Reborn Into The Harem Of A Prince From An Enemy Country - Chapter 7

“Well,” Ah-Wang thought about it earnestly. “He seems much the same as before, and he doesn’t like talking much to this servant.”

Qi Xiaoyun himself didn’t dare speak too much with Ah-Wang, fearing that he would slip up in front of someone who was formerly close to the original owner.

Fortunately, the original owner, Zhou Yun, happened to dislike talking to Ah-Wang as well. This was because Ah-Wang wasn’t actually a servant who had grown up attending to him; rather, he was someone sent by Zhou Yun’s principal mother at the time of Zhou Yun’s marriage.

Feeling a twinge of guilty conscience from bullying Zhou Yun so often, Zhou Yun’s principal mother had been terrified that Zhou Yun might gain favor under Chu Lianmo and return to exact revenge. Thus, she used his mother’s life to threaten him against acting recklessly or making any sudden moves, while simultaneously dispatching Ah-Wang under the guise of taking care of him to keep a close watch on him.

Consequently, Zhou Yun had always been deeply wary of Ah-Wang, a sentiment that neatly aligned with Qi Xiaoyun’s own posture.

“Oh, that’s right!” Ah-Wang suddenly recalled something. “On the day his fever finally broke, he suddenly asked me in a frantic rush how the State of Qi was doing. That particular incident made this servant feel rather strange.”

“What?!” Chu Lianmo’s heart instantly leaped into his throat. “What relation does he have with the State of Qi? Why would he ask you about matters concerning Qi!”

“My young master said at the time that he had just read a vernacular story about a romance between a man from Qi and a man from Chu, which was why he became curious on a whim.”

“A vernacular story?” Chu Lianmo frowned. “Very well, you may withdraw.”

Shortly after, Chu Lianmo made his way into Qi Xiaoyun’s room.

“Greetings, Your Highness.” Qi Xiaoyun bowed slightly. He was already quite accustomed to Chu Lianmo’s daily appearance every evening.

“Rise. A-Yun,” Chu Lianmo sat down on the edge of the bed, fixing a direct, piercing gaze on Qi Xiaoyun’s eyes. “I heard that you read a vernacular story about a forbidden romance between a man from Chu and a man from Qi?”

“Yes.” Qi Xiaoyun’s heart gave an involuntary thud. Why is Chu Lianmo suddenly bringing this up?

“Where is that story? I would like to read it as well.”

Hearing this, Qi Xiaoyun became even more convinced that Chu Lianmo’s suspicions regarding his true identity had already been aroused!

Of course, such a vernacular story could not possibly be produced out of thin air at this moment.

For a split second, Qi Xiaoyun was overcome by the sudden impulse to simply lay everything out on the table.

Yet he managed to suppress that urge. Although he and Chu Lianmo had once shared a past acquaintance, many years had passed since then, and who could know if the man was still entirely worthy of trust? He had finally managed to reclaim a second chance at life; if he were to foolishly become a captive of Chu now, only to be used as leverage by the State of Chu to negotiate terms with Qi, or worse yet, to be killed once again by Chu Weide, everything would have been in vain.

Moreover, explaining such a matter sounded far too bizarre and unbelievable; Chu Lianmo might not even believe him. If the man truly mistook him for having lost his mind, things would only take a turn for the worse.

Qi Xiaoyun could only pretend to rummage around in search of the book. “I apologize, I am not entirely sure where I threw it. Let me search for it.”

There were indeed a few vernacular stories tucked away in Zhou Yun’s room, alongside several other books.

Putting on a convincing act, Qi Xiaoyun opened chests, overturned cabinets, pulled out every single volume, and examined them one by one. Finally, with a feigned expression of difficulty, he said, “Your Highness, I cannot find that story for the moment. The hour is growing late, so perhaps I should first assist Your Highness in undressing for rest, and I can slowly look for it again tomorrow after Your Highness returns from the morning court session.”

A trace of deeper suspicion flickered through Chu Lianmo’s assessing gaze.

Yet, after a brief pause, he nodded. “Very well.”

Qi Xiaoyun let out a silent, internal sigh of relief.

The next morning, as soon as he finished paying his morning respects, he pushed all matters regarding household accounting aside and locked himself in his room to accomplish a single task:

Writing a vernacular story.

Though renowned throughout the world under the title of a God of War, Qi Xiaoyun had been proficient in both literary and martial arts since childhood, boasting quite impressive literary accomplishments. He had previously glanced through a few romantic tales, and since the plot formulas were largely repetitive, writing a similar one didn’t seem particularly difficult.

That was what he had originally thought, at least.

However, since Qi Xiaoyun had never engaged in the craft of writing vernacular stories before, the more he wrote, the more he realized how overconfident he had been. Churning out such a piece required draining every last drop of his mental energy.

Compounded by his constant fear that Chu Lianmo might recognize his handwriting, he was forced to write entirely with his left hand, which slowed his pace down significantly.

