The Trick to Teasing a Noble Family's Son - Chapter 10

After being gazed at by Wei Lan’s affectionate eyes for a while, Xie Zichen suddenly woke up, and all the hairs on his head stood on end! Just as he was about to overreact, Wei Lan straightened up in time, as if nothing had happened, and sat across from him, starting a very serious topic: “Is it hard for families like yours to kill someone?”

“It depends on who is killing whom,” Xie Zichen instinctively answered. Switching to a subject he was good at, his thoughts took a quick turn as well. “In general, noble families prohibit internal strife, so the head of the family manages strictly, forbidding the maintenance of private soldiers and secret divisions. The family secret units wait for the sons to come of age, and then the son takes over the secret unit from his father.

“So, you don’t have your own guards and private soldiers, right? What if your father’s generation gets involved? For example, what if Xie Jie’s father takes action against you?”

“As a shu¹ son,” Xie Zichen took a sip of wine, “it would depend on whether my father is willing to take action and whether the head of the family can tolerate it.”

1. For much-needed clarity, I’ll be using the shu term instead of concubine’s son because we did see in a previous chapter that Xie Zichen is actually not a son born out of his father’s concubine. Even more so, his mother never really ‘married’ his father, she was just a courtesan and to get him to be admitted into the family she killed herself.

Hearing this, Wei Lan smiled warmly, “Don’t worry, in the future, you’ll have me behind you.”

Xie Zichen: “…”

He completely didn’t want to respond to this kind of talk.

Seeing that Xie Zichen would fall silent due to embarrassment whenever she said something akin to a confession, Wei Lan didn’t push too much and continued, “Xie Jie doesn’t have private soldiers, and from the looks of it, he probably can’t persuade his father to take action, so you don’t need to worry too much. However, this person has quite a bit of resentment towards you. If he had the ability, he would probably feel at ease only after killing you.”

“And now isn’t the Shizi planning to help him?” Xie Zichen glanced over coldly, “With the Shizi’s abilities, killing Zichen wouldn’t be impossible, right?”

“Killing Young Master Xie Si isn’t difficult, but how could I bear to do that?”

Losing control for a moment, Wei Lan’s teasing words flew out again. She sighed and said, “If the young master loses a single hair, it would be as painful as a thousand arrows piercing my heart.”

Xie Zichen didn’t speak. He raised his hand and, under Wei Lan’s curious gaze, pulled out a hair and handed it to her.

Wei Lan: “?”

— My future husband is such a cute person! Always doing things that catch me off guard.

Xie Zichen looked at her seriously and said, “Does it hurt?”

Wei Lan was slightly stunned. After Xie Zichen threw away his hair, he said calmly, “Don’t say anything if you can’t act it.”

After that, he naturally returned to their previous discussion: “No matter what, now that you and Xie Jie are already allies and you’ve made an agreement with me, whose side do you plan to spy for?”

“I discussed with Xie Jie and planned to have him find an opportunity to bring you to me without anyone noticing. Then, I’ll have people capture you, imprison you, and make you my captive.”

Xie Jie sure dares to even think…

Inwardly, Xie Zichen praised Xie Jie’s foolishness and boldness. Wei Lan continued, “I’ve promised him, so you’ll follow his words when the time comes. Once you’re at my place, we’ll… kill him?”

Saying this, Wei Lan was a bit cautious, afraid that Xie Zichen might think she was too cruel. Talking about killing people so easily, it seemed that such brutal behaviour wasn’t common in the capital yet.

However, Xie Zichen’s expression didn’t change, and he nodded, “Okay.”

No wonder I fancy this man—Wei Lan praised Xie Zichen in her heart once more.

After thoroughly discussing Xie Jie’s matter, Xie Zichen felt more at ease and took his leave. Wei Lan insisted on sending Xie Zichen back, but Xie Zichen, with a stiff expression, said, “No need.”

“How can I let a man… a beautiful person return home alone?” Wei Lan smiled, “Xie xiong² is too courteous.”

2. Xiong (兄) specifically means “elder brother”. This term is used to address an older male, not necessarily related by blood.

Almost letting the word ‘man’ slip out, Wei Lan quickly changed it to ‘beautiful person,’ remembering her male identity. Xie Zichen felt he was getting used to this cut sleeve person’s habits. Sometimes he couldn’t help but think that maybe in the eyes of this cut sleeve, he was actually a woman…

In fact, although Wei Lan didn’t think that way, it was close enough.

Wei Lan escorted Xie Zichen home, meticulously caring for him along the way.

“Xie xiong, there’s a small pit here, be careful.”

“Passed it.”

“Xie xiong, there’s a rat ahead, don’t be afraid.”

“Oh.”

“Xie xiong, look at how beautiful the moonlight is. You and I are walking under the moon, Lan is very happy!”

“Oh.”

“You didn’t ask me why?”

“Because…” Xie Zichen thought seriously and slowly said, “You’re a person who finds joy easily?”

“No,” Wei Lan denied his guess, and said affectionately, “Because you’re here.”

Xie Zichen: “…”

How he wished to beat her up!

To avoid Wei Lan’s noise, Xie Zichen quickened his pace. Before long, they had walked most of the way. Wei Lan followed him leisurely, appearing calm and composed yet never lagged behind.

Xie Zichen turned into an alley, thinking he had finally shaken Wei Lan off only to have a steel knife come slashing towards him!

Xie Zichen leaned back and bent right there. Wei Lan appeared at just the perfect moment, kicked the assailant in the chest, pulled Xie Zichen’s hand and turned around to run.

However, two men in black suddenly landed in front of them, blocking their path. Wei Lan couldn’t help but laugh, “Since we’re all friends of the Xie family, why the big fuss at first sight?”

The men in black exchanged glances but had no tough words to say. Wei Lan folded her hands in her sleeves and watched the men in black rushing towards the two of them. She turned to say to Xie Zichen, “Young Master Xie Si, please stand further away later. Don’t……”

Before she could finish speaking, Xie Zichen had already rushed out, kicking one and chopping the knife out of another’s hand.

A dozen assassins instantly surrounded him. Xie Zichen, wielding a steel knife in his hand, remained unfazed. His crane cloak lifted, shielding Wei Lan from view. He blocked her tightly behind him and said in a cold voice, “Wait a while and I’ll create an opening for you. You run away immediately and don’t look back.”

Wei Lan: “…”

This sentence seemed to have been told to him just now by her.

She sighed, thinking Xie Zichen was, in this regard, a bit petty. But for a beauty, being petty was also a charm. Wei Lan stretched out her hand and raised it, snatching a steel knife and swiftly stabbing it into an attacker’s body.

Xie Zichen had just killed another assailant, blood splattering his face, yet his expression remained calm as if accustomed to killing.

And Wei Lan, still maintaining her usual calm and gentle smile, watched the man who looked like a murderer under the moonlight with interest: “I thought……Young Master Xie Si was killing for the first time?”

Xie Zichen glanced at her lightly. The steel knife in Wei Lan’s hand moved swiftly, showing no signs of weakness at all, and she spoke while taking down another assassin.

The remaining assassins looked at each other, and one of them nodded. They immediately began to retreat in an orderly manner. Wei Lan smiled, holding her knife and watched the dark figure running away under the moon. She gently said, “Since you’re already here, why do you have to leave so hurriedly?”

“Stay,” she sighed, twirling her knife. The blade reflected the blood-stained, jade-like face of the man beside her. Though he said nothing, it seemed as if everything had already been said.