Sheng Tang: What is Liu Jianjun going to do today?

Chapter 170 The Unexpected Angelic Envoy

The deputy envoy's eyes widened, the burning pain momentarily stunning him, followed by overwhelming shame and rage.

He was, after all, a deputy envoy from Luoyang, yet he was publicly whipped on the streets of Chang'an by an official from a prince's residence?!

"You! You dare to hit an angel?!"

The deputy envoy covered his face, his voice shrill and distorted, almost cracking, "Rebellion! Rebellion! Seize him! Kill him without mercy!"

He completely lost his mind and roared at the armored soldiers behind him.

Upon hearing this, the soldiers hesitated for a moment because of the identity of the Prince of Pei's Chief Secretary, but since their superior had given the order, they immediately drew their swords and stepped forward. The swords flashed coldly, and a murderous aura immediately filled the air!
"Let's see who dares to move!"

Li Xian suddenly urged Jinghong forward, taking half a step and directly blocking Liu Jianjun and the armored soldiers.

His face was ashen, his gaze piercing as he surveyed the armored soldiers. A sudden burst of princely authority erupted from him: "I am here! Do you intend to murder a member of the royal family?!"

This sharp shout was like a bucket of cold water being poured over their heads, causing the armored soldiers who were rushing forward to freeze in their tracks.

To attack the Prince of Pei? They wouldn't dare even if they had a hundred lives.

At this moment, the deputy envoy seemed to realize that Liu Jianjun had said "His Highness Prince Pei is here in person," and his face turned pale instantly. He looked at Li Xian with suspicion and uncertainty.

He was so angry that he didn't immediately recall Liu Jianjun's words!
Offending a prince is a crime that can be serious or minor, but if proven true, the consequences could be dire.

"Your Highness...this humble official..." Cold sweat poured down his back.

Liu Jianjun was right. This deputy envoy probably got his position by making false accusations and denunciations. Not only is he not very bright, but he doesn't even know the most basic etiquette.

At this moment, Liu Jianjun swung his whip again, lashing it across the man's face with a "whoosh," shouting, "Fuck your mother, you blind dog!" His tone grew increasingly urgent, and the whip lashed out faster and faster.

The deputy envoy was whipped so hard he fell off his horse. Liu Jianjun's whip was inaccurate, or perhaps he did it on purpose. Several lashes landed on the deputy envoy's horse, startling it. As it ran away, the horse trampled the deputy envoy several times, and he looked like he was about to die.

At this moment, the guards around the deputy envoy finally reacted. Several of them rushed forward and stood in front of the deputy envoy to take the whipping for him, while another person turned around and ran back, presumably to inform the others.

Li Xian looked at the deputy envoy groaning on the ground and hesitated.

It's alright for Liu Jianjun to beat up this deputy envoy, but if he kills him, things will get much worse.

But after thinking about it, Li Xian decided to ignore it.

Liu Jianjun had his reasons for doing this.

Fortunately, Liu Jianjun remained composed. Seeing that he could no longer strike the deputy, he gave up, though he continued to mutter curses under his breath.

Just then, a sharp shout came from behind the deputy envoy: "What is all this noise about, disturbing the spirit of Lord Liu?"

Li Xian's heart stirred.

The main character has arrived.

He subconsciously looked in the direction of the person who came, and then instantly showed a look of astonishment.

Turning his gaze, he looked at Liu Jianjun.

I noticed that he also looked surprised.

The person who came... Li Xian actually knew him!
Not only do we know each other, we're practically "close friends"!
Come to Junchen!
Back in Luoyang, when Li Xian took Liu Jianjun to Hu Shang's place for a horse race, he saw this man crying and begging Hu Shang to return his bets. He looked like a street thug. But now, he is wearing a dark scarlet official robe and holds the rank of a fourth-grade official.

In other words, this person is at least a Vice Censor-in-Chief.

A strong sense of absurdity rose in Li Xian's heart.

The Empress Dowager has gone mad, promoting officials by speaking ill of others?
At this moment, Lai Junchen had already ridden his horse to the front of the group. He immediately saw Liu Jianjun standing at the front and his expression instantly turned to astonishment. Then, when he saw Li Xian behind Liu Jianjun, his expression changed again and again.

Then, Li Xian saw him quickly suppress all his emotions, even managing to squeeze out a perfectly appropriate look of surprise and respect on his face.

He dismounted and strode forward, bowing deeply to Li Xian. His tone was extremely sincere, even tinged with fear: "Your humble servant, Lai Junchen, greets Your Highness, Prince Pei! I was unaware of Your Highness's presence. My men were foolish and reckless, and have offended Your Highness. I beg Your Highness's forgiveness!"

He made no mention of Liu Jianjun's assault, as if the half-dead deputy envoy on the ground didn't exist, thus solidifying the accusation of offending the prince and clearing himself of any wrongdoing, adopting an extremely humble posture.

Li Xian was somewhat surprised.

Liu Jianjun is right. This person has gambled, borrowed money, committed murder and arson every time he's been alive and well since he was a child. How can that not be considered a skill?

Knowing what kind of person Lai Junchen was, Li Xian felt even more disgusted when he saw him like this.

But Li Xian knew this was not the time to break off relations, so he simply replied, "Please rise, Lord Li. It was indeed a misunderstanding."

Lai Junchen then stood up, his gaze seemingly fixed on the deputy envoy on the ground, his face displaying just the right amount of shock, anger, and heartache: "What... what happened?! Why is Deputy Envoy Wang in such a state?! Who is so bold as to dare to beat an angel?!" His words sounded like an interrogation, but his gaze carefully avoided Liu Jianjun, only sweeping over the armored soldiers and the surrounding air.

