Chapter 25 Stupid Prince
2115 Words
Yongning Palace.
Leng Qingtang smiled and looked directly at the angry Wan Yuyao. He was calm as usual. Opened his mouth, his voice was deep and attractive,
"I am devoted to Your Grace, but Your Grace misconstrues my kindness, which breaks my heart. Look, the gold hairpin of Your Grace is tilted. Let me help you adjust it."
Leng Qingtang raised his hand and pinched the gold hairpin on the side of Wan Yuyao's hair. Then he pushed the hairpin into the hair bun and smoothed out the gold threads of the hairpin before he withdrew his fair hands.
A series of movements were carried out in silence, and an inexplicable atmosphere swirled between the two. Wan Yuyao's heart suddenly quivered, and her anger vanished.
The anger on her face completely disappeared. Wan Yuyao and Leng Qingtang looked at each other. His beautiful face was indifferent, and his eyes squinted with a smile. An incredible power could be found in his deep black eyes. She would be enthralled by him even by just one more look.
Taking advantage of the situation, Wan Yuyao coquettishly leaned against his chest. She unhappily pouted and swayed her shoulders. The beads of her shawl clanged immediately.
"Zhong Siyou died just a few days ago. It is not appropriate if I immediately recommend to the Emperor that my relatives can take up this position. It seems as if I coveted this plum job and set a trap for Zhong Siyou."
"Your Grace is right, but others will also think in this way. Now, nobody takes action just to avoid suspicion. The Concubine in Chuxiu Palace is pregnant now. If she takes this advantage to make a recommendation, the Emperor may not refuse her suggestion. Your Grace once said that, in selecting officers of the court, it was better to choose our own friends. When everyone retreats, Your Grace advances, which can show that Your Grace has nothing to do with Zhong Siyou's case. Your Grace is smart, and can definitely understand it."
Wan Yuyao turned around and paced in silence repeatedly.
Leng Qingtang was right to some extent.
Xu Yuanjiao's family was not as powerful as hers. But, now Xu Yuanjiao was pregnant, which endows her privileges.
Regardless of whether Xu Yuanjiao covets the vacancy of the Minister of Personnel, if any officer had taken the opportunity to grab it and colluded with Xu Yuanjiao, there would have been no doubt that the power of the Xu Yuanjiao's family would grow bigger.
Beyond, it was not difficult to know that the post of Minister of Personnel was a plum job just judging from the Blood Coral Tree."
Wan Yuyao made up her mind after consideration,
"I will find a suitable opportunity to persuade the Emperor. I have a cousin working in the Ministry of Works, who also has a few assistants. I will choose someone to take that post. After this case comes to an end, my cousin will replace him as the Minister of Personnel."
"It's up to Your Grace."
Leng Qingtang folded his hands, and his long eyelashes blocked the brilliance in his eyes.
"However, when it comes to my business..."
Wan Yuyao finished half of her words and stared at Leng Qingtang.
"Please be assured. Your Grace can count on me."
Wan Yuyao smiled softly and put her hand on the back of Leng Qingtang's hand. Her hands emitted the fragrance of the orchid. She gave him a flirtatious smile.
"I haven't met you for a long time. Today, let's have lunch here."
Leng Qingtang twitched slightly, and slowly withdrew his hands to retract it into the sleeves of his robe.
"Excuse me. I'm busy today and have to leave. Your Grace's clothes are scratched by the cat's claws. If the Emperor comes up and sees it, it will disgrace Your Grace."
He did not want to spend one more minute with this capricious woman in this extravagant palace after achieving his goal.
Wan Yuyao was charming, but Leng Qingtang only valued her identity as the Imperial Noble Concubine. The purpose of pleasing her was just to get a shortcut in his pursuit of success.
Wan Yuyao lowered her head in surprise and looked at her bosom.
Just as Leng Qingtang said, there were two long rips at the front of her brown-pink garment. The gold brocade was delicate, and a little squeeze would lead to an ugly fold. What's more, she wore it to play with the cat.
"It's so nasty of you to look at here!"
Wan Yuyao pretended to be shy and scolded Leng Qingtang with a smile.
He smiled indifferently, turned his head, raised his voice, and told the maid waiting outside the room,
"Come here to help Your Grace change clothes."
When the maid came in, he bowed to Wan Yuyao,
"Please change the clothes, and I will leave! "
Wan Yuyao opened her mouth, tending to speak. After a while, she waved to him languidly,
"OK."
She seemed to be in a trance and feel very nostalgic for the ambiguous feelings.
He was so fickle.
When he treated her well, she was so moved that she couldn't wait to marry him.
When he was aloof, it nearly made her heartbroken. But it was the impossibility that made her toss and turn, but she also enjoyed it.
.
It was in deep autumn with gusts of cold wind. The sky was blue, and the red wall under the sky was clear. The soft sunlight shined on the palace, and the glass tiles reflected warm golden light.
On the way back to the Eastern Depot, Leng Qingtang strode leisurely.
Cheng Wanli looked at the scene and knew that it was done. However, since they took advantage of each other, Noble Concubine Wan would not help the Eastern Depot for nothing.
"Master, this time you met the Noble Concubine Wan, didn't she mention the Concubine in Chuxiu Palace?"
Cheng Wanli looked around, finding there were no people on the two sides of the long wall. He approached the Master and lowered his voice.
