Sheng Jiangli put down his bowl. Meeting the two men's fierce gazes, he cleared his throat and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Suobude scoffed and said, "General, I've always respected you. I know that although you're a bit of a flirt verbally, you've never done anything excessive to girls."
"But you seduced Miss Qingqing into kissing you yesterday!"
"The girl kissed you! And you just threw her out!"
"You're not a real man!"
"Hey!" Sheng Jiangli gritted his teeth and glared at Suobude. "Big guy, when did you become such a smooth - talker?"
"Justice prevails everywhere, while injustice gets you nowhere."
Sheng Jiangli gasped and then looked at Duoyong. "You also think I'm not a real man?"
Duoyong scratched his head. "I've heard that women in the Central Plains value their chastity highly. Not to mention a kiss, even a simple hand - holding might require a man to marry the girl."
Suobude added, "General, you've not only held hands and kissed her. You've even seen and touched the girl's butt."
Sheng Jiangli slapped the table hard and said angrily,
"Fine! I'm not a real man? Right! I'm not a real man!"
"Are you satisfied now?"
Was he not going to take responsibility?
Suobude rolled his eyes at Sheng Jiangli, then turned around and carried the basin out.
Sheng Jiangli had a splitting headache. "Duoyong, get me something to eat."
Duoyong quickly left. Not long after, he came back with a basin of white flour buns. He placed them in front of Sheng Jiangli and then left.
"Hey! You guys..." Sheng Jiangli was fuming as he watched Duoyong slam the door. He hissed through his teeth. "That little girl has managed to win over my subordinates after just a few days here. She's quite something!"
He picked up a bun and took a big bite.
The next second, he spat it out. "Ugh! It's choking me!"
Sheng Jiangli clumsily poured a cup of water from the teapot and gulped it down. Then he was a bit dazed.
He seemed to... miss the dishes that little girl cooked when she was in the mansion.
No.
Sheng Jiangli silently took a few more bites of the bun. He lay back on the bed and chewed for a while. The corners of his eyes got a bit moist as he murmured,
"My first kiss is gone just like that, and none of you feel sorry for me..."
The rain didn't stop until the ninth hour.
When Caiyu woke up, her whole body ached as if she'd been tortured.
As soon as she propped herself up, her wrists felt like they were about to break.
When she stepped on the ground, her ankles went weak, and she almost stumbled.
Just as Caiyu was struggling to get up from the ground while holding onto the bed, Qingqing pushed the door open.
She rushed over and helped Caiyu sit back on the bed. "Sister Caiyu, why didn't you call someone when you woke up?"
Caiyu motioned for Qingqing to open the window to let out the strong, ambiguous smell. Then she said with a wry smile,
"I'm just a maid. It wouldn't be right for me to call someone to serve me when I get up."
Qingqing pursed her lips and smiled. "When has the prince ever treated you like a maid? I've never seen him order you around."
Caiyu was a bit embarrassed for a moment and then changed the subject. "You're back in the mansion. Don't tell me you were kicked out by General Sheng again?"
She still remembered vividly the pitiful look on the little girl's face when Sheng Jiangli kicked Qingqing out of the door last time.
Caiyu frowned. "If he dares to bully you, I'll go and settle the score with him for you."
Qingqing stopped her from getting up. "It's not him. I just haven't been back for a few days, so I wanted to come and see you."
She remembered that when Sheng Jiangli returned to the mansion last night, he seemed to be in a much better mood than usual.
He even dragged her to drink in the garden pavilion all night. He talked more and even seduced her.
With such a handsome man in front of her, she naturally responded enthusiastically.
It was a pity that the heart - of - stone man mumbled Caiyu's name after the kiss.
She couldn't help but feel jealous and splashed cold water on him.
Then she was thrown out.
This time, instead of throwing a tantrum and staying outside Luoyanju, she returned to the Prince Yan's Mansion.
She hadn't been back for a few days and missed it.
After helping Caiyu get dressed, Qingqing went to the kitchen to prepare food.
Not long after, the little maids came in one by one with breakfast.
Caiyu was shocked when she saw it.
There were several kinds of seasonal preserved fruits. The main courses were not the usual light vegetarian food but included milk and bird's nest, stewed chicken, and four - fresh soup, a combination of meat and vegetables.
Qingqing said happily, "The kitchen maid told me that before the prince left the mansion today, he said that from now on, the Prince Yan's Mansion will no longer avoid meat. Sister Caiyu can buy whatever she wants to eat."
