Yan Sikong called the guards and ordered, "The general is drunk, help him to the inner tent to rest." After that, he stood up, walked through the banquet and left the tent.

Feng Ye was completely sober, and the expression on his face was as frozen as the ice in the late moon. In an instant, all the suspicions, doubts, and discrepancies were connected together. He finally found the answer to his feeling that Yan Sikong was hiding something from him. It turned out that he was not overthinking!

Feng Ye clenched his fists, his finger bones made crisp crackling sounds, he stood up and followed him out.

Yan Sikong walked all the way to the stable and led out his horse. Zuihong was eating grass nearby. No horse dared to approach where it stood.

Yan Sikong looked at Zuihong quietly for a while, thinking about the day when he met Feng Ye again and saw the dazzling young man taming the beastly horse. He would never forget the surprise at that time.

He untied the harness, climbed onto the horse swiftly, and grabbed the horse's belly, "Drive—"

The horse escaped from the stable and passed by Feng Ye who was following behind. The two of them, one above and one below, briefly exchanged glances in the air.

Feng Ye suddenly felt strange, a stranger to the person in front of him. Even though they were still expressing their deep affection to each other two hours ago, it seemed as if he had never really known the person beside him.

The ferocity on Feng Ye's face flashed away, and he rushed into the stable, drew out his saber, cut the rope with a swish, and flew onto Zuihong, "Drive!"

Zuihong shot out like a scarlet lightning.

Yan Sikong stared straight ahead at the empty road, with nothing in his mind except determination, until he heard the clattering sound of horse hooves in the distance. That was not his horse. His horse was just an ordinary horse. Even though it was a carefully selected warhorse, it was still a world apart from Zuihong.

The sound of horse hooves was getting closer and closer, almost overlapping with his own horse's hooves. Before he could react, he saw a black shadow rising from the ground. Then, his eyes blurred and he was knocked off the horse violently. Just as he was about to hit the ground with his face, he was hugged tightly from behind, flipped three times in the air, and was thrown onto the grass.

Yan Sikong rolled several feet on the grass before he stabilized himself. He was unharmed, but a little frightened. He stood up and straightened his appearance: "You can ask me to stop, there is no need to be so rude."

Feng Ye said coldly: "You don't even know what barbarity means."

Yan Sikong pursed his lips: "I was planning to tell you..."

"You still think I'm a fool!" Feng Ye growled with gritted teeth.

Yan Sikong was silent.

Feng Ye took a few steps forward and stared at Yan Sikong from above: "What are you going to tell me? Huh? It must be another half-truth. How long do you want to fool me?!"

"Feng Ye..."

"I am the Prince of Jingyuan." Feng Ye grabbed Yan Sikong's chin and said, "Do you know what the Prince of Jingyuan means?"

Yan Sikong stared quietly at Feng Ye's sharp eyes which were filled with anger, and felt his scalp tingling.

"It means that one day, I will inherit the greatest military power in the world." Feng Ye tightened the clamp on his finger bones, and looked at Yan Sikong's eyebrows wrinkled in pain, and did not relax. He squeezed out words from between his lips and teeth that seemed to be chewed up by evil, "It means that as long as I want, I can change the surname of the country. You can ask me for the stars above the nine heavens, but you can't lie to me!"

Yan Sikong felt like his jaw was about to be crushed alive. He pushed Feng Ye away with force and took a deep breath. The wolf-like and aggressive young man in front of him made him feel terrified.

Feng Ye looked at Yan Sikong with a complicated expression: "How much have you deceived me, how much have you concealed from me, and how much have you used me? Tell me."

Yan Sikong said calmly: "Where do you want to start?"

"Since Ge Zhong, you have always known that he was the one who framed your adoptive father."

"right."

"I didn't pay attention to the trial, but I heard that Ge Zhong used acid water to write invisible words of treason on the letter he wrote to King Liang. After it dried, there was no trace, but it was immediately visible when the firelight shone through it." Feng Ye narrowed his eyes, "Only you, me, and Liang Guang knew about the letter, and only you and I had access to the letter. That acid water... was it white vinegar?"

Yan Sikong moved his lips and uttered a word: "Yes."

"Yan Sikong!" Feng Ye shouted, "You used me to frame Ge Zhong?!"

Yan Sikong looked at the ground with empty eyes.

"You can imitate Ge Zhong's handwriting..." Feng Ye paced back and forth uncontrollably, his shoulders rising and falling with his chest. "Those letters were all forged by you. Ge Zhong, Ge Zhong did not commit treason at all. You did everything! You used me to frame a governor from the first rank. You are so fucking brave!"

Yan Sikong said in a deep voice: "I did it."

