The Aloof Prime Minister is Pregnant with the Rival General’s Child - Chapter 6

The following day, after the morning court session concluded, the civil and military officials filed out of the Golden Dragon Throne Hall like a school of fish. After bidding farewell to a few officials who had approached him for conversation, Sheng Yuli followed the crowd toward the palace exit.

Those who were not personal attendants were forbidden from lingering near the imperial palace; thus, the waiting carriages and litters were all stationed outside the palace gates.

From a distance, Sheng Yuli spotted Zi Mo leaning lazily against their carriage, a stalk of foxtail grass dangling from his mouth.

Noticing his master, Zi Mo immediately straightened up, spat out the grass, and waved, mouthing, “General! General, over here!”

For some reason, Sheng Yuli felt a strange sense of irritation today. He came to a halt at the palace threshold, his expression clouded with gloom. He felt as if something was missing today.

Sensing something was amiss, Zi Mo ran over in a few quick strides. He followed Sheng Yuli’s gaze but saw nothing except the blinding glare of the sun.

“General, what are you looking at?”

Zi Mo squinted against the stinging light and scratched his head in confusion. Observing his general’s morose expression, he pondered the cause.

Was he scolded by His Majesty? That was unlikely. The General had been scolded plenty of times before. He should be used to it by now.

Suddenly, Zi Mo clapped his hands in realization. “General, was it that Minister Shi picking a fight with you again?”

Minister Shi? Shi Hanshang.

Hearing that familiar name, Sheng Yuli froze. The heavy, stifling feeling in his chest suddenly cleared, and a certain realization slowly dawned on him.

But as his thoughts turned, he inadvertently recalled the events of two nights ago. Sheng Yuli felt a sudden, sharp headache and slapped his forehead.

Why did it have to be Shi Hanshang?

He considered himself a man of great accountability. Whatever he did, whether right or wrong, he owned it. He never equivocated or shirked responsibility.

But this matter of a single night of fleeting pleasure, how could one even judge the right or wrong of it?

Sheng Yuli looked at the sky and managed a bitter smile.

Had he lost control under the influence of alcohol and slept with a woman, he would have taken full responsibility regardless of her birth or status. If she were a noble lady, he would have sent the Three Letters and Six Rites to marry her with full honors. Even if she were a mere palace maid, he would have given her a proper title and rank so that no one could look down on her.

Though a marriage born of circumstance might not be filled with passion, Sheng Yuli would have ensured she spent her life in comfort and treated her with unwavering respect.

But of all people, it had to be a man, and Shi Hanshang at that, the person he had found most irritating since childhood.

This was a massive problem.

After that frantic night, he had jumped out of the window and fled like a coward. He had expected their meeting this morning to be excruciatingly awkward. Yet, during the court session, Shi Hanshang had remained as unruffled as ever. In fact, he was even colder than usual, showing not a hint of emotion, as if the heavy atmosphere of that night had been nothing more than Sheng Yuli’s own pipe dream.

Was it truly a dream?

Even Sheng Yuli was starting to doubt himself.

To verify whether it was a dream, Sheng Yuli suddenly thought of a method.

His gaze drifted down from the blue sky to the bewildered Zi Mo standing before him. Without a second thought, he raised his hand and delivered a smack to the top of Zi Mo’s head, which was hard enough to stun him, but not to cause real pain.

Zi Mo clutched his head in shock. “General! Why did you hit me?”

Sheng Yuli raised a dark eyebrow and asked pensively, “Zi Mo, tell me. The night before last, during the Eldest Princess’s wedding banquet, why were you not staying by my side? Where did you run off to?”

Surprised that the General still remembered this, Zi Mo shifted his gaze guiltily and gave a forced laugh. “Haha, General, why ask this so suddenly? I, well, I was at the main banquet, of course.”

“The main banquet? Without leaving for even a step?” Sheng Yuli narrowed his eyes and stepped forward.

Zi Mo took a trembling step back, beads of sweat forming on his nose. He continued to laugh nervously. “Aha, I, I just went to the latrine.”

“That is all?” Sheng Yuli clearly did not believe him. He took another step forward, forcing Zi Mo back further. His expression grew darker, and his gaze was more displeased.

Zi Mo rarely saw his General look so dangerous. He knew the General was truly angry now. Breaking into a cold sweat, he steeled himself and confessed, “I, I also went to the side banquet for a drink!”

At palace banquets, servants were not permitted to sit with their masters. Usually, unless they were personal attendants serving at the table, they had to wait outside the palace gates. However, Emperor Li Yi was generous and had established side banquets in the side halls so that the guests’ retinues could also enjoy the festivities.

As Sheng Yuli’s personal attendant, Zi Mo should have remained by his side at all times. But Sheng Yuli was casual by nature and rarely disciplined his subordinates. As long as they did not cause trouble, he wanted them to be happy.

Shi Hanshang had once mocked this behavior, calling it a disregard for discipline and reckless self-indulgence.

At the time, Sheng Yuli only thought Shi Hanshang was pedantic and dull. Now, it seemed the man actually had a point.

But the damage was already done.

In a fit of pique, Sheng Yuli gave Zi Mo another smack on the back of his head.

Zi Mo cried out in pain, wondering why his General was so furious today as he scurried away, clutching his head.

Sheng Yuli chased him down in two quick steps, leaped into the air, and delivered a shadowless kick to Zi Mo’s backside. He hissed through gritted teeth, “Speak! Will you still be a slave to the bottle in the future?”

These words were not only a warning to Zi Mo but also a lecture to himself.

Zi Mo stumbled from the kick but quickly scrambled up from the ground. Rubbing his sore backside, he begged for mercy, “No more! No more! I swear! I will never touch a drop of wine again!”

