After confirming he’s with child, Song Song’s mood clearly became much better. Although his mood prior was also good, now it carried some excitement and cheer.
Ever since what happened at the Tower of Heaven, the people in the estate began to admire Song Song more. Outside of the estate, people also praised Song Song for saving all the people that day at the Tower of Heaven.
“I heard that day the mad king roared out loudly ‘Pay with your life!’ then charged straight at the crazy woman to grab her. The crazy woman frantically ran into the crowd of people. But how could the bloodthirsty mad king let her get away! Immediately he let out a shout, then flew into the air and pursued her without giving up. However, the number of people at the Tower of Heaven was vast like mountains and oceans. The crazy woman was like a single fish swimming in the water, very hard to catch. The mad king’s desire to kill gushed forth. It looked like he was just about to start a massacre—”
The storyteller banged on the table top. Everyone held their breath in suspense: “Just at this moment, Ping wangfei suddenly appeared, his figure emitting a holy light. He ran in the opposite direction to everyone else, and rushed straight towards the mad king… and just like that, he said a few soft words and managed to completely reverse the whole situation!”
Someone below the stage immediately started applauding and yelling: “Wangfei is holy and virtuous!”
“This is called every beast has its weakness. The mad king encountered wangfei and was changed for the better!”
“You guys aren’t aware of what kind of person the mad king was prior. When he was nine years old, he accompanied the emperor to meet people from another nation. The foreigner praised that he had the qualities of a phoenix and dragon. His appearance was proper, and his demeanor elegant. It’s only a shame that he was harmed by some crafty person and ended up suffering poison and madness.
“I know about this. That foreigner had blond hair and blue eyes. His aesthetics were very different from ours. Before he left, he even said that we should use the mad king’s beauty as standard.”
“This really happened?”
“Of course! When he was small, he was extremely smart. He could read at the age of three and fight at the age of five. When the martial arts master Yan Tianya met him for the first time, he immediately decided to take him as an apprentice and pass on to him all of his skills.
“If wangfei can really become the cure for the mad king, then that’s a great thing for our nation.”
“If he didn’t fall ill, maybe he would have already ascended…. “
“Please watch your tongue, friend!”
The tea shop fell into chaos. A young man in blue sat quietly in the corner listening. After a while, he put down his silver coins on the table and walked outside. His little servant hastily followed. On the road, the young man stopped in front of a bookstore. At the entrance, there were a whole bunch of people standing in a line. Surprisingly there were several people running around maintaining order: “Everyone please do not cut the line! There’s enough for everyone!”
“What do you mean there’s enough for everyone? Wasn’t it all sold out yesterday?” Someone said resentfully: “I already came yesterday. Why can’t I cut the line?”
“I came here bright and early in the morning to wait and I’m still here now. Look at how many people are in the front!”
The young man had a puzzled expression. He looked straight and saw someone carrying a long tube walking out. The little servant immediately went up to ask: “This big brother, what are you buying here? Why is everyone standing in a line?”
That big brother looked very pleased and replied: “Wangfei’s portrait of course. You guys don’t know? This is the most useful saint portrait of the year. He can ensure your safety and save your life from danger!”
The youth looked startled by the answer. The little servant asked again: “Which wangfei are you talking about?”
“Of course I’m talking about Ping wangfei who saved everyone at the Tower of Heaven.”
“How much does one portrait cost?”
“Three pieces of silver. Yesterday it was only one piece. Today it’s already three pieces. Who knows if the price will rise tomorrow. If you guys want to buy it, then you better hurry!”
The little servant returned to the young man’s side looking dumbfounded. He saw the young man reveal a helpless smile and asked: “Your highness, this… …”
Li Yang said: “Let’s return.”
He circled around the crowd, then suddenly heard a voice by his ear: “The wind is now blowing in the right direction for Ping wang. Who knows. Maybe the emperor plans to make him the crown prince again.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Li Yang’s expression didn’t change. He turned his head to look, and discovered the voice belonging to a smiling young man: “Please watch your words sir. Be careful about letting others hear them. It might cost you your life.”
