CH 76

Villainous Prince (18)

It didn’t take long before there was another knock at the door, followed by the maidservants coming in with their washing equipment.

Song Xu Yi was originally sleeping in her clothes on a small mat last night, but at this time she did not know where her outer robe had been put by Nie Qian Yu and could only wear her bedclothes and hug the quilt as she huddled on the bed and watched the maidservants put on Nie Qian Yu’s outer robe, golden crown and mask.

But unexpectedly, the Prince has become so wilful after enjoying flesh again!

Naturally, Nie Qian Yu saw the looks of the court ladies gawking at Song Xu Yi, but she was happy to be misunderstood, so she pretended not to see it and dressed herself before saying, “Send Xu Yi a better garment, and order the tailor to come over and make some good clothes for Xu Yi from the remaining cloud brocade…”

Everyone looked at Song Xu Yi at once.

It was only after the fact that Song Xu Yi remembered that she was supposed to cooperate with Nie Qian Yu’s show of affection and tried to recall the likeness of those favored concubines in Lishui Empire and squeezed out a smile towards Nie Qian Yu: “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Fearing that she would be exposed, Song Xu Yi smiled and then lowered her head in a shy manner.

The smile in Nie Qian Yu’s eyes deepened as she watched Song Xu Yi’s obviously contrived performance, and she didn’t want to suppress her heart’s affection, so she sat back on the bed, stroked Song Xu Yi’s dark hair, and spoke in a soft voice: “I’ll be back for dinner at noon, you said you’d cook for me last night, I didn’t forget…”

When did she say she was going to cook for her?

Song Xu Yi was stunned to find that the hand caressing her head had suddenly increased in strength, and when she came back to her senses, she could only place herself in the role of a favoured concubine again, squeezing out a smile and saying softly, “I hope Your Highness will not dislike your servant’s cooking…”

“Of course not.”

Nie Qian Yu gave Song Xu Yi a deep look and smiled in satisfaction.

Nie Qian Yu’s eyes were filled with delight, like they were filled with starlight, and looking at her like this, even Song Xu Yi was in a trance for a moment.

Who would ever think that she was faking her affection?

Song Xu Yi tsked at Nie Qian Yu’s acting skills and couldn’t help but lament to the system, “No wonder people often say that politicians are born actors!”

But the system didn’t want to answer.

The villain is not acting. It’s just that she can’t help herself! However, Song Xu Yi had clearly fallen into the trap designed by the insidious villain Nie Qian Yu, but it could not expose it, because in Song Xu Yi’s situation, there was no other choice but to agree with the villain.

It only hoped that Xu Yi would be able to hold out a little longer and not let the villain get her way.

“Cunning and despicable great villain!”

Once again, the system cursed out in Song Xu Yi’s mind.

The cloud brocade was the most valuable cloth in the entire Wu Empire, warm in winter and cool in summer, and there were only four of them in the imperial palace’s treasury, when the Third Princess was getting married, she had to ask His Highness for a piece of cloud brocade to add to her dowry, but who would have thought that His Highness would take out the rest of the cloud brocade at once to make clothes for this woman…

Looking at the affectionate look between the two, if they said that nothing had happened between them last night, the court ladies would not believe it!

……

The news that His Highness the Prince had favoured the palace maid spread throughout the harem in an instant.

Song Xu Yi did not know that she had become a celebrity in the palace. After a tasteless breakfast, Song Xu Yi changed into the ready-made clothes sent over by the court ladies and finally sent Nie Qian Yu away.

With a sigh of relief, Song Xu Yi was planning to find a chance to familiarise herself with the palace’s architecture and terrain to facilitate her future escapades, when a Princess and a Prince from the Wu Empire came to visit her with gifts in their arms…

As the Crown Prince has been in charge of the palace for the past few years, there are many people who would like to get in touch with him, but as the Crown Prince doesn’t care about salt and oil, there is no way for people to get in touch with him, so when they heard that Nie Qian Yu has a concubine, there are people who would like to start with Song Xu Yi…

Song Xu Yi had to deal with the people who came and went, but since she had been with Empress Wang for so many years, she knew all the rules, and pretended to be dumb, seemingly at a loss for words, but in fact, she refused all attempts.