Liu Jianjun sneered, his voice not loud, but clear and grating: "Lord Lai, your subordinate has bad eyesight and is not bright enough. When His Highness Prince Pei was in front of him, he not only did not pay his respects, but also cursed His Highness Prince Pei as a troublemaker and wanted to beat and kill him. I'm teaching this ignorant dog of a lesson for you. What, you have a problem with that?"

His words were extremely impolite, even blatantly provocative, and Li Xian immediately understood—I was reprimanding a "lackey," and you also rose to power as a "lackey."

Lai Junchen's cheek muscles twitched almost imperceptibly, a hint of malice flashed in his eyes, but his face quickly contorted into an expression of even greater fear and sudden realization.

He whirled around and sternly berated the groaning deputy envoy on the ground: "You worthless wretch! How dare you be so disrespectful! You deserve to be beaten to death for offending His Highness Prince Pei!"

The deputy envoy on the ground only let out two "ouch" sounds.

After scolding them, Lai Junchen quickly turned to Li Xian and Liu Jianjun, and said with a smile, "Your Highness, Chief Secretary Liu, it is really because I have not disciplined them properly and have failed to manage them effectively that such a joke has been made."

"I will certainly punish this scoundrel severely in the future! However..."

He changed the subject, a troubled look on his face, and lowered his voice, but it was enough for those around him to hear: "But now that Lord Liu has just passed away, the Empress Dowager and His Majesty are deeply grieved and have specially sent us to do our best in the funeral rites to comfort his spirit."

“This… assaulting an angel in the street, though there was a reason for it, if it gets out, it might damage Your Highness’s reputation and easily attract criticism from petty people who might say that the Prince of Pei’s mansion is disrespectful to the elders, or even… does not understand the Empress Dowager and His Majesty’s grief.”

He maintained a respectful demeanor, his tone even implying that he was thinking of you, but every word he uttered was a veiled attack, escalating the personal conflict to the level of disrespecting elders and disregarding superiors' wishes. His words were a mix of softness and hardness, extremely insidious.

Li Xian felt even more disgusted.

As expected of someone who rose through crooked means, they'll never change their ways.

But then Liu Jianjun laughed and jumped off his horse first. He walked a few steps to Lai Junchen and, instead of being afraid, patted Lai Junchen's shoulder affectionately.

This movement caused Lai Junchen's body to stiffen almost imperceptibly, and the surrounding soldiers held their breath.

"Come forth, Your Excellency! Come forth, Your Excellency!"

Liu Jianjun spoke with the familiarity of an old friend, a playful smile on his face, "Your mouth is still so eloquent, you can even make the dead come back to life, I admire you, I admire you!"

Before Lai Junchen could respond, he leaned close to Lai Junchen's ear and whispered something.

Then, Li Xian saw Lai Junchen hurriedly cup his hands and said, "This humble official had no such intention! Absolutely no such intention! Today's matter was purely a misunderstanding. It was due to my lax management of my subordinates that I offended Your Highness!"

Seeing this, Liu Jianjun straightened up with satisfaction, his voice returning to normal volume, as if he hadn't said anything at all: "That's right! It's good to admit your mistakes and correct them. Then I'll leave this mess to you, Vice Minister Lai. His Highness needs to go back to his residence to rest and doesn't have time to watch you mourn."

Having said that, he stopped looking at Junchen's fascinating expression, gave Li Xian a wink, and mounted his horse.

Li Xian understood and rode his horse to follow behind Liu Jianjun.

But Liu Jianjun suddenly paused, turned around, and shouted to the band behind him, "What are you standing there for? Keep playing the music, keep dancing!"

The sounds of sheng, xiao, flute, and drums suddenly rang out behind them.

Lai Junchen stood frozen in place, his face turning red and white in turns. He watched the two figures leave, his teeth grinding together, but he dared not utter another word.

He glared at the dying deputy envoy on the ground and growled, "Useless thing! Hurry up and carry him inside! You're a disgrace!"

……

This time, Liu Jianjun didn't linger near the Liu residence anymore; he slowly drove his horse towards the Prince of Pei's residence.

Li Xian slightly tightened the reins, caught up with Liu Jianjun, and asked, "What did you say to Lai Junchen just now?"

"What else can we say? Let's just point out his dark history. He got his official position so easily, suddenly going from being penniless to living a glamorous life. That's why he's so afraid of going back to his old days. And the reason he was able to become an official was because I pointed him in the right direction. Of course he's afraid I'll threaten him," Liu Jianjun said nonchalantly.

"Then...can it be used as a threat?"

Li Xian felt a little worried. He still remembered the sinister look in Lai Junchen's eyes when the two left.

“Of course we can’t threaten him. Who is Lai Junchen? He’s a heartless wolf, an ungrateful dog. If we turn around and leave, he’ll bite us back.” Liu Jianjun remained unconcerned.

Li Xian was taken aback: "Then... you still provoked him?"

"Otherwise what?" Liu Jianjun retorted. "He can't beat us on his own, so how do you think he'll bite us, given his personality?"

Liu Jianjun looked at Li Xian meaningfully and said, "Lai Junchen is just your mother's dog. Dogs have their uses. We can just have this dog bring back news of our discord with Liu Rengui to your mother."

“He is your mother’s dog. The news he brings back will be more believable to your mother.”

……

(End of this chapter)