Chapter 13 | Ink East

Your Highness

The Crown Prince had defeated the enemy of the Hans and led the troops home victoriously. The moment the news arrived, the entire country celebrated. When Du Hao and his troops were ten li* from the capital, the whole palace had already been decorated with lanterns and coloured banners. Countless of imperial concubines and palace maids wore their most beautiful dresses while awaiting for their hero’s arrival.

This enthusiastic atmosphere eliminated the fear of the intruder. In addition, it distracted others from how Lian Feng, the Imperial bodyguard, had been punished for failing to fulfill his obligations. Those large or small government officials who used to surround Lian Feng when he was in favour have all disappeared. Even the palace maids who fancied him were avoiding him, and no longer dared to discuss about anything that was related to him.

The only exception was our female lead, Lin Shan. Currently, she was inside Lian Feng’s room….what was she doing? Touching a very expensive looking antique vase!

Look! Look! Look at the exquisite texture!!! Look at the coloured glaze! This is definitely an item of the highest quality!

Don’t underestimate Lin Shan. Although she was obsessed with money, she wasn’t blind. Last time during her wedding with the princess, she was given a lot of gifts from the royal relatives; all the names sounded beautiful, but when she looked at the actual items, they were of terrible quality! “Thousand years mountain ginseng” my ass! It just looked a tad bit better than a regular white radish. Did they think the Prince Consort was a bonehead? She was Taobao’s** diamond member, ok?! A mere picture was enough for her to determine whether something was good or bad; not to mention the items were placed in front of her.

This flower vase was definitely worth a lot of money though!

Seeing how Lin Shan’s hands have not left the vase since her arrival, the bed ridden Lian Feng spoke up, “If Prince Consort likes the vase, this servant will give it to Prince Consort.”

Are you freaking kidding me? If I knew you were so generous. I wouldn’t be touching the vase, but the golden sabre instead! Lin Shan’s heart was filled with regrets. Originally, she was planning to leave with the vase, but looking around Lian Feng’s room, she could only describe it as a room with four bare walls. He was the head of the Imperial Bodyguard, yet the only expensive item in his room was the vase. Wouldn’t it be very inconsiderate of her if she took it?

Her heart softened and she responded politely: “No, it’s okay…it’s okay…” But deep down, she was hoping he would push her to take it.

Just press on, press on a bit more and I will take it!

But Lian Feng wasn’t someone who would go around the curves and skirt the corners. If the person didn’t want it, then he shall not press. Instead, he began reading a book.

Poor Lin Shan. She waited so long but Lian Feng did not press on. She realized she was too polite and he took her words seriously!

Hello?! I was just being nice. Lin Shan totally regretted her actions now. As she looked at the vase once more, she felt like she lost something good. Her heart ached.

Forget it! What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over. She moved away from the vase and sat on a seat next to Lian Feng. If he’s reading, she will watch him read. She stared at him for a couple of minutes until Lian Feng couldn’t take it anymore.

“Prince Consort, is something the matter?”

“No.” Lin Shan shook her head, and continued staring at him while resting her chin on her hand.

“Then why is Prince Consort staring at servant in such a way?”

“I’m bored! Just ignore me. Continue! Continue!”

Lian Feng: “……”

After a few moments later, even Lin Shan couldn’t take it anymore. Her eyes started circulating around the room. Suddenly, she seemed to remember something: “Oh yes, have you eaten?”

“This servant has already eaten lunch.”

“That was lunch. What time is it now? It must have been digested long ago. What do you want to eat? I’ll go grab it for you. How about cake?”

“This servant does not like sweet food.”

“How about I’ll tell the imperial kitchen to fry you some noodles?”

“….this servant is not hungry.”??.

After being rejected again and again, Lin Shan was angry: “I’m really bored! Would it kill you to say you’re hungry to accommodate me?” She fished out a walnut from her pocket and smacked it onto the bedside: “I’m going to peel the walnut for you to eat! This is an order! You are not allowed to reject!”

Lian Feng: “……”

Speaking of Lian Feng, he was quite a sad soul. As the golden sabre guard, plus his mysterious mask, his image was as serious as a monk. After living like this for many years, even he had accepted it as his character. When dealing with others, he would always be cold and elegant.

But ever since the silly Prince Consort barged into his life, everything seemed to have changed. After the incident from Leaning Vermilion House, he had a strange feeling towards him. It was so odd that he couldn’t even describe it to himself. It wasn’t closeness, and it wasn’t disgust. But basically, he would be annoyed if he comes often. Yet, if he doesn’t come, he would think of him.

This odd state of mind had really affected his past firm attitude. He actually allowed the Prince Consort to peel a walnut by his bedside.

As for Lin Shan, she was also a sad soul. Before she had transported from the past, she had seen many palace battle television shows. But it seemed like she didn’t learned anything from them. Instead, she seemed to be always linked to danger. She only seemed to get away with luck.

The time at the Palace was definitely not as exciting as what was played on television. In fact, Lin Shan found it super boring. She had no computer and no cell phone. And she didn’t dare to look at attractive men. What if she actually invest emotions and he turned out to be a eunuch!? Thinking of this, at least Lian Feng has the golden sabre. The golder sabre could help her through mental distress.

Currently, the bored Lin Shan finally found something to do -peeling a walnut. How could she not be excited? She was very focused as she was peeling; it was comparable to her government official exam. Lian Feng sat on the bed, not knowing what to say. It seemed rude of him to read while she was peeling, so he decided to watch her. After staring at Lin Shan for a bit, his heart started to stir.

His serious face actually looked quite good. If someone were to make faces around him, he wouldn’t have noticed. His skin was very white, and his eyelashes were so long. His face was small, and his nose was smooth and round. His face also had some meat..even without cosmetics, he looked better than most palace maids….

“I am done!” Lin Shan’s voice brought him back to reality. When he snapped out of his zone, he realized that their faces were very close together. There was a feminine odour coming out from his body, and Lian Feng couldn’t help but blush.

He felt helpless. He didn’t know why. He was clearly with a man. How could he compare her to a woman? It’s probably because the Kingdom Minister’s son was brought up with many women. Thus, he was raised very delicately.

Lian Feng was trying to comfort himself and forced himself to revert back to his original form. It was then he realized that Lin Shan had already eaten half of the walnut.

“Eat! Why are you not eating?” Lin Shan asked as she ate super lightheartedly. She had walnut bits on the corner of her mouth. At that moment, Lian Feng had the urge to reach out and wipe it from her mouth.

Lian Feng was troubled by this strange thought, when suddenly, a loud cried could be heard from outside: “The Crown Prince has returned! The Crown Prince has returned!!”

Lin Shan immediately got up from her seat: “Ohhhh!!! I want to go see! This is for you!” Right after, she ran like a rabbit and disappeared without a trace. All that was left behind was half of the peeled walnut. She had placed it in Lian Feng’s hand, and it was still warm.

*li = ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m.

**taobao is a very popular online shopping site from China.

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