Really, within this short time that he wasn't by his master's side, what kind of friends had his master been making and why's he treating this Helian Wei Wei so favorably.
"Think it's expensive?" Wei Wei was merely joking. After watching the disdain in the little servant's eyes, she smiled even more widely, the depths of her eyes actually became ice-cold. "Young Master Hei don't have to buy it."
Seeing her expression, Hei Ze knew that she became upset. Originally, the two of them always joked at each other, especially these jokes about money. How was it that when other people got involved, a different atmosphere developed.
"I haven't said anything, what are you butting in for?" Hei Ze said levelly. "Go and prepare a thousand taels of silver for Miss Helian."
He not only did this to tell the little servant that Wei Wei's not ordinary, but also to have those young lords know that some jokes should not be said recklessly!
After all, Hei Ze's identity was clear. Seeing him also eating stewed beef, other people also didn't say anything more and moved their gazes away embarrassingly, becoming quiet.
Wei Wei naturally understood Hei Ze's intent, and gently smiled in response. "That's not necessary, how could it be a thousand taels of silver. If you like it, just take it and eat. I even brought wine, how about it?"
Chapter 180 - Hei Ze And His Highness Faces Off
"You even have wine!" This time, Hei Ze's eyes shone. "Hurry and bring it out, let's drink!"
Wei Wei 'mm hm'd once, and placed the things she brought in a row. Besides the stewed beef, there was also small ribs, neat and tidily arranged, both vegetables and meat, that were still steaming. Pouring out two cups of wine, they were truly living it up.
The young men naturally also smelled those fragrances, and regretted previously mocking Wei Wei. Even worse, when the wine and meat came, they could only swallow their saliva. Their faces were smiling, yet their hearts utterly envied Hei Ze. Within this environment he could still eat such food. One ought to know that after they entered Hidden Spirit Shrine, they'll only be eating vegetarian food. Not to mention no more alcohol, they wouldn't be given meat, either.
The young men tasted tea and cake, and whispered gossip. Unconsciously, their voices became louder and louder.
At a distance from them on the other side was Baili Jia Jue's horse carriage. Eunuch Sun was worried that these loud comments would disturb His Highness' rest. He brought his horsetail whisk and faced this side to smilingly say. "Gentlemen, His Highness will be leading the troops this afternoon and needs to rest. Will everyone please lower their voices."
"Yes. Hehe. It's a good thing Eunuch Sun reminded us. We were watching Hei Ze, that guy. Don't know when he and that eldest daughter of the Helian family got along so well. We're astonished, so we inevitably spoke a bit much."
"Really? Such a good relationship?" An apathetic, deep and low voice transmitted over from the direction of the horse carriage.
Several young men lifted their heads and looked, to see Baili Jia Jua lean on the windowsill while propping up his chin, wearing the silver mask on his face. The corners of his mouth was slightly depressed. In the filtered sunlight through the shadows of leaves and branches, his form was quietly beautiful. Yet within the depths of his eyes, there wasn't the slightest trace of a smiling expression.
"Third...Third Prince...I'm very embarrassed to have awaken you..."
"It doesn't matter. It so happens that I was feeling bored and wanted to hear what you guys are talking about." Baili Jia Jue calmly put down the cup in his hand, within his indifferent voice, there was a kind of indescribable feeling of oppression.
"Nothing. We just thought that it's really rare to see Hei Ze the way he is today. The things Helian Wei Wei brought were indeed not few, sitting over there to dine together with Hei Ze."
In front of Baili Jia Jue, these several young men naturally wouldn't be as unrestrained as they were previously. They're afraid Third Prince would mistakenly think that they purposefully talked behind people's back and were unbridled themselves, so they immediately pointed towards a not so distant place. "Your Highness can see for yourself. Don't those two people look like they get along quite well."
Baili Jia Jue followed that person's finger and looked over to see a picture of Wei Wei inclining to pour Hei Ze some wine. In passing, Hei Ze pinched a piece of pork spare ribs from her lunch box and put it into his mouth.
