among them was an examinee who had not committed fraud at all, but because he became too nervous during the palace examination and performed poorly, he was directly accused of cheating and executed together with those who had actually committed fraud.
Therefore, if what Jing Mu said was true, Fan Yuan’an would certainly die, and the eldest prince Jing Yan would also be unable to escape punishment.
“How could it be framing?”
Jing Mu smiled.
“The witnesses and evidence are all there. Everything matches.”
“Once I submit the testimonies to Father Emperor, Imperial Tutor already knows what their fate will be afterward.”
At this point, Jing Mu paused.
Then, in a gentle voice, he asked:
“Imperial Tutor, are you happy with this result?”
Shu Changyu was so angry that he laughed coldly.
“You are telling me this?”
“Jing Mu, you may deceive others, but do you think you can deceive me?”
“Fan Yuan’an could never have cheated. Why are you trying to take his life?”
“Then…”
Jing Mu asked.
“Does Imperial Tutor truly not know the reason?”
“Or have you forgotten what Fan Yuan’an did in your previous life?”
Shu Changyu gritted his teeth.
“You also know that it was something he did in the previous life!”
“In this life, he has done nothing yet, but you want to kill him. Then how is your behavior any different from what he did in his previous life?”
“He deserves what is coming to him.”
Jing Mu put away his smile and stated expressionlessly.
“If he truly commits crimes that harm others, then punish him after that.”
“But right now, he has done nothing. He does not even know anything yet. He is still an innocent person.”
Shu Changyu lowered his voice, but he still could not suppress the trembling within it.
“What you are doing is harming a good person.”
“I have no interest in lecturing you about karma and retribution.”
“But Jing Mu, if you want to settle the debts from his previous life with him now…”
“Then kill me first.”
He took a deep breath.
“Everything I did in my previous life is enough for you to kill me hundreds of times.”
“Jing Mu, I also deserve what is coming to me.”
“What crime do you have?”
Jing Mu looked at him and spoke softly.
The words that followed were so quiet that only he himself could hear them.
“Everything was my own choice.”
Shu Changyu, however, only sneered and continued relentlessly:
“What crime do I have?”
“Jing Mu, did you not hear the forty-nine charges that the officials listed against me in court during my previous life?”
“I heard them clearly.”
“I can repeat them to Second Highness right now—”
He could not finish speaking.
Jing Mu took two steps forward and grabbed his wrist.
In a low voice, he warned:
“Imperial Tutor, if you say one more word, I will kiss you.”
Shu Changyu immediately stopped.
His eyes reddened as he glared at Jing Mu.
The education he had received since childhood told him that a true scholar would rather die than suffer humiliation.
Yet now, he was being humiliated by his own junior.
“I cannot let him live.”
Jing Mu said softly.
“As long as he is alive for even one moment, I cannot feel at ease.”
“Imperial Tutor, I am afraid he will harm you.”
“Let go of me.”
Shu Changyu said.
But Jing Mu continued:
“At the Qujiang Banquet, he approached you just like he did in the previous life.”
“That was why he upset you, causing you to go drink alone and get caught in the rain.”
“Imperial Tutor, I know about all of these things.”
Shu Changyu no longer had the energy to wonder how Jing Mu knew these details.
Ever since he learned that Jing Mu had returned through rebirth, his understanding of him had been overturned again and again in only two days.
Jing Mu knew everything about him and had completely controlled every aspect of his life.
Whatever Jing Mu knew was only to be expected.
At this moment, Shu Changyu only felt exhausted and irritated. He simply wanted him to leave immediately.
Jing Mu continued:
“He has the same intentions as he did in the previous life.”
“I cannot allow him to continue living in this world, Imperial Tutor.”
Hearing this, Shu Changyu laughed coldly.
“Since that is the case, then you should not tolerate Emperor and Empress Dowager remaining alive either.”
“And what about all the officials in the court?”
“Did they not cause my family to be destroyed?”
“Jing Mu, if you truly have the resolve, why not kill them all?”
“Sooner or later.”
He heard Jing Mu answer.
“Imperial Tutor.”
“I will not let a single one of them go.”
Shu Changyu suddenly felt a deathly cold emptiness sweep around him.
He did not want the events of his previous life to happen all over again.
“Jing Mu.”
He spoke softly.
“I do not care what kind of feelings you hold toward me.”
“But if you repeat everything I did in my previous life, I will never forgive you for the rest of my life.”
“But…”
Hearing his words, even the fingers holding Shu Changyu’s wrist slowly loosened.
Jing Mu’s eyes became lost and confused.
“But they all want to harm you, Imperial Tutor.”
“I’m afraid.”
Author’s note:
Congratulations to Jing Mu for earning the title of “Three-Second True Man.”
P.S.: In this story, “Three-Second True Man” specifically refers to certain male characters who can only look impressive for less than three chapters.
Jing Mu: ????