novelraw Chapter 65
Chapter 65
Chapter 65 Our Family’s JunzhuAlthough He Yuanting couldn’t guess the identity of this man who suddenly appeared, he could sense the unfriendliness in his demeanor.
“It’s me!” Yao Jiamin stepped forward, “He is my cousin and has a close relationship with Fushou Junzhu.”
After saying these words, Yao Jiamin felt her cousin, the Crown Prince, taking a glance at her, his eyes filled with a satisfying emotion.
Hmph, men.
At this moment, Yao Jiamin felt that she had already seen through the men of the world.
“I don’t know who this young master is…”
“Just a trivial name, not worth mentioning,” the Crown Prince interrupted He Yuanting, “I’ve heard that your country has a custom where unfamiliar men are not allowed to converse with unfamiliar young ladies. If such behavior occurs, it is considered disrespectful. The Third Prince has a noble status and conducts himself in accordance with the customs of our Great Jin. It seems that you sneer at your country’s etiquette and rules.”
He Yuanting could already be sure that this noble young man had hostile intentions towards him. Moreover, in his speech, he showed no consideration or respect for him, the Third Prince of Daimao. From this, it could be seen that this person’s identity was not ordinary.
“This young master is joking,” Liu Mingshi realized something was amiss and quickly stepped forward, “As the saying goes, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’. We are on your country’s land, so naturally, we will conduct ourselves according to your country’s customs.”
“In Great Jin, there is no custom of a master speaking while the attendants interrupt,” the Crown Prince said with a faint expression.
“I am Liu Mingshi, the Minister of Etiquette in Daimao,” Liu Mingshi, who was highly respected in Daimao and admired by countless scholars, how could he tolerate being treated as a lowly slave by others?
“Oh,” the Crown Prince responded expressionlessly and remained silent.
Here it comes, here it comes, the Crown Prince’s infuriating habit of ignoring people to death. Yao Jiamin, who had been afflicted by the Crown Prince’s expression before, felt a strange sense of excitement when she saw him tormenting people from other countries.
Oh, what’s with the “Oh”?
According to the usual customs, shouldn’t he say a couple of polite words like “I’ve heard your famous name, so you’re the renowned Liu Mingshi”? Even if this young man is ignorant and doesn’t know his name, he should at least exchange a few polite words. What’s with just a simple “Oh”?
Unfortunately, the Crown Prince never cared about the feelings of such people. He glanced at He Yuanting from head to toe with a sideways glance, “Fushou Junzhu is just a little girl. If the Third Prince has any business, he can visit General Wei or General Hua.”
“The young master is right,” He Yuanting understood very well that this noble young man clearly didn’t want him to get close to Fushou Junzhu. He only spoke harshly when he spoke, not giving them any face.
The situation was sensitive to consider personal feelings; they simply couldn’t afford to offend the powerful figures of Great Jin at the moment, even if they knew the other party was being disrespectful, they could only endure.
Fortunately, He Yuanting was the most easy-going among all the princes of Daimao. Even if he was frustrated, he could still maintain a smile on the surface.
In fact, he himself was also suspicious as to whether the reason his father sent him to visit Great Jin was because of his good temperament and noble status. His mother was the Empress and his Eldest Brother from the same mother was the Crown Prince. His arrival could better demonstrate Daimao’s sincerity.
Unfortunately, this sincerity did not move the Emperor of Great Jin, and now they could only wander aimlessly like headless flies.
Hua Liuli glanced at the Crown Prince, who was pretending to be an ordinary nobleman, and opened her mouth to say something, but didn’t know how to address him, so she said, “Young Master, the Third Prince has come from afar. Since he’s set up a feast, it wouldn’t be good for me to decline. However, as they are the guest, I will bear the cost of the banquet.”
When mountains are stout and rivers are winding, doubts arise and there seems to be no way out. When willows are dark and flowers are bright, another village appears.
When the Daimao envoy thought that Fushou Junzhu would not agree to their request, she decided to attend the feast. Two young officials who had not fully mastered their poker faces couldn’t help but reveal a hint of joy on their faces.
“Fushou Junzhu, we’ll accompany you…” Yao Wenyin wanted to speak, thinking that these envoys had unclear intentions, so they should accompany her. But before she could finish her words, her mouth was covered by Yao Jiamin’s hand.
“Cousin, what she means is that we have something important to attend to. Please bear the inconvenience and accompany Fushou Junzhu,” Yao Jiamin firmly held Yao Wenyin, preventing her from making a sound.
Tian Shan looked at the scene before her in confusion and chose to remain silent cautiously.
“Wu wu wu wu…”
Yao Wenyin: That’s not what I meant!
However, her resistance was futile. Yao Jiamin had martial arts training since childhood, and although she didn’t dare to provoke Hua Liuli, there was no problem dragging Yao Wenyin onto the carriage.
