Chapter 157

157 NO FISH, NO MEAT, ONLY VEGETABLES

A male prostitute from the Red Pavilion dared to call the Prince of Wu Li by his name, and Bai Chen was surprised even though he had known the man’s character.

Zhu Ge indeed didn’t want to respect others just because of their status, so he shouldn’t be surprised to hear how the crow-haired man had the audacity to address Prince Wu Jinhai like that.

He shouldn’t be surprised, but he was still surprised even though the reason for his surprised expression was more due to the content of Zhu Ge’s question.

Zhu Ge asked him to choose between himself and the eldest Prince of Wu Li, and Bai Chen didn’t know how to answer the question.

Two pairs of eyes stared at each other, and Bai Chen could also see that Zhu Ge was being serious right now, but he still couldn’t find the words to answer the question.

In the end, he needed to thank Ma Qiao who suddenly arrived at the garden pavilion with two other maids in tow. The old servant looked happy as he ordered the two maids to place the food on the round table in the garden pavilion, and Bai Chen was finally able to take his eyes off the young man who had just startled him with his question.

“Have you waited so long, Your Highness?” The old servant asked the Prince excitedly, unaware of the tense atmosphere between the two men sitting in the garden pavilion.

“No,” Bai Chen replied curtly, and his blue eyes were glued to the few plates that were placed on the table by the two maids.

He did ask for a feast, and the food in front of him was indeed enough to throw a feast in his stomach. However, he ended up frowning when he saw something on one of the plates.

.....

“Take this fish away, Ma Qiao. I don’t want to see another fried fish swimming in the pond today,” the brown-haired prince spoke to the servant while pointing his finger at a plate of fried fish.

He did like to eat fish, but he still remembered how Zhu Ge carelessly threw fried fish into the pond when they were eating together in the garden pavilion, and he didn’t want to see the same thing happen again.

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The servants looked surprised at the Prince’s request, and they subtly glanced at Ma Qiao as if asking the senior servants what they were going to do with the fish.

Ma Qiao also looked surprised, but he quickly responded to the fish, “You don’t want to eat fish today, Your Highness? But it has been a long time since you last ate your favorite fish. Even if Zhu Ge has thrown your fish away when you ate at this place a while ago, you can always scold him, and there is no need to get rid of the fish now, Your Highness.”

The old servant sneered at Zhu Ge, and he even glared at the young man wearing the red hanfu. However, it was still Zhu Ge who didn’t care how the old servant treated him badly, and he just looked back at the servant lazily.

Bai Chen noticed how Ma Qiao wanted to blame Zhu Ge, but he just calmly stared at the silent interaction between the two men. The two men argued with each other over the fish on the plate, and Bai Chen turned his gaze to the dishes prepared by the cooks.

Both he and the real Bai Chen in this world liked to eat fish, and Bai Chen could understand that Ma Qiao wanted to see him happily eating his favorite food, but he had no mood to eat fish ever since the incident of fried fish swimming in the pond happened in front of him.

“It’s all right,” replied the brown-haired Prince. “I don’t want to talk about past events, and I don’t need to scold Zhu Ge either.”

Ma Qiao had probably lost count of the number of times the Prince had defended Zhu Ge even though it was a bit subtle, and he could only stare at the young Prince with disappointment in his eyes.

However, Bai Chen simply ignored the gaze as he spoke again, “And you can also bring all the meat back to the kitchen, Ma Qiao. I just wanted to eat some vegetables today.”

This time, not only did Ma Qiao and the two maids look surprised, but Zhu Ge was also dumbfounded after hearing Bai Chen’s orders. Even Bai Chen couldn’t believe what he just said.

He previously wanted to throw a feast after suffering in the Forbidden Forest, but he ended up wanting to get rid of the delicious food and chose to eat vegetables. He didn’t even know the reason, but he just wanted to do it all of a sudden.

Ma Qiao was speechless, but he knew that the Prince had made up his mind, so he could only order the two maids to bring back the plates of meat and fish to the kitchen. Obediently, the maids did as they were told before they took their leave.

The round table was now filled with green dishes. Green had never been his favorite color, but Bai Chen still picked up his bowl before filling it with rice and preparing to enjoy his breakfast.

But, before he could even start eating, he could feel a gaze on him, and he turned his head to the side before looking up to find Zhu Ge and Ma Qiao both giving him strange looks. The old servant was even still standing by the table, and Bai Chen didn’t feel comfortable about it.

With a heavy sigh, the brown-haired Prince spoke to the old servant, “You haven’t asked anyone to clean up the mess you made earlier, right? Now you’re better off cleaning up the mess than standing here, Ma Qiao. After that, you can go to the kitchen and have breakfast with the other maids.”

Bai Chen still remembered when Ma Qiao said that he would ask someone to clean up the mess he made not far from the garden pavilion, but he noticed that the broken plates were still on the grass, and that was why he immediately asked the old servant to clean up the mess.

Maybe it was just his excuse because he felt uncomfortable seeing someone standing near him when he was about to eat, but he assumed that the idea wasn’t bad.

Hearing the Prince’s order, Ma Qiao glanced at the grass not far from the garden pavilion, and indeed, he still saw ceramic shards in the grass. Now he knew that he could not refuse the Prince’s orders, and he immediately nodded at the Prince before walking away to clean up the mess.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bai Chen could see how Ma Qiao was crouching down to clean the messy grass, and he sighed before returning to his bowl once more.

He had filled the bowl with rice and vegetables, but before he could use his chopsticks to bring them into his mouth, another gaze still bothered him, and he sighed again before turning to his side.

“You should also eat,” the blue-eyed man spoke to the person sitting next to him, and that person was none other than Zhu Ge. “You said you just arrived at my palace this morning, right? I’m sure you haven’t had breakfast yet, so you should start eating now.”

Bai Chen had gotten rid of Ma Qiao, and he could also get rid of Zhu Ge if he wanted to. But, for some reason, he didn’t want to ask the young man to leave him, and instead, he invited the man to have breakfast with him.

Zhu Ge had remained silent ever since Ma Qiao and the two maids delivered breakfast for the Prince, but now he was blinking his eyes as if trying to regain his composure. “Why did you ask your servant to bring back fish and meat? You are a werewolf, so you should eat more nutritious food like meat, right?”

Bai Chen was expecting the question. Of course, Zhu Ge would find it strange that he only had a few plates of vegetables on the table right now. Normally, he would rather eat meat than vegetables, but he suddenly asked his servant to bring all the meat back to the kitchen. It was normal for Zhu Ge to question his decision now.

Gazing his blue eyes at the vegetables in front of him, Bai Chen replied, “You said that you prefer to eat vegetables over fish, and I assume that’s the reason behind your scent that resembles wet leaves. I like your scent, so I want to become like you by eating more vegetables.”

Zhu Ge was dumbfounded, and even Ma Qiao, who was still cleaning up the mess not far from the garden pavilion, looked surprised as he glanced at the pavilion.

For some reason, the old man glanced at the two people strangely, and no one knew the meaning behind his unreadable gaze.