CH 30

Ch 30 This style is not like what he used to be

On the day of King Xiao’s birthday banquet, Xie Chaoyuan brought Xie Chaoling out as his guard, taking the same carriage with him.

King Xiao’s Mansion was in the north of the city, occupying a vast area. This long-forgotten century-old mansion opened its doors for the first time, and there was a lot of traffic in front of the gate, full of guests who came to the birthday banquet.

When getting out of the carriage,  Xie Chaoyuan casually said to Xie Chaoling, “The Xiao family is high-profile now, it must be His Majesty’s intention.” He walked up, greeted King Xiao and Xiao Shizi who were welcoming guests outside the gate, and presented a gift to the old man. 

“Why is sixth brother so active? He came early today.” Hearing the yin and yang voice behind him, Xie Chaoyuan turned his head. It was Xie Chaorong, who brought his prince consort with him, and countless servants.

Xie Chaoyuan smiled and said: “Second Brother is also not too late. Bringing so many people here, I’m afraid it might overwhelm the host.”

Xie Chaorong gave him a hard look, and King Xiao and Xiao Shizi settled the situation awkwardly: “It’s still early, please, Your Highnesses, the birthday banquet has not yet opened, you can go to the back garden to rest and have fun first.”

Xie Chaorong walked in first, and when he passed by Xie Chaoling, he gave him a sideways glance and sneered: “If I didn’t know, I would have thought this was Prince Consort Ke. Sixth brother, you really take him with you wherever you go, treasuring him so much.”

Xie Chaoling kept silent, pretending that Xie Chaorong was farting.

Xie Chaoyuan still had that cynical smiling face: “I will borrow my second brother for his auspicious words.”

Xie Chaorong gritted his teeth for a while, snorted coldly, and strode into the door.

Xie Chaoling was a little speechless, none of his brothers were normal.

After Xie Chaoyuan finished speaking with King Xiao and Xiao Shizi, they were led in.

King Xiao’s Mansion was much bigger than King Ke’s Mansion, with its arches and eaves, it was very majestic. The century-old family heritage built the first King’s palace in the capital. Walking all the way in, Xie Chaoling looked around inadvertently, and felt that it was no wonder that the Xiao family had to close door and live a low-key life; it was not easy for this King Xiao’s mansion to stand up now.

“This place is smaller than the imperial palace, and this king’s mansion is far inferior.” Xie Chaoyuan laughed.

Xie Chaoling glanced at him, and said strangely: “Why do you want to compare? A king with a different surname like Xiao can only be a man with his tail between his legs. How can his days be more comfortable than His Highness?”

“That may not be so. In the future when one of my brothers sits on that chair, this king may not have a much better life than King Xiao.” Xie Chaoyuan disagreed.

Xie Chaoling was silent, he didn’t think so. If Xie Chaoyuan was really a law-abiding person, not to mention him being the crown prince, even if he was someone else, he wouldn’t care about such a leisurely king, but Xie Chaoyuan was not such a law-abiding person.

In the garden at the back, there were already quite a few guests. The elders drank tea and chatted, and the juniors gathered together to have fun. Among other things, there were indeed many interesting places in King Xiao’s Mansion.

Xie Chaoyuan led Xie Chaoling to find a secluded place to enjoy the scenery. As soon as he sat down, someone came to invite him to play in the yard: “Everyone is competing with archery over there. Since His Royal Highness Ke is here, let’s go and show off.”

Xie Chaoyuan did not say yes or no. Xie Chaoling tugged on his sleeve, raised his chin, and motioned him to take a look with his eyes.

A quarter of an hour later, the two of them appeared on the military drill grounds. Before they got close, they heard bursts of applause. A group of young honorable children were gathered in front of the archery target, and they were blindfolded competing to win the prize.

No one was better at this game than Xie Chaoyuan, his reputation as a a hedonistic son of rich parents was not for nothing. Whether it was polo, chuiwan, throwing arrows into pots, or blindfolded archery like this, as long as Xie Chaoyuan was participating, he would always come out on top. So as soon as he appeared, many people clamored for him to try his skills for everyone to see.

Xie Chaoyuan was noncommittal, and Xie Chaorong also arrived. Seeing this, Xie Chaorong seemed to be deliberately trying to make him unhappy, so he said: “King Ke’s game is well known to everyone, so how can others compare to him when he ends up playing. Why don’t you ask the guard next to him to try it out, to be so valued by King Ke, he must have some real skills.”

Xie Chaoyuan’s face darkened for a moment, then without waiting for him to say anything, Xie Chaoling tilted his head and smiled at him: “I’ll go.”

Xie Chaoyuan looked at him silently, Xie Chaoling patted the back of his hand unobtrusively to comfort him: “Your Highness, lend me your bow.”

After a stalemate for a while, Xie Chaoyuan said: “This king will accompany you over.”

Standing in front of the target, Xie Chaoyuan handed the bow to Xie Chaoling, put the ornamental thumb ring on for him, and then covered his eyes with the black scarf with his own hands.

“Do what you can.”

Xie Chaoyuan’s voice was next to his ears. After his eyes were blindfolded, his other senses were magnified several times. Xie Chaoling’s ears were itchy, and he nodded: “Okay.”

Xie Chaoyuan took a step back. He knew what his crown prince older brother was capable of. In the past, Xie Chaoling was not outstanding in riding and archery. He was hiding his talents and didn’t want the crown prince of the East Palace to be too sharp. Blindfolded archery was nothing. Xie Chaoling was better than anyone else before entering the East Palace.

Xie Chaoling raised the arrow, but did not release it in a hurry, and slowly adjusted the direction of the arrow, habitually turning the puller on his thumb, and adjusted it to the most convenient position for him.

