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Chapter 19 - Xiao Nong: This is a reward for you
The scene in front of him darkened, and a familiar cold breath hit him in the face. Zhong Yansheng's eyelashes trembled, and his hair stood on end. In an instant, countless panicked thoughts flashed through his mind.
Am I going to be discovered?
Will it bring trouble to the Marquis' Mansion?
Will Xiao Nong also coldly ask Zhan Rong to cut off his fingers like he did to Meng Qiping?
It could also be a more horrible treatment.
After all, the bite marks on Xiao Nong's neck were still clearly visible, clearly showing his guilt.
The sword that was held to my throat when we first met flashed through my mind, as did the bloodshot eyes that looked at me with murderous intent in the dim room.
The small garden was filled with the fragrance of flowers, and the floating aroma was mixed with a faint smell of blood. Meng Qiping's mouth was covered, and the slight whimpering sound came into his ears from time to time. The man who was so arrogant just now collapsed like a puddle of mud.
Zhong Yansheng couldn't help but shrink back.
The next moment, he gritted his teeth and simply knelt down.
"Meet His Royal Highness Prince Ding."
Zhong Yansheng lowered his head and lowered his voice even more. His voice, which was already hoarse due to the cold, seemed even hoarser. "Just now, I was in a hurry and borrowed your reputation. I hope your Highness will forgive me."
He tried hard to think, but hadn't figured out how to respond to Xiao Nong's order to take off his veil. He could only pretend that he didn't hear it, skipped this one, and answered Xiao Nong's previous sentence.
The man in front of him knelt down with a plop, spoke trembling, and trembled uncontrollably. Xiao Nong frowned and wanted to reach out to pick him up, but a gust of wind happened to blow, and a terrifying breath came from Zhong Yansheng.
The scent of flowers and blood floating around just now temporarily covered up this smell.
It's the rich, gaudy, choking smell of low-quality perfume.
Xiao Nong had a keen sense of smell, and the horrible aroma hit him in the face unexpectedly. He was choked and almost sneezed. He retracted his half-extended hand, frowned, half-closed his eyes, and stared at the person kneeling in front of him.
The scent of his little bird is like the hazy and moist orchid fragrance, he would never use such a vulgar and strong fragrance.
His figure is not as slender as Yuan Yuan's, and is slightly bloated.
Zhong Yansheng raised his eyes quietly and noticed that Xiao Nong seemed to be disgusted by the smell of perfume on his body and did not come closer to him again, and he felt relieved.
Fortunately, he had been feeling uneasy these days and had taken some precautions. He asked Yun Cheng to buy a large jar of scented powder for a few cents, and then applied a lot of it on his body before going out, just in case.
It's smart to plan ahead and have a long-term vision!
Zhong Yansheng was very happy in his heart, thinking that he had escaped a disaster, but unexpectedly, Xiao Nong's cold and low voice came from above his head again: "Can't you hear me? I told you to take off your veil."
Zhong Yansheng's heart trembled, but fortunately Xiao Nong's next sentence was not "Cut off the ears if you don't need them anymore." He swallowed his saliva, and after racking his brain for so long, he finally managed to find a reason: "Your Highness, I... have an infection on my face, which may be contagious, so I wear a veil to cover it. I dare not let Your Highness take the risk."
Zhan Rong wiped the blood off the sword with a towel and looked at the person kneeling on the ground in surprise.
He didn’t take off his veil and hat as soon as he was told to. It was the second time he saw someone dare to disobey the prince's order.
Unfortunately, the prince doesn't have that much patience for anyone other than the young master.
But this person is also unlucky.
The prince has looked for dozens of "Yuan Yuan" in the past few days. This is not the first person to be suspected, but this is the first person who ran into the prince when his headache was recurring, and he was in a very bad mood.
As expected, seeing that Zhong Yansheng did not take off his hat, Xiao Nong's face turned cold. He put his hand on the sword at his waist, and with a clang, the sword was unsheathed.
Hearing the clanging sound of the weapon being unsheathed, Zhong Yansheng's pupils shrank, and his mind went blank in an instant.
Your Highness Prince Ding wants to... kill him?
