Chapter 31 Disguise
The sun had risen a long time ago. The people who slept soundly on the bed were inseparable and had no awaken from their deep dreams.
“Bang.”
The dark mahogany door was pushed open forcefully. The Empress was dressed in a phoenix robe, elegant and poised, but her face was filled with indescribable anger. Her beautiful eyes were round, staring at the unbearable situation on the bed.
Lin Wanning was angry and aggrieved, with disappointment in her eyes. Did she do something wrong? As a mother, she had been planning for him wholeheartedly for many years, but she had made him utterly stupid.
Conceited, underestimated the enemy, greedy for pleasure. Perhaps, her son was not even as good as the disabled person.
“Empress, don’t worry. At least wait until Wangye gets up.”
Qin Momo had accompanied Lin Wanning for many years and knew what she was thinking. She walked to the bedside and forcefully dragged Jiang Man off the bed.
Crying out in alarm, begging for mercy, and sobbing. There was a big commotion in the western courtyard of the Jingxian Mansion. The servants and attendants standing outside the door all lowered their heads and shrank, not even daring to take a breather.
After Huo Xu put on his clothes properly, he knelt down to the Empress with a dejected look, “It’s me who can’t control myself. It’s none of her business. Imperial Mother, please don’t embarrass her.”
Jiang Man had been dragged out by people long ago, and he did not know how she would be dealt with.
Lin Wanning nodded slightly to Qin Momo, who immediately understood clearly, took out the spices in her sleeves, and handed them to Huo Xu.
“Wangye, have you never thought that why you miss this place so much. It’s because you have been calculated?”
In an instant, Huo Xu’s face turned blue. It turned out to be that case. No wonder he was spellbound by her and could not even live without her every night.
“Xu’er, do you know your mistake?”
“I know my mistake.” Huo Xu’s expression was gloomy.
“Alright, this is the end of this matter. The most important thing now is to go to the Prime Minister Mansion to bring back Qingyan. Do you understand?”
Hearing this, Huo Xu looked confused.
Shen Qingyan is gone?
Lin Wanning’s eyes turned cold, “Not long after you got married, you ignored your wife and fooled around with a lowly maid. You were even caught red-handed by your wife.”
Huo Xu as if struck by lightning.
It turned out they were caught by Shen Qingyan. But even so, she could not go back to the Prime Minister Mansion, could she? He was a Wangye, so what if he kept some concubines in the mansion? She was obviously the one who came up to him and kept saying that she liked him. He had married her and made her the legitimate Wangfei of Jingxian, was not that enough?
Why is this woman so greedy?
In contrast, Huo Xu felt more and more guilty towards Le Zhi. His Zhizhi endured humiliation and bore heavy burdens for him until both physically and mentally hurt. As expected, it was the childhood sweetheart’s affection that even Shen Qingyan could not be compared with.
Even Huo Xu was not very angry at the “substitute” who calculated him. She just loved him and wanted to keep him for the night. She did not ask for any status and had no complaints about the status as a “substitute”. Such a woman was so lovely, ah.
As for Shen Qingyan who had just passed the door, she was jealous because of her status as a Wangfei and went back to her parents’ home angrily for a trivial matter. This was outrageous! Was she trying to control him because of her status as the Prime Minister’s daughter?
Huo Xu gritted his teeth and added a little bit of resentment towards Shen Qingyan in his heart.
Lin Wanning could guess what Huo Xu was thinking. Her son was the most favored son of Heaven, and he had been away from home for many years as a hostage in the country Li, so she did not want to punish him too much.
With a sigh, she opened her mouth to persuade, “Xu’er, Imperial Mother knows that you don’t like Qingyan. But you just returned to Great Qi, and your foundation is not stable. You must seize the power of Prime Minister Shen.”
After a long while, Huo Xu nodded in response, “I understand. I will go to the Prime Minister Mansion to bring her back.”
He got up and turned back only after a few steps with a distressed look on his face, “Imperial Mother, Xiao Zhi, can you…”
The sunlight outside the door shone in. Huo Xu’s complexion darkened with his back to the sun.
“As long as you know the propriety, I won’t embarrass her.” Lin Wanning waved her hand, “Don’t worry. I will let her stay with you.”
After getting a satisfactory answer, Huo Xu was overjoyed and happily went to the Prime Minister Mansion to pick up a person.
Looking at Huo Xu’s back in the dark blue fox fur coat, Lin Wanning sighed again.