Baili Jia Jue's dark colored pupils expanded in that split second, yet quieted down very quickly. That handsome face was as before, as calm as soft winds and floating clouds, appearing indifferent.
By comparison, those young men felt that they were too gossipy and smiled embarrassingly. "That person, Hei Ze had never been conventional. I reckon it's Grandfather Hei pushing him too urgently, so he came up with an idea of his own. Speaking of which, he previously was very good towards Sister Qing Mei. Recently, he's always rejecting that girl, and instead became closer to Helian Wei Wei. Is it possible that this time, he's being serious?"
After he finished speaking, he then felt that talking like this, was apparently even more gossipy.
He rigidly bent towards Baili Jia Jue's body and asked. "Your Highness, when will you settle down and get married?"
"Three days later." Baili Jia Jue spoke emotionlessly, answering the other party with a few words.
Not to mention those several young men who were struck dumb, even Eunuch Sun appeared to be struck with lightning.
"Three, three days from now?" Eunuch Sun stammered, smiling with a little difficulty. "Your Highness is joking again. You haven't even chosen who's to be your consort, how can you get married?"
In addition, your getting married, how come I didn't know anything about it, Retired Emperor, the old person, also hadn't received the news, you know? Getting married, didn't this kind of thing require two people in order to accomplish it, who's the other person? Your Highness, speaking this way, indeed, making jokes truly isn't your forte!
Baili Jia Jue looked slowly at Eunuch Sun.
Eunuch Sun's scalp quaked.
The several sons of noble families looked at each other. "We shouldn't bother His Highness further. There's still an hour left for rest. Your Highness can have a good sleep."
After speaking, those people all mounted their respective warhorses. Baili Jia Jue maintained his previous actions, slowly closing his eyes.
Eunuch Sun stood outside the horse carriage and watched the smiling expression at the corners of his mouth slowly vanish, as a slight chill burst forth.
After about half an incense's time, Retired Emperor commanded the end of the rest period and for all to get ready to start again.
Having received the order, Hei Ze walked to the front of his warhorse, but didn't have a chance to mount when he was obstructed by a slender silhouette.
That man didn't seem to be waiting for him on purpose, an indifferent appearance, covered in silver clothes and black hair, rather like an otherworldly immortal. His face was covered by a silver mask, only exposing a pair of demonically cold, apathetic eyes.
"Your Highness." Hei Ze's motionless expression greeted him with courtesy.
Baili Jia Jue watched him with a smile that's not a smile, his entire body radiated an aura of self-restraint that's difficult to describe, yet made people tremble with fear.
"Stay farther from her." The man slowly looked up and watched Hei Ze's surprised gaze. His cold face seemed to be a perfectly carved ice sculpture. "Even if you don't care about reputation, she, as a young lady from an influential family, needs to maintain appearances."
Hei Ze smiled wickedly and was going to say then what if I don't behave accordingly.
When he heard Baili Jia Jue's voice again coldly sounded from the side of his ear. "That young lady that you grew up with, seems to be of marriageable age. Tell me, should I have Imperial Grandfather grant a marriage to her or not."
Hei Ze suddenly raised his head, his eyes narrowing. He'd always known that Third Prince wasn't
easy to handle, however, what he didn't expect was that he was difficult to handle to this degree.
How did that girl provoke this kind of man.
An expert at hitting someone where it hurts.
Hei Ze smiled. "Your Highness is right, getting too close to her indeed can affect her reputation. I thought about things too simplistically. Even if I want to get closer, I need to wait until Grandfather nod his head first."
The last sentence was one Hei Ze deliberately added.
He didn't believe that Third Prince would come and warn him because of a woman without a reason.