A chilling feeling of fear suddenly ran through his body. Zhong Yansheng's eyes turned red. He almost blurted out "brother" when a chaotic sound of footsteps came from not far away. A voice came closer and closer: "Ha, Prince Ding doesn't like to appreciate flowers, so why did he come to my garden? And he stained this garden with blood!"
Zhong Yansheng was startled when he heard the voice. He passed Xiao Nong and saw that many people were coming one after another on the path he had come from before. The person in the lead looked to be in his thirties. He wore a black jade hair crown and a bright red python robe. He had a very flamboyant aura. He glanced at the scene in this corner and his expression was difficult to read.
The group of people who followed behind also saw Meng Qiping with blood on his hands and their faces were pale.
Yun Cheng was also among them.
Zhong Yansheng blinked slowly, then realized that when he came here before, he had instructed Yun Cheng to come and inform him if anything happened.
I guess when Yun Cheng came to call him, he realized something was wrong and ran to find someone.
The sword above his head hung motionless. Under extreme tension, Zhong Yansheng actually squeezed out a moment of leisure to think. The one who hosted the flower-fighting banquet today was Princess De. If he guessed correctly, this person should be Prince De.
Last year, His Majesty urgently summoned several princes to the capital, and His Royal Highness Prince De was one of them. It is said that not only does his mother's family have great influence, but he is also quite favored and has a good chance of inheriting the throne - if His Royal Highness Prince Ding has no objection to this.
Suddenly a lot of people came. Xiao Nong paused the tip of his sword, avoided the veil, changed direction, and lightly picked up the bunch of pomegranate flowers that Zhong Yansheng had pinned on the veil. He didn't know how he used the strength, but he lightly picked up the bunch of pomegranate flowers that Zhong Yansheng had pinned on the veil and put it into his hand.
The movements were clean and neat, without any drag, and the sight of him wielding the sword and picking up the flower was very pleasing to the eye.
The surroundings suddenly became even more silent.
If the atmosphere wasn't wrong, Zhan Rong would almost want to applaud the prince.
What a hooligan!
In previous years, the guests invited to the Flower Competition Banquet were young sons of powerful and wealthy families and their young women, and the meaning was self-evident.
The flowers brought to the banquet are not just for showing off and competing with each other, they also have another use - according to the custom of the flower-duel banquet in the capital, if two people fall in love with each other at the banquet, they can give the flowers they brought to each other.
Flowers are more than just flowers, they have deep meanings.
The young master brought flowers, but before he had time to give them to any female member of the family, Prince Ding got there first.
When Zhong Yansheng felt a lightness on his head, he didn't react for a moment.
Wasn't he going to be killed?
When his distracted consciousness returned, he panicked and thought that the veil had been taken off. When he realized that the white gauze in front of him had not disappeared, he stared at Xiao Nong in a daze again.
The tall man in front of him lowered his eyes, completely ignoring the Prince De who was shouting at him from behind. He looked calm and composed, holding a bunch of gorgeous pomegranate flowers in his hand. His slender fingers moved slowly and steadily, kneading the fiery red petals, adding some charm to his appearance, but his expression was extremely indifferent.
Compared to the evil spirit with heavy troops at his command, he looks more like a leisurely prince.
The moment he saw the pomegranate flower clearly, Zhong Yansheng opened his eyes wide in shock and his ears began to feel hot.
Xiao Nong's leisurely and unhurried manner of kneading made some bad images vaguely flash through his mind.
The moonlight was dim, and through the low-hanging veil, his chest felt both painful and numb, and had been rubbed until it was as red as a pomegranate.
The finger that was playing tricks on him was the one that was crushing the pomegranate petals.
Zhong Yansheng felt something was not right all over, his brain got hot, and he almost forgot to disguise himself. He almost jumped up and asked Xiao Nong to return the flowers to him, but he didn't dare to. He looked at Xiao Nong pitifully for a long time, hoping that His Royal Highness Prince Ding would have a change of heart and return the flowers to him.
The flower was specially cut by the Marquis's wife. It was the most beautiful flower in the garden. She was jokingly telling him to be brave and give it to a girl he liked. It had a special meaning.
His Royal Highness Prince Ding had spent some time in the capital, so it's impossible that he didn't know that the flowers at the Flower Fighting Banquet had special meanings, right?