She just didn’t want to get involved in any trouble, but the court ladies nodded their heads when they saw her: no wonder the Prince favoured her, she might look silly, but she had her own way of dealing with people and would not let anyone take advantage of her.

After Song Xu Yi had easily dispatched those with ulterior motives and ordered the door to be closed, she saw the court ladies enter with the seamstress——

Having finished measuring her clothes, Song Xu Yi thought that she could finally carry out her plan, but then she was ushered into the kitchen by the court ladies.

“Miss, you said you would cook for His Highness, so don’t go back on your word.”

With serious faces, the court ladies blocked the path of Song Xu Yi who wanted to leave the kitchen.

Even the best-tempered Song Xu Yi could not help but feel a bit of anger when she was stopped again and again.

Song Xu Yi turned around and went back to the kitchen, looking at the various dishes laid out inside, and pursed her lips slightly.

“Miss,” the female official could see Song Xu Yi’s displeasure and spoke softly, “His Highness is very fond of you now, look, he is afraid that you are not used to eating the food from the Wu Empire, this is the ingredients specially shipped from the Lishui Empire for you… “

The court lady intention was to make Song Xu Yi understand how much Nie Qian Yu favoured her, but Song Xu Yi frowned.

Even though only half a day had passed, she felt an invisible shackle: whether it was the Lishui Empire or the Wu Empire, or any other country, women living in the harem either relied on their family’s power or had to rely on the favour of their other half, and Song Xu Yi had received the best modern education and could not bear to live like a caged bird.

Song Xu Yi became more determined to escape from the Wu Empire’s palace as soon as possible.

To escape from the palace, the first thing she had to do was to get rid of the situation where she was surrounded by court ladies.

The court ladies were only surrounding her because she was currently pretending to be Nie Qian Yu’s favourite concubine, but… what if she lost her favour in front of Nie Qian Yu?

Song Xu Yi made up her mind: she would make Nie Qian Yu loathe her!

In any era, the spread of good food is always fast, and now that the spices discovered by Song Xu Yi have spread to thousands of households, there is no shortage of them in the Wu Empire’s palace…

“You’re right, I promised His Highness I couldn’t go back on my word, so today I’ll cook my favourite dish and offer it to His Highness.”

Looking at a certain spot in the kitchen, Song Xu Yi’s eyes deepened and an idea instantly came to her mind.

Because she had been thinking about withholding Song Xu Yi for the past few days, Nie Qian Yu had accumulated a backlog of political affairs. Now that her beloved had arrived at her harem, Nie Qian Yu also put her mind at ease and devoted herself to her political affairs.

Nie Qian Yu was very strict with her subordinates, and it seemed that nothing could be hidden from her. The ministers under her were trembling every time they faced her, fearing that she might catch them in the act, but this day Nie Qian Yu was surprisingly nice, even gently letting the ministers off the hook for a few obvious mistakes.

The harem and the front court are inseparable, and it wasn’t long before the news of the Crown Prince’s favoured palace maid reached the outer court, and the ministers understood the reason for the Crown Prince’s sudden change of attitude.

The brains of some of the most active ministers were immediately turning, and they began to think about sending their unmarried women to the palace: now that the Crown Prince had finally started to play again, would he be far away from being able to pleasure the rest of the palace?

Nie Qian Yu knew what these ministers had in mind, but she did not take it to heart. She spent the day dealing with political affairs at an unprecedented speed and then rushed back to her chambers in a frenzy.

But when she reached the door of her chambers, Nie Qian Yu slowed down, reassumed her expressionless appearance and pushed open the door.

As soon as she entered, she was greeted by a déjà vu smell that was both nauseating and enticing.

The court ladies standing behind Song Xu Yi had an ugly look on their faces, and when they saw Nie Qian Yu return, they hastily dropped their heads, lest Nie Qian Yu should take it out on them.

