284 “You Care About Him?”
“Huh?” Lin Suisui had thought that there might be something else going on, but she didn’t expect it to be so… ridiculous.
“Why?”
Lin Suisui really didn’t understand.
“You care about him?” Lu Ze raised his eyebrows and carefully observed Lin Suisui’s expression with a scrutinizing gaze.
“No, I just asked out of curiosity!” At this moment, Lin Suisui had figured out the reason behind Lu Ze’s sarcasm. When she saw that something was wrong, she immediately comforted him. “It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me!”
“There are some things that need to be arranged.” Lu Ze raised his hand and flexed his wrist slightly. Then, he looked at Lin Suisui and said, “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”
“I’m very assured. Just be careful.” Lin Suisui tilted her head. She didn’t understand what Lu Ze meant by “don’t worry”, but her intuition told her that she couldn’t agree.
As expected, as soon as she said this, she could clearly feel that Lu Ze’s attitude had changed a lot. At the very least, he was no longer as on edge as before.
Although Lu Ze and the others had arranged for the fourth prince to be kidnapped, they still had to keep up appearances!
First of all, although the guards and officials who had come with the fourth prince were not kidnapped by those so-called mountain bandits, they were not glad at all. They wished that those mountain bandits would just kill them!
After all, death was the end. There would be no need for them to be imprisoned anymore!
As the fourth prince’s cousin, now that something had happened to the fourth prince, Pei Qian was naturally the most anxious and uneasy person in Cloud Mountain City! Naturally, his mood wasn’t pleasant.
After enduring the torture, although most of the officials didn’t reveal any information about the fourth prince’s capture, because they had followed the fourth prince all year round, they were interrogated about many things.
“What do you think?”
After Lu Ze flipped through the dossier that had been sent over, he looked up at Pei Qian, who was sitting not far from him.
“I don’t have any objections, so just do what you plan to do! Anyway, I already asked most of the questions I wanted to! I even know how many private assets my cousin has outside, so I probably won’t be able to get any more useful information out of them!”
After Pei Qian put down the teacup in his hand, he suddenly thought of something and said, “But then again, my cousin usually looks honest and devoted, so he has a lot of admirers!”
“Let’s go through it again. If we really can’t get any more useful information out of them, send them all away.” Lu Ze took a few pages of the confession and placed them in his sleeve. Then, he placed the rest of the confession aside.
“Then should we continue starving the fourth prince?” Pei Qian narrowed his eyes at Lu Ze’s sleeve. Then, he laughed and said, “He’s been starved for a few days already, so if this continues, he might die!”
“Then let the people in the village do as they see fit!” Lu Ze turned around and glanced at Pei Qian. “It’s fine as long as he survives!”
Pei Qian nodded and didn’t say anything else. After he turned around and walked to the door, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at Lu Ze. “By the way, when do you plan to see my good cousin?”
“Now!”
Lu Ze glanced at the sky outside the window and said to Pei Qian, “It’s been a long time since we last met. I realize that I really miss him!”
Because the fourth prince’s abduction had not been revealed to the public yet, Cloud Mountain City appeared peaceful. However, Lu Ze, Pei Qian, and the others had been traveling around a lot more.
However, Cloud Mountain City was an important place in the north, so it was very normal for people to enter and leave the city frequently.
After having the token checked, Pei Qian and Lu Ze led a team of light cavalry out of the city gate and rushed towards the north mountain.
… .
Like his subordinates and advisors, who were trapped in the prison of Cloud Mountain City and whose fate was unknown, the fourth prince, who was tied up and had a dog leash around his neck, was also having a difficult time.
Ever since he was born, although the Crown Prince and the even more arrogant Third Prince had suppressed him, he had never suffered any grievances in the palace!
But now…
He was actually tied to this dungeon like a dog. He couldn’t stand and could only crawl on the ground like a dog. If he wanted to eat, he could only beg like a dog in exchange for some rancid steamed buns and soup.
When he was first locked up here, he had tried to explain.
These people in front of him looked like ordinary mountain bandits, so he didn’t dare to expose his true identity. At first, he only dared to say that he was related to the general who stabilized the north and came to the north to visit his family.
However, it would have been better if he had not said it. As soon as he did, he was beaten up by the other party.
The reason was that the general who stabilized the north wasn’t a good person and most of the people in the village had suffered because of him!
After realizing that this method didn’t work, he began to consider bribing them!
After all, in his understanding, as long as the mountain bandits were given enough money, they would let people go. However, as soon as he raised this idea, he was immediately beaten up again.
The bandits scolded him as they beat him, saying that if he wanted them to go to the general’s residence to ask for ransom…
Wouldn’t that be setting them up?!
It was obvious that the fourth prince had ulterior motives and was mocking them for being inexperienced.
He deserved a beating!
Therefore, after being beaten up a few times in a row, the fourth prince finally became obedient and didn’t dare to struggle anymore. After all, although he was captured now, his guards and advisors had escaped, so they would definitely send the news back to his cousin!
As long as Pei Qian made a move, he would be saved in a few more days.
However, he didn’t expect to wait so long this time…
Just as the fourth prince felt that he wouldn’t be able to last much longer, the cell door above his head suddenly clanged and was pushed open again.
He subconsciously shrank back into the haystack behind him and gritted his teeth as he prepared to endure another round of beating.
However, this time, the footsteps were clearly not those of the mountain bandits who took pleasure in toying with and insulting him. The footsteps sounded calmer and more oppressive.
The fourth prince listened to the approaching footsteps before they finally stopped at the door of the cell he was in.
“Open the door.” Pei Qian sized up the trembling fourth prince for a long time through the cell door. Then, at Lu Ze’s signal, he turned around and instructed the guards guarding the prison to open the door.