After Song Song finished eating, he got up to take a walk. He didn’t go far, just wandered around the backyard.
The courtyard of the king’s residence was very large. There were fake mountains with flowing water, winding corridors, and a large man-made lake. The maids were busy. Although he was new and many maids did not know him, upon seeing his clothes, they knew he was no servant. If not a servant, then he was a guest. They politely greeted him on passing.
Song Song also returned the greeting politely. He strolled to the lakeside and watched the fish swim in the clear waters. He looked around. A servant standing in the corner suddenly ran over: “Gongzi, do you need some fish food?”
The people in this house were very clever. Song Song saw him take the fish food out of his pocket, and thanked him. He took some and sprinkled it in the lake. The fish quickly gathered around and opened their mouths to eat.
Song Song couldn’t help but laugh.
It was rare for him to be so relaxed and in such good spirits. Suddenly, there was a loud noise next to him. Song Song turned his head and saw a maid just happened to fall right in front of him. The soup on the tray immediately splashed all over him. The maid hurriedly apologized and reached out to help him wipe clean. Song Song took several steps back to avoid her.
The maid hastily kneeled and kowtowed: “Gongzi, forgive me, Gongzi, forgive me!”
Song Song said lightly: “You may rise.”
Not only did the maid not get up, she bowed more forcibly: “This servant is sorry. Please don’t tell wangye.”
She bowed so much she started bleeding from the forehead. Song Song watched her without saying a word, bouncing lightly on the ball of his heels. A woman dressed in pink suddenly came around the corner. She had a look of astonishment. “What’s going on?”
The maid replied while crying, “This servant greets Madam Qin.”
Madam Qin walked over quickly, using a look of scrutiny to look at Song Song while asking: “What happened?”
The young man who had originally handed Song Song fish food bowed back and answered, “That maid accidentally dropped the soup tray, splashed it all over gongzi, so… ”
Madam Qin’s face turned cold. She bent over personally to help the maid to her feet, furious, “Certain people just gained wangye’s favor and already feel like they can turn gold leaves into real gold. Didn’t you just get splashed by some soup? What? You want the maid to pay with her life?”
Song Song glanced at her and quietly explained, “I already allowed her to get up just now.”
“Then why did she bow so much she hurt her head?”
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.
“Tbe klii tjnf ab jrx tfg qfgrbcjiis.”
Ktja wjlv ogbhf obg j rfmbcv, atfc ibkfgfv tfg tfjv, rtjxlcu, “Ktlr rfgnjca, atlr rfgnjca kjr jogjlv atja ubcuhl klii afii kjcusf.”
Zjvjw Hlc rcffgfv lwwfvljafis: “Tbe’gf ja ifjra ogbw atf Vbcu ojwlis. Uegqbrfis lcalwlvjalcu j ilaaif wjlv ilxf atlr, tbk lwqgbqfg.”
Song Song looked up and glanced at Madam Qin with indifferent eyes. Madam Qin trembled faintly, then heard him casually say: “I already told her to get up, but she insisted on kneeling and injuring herself. Is it me making things difficult for her or her making things difficult for me? If Madam Qin can’t even distinguish this, then I guess we can only call wangye here to decide properly.”
Madam Qin’s eyes flashed. For a moment she felt like he could see right through her intentions. She hesitated, but then insisted: “You just entered the house yesterday and you’re already so arrogant today. If wangye knew …”
Song Song burst into laughter and Madam Qin’s face stiffened. “You, parasite! shameless and reveling in it. What a disgrace to Song Guogong!”
Song Song looked at the other full of smiles, tone still gentle and polite: “I heard before Madam Qin entered this residence, you used to have a little something with Song Ge.”
Madam Qin froze. She indeed really liked Song Ge before, but that was two years ago. What’s the point of Song Song mentioning this now? She only had time to consider this for a moment before Song Song spoke again:
“To be honest, when I saw madam at first, I wanted to reminisce with you. But on reconsideration I thought that since madam had already married wangye, you must have clearly cut away all previous relationships. However, seeing you like this now…. Speaking so passionately for the Song family, perhaps we still have many things to reconnect about in the future.”