Feng Ye grabbed Yan Sikong by the collar, his eyes widened, his gaze almost murderous: "How long have you been planning this?" He seemed to suddenly remember something, "She Zhun, She Zhun was sent to Jingzhou by you, and it was he who put the forged letter into the Governor's Mansion. You have been planning all this for several months, you have been lying to me from beginning to end..." He said viciously, "You have not told me a single truth!"

Yan Sikong's Adam's apple slid up and down: "I... have to hide it a little..."

Feng Ye grabbed Yan Sikong's neck, baring his sharp fangs like an enraged beast, "Why, Yan Sikong, why!"

"For revenge!" Yan Sikong's neck was grabbed, his face flushed, and he roared out with difficulty.

Feng Ye was slightly startled and pushed Yan Sikong away. Yan Sikong staggered back several steps before he steady himself.

Yan Sikong covered his neck and coughed hard several times before he straightened up and said in a trembling voice: "...for...revenge."

"If you want revenge, you can tell me. I am willing to help you. Why did you lie to me? Why did you use me?"

"Because you are the prince of Jingyuan." Yan Sikong smiled sarcastically, "Because one day you will inherit the greatest military power in the world, and everyone wants to curry favor with you and get close to you. If I tell you, you will just think that I have bad intentions towards you, right?"

Feng Ye said coldly: "That's not an excuse for you to lie to me, let alone use me to frame a loyal minister?"

"What kind of loyal minister is he!" Yan Sikong's facial features twisted as he shouted in a voiceless voice, "In order to curry favor with Xie Zhongren, he forged a letter and convicted my father in just three days! He killed a true loyal minister who had just saved 40,000 people in Guangning by defending the city with his life! He is a traitor, a thief, and a beast, so I learned to imitate human handwriting and use the same method to make him infamous and doomed forever!"

Feng Ye was shocked for a moment, staring at the person in front of him in a daze. The Yan Sikong he knew in the past was extremely intelligent, well-versed in ancient and modern times, brilliant in the imperial lectures, and a master of strategy on the battlefield. He had the talent for poetry, wine, and expeditions, and was unrestrained and romantic. He was a shining person.

But the man in front of him, with his bloodshot eyes and the madness bursting from them, was almost unrecognizable to him. What made him even more unrecognizable was everything this man had done behind his back, which overturned all his cognition, as if he had never really understood what kind of person Yan Sikong was.

A lot of things flashed through Feng Ye's mind. Everything from his reunion with Yan Sikong to the present day flashed before his eyes. He caught something in an instant and murmured, "You can imitate human handwriting..."

Yan Sikong's lips were trembling. He couldn't tell what he felt at the moment. It wasn't the annoyance or guilt of being exposed, but a kind of fear that he had never experienced before. He was actually afraid of the look in Feng Ye's eyes.

Feng Ye looked straight into Yan Sikong's eyes. "Your colleague's surname is Liu, Liu... Liu Zhaolin." He stared at Yan Sikong's pupils, unwilling to miss any change in them. "Because he wrote two wrong words, Wang Shengsheng was demoted along with him, and you were the one who reviewed it." He gritted his teeth and said, "The case of the new history, was it you who did it too?"

Yan Sikong's eyes flickered, but he agreed without saying a word.

Feng Ye shook his head, full of disbelief: "You framed Ge Zhong for revenge, but what about Liu Zhaolin? He has no grudge against you, and you have ruined his future."

"He was the one who missed the word first." Yan Sikong couldn't look Feng Ye in the eye. "Wang Shengsheng is Xie Zhongren's man. He opposes my teacher everywhere and has absolute power in the Ministry of Personnel..."

"So now you are the head of the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department." Feng Ye's breath was almost icy, "Yan Sikong, you are so resourceful. I have known you since I was eight years old, but I realized today that I have never known you."

Yan Sikong raised his head suddenly, his expression was grim, and his voice was choked with sobs: "Feng Ye, don't look at me like that."

"How should I look at you?" Feng Ye clenched his teeth, feeling a sharp pain in his heart. "How should I look at you!"

"My family was destroyed twice, once when I was nine and once when I was thirteen. I was displaced and suffered a lot. I hovered at the gates of hell countless times!" Yan Sikong stared with scarlet eyes and said slowly, "I thought about my enemies enjoying glory and wealth, while my relatives were buried in the cold ground being eaten by ants. I couldn't sleep every night. The only thing that kept me alive was revenge. I entered the court as an official just for revenge. Do you understand, Your Highness?"

Feng Ye looked at Yan Sikong's tears, his heart was in turmoil. He took a step back, then another step back, and shook his head gently: "Are you really Yuan Sikong?"

Yan Sikong felt a sharp pain in his chest, and his throat felt as if it was strangled, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Feng Ye didn't even look at Yan Sikong again. He jumped on his horse and rode away without looking back.