Chapter 79
Chapter 79
“I’m jealous,” Xie Chengze muttered. He was about to ask whether Su Qinghe could enter the palace often and bring him pastries in the future when he noticed that Su Qinghe had somehow drifted into a daze.
His vague, moonlike eyes were fixed on the pastry crumbs scattered across the tea table. He did not even notice Xie Chengze and Sheng Yiren looking at him.
At last, as though unable to endure it any longer, he took out a handkerchief and cleared away the crumbs on the table and around the plates. Only then did he release an almost imperceptible breath of relief.
“Pfft.” Xie Chengze could not hold back a laugh.
At the sound, Su Qinghe flinched and hastily withdrew his handkerchief. Realizing that Xie Chengze had witnessed what he had done, he quickly lowered his head and sat properly, his entire bearing growing fearful again.
Xie Chengze’s eyes curved with laughter. The more he laughed, the lower Su Qinghe’s head sank. The grievances of the past and the present fright surged over Su Qinghe in relentless waves. His fear of the Second Prince pushed him close to a nervous breakdown. He wished he could simply faint and be done with it.
At last, unable to hold back, two tears fell with soft plops onto his robe, leaving two conspicuous damp spots.
Xie Chengze: !!!
Wait! Buddy! Why are you crying?!
Su Qinghe had not expected to be frightened to tears either. He hurriedly raised his sleeve to wipe them away and tried to explain, only for a sob to escape before any words, making him sound as though he were pouting coyly at someone –
Su Qinghe’s vision went dark. His already bleak life had become an endless tunnel with no light in sight.
He was going to die! How could he disgrace himself like this before the Second Prince?
Xie Chengze panicked as well. No matter how terrible his reputation was, surely Su Qinghe could not despise him so much that merely sitting beside him brought the man to tears?!
Besides, this was nothing like Su Qinghe’s characterization in the novel!
Could Su Qinghe have been reborn too and believe Xie Chengze was still that vicious, ruthless Second Prince? No – that made no sense. If Su Qinghe had also been reborn, he would surely have joined forces with Shen Yuan long ago. How could he remain an obscure nobody?
Then what exactly was wrong?
Xie Chengze racked his brain. All at once, he remembered one crucial detail.
Wait – could it be…?!
Eunuch Zhao?!
Xie Chengze carefully sorted through the facts. Su Qinghe had first been summoned to the palace as an unspoken candidate for Princess Consort. If Eunuch Zhao had privately told Su Qinghe the truth, all his strange behavior made sense!
As a man of the Su family, he feared becoming the future Second Princess Consort and being ridiculed for it. That was why he had been too frightened to rise at their first meeting: afraid to reveal his beauty and attract the Second Prince’s interest, afraid to display his talents and win the prince’s approval, and even more afraid that once he was summoned to the palace, outsiders would assume his becoming Princess Consort was a foregone conclusion…
So Su Qinghe did not despise him. He was afraid of “marrying” him!
Well! What a mess this had become!
Xie Chengze quickly reached out and placed a hand on Su Qinghe’s shoulder. “Young Master Su, do not misunderstand. I was not so eager to see you because I meant to marry you!”
“Cough, cough – ” At the side, Sheng Yiren nearly choked on her own saliva. She stared at Xie Chengze in shock.
Was she hearing things? What had His Highness just said?!
Marry?! Marry whom? Su Qinghe??? Those two had never had anything to do with each other before!
Su Qinghe also raised his head in bewildered shock. The tears that had just welled up clung precariously to the corners of his eyes, reflecting Xie Chengze’s helpless face.
“Did Eunuch Zhao tell you that you were a candidate for Princess Consort?” Xie Chengze said in exasperation. “He and Father are worrying over nothing. I merely joked once that I liked men, and they actually sent me portraits of every marriageable – no, every eligible man in the capital. To get them off my back, I pointed at you at random.”
Su Qinghe: …
Su Qinghe: ???
He sat frozen in the wooden chair, unable to recover for a long time. When the meaning finally sank in, his fair, gentle face flushed scarlet.
Thinking back carefully, the Second Prince had indeed never lost his temper with him. Every meeting had begun with the prince telling him to rise, and every question had been the same polite small talk as their first encounter. Even when the prince knew he had feigned illness to avoid entering the palace, he had merely sent tonics rather than compel him, then devised another plan to lure him into a meeting…
And if the prince truly looked down on him, he would never have eaten the pastries Su Qinghe had made with his own hands.
So…
He had misunderstood the Second Prince all along? And he had spent so long feeling wronged and terrified over nothing?!
He blinked lightly, and the trembling tear finally slid down. Su Qinghe hurriedly wiped it away with his sleeve, using the motion to hide his shamefully burning cheeks. “I see. This commoner misunderstood.”
