Chapter 6

Chapter 6

— Lanxiang Garden

Cefei Ning, upon hearing Prince Jing mention taking the Second Young Master to the Princess's courtyard to raise, nearly fainted from anger.

Leaning on her nanny's arm, she wept profusely, "The Prince is angry with me! He is truly angry with me! Nanny, what should I do?!"

"Ying'er is only two years old now, not yet old enough to remember. If the Prince takes Ying'er away to be raised by the Princess, he will surely not remember me in the future, and he might even compete with Jue'er for the position of heir."

As she spoke, Cefei Ning seemed already to envision the scene of brothers turning against each other.

Nanny Zhang repeatedly comforted her, finally calming Cefei Ning down.

"That won't happen, that won't happen. Cefei, rest assured. If the Princess wanted to adopt a child, she would have done so long ago. She wouldn't wait until the Second Young Master is two to bring it up."

"The Prince only mentioned this to warn you because he dotes on the Second Young Master. As long as you take good care of both young masters, the Prince will have no grounds for complaint, and naturally, he won't bring this up again."

Cefei Ning, though fearful, heeded Nanny Zhang's advice and behaved herself for a time.

With Cefei Ning keeping out of trouble, she naturally stopped harassing the lower-ranking concubines.

Thus, Xie Run enjoyed a period of peace.

Last night, the Princess urged the Prince to visit Shiqie Fang's courtyard, but for some reason, the Prince did not go. Instead, he went to Xie Run's courtyard.

Upon hearing this, the Princess was indifferent. "I thought the Prince still held some favor for Shiqie Fang, but it seems not much after all."

Nanny Li frowned. "Princess, it's understandable that Shiqie Fang is favored, but in my view, this new concubine Xie is rather unremarkable, yet she has been summoned nearly as often as Shiqie Fang."

The Princess couldn't help but laugh at this. "Unremarkable? With that face of hers, she is anything but unremarkable."

"Fang Shi was hailed as the most beautiful woman in Jiangnan. On the day she entered the household to serve tea, Xie Shi stood beside her yet was not overshadowed in the slightest. With beauty like hers, who would dare call her unremarkable?"

Nanny Li: "But Xie Shi is only the daughter of a scholar..."

"So what if she is a scholar's daughter?" the Princess interrupted. "A scholar's daughter comes from a respectable family, properly taken into the household as a concubine. With no powerful family or vast wealth to rely on, the Prince feels freer to dote on her!"

"Do not look down on her because of this! Tell the household to restrain themselves. If anything goes wrong, I will punish them according to the rules."

The head of the flower nursery was distantly related to Nanny Li and had taken advantage of her influence to accept Xie Run's silver without delivering the flowers. The Princess was well aware of what had happened in the nursery, and this was her way of warning Nanny Li.

Nanny Li suddenly understood. "I was blind. Although Xie Shi's family is not prominent, she is still an official's daughter, unlike Fang Shi, who is the daughter of a merchant. And Your Highness mentioned vast wealth... it seems the Prince knows everything."

Rumors in the household said that Shiqie Fang had brought a dowry of a million taels of silver when she entered the household.

Others might not know, but the Princess was fully aware.

Shiqie Fang had indeed brought five hundred thousand taels of silver to the Prince's mansion.

But it was not a dowry; it was a bribe from the Fang family to gain the Prince's favor.

The Prince currently needed the Fang family's support, so for the sake of those five hundred thousand taels, he naturally wouldn't neglect Shiqie Fang.

Yet favor bought with silver was never as pure as favor born of genuine affection.

This was something that Shiqie Fang would likely take a long time to understand.

When the Prince arrived at Linxuan Pavilion, Xie Run had just solved the day's chess puzzle.

She looked up with a beaming smile, her delicate face seeming to glow in the light of the setting summer sun, dazzling the Prince.

The Prince's brooding mood seemed to lift slightly.

"Playing chess alone and having such fun?" The Prince, with his casual demeanor, sat down on the couch.

Yuli served a cup of tea. The Prince took a sip and frowned slightly, not liking it.

"This tea..."

Xie Run smiled. "This is Biluochun tea gifted to me by the Princess. I have nothing fine here, so I offer the best I have to His Highness. Please don't despise it."

To be honest, the Prince did despise it a bit.

Biluochun came in several grades. The tea the Princess gave Xie Run was of the first grade, which was good by Xie Run's standards, but for the Prince, who was only accustomed to top-grade Biluochun, it was barely drinkable.

Nevertheless, seeing Xie Run's frankness—neither flustered nor ashamed that she had no fine tea to offer—the Prince developed a certain fondness for her.

The Prince was never stingy with his women.

"Just the other day, someone presented some top-grade Xinyang Maojian tea. I'll have Shi An bring some to you, so my mouth doesn't have to suffer."

Xie Run didn't take the bait but instead said cheerfully, "Then I'll take these days to learn how to brew tea properly, so I can serve it to Your Highness when it arrives."

The Prince paused for a moment. "...How skilled are you at tea ceremonies?"

Feeling slighted, Xie Run let out a light huff. "I'm not good at tea ceremonies, but I can learn, can't I?"

She gently tugged at the Prince's sleeve, her bright eyes blinking, her voice soft as honey, with a hint of pride.

"I've figured out how to solve the chess puzzle from last time! Your Highness can test me however you like!"

Xie Run had a delicate, beautiful face, and her peach-blossom eyes were clear and bright when not smiling.

Since serving the Prince, she had acquired an indescribable charm, a seductive allure that unintentionally captivated the heart.

The Prince thought of how Shiqie Fang had spent twelve taels of gold on cosmetics, while Xie Run didn't even have decent tea leaves.

He suddenly raised his hand. "Enough. Go to the storehouse and pick out more tea leaves for her to practice with, so she doesn't ruin my good tea."

He said this to Shi An.

Shi An quickly went to give the orders.