After getting on the carriage, Yao Wenyin pulled Yao Jiamin’s hand away, “Jiamin, what are you doing?!”
“My dear cousin, if you trust me, then please don’t speak now,” Yao Jiamin put her finger to her lips, made a “shh” gesture, turned around, and leaned out of the carriage, facing the Crown Prince who was sitting on horseback, “Cousin, we’ll go ahead.”
“Alright,” the Crown Prince nodded elegantly at her, “Be careful on the way.”
His little cousin has finally grown up to be sensible.
Yao Jiamin let down the curtain of the carriage and urged the coachman to hurry, not wanting to stay for a moment.
She had never experienced the Crown Prince’s gentle and pleasant demeanor before, so she was deeply moved.
“Sister Jiamin,” Tian Shan opened the window curtain and glanced outside. After confirming that they were already at a distance from the Crown Prince, she cautiously spoke, “Is the Crown Prince interested in Fushou Junzhu…?”
Yao Jiamin silently nodded.
Yao Wenyin and Tian Shan involuntarily revealed sympathetic expressions — not sympathizing with the Crown Prince, but sympathizing with Hua Liuli.
“Fushou Junzhu is a good person, how could she…”
Yao Jiaminturned her head to look at Yao Wenyin, her eyebrows tightly furrowed. Little cousin, say it again, who is a good person?! What kind of spell did Hua Liuli cast on you to completely change your perception of her?
In fact, it was not surprising that Tian Shan and Yao Wenyin had such a reaction. They were both young ladies who had been raised in a noble household since childhood. They didn’t need to be sent into the palace by their families in exchange for wealth and glory, so they didn’t have much desire to marry into the imperial palace.
The Crown Prince was unparalleled in appearance. He was talented in both civil and martial affairs, which undoubtedly captured the hearts of countless young ladies. But no matter how good-looking and capable he was, it couldn’t escape the fact that he had a bad temper and a sharp tongue.
Who among them was not highly esteemed? How could they withstand the invisible killings from the Crown Prince’s mouth?
It was said that even the palace consorts had no way to deal with the Crown Prince, let alone young girls like them who lacked strong combat power.
From their perspective, the weak and sickly Fushou Junzhu being pursued by the Crown Prince was undoubtedly like a lamb entering a tiger’s den. It would do more harm than good.
Seeing the expressions of the two young sisters, Yao Jiamin hesitated to speak. Honestly, she wasn’t really worried about Hua Liuli; she was more concerned about the Crown Prince.
But the truth often resided in the hands of a few individuals. Even if she revealed the truth, there wouldn’t be many who would believe it.
Hua Liuli couldn’t understand. The Crown Prince wasn’t a man-eating tiger, so why was Yao Jiamin so afraid of him? The Crown Prince had been very kind to their family. Last time, when she helped Princess Shunan resolve a conflict, the Crown Prince not only didn’t expose her, but also had her go to a small room to clean the rouge from her palms.
Just because the Crown Prince held a prestigious position, they had to treat him like this? Wasn’t it going too far?
She looked up at the lonely Crown Prince sitting on his horse and smiled at him, bowing slightly, “Thank you, Your Royal Highness.”
“I’m glad to help, it’s not a bother,” the Crown Prince dismounted and tossed the reins to the attendant behind him, then said to his guards, “Gu will be with Fushou Junzhu, you can follow behind.”
The guards glanced at the several people from the Daimao Kingdom and bowed, “Yes.”
Although it didn’t go as expected and there was an unidentified young master with them, at least Fushou Junzhu was willing to talk with them in detail. They respectfully led the people to a well-known restaurant in the capital.
To show their sincerity, the table was set lavishly.
“Some of the ingredients were prepared by us, but the dishes made by our country’s cook may not suit the Junzhu‘s taste, so we asked the head cook of this restaurant to make them,” He Yuanting explained, implying that they wouldn’t tamper with the food in any way.
Hua Liuli pretended not to hear the implication and ordered Yuan Yi and Yurong to serve the dishes.
Yuan Yi walked to Hua Liuli’s side and served her a bite of food. After Hua Liuli tasted it, Yurong picked the same dish and placed it in the Crown Prince’s bowl.
After a few bites, Hua Liuli had already tasted all the dishes in front of her. She wiped the corner of her mouth and smiled, “Third Prince is too polite. These dishes are truly delicious in terms of appearance, aroma, and taste.”
She raised her hand to her maid and said, “No need to serve me, I can handle it myself.”
“Yes,” Yuan Yi stepped aside. The Crown Prince glanced at Yurong, raised his hand to dismiss her, then turned to Hua Liuli and said, “However, this venison tendon is a bit old compared to the flavorful one you had at my place last time.”
Hua Liuli smiled, “The cook at the Young Master’s residence is truly exceptional; the outside cooks are far from comparable.”