Baili Jia Jue curved up his thin lips, and walked forward one step. Those eyes hidden in depth seemed to be an iced fog rising in the dark of night. As he brushed past Hei Ze, he only left a chillingly ice-cold warning. "You can wait and see if the elder Hei will nod his head first, or if that childhood sweetheart of yours will be married off first."
In an instant, Hei Ze's left hand clenched tightly, his smiling expression became weaker in the next second. After a moment, he again smiled, his fingers pressing against his forehead.
He thought the matter of that girl provoking His Highness last time was already taken care of.
Didn't expect it's still not finished.
But to have him believe that Third Prince liked that girl, also wasn't possible.
Could it be that the rumors were true, Third Prince choosing a consort was merely an excuse, in order to protect the girl he truly cared about?
Chapter 181 - His Highness and Wei Wei
He also shouldn't take advantage of that girl like that.
Hei Ze creased his dense brows. His mouth didn't say it, but his heart already took Wei Wei to be his younger sister early on. They shared the kind of sentiment between a sister and brother.
He'd never seen such a girl before. Too many things happened to her. If she were a male, she still would've stumbled by this point, yet her demeanor remained dashingly free and at ease, as if she could confront anything she encountered.
Her temperament was good, especially in how gently she treated the elderly.
Hei Ze knew that her character clearly wasn't gentle and soft, yet she's able to take care of people in all respects.
Interacting with her would cause tensions to pass, making people very comfortable.
No wonder people in the shop, whether they're male or female, all worshiped her like an idol.
However, precisely because this person's family was taken away, power was seized, and even was kicked out of the family, there's no power supporting her from behind, so it's even more convenient to take advantage of her.
He didn't deny that when he first associated with Wei Wei, he wanted to push her away in order to protect that person at the bottom of is heart.
After all, the situation at the capitol was very unstable, there were some secrets that people from the four great clans didn't want the court, or even their successors such as himself, to find out about.
These secrets made Hei Ze unsettled. Because of that, in recent years, he changed his stance.
Yet ever since he genuinely got to know Wei Wei, he no longer had those thoughts such as in order to protect a person, he would have to sacrifice another.
After all, he's not a member of the imperial family, and also didn't need to insist on going that far when handling matters.
It's just that the person that he liked, simply didn't have any interest in him. In regards to who he'd marry in the future, she also didn't care.
This made him repeatedly got close to Wei Wei in order to make that person regretful!
However, even while he's doing these things, he firmly believed that even if someone truly came to bring Wei Wei trouble, he would handle it.
Yet what was Third Prince thinking, he had no way of finding out.
If the other person truly did it to protect that maid that was formerly very important to him, and he chose Wei Wei to be his consort because of that, then no matter what happened in the future, Wei Wei would have to carry everything on her own shoulders. In the imperial palace, struggles for power and position, and scheming was even more ferocious than between the four clans. In addition, the current empress actually wasn't Third Prince's birth mother, and the emperor was engrossed in female charms year round.
Once Wei Wei entered the palace, she'd be like a filet of fish waiting to be sliced up by others.
If Third Prince chose this Third Prince Consort in order to have someone block these knives on behalf of the girl in the depths of his heart, how would Wei Wei have an easy time....
After all, Third Prince, this guy's thoughts were too deep, just too deep. What he was really up to, it's truly difficult to say.
In addition, when he recently returned to the capitol again, he received news which was also related to that maid.
Not long from now, that news would also spread throughout the capital.
When the moment came, what would Third Prince do...
It seemed at, when they arrive at Hidden Spirit Shrine, he'd need to find an opportunity to properly have a chat with that girl, have her stay a bit further away from Third Prince. It's best if she didn't involve herself within these incessant power struggles.
Hei Ze didn't know at all that Wei Wei already involved herself. Moreover, everything she'd done was voluntary.
Because Wei Wei's identity already doomed her to be involved in people's interests. She absolutely wouldn't leave things as they are.
She wanted to seize back the Helian family, so she needed to first stand at a position to rival the four great clans, because the one she had to face wasn't merely those Helian double-crossers. There was also the Su family, who had tremendous influence at court...
