Can’t Pretend Chapter 84: Returning to the Imperial Capital

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

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Kiramekineko

 

“Your Majesty, good day.”

In the sunny minimalist hospital room, Lu Wu was wearing a satin hospital gown, with bandages visible on the loose collar, and looked very fragile with a haggard face. Lu Wu sat on the sofa at the window, with hot tea in front of him, and he gestured toward the chair in front of him, signaling Ji Shanhong to sit down in front of him.

Ji Shanhong took a seat and looked at Lu Wu for a moment before saying, “Your Highness seems to be recovering quite well.”

“Is that so?” Lu Wu leaned on the back of the sofa, still looking lazy. “But I don’t feel very well.”

“Oh?”

Lu Wu raised his chin towards the cup of tea in front of Ji Shanhong. “Marshal, please have some tea.” Then he said slowly, “I thought I had been shot as a sacrifice for the cause, but now I may be a dowry for others.”

The tea was clear and fragrant, with a long aftertaste, a good cup of tea.

Ji Shanhong swallowed the tea and asked in confusion, “What makes Your Highness say that?”

“At the end of the banquet, it seems that the marshal’s female companion did not leave with the marshal.”

Ji Shanhong smiled and frowned with some concern. “Yes, that day she was not feeling well and went to rest, I have not seen her since, I was a little worried.”

Lu Wu lifted the corner of his mouth. “I do know where she went.”

Ji Shanhong asked with concern, “Where did she go?”

“In my private house, saving someone.”

“Is that so? Saving who?”

“Yan Bai,” Lu Wu looked at the elegant marshal in front of him, his eyes condensing, “the child of the former royal grandson, Joan Ansel, who is now rumored to be a lost prince on the internet.”

Ji Shanhong raised his eyebrows in surprise. “There is actually such a thing?” He smiled slightly and asked, “She didn’t cause any trouble for His Highness, did she? If I caused any trouble to Your Highness, it is my fault for my moment of inattention, please forgive me.”

“A moment of inattention?” Lu Wu sneered, “Is the marshal still ready to pretend to be confused here? Before you, Saroyan came to me, and he told me that he had met Yan Bai once, when Yan Bai was eating at the same table with the marshal and Major General Ji, and the marshal also claimed that Yan Bai was the son of your deceased friend. I think the marshal has long known the identity of this Yan Bai, that deceased friend of yours, is the former third prince, right?”

He looked at the man who even now still looked unperturbed, elegant and gentle, and the murderous aura was revealed in his eyes.

“The previous night’s plan was all set by you, you planted people on both Saroyan and Amelia’s side, so that you could make them as well as me prepare to make a move at the same moment, so that your people could take advantage of the gap in the signal break to rescue Yan Bai. Obviously, I had already controlled the security cameras in this area in advance for the sake of the operation, but coincidentally, the video clip that captured Yan Bai’s appearance got out and let people find out the fact that he looks similar to the former third prince.

You pretended to join hands with me to suppress Saroyan and Amelia, but in the end it was just to clear the way for that orphan son of the former third prince, Marshal Ji is really good at scheming, to play us all in the palm of your hand.”

Lu Wu was the person behind the control of the underground exchange, in just two short days, he quickly sorted out everything that happened that night and surmised the real purpose of Ji Shanhong. Only a pity, he did not see the true face of this person earlier!

Faced with some accusations from Lu Wu, Ji Shanhong sighed gently, he slightly showed some pity, but was not upset.

“Your Highness is wise and resourceful, indeed an excellent candidate for the crown prince, I believe the empire would become stronger if it was in your hands.”

But unfortunately, the crown prince was not destined to be him.

 

“I heard that the crown prince campaign has been postponed.”

“It can’t be postponed, can’t you see what kind of commotion is going on outside?” The staff at the entrance to the capital whispered, “There are protests in many places. They are asking for a thorough investigation of the two princes and disqualification of their candidacy… They also demanded that the royal family should choose a new candidate for the crown prince… I heard that the orphan of the former third prince should be brought back.”

She sat next to the staff while sorting out the materials in front of the table to prepare for work later, while curious. “The orphans of the former three princes, not all unaccounted for so many years, to find it back? I heard that the government started to arrest these troublemakers, the arrest warrants are down, and have arrested a number of people into jail. It seems that most of them are betas.”

Most of the staff here were also betas, after all, the nobles were alpha and omegas, why would they become staff here?

The female beta sniffed and rolled her eyes. “They don’t treat betas as people. If it was an alpha and omega protest, they wouldn’t dare lift their hands.”

The number of the clock jumped to two, two people coincidentally coughed lightly a few times, put away the previous small talk, turned on their window light, symbolic to start work.

After vetting a few incoming travelers, a man pushed another man up to the window.

“Can I have your papers and clearance documents, please?” She looked up and saw a man with blond hair and glasses. She looked at the young man in the wheelchair who had a thick green under his eyes and looked very thin. She asked, “What is your relationship?” while looking down at the documents.