But perhaps because there were two layers of veil between them, his eyes could not reach him, or perhaps His Royal Highness Prince Ding simply had no conscience. He looked at Xiao Nong for a while, but Xiao Nong did not react.
Zhong Yansheng opened his mouth and lowered his head again in grievance.
That's his flower... rascal.
The large group of people who rushed over did not expect to see such a show and were shocked. Half of their eyes were on Meng Qiping, while most of the rest were on Zhong Yansheng. A few brave ones were secretly looking at Xiao Nong.
The key point is to look at the pomegranate flower in his hand, his eyes are extremely strange.
Xiao Nong had been away from the capital for many years. When he was in the capital before, he had no interest in the flower-fighting banquet and had never participated in it. He only knew that there was such a banquet, but he was not familiar with the customs and rules. He twisted the pomegranate petals carelessly, turned around slowly, and smiled lazily: "Who said that this prince does not like to appreciate flowers? It's a pity that this prince has too many flowers."
He was tall, with half foreign blood in his body. His facial features were deeper and more three-dimensional than others, mixed with a bit of exotic style, which made him even more handsome. His dark blue eyes were like frozen glaciers in winter. He just glanced over there, and the slight chaos stopped.
No one dared to speak except the angry Prince De.
A lot of people came.
Xiao Nong thought casually.
Just now he originally wanted to lift Zhong Yansheng's veil, but he temporarily changed to embroidering it, not because Prince De showed up to interrupt him. He never cared about others when he wanted to do something.
But at that moment, he suddenly remembered Yuan Yuan's eyes, those moist, dark and bright eyes that were always sparkling when looking at him, making people unable to bear to let the light in his eyes extinguish.
Even if there was only a one in ten million chance that Zhong Yansheng was Yuan Yuan, Xiao Nong didn't want to lift his veil in front of a mob.
This behavior was too eye-catching, and in the eyes of others, it was almost humiliating.
Seeing his carefree appearance, Prince De became more and more angry. He stopped pretending and the fake smile on his face disappeared. His expression darkened: "Xiao Nong, you are really getting more and more outrageous. You dare to come to my territory to cause trouble."
Xiao Nong turned the bouquet around, raised his eyebrows, and smiled provocatively: "Oh? What happened to me?"
Prince De pointed at Meng Qiping and raised his voice, "How did Mr. Meng's grandson offend you? You cut off his finger right under the emperor's nose. How cruel and lawless! Xiao Nong, do you still think this is your Mobei?!"
These high-sounding words left the servant of the Meng family who came over from behind dumbfounded. He did not sense any intention of His Royal Highness Prince De to make a decision for Meng Qiping.
But of these two, one is the prince most favored by the current emperor, and the other is the king with a different surname who holds military power with a cruel and eccentric temperament. Neither of them can be provoked. So after everyone looked at each other, no one dared to speak up to remind His Royal Highness Prince De that the third young master of the Duke of Pei's Mansion had a broken finger and was about to faint from the pain. He was breathing out more than breathing in, and asked whether he should be sent to the doctor.
No one dared to approach without permission.
The young man with a grim and terrifying face standing next to Meng Qiping with a sword in his arms is most likely Prince Ding's personal guard Zhan Rong, who is also said to be a terrifying character who kills without blinking an eye.
When the servant of the Meng family was worried, he also heard some stories from the past. He looked at Prince Ding and Prince De quietly and understood something.
It is said that when the barbarians broke through the border, the nine-year-old Prince Ding was escorted back to the capital by his personal guards at the risk of his life. The emperor was deeply saddened and sympathized with them. With tears in his eyes, he personally brought the two orphans of the Xiao family into the palace, letting them eat and live with the princes, and study together in the academy.
He really followed the teachings of his ancestors and was as close to the Xiao family as one family, which moved many old ministers.
However, only half a year later, Xiao Nong beat Prince De severely in front of the imperial concubine.
I heard that it happened at a palace banquet. Amid the screams of a woman's collapse, Xiao Nong and Prince De started fighting over some unknown conflict. The half-grown boy was as ferocious as a wild wolf outside the Great Wall. He pinned the young Prince De to the ground and punched him in the face. He was beaten so hard that he couldn't even get up. Several palace servants were unable to pull him apart.
