Rong Tang didn't say anything after he finished scolding, and just looked at Qin Pengxuan with an angry expression. Qin Pengxuan's face turned purple, and it took him a long time to react. He slammed the table and stood up.
Su Huaijing paused slightly, raised his eyes coldly and glanced over, and at the right moment a burst of unbridled laughter came from behind him.
Everyone looked back and saw someone wearing a scarlet silk robe, smiling happily and freely, clapping his hands and saying, "I've heard that Cousin Rong is in good health and very intelligent, but unfortunately I never had the time to visit him. Today I see that he is indeed as he is said to be. From this point of view, the Queen Mother and Great Aunt can rest assured."
He turned around and looked at the other young man in apricot-yellow robe. "Second brother, Prince Qin is probably waiting for you? Didn't I tell you that there are no rules for hierarchy at the Flower Folding Party, and there is no need to pay attention to the order and time of the banquet? You must have been so busy recently that you forgot to tell them, which caused the prince to be scolded by my cousin."
The people who came were the second prince and the third prince. They had heard a lot. The third prince Sheng Chengxing had a smile on his face, but the second prince Sheng Chengming had an ugly expression.
He first glared at Qin Pengxuan fiercely, and then naturally cast his displeased look at Rong Tang, the instigator.
But before the blame could be put to the point, Sheng Chengming's face changed instantly when he caught a glimpse of the person sitting next to Rong Tang. He hurriedly took half a step forward, then suddenly stopped where he was.
Su Huaijing was still sitting next to Rong Tang, without taking his hand away. At first glance, the couple looked so loving that others would envy them.
He said nothing and did not move. He just cast a faint glance at Sheng Chengxing when he was talking to Rong Tang, and then lowered his head to press Rong Tang's hands.
It seemed as if all the nobles in the Lan Yue Pavilion who were in their prime and enjoying great honors put together could not find a few fingers of Rong Tang more worthy of his attention.
Rong Tang hesitated for a moment whether to stand up and greet the two princes. After thinking about it, he sat upright without moving, and just nodded at them from a distance as a greeting.
Qin Pengxuan was furious and frustrated the second before, but the next second he was like a drowned chicken that had been splashed with cold water. He gritted his teeth, stood up, and forbearingly took a few steps forward, with his head down, waiting for the Third Prince's instructions.
Sheng Chengming's eyes seemed unable to turn, and he stared at Su Huaijing blankly for a long time.
Fortunately, Su Huaijing and Rong Tang were sitting together, so when he looked over there, people who didn't know the situation would just think he was looking at Prince Ning Xuan.
After a long time, Su Huaijing moved his head, coughed lightly, put Rong Tang's hand down, changed a clean bowl, served him another bowl of warm pigeon soup, and placed the previous bowl of cold soup in front of himself.
The movements were smooth and graceful. After finishing, Su Huaijing raised his lips and smiled. He looked at the three people who were the focus of the crowd and asked in a gentle voice: "Your Highnesses, Prince Qin, may I ask if we can start the banquet now?"
The young man had a voice as beautiful as a phoenix and a handsome face. For a moment, the spring water outside the pavilion and the music inside the pavilion became his foil.
Sheng Chengming was called back to his senses and nodded quickly: "Of course you can, sir—"
He paused for a moment, turned to Qin Pengxuan, and continued the conversation, saying coldly: "Why don't you apologize to this young master and Master Rong!"
Qin Pengxuan's pupils dilated, and he clenched his fist unwillingly. He stood there for a long while before he bowed to Rong Tang and Su Huaijing unconvincedly: "It was my recklessness, I hope the Prince and Princess of Ning Xuan will forgive me."
Su Huaijing still looked like he had no say in the matter and was completely dependent on Rong Tang, so Rong Tang's eyes fell on Qin Pengxuan.
Almost all the young men and women, civil officials and scholars who came to attend the meeting looked over here intentionally or unintentionally. Rong Tang glanced at Qin Pengxuan, not caring about his previous rude remarks, but still said: "I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I just hope that after this flower-picking meeting is over, the prince can give my Huai Jing an explanation about Miss Li!"
