Chapter 191
Chapter 191
Shengsheng Zhou excused herself while the Emperor spoke with the Fifth Princess.
She had no idea what the two discussed. When the Fifth Princess emerged, her eyes were as red and swollen as peaches.
From that day on, Shengsheng noticed that she seemed to change. Before, the Fifth Princess had been at a loss whenever Shengsheng approached. Now, she actually began trying to speak to Shengsheng of her own accord.
“Sixth Sister…” The Fifth Princess twisted her handkerchief and called in a tiny voice.
Shengsheng pricked up her ears and leaned closer. “What did you say, Fifth Sister?!”
Communication between the two remained somewhat difficult.
Only with the help of the Fifth Princess’s personal maid, a woman exceptionally skilled at reading lips, did Shengsheng understand what she wanted.
The Fifth Princess wanted Shengsheng to help her overcome her social anxiety. (Unless the narrator was mistaken, Shengsheng had taught her the term “social anxiety” in the first place.)
Shengsheng nearly wept with joy.
“That’s easy. Go outside, grab a random consort, and bump her with your butt. Before she gets angry, tap yourself on the head, stick out your tongue, and say adorably, ‘Whoops, sorry! I saw such a fresh little cabbage and couldn’t help myself.’ That’s all.”
The palace maid: “…!?”
The Fifth Princess: Guess why I have social anxiety.
Seeing mistress and servant stare at her in identical disbelief, Shengsheng blinked.
“Hmm… Is that too difficult?”
A-Pang: *You could demonstrate for them first. Show them what it looks like when a lunatic is discharged from the asylum.*
Shengsheng sneered. *Who am I doing this mission for?*
A-Pang guiltily pulled his head back. *Grandpa Zhou.*
*Good grandson.* Shengsheng stroked his head and gave an evil grin.
The Fifth Princess stared at the beautiful young woman patting her shoulder and sank into contemplation.
Had she just made a mistake that would alter the course of her entire life?
“Don’t worry. Leave everything to yours truly, Lei Feng Dumbledore.” Shengsheng patted her chest and guaranteed it.
At the State Preceptor’s Residence:
“What are you doing?”
Zhiyu Jiang looked at the youth before her.
He wore an utterly unremarkable gray servant’s robe, yet not even such an ordinary color could conceal his striking appearance.
The youth had raised his head and was looking at the goldfish wind chime tinkling in the wind.
His long, clean neck was elegant without losing its sensuality. The slight prominence of his Adam’s apple lent him an ambiguity poised somewhere between youth and manhood.
“Hmm?” Hearing Zhiyu’s voice, he turned his head.
In profile, his expression looked languid and vaguely indolent, carrying a fleeting, almost demonic allure. Then he blinked, and it vanished.
Before her stood the same impossibly pure and delicate youth as ever.
“Master, I was listening to the wind chime.” He lowered his eyes and replied obediently.
Confusion flashed through Zhiyu’s gaze.
Had that been an illusion?
Other than the Noble Consort, she had never seen anyone else give off such an unfathomable, distant sense of weary displeasure.
But the Noble Consort no longer felt that way.
For one instant just now, this person had resembled Fusheng Duan before he was with Shengsheng.
Concealing the emotion in her eyes, Zhiyu walked closer and tilted her head slightly to look at the youth, who stood a full head taller than she did. “Shengsheng gave this to me. If you like it, I can give you a wind chime too.”
Xiaosui shook his head and smiled rather shyly. “Thank you, Master.”
“But there is no need.”
He lowered his gaze to Zhiyu. His eyes were deep, while the harmless smile remained on his lips. “I don’t like having the same things as other people.”
The instant he finished, he continued, “His Highness the Crown Prince has summoned you to discuss official business. Shall I accompany you?”
Zhiyu Jiang stepped back and shook her head.
Under Xiaosui’s slightly surprised gaze, she patted his shoulder. “Stay here and watch the residence.”
After speaking, she jealously compared their heights. “Standing beside you makes me look like a tiny stump.”
Xiaosui: “…”
He did not need to make her look like a tiny stump. She already was one.
…
Shengsheng Zhou yawned. The Fifth Princess’s personal maid, Xiaogong, stood beside her with an anxious expression.
Not far away beneath a tree, the Fifth Princess stood stiff as a board. A young eunuch waited a short distance from her.
At his feet lay a handkerchief Shengsheng had “accidentally” tossed over.
The Fifth Princess, who owned that handkerchief, had one mission: retrieve her property from the young eunuch!
The young eunuch had already stood there for two hours.
Shengsheng had arranged for this “passerby” to come by specially.
His task was to wait until the Fifth Princess approached, then help her pick up the handkerchief.
But folks,
why in the world was the Fifth Princess staring at the bushes instead of him?
My dear grandaunt, look at me! Your favorite handkerchief is still lying on the ground. It’s about to dry out in the wind!!
The Fifth Princess twisted the hem of her skirt and stared fixedly at the bushes.
Ah~ How wonderful would it be if she could bury her head in there?
Seeing that the situation was unlikely to progress, Shengsheng spat out the sunflower-seed shell in her mouth and stood.
Xiaogong quickly followed when she walked over.
“Fifth Sister.”
At Shengsheng’s voice, the Fifth Princess returned to herself with an expression that said, *Your sister can’t do it. Your sister wants to go back to her palace.*
Shengsheng knew this was asking too much of her, so she relaxed the requirements.
“How about this? Give him some silver as a reward for today, and we’ll call the mission complete.”
The Fifth Princess nodded and held out a hand.
Shengsheng blinked innocently and lied without blushing. “Your little sister doesn’t have any silver.”
The Fifth Princess glanced at the bulging purse at her waist and looked suspicious.
In the end, the Fifth Princess lost to Shengsheng’s shamelessness. She took out her own silver and walked over one step at a time.
When the young eunuch saw the purse in her hand, his heart surged with excitement.
But after only a few steps, the Fifth Princess stopped. A moderate distance remained between them.
The young eunuch grew anxious and could not resist stepping forward, only for Shengsheng’s vicious glare to force him back.
The Fifth Princess looked down at the purse, then at the eunuch.
At last, she simply tossed it. The purse sailed through the air in a perfect arc toward him.
Joy rose in the young eunuch’s heart. He stretched out his hands, ready to receive this heavy and deeply gratifying reward.
But he never expected–
someone to be faster!
His vision blurred as a pale-yellow figure flashed past.
The purse that should have belonged to him landed squarely in that person’s arms.
The young eunuch stared at Shengsheng, who had stolen his purse: (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)
Xiaogong and the Fifth Princess: “…”
Weighing the purse in her hand, Shengsheng slapped that same hand in frustration. “Damn you, you money-grubbing thing.”
This truly was not her fault. She had never intended to steal from him, but her body moved a step ahead of her brain. By the time she realized what happened, she had already lunged like a dog chasing a flying disc.
To compensate for the young eunuch’s wounded heart, Shengsheng paid him an additional reward from her own pocket.
Spend money to erase social death.
I really do thank you.