Chapter 301: Chapter 301: Was... Was I Just Overthinking?
The night deepens with an increasingly intense charm, and the bonfire casts a blazing red glow. The smoke curls gently, and Shen Hua warms herself by the fire, the comfort making her eyes squint contentedly.
The girl leans lazily, devoid of any grace, yet she is exceptionally pleasing to the eye.
The wine here is of low proof. She drank a lot, yet still remains sober.
Cui Yun uses a handkerchief to wipe Cui Rong’s greasy little mouth, then checks the time. In a gentle voice, he says, "We need to start our journey back to Shengjing tomorrow, it will be several days of travel by carriage, let’s rest early."
"What do you mean go! I, Princely Heir, have humbly poured you wine, and you haven’t even taken a sip!"
Cui Yun lifts the wine cup with a composed expression. His fingers, like jade, he gently raises his unemotional eyes, his voice is mellow and pleasant.
"Congratulations, Princely Heir."
After dropping these four words, he brings the cup to his lips, lifts his fingertips slightly, and the sweet wine slides down from his tongue, the man drinking it all in one gulp.
These four words, like a sharp sword, stab unhesitatingly into Ji Huo’s vulnerable heart.
He finally sees it clearly.
Cui Yun does not lose out at all.
Cui Yun drags his head, indicating he hasn’t had enough fun yet, but Shen Hua, despite being resistant, is taken back.
Half a stick of incense later, as the girl is about to enter the tent, the man’s voice carried by the wind slowly comes over.
"Good night, sweet dreams."
Shen Hua responds perfunctorily.
"Oh."
Cui Yun looks at the girl: "It’s your turn."
Shen Hua: ???
She frowns, looking at Cui Yun: "I was crazily sought after by you to marry, it’s not good to avoid you utterly, why should there be any exchange of goodnights?"
Cui Yun looks at the girl’s annoyed and irritated eyes, then raises his hand to smooth his brow.
Once, twice.
"That indeed puts Miss Shen at a disadvantage."
"Naturally."
Shen Hua couldn’t help but recall something else, her tone even more disgruntled: "You were randomly calling me earlier, and I haven’t settled that with you!"
Cui Yun looks at her: "Calling what? Madam? But I never specified a name."
Shen Hua’s fiery anger pauses.
She stares blankly at the person before her. Her neck shrinks.
"Is it... was I being presumptuous?"
Cui Yun looks at her indifferently: "No, Miss Shen does have such awareness."
"Good for you."
Shen Hua: ???
No no no, she must have been led astray by Cui Yun. She was careless in taking things personally.
After teasing his ’cat,’ Cui Yun then walks back to his own tent with a relaxed expression.
As he lifts the tent curtain, he senses an unfamiliar presence inside.
Cui Yun pauses his steps, in an instant, all smiles vanish. He calmly goes to sit by the tea table, then grinds the tea leaves, sweeps, and brews the tea with deliberation.
"Is the Third Prince’s injury healed?"
Ji Teng, with his back to him, slowly turns around: "I came uninvited, yet you seem not surprised."
The bubbling of the tea fills the air. Soon, the fragrance of tea pervades the room.
Cui Yun lightly says: "This is the newly arrived Duyun Maojian. Try some."
Ji Teng steps forward, takes the tea Cui Yun hands him, and sniffs it by his nose.
Cui Yun looks at him: "It’s not poisoned."
Ji Teng pauses: "You worry too much."
He sits down opposite Cui Yun: "The first sip of tea I had in my childhood was made by my mother, she said she learned it from my uncle, it was this Duyun Maojian. I haven’t tasted it for many years, inevitably reminiscing."
He lowers his head, fiddles with the tea lid, but his voice deepens.
"Is Marquis Cui investigating me?"
"Yes."
Ji Teng’s smile was ambiguous: "You are quite forthright."
Cui Yun leisurely poured himself a cup of tea too, his fingertips tracing the intricate patterns on the cup.
"The Third Prince also came tonight without any disguise."
Upon hearing this, Ji Teng’s smile flickered uncertainly again.
It was said that Consort Shao was stunningly beautiful, and her son resembled her. Ji Teng was frail but his eyes hinted at a vivid future charm.
"Why not talk about what you have investigated so far?"
"Not much, but not little either."
Cui Yun laughed lightly, not too strongly: "However, why should I inform you?"
Ji Teng was not upset; it seemed like he was reminding him of a very ordinary matter.
"Don’t you know the saying? The more curious you are, the earlier you die."
Cui Yun’s dark eyes were deep, showing no fear, instead overpowering Ji Teng in aura. Seeing that Ji Teng’s tea cup was empty, he did not forget to fill it up again.
"Is that so?"
His voice was cool: "I, the Marquis, am indeed terrified."
Ji Teng: ...
Soon, the tent fell into dead silence
As a martial artist, he could hear the orderly footsteps of soldiers patrolling in the distance. At this hour, probably many nobles had already retired to sleep.
Cui Yun’s tent was naturally well-placed and well-equipped, unlike Ji Teng’s tent, which barely contained a bed that squeaked at the slightest movement.
Ji Teng accepted this unfairness quite calmly. After a while, when he spoke again, the tension had somewhat eased.
"During the years I was a hostage, I initially never thought about returning alive."
Back then, his days were much worse than now.
He was sent out of Da Qi, faced with rough faces. The language was incomprehensible, and the customs were alien. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
Soon after arriving, he was humiliated and thrown into a dog’s iron cage.
——The little beast from Da Qi should be kept with animals. Why treat him like a human?
A bowl thick with filth was kicked in, spilling rotten food all over him.
——You dog thing, aren’t you going to eat? Not a single grain left, otherwise lick it clean.
Everyone took this as entertainment.
After all, even if he died, Da Qi wouldn’t go to war over it.
"Back then, your father visited me secretly from afar when I was gravely ill and wished for death."
Cui Yun narrowed his eyes.
Ji Teng’s eyes were tinted with warmth: "He brought something very precious for me."
"His kindness, I have engraved in my heart."
From that day on, he learned to bow and scrape, to flatter, and to grovel.
He never forgot the hundreds of lives from the Prince Huai’an Mansion.
He always remembered what Consort Shao repeatedly told him by his side.
——Yu’er, your uncle loves you the most. When you were born, he personally crafted two golden locks, one for you, one for the child in your aunt’s womb.
——Ji Changchang framed him! At that time, you were just one year old, the Prince Huai’an Mansion was a bloodbath, and your aunt who had just given birth to an unopened child, both perished.
Consort Shao’s sanity fluctuated between clarity and confusion.
As long as Emperor He did not appear.
She could still hold Ji Teng, gently combing his hair.
Every time after seeing Emperor He, overpowered by love, she would fall into madness. She would clutch at Ji Teng’s neck.
——I always worry about you outside the Cold Palace, afraid that you are sick or hungry. Thus, I please him, and with much difficulty, I managed to leave the Cold Palace. To raise you personally, but why should I endure for you; why don’t you just die!
As long as she was docile, Emperor He naturally loved her dearly and would treat Ji Teng well.
What the Crown Prince had, Ji Teng had; what the Crown Prince did not have, Ji Teng also had.