The emperor and his mischievous boy

Chapter 3

Xie Yun was already sweating buckets and was trembling like a leaf in the wind, but when he saw the wallet being pulled out he almost started crying.

The guard looked inside and his eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “Where in the world did you get all this money?” The guard asked while pulling most of the money out. Hearing this, Shizui stepped forward and grabbed the wallet. Then his eyes went wide.

“Uncle, isn't this your wallet?” Shizui walked up to Moren and handed him the wallet. Moren took it and nodded slowly and then looked up at Xie Yun with a frown.

Jingyi walked over, clearly pissed, and grabbed Xie Yun by the collar. “Care to explain why my uncle's wallet is in your pocket?” Xie Yun scoffed. “ Oh I don't know I guess it grew legs and walked into my pocket” Xie Yun immediately clamped a hand over his mouth after he realised what he just said.

Xie Yun cursed. His parents warned him that one day his smart mouth would get him into trouble he wouldn’t be able to get out of it. And they were right. “Oh getting smart now, are we? We’ll see how smart you are when you’re in a cell.” Jinyi beckoned the guards to get Xie Yun.

Xie Yun wanted to slap himself a hundred times. ‘Why couldn’t I just keep my big mouth shut?’ He looked over at the emperor and gave his best puppy-dog eyes. The emperor had the final say in whether or not he went to jail, and he had no more options. To his surprise, the emperor looked like he was considering letting him go. But as soon as the look had come it left, and he lost all hope.

They entered the palace, and Xie Yun couldn’t even marvel at the lavishness, too stricken with grief. For the entire way to the dungeons, they were all silent. However, he did notice that the emperor was staring at him the entire time, and when he would look at him back he would quickly turn away. ‘Weirdo’

When they finally reached his cell,  he was washed with dread all over again at the sight of the cell. It was so filthy with mold and other unknown substances, that he was afraid he would faint. ‘Wouldn't kill you to clean up a bit would it?’.

Jingyi frowned at him. It was then he realized he had said that aloud. The cell door opened and he was pushed inside. He landed in a wet puddle and gagged. He heard the cell door close behind him. “This should teach you not to run your mouth” Jingyi spat, and walked away, Shizui following him. The emperor stayed for a few more seconds before following the two boys.

He got up out of the wetness that smelled suspiciously like… ‘ugh don’t even think about it’
He found the cleanest spot in the cell and sat with one leg folded under him. He closed his eyes, knowing he wouldn’t be getting out any time soon.

                                               The ground floor of the palace

“You didn’t have to be so mean, Jingyi.” Jingyi scoffed, “He deserved it. Had the nerve to preach about how people like those guards and their young master should rot in a cell when he was a thief himself.”

Shizui stopped walking. “Hey now, you shouldn't compare those two, what that man did was really disgusting. And besides, he looked like he didn’t have that much money to begin with.” Shizui said with a sad look on his face.

Jingyi crossed his arms. “You’re just too nice.”. Shizui shook his head and looked at Moren. “What do you think we should do, uncle?”. Moren stayed quiet for a while. In truth, He wanted to let the boy go as soon as they dumped him in the cell, but he knew he couldn’t do that.
“We should… leave him in there for a few weeks, and if he's been behaving we can let him go”