Chapter 6: Lost
◎Husband didn’t watch me play ball, puppy lost.jpg◎
Jun Shao’s face was full of indignation.
“I wanted to say this earlier, how could Shiwu, the second young master of the Lan family, be wearing servant’s fabric?”
“Your Lan family, do you look down on yourselves, or do you look down on this king?”
It was because of this clothing fabric that she didn’t recognize her own celestial beauty earlier.
The dignified second young master, coming out to meet people, yet wearing servant’s fabric, has their Lan family become so poor they can’t support themselves?!
But the jade hairpin on Lan Qu’s head next to her must be worth a full three hundred taels of silver!
Isn’t this bullying people?!
Jun Shao’s eyes were wide with anger, her beautiful face full of “This king shall vent this anger today”.
Lan Quan was stunned, carefully looking at Lan Shiwu, large beads of sweat suddenly appeared on her already oily forehead.
She didn’t even dare to raise her sleeve to wipe the sweat, and fell to her knees with a thud.
“This subject deserves death! My spouse is crude and didn’t take care of it, and I was so careless as to not notice, it’s truly a dereliction of duty!”
“But this subject absolutely has no… intention of disrespecting Your Highness Prince An!”
As she knelt, Lan Shiwu also knelt down, but Lan Qu hesitated for a few breaths before finding a beautiful angle to kneel sideways in front of Jun Xian.
Unfortunately, neither Jun Shao nor Jun Xian paid any attention to him.
Jun Shao’s heart was all about why the celestial beauty had to kneel when he hadn’t done anything wrong!
She wished she could go over and help the celestial beauty up.
It had nothing to do with love, she just couldn’t bear to see a beauty being wronged.
She coldly snorted, just about to say a few sarcastic words, when suddenly she heard Si Ren calling from behind: “Your Highness, it’s our turn to go on!”
Jun Shao immediately became a bit restless.
But the celestial beauty was still being wronged!
She hesitated for a few breaths, but still decided to uphold justice for the celestial beauty.
Although her imperial elder sister rarely allowed her to play polo, and missing this chance meant she might not have another, the celestial beauty was her future official husband!
Although she wasn’t particularly skilled in social graces, she knew that a woman should hold up the sky for her own husband!
Jun Shao pondered for a moment, then spoke: “This matter must be explained to this king…”
Unexpectedly, a clear and moist voice, like the clinking of jade pendants, suddenly interrupted her.
Jun Shao impatiently looked over, meeting Lan Shiwu’s eyes directly.
The total word count of this book is: 416,328 She relaxed her furrowed brows.
Lan Shiwu said: “It was this subject’s child who was too eager and mistakenly wore the clothes of a small attendant nearby. Please, Your Highness Prince An, do not blame my mother and father.”
Jun Shao was stunned.
This… was simply nonsense.
However, after a while, she exhaled: “Really?”
Lan Shiwu paused, then looked up at her: “Really.”
Jun Shao was silent for a moment.
“Then let it be so.”
“This king is going to play polo now.”
She picked up a tea cup and gulped down some water, then strode away: “Later, this king will send some fabric to the Lan residence, you can use it to make a few sets of clothes.”
Jun Shao joined up with Si Ren, and they went off arm in arm to play polo.
Jun Xian also punished Lan Quan with half a year’s salary deduction, then waved her hand for them to go back.
Only then did Lan Quan dare to raise her sleeve to wipe her sweat.
The three of them returned to their original place in silence, Chen Shi greeted them with a face full of joy, his eyes darting towards Lan Qu: “What did Her Majesty say?”
Lan Quan snapped at him irritably: “Said to deduct my salary for half a year!”
“You’ve done a fine job!”
“You’ve made such a mess of a proper official husband, I nearly lost my position because of it!”
“After returning to the mansion, go to the Buddha hall for some quiet recuperation, let Ying Ge manage the back courtyard for now.”
Chen Shi cried out in a shrill voice: “That slut! Why her! My lady, I…”
“Enough!”
Lan Quan roared impatiently, cutting him off: “Don’t embarrass yourself in public!”
Chen Shi was silenced by her shout, swallowing his words and sitting back down with tears in his eyes.
When he looked at his son again, trying to get some comfort, he found that Lan Qu had already run off somewhere.
Only Lan Shiwu stood to the side, handing him a handkerchief from his sleeve.
Chen Shi froze, feeling a bit awkward, not knowing whether to accept it or not.
These days, although he hadn’t tormented Lan Shiwu anymore, today he had made him wear these shabby clothes to come out and be humiliated.
Doesn’t he hold a grudge against me for this?
After hesitating for a moment, Chen Shi still accepted the handkerchief, taking this show of goodwill.
He was about to say something when Lan Quan suddenly turned around: “By the way, Shiwu.”
“You did well in today’s matter.”
“Is there anything you want?”