Puzzling over the first part of what he said, Madam Qin upon hearing the second part, suddenly had a huge change in expression. “What nonsense are you talking about?!”
She never thought that with just a few words, Song Song could drive her to her death. Technically, this was their first time meeting. What’s there to reconnect? Isn’t this just about Song Ge? The way he said it, as if implying she still had feelings for Song Ge. If this rumor were to spread, even if wangye didn’t kill her, the empress dowager would arrive overnight to bestow her poisoned wine.
Song Song turned to leave. Madam Qin was so angry her whole body was shaking. She followed him two steps: “Stop where you are!”
Song Song paused and warned her without even turning his head. “Does Madam Qin really want to reminisce with me?”
Madam Qin’s outstretched leg retracted. If she really chased Song Song down today, when he finds people to spread that rumor saying she chased him to ask about Song Ge, then even if she jumped into the Yellow River, she won’t be able to clearly explain herself.
Song Song strolled away.
Madam Qin felt tense all over. Although she knew very little about Song Song, when she went with her brother to Song residence before, she faintly remembered he was timid and weak, very scared of everything. However now… he seemed like a completely different person. Behind the light words was full of hidden killing aura. Madam Qin felt chilled to the bone.
If Song Song really spreads everywhere she still likes Song Ge, then her reputation and her life… both will be ruined.
Spinning around, she slapped the maid that was kowtowing on the face, hard enough to send her kneeling to the ground and said spitefully through gritted teeth: “Useless trash.”
Song Song just left the courtyard. Immediately he encountered Li Xiao, who had just returned from morning court. His somewhat cold expression promptly warmed up. Smiling, he walked up and said: “Wangye has returned.”
He personally helped the other to change out of his official garments. Li Xiao examined him briefly and asked: “Did someone make Song-er unhappy?”
“Just a little maid.” Song Song knew if Li Xiao really wanted to know, he could get someone to investigate. Song Song gave Li Xiao’s official garments to a servant and retrieved a casual robe for him to wear. An arm suddenly wrapped around his waist. Li Xiao looked at him: “What exactly happened? This king wants to hear Song-er’s explanation.”
Song Song lowered his eyes and helped smooth out the wrinkles on Li Xiao’s clothes, saying: “A maid accidentally spilled the soup tray and splashed this commoner. She was terrified and kneeled on the floor, bowing nonstop. Even her forehead got injured… This commoner just arrived yesterday. I have no title nor background, and….I haven’t even done anything particularly scary. Yet, I managed to intimidate her so much that she was afraid to get up…”
He smoothed out the last wrinkle and looked up, holding back a smile. He said softly, “Don’t you find this strange, your highness?”
Li Xiao seemed to like how he was acting very much, and played along: “Perhaps it’s because this was the first time this king carried someone home. The maid knew Song-er was favored.”
“That may be the case.” Song Song faced him, looking harmless like he couldn’t even hurt an animal. “But if word got out that on my first day here, I used my position to terrorize a servant, then would wangye stop pampering me?”
Li Xiao touched his face and said: “Hmm. Can’t say for sure.”
Song Song thought his words held something more. Sure enough, Li Xiao, without turning away from Song Song, informed a servant nearby: “Go. Find that maid. This king will ask her myself. Just who dares to secretly cause trouble for Song-er.”
“Forget it.” Song Song called the servant back and said, “I know wangye wants to treat me well. But if no one brings this to your attention, then just pretend you don’t know anything.”
He just arrived, and Li Xiao was already acting like he planned to spoil him rotten. Song Song felt a little uneasy in his heart. He felt unfamiliar with this kind of Li Xiao, unsure if he had any other motives.
Of course, the most important reason was… at the moment, he didn’t even sit in the chair long enough for it to get warm yet. If he acted like a bossy mistress and made enemies everywhere, it would attract everyone’s anger.