Her son resembled Huo Changyun a lot. Originally, she was afraid that Huo Xu would get caught up in love with Le Zhi and hard to achieve great things. Thus, she looked for Jiang Man. Sure enough, how could Huo Changyun’s son be a person who was devoted to love?
Obviously, she worried too much.
—
Huo Xu, who wore a gentle jade mask, acted with ease in the Prime Minister Mansion.
Shen Xiang was indeed angry.
The Prime Minister’s wife died early, and Shen Huai did not remarry. He only had one daughter, Shen Qingyan, who was regarded as the apple of his eyes. But last night, his daughter who had just been married returned to the mansion with tears all over her face. Shen Huai listened to everything that had happened and was full of anger but there was nothing he could do.
Could it be to let Qingyan and Huo Xu divorce? Then how would his daughter stand upright in the future? Also, how should he explain to his wife when he arrived in the underworld in the future?
Fortunately, Huo Xu came to apologize sincerely.
Shen Huai thought that Huo Xu’s character was obvious to all courtiers. He was merely a young man with an uncertain disposition but would get better eventually. He would do his best to assist Huo Xu. When he ruled in the world, Qingyan would be the Empress, Mother of the world. His daughter would become the most honorable woman in Great Qi.
Therefore, after only expressing a few dissatisfactions in a heavy tone, Shen Huai allowed Huo Xu to enter the inner courtyard.
Shen Qingyan closed her eyes and rested on the embroidered pillow with a deathly pale face. When she heard the door open, she thought it was Lu Ying who entered the room, and did not even open her eyes.
“Take it way, Lu Ying. I don’t want to eat it.”
“How can you not eat?”
When the gentle voice sounded, Shen Qingyan opened her eyes in disbelief and the gentle appearance was right in front of her eyes. Huo Xu raised his hand and caressed her cheek, “I‘ll be distressed.”
The smell of sandalwood wafted all over the room, and the stove was burning brightly.
Shen Qingyan’s cold heart warmed up a little bit. Suddenly, there seemed to be a man’s low panting sound and a woman’s soft moan… She suddenly woke up, raised her hand to pull his hand away, and choked out, “Don’t lie to me anymore. You don’t like…”
Before she could finish speaking, Huo Xu approached her and put his lips on hers.
With the tremor from the body up to the heart, Shen Qingyan could clearly see her face turning from white to red in Huo Xu’s eyes. She could feel the intentness and tenderness of his kiss.
“I’m sorry, Yanyan.” After the kiss, Huo Xu still pressed his lips to hers and murmured.
Hot tears ran down her eyes.
Shen Qingyan’s heart was sour and bitter, but also warm and hot. Her heart softened because she loved him.
The moon was bright, and the stars were few. The bright moon appeared to be rounder than before.
After dinner, Huo Xu walked out of the Prime Minister Mansion with Shen Qingyan in his arms and went straight back to the mansion.
After a long night, Shen Qingyan stared at the person in front of him with blurry eyes. He and she finally became one. Soft kisses fell on her cheeks, lips, earlobes, and body.
The stars were shining brightly, and she hugged her lover to sleep contentedly.
Until he was sure that Shen Qingyan had fallen asleep, Huo Xu finally tore off the mask that he had been wearing all day. He stared at Shen Qingyan with an expressionless face, and her face was still flushed with the deep redness that he had lured out. He pulled his arm out of her hand in disgust and distanced himself from Shen Qingyan, unwilling to touch her.
Ah, you should be satisfied now, right?
Huo Xu suppressed the shame in his chest. Today, he was not the Jingxian Wang of the Third Prince. He was like a male companion who tried his best to please her.
It turns out that it feels like this with people who I don’t like.
Then, would Zhizhi feel extremely wronged?
Huo Xu’s heart ached. He thought that Huo Du must be a hundred times more difficult to serve than Shen Qingyan. It was only one night, and he already felt unbearable, while Zhizhi had been living like this for a long time.
He had to compensate her!
Although it was still impossible to welcome her into the house justifiably now, he must at least make her happy. He knew that Zhizhi was most worried about Le Jin, so just let her visit her sister more often!
—
Slave market.
At this time, Le Zhi indeed felt extremely wronged.
Ever since she heard the news of Yang Heng’s accident, her plan to murder him had to be put on hold for the time being. However, her plan for revenge could not cease. Jing Xin and Lin Yue were busy on her behalf on the matter of opening the shop. She only needed to compare the prosperous shops they had selected every day, the candidates for the shop assistances and so on, one by one. Within half a month, her shop would be able to open.
