"Why did this ugly duckling chase after us?"
The moment he saw Princess Eight, Jing Yao immediately showed a look of disgust. He waved his hand at Lao Xu right away and said,
"Let's go, let's go. I feel annoyed just looking at her."
As he spoke, Jing Yao had already mounted his horse and was about to raise his whip when Princess Eight spread her arms and quickly blocked his horse!
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
Jing Yao, who was already in a bad mood, saw Princess Eight suddenly dash in front of the horse's hooves. He immediately tightened the reins, and the horse reared up on its front legs, neighing loudly.
The situation just now was extremely perilous. If he hadn't reined in the horse in time, Princess Eight might have been trampled by the horse's hooves!
"Shh, young master, keep your voice down. This is the imperial palace!"
Seeing that his young master was fearless of anything, usually as if lacking a rational bone and having a reckless heart, and even dared to scold a princess like this at the palace gate, Lao Xu was so frightened that his long face froze.
His young master wasn't made of indestructible steel. If he angered the royal family, he would lose his head!
In the face of Lao Xu's reminder, Jing Yao showed impatience. He still sat on the horse looking down at the furious Princess Eight and said,
"Are you like a plaster? Why are you so clingy to me? I've made it clear before: I'm not interested in you!"
In the first few years after Emperor Qi Hong ascended the throne, he built numerous gardens and palaces on a large scale, living a life of luxury and dissipation. As a result, the royal treasury had been running a deficit in recent years.
In addition, there had been continuous natural disasters in the Liuguo Kingdom in recent years. To show his concern for the common people, the emperor had been constantly reducing taxes. He was afraid of being labeled as a tyrant and causing another peasant uprising like the one five years ago, which took three years to suppress, but there were still remnants of the rebels.
The royal family's "surplus grain" was running out, and they were gradually in a tight financial situation. Even for the disaster relief in recent years, they couldn't allocate much silver.
Therefore, they began to find other ways to make up for the financial deficit. At first, they wanted to start with the wealthy merchants, but they had no justifiable reason, and the merchants had their own countermeasures.
It was difficult for the court to take action for a while, so they set their sights on the Chamber of Commerce in Liuguo. Jing Yao's father was the president of the chamber.
He was not only very prestigious in Jiangcheng but also very influential among the merchants in the whole Liuguo Kingdom, making many merchants who cooperated with him earn a fortune.
This time, Jing Yao came to the capital because his father had donated one million taels of gold to the imperial capital for people's livelihood construction through the chamber. The Jing and Su families had contributed more than one-third of it.
In this way, the emperor was happy, which was more beneficial for their business.
However, unexpectedly, just when Jing Yao thought he had completed his mission and could spend more time with Yun Xi, the emperor asked him a question: "Are you married?"
He didn't think much at that time and answered honestly. Who would have thought that a few days later, he would receive a summons from the empress dowager.
At first, he didn't think it was a big deal, but Lao Xu's words instantly set off alarm bells in his mind.
Unexpectedly, Lao Xu's bad prediction came true!
So, when the empress dowager learned that he had met Princess Eight and asked him what he thought of her in a gentle voice, he immediately said that Princess Eight was nice, but compared with the woman he loved, she lacked a bit of cuteness, about ten times less.
He remembered that the empress dowager was stunned for a moment after hearing his words, then her face showed a bit of displeasure. She let him go after a few words.
Who would have thought that Princess Eight somehow got the news and actually chased after him?!
"Do you think I like you? What did you say to my mother? Why did my mother scold me after seeing you?"
Although Princess Eight roughly knew from the empress dowager that Jing Yao didn't take a fancy to her and blamed her for being too willful on weekdays, which left a bad impression on others.
She was very angry after hearing that, so after the empress dowager left, she rushed out of the palace.
Unexpectedly, she really ran into Jing Yao!
In the face of Princess Eight's questioning, Jing Yao impatiently dug his ears:
"Don't you have a mouth under your nose? If you want to know, just ask the empress dowager. I disdain to bother with you."
Saying that, Jing Yao kicked the horse's belly and bypassed Princess Eight directly.
"Stop for me!"
Seeing Jing Yao leaving like this, Princess Eight was so angry that steam seemed to come out of her head. She almost stamped her feet.
But Jing Yao never looked back because he had figured it out from the beginning:
No matter whether the empress dowager and the emperor really took a fancy to him and wanted him, a merchant's son, to be the consort of Liuguo, he didn't feel lucky at all.
Rather, it would be the beginning of misfortune for him to marry a woman he didn't like.
Except for Yun Xi, he didn't want to marry anyone else.
After returning to the prince's mansion, Qi Rong ordered someone to fetch a medicine box and personally cleaned Yun Xi's wound. His expression was very solemn from beginning to end.
"Does it hurt?"
When it came to applying the medicine, Qi Rong deliberately lightened his movements and asked softly, with his eyebrows unconsciously frowning.
Yun Xi had been frowning tightly, feeling the pain was unbearable. But when she met Qi Rong's gaze, her expression immediately relaxed. She forced a smile and said,
"It's okay, just a little bit. It doesn't matter. You can just apply the medicine."
If she said it didn't hurt at all, it would be an obvious lie. But if she told the truth, Qi Rong might worry and get angry with others.
So, she could only pretend to be relaxed to ease Qi Rong's anger.
Seeing that Qi Rong just stared at her silently without saying a word, Yun Xi felt a bit guilty. She hugged his arm like making a deal and said,
"Thank you just now."
"Thank me for what?"
Qi Rong asked back, but his action of applying the medicine didn't stop. It was even more gentle than before.
Although the wound on her arm was very painful, Yun Xi thought for a moment, then a smile suddenly appeared on her lips. She said slowly,
"Thank you for caring about me and going to the palace to pick me up. Thank you for letting Jing Yao go and not arguing with him."
She knew that Qi Rong was cold - hearted. It was very difficult for him to consider others.
Especially for a proud and cold - blooded person like him, those who dared to provoke him usually didn't end well. However, he had let Jing Yao go.
He endured all this just because he didn't want her to be sad!
In the past, Yun Xi was very shy about expressing her true feelings, even expressing gratitude. But her frankness at this moment surprised Qi Rong.
The coldness on Qi Rong gradually faded, replaced by a helpless expression.
He carefully bandaged the wound on Yun Xi's arm. His big hand gently wrapped around her slender white hand. His deep black eyes stared at Yun Xi seriously and said,
"You can do anything you want. I won't interfere. But the premise is that you must ensure your own safety and not get hurt."
Otherwise, he was afraid that he couldn't help but tie an iron chain around her and keep her firmly by his side!
Yun Xi understood that this was already the biggest concession Qi Rong could make. For the first time, she nodded obediently. With a sweet voice and a smiling face, she said,
"Okay, I promise you."
At this moment, Yun Xi didn't want to care anymore whether Qi Rong controlled her too much. She just didn't want to see Qi Rong frowning because of worrying about her.