Qin Pengxuan's face turned red and white, and because of the presence of the two princes, he had no choice but to agree even though he bit his tongue until it almost bled.
Sheng Chengxing had seen enough of the show, so he waved his hand and laughed, asking everyone to continue enjoying the banquet. The episode in the corner of the second floor was finally over.
Rong Tang drank a spoonful of pigeon soup, his mind full of thoughts. He instinctively began to wonder what was wrong with Li Panyan. But he saw Su Huaijing calmly drink half a bowl of the soup that was originally scooped for him, and then lowered his voice, with a bit of injustice, and more like a bit of unreasonable trouble, he asked: "Tangtang, why do I need him to explain Li Panyan's matter to me?"
"…?"
Rong Tang was thinking about this when Su Huaijing came over. For a moment he couldn't tell whether the villain was deliberately exposing himself or was simply curious about what he had just said.
But it seemed that it was not the case, because the next second Rong Tang heard Su Huaijing say relentlessly: "I have nothing to do with her. Whether she is dead or alive, has a miscarriage or gave birth to twins, what does it have to do with me? Why does Qin Pengxuan have to explain to me?"
He spoke very softly, but at a volume that was just loud enough for both of them to hear clearly. After hearing this, Rong Tang blinked and looked at Su Huaijing, trying to find the slightest micro-expression on his face so as to analyze the deeper meaning behind these words.
But maybe he took a little longer, and before Su Huaijing got impatient, the system spoke first: [Don't think about it, he is just making trouble. ]
Rong Tang: "? What does he want?"
[Who knows? ]
The system actually wants to say: Host, if you had a few more romances in modern times, you probably wouldn't be so confused. The villain's behavior seems like he is being unreasonable and flirting.
Regardless of gender, as long as the sale is completed and the partner comforts the user, the purpose is achieved.
But the system doesn’t want to tell the host directly: Go and coax the big villain!
This is not scientific at all. After all, it is a system to save the male protagonist! Now it is colluding with the host, which is already against the main brain's consciousness. How can it still seek benefits for the villain!
So the system wisely kept silent, leaving Rong Tang alone to think for a long time, and tentatively said: "He is quite rich."
The smile on Su Huaijing's face froze for a moment, his eyes widened slightly, and his head moved slightly, showing that he was very confused: "?"
Rong Tang's voice became even lower, almost close to Su Huaijing, saying: "Wu Kangbo's family is large and powerful. Although Qin Pengxuan's assets are not as much as mine, he still has a lot. After the flower-folding party is over, he will come to apologize and we can extort some money from him."
Su Huaijing was stunned for a long time before he reacted. The corners of his lips raised a smile that he could hardly suppress. His eyes curved again and again. He was worried about not doing anything out of line in public, so he could only whisper, head against head, "It's not good, right? It was Li Panyan who had the miscarriage, not me."
Rong Tang said as a matter of course, without any guilt: "But you said before that before you went to Fengyue Tower, you only ate the cakes sent by Li Panyan."
Su Huaijing nodded: "Yes, so?"
"So she drugged you. She's not a good person!" Rong Tang said, "Not to mention that we blackmailed Qin Pengxuan and it had nothing to do with her. Strictly speaking, Li Panyan should thank me for standing up for her."
Su Huaijing's smile deepened, and he asked, "What do you mean?"
Rong Tang said seriously, "Think about it, she just had a miscarriage, and Qin Pengxuan was able to come out alone to attend the flower-picking party, which clearly shows that he doesn't value her. And the banquet hosted by the Third Prince is said to be a feast for talented scholars to compete in literature, but didn't you notice that many noble ladies have also moved into Songyuan?"
Rong Tang's expression was very vivid when he was talking about these gossips, but he had to prevent his voice from being too loud and being heard by others, and he was also afraid that his volume was too low and Su Huaijing couldn't hear him, so he could only get very close, so close that Su Huaijing could smell the sandalwood scent on his clothes.
It should have been a feeling of concentrating and calming the mind, but Su Huaijing inexplicably felt as if there was a small feather scratching his heart lightly and teasingly.