However, there was another matter that no one could do on behalf of her. That was… to have a highly skilled subordinate in martial arts.
Le Zhi thought about it before that she could not rely on Huo Du forever. She must have her own people. In this world, only one with martial skills could have the confidence.
However, excellent martial arts practitioners were hard to come by, and this was not something that money could buy. Early in the morning a few days ago, she saw An Xuan training the soldiers in the courtyard. People like An Xuan could defeat a hundred enemies single-handedly. Le Zhi thought that it would be great if she could have ten subordinates like “An Xuan”.
Even when she had no other choice but to resort to a surprise attack, ten “An Xuan” would be enough to take Huo Xu’s dog’s life.
“Alas…” Le Zhi sighed for the tenth time. She poked the pumpkin bowl in front of her with a silver chopstick, then turned to look at Huo Du, and asked tentatively, “Your Highness, where did you find this treasure, An Xuan?”
Hearing this, Huo Du put the silver chopsticks down, raised his eyes, and glanced at Le Zhi coldly.
What kind of treasure is An Xuan?
“There is a lot in the slave market.” Huo Du’s tone was flat, and he asked again, “Are you interested?”
Le Zhi curled her lips, her eyes gleamed with joy, and she nodded her head without concealment, “Slave market… Can I go?”
“You can go. This loneliness didn’t lock you up.”
“Will Your Highness come with me?” Le Zhi asked expectantly.
She never thought of secretly raising soldiers under Huo Du’s nose, it was too difficult. That being the case, why not be honest with him and let Huo Du accompany her. The fact that he was able to pick a capable person like An Xuan showed that he had an exceptionally good vision.
“Not going.”
“…”
There was nothing she could do since Huo Du refused her coldly. Fortunately, he arranged for An Xuan to accompany her.
Therefore, there was excitement in the slave market in the middle of the night. Le Zhi dressed as a wealthy businessman’s wife and sat on the high platform with three maids and An Xuan.
The slaves on the field fought one-on-one in close combat, and the slaves who won were eligible to be selected by the nobles on the high platform. If more than one nobleman took a fancy to a slave, the one with the highest price would get them.
One after another, Le Zhi did not see satisfactory results. Before she got a little tired, a thin and dark young man about twelve or thirteen years old, came on the field to fight a burly slave. Many people on the platform did not even lift their eyelids, as the difference in strength was too much.
As soon as the bugle-horn sounded, merely a moment later, the strong man was knocked down by the young man.
Le Zhi was refreshed in an instant. She turned her head as she said, “Xiao An, do you think this child is good?”
However, An Xuan’s eyes seemed to be looking at Jing Xin’s side.
…All right, it seems that An Xuan didn’t watch the fight on the field at all.
This was an injustice toward An Xuan. Although his mind was not on the field and was slightly distracted, he was very clear about the situation on the field.
“Madam, this person can be used.”
Le Zhi felt even more relieved after hearing what An Xuan had said. She quickly raised her hand and said the price. However, there were a lot of people who liked the young man. Everyone raised their prices one after another, competed with each other, and refused to give in to each other.
However, Le Zhi was determined to win. She gritted her teeth…
“Five hundred taels. ”
Finally, the slave market became quiet. Everyone looked over, no matter how powerful a slave was, it was not worth five hundred taels.
“Five hundred taels for the first time.”
“Five hundred taels for the second time.”
A smile appeared on Le Zhi’s face. She figured it out that apart from the odds and ends of opening a shop, she only had two thousand taels at most to buy people, and she planned to buy at least five people. So, it was her limit to spend five hundred to buy one person.
It seemed that no one had robbed her yet. She waited contentedly for the word “deal” to sound out.
Unfortunately, there was a voice that was one step faster.
“One thousand taels.”
The voice was so familiar that Le Zhi almost cursed. She looked back angrily. It was rare to see Huo Du in a light purple robe, and the girdle with gold thread embroidery on his waist was particularly conspicuous, which made him look more immortal and noble. Even with a white jade cane in his hand, it was still difficult for the people sitting on the high platform to look away.
Le Zhi pursed her lips unhappily.
Didn’t he say he won’t come?
Oh come on, why does he still want to rob people from her!
The author has something to say:
Huo Xu: Long time no see. Do you miss me very much? As a heartthrob in the hearts of girls, I know you all love me!!
Du & Zhi: ………