Chapter 81
"Butler Fei, get someone to make a few sets of clothes for Shang Ze. I'm going back to the capital next month." After a pause, Lu Xiufan added, "Prepare several sets for all four seasons."
"Understood." Fei Lin nodded and consented. The meaning behind Lu Xiufan's words were obvious. He was planning to take Shang Ke with him back to the capital.
Lu Xiufan is the younger brother of the Prince (the husband of the Queen). As his subordinate, Shang Ze also needs to pay attention to his appearance. What Fei Lin was more worried about was that covenantors were not good at social interactions, nor will Lu Xiufan introduce his identity to people. If he accidentally clashes with aristocracies, the unlucky one would no doubt be those aristocracies who picked fights out without better things to do.
Lu Xiufan attracted hate easily enough already. To help him pull less aggro, Butler Fei really racked his brain to pieces to help him obtain a more favorable impression.
That night, Fei Lin found Shang Ke and repeatedly warned him to keep as much distance from miscellaneous people when he heads to the capital next month. If he really couldn't avoid them, then he should at least act more politely and modestly. At the same time, Fei Lin also gave Shang Ke a set of etiquette specific manuals as well along with clothes that fit his station. He had him understand everything well to prevent him from becoming a laughing stock or offending someone by accident.
Shang Ke was no stranger to these etiquettes and social rules. Under the supervision of Fei Lin, Shang Ke read it carefully over and over, and sincerely received his guidance, and finally passed his assessment with ease.
Except for Shang Ke's lack of expression, the other etiquettes were almost impeccable, but Fei Lin always felt like something was off. After observing him for a long time, he finally had a stunned realization. Shang Ke's expression was too cold. No matter how humble he appeared, he gave a feeling of being superior. Different from Lu Xiufan's solemn prestige and cold arrogance, Shang Ke was supercilious, really and truly indifferent, unmoved by external matters.
"Shang Ze, smile, like this." Fei Lin displayed a modest smile for Shang Ke to see.
Shang Ke looked at his slightly wrinkled smiling face blankly as countless f*ck your mom crossed his mind.
"Shang Ze, facial expression is one of the important channels for communication between people. Even if you can't smile, you can move the corner of your mouth as much as possible, such as this." Fei Lin curved up the corners of his mouth. "Come, you can try."
Shang Ke pursed up his lips, revealing a smile-like expression that looked even colder than when he was without expression, along with skillful sarcasm.
Fei Lin continued to patiently guide him, "You can try to extend the process of pulling the corner of the mouth a little more. Try again."
Shang Ke slowly curved his mouth, like the sloth in Zootopia, and fixed the ridiculously mocking smile on his face in a very strange way.
Fei Lin: "......" Even God can't save this paralyzed face!
"Pft" A low laughter that couldn't be contained suddenly came from outside.
"Master." Fei Lin embarrassedly saluted as he walked in. At the same time, he thought in shock: Master laughed just now right? He laughed! It was definitely a laugh!
"You don't have to teach him anymore, just let him be." Lu Xiufan strode across the room and stepped in front of Shang Ke, and gently said, "You don't have to force yourself. A smile is from the heart. I have to face fake smiles everyday, there is no need to add one more."
Shange Ke restored his usual cold and flat expression.
Fei Lin sighed and no longer insisted. For a covenantor who has no feelings, any facial expression is superfluous.
A month later, Lu Xiufan took Shang Ke and a group of guards and headed for the Capital Soya.
In fact, Shang Ke didn't want to go to the capital, because the chances of meeting the Yue family in the capital were very high. Although the main house of Yue Family was not in Soya, there were many children of the familylearning the ropes of their trade in the capital. His main mission in this world was to become the successor of the Yue family again, but it was impossible for the Yue family to give the position of the successor to a covenantor who'd die at 35 year old if there are other candidates.
Therefore, it was necessary for Shang Ke to rely on external forces to enter the family forcefully, and Lu Xiufan was his best backing. At the same time, he will have to find a way to break the balance of power in the Yue family to take the chance to slip in while they were in chaos..
In addition, the task only required him to become the heir to the Yue family, but it didn't mean that he had to inherit the family. It was entirely possible for him to choose another person as the heir after he takes the position of heir again.
It would take some time to arrange this, there weren't much advantages for him to get in contact with the Yue Family too early. Of course, as long as Lu Xiufan was there, he was not afraid to deal with those people. His greatest danger should come from the enemies of Lu Xiufan.