The incident became a big fuss. With the imperial concubine crying and making a fuss, Xiao Nong took Xiao Wenlan out of the palace and returned to Prince Ding's Mansion. He was ridiculed in the capital and also had a big feud with Prince De.
No wonder Prince De ignored Meng Qiping and attacked Prince Ding first.
Everyone around him had different thoughts, but Zhong Yansheng was completely uninvolved in the atmosphere. He only cared about his flowers.
His eyes followed the string of pomegranate flowers that Xiao Nong was waving back and forth for a while, and Zhong Yansheng was sure that Xiao Nong really did not intend to return it to him.
Well...life is more important than flowers.
Zhong Yansheng bit his lip and stopped dwelling on it. While the two men were fighting and no one was paying attention to him, he tightened the veil on his head, quietly stood up and moved away.
Seeing the pale green figure hurriedly slipping away in his peripheral vision, Xiao Nong sniffed the light fragrance of the pomegranate flowers, retracted his gaze, and did not stop it.
After failing to find Yuan Yuan at the Anping Marquis' Mansion that day, he became suspicious of everyone he met and misidentified at least dozens of people. Zhong Yansheng was not the first person to be suspected.
The step he took to find someone was so big that he was almost insane, and today he was almost ambushed by a loser like Prince De.
It's not like him at all.
Xiao Nong's temple throbbed twice, and the vague pain in his head became more and more obvious.
As for Zhong Yansheng...
The rumor about the fake young master of the Huai'an Marquis' Mansion was spread only after Yuan Yuan appeared in Changliu Villa.
Before that, Zhong Yansheng was still the legitimate young master of the Marquis's Mansion, and was raised as a precious treasure in the Marquis' Mansion. There was no way he could run to the villa and climb over the wall to call him brother.
The carriage where the painting of birds perching on winter plum blossoms was found was also traced, and it turned out to belong to a carriage rental company in the capital.
Zhan Rong took the order and went to ask. The waiter took the money and recalled carefully. He said that the person who rented the carriage was a young man with ordinary clothes and face covered. He also gave a false name. His features were ordinary, and he would be lost in the crowd without any characteristics.
The young man only went there twice. The second time he rented the carriage for a long time and has not returned it yet. He also deposited twenty tales of silver.
They also found the inn where the carriage had stopped, and the innkeeper also said that it was done by a man with his face covered, and he had never seen any handsome young men.
As for where the masked man came from, no one knows.
With so many people coming and going in carriage rental shops and inns every day, there is no time to find out where a guest comes from.
As for Zhong Yansheng, the fake young master of the Huai'an Marquis' Mansion, it has been less than three months since he returned to Beijing. There is very little news about him. All we know is that he has been sickly since childhood, seldom goes out, and is an ordinary person with nothing outstanding.
Yuan Yuan's paintings have the style of a master, but no one has ever heard of Zhong Yansheng having any outstanding abilities.
The body shape and smell are not similar.
It's nothing like that.
It is neither reasonable nor logical that Yuan Yuan could be Zhong Yansheng.
Xiao Nong regained his sanity and thought calmly. Everything made sense. Zhong Yansheng couldn't be Yuan Yuan.
The irritability in his heart became even worse.
He almost regretted being too confident. After getting the news from the Anping Marquis' Mansion, he did not follow Yuan Yuan's route home. Even if he had only sent people to follow him once, he would not have lost the clue like now.
The reason he stopped Zhong Yansheng just now was only because he had a strange feeling in his heart.
But he had misidentified so many people in the past few days, and now he was suspecting a kid from an aristocratic family. It was too bizarre.
I came to Jinghua Garden to cause trouble for Prince De.
Since Prince De has come here himself, let's focus on making trouble for him first.
Zhong Yansheng didn't dare to go directly over. He made a small detour before returning to the crowd and meeting Yun Cheng.
Yun Cheng was so frightened that his heart was in his throat. He was relieved when he saw Zhong Yansheng coming back. He hurriedly asked in a low voice: "Master, how are you? Are you injured?!"
