Song QInghan couldn’t help but come to an utter shock when he was informed that he was summoned because of the so-called beauty ranking. And then the next moment he recalled the words of Wu Dahu suddenly in his mind that people within the palace loved to beat around the bush. In that case, what he had heard probably wasn’t the truth, so he answered respectfully, “Your Majesty, I’m just an ordinary commoner, and I don’t deserve to be called a beauty by someone noble like you. Even though I did not see your clear appearance just now, I did catch a glimpse of your figure. By just one glance, I just can draw a conclusion that your beauty should be invincible in this spacious world.”
He shouldn’t admit that he indeed saw the clear face of the Imperial Noble Consort, and in the meantime he should try to ‘flatter’ the other party. That’s why he said so in that way. Though somewhat what he said was a bit embarrassing, he knew he didn’t say something wrong when he heard the cheerful laugh from the Imperial Noble Consort.
After laughing for a while, the Imperial Noble Consort pulled up Song Qinghan’s hand directly and led him to his subordinate seat, and then sat back onto his own main seat leisurely, while saying gently, “Have a seat, in fact I do have another thing to negotiate with you today besides meeting someone new.”
Hearing the word ‘negotiate’, Song Qinghan lowered his head hurriedly and then answered, “Your Majesty, I don’t dare to talk equally with you. If you have anything you want me to do, order me. Me as a commoner would love to spare no effort to make it, even sacrifice.”
Hearing that, the Imperial Noble Consort laughed again. Yet his tone changed when he again uttered.
“Ah, you get a same trait with your husband, don’t you? What a pair of lovebirds, you even talk with a same tone. He who doesn’t know you probably would think that you get a dumb mouth and aren’t able to have communication.
Song Qinghan paused, as if he could sense a hint of danger from the sentence. He didn’t say anything and pretended that he didn’t understand anything and lowered his head even deeper.
Right at this moment, a familiar voice sounded behind him, breaking the dreadful silence.
“Royal Femina Father, I’m here to greet.”
Song Qinghan quietly looked at the person from the corner of his eye. When he realized that the other party was the Fifth Prince who was the ‘culprit’ ruining the banquet yesterday, he felt a little uneasy. He moved his sleeves and covered his face.
However, the Imperial Noble Consort raised his tone and suddenly uttered as if he had seen through the thoughts in Song Qinghan’s mind, “Are you feeling uncomfortable, Sir Song? Why are you keeping a gesture of bending?”
Song Qinghan clearly felt two gazes were fixing at him at the same time. He coughed lightly, straightened up, and answered softly, “I’ve never seen such a big scene before. So forgive me, Your Majesty, I’m kind of nervous.”
What he said revealed the true feelings of him currently. Facing such a beauty who got a classically good look with a noble identity, he had already got his back soaked with a layer of sweat. Now here came the Fifth Prince who seemed to be quite fearless towards everything. Of course he should be uneasy because he didn’t know whether it was a ‘White Vengea’ waiting for him or not.
The Fifth Prince narrowed his eyes and looked at Song Qinghan for a moment. As if he suddenly remembered something, he said, “Oh, is Hening going to marry… your husband?”
True, it was already doomed to happen forced by the Imperial Decree. So Song Qinghan didn’t bother to hide it up anymore, he answered directly, “Your Highness, yes, he is.”
“Huh, so how come you still be so calm and at ease? I mean, your husband is going to be taken away, don’t you feel any sense of pressure?”
The Fifth Prince’s tone suddenly became intense, saying so as if he cared much about Song Qinghan instead of himself. If Song Qinghan wasn’t aware of the matter yesterday, probably he would have misunderstood that the Fifth Prince was actually a good figure who showed a good intention to give him some advice.
However, even he thought so, he couldn’t say so. He was right in the spacious Palace, after all.
Song Qinghan quickly took a handkerchief out of his sleeve, and used it to cover his face, and whimpered, “Please forgive me for my rudeness, but I can’t help feeling so frustrated as long as I think of this matter. I just can’t control myself.”
The Fifth Prince’s eyes flashed and he walked over, and grabbed Song Qinghan’s hand fiercely, extracted the handkerchief in Song Qinghan’s hand without showing mercy, and then he sneered, “What’s the use for crying? I really hate femina men like you who will only cry for nothing and do nothing instead.”
The Imperial Noble Consort noticed the pair of Song Qinghan’s hands which were full of redness with lingering tears, he smiled while his lips crooked, as if he found the current scene was quite funny.
Song Qinghan sobbed, twisted his fingers, and weakly said, “It’s my guilt to make you disgusted, Your Highness.”
The Fifth Prince wanted to say something else, but after hearing what Song Qinghan said, he suddenly changed his mind and answered, “Since you know that you are guilty, then I will commend you to accomplish an order for me. Tell your husband that you don’t want Hening to marry your family. If Wu Dahu ignore you, you should cry and make a mess or pretend to hang yourself. If he doesn’t have any reaction overall, come back and tell me.”
Hearing that, Song Qinghan’s heart tightened. He knew that the Fifth Prince shouldn’t be someone with a good intention.
Since it was impossible to withdraw the Imperial Decree, and Hening wouldn’t ever change his mind marrying Song Qinghan’s family. Then only the commoners could be utilized now, to mess everything up.
If no disturbance was about to happen, probably the next mission the Fifth Prince would commend would be to resist the Imperial Decree, or maybe kill them all?