They had tried to persuade this woman from the Lishui Empire, but it seemed that she did not understand them at all and insisted that she wanted to give the best food to His Highness, so she was bent on preparing this food called hotpot.

His Highness has a weak throat, how can he eat such spicy food?

Just watch!

This foolish woman is bound to fall out of favour in no time!

Sure enough, the Crown Prince’s face froze upon seeing the pot and he sat silently beside the woman.

The woman from Lishui Empire didn’t seem to see the Crown Prince’s grimace as she smiled and picked up a bowl, swiped a slice of beef in it and handed it to the Crown Prince, “Would you like to try it?”

It must be said that this woman was extremely pretty when she smiled, her eyes were bright and wise, like a good and agile rabbit, so it was no wonder that the Crown Prince had taken a liking to her.

But what’s the point of a beautiful smile? Not to say that the Prince himself was better looking than she was, but few people with a bad temperament and a brain that can’t be turned around can be favoured for long…

Yet immediately afterwards, the court ladies’ eyes widened.

——The Crown Prince lowered his head and took a small bite of the beef that the woman had handed him.

Song Xu Yi’s eyes were equally wide.

Nie Qian Yu’s white face was visibly tinged with a smear of red, and after eating the beef she lowered her head to take a sip of water, her lips turning red and her eyes even becoming a little watery.

She lowered her eyes, her ears were clearly red from the spice, but she looked at Song Xu Yi and curled her lips, “Delicious.”

Song Xu Yi pursed her lips: this kind of Nie Qian Yu looked too good, and it reminded Song Xu Yi of the silent and well-behaved Nie Qian Yu of the past. Song Xu Yi couldn’t help but feel guilty in her heart, and felt that she had gone a little too far by bullying an honest person…

But then Song Xu Yi caught a glimpse of the shocked court ladies behind Nie Qian Yu, and remembering what she had encountered today, the little bit of intolerance in her heart was immediately suppressed by Song Xu Yi.

Song Xu Yi hardened her heart anew, and the smile on her face grew more delicate as she chucked another slice of potato into Nie Qian Yu’s bowl, “Crown Prince, this potato is almost cooked apart, you should try it…”

Nie Qian Yu glanced at Song Xu Yi, and for a moment, Song Xu Yi felt as if Nie Qian Yu had seen through her plan, but she did not say anything, and once again lowered her head to take small bites of the potatoes that Song Xu Yi handed over, her eyes growing thick with moisture from the chillies, almost on the verge of falling into tears.

As if fearing to lose her temper, Nie Qian Yu waved her hand as Song Xu Yi once again chucked over a slice of mushroom, causing the court ladies serving behind her to retreat.

Song Xu Yi could not help but glance at Nie Qian Yu again.

Nie Qian Yu’s fair cheeks were visibly flushed, the ends of her eyes were tinged with red, and her eyes were brimming with water, she did not look shady and powerful at all, but rather looked… ravishing.

The system urged in Song Xu Yi’s mind, “Xu Yi, give her more! The more the better! To be merciful to your enemies is to be cruel to yourself…”

Song Xu Yi bit her lower lip, remembering her determination, closed her eyes, and stifled herself to give Nie Qian Yu a few more slices of tripe and yam…

“Xu Yi——”

With a weak heart inside, Song Xu Yi kept her head down, not daring to look at Nie Qian Yu’s expression, but she heard Nie Qian Yu speaking softly in front of her.

Nie Qian Yu had reverted back to her female voice, obviously this chilli had affected her greatly, her voice was a little muffled and her trailing voice took on a rare touch of delicacy.

This call made Song Xu Yi’s heart and soul tremble.

Had she finally lost her patience?

Song Xu Yi was already apprehensive about doing something like bullying for the first time, so she couldn’t help but look up at Nie Qian Yu, but she didn’t see the disgusted expression she had expected to see. Nie Qian Yu had a smile on her face, and her dark eyes looked at her without blinking as she spoke in a soft voice: “I really like the food you made for me, but it’s too much, can I hold off until later?”

