Chapter 1017: If You Cause Trouble, I'll Deal With You

"Is there really someone who worships me?" the King of Chu said, half in doubt.

The thought that someone worshipped him seemed to give him strength; he reproached himself for being so downcast, afraid of disappointing them. Yet at the same time he doubted it—could he, a failure, truly have worshippers?

"Of course! Not only do people worship you, there are quite a few of them. Take, for example, the common folk under your rule—they all sincerely support you and hope you'll win! Now that you've lost, in spirit you've always been a beacon, guiding them to live earnestly, to be strong and optimistic. So you absolutely must not do anything shameful and ruin the image you hold in your subjects' hearts. Remember that?"

Chen Chen Guanlou coaxed the King of Chu as though soothing a child.

He too was afraid of trouble!

If the King of Chu took things badly and tried to kill himself every other day, that would be a great nuisance. He could drug him! But it was best not to. Drugging still required care—worrying about eating, drinking, and bodily functions, worrying about the drug's efficacy, worrying he might die halfway through.

"This King… does this King truly disgrace himself?"

"Sigh! When you tried to slit your throat, your hand slipped and you didn't die—yes, that is a bit embarrassing! People will gossip: the mighty King of Chu, a man who raised a rebellion, is actually afraid of death? If you're afraid of dying, why rebel at all? Has your brain gone soft? Your Highness, has your brain gone soft?"

The King of Chu's face turned ashen as he defended himself: "This King rebelled with single-minded devotion. The court went against the Mandate, a foolish Emperor sat upon the throne—this King's rebellion was for the people's sake, to set things right! This King was an army of justice! That man does not deserve to sit upon the dragon throne!"

"Seems you're not much better than him. At least he probably wouldn't cry his eyes out!"

"That is slander! Defamation!"

The King of Chu was furious.

He could accept losing, but he could not allow his character to be smeared.

"Back when he was deposed as Crown Prince, did he cry any less? Probably ten times or a hundred times more unhinged than I am now. You think he's any good? When he goes mad, he doesn't even recognize his own kin. This King would never go raving mad. You're right—the Song family has hardly a single normal person, all of them are freaks. The freakiest of all is the one sitting on the dragon throne. Whether the old one or the current one, neither is normal! No wonder he's so vicious. Prince Cheng is already dead and he still won't let him rest! Ha ha ha…"

The King of Chu laughed wildly.

The Song family did indeed carry a mad streak in their blood—every one of them wild to the death. Arrogant, deranged—all wild! None of it was normal emotional release!

"Fine, you win!" Chen Chen Guanlou said, going along with him. "In the matter of character, you should easily beat the one in the palace."

Huh?

The King of Chu was shocked!

"You agree with this King's view?"

"Of course I agree! Some people—you don't need to look at their face or listen to what they say, just look at what they do, and you can basically judge what sort of person they are. I'm sure you would never do something as vicious as slicing up a corpse!"

Chen Chen Guanlou spoke the plain truth.

Slicing up a corpse had truly crossed every line.

Even now, whenever this matter was mentioned, he could not stop the surge of nausea, the discomfort all over his body.

He was still a martial artist, and even he reacted this way.

Put on an ordinary person—what kind of freak would it take to smile and make that decision?

He dared not think too deeply about it!

Such a freak ruling the great Qian Jiangshan—how could things possibly be well?

"Of course! This King wouldn't even think of it. If anyone whispered in this King's ear about slicing up a corpse, this King would slay that sycophantic worm on the spot. Only he, heh heh, could be so vicious! He hated Prince Cheng that much, so he must hate this King ten times over. I'm afraid he would not only slice this King to death, he might even feed this King's corpse to the dogs."

"You're not the same as Prince Cheng!" Chen Chen Guanlou analyzed. "You rebelled in the last two years of the late Emperor's reign. In a way, your rebellion actually helped him, gave him a chance to turn things around against the odds. Prince Cheng was different—he rebelled after the Emperor had ascended the throne, directly destroying his image. His hatred for Prince Cheng must have been personal! As for you, you might not escape a sentence of death by slicing. But feeding you to the dogs—no need to go that far!"

This analysis was, one had to admit, well-grounded.

The King of Chu took it in.

He even speculated, "If this King had not raised the banner of rebellion back then, would he have become Emperor?"

"Most likely! You saw it yourself—regardless of the King of Yan or the King of Jin, none of them were his match. Add to that his status, so perfectly legitimate that the court officials would naturally choose to support him. Unless the late Emperor had left a deathbed edict!"

What a pity!

The late Emperor had been wise his whole life, yet died so hastily and wretchedly, manipulated from start to finish.

If only, after the late Emperor fell unconscious, he could have woken for a single hour—even one hour—he might have turned the tables. Perhaps someone else would have had to sit upon the dragon throne!

But alas, too many harbored dark intentions, too many struck from the shadows. Once the late Emperor lost consciousness, he was doomed never to wake again.

This is what is called fishing in troubled waters.

The King of Chu nodded, accepting his reasoning. "You're right—this King's raising the banner of rebellion did indeed give him an opening. But even without this King, he would have found other chances. Among the late Emperor's many Imperial Princes, he was the most ruthless and venomous. In the past, everyone was fooled by his pretense. He was modest, skilled at accepting advice, respectful of teachers and the Dao… Now it seems it was all fake! To think he kept up the act for decades—didn't he get tired?"

"If the act succeeds and you get the throne, you wouldn't get tired either." Chen Chen Guanlou scoffed. The pot calling the kettle black—they were all much the same.

In that position, one must inevitably disguise oneself, must inevitably fight and scramble! That is human nature, unrelated to character. Only positions, no right or wrong.

The loser can only say he was outmatched.

"If I wanted the throne, I would fight for it openly and honorably. Unlike him, sneaking around…" The King of Chu was full of contempt—his disdain for Emperor Jian Shi was only natural.

What a pity he had been born to the wrong womb, not to a concubine of the late Emperor. If he had been an Imperial Prince, he would surely have snatched the throne from Emperor Jian Shi's hands! By any means necessary!

Chen Chen Guanlou raised an eyebrow and smiled, taking no interest in the King of Chu's emotional venting.

Seeing that the man was still somewhat willing to listen, he said: "Sit in your cell quietly, don't cause trouble! If you cause trouble, I'll deal with you! Behave yourself, don't give us any more headaches. When the time comes, if you have any special needs, I might really be able to satisfy them."

The King of Chu's thoughts stirred at these words, and he said sharply: "I can die! But I don't want to be sliced to death! Think of a way for me, won't you? You're a Chen—something like this surely can't stump you. This King still has some friendship with your family's Marquis…"

"Don't drag in irrelevancies with me. First, the court's verdict has not yet been handed down. Second, no one knows the Emperor's intentions. Third, stop dragging the Hou Fu into this. Public is public, private is private! In short, before the court's verdict comes down, there's no need to decide too early. Now that you're in the Heaven Prison, you must learn to adapt as circumstances change. You don't need to worry about me turning against you. For the sake of money, I will certainly look out for your interests!"