Although rationality told Pei Zhaolin that doing so might displease Tangtang, his mouth seemed to have a mind of its own!
Annoyed, Pei Zhaolin simply closed his eyes to rest.
Cui Jintang stared at him intently, then clicked her tongue.
Hearing this sound, Pei Zhaolin opened his tightly - shut eyes and glanced at her. As soon as their eyes met, he closed them again.
—Fine.
Cui Jintang put away the token with the inverted Chinese character for "king".
She wouldn't say a word. She wanted to see when Pei Zhaolin would finally notice something was off about Gao Yunzhi's identity!
—
The carriage stopped steadily in front of the mansion. The steward quickly brought over a wooden stool. A maid helped Cui Jintang out of the carriage.
Cui Jintang couldn't hold her liquor well, and after sitting in the carriage for a while, she could hardly stand on her feet. When she saw Yinglan coming to support her, she immediately said tiredly, "Prepare hot water for me. I want to rest soon."
Yinglan supported her tenderly and said, "It's all prepared for you, miss."
"Okay." Cui Jintang responded tiredly.
After Cui Jintang entered the mansion, Gao Yunzhi, who had been standing there stupidly, seemed to come to his senses. In a hurry, he was about to catch up. But the steward immediately stopped him.
After smelling the odor on Gao Yunzhi, the steward pinched his nose in disgust and stepped back a few steps.
"Where did this beggar come from? Get out of here quickly. Don't dirty our mansion!"
Suddenly, Gao Yunzhi blushed with anxiety. He waved his hands and explained, "I'm not a beggar. I came back with the miss!"
But the steward wouldn't listen. He immediately put on an obsequious smile and walked quickly towards Pei Zhaolin. Bowing, he said, "Your Highness, you're back!
"I've already asked the servants to prepare some refreshments and hangover soup. Your Highness, do you want to send the hangover soup to Miss Cui in the east wing yourself?"
After saying that, the steward glanced sideways at Gao Yunzhi. Seeing that his subordinates still hadn't driven Gao Yunzhi away, he immediately gave them a fierce look.
Several servants immediately surrounded Gao Yunzhi.
Pei Zhaolin had his hands behind his back. He watched all this expressionlessly. He neither stopped them nor explained. He even thought self - deprecatingly that it would be good to just drive this man away.
Seeing that he was about to be driven away by the servants, Gao Yunzhi got anxious. He kept waving away the hands that grabbed him, kept turning his head towards the direction where Cui Jintang had disappeared, and raised his voice.
"Miss! Miss! The miss has forgotten about me!"
Pei Zhaolin frowned. The steward, seeing this, immediately walked forward nervously and scolded in a low voice, "How dare you make such a racket here?!"
Saying that, the steward was about to cover Gao Yunzhi's mouth—
Suddenly, Yinglan walked out of the mansion. Seeing this, she immediately shouted, "Stop!"
Hearing the shout, the steward stopped instinctively. Yinglan walked forward quickly and bowed to Pei Zhaolin. "Your Highness, the miss has ordered Yinglan to take her man away."
Behind Yinglan, in the middle of the courtyard, Cui Jintang stood there steadily, taking a casual look. It seemed as if she was waiting for Yinglan and Gao Yunzhi.
Pei Zhaolin twitched his lips. He pretended to be very nonchalant. "Why are you asking me? He's her man. She can decide for herself."
But his eyes couldn't help but keep glancing at Cui Jintang. However, the moment he turned around pretending to be generous, Pei Zhaolin's face darkened slightly. He felt secretly annoyed, and the jealousy in his heart couldn't be suppressed.
The moment they passed by each other, Pei Zhaolin already regretted it.
—How could he find an excuse to send the hangover soup now?
In a daze, Pei Zhaolin seemed to hear a soft laugh in his ear. It was very quick and disappeared in the night wind in an instant.
While Pei Zhaolin was wracking his brains about how to shamelessly get closer to Cui Jintang, he heard her thank the steward with a smile.
"The steward is very considerate. It's late at night. The refreshments are not necessary. Let Gao Yunzhi send the hangover soup.
"He's a new servant I've taken in. He's my man. Please tell the others not to let him be wronged."
"Click."
In the deathly silence, this cracking sound was extremely deafening!
When Fuli found the source of the sound, he swallowed nervously. He stared with wide eyes as Pei Zhaolin, with a face as black as the bottom of a pot, impatiently took off the jade finger - ring that had broken into two pieces. With a flick of his hand, the Hetian jade finger - ring worth tens of thousands of silver taels plopped into the pond.
Pei Zhaolin strode forward. His back, no matter from which side you looked at it, exuded a kind of indescribable sense of grievance. He took a few steps and crossed into the mansion gate, not even caring about his usually most - valued manners.
Seeing this, the servants in the mansion all lowered their heads and avoided him, for fear of annoying Pei Zhaolin. The steward watched the whole process and carefully glanced at Cui Jintang, who seemed like nothing had happened.
The prince was so angry, but this miss seemed like nothing had happened! Moreover, the prince was only angry with himself and didn't dare to show the slightest bit of his anger to this miss? Was this still the prince who would kill someone at the slightest displeasure?
The steward was shocked. He quickly responded on the surface, "As the miss commands, I will surely obey!"
After giving the order, Cui Jintang let Yinglan support her and slowly walked towards her room. Gao Yunzhi was afraid that someone would stop him again, so he quickly followed.
—
Pei Zhaolin walked straight into the study. Along the way, the jealousy and annoyance in his heart were like a wildfire spreading, burning more and more vigorously. He suddenly pushed open the door of the study. The loud "bang" sound made Fuli, who was half a step behind him, feel bitter in his heart.
Pei Zhaolin sat in front of the desk, propping his forehead with both hands. He closed his eyes, trying to calm his emotions. But the images of Cui Jintang protecting Gao Yunzhi kept flashing through his mind, and the jealousy in his heart couldn't be suppressed no matter what.
Fuli could only lower his head, trying to reduce his presence. Just when Fuli felt like he could hardly breathe, there was a knock on the door. The deputy general had just stepped in with one foot when his face suddenly changed. Just as he turned around to run away, he was quickly grabbed back by Fuli.
Fuli's eyes shone with excitement. He was overjoyed to have found a companion to share his misfortune.
"—Come in!"
The deputy general staggered and almost knelt in front of Pei Zhaolin with a clang of his armor. Pei Zhaolin frowned. It seemed that he was about to open his eyes!
The deputy general was so scared that he quickly handed over the letter in his hand. His lips had never been so agile.
"Your Highness, this is a confidential letter sent back from the palace of the Kingdom of Shu!"
It was more like a family letter. However, it was a family letter for Cui Jintang. After seeing the words "For the personal reading of Cui Jintang" written on the outside, Pei Zhaolin stopped his hand.
He pinched the letter. The flickering candlelight cast half of his handsome face in light and half in shadow.
Pei Zhaolin let out a sneering laugh. "It seems that our princess is not just a princess imprisoned in the palace of the Kingdom of Shu, only to be a tool for giving birth, as she appears to be on the surface?"