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“Rb.” Ol Tjcu aegcfv jcv ifoa klatbea ibbxlcu yjmx. Ktf ilaaif rfgnjca tegglfv joafg tlw. Lf rjk atf wjc’r fzqgfrrlbc gfwjlcfv ragjcufis agjcdeli ogbw atf rajga ab olclrt jcv mbeivc’a gfrlra jrxlcu: “Rbk atja kjcuofl tjr kbc atf tfjgar bo atf qfbqif, vb kf cffv ab vb rbwfatlcu?”
Li Yang’s expression became solemn: “What do you want to do?”
“This lowly one means, should we go find the empress to think up some plans?”
“No need to bother mother with this.”
When he took the carriage back to the palace, he suddenly noticed a handsome horse at the entrance. The crown prince’s expression softened as he walked over. As expected, he saw a familiar face: “5th brother has come to visit. Someone get the tea.”
Li Qing sat across from him and said: “Today on the streets I saw brother-in-law’s portraits. It looks like they started circulating around yesterday afternoon.”
“We don’t need to worry about this. Big brother won’t sit around and ignore this.”
“After the incident at the Tower of Heaven, madam Song suddenly went insane. Following that, people started disseminating everywhere that brother-in-law is innocent and that big brother has great talents. I can’t help but think that someone is pushing the public opinion from behind the scenes.”
“My aunt going insane and slandering brother-in-law’s reputation was something seen by father’s own eyes. He always loved big brother, of course he wouldn’t just ignore this.”
“Personally I feel like she wasn’t crazy that day and that she became insane after her visit to the prison.”
Li Yang couldn’t help laughing: “My aunt was spoiled rotten in her youth but she has a timid nature. If she wasn’t crazy, how could she have dared to do such a thing at the Tower of Heaven?”
Li Qing fell silent momentarily then asked: “If big brother has interest in the throne… what will you do?”
Not expecting him to ask this directly, Li Yang was stunned for a short while. Afterwards, he replied: “This crown prince position of mine, I don’t even know how I obtained it… Originally he suited this position much better. In father’s eyes, this was also true. If he really wants it, then I will surrender it willingly.”
Li Qing suddenly started laughing: “He is indeed more suited than you.”
In the afternoon, a squad of soldiers appeared and dispersed the people standing in line in front of the bookstore. The head of these soldiers rode in on a big and tall horse. With sharp brows and bright eyes, he glanced over with a cold indifferent expression that carried a hint of imposing power.
The owner of the bookstore hastily walked out to greet respectfully: “Ping Wang, your highness. We are honored by your presence. Excuse me for not coming out to greet you earlier. Please forgive me, your highness.”
When Song Song rode the carriage over, the bookstore was already surrounded by soldiers. There were commoners watching and whispering amongst themselves: “I think the mad king came by himself. That owner Liao is finished…. “
“He could have sold books quietly, but no, he had to sell saint portraits. Didn’t even consider who this saint belonged to and would that person even allow him to sell?”
Song Song peeked his head out of the carriage.
Since he found out he was pregnant, he was even more afraid of getting chilled and falling ill. Therefore, before he left outside, he wrapped himself in plenty of layers. His delicate snow white face was practically completely hidden under a fluffy hood. On first glance, only the bridge of his nose could be seen.
However, people wouldn’t mistake the king’s carriage. When they saw him come down, the discussion content all around instantly changed.
“Is that Ping wangfei?”
“Just look at that figure, the way he’s carrying himself, no wonder he’s considered a living saint!”
“No wonder the mad king protects him carefully in his palms.”
“Dont, don’t push… …” An elderly woman was suddenly shoved in front of Song Song. He bent down, helped her up, and said: “Are you okay?”
The woman immediately nodded and hurried away with a reddened face. The sound in the surrounding became softer. Bai Yan stepped forward to talk to the soldiers. The soldiers instantly created an opening for them to pass.