Prince De had just appeared at the flower-fighting banquet. He wanted to inform Zhong Yansheng, but when he came over, he saw Xiao Nong appear and have someone cut off Meng Qiping's fingers. He was so scared that he immediately went back to inform the people in Jinghua Garden. While waiting for the servants in Jinghua Garden to report the news to Prince De, he was so anxious that he wanted to curse.
That was Prince Ding. He didn't even blink and directly cut off one of the fingers of the third young master of the Meng family. It was so horrifying that no one knew what had happened to his young master!
Zhong Yansheng shook his head at Yuncheng and whispered, "I'm fine, Yuncheng, thank you very much, luckily you are smart."
"Master, do you need to thank me? But why is Third Young Master Meng here?"
Yun Cheng secretly glanced at Meng Qiping and saw that his palms were bloody, and he was about to pass out from the pain. He felt a chill on his back and rubbed his arms vigorously. He lowered his voice and said, "Although His Royal Highness Prince Ding is terrible, he really did a good thing. Third Young Master Meng deserves it!"
Zhong Yansheng was not optimistic and said, "Yuncheng, do you think the sword of the guard beside His Royal Highness Prince Ding is fast?"
Yun Cheng nodded vigorously, his expression showing a mixture of fear and admiration: "I didn't even see how he did it, it was too fast."
Just be quick.
Zhong Yansheng thought sadly that when he turned around to chop off his fingers, it would be just as quick.
"Oh, Master." Yun Cheng's pounding heart calmed down a bit. He glanced at Xiao Nong and Prince De who were still confronting each other, and then he realized a rather serious problem, "What should I do? His Royal Highness Prince Ding has taken your flowers away."
Zhong Yansheng was even more upset: "Yuncheng, can we not talk about this anymore?"
Yun Cheng was embarrassed. He had heard that His Royal Highness Prince Ding had a strange temper and was moody, and the young master was wearing a veil hat. The King Ding must have no other intention in snatching the young master's flowers.
The voice of Prince De was particularly high and aggressive. Xiao Nong stood there calmly, occasionally responding in a nonchalant manner, teasing the Duke of De like a cat or a dog, which made Prince De furious. Suddenly, as if he remembered something, he looked around and fixed his eyes on Zhong Yansheng. He raised his hand and pointed at him, "You, tell me everything that happened just now. How did the Duke of Ding attack the Third Young Master of the Meng Family?"
Zhong Yansheng didn't expect that he would be pointed at suddenly. He was stunned for a moment, and then he saw that everyone's eyes in the audience were all fixed on him, with sharp eyes.
Including Xiao Nong, who was also holding a flower and looking over casually, his expression in his dark blue eyes could not be seen clearly.
Zhong Yansheng: “…”
Even though it was the first time we met.
However, he already had a slight dislike for His Royal Highness the Prince De.
The eyes of people around were mostly filled with the excitement of watching a show.
The question raised by His Royal Highness Prince De was not easy to answer. Although everyone knew that Meng Qiping's character would most likely cause trouble because of his bad mouth, if Zhong Yansheng answered truthfully, he might offend Prince De. If he lied and said that Prince Ding made the first move, he would offend Prince Ding.
It just so happens that these two are the people who are not easy to offend.
There is no need to talk about His Royal Highness Prince Ding. His Royal Highness Prince De is not someone who is easy to deal with either, as he can cause chaos in the capital just for someone who offended him.
Moreover, no one knew how this fake young master of the Marquisate had been targeted by His Royal Highness Prince Ding. Even if he stood on the side of Prince De, he would most likely be in trouble.
Just look at what happened to Meng Qiping, and you'll know how terrifying Prince Ding is.
There were so many different gazes, Yun Cheng finally understood why Zhong Yansheng didn't want to be noticed before. He was so nervous that he was sweating and trembling with fear: "Master, what should I do..."
Even the lackeys who collapsed beside Meng Qiping were so frightened that they dared not breathe. They were secretly glad that if this question fell on them, they would not know how to answer it, and they dared not interrupt.
Zhong Sidu, who had been watching the show in the crowd for a long time, frowned and unconsciously took a step towards Zhong Yansheng.
This idiot, it would be bad if he implicated the Huai'an Marquis Mansion.
In the dead silence, Zhong Yansheng suddenly muttered something in a hoarse tone and spoke very quickly on purpose, so no one could quite understand.