The envoys from the Daimao Kingdom felt a bit embarrassed upon hearing this, but they still smiled and praised the cook of the noble young master’s household, even though they didn’t know who this person was.
Despite the efforts of the Daimao Kingdom envoys to liven up the atmosphere, the meal was awkward due to the noble young master’s occasional provocations, making the atmosphere quite tense.
“Junzhu, I offer you a toast,” He Yuanting raised his wine cup and drank it all in one gulp.
“Third Prince, you may not know, but our family’s Junzhu has a weak constitution and always carries medicine with her. She can’t drink the wine,” the Crown Prince picked up the wine cup in front of Hua Liuli, spun it in his hand, and poured it into the nearby tea bowl.
The wine mixed with the tea emitted a somewhat strange aroma.
Seeing their Third Prince personally offering a toast, only to be rejected like this, the faces of the envoys turned extremely ugly, but they could only endure in silence.
He Yuanting blushed and looked at Hua Liuli with an apologetic expression, “I’m sorry, I was not aware of this,” After saying that, he beckoned a maidservant and had her bring a cup of water for Hua Liuli.
Hua Liuli picked up the cup and sniffed it lightly at the tip of her nose. She then raised the cup and said to He Yuanting, “As a weak and sickly girl, I have inherent illnesses that cannot be remedied. If I have offended you in any way, I hope Your Highness will forgive me.”
“No, no, it’s my negligence,” He Yuanting’s cheeks grew even redder. Seeing Hua Liuli take a sip of water, he quickly poured himself a full cup of wine and drank it all in one gulp again.
After two cups of strong wine, He Yuanting’s fair cheeks and neck were tinged with a faint blush. Hua Liuli smiled and glanced at him a little more.
The Crown Prince noticed Hua Liuli’s gaze. He lowered his eyelids slightly and calmly asked, “Your Highness invited our family’s Junzhu for what reason?”
He Yuanting explained his intentions once again. outwardly apologizing, On the surface, it was an apology, but in reality, he wanted to understand why the Hua family refused their gifts.
“Third Prince, as I mentioned earlier, it’s not that our estate looks down on your country’s gifts, but rather that our estate knows we are not worthy of such generous offerings, so we sent them back,” Hua Liuli’s gaze swept over Liu Mingshi sitting beside her, and mockingly smiled, “After all, my mother is just a shameless female general who shows her face everywhere. How can she deserve your country’s gifts?”
“Where does this statement come from?” He Yuanting felt confused.
Liu Mingshi, who was sitting in the corner, had a change of expression. He suddenly looked up at Hua Liuli, feeling anxious and unsure. Could it be that what he said in the teahouse that day reached the ears of Fushou Junzhu?
He felt extremely flustered. He was afraid that Fushou Junzhu would mention that incident in front of the Third Prince, but at the same time, he secretly prayed that Fushou Junzhu didn’t know that it was he who spoke that day.
He kept his head down, feeling the gaze of Fushou Junzhu on him.
The more she gazed at him, the less he dared to raise his head.
“Hmm,” Seeing Liu Daren‘s conduct, Hua Liuli stood up and said, “Instead of apologizing to me, Your Highness, why not manage the people around you? Fortunately, they targeted my mother, who has always been magnanimous and unwilling to dwell on such trivial matters. If you were to target our Emperor or the Crown Prince, I would suspect that your country intends to provoke conflict with our Great Jin.”
This Liu Daren made such a big mistake and, at a critical moment, was thinking of evading responsibility rather than making amends. This type of person could actually hold the position of Daimao’s crown prince tutor and come here as their envoy.
From this, it could be seen that the internal affairs of the Daimao Kingdom were not in good shape.
“Our country has no such intention!” He Yuanting was shocked and quickly said, “Our country has always admired the benevolence and wisdom of the Great Jin Emperor. How could we have any intention of offending your country?”
At this point, how could he not understand that one of his subordinates or guards must have spoken carelessly, allowing someone to overhear and pass it onto Fushou Junzhu‘s ears?
“I don’t know which arrogant person is spouting nonsense. If Junzhu knows who it is, please inform me. I will punish them severely and not protect them,” He Yuanting made up his mind. If Hua Liuli pointed out the person, in order to resolve this conflict, he would execute them on the spot, even if he would be reluctant to do so.
The room fell into silence. Liu Mingshi and the other two young officials turned pale, not daring to make a sound.
Time passed slowly; Liu Mingshi felt as if a long time had already passed.
“Never mind, since it’s a misunderstanding, there’s no need to mention it again,” Hua Liuli’s gaze swept back and forth over the envoys several times, and she chuckled, her smile innocent, “Third Prince, there’s no need to be so nervous.”
This kind of official cultivated a crown prince for their nation. Why bother killing him?