Spending the entire day toiling away in this manner, he barely managed to squeeze out around twenty thousand characters. As a standalone vernacular story, this length was far too brief, but he had no choice and had to hastily slap together an ending.

Upon finishing this monumental task, Qi Xiaoyun collapsed limply against his chair.

It was utterly exhausting! The mental fatigue felt far more grueling than physical exhaustion after martial arts training. He vowed he would never write another vernacular story for the rest of his life!

When evening arrived, Chu Lianmo predictably showed up again to inquire about the story.

Prepared in advance, Qi Xiaoyun immediately presented the manuscript he had just finished writing not long ago. “Your Highness, I have already found it.”

Chu Lianmo took the manuscript, seated himself in a chair, and carefully flipped through it from beginning to end.

The story was written with exceptional literary flair, featuring twists and turns with a rising and falling plot that made for a rather entertaining read.

However, Chu Lianmo found himself somewhat dissatisfied with two particular aspects. First: “The ending is far too tragic. Why must the two protagonists commit double suicide? The State of Chu and the State of Qi have already made peace; they are no longer enemy nations.”

“Perhaps… the story was written back when they were still enemy nations.”

“Mm… and also…” Chu Lianmo suddenly reached out unannounced, lifting Qi Xiaoyun’s chin with a wicked, teasing smile. “Don’t romantic stories of this sort usually include rather explicit scenes? This book is far too innocent, almost as if the author lacked any experience in that arena.”

Qi Xiaoyun’s cheeks instantly flushed a deep scarlet, and he instinctively recoiled a step. “P… perhaps so…”

That was stating the obvious! Even when simply reading those passages in the past, he would feel his face burn with embarrassment and consider them harmful to public morals, let alone writing them himself.

Chu Lianmo observed his flustered reaction with an amused smile, occasionally lowering his gaze to inspect the manuscript in his hand, where the ink appeared barely dry. Deep down, his suspicions regarding the truth had already been ignited.

Even so, how easy could it be for a novice to churn out twenty thousand characters within just a few hours?

Besides, the handwriting itself looked entirely unfamiliar to him. Thus, Chu Lianmo dared not jump to absolute conclusions.

Furthermore, that person was already dead. If he allowed such wild notions to take root, wasn’t this merely a delusional symptom born of excessive longing?

At this thought, Chu Lianmo unconsciously wiped the smile from his face.

He slid the manuscript into his sleeve and commanded, “Undress me.”

“Your Highness… are you not going to return the… story to me?”

“Although this story has various shortcomings, its merits are still numerous. I wish to study it further when I have some leisure time.”

Qi Xiaoyun was dumbfounded. Chu Lianmo actually wanted to carefully study this disgraceful, hastily scribbled mess he had whipped up?!

He desperately wished to find a crack in the ground and crawl straight into it.

Yet, there was nothing he could say right now. He could only rapidly force his expression back into a calm mask and proceed to untie Chu Lianmo’s belt with an air of complete nonchalance.

At any rate, this particular crisis had been successfully fuzzed over.

Beginning the very next morning, Qi Xiaoyun commenced his efforts to push forward the reduction of estate expenditures.

Once these new measures began rolling out, widespread grumbling broke out among many people within the household.

However, everyone could clearly see that Qi Xiaoyun was currently the apple of their Prince’s eye, so most individuals dared to harbor anger in their hearts while keeping their complaints strictly to themselves.

There was only one person bold enough to voice his dissatisfaction directly, and that was Murong Ying, the commander of the elite guards of Prince Rui’s estate.

The Murong family from which Murong Ying hailed was considered a prominent and distinguished clan; his father had once served as the commander of the imperial guards, making his current post a continuation of his family’s legacy.

However, Murong Ying had been close friends with Chu Lianmo since childhood and had even served as his study companion, which was why he had chosen not to become a guard by the Crown Prince’s side, stubbornly insisting on following Chu Lianmo instead.

To properly fulfill his duties as a guard commander, Murong Ying had trained himself to remain silent, composed, and steady while on duty, avoiding unnecessary words or movements. In truth, his actual temperament was nothing of the sort; in private, he frequently joked and laughed with Chu Lianmo, and in front of most other people, he carried himself as a proud and distinguished young nobleman.

Deep down, he held a certain inherent disdain for male concubines like Zhou Yun.

Barely a day or two after Qi Xiaoyun’s new cost-cutting arrangements went into effect, Murong Ying stomped over to Qi Xiaoyun in a fury: “What is the meaning of this? What do you mean by stating that each person’s daily meat consumption must not exceed two liang? We work ourselves to the bone every single day for His Highness, and we aren’t even allowed to eat a proper portion of meat?”

“Commander Murong, please calm your anger,” Qi Xiaoyun placated smoothly. “I once had a friend who was a physician, and he shared certain wellness principles with me. In truth, keeping an individual’s daily meat intake below two liang is the most beneficial practice for maintaining physical health.”

“Utter nonsense!” Murong Ying bellowed in rage. “I happen to prefer eating half a jin of meat every single day! Who gave you the right to police my plate?”