CH 73

Villainous Prince (15)

For the convenience of the attending maids, their quarters were extremely close to the Prince’s bedchamber, and in no time at all the two arrived before the Prince’s bedchamber.

The Prince’s bedchamber was extremely quiet, with the vermilion lacquered doors closed and no one at the entrance. Outside the doors were two exquisite lanterns with pictures of women, which were exquisitely designed.

Strangely enough, neither of the two lanterns features a face…

Song Xu Yi looked at the lanterns and felt that the figures of the women on the lanterns were somewhat familiar, and was about to take a closer look when the wind suddenly stopped and nanny Hu in front of her also stopped in her tracks.

“You go in yourself!” nanny Hu stopped at the door of the bedchamber: “The Crown Prince does not like to have a lot of fun. During the day there are female servants at the Crown Prince’s side, but after nightfall no one can enter the Crown Prince’s bedchamber without his permission.”

This custom…

Song Xu Yi was even more confused for a moment: if Nie Qian Yu was deliberately pretending not to know her, why would she retain the same custom she had?

“Thanks to your care today.” Song Xu Yi pressed down the doubts in her heart and bowed towards Nanny Hu. Even though Nanny Hu did not show it obviously, Song Xu Yi understood that Nanny Hu had been helping her all day.

Nanny Hu did not expect Song Xu Yi to thank her.

Remembering what she had seen through the door during the day, Song Xu Yi recoiled in her heart and thought deeply of Nanny Hu’s opinion: even though Nie Qian Yu had become this way for some reason, at least the two of them had had a previous encounter, and Song Xu Yi was not afraid of Nie Qian Yu, and would prefer to fail in her mission than to go to the side of that despicable Emperor.

Once again, Song Xu Yi turned towards Nanny Hu and thanked her.

Sister Hu could not stay long before the Prince’s bedchamber, so she quickly turned and left.

In a moment, Song Xu Yi was left alone in the empty courtyard.

Song Xu Yi took a deep breath as she looked at the door in front of her, her heart inexplicably feeling a little apprehensive: if she was the same silent Nie Qian Yu that she knew before, Song Xu Yi would not have panicked, but the Nie Qian Yu that she had reunited with carried with her too many unknowns…

Does she even remember her?

Combined with Nie Qian Yu’s behaviour after the reunion, a certain suspicion sprang up in Song Xu Yi’s mind, but that suspicion needed to be further verified.

Remembering how dangerous Nie Qian Yu had looked when she was playing with her bow and arrow, Song Xu Yi bit her lower lip and decided to be careful, to first work with Nie Qian Yu and pretend not to recognise her, and then see what was going on further.

With a “creak”, Song Xu Yi pushed open the door.

Song Xu Yi squinted her eyes, not expecting to meet the eyes of Nie Qian Yu, who was sitting at the table in her bedclothes.

“Greetings, Your Highness.”

Song Xu Yi had never imagined that meeting Nie Qian Yu again would be like this. She felt a lot of emotions in her heart, but pretended that she didn’t know Nie Qian Yu and bowed her head.

Song Xu Yi could feel Nie Qian Yu’s sizing eyes on her, and it was only after a long time that she heard the words “Don’t be polite, close the door.” from the front. A cold voice.

Nie Qian Yu closed the door as she was told, and recalling the way she remembered the maidservants had done, she stood respectfully beside Nie Qian Yu.

Nie Qian Yu was drinking wine.

Red plum wine was poured into a white jade wine cup, the contrast in colour was incomparable, and the sweet fragrance of the wine lingered in the bedchamber, making one’s fingers tingle.

Nie Qian Yu’s wine was extremely good, and she sat at the table and drank one after another, her face expressionless throughout, her whole person resembling a jade-carved sculpture. It was only when a strong wind blew outside the window that Nie Qian Yu’s movements changed and she turned her head to look out of the window.

Following her line of sight, Song Xu Yi saw the lantern featuring a lady hanging in the doorway.

At that moment the lanterns scrolled up and Song Xu Yi realised that the lady on one lantern was planting rice seedlings in the field, while the lady on the other lantern was cooking by a hearth…

What a messy figure!

It’s just as well that the women don’t have faces, but the scenes are strange——

“I painted it, does it look good?” Nie Qian Yu, who was drinking in silence, suddenly spoke up.

Could any other answer be said?

Song Xu Yi didn’t dare to reveal her true feelings, so she could only rack her brains and praise against her will, “It’s beautiful! Your Highness’s whimsical ideas are unique and interesting…”

The expression on Nie Qian Yu’s face visibly eased, and she turned her eyes to look at Song Xu Yi: “I didn’t expect you to have such insight as a small court maid. These two paintings are my favourite, I feel happy every time I look at them…”

“Little court maid, what is your name?”

Song Xu Yi didn’t know why, but the more she looked at these two paintings, the more familiar they seemed to her, and just as a glimmer of a clue appeared in her mind, she was interrupted by Nie Qian Yu, who had to speak up and answer, “Slave’s name is Song Xu Yi.”

“Xu Yi——”

Nie Qian Yu softly recited Song Xu Yi’s name, and suddenly her brow furrowed slightly: “Song is the surname of your Lishui Empire’s royal family, are you connected to the royal family?”

