Chapter 379 This Is My Betrothal Gift
“Gift?” Qin Wanru raised her eyes suspiciously, stared at Chu Liuchen in astonishment with her bright watery eyes, tried to move her hand, but found that she could not move at all.
“Of course you should give me a gift, because I gave you a red packet for the New Year!” Chu Liuchen looked Qin Wanru up and down.
He made Qin Wanru feel a little nervous for no reason. She subconsciously widened her eyes and nervously stared at Chu Liuchen with her watery eyes.
Her vigilant look pleased Chu Liuchen. He reached out to stir Qin Wanru’s earring, and an earring fell into his hand. He then moved his hand away from Qin Wanru’s hand and put it down, “You can give me this earring as the gift!”
Qin Wanru withdrew her hand and looked at Chu Liuchen, speechless.
“Look at my red packet!” Chu Liuchen said, showing some complacency of a young man.
When Qin Wanru lowered her head, spread her palm and found a big red packet in her palm, she didn’t know what to say.
She pinched the red packet and found that it was thick. As she opened the red packet, she saw that it was filled with a stack of notes. At the top was a note of ten liang of silver, followed by notes of twenty liang of silver, fifty liang of silver and one-hundred liang of silver. The stack of notes amounted to about ten thousand liang of silver!
It was the first time that Qin Wanru had seen so many notes. She retracted her head in astonishment.
“Your Highness?” Qin Wanru bit her lip and blinked her eyes, wondering what he meant. There were too many notes in the red packet!
Chu Liuchen did not seem to be surprised by her shock. He raised his eyebrows and said with a light smile, “This is a red packet as well as the betrothal gift from me. You are going to marry me anyway, so I won’t allow you to live a miserable life during the Spring Festival!”
“Uh… I shouldn’t accept them! There are too many notes!” Qin Wanru bit her lip, reached out to remove the note of ten liang of silver on the top and pushed the rest to Chu Liuchen, “Your Highness, thank you for your red packet!”
“Why… You don’t like it?” Chu Liuchen laughed with meaningful eyes. “Could it be possible that you are rejecting the betrothal gift from me?”
The so-called betrothal gift meant what Qin Wanru had promised before. She could reject the red packet, but seemingly had no reason to reject the betrothal gift.
But at the moment, this statement was really hard to accept. The so-called betrothal gift should be carried into her mansion in front of everyone rather than be given to her in private.
However, this Prince Chen made it right and proper.
“Your Highness, there are too many notes…” Qin Wanru said helplessly.
Even if it was the betrothal gift, it usually included notes of several thousands of liang of silver. No one would give so many notes at once.
“Since you are going to marry me, you certainly deserve it.” Chu Liuchen stroked his sleeves elegantly and suddenly turned his eyes, “Can it be possible that you look down on my betrothal gift!”
Did she dare to look down on it? Qin Wanru was extremely speechless. This Prince was so considerate that he actually did everything required by his marriage with her although she was just a s.h.i.+eld for him.
Chu Liuchen saw Qin Wanru accept the notes, and his smile became increasingly bright. When he raised his hand and was about to speak, he suddenly heard someone coming upstairs in a hurry. They looked towards the stairs together.
It was Xiao Xuanzi who came upstairs. Upon his arrival, he bowed to Chu Liuchen, and then came over and whispered in Chu Liuchen’s ears. Chu Liuchen’s eyes instantly became deeper.
“Where is he?”
“He’s downstairs. Master, what do you think of it?” Xiao Xuanzi said uncertainly.
“Since he has guessed that I’m here, let him come upstairs!” Chu Liuchen said with an elegant smile, as if what he heard at the moment was in accordance with his expectation.
“Where should the Second Miss go?” Xiao Xuanzi looked at Qin Wanru anxiously. There was no other room upstairs and only one stairway down. However, the person was downstairs at the moment. It was too late for Qin Wanru to go downstairs even if she wanted to do that.
“She’ll stay upstairs! Bring my cloak upstairs!” Chu Liuchen said.
“Okay, I’ll go and pick it up immediately!” Xiao Xuanzi replied hurriedly.
He went downstairs in a hurry, and soon came up with a cloak made of white fox fur and respectfully presented it to Chu Liuchen. The gorgeous cloak was edged with a circle of light gray fur which added some different elegance to the cloak which looked extremely resplendent. Qin Wanru could tell that it was valuable at first glance.
Chu Liuchen took it, walked up to Qin Wanru, pulled her up, and covered her with the cloak. The cloak was large, while Qin Wanru was small. So she was covered in the cloak. Wrapped in smooth and soft fox fur, she felt extremely comfortable.
After that, Qin Wanru felt that her slender waist was held him. After taking a few steps under his guidance, she sat down and moved slightly. She didn’t know where she was sitting, but only felt something soft under her thighs. It was not a chair.
Suddenly there came Chu Liuchen’s soft voice. She felt that she was held tightly with his hands around her slender waist, “Don’t move. Someone’s coming!”
His words scared Qin Wanru and made her fall silent immediately. Although she couldn’t see anything in his cloak, she still felt her face was burning and the blood all over rushed to her cheeks. She just buried herself in the fox fur without moving.
Sensing that Qin Wanru seemed to be pretending to be dead, Chu Liuchen smiled joyfully, reached out to lean her head against his shoulder, put his hand around her waist, and nodded at Xiao Xuanzi beside.
