Chapter 147
Chapter 147
Shengsheng Zhou sat cross-legged, eyes narrowed as she basked in the sun, occasionally accepting fruit from the young eunuch feeding her. No wonder a certain someone had enjoyed this treatment so much.
It turned out the lazy devil had been me all along.
Shengsheng smiled with pursed lips and said lazily, “Xiaobaizi, no more honey tangerines. This princess wants an apple.”
Before long, a cool piece of apple was offered to her lips. Shengsheng opened her mouth and accepted it as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Only after eating two or three pieces did she sense something amiss.
Wait. Had Xiaobaizi’s sleeves always smelled of ink?
Shengsheng’s eyes flew open. The sunlight stabbed them, but that did not stop her from seeing a broad-shouldered, tall man utterly unlike Xiaobaizi.
Startled, Shengsheng jerked upright, nearly flailing straight into the man’s chest.
Compared with the blue robes she was accustomed to seeing, Weiqing Song possessed a different charm in white.
His warm, handsome face, already like the finest jade, became a breath of clear wind against those white robes, its splendor rich as brocade.
“Imperial Brother…” Shengsheng rose from the couch. The three young eunuchs who had been serving her were now kneeling on the floor, trembling.
Weiqing watched the person who had been lazing like a cat suddenly transform into a pitiful little rabbit.
Her petal-soft lips protruded slightly, as though she felt terribly wronged.
Holding a piece of apple skewered on a pick, Weiqing feigned confusion. “You don’t want any more? Your apple.”
“Or… has the sight of your Imperial Brother spoiled your appetite?” He advanced step by step, forcing Shengsheng back several paces before stopping.
Shengsheng’s eyes darted about. Damn it. If only she had not sent Suo Luo to the imperial kitchen.
“Imperial Brother… did you need something from Sheng’er?” Shengsheng glanced at him quickly, but when she found his gaze fixed tightly upon her, she swiftly lowered her eyes again.
She resembled a cat pretending innocence after stealing a taste of something forbidden.
“Naturally, I came to visit my imperial sister,” Weiqing replied with equal innocence, placing the apple in his own mouth.
And the pick was the very one Shengsheng had used earlier.
Shengsheng wondered what wire in his head had crossed. What happened to their mutual dislike?
“Now that Imperial Brother has seen me, you know Sheng’er is perfectly well. You’re busy with government affairs, so you should hurry back to the Eastern Palace.” Shengsheng smiled sweetly, the red mole on her left cheek especially conspicuous in the light.
Weiqing glanced at it, then looked away and asked Jian Zhang behind him, “Do I have any urgent business?”
Jian lowered his eyes meekly. “Your Highness has not yet eaten lunch.”
Weiqing nodded and gave him an approving look. “Then I shall have lunch here with my imperial sister.”
Shengsheng: I truly have to thank you for that.
“Unfortunately, Imperial Brother, Sheng’er has already eaten.” She had just begun making a gesture inviting him to leave–
When Cui’er, a palace maid from Shuanglin Palace, led in servants from the imperial kitchen carrying food boxes. She froze at the crowded courtyard, then immediately knelt when she saw Weiqing.
“Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
Weiqing smiled gently, like a spring breeze. “Rise.”
Then he gave the embarrassed Shengsheng a meaningful look and thoughtfully found an excuse for her. “It is merely a second lunch. My imperial sister is still growing. I understand.”
Confusion replaced the blush on Cui’er’s face. She could not understand what the Crown Prince meant. When had the princess eaten lunch already?
Shengsheng drew a silent breath.
Did she truly have to eat this meal personally?
The answer was, of course, yes.
Shengsheng Zhou was still unaccustomed to seeing Weiqing Song eat with elegant refinement across from her. She had always stood beside him and served his meals before. This was her first time watching him eat face-to-face.
Zhen Kingdom’s royal family observed the rule of speaking neither at meals nor in bed, so neither of them said a word throughout the meal.
The palace attendants around them performed every task in complete silence, without the slightest sound.
Looking at the plump, translucent grains of rice in her bowl, Shengsheng’s thoughts began to wander.
When she had been a palace maid, the personality she showed the world was mostly gentle, dignified, and well-mannered. She never initiated arguments and was practically a walking, assembly-line palace maid template.
But now that she was a princess, she no longer had to pretend so much. Revealing her true nature was the entire point of reincarnating!
More importantly, only by revealing a nature completely unlike her former image could she avoid exposing herself!
Shengsheng Zhou, you are my goddess!
She placed her left hand over her chest and inclined her neck naturally, reciting those words inwardly. Then, under Weiqing’s baffled gaze, she slapped down her silver chopsticks.
The silently working attendants jumped, and even Weiqing raised a brow at her.
Shengsheng smiled warmly. “Imperial Brother, after lunch, will you play with Sheng’er?”
Weiqing was surprised. If this person were Shengsheng, she would avoid him at all costs. Why would she provoke him voluntarily?
Though puzzled, he asked calmly, “Play what?”
Shengsheng gave him an innocent smile. “Imperial Brother, will you play horsey with me? You be the horse, and I’ll ride you.”
If Jian Zhang’s expression-management training had not nearly reached mastery, he would have cracked on the spot.
Weiqing suddenly turned and glanced at him.
Jian read an entire sentence from that look.
It’s confirmed. This is definitely her.
According to the records Jian had worked day and night to uncover, at the same time Shengsheng died, Mosheng Song–who had been drooling witlessly while playing with a pellet drum in her palace–suddenly collapsed without warning.
Two hours later, she awoke able to speak like a human and had even acquired the ability that most fundamentally distinguished humans from animals: using tools.
When a palace maid hurried over with an imperial physician to examine the newly awakened Mosheng Song, his freshly lucid little sister had been standing on a stool, studying how to use a foot of white silk hanging from the beam to strangle herself.
Of course, how Mosheng Song evolved from animal to human was not important.
What mattered was that during Mosheng Song’s first seventeen years, her face had been completely smooth, without a single conspicuous mole.
After Jian applied a little seduction to the young palace maid who discovered Mosheng’s awakening, she told him firmly that the red mole had appeared only after the princess awoke. Blushing, she then asked whether he would accept her embroidered purse. When Jian sternly refused, the bold young maid hugged his arm and pulled off her own sash…
My apologies, everyone. I have digressed.
In summary, using Ms. Shengsheng Zhou’s method of calculation, he suspected there was an eighty-percent chance Mosheng Song was his former menace of a palace maid.
Now, then, it was time to see which of them could out-pervert the other.
“All right.”
Shengsheng watched him hesitate for only an instant before smiling and agreeing.
Shengsheng: ???
I don’t understand, but I am deeply shocked?!