Arc 5.17 Empress of Four Kingdoms
The rest of the banquet went smoothly after that small hiccup.
Although they felt immense regret, the young ladies no longer held any hope for Hua Shen as he already made his stance clear that he would only marry Li Feifei in this lifetime.
After the banquet ended, Hua Shen had arranged for proper entertainment.
There were the cliché sexy dancers who exposed a lot of skin and their breasts swayed and bounced with every step and jump. Small, white perfect carved like jade feet were bare and flawless as they seductively touched the floor gently before launching themselves in the air again and again.
It was assumed the girls were very beautiful by their alluring figures, but one could never be sure as they all had veils covering their faces, which gave them an additional air of mystery that appealed to even the women situated in the hall.
It went without saying that Li Feifei had a much more enjoyable time admiring their performance than Hua Shen who regretted setting this up. If he knew Li Feifei's preferences beforehand then why would he have invited this troupe in the first place ah?
But men were no good either.
Suddenly and for the first time ever, Hua Shen felt at a loss and he inexplicably had no idea what to do with his girl.
One could not rely on others to entertain her, then there could only be himself ah!
But how could an Emperor go down and perform for the masses? Although Hua Shen did not mind lowering himself, but to display his unparalleled skills to others aside from his wife was meaningless.
He could only wait to perform for her when they were alone because he felt that only Li Feifei deserved to see his greatness.
Ah, but if he were to perform alone for her, the only performance he would be most confident in would have to be in bed...
Even if Li Feifei felt that the women dancing below were really too beautiful to handle, she never did completely divert her attention from the devil beside her.
She found much more amusement from his plentiful and colorful shifts in mood.
Li Feifei felt it funny that Hua Shen was obviously indignant at her appreciation for the beauties, then not too long after he felt helpless, followed by pondering and lastly the look in his eyes as he stared at her turned awfully heated with desire.
How cute.
One really had to wonder what went on within that thick skull of his.
Unfortunately, Hua Shen was still in his own mind so he did not notice that minute amount of attention and amused smile that his wife was dedicating to him. He hastily waved away the dancers before she could find one that she particularly favored.
It was okay for him to do so as he was universally known to be very childish. It was only after he had taken the throne that others started to become increasingly guarded against him as one could never be simple if they were able to take the throne for himself with five other brothers ahead of him in the hierarchy.
He feigned a yawn, then tiredly voiced out as he swung his sleeves, "Zhen is bored. Send in the next group."
The officials who were enjoying the flamboyant figures of the dancers wanted to retort that they hadn't even danced for five minutes! FIVE!
Unfortunately, they were only lowly officials and they were not even his own ministers so how could they "advise" this young emperor to appreciate beauties more?
He was only fourteen. It was not strange if he found no interest in the fairer sex at this stage in his life ah.
Thus, the next group of entertainers were led in by the imperial eunuchs.
This time, the small group was in charge of performing a play. It just so happened that the play they were going to show was the one that Li Feifei had heard from Li Yun when they went treasure hunting.
Five men fighting over a beauty, ah. Such heartbreaking narrative could bring tears to one's eyes!
Obviously, Hua Shen never paid attention to such boring antics no matter how meaningful or deep the plot or how passionately the group performed. He was only wondering if the girl in his arms was enjoying her time in this world so far.
Since they were together now, he would make sure that she would have enough fun in this lifetime since he had unfairly limited her actions.
Hua Shen wasn't completely irrational. He knew that barring her from enjoying the pleasures of singularity just because he chose to remain loyal to her was extremely wronging Li Feifei since she had yet to accept him in her heart.
Since he couldn't justify himself, the only thing he could do was to make sure she never regretted choosing to give him a chance.
What he had was his countless years of transmigrating and even more ways to kill off his boredom. How could playing with women be the sole thing he'd done to relieve himself of boredom all those years?
Obviously, he'd tried many other things along the way.
Because of this experience he was confident in his ability to become a tour guide of sorts for his wife in any world. Since they were too young to do any bed activities and they didn't have a pesky child to keep them worrying all the time, then he could finally show his worth ah!
Li Feifei was originally a resident of a modern world so when would she have had time to watch a live play when she could just stream it on vikk or dramaferver? They weren't puppets or shadows either, it was an outright live drama!
Li Feifei felt that the beauty that the five men fought for was very worthy of the title, Calamitous Beauty, though she wasn't as peerless as herself. And the men were definitely deserving of her hand based on their looks alone. All six performers' acting only further enhanced their charms, by giving them their respective auras and awing the entire hall who usually looked down on performers.
At first, upon seeing those handsome men and that pretty lady walking towards the center of the hall Hua Shen felt apprehensive. But when he looked back down to see that his little girl was dividing her attention between himself and the troupe onstage Hua Shen felt that it was okay for this world to end.
No, wait, if it ended then he wouldn't be able to enjoy this rare moment! He wished time would stop! Yes!