Lan Shiwu lowered his head, pursed his lips, and spoke softly: “Relieving mother’s worries is this child’s duty.”
Lan Quan was very satisfied with his answer, “Indeed, but doing the right thing should be rewarded.”
“Speak boldly.”
Lan Shiwu paused, “This child is after all not acquainted with Prince An, and rashly stepping forward to accept the decree was only to prevent Her Majesty from punishing us. Therefore, when marrying, I wish to bring a brother along, to avoid being alone and afraid.”
Lan Quan assumed a thoughtful pose: “From Xun Fang Garden?”
Lan Shiwu nodded.
Lan Quan asked again: “Which one?”
Lan Shiwu slightly raised his face: “Shiliu.”
Lan Quan thought carefully, but couldn’t remember who this Lan Shiliu was or what was remarkable about him.
The men kept in Xun Fang Garden were all used by her to socialize with officials and maintain relationships. Every ten days there was an assessment, and those who stood out would submit a list to her.
Lan Shiwu’s name was on the list every time, but she had never seen Lan Shiliu.
Presumably, this Lan Shiliu wasn’t particularly outstanding.
If so, keeping him in the mansion was just a waste of food. It would be better to give him to Lan Shiwu as a favor, to make him more loyal.
Thinking of this, Lan Quan’s face showed some difficulty: “This really puts mother in a difficult position.”
But when Lan Shiwu’s face showed some disappointment, she again turned it around with satisfaction: “However, since Shiwu has made an achievement this time, mother will take on this difficulty just this once and grant your request.”
Shiwu’s face showed joy again, his eyes full of affection, as he bowed: “Thank you, mother!”
Lan Quan nodded with satisfaction: “Go play now.”
Lan Shiwu smiled and nodded: “Mm.”
Despite saying this, he obediently sat back in his seat instead of running to the railing to watch the polo game.
Lan Quan finally withdrew her gaze of secret observation.
Lan Shiwu exhaled a turbid breath.
His face showed not a trace of expression.
How could he not want Prince An to stand up for him?
It’s just that, although they were engaged, meeting was not easy. Prince An would certainly be willing to help him in everything, after all, she was such a good person. But apart from Prince An, he had no other abilities of his own.
The Lan family wouldn’t move against him out of consideration for Prince An, but if he displeased Lan Quan and Chen Shi even slightly, it would be impossible for him to take Shiliu away when he married.
Even if he came back to ask for the person later, by then his weakness would be in the Lan family’s hands. If Lan Quan ordered him to do some unsavory things, how would he be in a difficult position!
After all, on the day of accepting the imperial decree, Lan Quan’s abnormal tone and behavior had always prevented him from feeling at ease.
Shiliu was the brother he depended on for survival, he didn’t dare to risk his safety by indulging himself, so he had to first refuse Prince An’s kind intentions.
Prince An truly lived up to being the person he deeply loved, so intelligent, she had understood his meaning almost instantly.
Really, how he longed to leave the Lan family…
…
Over there, Si Ren had called Jun Shao away, seeing her displeased expression, she couldn’t help asking: “Why didn’t Your Highness stand up for your husband and instead came to play polo?”
Jun Shao glared at her: “Wasn’t it you who called for me?”
Si Ren opened and closed her mouth, rubbing her nose.
“This subject actually has such great influence…”
Jun Shao put her arm around her shoulder: “This king is not a fool.”
“Back at the Lan residence, there’s no one to stand up for him.”
Si Ren looked at her in surprise: “Since when did Your Highness understand so much?”
Jun Shao poked her under the horse’s belly with a polo stick: “Shut your nonsense!”
*
Perhaps feeling that the celestial beauty was watching from the stands, in this polo match, Jun Shao played brilliantly, performing at 150% of her usual level, scoring seven out of ten goals for the team.
The field was full of cheers, and even those young masters who usually despised Jun Shao for being a prodigal threw a few flowers down to her.
Jun Shao roughly wiped off her sweat with a cloth handed to her by an attendant, then anxiously turned back to search for that beautiful figure.
She looked around but found nothing.
She returned to the stands and gulped down the honey water prepared by her imperial elder sister, wiping her mouth: “Have the Lan family people left?”
“How come I don’t see them?”
Jun Xian calmly nodded: “Minister Lan’s husband was feeling unwell.”
Jun Shao didn’t think too deeply about whether this “unwell” referred to Chen Shi’s body or Lan Quan’s face.
Her gaze unconsciously fell on the place where Lan Shiwu had been sitting earlier, and she suddenly asked, “When did they leave?”
“Not long after you went down to the field.”
Jun Shao responded with a sound, but in her heart, she thought, so he didn’t see how beautifully I played polo.
In an instant, the energy that had been driving her to take first place in one breath suddenly dissipated.
A feeling of fatigue began to surge up from her limbs.
Jun Shao sprawled on the table, her voice muffled: “Imperial elder sister, I want to go back to sleep.”
