Can’t Pretend Chapter 82: Confessions are Lenient

Thank you, Kimberly, Ann, and LuoYan for the Ko-fis!!

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Kiramekineko

 

Neither of these questions were expected by Xie Quan. One of the questions was even more confusing to him. Although he couldn’t see, Xie Quan could imagine Ji Cheying’s deep, focused gaze from the bottom up. Even that gaze seemed to have a temperature, like the sun.

He didn’t know if it was because of accepting each other’s pheromone that Xie Quan was sensitive to Ji Cheying’s presence, his pheromone was always tantalizing him. Ji Cheying’s body heat was also extra hot for him.

So when Ji Cheying put his hand on the handle of Xie Quan’s wheelchair, even without touching it, Xie Quan’s hand, which had been resting there easily, seemed to be burned by the tongue of fire, and shivered unconsciously, then withdrew slightly.

Ji Cheying saw Xie Quan’s action and his eyes were darkened.

But Xie Quan was unaware of this, he just thought about the question Ji Cheying asked.

Would he answer or not answer?

This secret was a matter of life and death for him.

No one knew that this secret was the safest for him, and the one he wanted most to stay buried. But that was clearly impossible. Anna’s group knew. Now Ji Cheying asked him, and he must have been sure of it. Although he could deny it and pretend to be confused, but…

Xie Quan looked at Ji Cheying’s direction in vain but still persistently, blinking gently. “I have another surname, Ansel.”

“Caesar Ansel?” This was the name of the royal grandson whose whereabouts were unknown back then and who was finally ruled dead, as Ji Cheying knew from his research.

When he heard this strange and familiar name, Xie Quan was in a trance for a second, and then he said in an extremely calm tone, without nostalgia, without dismay, just like that, “No one has called me that name for a long time.”

Ji Cheying continued, “You are the child of the former third prince.”

Xie Quan answered, “Yes.”

“The royal grandson whose whereabouts are unknown.”

“Yes.”

The answer was a bit long-winded, but Xie Quan knew that this was just Ji Cheying slowly accepting this one thing. So he did not tire of answering, one sentence at a time.

Ji Cheying breathed heavily, he laughed, as if he thought it was a bit absurd, but the laugh was quickly withdrawn, as if he had never laughed at the absurdity of the sentiment. His voice was serious. “Did you return to the Imperial Capital in order to compete for the crown prince’s position?”

Xie Quan was silent for a second and asked instead of answering, “What do you think?”

Ji Cheying did not doubt Xie Quan, but he did not understand something, his sword brow slightly frowned. “You do not want to become the crown prince, why do you want to come to the Imperial Capital at this juncture?”

Xie Quan thought about it and decided to start with one person first. So he asked without hurry, “About this matter, do you remember Tang Wenshao?”

Ji Cheying’s brow, which was only slightly furrowed, knotted directly, of course he remembered who this person was. “He had something to do with this?” After a half second pause, he quickly reacted, “Does it mean that he kidnapped you not only to use you as a scapegoat?”

Before Xie Quan had a chance to answer, Ji Cheying asked pointedly, “Did he try to plant the evidence on you in order to get away with it, or did he do that sequence of events in order to plant it on you?”

These two orders represent completely different meanings.

The former, that is to go along with the trend; the latter, that was deliberate planning. Xie Quan inwardly lamented Ji Cheying’s acumen, not expecting him to grasp the key point so quickly. He replied, “The latter.”

That’s true, but…

Ji Cheying asked, “Why did you go to such great lengths?”

Xie Quan replied slowly, “To keep me from being accepted into the world. If he really succeeds in planting the charges on me, both ‘Xie Quan’ and ‘Yan Bai’ will become notorious criminals and the world will not be able to accommodate me. In that case, I will have to go and join them.”

“…” Ji Cheying did not expect Tang Wenshao to have such an intention in the first place, and anger rose in his heart. They had actually calculated Xie Quan like this, to have such a malicious intention, trying to make Xie Quan have nowhere to go. If he had not believed in Xie Quan, if he had not met him in advance, they would have succeeded in their scheme, and then treated Xie Quan like a bird in a cage, breaking his wings and imprisoning him in their cage.

Xie Quan did not hear Ji Cheying speak, and did not wait for him to ask, but told the story of what happened. His speech was not fast, but not deliberately slow, just a leisurely rhythm, so that the listener unconsciously remembered the quietness of flowers in shining water, wind blowing through a forest.

Yet it was this voice and tone of voice that told a rather convoluted story.

“At that time, after you rescued me, while I was hospitalized, Tang Wenshao sent me an address in the Imperial Capital and invited me to come to the Imperial Capital.”

An invitation?

Ji Cheying sneered, those people were despicable. “They were able to lure you here, so they must have something important to you in their hands.”

Xie Quan nodded as he said, “They have proof of my bloodline with the royal family, probably when Anna took advantage of me and helped them get my hair or something to obtain a sample of my genes.”

“Anna?”

“The alpha in the healing capsule.”

“…” Ji Cheying asked thoughtfully, “What is her relationship to you?”

Xie Quan replied matter-of-factly, “As I should have mentioned before, my former companion, the agent who used to help me with all my transactions.”