The blond man replied, “He’s my omega.”

The voice was quite nice.

“What are you doing here in the empire?”

“To see a doctor, his companion disease is very serious, we want to go to the first hospital in the empire to see.”

Companion disease…

She glanced at the man in the wheelchair with slight pity, then after checking that there were no missing documents in her hand, and the display next to her showed a hint that the lookalike and identity information matched. She stamped the pass on the clearance document. “Good luck.”

They quickly left through the handicapped convenient access, went outside, found a hover car that had long been arranged, and saw a robot that was welcoming them, wanting to help.

But the blond man did not give it a chance, he bent down and directly picked up the person easily and put him into the hover car. The robot did not give up, walked after him to help pack the wheelchair into the hover car, and helped them close the door.

Before closing the door, the young man with lame legs said gently, “Thank you.”

The robot blushed at the request of the program and then gently closed the door.

Ji Cheying took out the makeup remover wipes and carefully wiped off Xie Quan’s face, the process was like peeling an egg shell, Xie Quan’s creamy skin was gradually revealed.

Ji Cheying looked at Xie Quan’s face. He let himself be wiped, and Ji Cheying’s heart raced, just wanting to kiss him again.

Since that kiss the day before yesterday, he was addicted to it, always itching to kiss Xie Quan. But unfortunately, Xie Quan no longer gave him the opportunity. Except for today, putting on his make-up and now removing his make-up, this was the closest they got to each other. Xie Quan went into a state of alert, wary of his every move.

He thought that this look was strangely cute.

Then again, was he a bad kisser, and did Xie Quan dislike him that much?

Realizing that his gaze was fixed on Xie Quan’s lips again, Ji Cheying opened his mouth to divert his attention. “Why do you like machines so much?”

Xie Quan pondered for a second, then he asked back without haste, “Are machines bad?” He frowned, finding it a little strange. “You still haven’t finished wiping?”

“Don’t move, it’s not clean yet.” Ji Cheying effortlessly stopped Xie Quan’s movement, makeup remover wipes wrapped around the fingertips gently and slowly wiped his skin. The action was not like removing makeup, but rather like caressing him.

Xie Quan’s sense of crisis rose again, he directly grabbed the makeup remover wipe, and then pushed the person to the side. He spread the makeup remover wipe and scrubbed his face as hard as he could without pity.

“…” Ji Cheying looked at Xie Quan’s rude action, his eyebrows subconsciously raised, but before he could stop, Xie Quan had raised his face, his fair face was rubbed vigorously resulting in redness, he threw the makeup remover towel in Ji Cheying’s direction.

“It’s done.”

“…” Ji Cheying continued with the makeup remover towel, a little speechless. “Do you think your face is made of iron?”

After saying that, he also spread out a makeup remover towel and scrubbed his face haphazardly. The action was no more gentle than Xie Quan’s, but how could Xie Quan be the same as him? After wiping his face, he said, “Yan Siyu is ready to help you tonight when no one is around.”

That’s right, the reason they came back to the Imperial Capital was to help Xie Quan with his treatment.

Xie Quan’s situation was not complicated, but to re-establish the connection to the nano-machine molecules in Xie Quan’s brain needed special instruments and instructions to disengage. This technology was still very new, and there were only a few instruments that could be controlled, one of which was in the Empire Institute, so Yan Siyu could use his authority to treat Xie Quan, but there was no way to bring the instrument outside the empire.

The rest of the machines were also within the capital, so in order to treat Xie Quan, it was only possible for him to return to the capital temporarily.

Ji Cheying was not in favor of allowing Xie Quan to return to the Imperial Capital, after all, the Imperial Capital was now in turmoil, Xie Quan was still in the limelight, allowing Xie Quan to return to the Imperial Capital was tantamount to sending sheep into the mouth of a tiger.

But there was no other way to treat Xie Quan. If they delayed, who knew what the consequences would be for Xie Quan?

“When you’re done treating, I’ll send you away from the Imperial Capital right away.” Ji Cheying said, “I have arranged a place to stay, you will wait for me there.”

Xie Quan didn’t answer, but asked, “I heard on the news that the number of protesters is increasing.

“Yes.” Ji Cheying hit the nail on the head. “Someone must be organizing behind the scenes, and judging by their current call, it should be Anna’s group.”

“Most of those being incited are beta, and probably have some connection to your father.”

After all, that recording of Joan Cyrus Ansel and his political stance when he was still alive at that time had pulled a lot of goodwill for him from the betas. The betas had been in a situation of being ignored, even oppressed. And now such a good prince wanted to save them, and had died for this ideal.

Several beta human rights associations had spoken out over the unexplained death of Joan Ansel in the past two days. Joan Cyrus Ansel had now become a symbolic figure of beta human rights.

When Xie Quan heard these words, he froze slightly then smiled rather sarcastically. But he didn’t say anything about it, except to suddenly answer one of Ji Cheying’s earlier questions. He said, “I like machines because they are honest, they do what they are told to do, it’s so simple. People are different.”