The wide doors of the bookstore only opened a little bit at the moment. Who knew if Li Xiao was massacring everyone inside right now. Song Song pushed open the door and walked in. At first glance, he saw Li Xiao sitting in a chair examining picture scrolls one by one. Before him knelt about a dozen people with their forehead touching the floor, all trembling and sweating profusely.
He called: “Your highness.”
Seeing him enter, the eyes of those people instantly gained a ray of hope. Li Xiao also looked up. The next second, his cold ruminating face turned warmer. He put down the picture scrolls and walked over to hold Song Song’s hands: “How come you came over?”
“I also heard the news, so I came over to take a look.”
Li Xiao raised an eyebrow and said: “This bookstore sells in the front and draws in the back. Take a look at this. These 10 tables are all used by the artists. It’s like a production line. When the first group of artists finish drawing, they rest. Then the next group of artists continue. But even alternating the workload, they still can’t supply fast enough to meet the demand. When this King arrived, there’re just these unfinished works left over.”
Song Song walked over, held up an almost complete scroll to take a look. He discovered that these people actually drew a golden light surrounding his body as well as a red dot on his forehead. White robes flowing, other than the face and hair style looking somewhat different, he was really made to look like a saint.
“How does your highness plan to deal with this?”
“Gather them all and burn them.”
He just finished talking, the guy next to owner Liao immediately started bawling: “Please spare my life, wangye! Please spare my life! I have an 80 year old mother and a 3 year old child to take care of. Please, show mercy! We won’t do it again!”
Owner Liao instantly pushed him hard and chided: “Wangye meant to burn the paintings, not burn the people!”
He finished and saw Li Xiao’s almost but not quite smiling expression. He quickly plastered on a smiling face and said: “He heard wrong and irritated your highness with his noise. Please forgive him.”
Li Xiao’s expression didn’t change, but his voice carried frost: “For disseminating wangfei’s portrait, killing you all wouldn’t be considered excessive.”
Owner Liao’s face froze. Swallowing his saliva, he noticed Song Song was also looking at him and instantly revealed a begging for help expression.
Song Song withdrew his gaze and said: “I see although these portraits used my name, they don’t look like me at all. Maybe they wanted to make it look more mystical so they specifically added a few more brush strokes.”
Owner Liao instantly replied: “What wangfei said is extremely correct. Wangfei’s status is lofty and important. Even if we had endless courage, we still wouldn’t dare to carelessly spread your real portrait. We’re just very hard pressed, so we had to come up with this plan to make a little money.”
Song Song looked towards Li Xiao and said: “How about just hit each of them twenty times and then burn the drawings.”
“You also have to find and bring back all the other already sold portraits as soon as possible.” Li Xiao shot a look at the owner: “Don’t let this king discover this happening a second time.”
He ordered people to set all of the paintings on fire, then pulled Song Song out the door. He gave up his horse and accompanied Song Song to sit together in the carriage and asked: “How did you plan to deal with this?”
“I thought this owner Liao’s mind was pretty crafty… … “ He didn’t finish his words when he discovered Li Xiao’s displeased expression and said: “I also planned to have him burn the portraits.”
“The truth is that you wanted to come discuss prices so he could keep selling right?”
“… ….” Song Song scooted left and right on his butt. Li Xiao suddenly reached out and retrieved a long tube from him: “Finished looking at it already?”
“Finished…. It really doesn’t look like me much.”
“So you originally wanted to find him to do business together?”
Song Song smiled and obediently stayed quiet. Of course he knew that Li Xiao was currently thinking for his safety’s sake. If his real appearance was spread outside, it could cause some unforeseeable problems. Originally when he heard of what was happening, he thought that the owner was really far too daring. However, after actually seeing the portrait drawing, he discovered that even though this guy wanted to make money, he was still clear-headed enough to want to keep his life. The person in the drawing only looked 30-40% similar to himself. As soon as he heard that one piece of painting actually sold for 1 to 3 silvers, his interest rose and he wanted to come over to take a look. He didn’t expect Li Xiao to be one step ahead.
