CH 43.1

Translator – Xiao He Lian

Chapter 43.1

In fact, Li Hao wasn’t ugly, it was just that he made people feel uncomfortable.

At a glance, Shi Jin knew that this man had grown up in a honey pot and was pampered by his family and he has been wandering around brothels all year round. He smelled of wine and powder and looked thin and decadent and even his cheekbones were a little sunken.

Although Shi Jin always dislikes judging people by their appearance, when he meets people like Li Hao who is ignorant and only knows how to wander around in the streets, he will choose to distance himself intentionally or unintentionally and a situation like today has never happened before.

Shi Jin covered his chest, trying to keep his heart from beating so hard.

Unfortunately, all his struggles were of no avail.

His eyes looked towards Li Hao as if possessed and his legs seemed to have lost control as he walked towards Li Hao. In the end, he seemed to be a different person, and he couldn’t help asking: “Who are you?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Wen Liang, who had already blushing, suddenly mustered up the courage to stammer and said:  “Prince Xuan, I am Wen Liang, the eldest son of Wen Changqing, the former Assistant Minister of Rites.”

Shi Jin didn’t even look at Wen Liang, his eyes were fixed on the bewildered Li Hao and he said again, “Benwang is asking you.”

At that, Wen Liang froze.

The next moment, his unbelievable gaze hovered between Shi Jin and Li Hao, at this moment he could not hide his inner emotions, sadness, disappointment and shock were all clearly written on his face.

However, Shi Jin couldn’t see his expression, even if he stood in front of Shi Jin, he would have been like a wisp of wind.

Only Li Hao truly existed.

Li Hao did not feel comfortable being stared at by Shi Jin. It made him feel like he was staring at him like he was a piece of meat and gave him goosebumps all over  but he still faced Shi Jin’s hot gaze, bowed his head and said respectfully: “Prince Xuan, My name is Li Hao, son of Li Wen. I come from the Li family in Jiangnan. My father was busy with important matters so I came to celebrate the birthday of the Grand Princess on behalf of my father.” 

“Li Hao…” Shi Jin muttered Li Hao’s name, he was very sure that he didn’t know Li Hao and he had never seen Li Hao before today.

But why…

Whenever he sees Li Hao, he feels his heart beating faster and his eyes are uncontrollably attracted to the other party…

Before Shi Jin could figure out why, Eunuch Zhu quietly approached him from behind.

“His Highness the Crown Prince is resting inside.” Eunuch Zhu made a gesture of invitation, “Please come inside, Prince Xuan.”

Shi Jin, who was in deep thought, was brought back to the present by Eunuch Zhu’s voice. He looked thoughtfully at Li Hao who didn’t dare to look at him, brushed the hem of his clothes, turned and entered the tent.

Eunuch Zhu looked at the nervous Li Hao and the despair-filled Wen Liang and quickly restrained the smile he had when facing Shi Jin and said, “Both of you can come in, too.”

Sitting in the tent, Wen Chi was very anxious. He was holding a cup of hot tea in both hands but he hadn’t taken a sip for a long time. He looked down at his frowning face reflected in the tea and couldn’t help but sigh secretly.

He couldn’t figure out, why did Shi Ye always like to provoke Wen Liang?

If he hadn’t known Shi Ye’s personality, he would have started to wonder if Shi Ye was interested in Wen Liang… But now that the plot of the novel has more or less changed, it is not impossible for Shi Ye to like Wen Liang.

But after a while, Wen Chi thought became more and more ludicrous.

At this moment, Eunuch Zhu led Li Hao and Wen Liang into the tent.

Li Hao never dreamed that he would have the honor to meet His Highness the Crown Prince one day. He was so excited and at a loss, he didn’t even know where to put his hands for a while, so he hurriedly bowed to His Highness the Crown Prince with Wen Liang.

Compared with Li Hao, Wen Liang who followed behind was much calmer, but looking closely, you can see that Wen Liang was in a daze, as if he was daydreaming, occasionally his eyes turn to look in Shi Jin’s direction, it’s a pity that Shi Jin’s attention is all focused on Li Hao.

Wen Chi vaguely sensed the subtle atmosphere between the three of them and couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

Although the first encounter between the protagonist gong and shou1Gongshou is the distinction between two boys in BL culture. Gong belongs to the doer in the sexual relationship, and Shou belongs to the passive in the sexual relationship was brought forward with Shi Ye’s “help”, as the protagonist gong, Shi Jin would not ignore the protagonist shou, Wen Liang to such an extent and the look of Shi Jin’s eyes when he gaze at Li Hao is really very difficult to say ……

Could it be that the plot of the novel has changed? Or is it that Shi Jin will only be swayed when Wen Liang plays the guqin?