Prince De was puzzled: "What did you say?"
Zhong Yansheng was stared at by everyone, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to remain calm, continuing to speak vaguely in half Mandarin and half Changzhou dialect.
Prince De: “…”
Everyone: “…”
Someone realized it later: "Uh, this young Master Zhong, I remember you didn't grow up in the capital, are you not familiar with Mandarin?"
"I was wondering why I haven't heard him speak since entering Jinghua Garden. So that's it, haha."
"I heard that he has only been back in Beijing for two months, and he has already left the house twice. No wonder..."
Amid the whispers, Prince De was stunned for a moment and looked away silently.
He just thought of diverting attention to Zhong Yansheng because he felt weak in front of Xiao Nong and was furious. He didn't expect Zhong Yansheng to say anything. After all, it was an ironclad fact that Xiao Nong cut off someone's fingers.
Prince De withdrew his gaze, but Zhong Yansheng could still sense another gaze with a stronger presence, looming over him.
It's Xiao Nong.
Xiao Nong had heard him speak Mandarin.
Zhong Yansheng bit his lip, not feeling very confident.
After being ridiculed by Meng Qiping's lackeys, he realized that he might speak with a Suzhou accent. Afraid that Xiao Nong would find it familiar, he simply spoke in the Changzhou dialect of his grandmother's side.
Although both are Wu dialects, Changzhou dialect and Gusu dialect sound very different. They are much stronger and less soft.
He could pretend to be stupid and muddle through so as not to offend Xiao Nong or King De...but he didn't know whether Xiao Nong would cooperate.
After all, whether he cooperates or not, it will neither help nor harm Xiao Nong.
Xiao Nong paused with his fingertips twisting the flower branch and raised his eyebrows slightly.
This kid is a little smart and doesn't dare to offend anyone, so he uses this method.
Although the tone and intonation were completely different, Zhong Yansheng's words reminded him of Yuan Yuan's tone of voice.
For Yuan Yuan's sake, let him be.
Xiao Nong was too lazy to say anything. He looked away without exposing Zhong Yansheng. He crossed his arms and looked at Prince De. He raised his chin as if he was watching a big show, and raised the corners of his lips faintly: "Continue."
That attitude is almost the same as teasing a puppy.
Zhong Yansheng heaved a sigh of relief, and his palms that were tightly clenched around his sleeves loosened, only to find that his palms were full of sweat.
It was only at this moment that Yun Cheng dared to breathe a sigh of relief and wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
It's really like a fire in the city gate that affects all the innocent people. What does the young master have to do with the fight between these two?
Zhong Sidu had never expected that Zhong Yansheng would respond in this way. He slowly retracted his half-step and stared at Zhong Yansheng for a long time before realizing that Zhong Yansheng seemed to have not noticed his presence from beginning to end.
The master and servant patted their chests, lowered their heads and huddled together, whispering to each other, without even a glance coming over.
Zhong Sidu felt a little irritated, but his eyes were still on Zhong Yansheng.
However, Zhong Yansheng never noticed his existence.
The people around him noticed that something was wrong with him and asked curiously, "Young Master Zhong, what are you looking at? That's..."
"Nothing." Zhong Sidu quickly retracted his gaze and his smile faded a little.
Everyone's attention turned back to Prince Ding and Prince De.
Prince De has always lived a life of luxury. Who else except Xiao Nong dared to treat him like this? He had never suffered as much in front of his father, the emperor, as he had suffered from Xiao Nong, especially in front of a group of young men. Finally, he couldn't hold his anger anymore and blurted out "bastard".
The atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Everyone knows that Xiao Nong's mother is a foreigner, and he has half foreign blood in his body.
There were too many people who hated Xiao Nong, and many called him a bastard in private, but those who dared to curse him in front of him would have the grass on their graves three feet high.
As soon as Prince De said this, he realized something was wrong and his face froze.
Xiao Nong is a mad dog who often does things without following the so-called rules. No one wants to be bitten by a mad dog.
The pair of dark blue eyes looked over at him coldly, as if they were looking at a dead person. Prince De's heartbeat suddenly quickened, and a little cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
Judging from Xiao Nong's behavior, he had no doubt that Xiao Nong would dare to attack him in front of a group of people.