Seeing the gloom vanish from Su Qinghe, Xie Chengze finally relaxed. “Good. I’m glad we cleared that up. Every time you saw me, you looked ready to shatter. It made me terribly uncomfortable.”
Ready to shatter?
Understanding his meaning, Su Qinghe could not help laughing softly. What a peculiar yet fitting description.
With the atmosphere finally eased, Xie Chengze turned to Sheng Yiren and addressed the real business. “I did come to you for a reason. Merchants are always well-informed. Find out for me whether any mountains in Yuzhou, Yunzhou, or Liaozhou have ever caught fire on their own, or have black soil at the surface and grow especially hot in summer.”
After returning to the capital, he had made a special trip to examine a map of Jian’an’s realm. If Yizhou had the Min River and Yuzhou had Mount Wangwu and Mount Taihang, then Yuzhou, Yunzhou, and Liaozhou might very well contain coal deposits…
Xie Chengze did not know where the Jian’an Dynasty’s coal deposits lay. From his own world, the only coal-rich regions he remembered were Shanxi, Jiaozuo, and Hegang, which corresponded precisely to Yunzhou, Yuzhou, and Liaozhou. Whether he could actually find coal would depend entirely on luck.
Though puzzled, Sheng Yiren carefully committed the request to memory. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“Also…” Xie Chengze hesitated.
Noticing his reluctance, Sheng Yiren’s expression brightened, and she said with a smile, “Please speak freely, Your Highness. If this commoner can accomplish it, I will spare no effort.”
You said it!
Xie Chengze immediately took a mile when offered an inch. “I want to establish a long-range merchant expedition, pass through Tubo, and continue westward in search of other peoples. While spreading the civilization of the Jian’an Dynasty, the expedition can also look for new staple crops that improve ordinary lives. But the Minister of Rites seems most unwilling to shoulder the task. Why don’t you persuade your father to whisper a few words in his ear? If that still fails, simply kick the man out and let your father take his place!”
“Cough, cough, cough – ” Sheng Yiren broke into another fit of coughing and stared at Xie Chengze. “Your Highness, you – you – ”
How did the Second Prince know her father was the Vice Minister of Rites?! And when had he discovered that she was a woman disguised as a man?! Only Su Qinghe knew that!
Xie Chengze blinked. His upturned little face looked all innocence and purity, yet somehow brimmed with cunning. “What is the matter?”
Surely you do not mean to keep concealing your identity, young lady, and thereby commit the crime of deceiving your sovereign?
Sheng Yiren: …
Seeing Sheng Yiren’s reluctance, Xie Chengze imitated her tone from moments ago and declaimed emphatically, “Please speak freely, Your Highness! If this commoner can accomplish it, I will spare no effort!”
Sheng Yiren: …
This was too much! Why was the Second Prince’s true personality like this? He was nothing like the man she had seen before!
On the verge of tears, Sheng Yiren tried to decline. “This commoner woman is merely a weak woman. How could I interfere in court affairs? The moment I spoke, Father would probably rebuke me for meddling in matters that do not concern me.”
“That doesn’t matter. Aren’t you a merchant? You should understand.” Xie Chengze treated it as no obstacle at all. “This has nothing to do with being a man or a woman. If you cannot persuade him, that merely proves your offer is insufficient.”
With a thoroughly wicked grin, he advised, “Whoever occupies the post of Minister of Rites is decided by a few words from me. If the current minister refuses, I’ll simply put someone else in the seat!”
Sheng Yiren: ?
Are you certain that is an offer and not a threat???
“This commoner woman will try!” Sheng Yiren had no choice but to agree. Besides, she was curious what lay beyond Tubo to the west. If the long-range merchant expedition truly came together, perhaps she could take part, seize the first business opportunities, and become famous in one stroke.
By the time they finished discussing the details of the expedition, night had fallen. Only then did Xie Chengze rise to take his leave. “That will be all for today. I am returning to the palace.”
Remembering something, Sheng Yiren kindly warned him, “Your Highness, the palace gates are already locked. Can you still get inside?”
“Oh,” Xie Chengze said. “A trivial matter. My guards possess exceptional martial arts. They can carry me over the wall and back into the palace.”
Sheng Yiren: …
Your Highness truly pays no mind to trifling rules!
Sheng Yiren and Su Qinghe rose to see him off. At the doorway, Xie Chengze suddenly remembered something and hurried back to the tea table. After clearing his throat twice, he asked, “May I take this?”
Sheng Yiren and Su Qinghe looked over and saw him pointing at the redwood food box.
Why did he want the box?
Though puzzled, Su Qinghe nodded. “As Your Highness wishes.”
Xie Chengze immediately flashed a toothy smile, swiftly packed the plates of pastries into the redwood box, and left humming a cheerful tune.
Sheng Yiren and Su Qinghe: …
It seemed His Highness the Second Prince truly did love sweets!