Xiao Xuanzi went downstairs, and brought a young eunuch here this time. Seeing Chu Liuchen sitting there and holding a lady, who appeared to be wrapped firmly, in his hands, the eunuch immediately froze.
The cloak was large, but he could still see the top of the lady’s head. It was a pet.i.te lady wrapped and held in Chu Liuchen’s arms.
Chu Liuchen was still a teenager who hadn’t grown into an adult. Being able to be held in his arms and lean on his shoulder, it must be a pet.i.te lady.
Why would Chu Liuchen hold a lady? Who… who was this lady? It was said that Prince Chen didn’t like spending time with ladies. The palace maids sent to his mansion by the Empress Dowager and the Empress were even killed. In this case, who was this lady he held firmly and protected?
The young eunuch forgot his courtesy in amazement, and looked at Chu Liuchen in front of him in a trance. He had imagined countless scenes where he met Prince Chen, but had never thought of this.
This was so shocking, almost as shocking as the a.s.sa.s.sination happening today…
“Xiqi, does my uncle send you to tell me something?” Chu Liuchen casually reached out to fix Qin Wanru’s messy hair wrapped in the cloak and asked with gentle eyes, as if he didn’t know no one could calm down at the sight of the current scene.
“I pay you my respects, Your Highness!” Xiqi finally returned to himself, hurriedly suppressed the shock in his heart and stepped forward to bow to Chu Liuchen.
Chu Liuchen squinted and said with a bit of coldness in his eyes, “Uncle is not studying the Buddhist doctrine on the mountain. Has he come downhill?”
“Your Highness, my master came downhill on a whim on the eve of the Spring Festival. Unexpectedly we were a.s.sa.s.sinated. Hearing that Your Highness is here, my master specially sent me to ask for help!”
“Ask for help?” Chu Liuchen casually said, without being surprised by the fact that his whereabouts was discovered.
“My master had just walked into a bookstore and wanted to find some books. Unexpectedly, some strangers suddenly rushed out and intended to a.s.sa.s.sinate my master. My master hid in the bookstore to dodge them, but the bookstore caught fire. My master escaped after being injured. Seeing the guards standing at the door of this store, he knew that Your Highness is here.”
“Does uncle want to come in for a rest?” Chu Liuchen asked unhurriedly.
Uncle? Who was his uncle? Qin Wanru was wrapped in Chu Liuchen’s arms, but her brain was running rapidly. She couldn’t remember who the so-called uncle was. So she opened her bright watery eyes in the dark and listened to them quietly.
“My master doesn’t dare to disturb Your Highness. He is afraid that he cannot afford to disturb you. So he just wants to borrow two guards to send us back.”
Xiqi said with respect, while involuntarily keeping glancing at Qin Wanru. Who was the lady wrapped inexplicably? Why had he never heard of her? If the affair between the lady and Chu Liuchen was publicized, it would shock the government and the public.
Could his master take advantage of this?
Because of his focus on Qin Wanru, the utterances he had prepared seemed a bit farfetched!
“Disturb me?” Chu Liuchen smiled suddenly with dim sparkle in his eyes, “I’ve brought only two guards. I can lend them to uncle, but if something happens to me…”
Xiqi was shocked, dare not look at Qin Wanru again, and said in a hurry, “Your Highness, rest a.s.sured. My master is in the yard beside. The two guards just need to pay more attention to the yard where my master is, and don’t need to go there and guard my master. This matter has already been reported to the palace, and they would send guards here a moment later!”
If something happened to Prince Chen, Xiqi’s master couldn’t bear the responsibility, let alone Xiqi.
He heard that after Prince Chen was a.s.sa.s.sinated, several Princes were all injured. Perhaps no one would believe that it was the truth. They just faked the accidents for fear of taking responsibility. However, even if the accidents were faked, the several Princes were badly injured and had to live in the Imperial Inst.i.tute of Medicine.
It could be seen that no one dared to bear the responsibility, and no one could bear the responsibility!
“In this case, it’s no problem. You can go back and tell your master that I will order the two guards to take care of him and never allow him to be injured again. Regarding what you saw today…” Chu Liuchen reached out to touch Qin Wanru’s head gently again, and then reached into the cloak and pulled out a hand which was thin, white and tender…
“Your Highness, rest a.s.sured. I didn’t see anything at all!” Xiqi didn’t dare to look at him again, lowered his head hurriedly and looked down at the ground in front of him with his face turning pale due to nervousness.
This Prince Chen was moody. Others might not take it seriously. But if this Prince Chen wanted to kill him, it was no big deal. Although he served his master as an intimate servant, it made no difference.
Xiqi, who had served his master for more than ten years, was incomparable with general eunuchs, so he knew what to say at this moment.
“Go back! Take care of uncle. I’ll talk about the Buddhist doctrine with him when visiting him next time!” Chu Liuchen waved slowly and said.
“Okay, okay, okay, I got it!” Xiqi was covered with sweat and felt like surviving from a disaster. He dared not look at Chu Liuchen again and hurried downstairs.
The Buddhist doctrine? Qin Wanru, who was wrapped in the cloak, looked up in astonishment. “Bang”, she felt a blow on her head and everything went black…