Chapter 86: Delivering the Message

Chapter 86: Delivering the Message

Mr. Hu practically sprinted to the Printing House and then sprinted back.

There was no other choice; the guest was too important, the atmosphere too tense. If he didn't act quickly, the Bookstore would be in serious trouble!

"Owner, the books have arrived."

"For His Highness Prince Qing, Lord He, and—" Xin You looked at the boy in blue, pausing for a moment.

The boy in blue lifted his chin slightly. "My surname is Dai."

"And for Young Master Dai, one book each."

Mr. Hu acknowledged and was about to approach Prince Qing but was stopped by the guard beside him.

"Just hand them over," Prince Qing said lazily.

The guard who had stopped Mr. Hu took the books, checked the waistband, and then presented them to Prince Qing with both hands.

The waistband was only found on newly released books, mostly story collections. A slightly harder strip of paper wrapped around the book horizontally, which could only be removed by tearing it. This was mainly to prevent people from reading the books without buying them. Otherwise, once someone had flipped through a story collection, which had no value for repeated readings, who would pay for it?

The guard's action of checking the waistband made Xin You glance at He Qingxiao, a suspicion rising in her heart: Could it be that Lord He doesn't read story collections because of the waistband and prefers travelogues instead?

He Qingxiao silently took the book and tucked it into his robe.

Dai Ze, on the other hand, started flipping through the book, completely ignoring everyone else.

"Wow, it really is an evil spirit!" Dai Ze slapped his thigh upon seeing the cliffhanger left in the previous part.

Everyone in the book hall turned to look at him.

In this situation, there was actually someone genuinely reading.

"Lord Marquis, aren't you busy?" Seeing that He Qingxiao had no intention of leaving, Prince Qing asked with a smile.

"Not today."

"It seems that under your management, the Northern Pacification Office is quite relaxed."

"Thank you, Your Highness, for the compliment."

Prince Qing suddenly stood up, a hint of displeasure on his face. "Father entrusted the Northern Pacification Office to you because he has high hopes for you. Don't disappoint him."

He Qingxiao remained composed. "Thank you, Your Highness, for the reminder."

"Cousin, let's go." Prince Qing flicked his sleeves and walked a few steps towards the door before stopping and looking back at Xin You. "I still don't know what to call the owner."

"This commoner's surname is Kou."

"This Bookstore is impressive. I might visit Miss Kou often in the future."

Xin You smiled. "Your Highness's frequent visits will be an honor for our humble shop."

Prince Qing gave the smiling girl a long look before walking out the door. Then he realized Dai Ze hadn't followed.

"Cousin?"

Dai Ze, engrossed in his book, looked up blankly.

Prince Qing's lips twitched. "Are you staying?"

"No, no." Dai Ze quickly stood up, stuffed the book into his robe, and ran over.

As they walked out of the Bookstore, Prince Qing turned to ask, "Who is this Miss Kou? What's her background?"

This question stumped Dai Ze. "I rarely come here, so I don't know."

This place was too close to the Imperial Academy, which was bad luck!

Dai Ze couldn't afford to be negligent towards his princely cousin. He glanced around and spotted someone he recognized.

"Meng Fei—" Dai Ze waved at the boy with phoenix eyes among a group of youths approaching.

Meng Fei frowned slightly upon recognizing Dai Ze, then saw Prince Qing beside him and muttered, "Bad luck," before reluctantly walking over.

The three others accompanying Meng Fei were also from official families. Those who had met Prince Qing couldn't ignore him, while those who hadn't naturally followed their classmates.

"Greetings, Your Highness," Meng Fei bowed respectfully to Prince Qing.

The other three followed suit.

Prince Qing's gaze fell only on Meng Fei. "I remember you are the grandson of Meng Jizhu."

This made Dai Ze roll his eyes inwardly.

That was why he disliked Meng Fei. The head of the Imperial Academy, which he despised, was Meng Fei's grandfather!

He usually avoided Meng Fei, but after hearing that Meng Fei was often beaten by his grandfather for being unlearned, he started to tolerate him a bit more.

"Meng Fei, have you been to Qingsong Bookstore?"

Meng Fei looked at Dai Ze. "Yes, why?"

Qingsong Bookstore was so close to the Imperial Academy that it would be hard to believe he hadn't been there.

"Today, my cousin and I went there and discovered that the owner is a young lady. What's her background? How can such a young girl run such a large Bookstore?"

Upon hearing this, two of Meng Fei's companions couldn't help but look at one person.

Duan Yunlang's expression stiffened, and he was momentarily stunned.

Why would King Qing and the others be interested in his cousin?

This is bad. Could it be that they saw her beauty and want to forcibly take her away?

Meng Fei coughed, drawing everyone's attention.

"I do know something about this. The owner of Qingsong Bookstore surnamed Kou is the niece of Duan Shaoqing from the Imperial Horse Department. She lost her parents and lives with her maternal grandparents. It's said that when Miss Kou's grandfather was alive, he ran a bookstore. Now that she has grown up, she wants to carry on her grandfather's legacy, so she took over Qingsong Bookstore."

The reason Xin You opened the bookstore was because Shaoqing Mansion spread the story, otherwise, an orphan living with her maternal grandparents moving out would be too embarrassing for Shaoqing Mansion.

"Turns out this Miss Kou also comes from a noble family." Dai Ze looked surprised and turned to King Qing.

If her background is acceptable, and if my cousin likes her, he could take her into the Wang Mansion.

Cousins often interact, so how could King Qing not understand what his cousin was thinking? He immediately gave him a warning glare and said indifferently, "Since you've met a friend, why don't you chat?"

Meng Fei reluctantly tugged at the corner of his mouth.

He had nothing to talk about with Dai Ze.

Clearly, Dai Ze felt the same: "We just bumped into each other and exchanged a few words. Cousin, let's go."

On their way back, Dai Ze chuckled, "Cousin, next time you go to the bookstore, call me along."

King Qing glanced at him, "Don't think about unnecessary things."

"Do you have no interest in Miss Kou?" Dai Ze was taken aback, "Didn't you say she looked familiar?"

When he meets a beautiful lady and wants to chat, he often says similar things.

"Do you think I'm like you, who gets ideas whenever he sees a pretty woman? Didn't you notice that Miss Kou has a special relationship with Changle Marquis?"

Dai Ze pouted, "What does Changle Marquis matter? He's not even fit to polish your shoes! If you fancy her, would he dare to compete with you?"

King Qing didn't bother arguing with his cousin obsessed with women, "Let's hurry back."

Once King Qing and the others were out of sight, Duan Yunlang panicked, "You guys go ahead; I'll go to the bookstore and talk to my cousin for a bit."

Meng Fei and the others understood their classmate's feelings.

"Go ahead, go ahead."

Duan Yunlang rushed into the bookstore, "Cousin, it's not good—"

His words stopped abruptly upon seeing He Qingxiao.

Xin You walked over, "Cousin, what happened?"

Duan Yunlang glanced at He Qingxiao and lowered his voice, "While shopping with my classmates, we ran into King Qing and Dai Ze from the Count Gu Chang residence. They kept asking about you. Cousin, I think they have designs on you!"

He Qingxiao silently looked over.

Although Duan Yunlang spoke softly, he could hear everything.