Lu Xiufan had his own mansion in the capital. Compared to the mansion in the county of Fort Ya, the capital residence was obviously more magnificent and rich. The servants alone numbered over a hundred, let alone those well-equipped guards.
Lu Xiufan stayed in the mansion for very short time, and then he had Shange Ke drive him to the palace.
The car stopped outside the palace, but Shang Ke was not qualified to enter the palace with Lu Xiufan. So Shang Ke could only take a break in the Memorandum Court outside the palace.
The Memorandum Court is a small palace room dedicated to the aristocracies attendants, drivers, foreign ministers, minor officials and so on.
Shang Ke was young, handsome, and was Lu Xiufan's driver. It made him very popular among this group of people. However, due to the famous name of Lu Xiufan, no one dared to come forward to talk to him.
He didn't know how long much time had passed, but a commotion suddenly came through from outside the small palace. Many people in the lounge went to the door to watch the excitement.
He saw a convoy marked with the Royal Flag coming from a distance and then neatly parked at the entrance of the palace.
"It's Prince Yi Yun!!" One person whispered.
"Whew, as expected of the Royal Convoy, their aura are entirely out of our league."
"I haven't seen Prince Yi Yun yet? Where is he, has he gotten off?"
"Oh, over there."
From the second car of the convoy, a 13-year-old brown-haired boy came out. Dozens of imperial guards respectfully separated on both sides to open a passage for the teenager.
The teenager walked a few steps forward, suddenly stopped, turning to look at the parking lot, then bypassed the guard and walked to a luxurious black hover car.
"This is the Black Wheel 3000 of Imperial Uncle Xiufan." Surprise flashed in Yi Yun's eyes and he immediately said to the guard, "Go and call the driver of Imperial Uncle over, I have something to ask."
The guards took a bowed and heeded his command, turned and ran towards the Memorandum Court.
Not long after, Shang Ke was brought in front of His Royal Highness Yi Yun much to the envy of everyone else.
"You are Imperial Uncle Xiufan's driver?" Yi Yun looked him up and down, and was a little surprised at his age and appearance.
"Yes, Your Royal Highness." Shang Ke made a perfect standard bow.
"What is your name?" Yi Yun asked again.
"Replying to Your Royal Highness, my name is Shange Ze."
Yi Yun turned on his personal laptop, opened a video and played it to Shang Ze. He asked, "Are you the one driving the Black Wheel in this video?"
Shange Ke nodded: "Yes."
"Very good." Yi Yun closed the video screen, and said to Shang Ke, "Come with me, I need you to help me in a car race."
"I will not leave my job without the permission of Sir."
Yi Yun frowned, probably never having met someone who dared to reject him so straightforwardly.
He didn't bother arguing with him either, he selected Lu Xiufan's number and sent the call. After dialing, he said straight away: "Imperial Uncle, I want to borrow your driver."
"Shang Ze?" Lu Xiufan's low voice came from the other end. "What are you up to?"
"Rest assured, I will not make things hard for him, I just want him to help me with something." Yi Yun's tone slowed down, a faint plea hidden within. In front of his Iron Faced Imperial Uncle, he was still somewhat scared of him.
Lu Xiufan was silent for a moment, and replied, "I know." Then cut off communication.
Yi Yun was depressed, what did he mean by 'I know'? Was it a yes or no in the end?
While he was questioning that, Shang Ke's communicator rang.
"Shang Ze, you may go and play with Yi Yun for a while. If you feel uncomfortable, come back. And call me if you are in trouble." Lu Xiufan's voice was neither high nor low, and the protectiveness in the words was completely heard by Yi Yun who wasn't standing far from him.
Yi Yun once again observed Shang Ke, vaguely aware that his Imperial Uncle treated him somewhat differently from others..
When they end the call, Yi Yun finally spoke, "Since Imperial Uncle agreed, come with me."
Shang Ke had no objection. Surrounded by guards at the front and rear, he got onto a guard's car that followed behind Yi Yun's car and went to a race track about ten miles away from the palace.
"Drive my Purple Shadow out." Prince Yi Yun ordered the race track owner.
"Alright, I will bring it over immediately." The owner promptly had someone drive the Purple Shadow out.
Yi Yun walked quickly to the shotgun seat and waved at Shang Ke, "Come over here, drive a few laps for me."
"Your Royal Highness!" An imperial guard came forward to stop him.
Yi Yun glared at him, "Scram aside, don't meddle with my entertainment."
The imperial guard could only retreat to one side, and then murderously look at Shang Ke: Boy, you better drive well. If anything happens to the Prince, don't think you can take the consequences.