Li Xiao pondered for a second then did not mention this again, saying: “I heard FuXiang Restaurant released a new dish. Everyone says it tastes great. Does Song-er want to go have a taste?”
FuXiang Restaurant was considered the vanguard in food and cuisine in the imperial city. No matter what kind of new dish they release, the small restaurants around would quickly follow suit. After all, not everyone could afford to go to a place like FuXiang restaurant. To go to small restaurants to taste an imitation was okay as well.
Song Song’s mother was from a merchant family. Her name was Fu Xiang, which sounds similar to FuXiang. FuXiang restaurant was actually established by Song Song’s grandfather. He always had an endless creativity for different cuisines. Every one of his dishes was heavily praised. His shops opened from the South Province to the North Province, and even won the Emperor’s acknowledgement.
When Song Song was young, he frequented FuXiang Restaurant often. Every time he went, his grandfather would personally cook and reserve the best room for his mother and him. Later, the Fu family all died. FuXiang Restaurant and all of the property went to the Song family. Song Song never visited again.
Not that he didn’t want to go, but because he couldn’t go.
He sat with Li Xiao on the carriage and asked: “Did FuXiang Restaurant change?”
“It was reconstructed.”
As soon as the carriage stopped outside the restaurant, the manager immediately saw it. He was a very observant person. Which nobility rode in what kind of carriage, he remembered it all. Seeing the waiter dim-wittedly step up to receive the guest, he put down his abacus in a hurry, stepped out from behind the counter and stopped the waiter. “That’s the mad king’s carriage. You head back.”
The waiter’s face turned white.
He swiftly hit himself on the hand. Omg. In this kind of situation, if his smile wasn’t proper enough, or his speech wasn’t pleasing enough, hair wasn’t tidy enough… In other words, if something little accidentally caused the mad king displeasure, then he surely would have lost his life just now.
The manager’s age was old. He has many skills. He smiled pleasantly and waited. He saw the carriage door open. The mad king first appeared. Just as he approached to say something auspicious, he saw the mad king hold out his hands.
Song Song was a little surprised he wanted to carry him again, but now that his status as a male pet had probably already spread throughout the capital, he could only shamelessly and obediently allow himself to be carried down. While holding Song Song, Li Xiao stepped off the carriage. The manager found himself tongue tied, unable to say a single word.
When the mad king walked by with the person in his arms, the manager heard him ask in an extremely warm tone: “Where does Song Er want to sit?”
Next to them, the waiter’s face was stunned. This was really a rare sight. Who knew the mad king actually had such a thoughtful side. If this scene could be drawn and hung on a wall, then it’d be considered a strange and rare treasure.
In the main hall of the restaurant, someone suddenly started moving chairs out of the way. People who just finished eating were all ready to sprint for the door at any given second. People who just received their food got ready to call the waiter for takeout. Within minutes, a group of staff showed up at the lobby to greet Li Xiao respectfully: “Your highness.”
Be it the workers or the customers, at the moment, everyone held the same thought.
Begging you please give us a warning before you go crazy to give us innocent people some time to escape first!!
Thank You for the chapter (๑╹ڡ╹)╭ ～ ♡
This wangye is really a great crowd-clearing talisman, ah! 😂😂😂😂👍
😂😂😂😂u r so right 😂😂😂
Makes me remember the times when you really want people to clear out but you can’t make them to…
That was pretty bold to contradict the Mad King’s order to bring the guilty maid. Maybe Song’er can be just like his new husband, and go around saying “When I’m the Empress…” 😄
What I mean is that I like seeing him comfortable enough to speak up, and I think Li Xiao likes it too.
I decided! This is going to be one of my favorite novels. I really like watching their interactions
Everyone from the Fu family dying and Song family taking over their properties? Why am I not surprised 😒 These filthy nobles disdain merchants but covet their wealth. Hope Song Song annihilates the whole Song family n torture them to death.