Cheng Simian showed no sign of guilt and simply nodded.
Her eyes remained as clear and pure as ever, as if all intrigues and deceptions had nowhere to hide in her sight.
She was calm and capable of taking decisive actions. She was truly a person who could accomplish great things.
It was really a waste of her talent to let her only manage the inner household of a mere Marquis Mansion and engage in petty power struggles with concubines and half - sisters.
Thinking of these, the Crown Prince suddenly realized that he had pictured Cheng Simian in another role.
He was greatly startled by his own thought.
"Miss Cheng is truly a tough person," Liang Yuzhou complimented her rarely.
He had never complimented any woman other than Wanchu. Coming from his mouth, this was already a very high praise.
Shi Jinglu already admired Cheng Simian for her righteousness, and now there was even more admiration in his eyes when he looked at her.
"This is not difficult. I can get them to talk tonight," he said.
"Thank you, Lord Shi. I'm sorry to trouble you," Cheng Simian thanked him politely.
She knew that Shi Jinglu was an honest and upright official who disdained to accept gifts. So when she came, she only brought her sincerity and no gifts.
With Shi Jinglu's promise, she could rest assured.
"Your Highness, this subject's daughter won't disturb you any longer. I take my leave," she said.
The Crown Prince pursed his lips and said nothing. His gaze seemed to fall elsewhere, but his peripheral vision was always on Cheng Simian's face.
Cheng Simian then bid farewell to Shi Jinglu.
Shi Jinglu ordered the clerk, "Escort Miss Cheng out properly."
Just as Cheng Simian turned around, Liang Yuzhou suddenly coughed in a strange way.
"Your Highness, don't you have anything else to say to Miss Cheng?"
The Crown Prince gave him a fierce glare, annoyed at his meddling.
Liang Yuzhou raised his eyebrows slightly. "Lord Shi and I can step out first."
The Crown Prince still said nothing.
Next to him, Xiao Anzi was so anxious that sweat was pouring down his head.
What a great opportunity! Why was the Crown Prince so oblivious?
He had wronged Miss Cheng before and hadn't apologized yet.
Miss Cheng had helped the Crown Prince catch the spy with her sharp eyes, and the Crown Prince hadn't thanked her either.
In the Crown Prince's silence, Cheng Simian had already walked out of the main hall.
She never looked back.
"Miss Cheng, please wait a moment!" It was Shi Jinglu who spoke.
Cheng Simian stopped and smiled gracefully. "Please speak, Lord Shi."
Shi Jinglu put aside his usual strictness and looked at Cheng Simian like an ordinary elder, with a hint of a smile in his eyes.
The Crown Prince frowned.
Shi Jinglu was being so unusual.
He had never shown such a kind smile to his own nephew or son.
Shi Jinglu cleared his throat and said gently, "I have a rather presumptuous question to ask Miss Cheng. I hope the girl won't mind."
"It's okay, Lord Shi. You may ask whatever you want," Cheng Simian replied generously.
"I know Miss Cheng looks down on people like Liang Yuchuan who are sycophantic. I have a nephew named Shi Minglang. He is twenty - six years old this year and is currently the prefect of Yunzhou. He is an upright man..."
"Your nephew is already engaged. Don't you, as his uncle, even know that?"
Before Shi Jinglu could finish his words, a cold voice interrupted him.
The Crown Prince's face was as black as coal, and his handsome eyebrows were clouded, looking extremely intimidating.
Shi Jinglu was stunned for a while. "No, when did this happen?"
"Before I returned to the capital, Shi Minglang got engaged to the Chu family, a local imperial merchant family in Yunzhou. He is going to marry the eldest legitimate daughter of the Chu family. Calculated precisely, the mother of Miss Chu and your elder sister - in - law are sisters. It's a marriage that brings the Shi and Chu families even closer," the Crown Prince said.
(Shi Jinglu's elder sister - in - law is Shi Minglang's mother, Lady Shi)
The Crown Prince stole a glance at Cheng Simian without showing it.