Xiao Nong took a step forward and walked towards Prince De.
He was like a cheetah about to hunt, walking slowly towards its prey. Every time he took a step forward, everyone subconsciously took a step back. Prince De also wanted to retreat, but after moving his feet, he forced himself to hold back to maintain the dignity of the royal family.
Xiao Nong was getting closer and closer. A sense of danger as if being stared at by a wild beast crept up his spine, making his hair stand on end. The face of the King De trembled, and he shouted angrily, "What? Xiao Nong, you dare to attack me?!"
Unexpectedly, Xiao Nong did not suddenly draw his sword as King De had worried. With a cold arc on his lips, he looked down at King De for a few moments. After seeing the deep fear in his eyes, he slowly leaned close to King De's ear and whispered, "Two days ago, my people hijacked a cargo ship in Huguang. The draft was unusually deep."
"Guess how long the people on that ship can hold out, and whether they will sell out the person behind the scenes?"
Prince De's pupils suddenly shrank.
Xiao Nong only said this and stopped talking about the ship. However, Prince De didn't dare to move, and his face was stiff. The fact that Xiao Nong dared to say that meant that he had obtained some evidence.
Then Xiao Nong said with a half-smile, "Pei Yong, be careful when walking at night. Beware of ghosts."
That was the aura that he had gained from crawling out of a pile of corpses and experiencing life and death on the battlefield. It carried a heavy sense of oppression, which was completely different from the prince who was dressed in fine clothes and fed with delicious food. Prince De was almost out of breath, with a distorted expression: "You..."
A clear voice suddenly interrupted the two of them: "Hey, I'm just a step late, why is it so lively here, is there some rare fairy flower blooming?"
Zhong Yansheng pulled Yun Cheng to huddle aside. He was still looking at his pomegranate flowers with a grudge. When he heard the voice, he thought it sounded familiar. He turned around and saw two acquaintances.
The man walking in front was wearing a sparrow-colored brocade robe, with handsome eyebrows and eyes, a romantic spirit, and a gentle smile on the corners of his mouth. You can tell at a glance that he has a sweet mouth and is waving a small sandalwood fan.
It turned out to be Prince Jing, Pei Hong, who was put in solitary confinement by the emperor and whom he had not seen for a long time.
The one who was cowering behind him was Xiao Wenlan, who was scared away by Xiao Nong when they met briefly last time.
Xiao Wenlan didn't expect to see Xiao Nong here. He was so scared that his shoulders reflexively shrank. When he saw Xiao Nong's gaze sweeping over him, his body trembled violently again, and he forced out a smile that was uglier than crying: "Cousin, cousin, today is the Flower Fighting Banquet, I received the invitation..."
He came here for a formal purpose, not to hang out with his bad friends!
Xiao Nong glanced at Xiao Wenlan indifferently and said nothing.
I get angry every time I see this garbage.
Yuan Yuan is still adorable when he calls me brother.
Pei Hong naturally saw Zhong Yansheng as well. When he passed by, he quietly winked at him with his left eye, then walked to the center of the venue and said with a smile, "Today is the Flower Competition Banquet, and the Fifth Sister-in-law is still waiting for someone. Even if the Fifth Brother has any conflicts with Uncle Xiao, he shouldn't vent his anger in public. It's a big festival."
——Back then, Xiao Nong's grandfather had a crush on Taizu's cousin, so Taizu made that cousin a princess and made the two of them happy. The Pei family was always complaining that "this world belongs to our Pei family and the Xiao family", so according to seniority and the old emperor's instructions, Prince De had to call Xiao Nong "uncle".
Prince De's face turned green.
But the stagnant atmosphere just now was indeed eased.
King Jing was born in a low-class family, was young, and was a man who only knew how to eat, drink, and have fun. He spent all day hanging out with the group of playboys in the capital. King De had always looked down on his this younger brother, and now he took the opportunity to escape from Xiao Nong's imposing aura. He rarely looked favorably upon him, snorted, quietly stepped back a few steps, and glanced at Meng Qiping who had fainted from the pain: "What are you all standing there for? Come on, send Young Master Meng to see a doctor. I'll go with you to see him."
The servants of the Meng family were almost crying. When they heard what Prince De said, they rushed over and cried, "Young Master!"