At that thought, Song Qinghan couldn’t help but shiver. He lowered his head and answered softly, “Yes, Your Highness.”
Song Qinghan took a glance at the Imperial Noble Consort when he was about to leave. He got totally tense when he noticed the man was wearing a faint smile, so he withdrew his sight and went outwards quickly.
If there was only the Fifth Prince there, probably he got a chance to fool. However, with the Imperial Noble Consort’s intervention, there was almost no room for negotiation.
Even if he had lived for a few more years, he still couldn’t compete with whom was born as a sophisticated ‘monster’.
After Song Qinghan left, the Fifth Prince poured a pot of tea into his mouth and said angrily, “What a useless guy, how fool he is failing to conceive of these plans, I don’t believe in him that he shows his willingness to share his husband with Hening!”
The Imperial Noble Consort took up his tea cup in hand in a leisure manner, he stared at the steaming vapor smiling, and then uttered in a gracious tone, “Royal Son, probably you’re wrong this time. This beauty, ha, he is not that simple as you might think in your mind. Why don’t you smell your fingertip for a check?”
The Fifth Prince was stunned. Even though he didn’t understand what the Imperial Noble Consort meant, he still put his fingers under his nose. When he smelled a strong pungent smell, he frowned and patted the table, roaring, “How dare he! He dares to put on an act in front of us!”
After all, he was not a fool. He knew that the smell on his fingertips must have been dyed when he touched Song Qinghan’s handkerchief. After thinking about it, he could finally guess the real intention why Song Qinghan pretended to be a fool.
The Fifth Prince bristled with anger there. At the same time the Imperial Noble Consort still remained his calmness on face, he took a sip of the tea, and then uttered expressionlessly, “Well, no one is a real fool now. Those who are a real dumb get no chance to show up in front of us either. See that Su Tingting who gives an expert cause for laughter? He does get a brain. Don’t make yourself blind towards this matter, child. Those closely involved cannot see clearly.”
Hearing that, the Fifth Prince calmed down suddenly, he pursed his lips and clenched his fists tight, “I would love to see what drama he can play with me. Does he really think that his gets a great power to get us hurt?”
As soon as Song Qinghan returned to his house from the palace, Hening showed up. He was still as calm as usual, yet there was still a trace of anxiety could be caught in his eyes.
“Were you summoned into the palace by the Imperial Noble Consort? What did he say to you? Did he force you something making you uncomfortable?”
Song Qinghan had just escaped from the place full of ‘wolves’ and the sweat on his back hadn’t dried yet. Now the “arch-criminal” showed up again, of course he didn’t have a good face currently, but he knew that it was useless to vent his anger on Hening, so he answered coldly, “It’s nothing. just something private.”
The more Song Qinghan acted like this, the more anxious Hening was. Seeing that Song Qinghan wanted to enter the house, he stretched his arm forth and blocked the way. He suppressed his anger and said, “Didn’t I say we’re a family now? Your personal affairs matter to me. I have to know what the Imperial Noble Consort said to you!”
The last words were almost squeezed out from his teeth, sounding like he was grinding his teeth.
Seeing that Hening was venting his wrath, Song Qinghan felt the anger in his heart rising violently. He frowned and shook his hand away and said coldly, “The Imperial Noble Consort said that he want to check how beautiful I am. Is that a satisfying answer for you?”
After that, he turned around and walked directly into his room without even examining the current expression of Hening, and then locked the door without mercy.
After he calmed down, he felt a bit regretful in his heart and felt that he shouldn’t talk to Hening like that.
Even though Hening got an impure intention asking for a marriage with Wu Dahu, he didn’t do anything harmful to his family at all since they had met. And even though the Fifth Prince would threaten him because of Hening, Hening wasn’t involved in this matter at all.
His current mind was so unsteady while thousand of thoughts were surging in his brain. His expression changed from time to time. Such a face of queerness made Little Shitou a bit confused, the little one babbled alone and rolled about himself on the bed while biting his own tiny toes.
Hening stood outside the room, and finally came back to his senses after a long while. His body shivered a bit and then he stood still, straightened his back with his lips pursed into a straight line. And then, he walked outwards the gate expressionlessly.
After Wu Dahu came back from the outside, Song Qinghan retold Wu Dahu what he had encountered today in the palace. He suddenly smiled and said with relief, “Finally, now I can figure out what the expression I got at that scene now. It should be out of my wit today that I spread several pepper powder on my handkerchief. So, I did perform a perfect show when the Fifth Prince extracted my handkerchief. Otherwise, if they noticed I was playing a trick by squeezing out some tears, I would have been dragged out and beaten to death.”
Seeing that Song Qinghan was laughing foolishly, Wu Dahu reached out to rub his head, held Song Qinghan’s shoulders and hugged him in the arms. He comforted him softly, “The Zhuangyuan and Bangyan had already been assigned with their own duties and responsibilities. I think I might be assigned very soon too. Hopefully I can get a job which can take us out away from here. I don’t want you to feel alarmed every day. As for the commends the Fifth Prince ordered to you, you just follow his words. Let’s see what his next plan is.”
“If he wants our lives, then we will take his life first.”
Wu Dahu added with an extreme calmness on his face. Yet Song Qinghan was pretty frightened towards it.
Because he knew that Wu Dahu was not joking, he was really planning to kill the Fifth Prince if their lives were really threatened.