Chapter 346 It Was Nice to Be a Subordinate
In a flash, Qin Wanru only felt that the white shadow in front of her seemed to be a little familiar. Seeing the white shadow come over, she hurriedly reached out to hold it. Hearing a soft “meow”, she pulled herself together and had a look. As she expected, it was the white cat Chu Liuchen usually held in his arms. At this moment, it was nestled in Qin Wanru’s arms, looking meek and gently purring twice.
The two Young Madams on the ground were dumbfounded. With no idea what they should do at the moment, they flushed with shame.
Seeing their masters make a show of themselves, the two maids hurriedly handed the medicinal herbs to Yujie, came over and helped them up. When they just got up and didn’t say anything, they saw several eunuchs rushed out of the door of Moon Cave in front.
They were led by Xiao Xuanzi. Seeing the two Young Madams still suffering from the shock, he shouted immediately, “Come to drive them out. They frightened His Highness’ favorite cat, and dared to throw it out. Neither of you can pay for the loss if the cat is injured!”
“His Highness… His Highness’ favorite cat?” The two were dumbfounded, and no one expected that this cat was taken so seriously.
“What are you waiting for? Are you expecting His Highness to come over in person!” Xiao Xuanzi said in a sharp voice with an angry face.
The two guards came over immediately, and were about to draw their swords with a stern look. At the sight of this, Shao Jie’er and the other Young Madam dared not say anything, had no time to care about etiquette, and turned to rush out in tears.
If they didn’t leave now, no one knew what Prince Chen would do. They had heard that Prince Chen looked gentle but was actually cruel. They didn’t want to get killed because of a cat.
Thinking of some rumors of Prince Chen, the two of them s.h.i.+vered all over with pale faces, and almost fell down.
Seeing the situation, the palace maid leading the way had to chase them.
The two Young Madams were the candidates the Empress Dowager picked for Prince Chen’s concubine. Now they committed a breach of etiquette. It went without saying that the two Young Madams would be excluded from the candidates by the Empress Dowager.
Seeing them run away with dreary cries and screams, Xiao Xuanzi waved his hand. Several eunuchs left, and the two guards retreated to the gate of the palace.
“Second Miss, please come with me. My master is waiting for your medicinal herbs!” Xiao Xuanzi bowed unctuously and said with a smile, completely different from the overbearing look before.
Qin Wanru nodded with the white cat in her arms and walked in behind Xiao Xuanzi.
Along the way, she found that this palace was actually very large and not much smaller than the Palace of Benevolent Peace of the Empress Dowager. It should be much larger than most palaces, right?
“This is the palace where my master has lived since he was a child. Later, my master grew older and asked to move out. Both the Empress Dowager and the emperor did not agree at first. They originally intended to let my master live in the palace, which is more convenient to nurse his body. However, my master thought it troublesome to live in the palace and insisted moving out. The Empress Dowager and the emperor couldn’t do anything about it and had to agree.”
Xiao Xuanzi explained with a smile.
“How old was your master at that time?” Qin Wanru asked casually.
“My master was only eight years old at that time,” Xiao Xuanzi said with a grin, and then sighed again. “My master was in poor health and particularly susceptible to illness then. I was extremely worried about him. Four imperial physicians on duty had always lived in our mansion, for fear that my master would have an accident… At that time, my master… was thin and weak… thinner than anyone else…”
The smile on Xiao Xuanzi’s face had long since faded away. His eyes became red as he recalled those days.
Chu Liuchen was a child without parents. Even if the emperor treated him well, the emperor would not be attentive enough. A sick and weak child sat in a wheelchair alone and drank bitter decoctions of medicinal ingredients every day. At the thought of this, Qin Wanru inexplicably took more pity on him. At that time Chu Liuchen should be almost as old as Hao’er.
Hao’er was now seven years old and Chu Liuchen was eight years old at that time and might be even thinner and weaker than Hao’er!
But even so, he would rather move out of the palace and live alone with no so-called relatives taking care of him…
Qin Wanru fell silent for a while, no longer asked about other things and just gently touched the cat in her arms.
Chu Liuchen was at the cloister behind the inner hall. This place had a great advantage. People could be exposed to the sun without being blown by the wind. There was a layer of fine gauze outside the cloister to block the wind as well as several heaters in the hall. Qin Wanru immediately felt warm as if in spring as soon as she came in.
With his black hair hanging loose casually, Chu Liuchen was dressed in a snow-colored robe without a belt around his waist. He looked very leisurely, and even gave a sense of easy grace with big sleeves fluttering. With a writing brush in his hand, he was painting. Hearing himself called at the door, he did not turn his head.
Xiao Xuanzi called him, “Master!”
Chu Liuchen ignored him and continued drawing.
Xiao Xuanzi was about to call him again, but Qin Wanru waved her hand to motion for him to shut up. She stepped forward and stood behind Chu Liuchen. After seeing everything in the picture clearly, she stared at the painting in front of her in astonishment.
Wasn’t this what happened at the gate of the palace?
She looked up out of the cloister, and found that there was a corner at the cloister which enabled people to look out of the palace gate at the diagonally opposite side. Despite the distance, it should be the scene he had seen a moment ago.
Although he drew the painting with only a few strokes, it could be seen that she was appeasing the cat in her arms with her head down, while one of the two young madams was kicking and screaming and the other was crying on the ground. They were in an extremely embarra.s.sing position and looked vivid.
