Chapter 373: Chapter 372: Shen Hua! Would She Lie to Her?
Listening to the grandiose words, Shen Hua drank her wine, which was fragrant and pleasant tasting with a rather light alcohol content.
Her toes lightly tapped the ground, drawing circles now and then.
Wei Yingying had a quick mouth, and before long, she blurted out the news of Shen Hua’s return to Fengzhou, eliciting Ji Huo’s sighs and wringing of hands.
He was very upset.
But soon, he devised a scheme and was cheerful again.
"I think you shouldn’t wait for another day, just leave now. When Cui Yun returns from court and finds his wife gone, that will be interesting."
As his words fell, he really couldn’t bring himself to act decently anymore.
With a gleam in his eyes, Ji Huo kept refilling Shen Hua’s empty wine cup as he spoke, his words oozing with schemes: "Brother tells you, these men, they are the most heartless and unfaithful, am I not a living example? That Cui Yun seems upright, but he may not be much better."
"Aren’t you afraid that he’ll turn around and cozy up with another girl as soon as you leave?"
"Not worried."
Shen Hua was indeed confident, lifting her delicate pinky finger to her chin, beautiful and captivating: "With me as the radiant pearl before him, he naturally won’t cast his eyes on any other vulgar rouge."
There seemed to be some truth to this.
Ji Huo nearly agreed.
"Even if he wouldn’t, you can’t guard against others who might take advantage of the situation."
"Let me be frank with you, there are hardly any reliable men, even those who seem honorable on the surface may play more fiercely in secret. The legitimate son of the Chu Family, he was so illustrious in his earlier years, good background, good conduct, his family had arranged a marriage for him early on. Back then for that girl, he would brave any danger without blinking."
This was something Wei Yingying naturally knew about as well.
It was also a well-known scandal in Shengjing at the time.
"Indeed, but after the girl’s mother passed away and she returned to her hometown to observe a three-year mourning period, that deeply devoted Young Master Chu got involved with the sister of his brother’s wife within a year, making a fuss about calling off the engagement."
"After the engagement was broken off, no one knows where he picked up such bad habits, he stopped studying, and spent his days and nights in fickle pleasures among the brothels and willow lanes."
Shen Hua listened and took it all in.
She felt indeed it was somewhat risky.
That vixen Cui Yun, if he were to seduce, probably every girl in Shengjing would go crazy for him.
Then... she must hurry before leaving Shengjing...
The girl’s eyes flashed slightly.
Males and females lying bare together was quite bizarre, Shen Hua thought, her ears reddening with embarrassment, and she found it hard to accept, even not understanding why husband and wife couldn’t just sleep in their own beds at night.
Must they be stark naked to consummate the marriage?
Such... shame.
Those private places, no matter how intimate, shouldn’t be seen by the young man, she thought.
But...
Shen Hua struggled to make a decision.
She was willing to give him a taste of sweetness to keep him content, the girl was still willing to make that sacrifice.
If undressing it must be, then just close her eyes and sleep, when she opens them it will already be bright daylight.
She pondered thoughtfully about her plan.
Meanwhile, Ji Huo preached to Wei Yingying.
"You too, you make me, your Gang Leader, very worried."
"You’re the sister I protect, by right you should marry a young man a thousand, no, a hundred thousand times better than Ji Teng."
But all his swagger and bluster, no matter how reckless, could not make Emperor He rescind the imperial marriage decree.
Though Ji Teng is his third cousin, but! Wei Yingying belongs to his gang! Naturally, the latter is more important!
For this reason, Ji Huo fully exerted his big brother abilities: "I’m thinking, once you marry into the Third Prince Mansion, you can’t divorce for life. But don’t panic."
He struck a gallant and dashing pose.
"If you’re willing, big brother has a village under his name, reserved for keeping your male pets."
"Considering how timid Ji Teng is, it’s unlikely he’d dare to say anything."
Shen Hua, who had been lost in deep thought, couldn’t help but show a sincere smile upon hearing this.
Truly, there was no one more suicidal than Ji Huo.
He was meddling between her and Cui Yun, and now he was meddling between Wei Yingying and Ji Teng.
Why cause trouble with those two of all people?
Ji Huo, seeing Shen Hua break into laughter, worried that she might harbor the same idea, hastily said: "Don’t even think about it. Cui Yun, that kind of person, I look down on him, but I can’t afford to offend him either."
"How about it, Wei?"
Wei Yingying: "No way, I am a proper girl."
She couldn’t even afford to support Ji Teng, let alone have extra Silver Coins to keep a male pet.
"With such words, Princely Heir, speak no more of it! Even listening is defiling."
"I don’t feel that way," Shen Hua said as her fingertips traced the pattern on the wine cup.
"Men can have three wives and four concubines because they provide for the family; the legitimate wife supports her husband and teaches the children, all because what she eats, drinks, and wears is earned by the young man."
"But you are different."
With a distant look in her eyes and a slight turn of her pupils, the girl said: "The whole of the Third Prince Mansion is supported by you. In an immense residence where customarily men take charge of external affairs and women the internal, you are exceptional, having to tend to both. If in the future the married couple does not get along or there’s some change, or if the Third Prince deceits you, making life unbearable, it’s normal to seek some novelty. Keeping a few male pets doesn’t seem to be a big deal."
Wei Yingying was startled.
If these words were spoken by Ji Huo, she would naturally ignore them, not taking them to heart, but coming from Shen Hua...
Shen Hua! Would she deceive her?
Never!
In fact, what Shen Hua said vaguely made some sense.
Even though those words overturned her beliefs and understandings of many years.
Ji Ge joined halfway, bringing his family and entourage. Behind him followed Le Jia.
Le Jia was playing with a folding fan in her hands, looking down. Upon entering the private room and catching a glimpse of Shen Hua lounging comfortably, her eyes lit up. Without waiting for an invitation, she immediately pulled out a chair beside the girl and sat down.
"You look better than before," she stumbled over her words.
During the spring hunt, Shen Hua had been unwell. Even with rouge applied, sickness cannot be concealed. Now, with a fuller face and a rosy complexion, her period had come, and she was slowly blooming.
Such words, girls love to hear.
Shen Hua curved her eyes in a smile.
With displeasure, Ji Ge said, "You urgently called for me to come. Don’t tell me it’s for no good reason again. What are you planning this time?"
Don’t blame him for being so blunt. The moment he entered and saw Shen Hua, he got a bad feeling.
Ji Huo, with his hands clasped, suddenly felt a bit out of sorts.
It seemed... that among those present, he was the only loner.
Even though he had many concubines.
But... he was still a loner.
Wait.
Ji Huo slightly sat up straighter.
Shen Hua was radiant and charming, Wei Yingying cute and sweet, Le Jia was a beauty with exotic appeal.
It seemed to him...
He wouldn’t mind another sister.
Thus, Ji Huo cleared his throat.
"Sister Le Jia."
The moment before, when Le Jia was whispering to Shen Hua, she looked over on guard.
"Would you like to join my gang?"
"Under my leadership, I believe our Four People Gang will one day—"
Ji Ge slapped his back with a palm: "Who are you calling ’sister’?"
"If she really joins, will it still be the four of us? With someone like you, dare to go to the Imperial College and harm others?"
Before Ji Huo could retort, Shen Hua frowned.
"I dislike the number five," she declared.
Wei Yingying suggested: "In that case, let’s kick the Seventh Prince out of the gang if Le Jia joins."
Ji Huo was ecstatic: "You all really understand me!"
"Indeed, in my gang, there shouldn’t be any young man except me."
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