CH 67

Villainous Prince (9)

Wang Mian sensed something sinister.

The fate of these beautiful boys’ family and the Wang Clan were closely related and Wang Mian didn’t think they had the guts to betray the Wang Clan.

As expected, it wasn’t long before the news came through——

A few of the beautiful boys had inexplicably overslept the day before and woke up to find rashes on their faces which had appeared in a very strange way. The boys were afraid that the rashes were contagious and planned to be treated at the academy before they went down the mountain.

Wang Mian didn’t doubt that Nie Qian Yu could use any tricks. After all, there were martial artists among these beautiful youngsters and Nie Qian Yu did not have the strength to conceal the rash from their eyes and ears and give them medicine.

Could it really be that the heavens had decided that this pretty boy was the right person for his granddaughter?

Wang Mian looked at Nie Qian Yu, who was standing behind Song Xu Yi with his eyes fixed on her, and muttered something in his heart.

People in this era all believed in the destiny of the heavens to a greater or lesser extent, but even though he had doubts in his mind, Wang Mian still looked at Nie Qian Yu with disdain: the more beautiful the person, the more dangerous they sometimes were.

In particular, the way the boy looked at Xu Yi when no one was looking at him, the emotion in his eyes was completely undisguised, as if Xu Yi was his property, and it was only at this moment that Wang Mian felt that Nie Qian Yu appeared to be a living, breathing human being. However, once Xu Yi looked at him, he would revert back to his cold, dog-like demeanour.

So Wang Mian called Nie Qian Yu into his study under the banner of an examination, intending to give him a good beating. Wang Mian racked his brains to make things difficult for Nie Qian Yu, not only by examining his knowledge from books, but also by examining theories and the way of governing, thinking that Nie Qian Yu would be unable to fight back, but not realising that the boy had some real talent at such a young age.

It was then that Wang Mian finally realised that this boy was even better than he had imagined. If he became the Emperor of Wu Empire, he would be a great enemy of Lishui Empire!

The Emperor has believed in “the importance of security in the country”, and has been bent on dealing with the clans. It is fortunate that the neighbouring countries are not doing well, and that the Emperor of the Wu Empire is dumb, otherwise the Emperor would not have been able to keep his word, and the Lishui Empire would not have been able to maintain the illusion of peace.

And as a subordinate, Nie Qian Yu had demonstrated his intelligence and talent, he could not have failed to know that concealing his strength was the best way for him to survive, yet he still exposed it to himself…

Wang Mian thought about it, and even though he didn’t want to admit it, Nie Qian Yu had only one reason for doing so: he wanted to prove it to himself.

As for proving what…

Wang Mian sighed and felt a bit mixed: this young man had probably figured out that he should not break Xu Yi’s heart, so he had the audacity to do this.

If he hadn’t known about Nie Qian Yu’s talents, it would have been difficult to find someone who could match Nie Qian Yu’s looks and talents, and it was no wonder that Xu Yi had fallen for him.

Even if Nie Qian Yu is smart and talented, what can he do in the Lishui Empire if he’s the abandoned prince of the Wu Empire?

Wang Mian was more concerned about his granddaughter’s happiness than the potential risk to Nie Qian Yu’s future.

It was only at this point that Wang Mian really thought about it and stopped asking about Song Xu Yi’s marriage, as the boy did not seem to be uninterested in Xu Yi.

Song Xu Yi was unaware of this private dispute between her grandfather and Wang Mian, and although she sensed that her grandfather did not seem to like Nie Qian Yu that much, she really did not have time to care too much.

The status of a princess has placed too many shackles on Song Xu Yi. As a princess born out of a marriage between one of the clans and the royal family, Song Xu Yi represented the peace that the clans and the royal family had put on the table, and staying in the Wang family for too long would probably lead to speculation and unrest among the people.

But if she stayed in the palace, she would not have the freedom to go into the fields and do something for the people at the bottom…

Therefore, Song Xu Yi could only use and delay this period of time to rack her brain to plan and work for the welfare of the people.

Now that she had come up with almost all the solutions she could think of, Song Xu Yi had let go of the boulder and had time to improve her life.

As she watched Nie Qian Yu descend the mountain, Song Xu Yi remembered what she had said when she had sent him up the mountain——that she would cook him delicious food.

Although Nie Qian Yu had never mentioned this after he left the mountain, Song Xu Yi believed herself to be a person of her word, and soon after meeting Nie Qian Yu, she went into the kitchen to prepare the meal.

The cook who was following Song Xu Yi had been looking forward to this day for a long time.

After the voyage on the ship, the cook was already convinced by Song Xu Yi. The cook had travelled to the north and south to learn about the dishes and knew the hardships of the people at the bottom, and understood that what Song Xu Yi was doing before was an important matter concerning the livelihood of the people.

This day the cook was overjoyed to see Song Xu Yi enter the kitchen and was extremely attentive as he followed her: “If there is anything you want to do, just tell me——”

Song Xu Yi didn’t have to be polite, she asked the cook to cut the beef and lamb and fish into slices, together with radish, mushrooms, potato slices and sweet potato slices, and put them on a plate, then Song Xu Yi took out two pots.