There were a lot of onlookers. Although the guard next to Xie Chaoyuan looked ordinary, he was tall and straight, and he was very calm and confident in his gestures.

Xie Chaoyuan frowned secretly, he didn’t like so many people staring at Xie Chaoling.

Li Huan was also in the crowd, and had been sizing up Xie Chaoling. When he saw his small movements of turning his fingers, the man’s eyes shrank severely, and he clenched his fists tightly.

Xie Chaoling released the arrow neatly, fifty paces away, the arrow hit the red heart impartially.

The second arrow, the third arrow, and so on.

There was applause from all around. Xie Chaorong turned dark, turned around and left in a huff.

Xie Chaoling took off the black scarf that covered his eyes, turned his head and smiled at Xie Chaoyuan behind him. Xie Chaoyuan suppressed his unhappiness, and stepped forward to hand him the handkerchief: “Wipe your hands.”

After that, they didn’t stay in the military drills field for long, and didn’t even ask for the priE. Xie Chaoyuan took Xie Chaoling and left directly.

Xie Chaoling clearly sensed Xie Chaoyuan’s displeasure, he curled his lips and smiled. He wanted to coax him a few words, but before he could speak, someone came and said that Wangye asked King Ke to speak.

Xie Chaoyuan had no choice but to go there.

In addition to Xie Fengzhen, there were also a few old princes who came to the birthday banquet. They had called Xie Fengzhen and the others to chat.

As a bodyguard, Xie Chaoling could only wait outside. He looked up at the sky, stood there for about a quarter of an hour, said to Wang Rang, “I’m going to the toilet”, turned around and left.

Wang Rang subconsciously wanted to stop him: “Wait for His Royal Highness to come out…”

“I can’t wait,” Xie Chaoling interrupted with a half-smile, “How can we wait to go to the toilet?”

Wang Rang looked embarrassed: “Your servant will ask two people to follow you.” 

“No need, I’m just a guard of the palace. If I bring two servants with me when I go to the toilet, what does it look like if someone saw it? You wait here for His Highness, I’ll be back soon.”

Xie Chaoling wanted to leave and no one there could stop it, Wang Rang could only ask someone to follow him from a distance.

How could Xie Chaoling let them do what they wanted? When passing by a rockery, he dodged and hid there. When those people hesitated to go in to find someone, Xie Chaoling had long since disappeared.

Xie Fengzhen was waiting for him in a small forest courtyard.

Xie Chaoling was led in. Xie Fengzhen looked at him and shook his head helplessly: “There is no freedom all day long, how long will the crown prince stay in King Ke’s mansion?”

Xie Chaoling sat down to drink tea, and said lightly: “I think it’s okay.”

Xie Fengzhen did not expose him, but only said: “King Ke is stuck with those old Wangyes, and he probably won’t be able to come out to find you for a while.”

“I checked what you asked me to check last time, and there is indeed a problem with his identity. His mother was only favored one time. According to the records of the Imperial Hospital, he was born prematurely for a month. Although the recorded symptoms at the time of birth looked like a premature baby, because his mother was rejected by His Majesty, the only person present at that time was Imperial Physician Hu. The two nuns who delivered him back then also left the palace and died a long time ago. One of them had mentioned to her daughter before she died that she had caused terrible disasters in the palace and had to die. She also said that she had never delivered a premature child in the palace.”

Xie Chaoling immediately understood the meaning of Xie Fengzhen’s words: “So King Ke was actually born at full term, the imperial hospital’s records were false, and his mother was pregnant with him before entering the capital?”

Xie Fengzhen nodded: “As for who his biological father is, we will have to investigate later. We don’t know yet…but how do you plan to deal with this matter?” 

After a while of silence, Xie Chaoling said: “Royal Uncle asked me last time, why ask again.”

Xie Fengjuan didn’t think like that, just pretending to be the heir of the emperor would be enough for Xie Chaoyuan to die a thousand or eight hundred times, yet Xie Chaoling is like this, he obviously couldn’t make up his mind.

His nephew had always been rational and calm, but in this matter, Xie Chaoling seemed to be a different person. Whether it was refusing to return to the palace, or intentionally indulging Xie Chaoyuan, this style of behavior was not at all like his previous self.

Xie Chaoling changed the topic: “Royal Uncle, don’t send me any more messages from now on. If I have anything else, I will find a way to contact you.”

“Did he suspect you?” Xie Fengzhen frowned.

“In any case, it’s always better to be cautious.” Xie Chaoling said.

He didn’t stay here for long, he said a few words to Xie Fengzhen and then left.

When he went back, he still passed by the rockery, and was stopped by someone. It was Li Huan, staring at him with burning eyes who said firmly: “You are not the guard of King Ke’s mansion.”

Xie Chaoling remained silent, knowing that Li Huan had already recognized him. Li Huan was a bit stubborn, so he didn’t want to admit his identity and cause unnecessary trouble.

Xie Chaoling wanted to leave directly, but Li Huan boldly reached out and grabbed his sleeve, his voice trembling: “Your Highness, are you Your Highness?”

Seeing the servant of King Ke’s mansion who was looking for him from not far away, Xie Chaoling just wanted to hurry up and send the person away. Thinking about how an extra helper was not a bad thing, he pulled his hand and said in a deep voice: “Don’t spread this, right now I must stay in King Ke’s mansion for the time being.”

Li Huan’s eyes were red at the moment: “Your Highness, it really is you, why did you…”

Seeing those people getting closer and closer, Xie Chaoling interrupted him directly: “I don’t have time to tell you now, so you don’t need to know about this matter, just wait for my instructions in the future.”

Li Huan looked at him, swallowed his voice with difficulty, and accepted the order.

Xie Chaoling had already strode away.