This news made Caiyu happy too.
Since she entered the Prince Yan's Mansion, she could only secretly eat meat.
She also had to be careful not to be caught by Song Yinghuai.
Finally, the emperor announced that his ban was lifted.
The ban in the Prince Yan's Mansion could be lifted too.
But Caiyu didn't stay happy for long. She got angry instead.
Her hands holding the chopsticks trembled uncontrollably, making the dishes rattle from time to time.
It wasn't that she hadn't used her hands before, but these few times, Song Yinghuai had been too frequent and unrestrained.
So she got hurt.
Qingqing looked at Caiyu worriedly as she struggled to pick up a spoonful of bird's nest, only to watch it slip from the corner of her mouth and fall on the table.
"Sister Caiyu, did the prince beat you last night?"
Qingqing was still unmarried and had no experience.
How could she know that there were so many things between men and women?
Sheng Jiangli told her that Caiyu and the prince weren't that close.
She couldn't even imagine what those two not - so - "close" people could do at night.
It was just that when she helped Caiyu get dressed just now, the marks on her body were too dense.
They couldn't even be covered.
The little girl thought that since it wasn't caused by intimacy between a man and a woman, it could only be...
Beaten?
Was it the so - called "beating means love, scolding means affection"?
Was it love when Big Brother Sheng beat her from time to time?
Caiyu's spoon clattered into the bowl. She really didn't know how to explain.
If she answered, she didn't know how to explain; if she didn't answer, Qingqing seemed to be still staring at her hands.
Caiyu said to her worriedly, "I want to drink wine."
There was no wine in the Prince Yan's Mansion, so Qingqing was finally sent out to buy wine.
As soon as Caiyu let out a sigh of relief and was about to take the opportunity to go out and get the silver note with her private seal, someone came to the mansion again.
Prince Qi, Song Yongzhen, and Prince Zhou, Song Boming, came together.
When Caiyu saw Song Yongzhen, she remembered the 200,000 taels of silver that Song Yinghuai had intercepted.
She couldn't help but feel speechless.
This stupid prince.
He was more of a hindrance than a help.
He blindly obeyed his elder brother.
Why didn't he even let her take a look at the silver note first?
He was so stupid that he swaggered to negotiate with Song Yinghuai.
As a result, she hadn't even managed to get the silver when Song Yinghuai intercepted it.
Fortunately, Song Yinghuai had given her the private seal.
But this stupid prince came to delay her from getting the silver note again.
Sigh!
"Your Highnesses, Prince Qi and Prince Zhou." Caiyu saluted according to the rules.
After Song Yongzhen sat down, seeing that she was in a bad mood, he thought she was bored in the mansion. Remembering what Song Yinghuai had promised him, he said enthusiastically,
"Miss Caiyu, the fourth brother has gone to the palace and won't be back for a while. How about we keep you company?"
"By the way, I've brought something today that you'll definitely like."
Caiyu looked at Song Yongzhen blankly as he asked someone to bring a thick stack of books in front of her.
The books were piled up like a small mountain.
They almost touched the tip of her perky nose.
"What is this..." Caiyu looked at Song Yongzhen blankly.
How did she not know that she liked this?
Song Yongzhen didn't notice the blank look in her eyes at all. He picked up a thick copy of Zhao Mengfu's "Tao Te Ching" excitedly and said,
"This is a genuine work of Master Zhao that I had someone buy at a high price. Do you like it?"
Master Zhao's calligraphy was delicate and beautiful, most suitable for women to imitate.
Caiyu would definitely like it.
Caiyu twitched the corner of her mouth and looked at the beautiful calligraphy on the copybook.
It wasn't that she was being unappreciative. She really didn't know how to appreciate it.
In her eyes, the calligraphy of famous calligraphers was not as good as the words that Song Yinghuai had taught her to write.
Caiyu replied half - heartedly, "I like it, I like it..."
"Then, how about I accompany Miss Caiyu to practice calligraphy?"
Caiyu stared at him with wide eyes. "What?"
She didn't want to practice calligraphy!
When she was in Yanjing, Song Yinghuai had forced her to practice calligraphy. She had only reluctantly shown interest because she wanted to tempt him to break his abstinence.
Every time, she ended up writing on the table.
How could she practice calligraphy with Song Yongzhen?