In one pot Song Xu Yi first soaked and blanched several catties of bones, then simmered the bone broth for a long time and had the cook keep watch to remove the froth from the bone broth constantly. After the bone broth had simmered to a thick aroma, Song Xu Yi washed several ginseng plants, added a few red dates and wolfberries, cut up a large onion and put them together in this pot of soup.

In another pot, Song Xu Yi stir-fried ginger, garlic and garlic slices, added the chillies she had collected some time ago, stir-fried some pepper, star anise, ginger slices… etc., and finally poured in the bone broth once again.

When it was ready, both pots were emitting a rich fragrance that smelt appetising to the palate.

After Song Xu Yi had demonstrated, she had the cook prepare several sets of pots in the same way.

At the same time, Song Xu Yi arranged for several long tables to be set up in the Wang family’s Flower Garden, each with a set of pots and pans, and invited the Wang family’s friends and relatives to gather…

The Wang family had grown accustomed to the food that Song Xu Yi had brought and were happy to go to the banquet. Song Xu Yi had arranged for her grandfather and Nie Qian Yu to be at the same table to observe their reactions, but the two of them behaved as usual during the banquet.

Song Xu Yi thought she was overthinking things and thought that Wang Mian had something against Nie Qian Yu, but when she saw this, she let go of the weight on her mind and began to indulge in the food.

At first, except for Song Xu Yi, the rest of the Wang family didn’t dare to eat the food in the pot, but Nie Qian Yu, looking at Song Xu Yi’s feast, didn’t hesitate to put his chopsticks into the pot and take a slice of meat, but he overestimated his tolerance for chillies, and as soon as the meat entered his mouth, Nie Qian Yu’s white jade face turned visibly red——

“Can’t you see that the meat is covered in chillies?” Song Xu Yi hurriedly handed Nie Qian Yu water, and it took several glasses of water for Nie Qian Yu to recover, his breathing was slightly disordered, his cheeks turned red from the chillies, and a thin layer of sweat even broke out on his forehead.

When they saw how red Nie Qian Yu’s face was, the crowd looked at each other in disbelief, not daring to place their chopsticks.

Nie Qian Yu’s eyes were slightly glazed, but not long afterwards, his chopsticks were once again directed towards the spicy pot…

This time, after eating the meat, Nie Qian Yu looked as normal, seemingly unaffected by it at all.

The meal was particularly satisfying for the Wang family. After trying the spicy pot, Wang Mian called his attendants to bring over the rice wine from the wine cellar, and Song Xu Yi was curious enough to try a cup of it, after which she acted perfectly normal, continuing to eat normally, greeting the cooks, and following the crowd to enjoy the flowers, only for Song Xu Yi to realise that her head seemed to be getting dizzy…

The guests left first after the meal, and Song Xu Yi stayed for a while until the servants cleaned up the mess.

Her body was getting heavier and heavier, her mind was in a fog…

After packing up her things, Song Xu Yi stumbled back to her courtyard with great difficulty.

Song Xu Yi did not want to live a life of a giant baby where she had to be waited on by her maids for everything, so she had set a rule in her courtyard that maids could not enter her courtyard after nightfall, and Nie Qian Yu did not like to be served any more than she seemed to, and Nie Qian Yu refused to be served by almost anyone, so Song Xu Yi had not changed this rule.

There was only one room in the courtyard with a light on.

Song Xu Yi subconsciously pushed open the door of this room and walked in…

Inside the room was a bath tub, and in front of her appeared a beautiful woman with her hair spread out, who seemed to have just finished bathing, her face was like that of a celestial being, and her beautiful eyes were looking at her, with complex emotions flashing in them…

“Pretty sister!” The little drunkard, feeling overwhelmed with amazement, looked at the beauty and smiled foolishly as she reached out her hand and stumbled towards where the beauty was, only to step unexpectedly into a puddle of water and plunge down towards the ground——

She fell into a cool, fragrant embrace.

The pretty sister was close at hand, looking down at her with a stoic gaze.

“Sister, you smell good!”

The drunken girl only blushed when she felt the softness of her body and felt her stiffness, “I’m sorry, sister.”

The pretty sister’s gaze became extremely strange at that moment, her eyes occasionally cold and cruel, as if she was about to cut her down by the sword next moment, and at other times becoming torn and struggling…

Song Xu Yi found herself slightly afraid of the look in Beauty’s sister’s eyes at this moment.

Her sluggish brain turned with difficulty and finally came to the conclusion that the pretty sister was angry because she had touched her.

“Then… then I’ll let you touch me back?”

Meeting pretty sister’s wide eyes, the little drunk ripped open her own sash, pulled pretty sister’s hand to her chest, and pushed up her chest as if she were dying –

“You touch it!”

……

The author has something to say:

At this moment, Nie Qian Yu: No touching! There’s nothing to touch in a little bean sprout!

I only think of you as a friend and a benefactor, bent on revenge and not into women!

Nie Qian Yu a few years later: don’t ask!

To ask is to be very regretful. T_T