Shang Ke didn't care about the aggressive eyes of the guards, and sat in the driver's seat with an indifferent look on his face.
"Your Royal Highness, please fasten your seat belt." Shang Ke reminded Yi Yun while starting the car.
Yi Yun wore the safety belt, and glanced at Shang Ke from the corner of his eyes. He found that this man was a bit interesting, regardless if his driving skills were as highly evaluated as the netizens said, just his relaxed bearing gave him a whole new level of respect for him.
"Let's go." Yi Yun ordered.
Shang Ke did not hesitated, he placed the car into driving mode and the Purple Shadow shot forward like an arrow from a bow. He rapidly flew out of the Prince's personal parking lot and headed for the racing track.
At this racetrack, the speedway was docked with 30 to 40 assembled luxury cars, and there were four or five cars on the track in a race against each other.
"Head straight for the track." Yi Yun looked at the electronic race tracker sign, a couple cars had just finished their first lap.
This track was like a double snake, full of twists and turns, driving it was very difficult It was difficult for the cars on the track to get to the highest speed at all.
As a few cars busied themselves racing each other, a purple shadow quickly pass them by and was taking the lead bit by bit.
All the spectators outside the track all cried out in surprise: "It is the Purple Shadow of His Royal Highness."
The purple shadow has overtaken more than three or four cars in a row. At the corners, the speed rises unabated, and then a beautiful drift was used to overtake the car in the front and became first.
Yi Yun was excited and shouted, "That's right, rush straight for the finish line like this!"
Shang Ke did not let him down, shooting through the tracks like a whirlwind and leaving behind a long purple afterimage that gave off a brief dazzling arc. Everyone screeched loudly at the sight. Finally, with a 'chi', Shang Ke steadily stopped the car at the finish line. The entire event was very natural and smooth, direct and efficient.
"That was too great" A young blond man in a racing suit came over, clapped his hands and praised, "Your Royal Highness, your driving skills have grown."
He had just finished speaking when he saw Yi Yun walk out form the copilot. Surprise overtook his face, so the one driving the car just now wasn't the Prince?
Yi Yun raised his chin and said proudly: "I lost to you guys last time, so I found someone this time to compete with you guys again."
"May I know which driver was invited by Your Highness this time?" the young man asked with a smile.
Not waiting for Yi Yun to speak, a slightly shy voice suddenly cut in. "Hello, Your Highness Yi Yun, I am Yue Xuan of the Willow Catkin Yue Family. It is my pleasure to meet you here."
TL Note: Willow Catkin – pinyin Luoxu – seems to be a title of the Yue Family.
"The Yue family?" Yi Yun repeated in an acknowledging voice then turned back to the blond man, uncaring of his interruption. "Ya Li, are you going to compete with me or not?"
"Since Your Royal Highness wishes so, I will certainly accompany you to the end." Yali laughed, "But just two people racing is boring. Let's add Young Master Luo in it too."
At this time, the Yue Xuan again interrupted: "Your Highness, may I ask if I can also send some people to participate in this race?"
Yi Yun and Ya Li frowned at the same time. The former did not speak, the latter glanced at him and smiled: "Anyone can participate, however, do note that the games have stakes."
"It doesn't matter." Yue Xuan promptly said, "I believe that with my family background, the stakes are still affordable."
Ya Li no longer spoke. They were not betting on money, but on resources and all kinds of rare treasures they currently have on hand. Although the Yue Family was somewhat famous, in the eyes of these nobles in the capital, they're just some rich businessmen. A hundred years ago, some people might have thought of them as someone worth noting, but nowadays, the family has already faded out of the aristocracy.
"If that's is the case, then let's participate together." Yi Yun said noncommittally.
"Great! Thank you, Your Highness." Yue Xuan wanted to say a few more words, but saw a familiar figure step down from the driver's seat of Purple Shadow. He closed the door, then turned around to face Yue Xuan, two cold eyes, bypassed the purple shadow, and clashed with his.
Yue Xuan's smile immediately stiffened.
Yue Ze? How could he be here? And he even became Prince Yi Yun's Royal Racer!
SnowTime: Hello all~ yes, I am very much alive. Astral helped with this one and the previous one. As for my current health condition, I just had an xray recently to see my newly acquired damage, so far, the progress on my back was set back a little, but my neck area is going very well~ I am now headache less \o/. Thanks for everyone's support and well wishes~ (and yes, I know I still need to hurry the heck up with 74-77 cough cough)