He responded again, and Rong Tang continued, "So this flower-picking party is actually a blind date party. Wu Kangbo has not yet found a wife for his legitimate son, and his concubine just had a miscarriage. If Qin Pengxuan falls in love with a young lady in the next few days and brings her home to be his mistress, will Li Panyan still have a good life in the future?"
Su Huaijing smiled and continued, "So, when Brother Tangtang troubles him in public, everyone will know that although Li Panyan is a concubine, she is related to the Ningxuan Palace. Even if they don't give a monk's face, they will respect her a little because of you?"
Rong Tang nodded, with a cute and proud look on his face: "Yeah!"
Su Huaijing couldn't stop laughing. His hands felt a little itchy. He restrained himself and gently twisted them. He asked, "But Tangtang, do you really want to protect her?"
Rong Tang frowned slightly when he heard this, thought for a while, and said, "It depends on the situation."
Su Huaijing: “Hmm?”
Rong Tang paused, his brows knitted together, and he said in an unhappy tone: "But if she insists on thinking that Qin Pengxuan is a good man, I will not care about her."
Su Huaijing was first touched by Rong Tang's cuteness, then became curious. He found that he didn't quite understand Rong Tang's thoughts this time, so he asked, "Didn't Tang Tang say that she's not a good person?"
"It's indeed not the case." Rong Tang commented without reservation.
Su Huaijing: "Then why do you want to save her from the fire pit?"
Rong Tang raised his eyes, his eyelashes trembling slightly. He spoke calmly, as if it was supposed to be like this: "Because of you."
Su Huaijing was slightly startled: "Why is it because of me again?"
Rong Tang ignored the word "again" in his words and said, "Because everyone knows that the Crown Prince Consort of Prince Ningxuan is the nephew of Li Changfu, the Minister of War, and Li Panyan is Li Changfu's legitimate daughter."
The system spent the longest time with him, and sometimes would scold Rong Tang for being the Holy Father and showing too much compassion, to which Rong Tang would retort that if it wasn’t the Holy Father, who would save the world for your main brain
But in fact, Rong Tang is not really a saint father. He has a very clear understanding of himself.
He is just a layman with a little sense of morality and responsibility. Because he knows the fate of most people in this world, he naturally has some compassion, and when he encounters suffering that he cannot bear to see, he will lend a hand.
But Li Panyan does not fall into the category of "suffering that is unbearable to watch". On the contrary, Rong Tang is very happy to see her get her comeuppance.
Good deeds will be rewarded with good, and evil deeds will be punished with evil. This is the law of cause and effect in the world, and Rong Tang does not want to change it.
But unfortunately, Su Huaijing is part of this cause and effect.
Rong Tang said: "I saved Li Panyan's life, which is a way to repay Li Changfu's kindness in raising you."
In fact, there was no gratitude. No matter how great the gratitude was, it was completely eliminated in the nine years of torture and harsh treatment. But the only thing that cannot be denied is that if Li Changfu had not taken Su Huaijing away from the capital, he might have really died in that dark turmoil.
Li Changfu deserved whatever revenge the villain inflicted on him in the future, but Rong Tang selfishly did not want Su Huaijing to owe them anything.
Li Changfu had saved Su Huaijing's life, so Rong Tang's saving of Li Panyan's life could be considered as an offset. From now on, life and death had nothing to do with him or His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince.
Rong Tang said frankly: "I said I am a stingy person, I am good at settling accounts."
Su Huaijing was confused for a long time. Sheng Chengming sat in the main seat and cast his eyes at him from time to time, trying to make eye contact with him. However, Su Huaijing sat in his seat in a daze, lowering his head to look at Rong Tang's eyebrows. His mind went blank for a moment.
He suddenly found that he didn't know what to say.
He never thought of "repaying" Li Changfu. How should he repay him? Repay him for being harsh to him? Repay him for using him? Repay him for trying to use him as bait to exchange for wealth, honor, high position and generous salary
In Su Huaijing's plan, the highest courtesy he could show to Li Changfu was to give him an intact body, and he didn't even need to think about anything else.
But Rongtang said, "I repaid the kindness of raising me with a bento." Su Huaijing suddenly remembered that, in fact, at the beginning, he also thought of treating this uncle as a relative.