Cheng Simian's expression remained unchanged.
He added another sentence, "I was the matchmaker for this marriage."
Shi Jinglu was overjoyed. "Thank you, Your Highness, for still caring about my nephew despite your busy schedule. It takes half a month for a letter to be delivered from Yunzhou to the capital. I just received a letter from my elder sister - in - law saying that she had arrived in Yunzhou safely. I suppose the letter about Minglang's engagement will take a few more days to arrive."
He quickly apologized to Cheng Simian. "I was being too hasty. Please don't blame me, girl."
Cheng Simian smiled faintly.
Shi Jinglu put on his kind smile again. "Well, Miss Cheng, I also have a son..."
"Lord Shi, stop talking," Liang Yuzhou couldn't stand it anymore. The Crown Prince's low - pressure aura was already making it hard for him, a person with a wound in his chest, to breathe.
"Oh, right, right, right. The Crown Prince and Taoist Priest Qingzhou are still here. It's really inappropriate for me to ask you such a private matter about your marriage in front of two men," Shi Jinglu still didn't realize the seriousness of the situation. "Another day, I'll ask my wife to visit your mother."
"Isn't your son only twelve years old?"
The annoyance in the Crown Prince's tone could no longer be suppressed. "Do you want Miss Cheng, a girl in her early twenties, to marry your son? Would she be a bride or a mother?"
Cheng Simian's gaze finally landed on the Crown Prince's face.
Why did the Crown Prince care about such a trivial matter of hers?
He had even interrupted Lord Shi twice.
"Your Highness, you know the situation of my family. For generations, our family members have either served in the Ministry of Justice or the Supreme Court. We are always arresting and interrogating criminals, so our family has a rather intimidating reputation. If I don't plan ahead..."
He wanted to say that a ten - year age gap was nothing. His wife was five years older than him, and he had pestered his father - in - law's family every day before he finally got the marriage.
The Shi family cared about their reputation, but they couldn't be too reserved when it came to finding a daughter - in - law.
But the Crown Prince's face seemed to be hit by a snowstorm. It was terrifyingly cold.
Shi Jinglu still didn't understand what had offended the Crown Prince, but he was sensible enough not to say the rest of his words.
The atmosphere became stagnant. Liang Yuzhou looked at Shi Jinglu with a sympathetic look.
Xiao Anzi's cold sweat was pouring out.
In the room, there were five people, each with their own thoughts.
But only Liang Yuzhou understood what was going on.
"Lord Shi, I just remembered something very important. Can I have a word with you in private?"
He stood up and pulled Shi Jinglu out without waiting for his consent.
Xiao Anzi also immediately became smart. "Your Highness, the tea has gone cold. This servant will go and change it for two cups of hot tea."
He silently prayed in his heart that this once - in - a - lifetime opportunity, the Crown Prince must seize it!
Soon, only the Crown Prince and Cheng Simian were left in the main hall.
Their eyes met. Cheng Simian looked a bit confused.
All kinds of emotions were surging in the Crown Prince's eyes.
"Shi Jinglu has no filter. You don't need to take what he said to heart," the Crown Prince said.
After a pause, he added, "And you don't need to be worried. His wife won't visit your mother."
Even if she did, he could stop her.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for helping this subject's daughter out of this embarrassing situation," Cheng Simian could only attribute the Crown Prince's actions to his kindness.
"This subject's daughter originally wanted to tell Lord Shi that I have no intention of getting married," she said.
The Crown Prince felt as if he had heard the sound of his heart cracking.
"Have no intention of getting married?" He seemed a bit agitated.
"Yes. After the crimes of the Marquis Mansion are completely cleared, this subject's daughter will take my mother to settle in the south of the Yangtze River. I will accompany and serve my mother for the rest of my life and never get married," she said.
She had traveled all over the country in the past eight years, and most men in this world were really boring.
Who said that women must get married?