Chapter 10: My All-Out Performance to Play Along

"Where is everyone? Get out here! I need an explanation."

Su Han kicked open the main gate of the Gao Residence and stood there menacingly, demanding an explanation.

"Who dares cause trouble at the Gao Residence?"

The guards of the Gao Residence, having just dealt with some commotion, were on high alert. The moment Su Han's shout faded, seven or eight of them surrounded him, clubs in hand.

"Su Xiao'Er."

Seeing the unfriendly gazes of the club-wielding guards, Su Han gave Su Xiao'Er a meaningful look.

Su Xiao'Er understood. With a nod and a sound of assent, he pushed off and charged directly at the seven or eight guards.

With a flurry of punches and kicks, Su Xiao'Er was a tiger among sheep. In a matter of moments, all seven or eight guards were lying on the ground.

In the time it took Su Xiao'Er to dispatch the guards, the man truly in charge of the Gao Family arrived.

"Who are—"

Patriarch Gao Hongcai of the Gao Family had just returned from some business. The moment he reached his main gate, he saw his guards sprawled on the ground.

He was about to let out a roar to intimidate his enemies, but before he could finish a single word, he saw the visitor clearly. The rest of his sentence caught in his throat, refusing to come out.

"Cr... Crown Prince!

"I was unaware of Your Highness's arrival and failed to greet you properly. Please forgive me, Crown Prince."

Gao Hongcai's etiquette was impeccable. He completely ignored his fallen guards, acting as if the Crown Prince's visit was the highest of honors.

However, Su Han wasn't buying it.

In his eyes, there wasn't a single good person in the entire Gao Residence. Otherwise, how could they have raised someone like Gao the Third, who was visiting brothels at age nine and even fought him—an eight-year-old child—over a girl?

His gaze icy, Su Han looked at Gao Hongcai and said tonelessly, "I have come for an explanation."

"An explanation?"

Gao Hongcai looked at Su Han, confused. He couldn't think of any way the Gao Family had provoked the Crown Prince of Prince Jing's Residence.

Aside from that incident eight years ago, when his worthless, good-for-nothing third son had snuck into Yunshui Pavilion and gotten into an altercation with the Crown Prince, Gao Hongcai was certain the Gao Family had never provoked him in any other way.

'Then again, that incident couldn't be entirely blamed on his worthless son. After all, who would've expected the Crown Prince, a mere eight years old at the time, to be at Yunshui Pavilion fighting over a girl?'

'Besides, even for that, he had personally broken his third son's legs and had him carried to Prince Jing's Residence to grovel for forgiveness.'

'And it's been eight years since then. Surely the Crown Prince wouldn't show up at the Gao Family's doorstep to settle an old score now, would he?'

"This... Why would you say that, Crown Prince?"

Su Han's expression turned cold. He lifted the corner of his robe. "Someone from your Gao family committed arson and burned my clothes. If I hadn't been quick enough to dodge, the flames would have disfigured my face."

"Does Patriarch Gao truly believe I shouldn't have come here to demand an explanation?"

"Someone from the Gao family... committed arson?"

Gao Hongcai was completely baffled. "Crown Prince, could there be some misunderstanding?"

Su Han snorted. "There is no misunderstanding. I saw the fire shoot out from your family's courtyard with my own eyes. Or do you think I burned my own clothes just to come here and frame the Gao Family?"

Gao Hongcai was speechless.

'You probably wouldn't believe me if I said it,' he thought, 'but if I didn't think the dignified Crown Prince Jing was above such a classless act, I'd really believe you were here to frame us.'

Despite his bewilderment, Gao Hongcai didn't dare to be disrespectful to Su Han. Here in Lingzhou City, very few people would dare to defy someone from Prince Jing's Residence.

After a moment of thought, Gao Hongcai looked up at Su Han. "Did Your Highness happen to see the arsonist clearly?"

Su Han sneered. "What? Are you saying that if I didn't see the person, the Gao Residence won't hand them over?"

Gao Hongcai looked up. "So, Your Highness did not see the arsonist? Then how do you know the person who tried to harm you was one of my family?"

'Attempting to murder Crown Prince Jing through arson... if this escalates, it could lead to the confiscation of our property and the execution of our entire clan.'

'So as long as there's no concrete evidence, I absolutely cannot admit to this, not even if they beat me to death.'

'Without proof, you can't just insist it was one of our people. Even the Crown Prince has to follow reason, right?'

However, what Gao Hongcai didn't realize was that this time, Su Han had no intention of being reasonable at all.

He had started the fire. He had burned the tree. He was the villain playing the victim, so why would he bother with reason?

Su Han's expression chilled, and he was just about to throw reason to the wind when he heard hurried footsteps approaching from inside the residence.

"Patriarch! This is terrible, Patriarch!"

It was bad enough that the one and only Crown Prince of Prince Jing's Residence was on his doorstep demanding retribution. Now, hearing his servant run up shouting that things were terrible, Gao Hongcai's face turned as black as a pot's bottom.

Turning to the servant who had sprinted over, Gao Hongcai's voice was ice as he ground out the words, "What happened?"

"Patriarch, a fire... there's a fire... The ancient tree in the rear courtyard, the one planted by the Old Ancestor himself—it's been burned!"

WHOOSH!

Hearing this, Gao Hongcai's expression changed in an instant.

Not with anger or panic, but with sheer terror.

Someone had just come to accuse a member of the Gao Residence of attempted arson, and the supposed victim was the Crown Prince of Prince Jing's Residence.

And now, a moment later, his servant was reporting that the very tree planted by their ancestor was on fire. Wasn't this a blatant admission that the Gao Family was involved?

"What happened?"

After a cautious glance at Su Han, Gao Hongcai shot a hateful glare at the servant for his terrible timing.

"Kerosene, Patriarch... Some scoundrel doused the tree in kerosene. By the time the servants noticed, the whole thing was already ablaze."

Gao Hongcai was speechless.

"Heh." After hearing the servant's report, Su Han let out a cold laugh. "Does Patriarch Gao have anything left to say?"

"Crown Prince..."

Cold sweat beaded on Gao Hongcai's forehead. "Crown Prince, isn't there some misunderstanding? If the arsonist were one of my people, why would they also burn the ancient tree left by our ancestor?"

Su Han shot Gao Hongcai a cold look. "So, you deny it was someone from your family who set the fire?

"Are you suggesting an outsider wanted to harm me, and so they deliberately set fire to your family's ancestral tree?"

Gao Hongcai was silent. He knew no one would believe such a story. He even suspected that the arsonist probably *was* a member of the Gao Family.

'After all, who the hell would come all the way to the Gao Residence just to burn some old ancestral tree for no reason?'

'They'd have to be a lunatic.'

But even if he believed it himself, he absolutely could not admit it.

"Crown Prince..."

Gao Hongcai tried to argue further, but Su Han cut him off coldly.

"Enough. Stop wasting my time."

"If you, Patriarch Gao, refuse to hand over the culprit, then I'll find them myself."

With that, Su Han turned to his subordinate. "Su Xiao'Er, come with me. We'll search every courtyard. Don't let a single suspicious person go."

Su Xiao'Er was speechless.

"Yes!"

'Time for me to play my part in this little drama,' he thought. 'I'd better make it a convincing performance.'