CH 52

Chapter 52:  Unexpectedly Picking Him Up By The Waist.

At that moment, Qi Ci raised his head. With a sad face, he opened his mouth and asked: “Bian Zhonghua, the way I look at you, is it weird?”

Bian Zhonghua: “The way you look at me isn’t weird, but your question is.”

“Then, do you think….” Qi Ci hesitated to say it. As he pondered over how he should say it, he mumbled: “I, to you, um. How do I say it? Um, have I overstepped the boundaries?”

Bian Zhonghua was stunned.

‘Why did he ask that?’

‘Did he find out my feelings for him?’

‘Overstepping the boundaries?’

‘Is Qi Ci thinking that I’ve overstepped the boundaries?’

Qi Ci was also nervous.

‘Why isn’t he saying anything?’

‘Was Yu Muyao right? Have my own eyes betrayed me and exposed my feelings?’

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‘If that’s the case, how should I face Bian Zhonghua from now on?’

The silence was like a cord tightly wrapped around their necks, making them unable to breathe.

Bian Zhonghua stared at Qi Ci for three seconds, only to smile all of a sudden: “I don’t understand what His Highness means by ‘overstepping the boundaries’?”

“Ah,” as soon as Bian Zhonghua said this, Qi Ci relaxed a little and said: “It’s—”

However, before Qi Ci could say anything, he was interrupted….

Because Bian Zhonghua caught him off guard by unexpectedly picking him up by the waist.

Since Qi Ci didn’t expect to be picked up all of a sudden, he grabbed Bian Zhonghua’s shoulders for fear of falling.

However, Bian Zhonghua held Qi Ci steadily without shaking him at all. As Bian Zhonghua looked down at the man in his arms with a smile, he said: “I wonder, is this what His Highness considers to overstep the boundaries? ”

Qi Ci: “You….”

Qi Ci’s words were interrupted again.

Because he was tossed up by Bian Zhonghua!

Tossed up!!!

At that moment, Qi Ci could only think of one thing: ‘This man for sure doesn’t fucking know about my damn feelings for him!!!’

The falling sensation accompanied by the instinctive fear swept through his body in an instant, making Qi Ci so scared he had to close his eyes. But in the end, he was still caught by Bian Zhonghua.

Bian Zhonghua laughed: “I wonder, is this overstepping the boundaries?”

Qi Ci: “You–!”

Again, before Qi Ci could say anything, Bian Zhonghua smiled as he tossed him up for the second time.

When Qi Ci landed back into Bian Zhonghua’s arms, Qi Ci didn’t even try to say the word ‘you’, he directly wrapped his arms around Bian Zhonghua’s neck and then pushed backwards with all his might, throwing himself and Bian Zhonghua onto the flowers in the garden of the Prince’s Residence.

The two of them rolled into a ball and got covered with weeds. As he pretended to be angry, Qi Ci gently beat Bian Zhonghua. While that was happening, Bian Zhonghua laughed and blocked the soft punches. As the two of them looked at each other, after a brief pause, both Qi Ci and Bian Zhonghua began to laugh out loud. At that instant, a thought formed in both their minds at the same time.

‘Since he’s laughing with me like this, it means he hasn’t realized my feelings for him.’

After making such a scene, their clothes were practically ruined by the tree branches and the petals of flowers. Before each could go back to their rooms to change their clothes, Bian Zhonghua remembered something all of a sudden, pulled Qi Ci, and said to him: “I almost forgot, the Crown Prince wants to see you.”

Although Qi Ci was summoned by the Crown Prince, it wasn’t a formal meeting, so the Crown Prince’s trusted guards led Qi Ci directly to the Crown Prince’s bedchamber.

Qi Ci was confused and nervous at first….until he met the Crown Prince.

Even though there were incense burners placed in the four corners of the bedchamber, and there was also incense burning on the incense table, the smoke couldn’t cover up the heavy and bitter smell of medicine inside the bedchamber.

The Crown Prince, dressed in white, with his long black hair scattered all over his shoulders, sat on a wooden bed that had a carving of two dragons playing with a bead1. On the bed, there was a stack of memorials lying chaotically on a table.

“Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince.” After entering the bedchamber, Qi Ci knelt down without gazing at him.

Just when the Crown Prince was about to answer, he started to cough. As the coughs continued incessantly, one could see that he had dark eye bags and his cheeks were sunken, looking like a seriously ill man. When the maid waiting at the side saw that the Crown Prince was still coughing, she hurried to walk forward and pat him on the back to help him smooth his breath.

“Get up.” When the Crown Prince finally managed to smooth out his breath, he made a gesture to Qi Ci: “Come sit opposite me.”

After thanking the Crown Prince, Qi Ci got up and carefully sat on the other side of the table.

The Crown Prince stared closely at Qi Ci, smiled, and said: “In the end, I’m still your elder brother. I’ve met your mother in the past, she used to take care of me when I was very young. However, by the time I got seriously ill, your mother was no longer in the Palace.”

Qi Ci knew that the serious illness the Crown Prince was talking about was actually due to the fact that he accidentally ate a poisoned peach that was for the late Emperor. As a result, he became physically weak and crippled.

Qi Ci originally thought that the Crown Prince wanted to discuss old affairs with him, but who would’ve thought that he wouldn’t touch that topic again. Instead, he asked: “I heard that you have been living in the Northern Border since you were a child, is that right?”

“Replying to the Crown Prince, yes.” Qi Ci replied.

“Then let me ask you, how is the life of people in the Northern Border? Are there foreign invasions across the border? Has there been any cases of oppression or indiscriminate prosecution in the town?”

Qi Ci didn’t expect that even though the Crown Prince was this ill, he would still be so concerned about the State and the people. Qi Ci was impressed and replied to the Crown Prince’s questions seriously.

As the Crown Prince listened attentively, he nodded his head and picked up a brush to write down on the paper. After the two had talked for a little while, the Crown Prince coughed again, and the maid waiting at the side leaned forward to whisper: “It’s time for His Highness the Crown Prince to take a rest. His Highness has spent too much energy today.”

The Crown Prince waved his hand as he kept coughing, and the maid had to retreat. It took him a long time to breathe right again, and when he wiped the corner of his mouth, there was some blood that came out with the cough. As soon as he raised his eyes, he saw Qi Ci’s helpless expression.

“Don’t be afraid. More than a decade ago, the Imperial Physician said that I wouldn’t be able to survive. In the end, I still made it till now. Cough, look at me, I know that I can’t go out of the Imperial Palace, cough, and if I want to understand what’s happening outside, cough, I have to rely on other people’s words. Cough, cough. You can go now.” Although the Crown Prince tried to speak with Qi Ci in a lighter tone, he still coughed several times.

Qi Ci thought about it and shortened what he was going to say next.

As soon as he finished speaking, a guard came from outside the bedchamber to report that the Empress Dowager was coming.

Qi Ci and Bian Zhonghua’s interactions are so funny and cute at the same time lmaooo I love them (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) 

Woooh Qi Ci met the Crown Prince! What does the Crown Prince actually want from Qi Ci?  Did the Empress Dowager know about this meeting? Or she came because she heard about it?