At night, the palace held a grand banquet to celebrate the young general's triumphant return, but from beginning to end, no one mentioned that the Third Prince was also someone who had contributed greatly.
Shi Anran poured wine for the emperor beside him. From this angle, they saw the Third Prince sitting in an inconspicuous position, occupying an entire table's worth of food by himself. No one went up to greet him.
Looking at Li Mu who was still sitting and drinking silently, Shi Anran felt a little uncomfortable. He had done her best and allowed others to see her strength, in the end, only to marry for others and defend others with blades.
"Hahaha …" "I am very happy today. The young general is so young and yet so mighty. He is truly a rare and powerful general!" The emperor personally stood up to toast him. From this, it could be seen how great of a gift this was.
Xiang Rongcheng had always been calm and collected, but now, even if the gods were to toast him, he would remain indifferent. Xiang Rongcheng raised his head and drained his cup in one gulp. He did not want to thank the Emperor for his kindness, but suddenly said, "Your Majesty, this subject has a request to ask of you!"
Shi Anran was suddenly startled, he could not possibly want to say that …
"If you have something to say, young general, I can satisfy you!" The Emperor was also in high spirits.
Just then, Xiang Rongcheng looked at her and said: "This general has set his eyes on you …. I wonder if I can get a cup of wine from the jug of wine on the emperor's table? "
Hearing this, Shi Anran heaved a sigh of relief, as if she had heard the sound of someone inhaling. Most likely, they were all thinking that this young general did not know what was good for him, and actually wanted to drink the wine used by the Emperor.
The emperor was not surprised in the slightest as he instructed, "Anran, why aren't you pouring the young general a cup of wine?"
Shi Anran carried the exquisite jug of wine and walked over slowly, and carefully poured a cup of wine for him. However, she heard Xiang Rongcheng use a voice that could be heard only by two people: "What? Anran, did you scare me? "
Shi Anran knew that he did it on purpose, and at this time, Shi Anran did not want others to notice anything. She only glared at him, blessed herself, and then retreated.
When the banquet was bustling with noise and excitement, Consort Candidate went up on stage to perform, and the first one to step up was Li Ruoxue.
Today, she purposely dressed up. Wearing a light yellow dancing dress, she appeared in front of everyone like a swallow. Following the beautiful melody of the zither, she waved her long sleeve and bent her slim waist, causing the officials to be stunned.
Shi Anran knew that she was going all out now, in her previous life, Li Ruoxue had been chosen by the Emperor, and was bestowed the title of noble.
The emperor was drinking with a group of officials, and would occasionally raise his head to look at the girls in the arena. Shi Anran took the opportunity to pour some wine for Xiang Rongcheng, and lightly said, "Could Young General help Anran with something?"
"Call me Rong City!"
"Rong Cheng …" She called out in a soft voice.
Xiang Rongcheng nodded his head in satisfaction, then asked: What do you want me to help you with?
Shi Anran leisurely poured wine for him. "When Li Ruoxue steps down from the stage later, help me give her a slap so that she can take revenge for beating me up that day!"
"Alright!" Xiang Rongcheng agreed without thinking. Even if Shi Anran did not say it, he did not plan to let this woman go easily.
"Alright, alright, alright …" At the same time, cheers erupted from the competition. The officials stared at Li Ruoxue's enchanting body, some even staring.
Li Ruoxue felt that the emperor's gaze towards him was burning hot, so she decided to take his leave. As she passed by Xiang Rongcheng, he took out a peanut and pointed it at Li Ruoxue.
Li Ruoxue's center of gravity became unstable, so she pounced towards the old man.
In the next second, Xiang Rongcheng quickly retreated to the side, and stared coldly at the innocent looking woman. His eyes darkened, and he raised his hand to fiercely slap her.
Li Ruoxue who was beaten up held onto her burning face with a confused look on her face. Before she could even react to what had happened, the other side of her face had also received a slap, but the slap behind her was obviously heavier, causing her to fall flat on the ground.
"Hiss …" The civil and military officials sucked in a breath of cold air.
"You … "You …" Before Li Ruoxue could say anything, she spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted on the ground.
Li Ruolan was shocked and quickly ran over: "Little sister, little sister … Xiang Rongcheng, why did you hit her? "
"Hmph …" A cold voice came out from his nostrils, Xiang Rongcheng raised half his eyebrows and said coldly: "Where did this ugly woman come from, to actually attempt to seduce this general? Shouldn't you hit his instead?" Everyone saw it, when Li Ruoxue walked over, she directly pounced towards Xiang Rongcheng, if Xiang Rongcheng was slow, wouldn't she...
Li Ruolan stood up and forced her, "You're just a general, you dare to hit the emperor's Consort Candidate?"
"Oh? Your Majesty, so this is the newly advanced Consort Candidate. If not for the fact that he had a dragon in her stomach, Xiang Rongcheng would even beat her up.
The Emperor waved his hand and had his unconscious Li Ruoxue brought away. Then, as if nothing had happened, he said, "Since Young General doesn't know, then let's just let this matter pass. We will celebrate for Young General tonight!" It was just a few words, but what happened just now was already thrown to the back of their minds. Right now, Xiang Rongcheng was a meritorious general, and the entire nation's security was tied to their Xiang Family. The emperor would naturally not offend him at this time.
Shi Anran admired him a little, with two slaps that made him spit blood, he, Xiang Rongcheng, was definitely someone who had never been seen before. However, this time, the resentment in Shi Anran's heart had disappeared. Presumably, from today onwards, Li Ruoxue's dream of becoming's master would never come true, right? Thinking about it, Shi Anran's mood also involuntarily became cheerful.
Xiang Rongcheng exchanged a glance with her, and the joyous expression in his eyes seemed to ask: How are you going to thank me?
Shi Anran pretended that she did not see it, and after suppressing her chaotic heartbeat, she stood beside the Emperor as if he was a log.
When the emperor returned to the palace, the officials had all dispersed. Only Third Prince was still drinking quietly.
Shi Anran looked at them, and then left with the others. She thought that it would be best if she didn't go at this time, lest she stirred up trouble.
Shi Anran's footsteps were neither fast nor slow. When she passed by a fake mountain, she accidentally caught hold of a hand and brought in. Before she could even be shocked by the smell, Shi Anran immediately knew who it was.
Shi Anran's entire person was currently bound in front of his chest. She raised her head to look at's eyes, which were even clearer than starlight, and said in a low voice, "You were really ruthless just now …"
"I only used 10% of my strength, otherwise I could have killed her with a single palm strike. To dare hurt my Anran, this is just a lesson to her!" Xiang Rongcheng said in an extremely overbearing manner.
"Rong Cheng, let me go. Be careful not to get seen!" She lowered her eyes shyly.
The moonlight shone down on her beautiful white face, and looked at the little girl who was peacefully in his arms. Xiang Rongcheng suddenly had the urge to take her and fly far away: "So what if I see his? I, Xiang Rongcheng, am together with my own fiancee, who dares to have any objections? "
Shi Anran already did not want to continue arguing with him about her fiancee, no matter how much she said, he wouldn't be able to take it in.