You still claim to like eating this?

Song Xu Yi couldn’t help but look at the fine sweat that was permeating Nie Qian Yu’s forehead.

If Nie Qian Yu had spoken viciously, Song Xu Yi would have already thought of a way to deal with it, but she did not expect Nie Qian Yu to be so gentle and considerate, and for a moment, the feeling of guilt in Song Xu Yi’s heart grew deeper.

“Don’t eat it!”

Song Xu Yi stood up, snatched Nie Qian Yu’s bowl and put it aside, then called the palace maid to bring in the soup pot that had been prepared in the kitchen, and brought out the long-prepared gold silver flower soup to relieve the heat, and poured a bowl of it for Nie Qian Yu: “Drink! “

Song Xu Yi was angry with Nie Qian Yu and even angrier with her own lack of will, originally she wanted to pretend to be rude, but now there was no need to pretend at all.

She thought Nie Qian Yu would think she was overstepping her bounds, but when she didn’t hear a sound from Nie Qian Yu for a long time, Song Xu Yi couldn’t help but look at Nie Qian Yu again, and saw her red lips against the rim of her bowl, looking at her with a very pleasant smile.

Nie Qian Yu was already extremely beautiful, and when she smiled like this, she looked like a hundred flowers blooming, and her eyes were shining with stars, making her look pretty and seductive.

Song Xu Yi’s cheeks suddenly felt hot when she was being looked at by her, and the anger she had been feeling in her heart suddenly dissipated, and she felt that she had not lost anything by making a deal with such a villain to become her concubine…

She hated herself for her lustful nature, but once her anger was dispersed, it was hard to gather it again, so Song Xu Yi could only lower her head and eat the hot pot without appreciating the taste, but she could still feel Nie Qian Yu’s eyes drifting to her from time to time…

It was with great difficulty that she finally finished eating the hot pot.

Song Xu Yi went out for a walk on the pretext of eating, and this time no one stopped her, but with Nie Qian Yu and a bunch of court ladies and attendants around her, Song Xu Yi had no time to think about escaping.

In the afternoon, Nie Qian Yu once again went out to work, and the more Song Xu Yi discussed the matter with the system, the more she felt that such a life was unbearable: even though the life of the harem seemed to be full of flowers at first glance, in this era, almost every woman in the harem wore a huge net over their heads, and Nie Qian Yu had broken away from this net herself, and Song Xu Yi did not want to be trapped in it.

Once again, Song Xu Yi is determined to make Nie Qian Yu loathe her.

In the evening, Nie Qian Yu sent a message that she would be back a little later.

Song Xu Yi deliberately did not wash her hair and sat on the edge of the bed with a head full of hot pot smell. She originally thought that Nie Qian Yu would dislike her when she returned, but she did not expect that the Tao would be as high as the devil’s. Nie Qian Yu took Song Xu Yi directly to the hot spring pool, where Song Xu Yi deliberately splashed her with water, which did not annoy Nie Qian Yu, but instead Song Xu Yi got a big red face from Nie Qian Yu’s wet and shapely figure.

After soaking in the hot spring, Nie Qian Yu didn’t bother with herself and picked up a cloth towel to wipe Song Xu Yi’s hair.

Song Xu Yi originally wanted to refuse, but when she remembered her plan to make Nie Qian Yu loathe her, she laid down candidly. Song Xu Yi didn’t know if it was just her imagination, perhaps because Nie Qian Yu’s face was too beautiful, the light at night was too hazy, and Nie Qian Yu’s acting skills were too good, Song Xu Yi found certain emotions in Nie Qian Yu’s eyes that made her blush, but she didn’t have the acting skills to look into Nie Qian Yu’s eyes, and inwardly she couldn’t stop reminding herself that it was just an act. She turned around and pretended to sleep and closed her eyes.

She didn’t notice the corner of Nie Qian Yu’s lips curling up behind her.

Xu Yi had started to feel distressed about her today, what a wonderful start…