Perhaps it was because she hadn’t used voice changing drugs during the night, Nie Qian Yu’s voice took on a softness, and was a little huskier than the average woman’s. In short, it sounded inexplicably good.

“Your Highness is joking.” Song Xu Yi dutifully played the role of a little dancer, but couldn’t help but look up at Nie Qian Yu.

The soft light of the luminous pearl eased the coldness of Nie Qian Yu’s face, and the beauty looked more beautiful by the lantern, with her beautiful nose and vermilion lips and her picturesque eyebrows…

But Song Xu Yi’s eyes widened: on Nie Qian Yu’s cheek, which was tilted to the side, that red mole appeared once again at the corner of Nie Qian Yu’s eye!

If Nie Qian Yu had been a budding flower some years ago, now she had clearly grown even brighter and more beautiful, yet she looked at her with a faintly inquisitive look, but without a trace of teasing, as if she was really a stranger…

“I think Your Highness also looks familiar,” Song Xu Yi squeezed out a smile as her heart was in shock, and she couldn’t help but try: “Many years ago, I saw the missing Crown Prince Nie Qian Yu from afar, and Your Highness and he look very much alike… “

“Probably, after all, we are brothers from the same mother,” Nie Qian Yu’s response was extremely cold: “I don’t remember.”

“I was bitten by a snake once before, and I lost all my memories after I woke up…”

……

Sure enough, Nie Qian Yu has lost her memory!

Song Xu Yi confirmed her suspicions and could barely maintain the smile she had forced onto her face:

No wonder she hadn’t come back for so long, no wonder she didn’t seem to remember her…

Song Xu Yi didn’t know why Nie Qian Yu had turned back into the Crown Prince of Wu, but she was shocked and relieved at the same time: Nie Qian Yu didn’t seem to have suffered in the past few years, and had even seized the power of Wu as written in the original plot summary.

It was just that now she didn’t remember her, and the little friendship she had with her didn’t count, so all the progress of the mission had to be started all over again.

The current situation is incomparably bad, now the Wu Empire is attacking the Lishui Empire with great vigour and momentum, and it is too late for her to pass on the recipe for the gunpower to the Wang family. Without her, Wu’s attack on Lishui will be imminent, and as the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, the day the country is broken will be the day of the male and female protagonists’ death.

Now that she has seen Nie Qian Yu in perfect condition, she has to find a way to escape from the palace as soon as possible…

“Then again,” Nie Qian Yu continued at that end as she glanced at Song Xu Yi, the inquisitive look in her eyes intensifying, “I see that you also look familiar, have we met somewhere before—— “

“No.” With the intention of escaping, Song Xu Yi dared not reveal that she knew Nie Qian Yu well, so she immediately shook her head like a rattle: “I am a slave, and I am an ordinary person, Your Highness should be mistaken!”

“Is that so?”

Nie Qian Yu snorted softly, her eyes cold, and suddenly she reached out and cupped Song Xu Yi’s chin, moving in front of her to carefully examine her cheeks——

In front of her eyes was Nie Qian Yu’s magnified face, and it seemed that she could still smell the sweet scent of plum wine on her breath…

Song Xu Yi’s body froze: for a moment, she seemed to see a little fire in Nie Qian Yu’s beautiful eyes——

But immediately afterwards, Nie Qian Yu let go of Song Xu Yi and sat back down in her chair, lowering her eyes: “I guess I’ve mistaken you for someone else!”

Nie Qian Yu looked out of the window again.

She didn’t drink any more wine, she just stared at the two lanterns in a daze…

Was this how Nie Qian Yu had spent the previous years?

When Song Xu Yi looked at such a Nie Qian Yu, she suddenly felt a little heartbroken.

……

The time passed little by little, the drums outside beat a few times, and it was already midnight, but Nie Qian Yu had no intention of going to bed.

Song Xu Yi didn’t have the heart to ponder over the two lanterns that gave her a sense of familiarity. The Nie Qian Yu in front of her was frowning, not knowing what she was thinking about. It was clear that Nie Qian Yu had recently won a series of victories and should have been happy, but at this moment she did not look happy at all.

“Your Highness,” Song Xu Yi could not help but call out softly, “Tomorrow we have to go to court early, you should go to bed early.”

Nie Qian Yu did not reply, but glanced at Song Xu Yi and silently stood up and lit a pot of incense in the room.

Song Xu Yi could smell the sleeping ingredients in the incense.

She thought that Nie Qian Yu would soon fall asleep after smelling the sleeping incense, but her eyes were still clear, but it was Song Xu Yi who, probably because she had endured too many shocks this day, was physically and mentally exhausted, unknowingly her eyelids began to fight.

Song Xu Yi didn’t know when she fell asleep.

At least she remembered that a servant girl could not sleep on a bed, so she spontaneously laid down on a small mat next to the bedchamber, and only afterwards did she sleep peacefully.

Song Xu Yi seemed to have had a dream in which someone traced her eyebrows and called her “little liar” with gritted teeth, but moved gently and carefully to carry her to the bed…