What Xie Quan didn’t know was that Anna was not only his former companion, but was also Ji Cheying’s marshal brother’s date at last night’s banquet. But Ji Cheying was well aware of the matter. No wonder Ji Shanhong’s female companion acted before him last night to rescue Xie Quan, so they had known each other for a long time. Then his previous suspicions about Ji Shanhong added a few more points of conviction.

He was puzzled why Ji Shanhong invited Xie Quan to dine with them and was so caring to Xie Quan during the meal, the attitude was not like meeting for the first time, but like a good friendship. And at that time, Ji Shanhong also said something meaningful to him. He told him to take good care of Xie Quan and protect him.

Now, Ji Shanhong and that Anna also had a relationship. And if Anna knew Xie Quan’s identity, then Ji Shanhong must also know. Anna’s action yesterday, Ji Shanhong must also know.

In fact, not only Anna’s actions, he suspected that Ji Shanhong was behind the chaos of last night.

But Ji Cheying was not going to tell Xie Quan about this yet, he needed proof first. He straightened out his thoughts, then asked a central question, “What is their purpose? Since you said ‘they’, it means that this is an organized group of people, so what exactly is the purpose of this group of people combined?”

Speaking of this, Xie Quan’s face couldn’t help but show a few hints of confusion as well. He frowned slightly. “I guess, it should be to make me the crown prince, but…”

“But?”

Xie Quan lifted his eyes, his eyes were more like a calm and waveless mirror after losing his sight, clear and bright and empty.

“Why?” He seemed to be asking himself, “They went to all this trouble and risked so much, even if they finally pushed me into that position, so what? What is it that they are seeking, exactly?”

Ji Cheying looked at Xie Quan’s confused look and his heart was flooded with a fine, needle-like sensation. He wanted to grab Xie Quan’s hand, but his palm moved slightly, remembering Xie Quan’s subconscious avoidance just now, and he stopped his movement.

The distance between them was even greater, even though he had his mark on him. Ji Cheying’s brow was furrowed, and he remained there for a few seconds.

Even though Xie Quan was a bit puzzled by Ji Cheying’s silence, he turned back to Ji Cheying and was about to ask. Then Ji Cheying made a move. He stretched out his hand and grabbed Xie Quan’s hand with great force and without room for refusal.

The hand in his palm was not silky smooth, and because of years of mechanical work, there were even some hard calluses, as well as some small bumps left by injuries. But the moment he grabbed this hand, the boulder weighing on Ji Cheying’s heart suddenly dissipated.

He finally felt like he could breathe.

Xie Quan was stunned for a moment and then puzzled. “What?”

But he did not try to break free. An alpha was always more emotional when he was in his susceptible period. Ji Cheying was too rich in emotion to be in a state of distress.

Especially since his omega was still ambiguous and was now a long lost royal son. But he overcame the indecisiveness brought about by that physical influence. This was not easy, just like a marionette forcibly breaking free from the control of the silk thread. It required great determination as well as strength of action.

Tightly grasping Xie Quan’s hand, Ji Cheying looked at Xie Quan’s puzzled look, looking at his white neck, his eyes slightly dark. “I was wondering if I bit you too hard yesterday.”

“…??” Is this person flirting with him? They were just talking about a very serious, serious topic, weren’t they? Why did they suddenly go to this?

Ji Cheying continued, “Will it leave teeth marks? I think I tasted blood yesterday.”

“…” The corner of Xie Quan’s mouth twitched and he finally stopped. “Are you done?”

But instead, Ji Cheying gave a low laugh, seemingly happy. The laughter was like a small feather brush, floating into Xie Quan’s heart, slightly tickled. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.” Ji Cheying didn’t let go of Xie Quan’s hand, he just simply propped himself up like that. “I just feel a little ridiculous.”

“Why?”

Ji Cheying simply put his other hand over Xie Quan’s other hand, and he lowered his body to close the distance between him and Xie Quan in a very oppressive manner. Xie Quan tried to step back, but could only straighten his back.

“I actually thought about letting you go.”

Xie Quan froze, a puzzled look on his face.

“You told me yesterday that the mark was just to solve the companion disease, right?”

Xie Quan was silent.

“I then thought, if you really don’t like me, then I wouldn’t force you.” Ji Cheying lowered his voice and said, “What a coward.”

Xie Quan forgot for a moment that the distance between them was too ambiguous, and he asked, “Not now?”

“Yes.” The voice came out of his chest. “Not now.” He said loudly, “Now that you’ve provoked me, it’s not entirely up to you to decide what happens next. I gave you the power to start, after that it should be my power, that’s only fair.”

Xie Quan’s heart was pounding, but his face remained calm as he pursed his lips tightly before asking, “What are you trying to say?”

Ji Cheying stared intently at Xie Quan, his gaze hot and aggressive. “What I’m trying to say is that from now on, no, from last night on, we are one. So no matter what their purpose is, I will not let them hurt you, I swear to you with my life.”

Let him go?

The premise was that outside was the sea and the sky.

However, outside now a group of wolves and tigers were watching.

So what’s the point of letting go?