“What do you think of it? Is it quite lifelike?” Chu Liuchen asked suddenly without raising his head, but didn’t stop painting.
“Your Highness’ painting is quite unconventional!” Watching him drawing skillfully, Qin Wanru said helplessly.
With such experienced and proficient techniques, he was just portraying girls’ antics. It really made her speechless. As a childe of an aristocratic family, shouldn’t he pretend that he didn’t see it!
A general childe of an aristocratic family was requested to do that, not to mention Chu Liuchen who was Prince Chen.
“Of course it’s unconventional. After finis.h.i.+ng painting, I’ll show it to my grandma later!” Chu Liuchen raised his pretty lips and smiled with ease.
“The Empress Dowager probably will not like it!” Qin Wanru paused and had to remind him.
She certainly understood the intention of the Empress Dowager. She had prepared a few more girls. If Chu Liuchen presented this painting to the Empress Dowager, he would probably be reprimanded by the Empress Dowager.
It seemed to Qin Wanru that no matter how many girls the Empress Dowager had prepared, it had nothing to do with her. It was originally a matter of expediency. Because of this, she wouldn’t care about the gain and loss in status.
Chu Liuchen put down the writing brush in his hand, shook his robes unrestrainedly, and squinted at Qin Wanru. With his smile suddenly becoming gentle, he sat down in a chair beside. “Anyway I like it!”
Xiao Xuanzi came over and asked Qin Wanru to sit down on the other side. Another eunuch came up and served tea, and then left quietly.
“Your Highness, the Empress Dowager will blame me!” Qin Wanru said helplessly.
“So what? You are supposed to block the misfortune for me, aren’t you?” Chu Liuchen raised his eyebrows with a gentle smile, looking extremely innocent and deceptive.
Qin Wanru was speechless, and even had the urge to roll her eyes.
“Thank Your Highness for bringing the person to me!” She suddenly felt it was better to change the subject.
“Not at all. If you really feel grateful to me, just think of a way to enter Prince Chen’s Mansion to accompany me, lest my grandma sends girls to serve me every two or three days!”
Chu Liuchen said indolently.
It meant that what happened today was not the first time, and certainly not the last time. She happened to be sent here among other girls.
Qin Wanru bit her lips and felt that the deep grat.i.tude in her heart faded a little bit at the moment. At the thought that she would probably live a difficult life if she really entered Prince Chen’s Mansion, she felt inexplicably gloomy. Fortunately, this emotion just flashed by. If she considered herself a subordinate of Chu Liuchen with a task, it was not so difficult to accept!
“Your Highness, how do you know about this Shao Huai?” Qin Wanru was still puzzled about this. She had missed it at first. How did Chu Liuchen know about it?
“I’ve recognized your Fenghua Glazed Cup,” Chu Liuchen said, leant back, reached out to touch his chin, glanced at Qin Wanru with his pretty eyes and said meaningfully, “Qin Wanru, you owe me another great favor!”
It was a great favor indeed. It could be said that he sent the most suitable witness to Qin Wanru when she needed it most.
Qin Wanru stood up and bowed helplessly. “Thank Your Highness for doing me the favor. I won’t hesitate to do anything you command me even at the cost of being smashed to pieces!”
“It’s not necessary to do that. I need a person who can make my grandma less annoying. You can come to see me in future when you have time. I will live in the palace for nursing my body in the following days,” Chu Liuchen said leisurely.
“How can I… enter the palace?” Qin Wanru looked surprised. A general aristocratic family wouldn’t just allow someone to enter, not to mention the imperial palace.
“Here is a plate. You can take it. If you enter the palace, go to visit my grandma and then come to my place. In this way, my grandma will not say anything about it!” Chu Liuchen reached out to take a plate from the desk and handed it to Qin Wanru.
“Uh… that’s not a good idea, right?” Qin Wanru didn’t dare to accept it.
“What are you afraid of? I have sent out a few plates like this!” Chu Liuchen said recklessly. With his gaze falling on Qin Wanru, he suddenly moved forward and almost b.u.mped into Qin Wanru’s face. On his handsome face, there was a pair of eyes containing ripples of spring, which made Qin Wanru step back in fear.
“What are you afraid of? Could it be that you are afraid of falling in love with me and being reluctant to leave me in the future?”
“…” Qin Wanru bit her red lips. “Your Highness, you must be joking. How dare I!”
She didn’t even think about it. She was only the s.h.i.+eld of Chu Liuchen, and she knew it clearly. In this life, it was what she should pay Chu Liuchen back. It was paying a debt of grat.i.tude as well as a transaction. Qin Wanru did not intend to include the slightest personal emotions in it.
What was more, she couldn’t afford to fall in love with this wicked Prince. He was not as innocent and gentle as he looked. The image of a teenager as pretty as a figure coming out of a landscape painting must be superficial. He was a cruel and merciless person who would inherit the throne and trample upon all other heirs.
Qin Wanru considered it nice to be a capable subordinate. Even if she didn’t get married in the future, she could live a good life with Chu Liuchen as her backing!
“Well, deliver a painting for me!” Chu Liuchen looked at Qin Wanru with a faint smile, suddenly retracted his head and held back his elegant expression, looking extremely wicked with a trace of gloomy rage in his eyes. As his temperament changed, he immediately looked like a completely different person…