The atmosphere in the tent was rather weird, but Shi Ye didn’t notice it at all. He waved his hand to the servants who were waiting on the side to make tea for Shi Jin and asked in a very calm tone: “Does fourth brother want something from Bengong?”

“Oh, it’s not anything important.” When Shi Jin was called, he finally took his attention away from Li Hao, smiled and said, “I have nothing to do and it just so happens that the royal brother’s tent is next to me, so I wanted to come and talk to the royal brother.”

Shi Ye said, “What do you want to talk about?”

Hearing this, Shi Jin subconsciously looked up at Wen Chi with a complex expression. Originally, he planned to take this opportunity to discuss with Wen Chi about the locust plague in Jinzhou. It would be best if he could get some good ideas from Wen Chi. 

But since he saw Li Hao, he has been distracted, his whole body felt wrong from top to bottom so he does not have the energy to ask Wen Chi about the locust plague related matters.

Shi Jin barely suppressed his feelings towards Li Hao, twitched the corners of his mouth and showed a wry smile: “Since Royal Brother has guests right now, why don’t I come back later.”

Shi Ye propped his chin wearily, glanced sideways at Li Hao and Wen Liang who were standing there like two elementary school students and said indifferently: “If you want to stay, you can stay. They are not guests, they are just two random people called by Bengong.”

As soon as these words came out, Li Hao and Wen Liang’s bodies obviously tensed up a lot.

Wen Chi also felt miserable.

Look at Shi Ye’s appearance, it really fully reflects the look of a villain in the early stage. He was afraid that the more he provoked, the more he would get beaten in the later stages.

Shi Jin smiled and didn’t speak any more but his gaze still couldn’t help but drift towards Li Hao.

Shi Ye seems to be accustomed to Shi Jin’s lukewarm nature, so he ignored him and turned to look at Li Hao and Wen Liang. More precisely, his eyes passed Li Hao in front of him and landed on Wen Liang.

He said, “Wen Liang.”

When Wen Liang heard his name, he was terrified and hurriedly said: “Yes.”

“Tell me.” Shi Ye’s mouth curved into a half-smile, like a cat teasing a mouse, “Why is Bengong looking for you.”

“I……” Wen Liang was so scared that his heart was in his throat, which made it difficult for him to breathe smoothly. He said anxiously, “I don’t know…”

Shi Ye suddenly let out an inexplicable laugh: “Your Wen family violated their promises, broke my trust, swapped people and replaced you, the precious son, with someone else and gave him to me. For your brother Wen Chi’s sake, I didn’t hold you responsible but now you take the initiative to send yourself to the door. Do you think that Bengong will let you leave this peach blossom banquet?”

Wen Liang’s face turned completely white, he couldn’t control his weak legs, his body slumped and sat down on the ground, after reacting with hindsight, he hurriedly kneeled upright, trembling and begging for mercy: “Your Highness, forgive me, I was just confused for a moment, I know I was wrong.”

Shi Ye smiled: “I see that you don’t seem to be aware of your mistakes at all.”

Wen Liang was so frightened that he couldn’t speak, his body shook like chaff.

Shi Ye seemed to like to see Wen Liang like this and after admiring for a while, he gradually said in a cold voice: “It seems that Bengong is too kind and you still have the courage to hang around in front of Bengong after you have made a serious mistake. Since Wen Changqing can’t control you, then I will take care of you for him.”

“Your Royal Highness, spare your life! Your Royal Highness, spare your life!” Wen Liang had never been so frightened before and his soul almost flew out of his body.

Soon his eyes turned red and tears rushed out, in the blink of an eye, tears were all over his face. It was the first time he saw His Highness the Crown Prince and it was also the first time he was so frightened by the royal aura that he almost fainted.

However, Shi Ye seemed unable to hear his begging for mercy and shouted: “Zhu Xian.”

Eunuch Zhu immediately walked to Wen Liang’s side: “The servant is here.”

Shi Ye didn’t bother to look at Wen Liang who was about to faint from crying, so he waved his hand: “Deal with him.”

Eunuch Zhu said: “Yes.”

Wen Liang watched Eunuch Zhu summon two guards and was so anxious that he couldn’t even care about his face and turned his pleading eyes to Shi Jin, who was watching from the sidelines: “Prince Xuan, please help me, I don’t want to die yet, please ……”

Shi Jin was still thinking about Li Hao but suddenly Wen Liang grabbed his trouser leg, he was stunned and didn’t even know what happened.

Seeing that Shi Jin had no plans to save him, Wen Liang felt a sense of desperation and he had no choice but to turn to Wen Chi: “Wen Chi, please speak for me to His Royal Highness, obviously you were also involved in that matter, you know father would do that ……”

“It’s so noisy.” Shi Ye said impatiently, “Take him out.”

So the two guards clamped Wen Liang’s shoulders from left and right and dragged away Wen Liang, who was powerless, without any effort.