Hearing this, Sheng Yuli’s expression softened slightly. He was not truly blaming Zi Mo; he just wanted to give him a small lesson.

After all, this time it was a drunken mistake. If a person with ill intentions had taken advantage of him next time, it would lead to a true catastrophe.

While they were at a standstill, Zi Mo, who had been wailing just a moment ago, suddenly went silent. His dark eyes stared blankly behind Sheng Yuli.

He stopped hiding and hurriedly tugged at Sheng Yuli’s sleeve. “General! General! Look behind you!”

Sheng Yuli turned around. The corner of a plain, elegant robe fluttered past his vision. His heart skipped a beat as he jerked his head up.

There he saw Shi Hanshang’s face, which was cold as frost and chilling enough to freeze a man solid on the spot.

Sheng Yuli could not help but shiver.

Shi Hanshang stood ten feet away, upright as a jade bamboo and cold as a blade. His eyes, clear and lonely like winter snow, flashed with a flicker of undisguised loathing. Behind him, his attendant, A-Sheng, had his whole face wrinkled in distaste.

A-Sheng grumbled under his breath, “Roughhousing in front of the palace gates, under the very eyes of the Son of Heaven, what an absolute lack of decorum.”

The voice was not loud, but it reached the ears of all three people present.

The cold glint in Shi Hanshang’s eyes grew even sharper.

Sheng Yuli was stunned by that look. He even forgot to retort and stood frozen to the spot.

Beside him, Zi Mo was instantly annoyed by the remark but suppressed the urge to snap back. After all, Sheng Yuli was right there. He could bicker with A-Sheng under normal circumstances, but the hierarchy had to be respected. He could not violate protocol so blatantly. As a servant, he had to wait for his master to speak first.

But Sheng Yuli seemed to have lost his soul, remaining dazed until Shi Hanshang turned away indifferently and, with the assistance of A-Sheng, boarded his carriage and drove away. Only then did Sheng Yuli snap back to reality at Zi Mo’s shouting.

“General? You are just going to let them leave like that?” Zi Mo asked indignantly.

A realization finally dawned on Sheng Yuli. He realized exactly what had been missing.

He and Shi Hanshang had been competing since they were children. They fought over everything, even the most trivial matters.

For instance, who stepped into the classroom first during morning lessons, who greeted their elders first when meeting on the road, and even who stepped out of the palace gates first after the morning court session.

Thus, every day after court, one would see two figures rushing out almost simultaneously before heading in opposite directions. If they crossed paths, they would each huff and roll their eyes.

Since these petty disputes were unseemly, they were always carried out as an undercurrent of competition. The two had become so accustomed to it, with the morning court being a daily routine, that the rivalry continued subconsciously.

Now, Sheng Yuli finally remembered. Since the end of court today, his pace as he walked through the palace had been many times slower than usual. He had even been intercepted by minor officials who usually could never find an opening to speak with him, and he had actually stopped to exchange pleasantries. Yet, throughout the entire walk, he had not seen a sign of Shi Hanshang.

Sheng Yuli originally thought that because he had been delayed, Shi Hanshang must have left the palace long ago. But meeting him now, Sheng Yuli realized that Shi Hanshang’s pace today seemed unnervingly slow, and his walking posture was somewhat strange.

He recalled the image of Shi Hanshang boarding the carriage just now. Shi Hanshang’s slender, bony fingers had rested on the arm of A-Sheng, his pale fingertips turning slightly white from the pressure.

Shi Hanshang had practiced martial arts since childhood and was agile. Boarding a carriage should have been an effortless task, even without the help of A-Sheng.

But Sheng Yuli had clearly seen that Shi Hanshang had leaned heavily on the shoulder of A-Sheng, and for a split second as he stepped up, his body seemed to tremble slightly.

Could it be? Sheng Yuli’s mind was once again flooded with fragments of those forgotten images from that night.

“Zhige!”

A heavy slap on his back interrupted his train of thought. Sheng Yuli turned to see his friend, Qin Zhen, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, standing behind him with a broad grin.

Qin Zhen threw an arm around his shoulder and laughed. “What luck! It is rare to run into you here! Hey, I heard a new brothel called Lovesick Tears opened in the south alley of the capital! Come on, let us go have a drink.”

“Not going!” Sheng Yuli impatiently brushed the hand of Qin Zhen off. “I am irritated enough as it is! Go drink by yourself.”

“Hey,” Qin Zhen was surprised. His friend usually had an excellent temperament; why did he look so miserable today? He asked curiously, “What is this? What are you worrying about? Military affairs?”

“No,” Sheng Yuli frowned. “It is about a person.”

“A person?” Qin Zhen was even more shocked. “Could it be a woman?”

Qin Zhen immediately slapped his shoulder again. Without waiting for a response, he began shaking his friend’s shoulders in excitement, looking even more thrilled than Sheng Yuli. “Incredible! The iron tree has finally blossomed!”

In the past, this friend of his spent all his time fighting Shi Hanshang, buried in books, or training on the drill grounds. He wished he could split his sleeping time in half; naturally, he had no time for romance. Having grown up this way, he likely had not even touched the hand of a woman, except for his elder sister.

Sheng Yuli knew Qin Zhen had misunderstood. He clicked his tongue and nudged him. “What are you thinking? Do you think everyone is like you, with a head full of romance, unable to live without women?”

He had thought about marriage before. But with the heavy workload of the military, he truly had no time to worry about it. He figured whatever his sister chose would be good. Since he had no one, he admired, he was fine with following the orders of his parents and the word of a matchmaker. Since his parents were gone, his elder sister acted as his mother. Whoever she chose, he would marry and spend his life with.

Who could have expected this to happen?

It truly is a trick of fate.

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