If he knew that he would one day be put in this situation then he would not have hesitated to spend those points on that soul-bound item that could stop time for ten minutes with a limitation of being only able to use it once in every world! It had no effect on other hosts, but it's not like he wished to stop his Li Feifei anyway.
Back then, he only wondered why on earth he should waste points on such a useless item because ten minutes with a frozen world just screamed, BORING!
But now...
There was no medicine for regret.
So, he etched this groundbreaking moment into his heart.
Hua Shen couldn't be blamed for overreacting. His wife rarely showed any affection for him, so he scavenged whatever he could, whenever he could!
Having been caught, Li Feifei didn't feel embarrassed as it wasn't as if she'd done something wrong. She simply felt that teasing this hubby of hers could also be very fun. More so than the beautiful people below.
And, even though watching a live drama was interesting, that was only the case for the first few minutes. After a while it would lose its novelty. Since she already knew the story, she would be less interested in how it played out no matter how great the actors and actress acted it out.
With his wife's attention now fully immersed with himself, Hua Shen's mood was the greatest it had been all day—no, for his entire life. He felt that if he didn't strike the iron while it was hot then he wouldn't be Hua Shen!
With barely concealed happiness in his voice, Hua Shen red eyes were bright as he lowered his head to her level, "What are you thinking about?"
After he said that so that only she could hear, he instantly regretted it. What are you thinking about, my ass! What kind of question was this? Of course she was thinking about him ah! He would've been better off pouncing on her!
It seemed like one's IQ truly lowered when faced with a loved one.
His mind was blank and Hua Shen really did not know the perfect words to say at that moment so he could only swallow down the bitterness in his heart.
"Pfff...hahaha!"
Perceiving this adorable devil's thoughts, Li Feifei finally couldn't hold back her laugh. It wasn't particularly loud, but it wasn't quiet either. Those around them could hear her chiming laughter even without martial skills and enhanced senses.
For all of those besides her own family and Bai Ping, it was the first time they had ever heard this Imperial Daughter laugh. Even for Long Zheng, it was a first.
Inexplicably, the atmosphere brightened up as everyone felt that the princess's happiness was truly a pleasant experience! Even the performers in the center of the hall were filled with vigor as their efforts to please the audience rose to extreme heights.
Fortunately, they had just finished a comical scene where one of the sworn brothers had pulled a prank on one of the others so Li Feifei's laughter was not out of place.
It was well known that the youngest general particularly loved changing his appearance into that of many different women, only to seduce his fellow brothers and at the crucial moment right before the deed was done he'd reveal himself to them! This was simply enough to traumatize them and shatter all of their hopes and dreams ah!
As it was close to the beginning of the legend, the five men had yet to meet the woman who tore apart their friendship and they were still great friends.
Everyone assumed that Li Feifei had laughed at that scene, but Hua Shen and Long Zheng who had been paying attention to her the entire time knew that she completely missed the scene that she could have been assumed to have anticipated the most.
Instead of watching that scene that could be considered borderline BL, Li Feifei had been busy appreciating how adorable her silly devil was behaving.
He was like a small little teenager interacting with his crush for the first time! Thinking about how this thousand-year-old monster acting like such really made one laugh without restraint, ah.
It wasn't like it was their first time being this close and if anything, they'd done all sorts of inexplicable things, so why was he acting as if he were a shy maiden now?
Really, if he knew her inner confusion Hua Shen would argue that it was because back then she'd never looked at him, never fully considered him. But today Li Feifei was finally paying attention to him so of course he would feel a little out of sorts.
When faced with Li Feifei's cheerful laughter, Hua Shen's heart was beating so fast. Her eyes were full of mirth, which made his ears feel so heated he could have sworn they were on fire.
Since when did Li Feifei ever look at him like this? When had she ever laughed at him so pleasantly? The answer was never! Was she possessed?
Really made one want to throw her down and ravish her!
But facts proved that Li Feifei was still the same Li Feifei, his wife, when one side of her lips tilted upwards into a crooked smile as she pinched his left ear with her little fingers and pulled their bodies closer to each other.
"You, ah," she snickered mischievously.
Hua Shen really wouldn't be Hua Shen of he didn't answer to her provocation appropriately. He growled lowly before pushing her down and biting her pale, white neck hard enough to leave behind his teeth marks.
By this point, everyone's attention was drawn to the show at the center of the hall. Li Feifei and Hua Shen had already returned to their own table. The Imperial Family acted as if nothing was amiss, but Long Zheng's fists were clenched so tightly that he was trembling. Eventually, he could no longer hold back his emotions, so he abruptly stood and left to cool off outside.
"Baby, I love you so much," Hua Shen breathed out softly in the crook of her neck, occasionally licking the wound as he laid on top of her for a while.
Li Feifei chuckled, running her fingers through his soft hair.