Seeing that the Third Prince’s expression remained as cold as ice, Mu Xueshi dropped to his knees with a thud and wailed, “Your Highness the Third Prince, you’re a magnanimous man, so please forgive me! I only wanted to sneak outside and look around. How was I supposed to buy anything without bringing some food with me? I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough to eat, so I took a little silver from that piggy bank nearby. You don’t care about such a tiny amount of money anyway… Can’t I just put it all back? And they don’t sell Golden Jade Fruit where I come from, so I ate a few extra. If there aren’t enough left, I’ll go pick some more and replace them later, all right? Boohoo…”
The “piggy bank” Mu Xueshi referred to was actually the bronze statue of a former emperor that the Third Prince used during ancestral rites. There was a small opening at the base of the statue where silver was placed, symbolizing the ancestors gathering the nation’s wealth into the imperial treasury. No one had expected Mu Xueshi to dig the silver back out. As for the Golden Jade Fruit, it certainly did not grow on any ordinary tree. Those fruits were rare treasures presented as tribute by officials from the south. A Golden Jade Vine had to coil and twist a thousand times before it could bear even a few clusters, and after the long journey to the imperial capital, barely any would remain intact. The Emperor had bestowed them solely upon the Third Prince, yet before the Third Prince could taste even one, Mu Xueshi had already eaten and pocketed more than half.
Mu Xueshi’s pitiful expression as he knelt below did not move the Third Prince in the slightest. His icy words held not a trace of compromise.
“You are not going anywhere!”
“Why?” Mu Xueshi’s sobbing stopped abruptly. He looked at the Third Prince in confusion and said, “Why keep me here when I look like this? Are you planning to use me to ward off ghosts? Or do you just want to disgust yourself?”
Mu Xueshi clearly still believed his face looked the way it had appeared in the pond’s reflection. A trace of inferiority unexpectedly showed within his crystalline eyes. Had such an expression and such words appeared in modern times, people would undoubtedly have accused him of putting on an act or pretending to be modest. Yet coming from Mu Xueshi, they inexplicably carried a sense of desolation.
Since birth, only the Grand Tutor had ever seen his true appearance. After spending more than ten years living behind a false face, how could he not feel bitter? If cutting a few scars into his face could grant him freedom, Mu Xueshi would do so without hesitation. Unfortunately, his appearance had been bestowed upon him by his parents and could not be destroyed.
The Third Prince was obviously not kindhearted enough to care about such things. Mu Xueshi was merely a captive slave who would sooner or later die by his hand. But now that he had become so deranged and foolish, the Third Prince had no choice but to protect him for the time being.
Seeing the Third Prince lapse into silence yet again, Mu Xueshi grew unbearably impatient. Living with a man like this would make anyone’s hearing deteriorate. Mu Xueshi could say an entire cartload of words, yet the man would not even fart out a response.
The more you refuse to let me out, the more determined I am to go! Mu Xueshi protested loudly in his heart.
He had to familiarize himself with his surroundings. If anything unexpected happened in the future, knowing the area would make it easier to escape. This man was a prince. When he was in a good mood, he might save Mu Xueshi; when he was in a bad mood, killing him would hardly count as anything serious. Especially in an era divided between emperors and commoners, Mu Xueshi’s life was worth no more than a blade of straw.
At the very least, he had to learn whose identity he now possessed, what background that person had in this dynasty, and what useful advantages were available to him. Then he would make full use of those advantages to find the silver coin and accomplish his grand plan of returning home.
Futile Devices Scans 
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