Although they wanted to get things done, it would have been the best if the Master had got implicated as less as possible.
Leng Qingtang smiled and raised his eyes,
"Do you think so? If so, she would not have been the Imperial Noble Concubine! Apart from focusing on changing the ways to squander the Treasury, she can do nothing but do harm to the imperial harem!"
"Is Concubine Xu doomed to be sacrificed?"
"No! If she gives birth to a boy, it will bring benefits to us in the future," Leng Qingtang replied quietly as if it had been squeezed from his teeth.
It was very important. How could they just talk about it?
Leng Qingtang felt a little pressure and frowned, muttering to himself,
"It's better for us to adopt stalling tactics, which can not only protect the Concubine Xu and her baby but also temporarily hide the truth from Wan Yuyao."
Just when they passed the door on the right, one person in yellow ran from the door and hit Leng Qingtang heavily from the back.
Leng Qingtang stumbled and was supported by Cheng Wanli. The man who ran wildly was knocked down by huge recoil and fell to the ground.
Cheng Wanli supported the Master and turned to growl at the man,
"How dare you! Watch carefully!"
Looking closely again, he and Leng Qingtang were both stunned.
A man of seventeen or eighteen years old lay on the ground. He wore a bright yellow robe made of brocade with a colorful silk ribbon on his waist. There was a bun on his head with a purple crown. He wore a pair of boots made of yellow satin.
He was fair with well-shaped hair and black eyebrows. Although his eyes were beautiful, they were dull.
It was precisely the eyes that made him devoid of the elegance of the royal family though he wore royal clothes. The murky eyes and dull expression made people know that he was insane.
At this moment, the man lying on the ground looked at Leng Qingtang with alert and grasped the cloth tiger firmly. It seemed that he was quite worried that the doll would be taken away by the tall man in front of him.
"It turns out to be Prince Chen."
Leng Qingtang looked directly at him, frowned and said quietly to himself.
Prince Chen's name was Hua Nanxin. He was the son of the Emperor. More than a decade ago, Emperor Jingxiao got drunk and slept with a maid of the Empress shortly after he took the throne. Thus, this maid got pregnant and gave birth to Prince Chen.
The maid was promoted as Jieyu (a title and rank for imperial consorts) because of the baby. However, she scared the Emperor after her face was ruined by a fire. Then, she was ordered to live in the Cold Palace by the Emperor while Prince Chen was brought to Kunning Palace to be raised by the Empress. One year later, the Empress gave birth to a prince who was promoted as the future Emperor.
After that, Prince Chen suffered constant illnesses. At the age of seven, Prince Chen suffered another serious illness, causing the sequelae of dementia. He was sent by the Empress to a remote courtyard, Wutong Garden, with a eunuch, two maids, and two nannies looking after him.
In fact, as early as ten years ago, there were rumors in the palace that the Empress disliked the maid after the Emperor slept with her. The Empress did not dare to be too blatant because the Emperor was longing for a son. After the maid gave birth to a son, the Empress set fire to ruin the face of this maid and took the opportunity to get her son.
After the Empress gave birth to a boy, she began to mistreat Prince Chen and drove such an innocent boy crazy.
Leng Qingtang always believed that those rumors were not groundless. The battle in the imperial harem had a long history and was no less violent than that in the court. It was more like a battle between the two armies.
The anger disappeared from Leng Qingtang's fair face. Even if the silly Prince in front of him didn't understand the imperial etiquette, Leng Qingtang still showed respect and bowed to him,
"I would like to send my best regards to Your Highness."
The Prince on the ground tilted his head and looked at Leng Qingtang with a puzzled look. Suddenly he smirked with ambiguous sound in his mouth.
Then he raised the cloth tiger high again as if showing it off to Leng Qingtang.
"Oh, Your Highness! Your Highness!"
Two nannies ran out from the door and cried.
Seeing Leng Qingtang, they bowed and saluted him,
"Best regards to you, Master."
"Good," Leng Qingtang snorted with a blink and responded.
Cheng Wanli pretended to be angry. His face turned black with two round eyes. The white in his eyes contrasted with his dark skin, which was scaring.
"Are you looking after Prince Chen?"
"Yes, yes..." The two nannies knew it clear that the Prince was in trouble again and nodded to the Chiliarchs.
"Is it the way you look after your Highness? He came out, ran around, and hurt our Master. It took you a long time to find out Your Highness!"
"I beg your pardon."
"Forget it," Leng Qingtang waved his hand and directly interrupted the nannies.
He looked sideways and glanced at the two nannies quickly.
Both of them were around forty years old. They wore a crimson gown made of silver threads with a sleeveless short white jacket. There was a high bun on their head with silver beads and combs on the two sides.
Their clothes and silver ornaments on their heads were bright. Obviously, they didn't own these things for a long time.
The brocade robe of Prince Chen was relatively old and stained. It seemed that it had not been changed for many days.
It would not have been strange if the Empress had provided special treatments to the servants in Wutong Garden and let them wore newer clothes considering that they were busier in taking care of such a silly Prince. But, it was inappropriate that the nannies didn't take good care of the Prince.
Leng Qingtang was dissatisfied with them. Considering that the two nannies were sent by the Empress, he said seriously with a low voice,
"Help Your Highness up and send him back to Wutong Garden. It's cold on the ground, and be careful he doesn't catch a cold."
- Writer