Li Xiao couldn’t resist pinching his face. Song Song moved away slightly, frowning. He knew the other was unhappy so he didn’t resist too much. With his snow white cheeks pinched red, and his expression well behaved and regretful, Li Xiao couldn’t bear to continue punishing him and withdrew his hand: “Tomorrow, we will go pray at the Holy temple and ask the gods to forgive you for pretending to be a saint so you can avoid having your life shortened.“
Song Song couldn’t hold back from laughing. He said, nodding his head: “Okay.”
Li Xiao looked at his abdomen: “Have to give his appearance a little story.”
Song Song’s palm moved down. He said smiling: “Now that I’m a living saint, it should make weaving this story much easier.”
The next day, Song Song and Li Xiao went to the Holy temple together. After they returned, someone said mysteriously in the tea shop: “Did you guys hear? Wangfei went to the Holy temple and was bestowed a miracle!”
“What miracle?”
“According to the prophecy, in time, wangfei will help carry on the royal bloodline despite being a man! Our wangfei was born on earth with a mission!”
“That’s right. I heard the gods couldn’t bear watching the mad king’s talents go to waste. Therefore, they sent wangfei to save him and help him maintain clarity, so that he could dedicate his skills to better our nation.”
“Let me tell you. As soon as I saw wangfei, I instantly knew that a person like that couldn’t be simple!”
When the rumor spread more and more wildly, loud laughter could be heard from the empress’ palace. The empress hadn’t laughed so unrestrained and hard for a long time. She could hardly breathe: “Do they really think the people of the capital are idiots? From portraits of a living saint to a miracle. Each of their rumors gets more and more fantastical. Song Song’s portrait supposedly brings peace to the family? With that body, he can help continue the royal bloodline? Hahahaha!”
The maid beside her also laughed with her: “This kind of thing, what’s the point of bringing it up. What are they really planning?”
“What are they planning?” The empress said faintly: “Let’s just wait and watch this good show.”
“We’re not going to do anything?”
“What do you want to do?”
“I heard that Imperial Tutor Zhao firmly believes this rumor. He even bet 2 thousand gold ingots at the gambling hall that it’s 100% true.”
The empress’s eyeballs spun, her expression became somewhat serious: “Imperial Tutor Zhao made a bet?”
For a moment, she couldn’t tell if this thing was actually real or fake. She pondered deeply, then a flash of understanding crossed her eyes: “He wants to use the incident at the Tower of Heaven, to turn himself into a miracle for the ignorant masses to follow. This business involving passing on the royal bloodline… when the time comes, they’ll likely use a surrogate. Li Xiao ah Li Xiao. Now he can really think up all sorts of schemes. He thinks he can rely on Song Song to regain his crown prince position or something?”
“Then why would the Imperial Tutor estate place down the bet?”
“They need the support of a government official to ensure that those ignorant masses believe them without questioning.”
“Your majesty is wise.”
“They actually dare to lie. Then they should be prepared to face the consequences after the truth is revealed to the public. You send someone to investigate immediately. See if there are any pregnant women in the king’s estate.”
“Understand.”
“Wait.” She thought for a moment and then said: “Since the Imperial Tutor family dares to play, then we’ll play with them.”
“You mean to say, we will also place a bet?”
“Let the Prime Minister’s estate deal with this. Add one thousand more gold ingots. Just bet that it’s fake.” She faintly revealed a smile: “Let’s see how they plan to clean this up.”
Oh, Empress. Too bad you drove your sister insane or else she could have warned you in advance you would lose that bet.
They could consider her a crazy oracle and start following whatever she says? 😆
Now that would be hilarious, ngl the storyteller at the beginning needs a raise.
Thank You for the chapter ٩(*ゝڡ◕๑)۶♥
gambling is bad kids. You can lose a lot of money! Just like the evil empress’s family, that’s about to lose 3000 gold ingots!!
Li Xiao: Zhen will pray you don’t get struck down for pretending to be a saint.
Let’s see how you will lose money 🤣
It is really their idiot spoiled sister that ruin the family… how ironically hilarious
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh empress, I can’t wait to see your face with a big handprint
Hohoho~~Easy Money (Wangfei smirks Mischievously)