He gave the incomparable Dongzhu to his uncle, tried his best to please his aunt, worked as a servant for his cousins, and suffered Li Panyan's stupid and clumsy teasing day after day.
He is the most honorable seventh prince of Dayu, but he is forced to wander in a foreign land after his family is destroyed. He carefully plays the role of an ignorant child, hiding a secret hope in his heart that he may be regarded as a family member by them.
Su Huaijing would despise himself at that time.
Even now he feels unbearable when he thinks about it.
But Su Huaijing also knew that he had always been good at disguise, which was his advantage.
Only in front of Rong Tang, his biggest disguise was to restrain himself from hugging him.
Su Huaijing's Adam's apple moved slightly, and his voice became a little hoarse. He asked, "Then what?"
Rong Tang had already moved away a little, drinking soup in big gulps. He was not prepared for what he said and choked. He turned his head and coughed for a long time. Su Huaijing took him out of Lanyue Pavilion.
The air outside the pavilion was fresh, and there were still pedestrians walking by from time to time. Faint whistling and singing sounds could be heard everywhere. Rong Tang felt the cool breeze blowing from the water, and finally stopped coughing. He raised his eyes and glanced at Su Huaijing with a little resentment, as if blaming him for calling him without saying hello.
After Nie Wan answered his question again: "Then it doesn't matter. I don't like Li Changfu, I don't even like his family. Not praying to the Buddha for them to die immediately is already my greatest merit. Do you expect me to support their whole family?"
What he said was very nonsensical, but for some reason, Su Huaijing felt that he seemed to know what he was planning towards them and was indulging in his bad thoughts.
On the first day of April, the new moon is not visible.
Rong Tang strolled along the path on the island, slowly passing through the flowers, looking up at the night sky. The moon was obscured and the stars were bright and dense, more beautiful than any night view he had seen in modern times.
Rong Tang said nonchalantly, "There should be retribution in this world. Otherwise, the evil ones will have many friends and the good ones will die on the battlefield. The righteous ones will be thrown into prison, and the treacherous ones will sit on the throne... Huai Jing, how can this be justified?"
Prince Ningxuan's favorite thing to do is to take a plate of snacks, pick up a storybook, lie on the beauty couch, bask in the warm light of the spring afternoon, and read stories in the afternoon.
The second thing that Prince Ningxuan likes to do is to buy clothes, shoes, books, pens, inkstones, rings, and sachets for his new husband... It's best to give Su Huaijing everything that can be bought in Dayu, showing his favoritism. The third thing Prince Ningxuan likes to do most is to sit in the study for an entire afternoon, quietly copying a sutra that smells of sandalwood.
He is a little Bodhisattva who has no desires or requests. The only thing he hopes for is to have a meal that suits his taste, to lie in bed a little longer when the weather is bad, and to go out for a walk when the weather is good.
He takes life and death very lightly, yet seems to attach great importance to them. He can talk about death without hesitation, and will ask a doctor to treat the injury for others after they hurt him.
Su Huaijing knew that he was smart and understood what kind of shining, dazzling soul was bound under this sick body, but he never expected to hear such words from Rongtang.
He didn't even have time to think, and before he could react, he had already reached out and embraced the thin body that seemed like it would disappear at any moment.
Su Huaijing buried his head in the crook of Rong Tang's neck, his Adam's apple rolled slightly, and his voice was extremely hoarse: "Let me hold you for a while."
The sound of the lake water and the chirping of insects and birds were heard. Rong Tang was stunned for a moment, then stopped where she was, letting him hold her, telling herself that the warmth on her neck was just Su Huaijing's breathing, not any tears.
After a long time, but it seemed like just a moment, Su Huaijing was still holding him, his head buried in his neck very gently, without any movement. Rong Tang patted his arm and called softly: "Huaijing."
"Yeah." Su Huaijing responded in a muffled voice.
Rong Tang said, "Promise Ke Hongxue, I want you to take first place."
"Okay?" He softened his voice and acted like Su Huaijing, acting coquettishly.
(End of this chapter)