The arrival of King Jing broke the stalemate at the scene. Seeing that King De had left, the others did not dare to stay in front of Xiao Nong for long. After paying their respects, they quickly dispersed.
Zhong Yansheng then noticed that Zhong Sidu was also among the crowd.
There were already several people around him. When he left, he talked to them with a smile and a calm attitude. It seemed that he was more adaptable to such situations than he was.
Perhaps this is what Zhong Sidu said, what the young master of a marquisate "should look like".
Zhong Yansheng didn't think there was anything wrong and left with everyone.
Before leaving, he looked towards Xiao Nong for some unknown reason, and coincidentally, he met Xiao Nong's gaze.
Those narrow and graceful dark blue eyes looked over, as dark as the night, deep and gloomy. The moment their eyes met, Zhong Yansheng's whole body suddenly felt numb, from his shoulders to his fingertips.
He turned back hastily, not daring to look around again, and walked towards the wide courtyard with Yun Cheng.
Xiao Nong's gaze left Zhong Yansheng who was leaving in a hurry, and turned to Xiao Wenlan who was sneakily trying to follow Zhong Yansheng and leave: "Xiao Wenlan."
These three words were like a spell that froze him. Xiao Wenlan froze suddenly, stopped, and walked to Xiao Nong with heavy steps, head drooping. He stammered, "Cousin."
Xiao Nong twirled the flower branch in his hand with his fingertips, called the man over, and ignored him: "Zhan Rong, send someone to check on Zhong Yansheng."
Hearing Xiao Nong wanted to investigate Zhong Yansheng, Xiao Wenlan's heart skipped a beat. He had been sitting there like a quail, but when he thought of the weak and beautiful young master, his heart suddenly overflowed with pity. He asked in shock, "Cousin, how did the young master Zhong offend you? He is a very nice person and is very familiar with me. It shouldn't be intentional!"
Xiao Nong's eyes fell on him: "Are you familiar with him?"
Xiao Wenlan nodded vigorously: "Yes, very familiar! I even know his nickname!"
Hearing the nickname, Xiao Nong narrowed his eyes: "Oh?"
Seeing that he was interested, Xiao Wenlan quickly replied, "Young Master Zhong's nickname is Yan Yan. He said it in front of a group of my friends. Everyone knows it... Cousin, did he offend you in any way?"
Yan Yan?
Beautiful.
[Yan Yan means beautiful or beauty]
The interest between Xiao Nong's brows faded away instantly, and he rubbed the bunch of pomegranate flowers with his fingertips with much greater force, crushing the petals and staining his fingers with bright red.
Zhan Rong looked at the bouquet of flowers, hesitant to speak.
His expression was very obvious. Xiao Nong was no longer blind like before, so he could see clearly. He said indifferently, "I think you are about to die of words here, so just say what you want to say."
Seeing that everyone had left, Zhan Rong tried to hold back, but finally couldn't help it: "Master, how could you do such a thing? I'm so sorry for the young master Yuan Yuan!"
His head was throbbing with pain. Xiao Nong was getting irritated. He paused after hearing this and looked down at the pomegranate flowers in his hand in confusion: "What's wrong with me holding a bunch of flowers?"
Xiao Wenlan realized something was wrong, and his eyes fell on the fiery red pomegranate flowers in Xiao Nong's hand. His pupils trembled a few times, and he hesitated and said, "Cousin, is this bouquet of flowers given to you by someone else?"
Who is this? So bold? Daring to express his feelings to his cousin?
Xiao Nong said casually: "I robbed it."
"..." Xiao Wenlan hesitated for a long time, trembling, but still asked, "Cousin, do you know the meaning of the flowers at the Flower Fighting Banquet?"
Xiao Nong raised his eyelids nonchalantly: "What's the point?"
Half a cup of tea later, when Xiao Wenlan was stammering and rambling and had not yet finished talking, Xiao Nong simply and accurately extracted the significance of the flowers in the flower-fighting banquet.
Engagement! Love proposal!
Xiao Nong's face condensed, and he quickly flicked his fingers and threw the pomegranate flower in his hand into Zhan Rong's hand: "This is a reward for you."
Zhan Rong: "…………"
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