Creak.
Evening. The wheels had turned countless revolutions. They're on the last leg of their journey to Hidden Spirit Shrine.
This section of the mountain road was very rugged, in addition to the numerous number of trees, which wasn't very suitable for carriages.
Wei Wei hadn't opened her eyes, yet Chen Wen Wan, who sat across from her, already woke up and sat looking at her unblinkingly. Seeing that she woke up, her face then showed a smiling expression. "Younger Sister, you finally woke up. There seems to be a blockage in the road before us. The imperial guards are at the fork in the road."
"This kind of weather is indeed accident prone." Wei Wei turned her lips into a smile that's not a smile. In all likelihood, there's an eighty to ninety percent chance that this blockage was man-made.
Chen Wen Wan took out her handkerchief and dried the water around the window. "Younger Sister is right, we need to be more careful. If the road in front can't be crossed, I reckon that in moment, we'll all need to go on foot."
"Mm hm." Wei Wei agreed levelly.
Appearing uneasy, Chen Wen Wan continued to ask. "Younger Sister seems to be on very good terms with Young Master Hei."
"We're OK." Wei Wei smiled.
Chen Wen Wan looked down, and wiped the window again. "Younger Sister's truly fortunate."
"Let's not talk about me. Sister Chen has guessed correctly. For the next section of road, we'll truly need to walk up the mountain." While Wei Wei was talking, she lifted the curtains, and stepped out.
The rain was still falling outside, all of the young ladies in front had already received news from an imperial guard coming over on horseback. Each one of them came down from their horse carriages, their maids holding umbrellas for them, waiting by the side.
Wei Wei and the rest of the group pretty much were at the tail end. Everyone had to come down before they could all move forward. However, they're now on foot.
In the distance, Wei Wei could see that between a group of people, the figure of that imposing, tall person didn't appear to have been touched at all by dust nor wind.
Wei Wei was puzzled. The rain was pouring, yet not even one drop reached his body.
While thinking about this, Wei Wei turned towards Hei Ze, whose black hair was alre
ady wet and saw rain water pouring on his forehead. Mm, this was what should normally happen.
That person, Third Prince, was too abnormal.
As if he'd noticed Wei Wei's gaze, suddenly, that person's face turned her way. Don't know if it was because of the umbrella, or because of the rain, that pair of eyes as deep as an ancient pond, was more ice-cold than at any other time, and seemed to lack any temperature.
That glance casted at her was so cold it made her tooth ache.
Wei Wei stared blankly, what's going on here, she hadn't provoked him.
However, even though he was as distant as a god.
There were still people who worried about his safety.
Eunuch Sun was a perfect example. "Your Highness, the road in front of us is too slippery, you should look carefully."
Wei Wei watched the Eunuch calling out incessantly, shook her head, and thought to herself. Based on Third Prince's degree of mysophobia, even if you didn't remind him, he'd still pay careful attention.
"Is there money on the ground, that your head's not looking up."
After the ice-cold voice transmitted by her ear, it gave her a kind of illusion of being at the north pole.
"Your Highness?" How did this man end up behind the troops?
Baili Jia Jue looked at her coldly and detachedly. His lips shaped into an arc that couldn't be considered a smile. "Otherwise, who do you think it'd be?"
Wei Wei:...she didn't think it'd be anybody.
"Did you not bring your brains when you left today." Baili Jia Jue casted a glance at her completely empty hand, his eyes emotionless.
Wei Wei:...she hadn't seen him for a few days, yet this man's poisonous tongue became increasingly undisguised. Wait a minute, did he come by this time just to he could insult her IQ?
Chapter 182 - There’s Two-Faced Love
While Helian Wei Wei was thinking, an incomparably soft fox fur cloak covered her from the head down, exuding his distinctive sandalwood fragrance. Once worn, it felt very warm and comfortable.
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