The sedan chair outside the palace could only be carried to the entrance of the Bian Palace and was not allowed to go any further.
When the sedan chair came to a halt in front of the palace gate, Shen Qingfeng lowered his eyes and reached out to lift the curtain.
“Holy crap! What are you doing?!” The voice sounded a bit familiar.
“Don't push me!!!”
Shen Qingfeng looked up in confusion. The moment he did, he saw Lu Yan's face rapidly approaching. He was so startled that his whole body trembled. His step on the stairs suddenly slipped, and he lost his balance, falling straight down.
Shen Qingfeng reacted quickly and reached out to grab the threshold of the carriage. However, the time he knelt in the snow had left him with a lingering ailment, and his body had not fully recovered. The hand holding the threshold had no strength at all. His fingers loosened, and he lost his support again.
“Qingfeng!” Just as he was about to hit the ground, Shen Qingfeng suddenly heard Lu Yan shout. Then he fell into a broad embrace, and his face hit Lu Yan's hard chest heavily.
In the moment of desperation, Lu Yan instinctively wrapped his hands around Shen Qingfeng's slender waist. It was not until Shen Qingfeng stood still and his chest felt the warm breath from Shen Qingfeng that he realized how intimate their current position was.
“I, I, I didn't mean to...” Lu Yan's face flushed instantly. He didn't know whether to loosen or remove the hands on Shen Qingfeng's waist. He could only keep them there stiffly. Although he couldn't feel much through Shen Qingfeng's thick clothes, Lu Yan's mind seemed to go wild and completely out of control. He immediately fantasized about the smooth and fair skin of Shen Qingfeng under the thick fabric.
“...” Lu Yan's face turned even redder.
Shen Qingfeng also didn't expect such a thing to happen. He stayed stunned in Lu Yan's arms for a few seconds, then steadied himself and suddenly pushed Lu Yan away. The action was a bit too forceful, and he immediately put some distance between them. Lu Yan took several steps back abruptly after being pushed so unexpectedly and barely managed to stand firm. He looked up at Shen Qingfeng in surprise.
“My lord, please respect yourself!” Shen Qingfeng's expression was cold, and his words were extremely off - putting. They were now at the entrance of the Bian Palace, and there were so many aristocratic families coming and going. He and Lu Yan had such an awkward relationship. If someone with ulterior motives saw this, no one knew what kind of storm it would stir up.
“No... Qingfeng, please listen to my explanation. I really didn't mean it just now.” Seeing Shen Qingfeng as cold as frost, Lu Yan quickly explained.
But Shen Qingfeng didn't want to listen to his explanation. He tilted his head slightly and said coldly, “Today, His Majesty is holding a national celebration. It's already past noon. Isn't the Marquis of Dingbei going to enter the palace to pay his respects?”
“I...”
“Also.” Shen Qingfeng's amber - like eyes shifted, and his gaze fixed on Lu Yan's flustered face. “It seems that I'm not on such familiar terms with the marquis. It would be better if the marquis addressed me as Young Master Shen. It's almost time. Please excuse me while I go first.” After saying that, Shen Qingfeng didn't look at Lu Yan anymore. He just took a step forward. His white - robed figure passed by Lu Yan without any hesitation and flashed into the palace gate.
Lu Yan stood there stunned. His lips trembled slightly. The place on his chest that had been warmed by Shen Qingfeng's breath just now felt like it had been burned by a raging flame, aching faintly.
Xu Ruhui, the culprit who had pushed just now, coughed awkwardly and slowly walked to Lu Yan's side. He reached out and patted Lu Yan's shoulder. “Um... Senior Brother?”
Lu Yan trembled all over, suddenly turned his head, and looked at Xu Ruhui with his blood - red eyes. He said sadly, self - deprecatingly, “You were wrong.”
Xu Ruhui was taken aback.
“He doesn't like me...”
-
At the time of Shen, people from various aristocratic families had basically arrived one after another. The neatly arranged long tables extended from the Shanhe Hall, which could accommodate hundreds of people, almost all the way to the Xuanyuan Gate. For this grand feast, all the officials in Lige of the entire Lixia were invited, as well as the various feudal lords.
There were multiple reasons for holding such a grand event at this juncture this year. On the surface, firstly, King Xia Jie bestowed the marriage of Xia Chuli, who was about to have his coming - of - age ceremony, to Qi Mengmeng, the niece of Queen Qi. Secondly, considering that Lu Yan was already twenty - six years old and still busy with military affairs without getting married yet, he bestowed the marriage of Shen Qingfeng, the son of the Shen family. With these two betrothals combined, there was a “celebration” as an excuse. Moreover, King Xia Jie asked the Divination Department to conduct a divination and announced externally that the divination showed that there would be auspicious omens in the eighteenth year of Qingfeng. He specifically invited the various feudal lords to come and share the good fortune. With these two reasons combined, this grand feast was held.
Of course, besides the so - called “sharing the good fortune,” inviting the various feudal lords into Lige could also tell whether they had any rebellious intentions. Sure enough, except for Lu Yan, only two of the other four feudal lords came.
These two betrothals seemed to be the king's generous grace, showing concern for the country and the people. In fact, King Xia Jie had many hidden plans. Qi Mengmeng was the daughter of the Qi family, a prominent aristocratic family in Lige. There was also Queen Qi in the Qi family. Queen Qi herself had two sons, Xia Yanhe and Xia Yonglin, and she was currently in favor. She had long wanted to get rid of Xia Chuli and let her own son inherit the position of the crown prince. However, due to the ancestral laws and the group of court elders in the Prime Minister's Mansion, she didn't dare to act openly. So she whispered in King Xia Jie's ear, and King Xia Jie bestowed Qi Mengmeng to Xia Chuli.
On the surface, it was a well - matched marriage for the crown prince to marry the daughter of the aristocratic family. But as long as Qi Mengmeng entered the Eastern Palace, Queen Qi would know every move of Xia Chuli clearly.
It was even easier with Shen Qingfeng. King Xia Jie had long known that Shen Qingfeng was in love with Xia Chuli and that Lu Yan was in love with Shen Qingfeng. In the previous life, when Shen Qingfeng saw that Xia Chuli was going to marry Qi Mengmeng and that he himself was about to marry the Marquis of Dingbei, he exploded on the spot. He rushed to the Shanhe Hall and caused a great disturbance. Then, the Shen family and Lu Yan successively refused the marriage, giving King Xia Jie a good excuse to suppress the Marquis of Dingbei and the Shen family.
At that time, Shen Qingfeng in the previous life was blind to these things and didn't see them clearly. Now it seemed that King Xia Jie's move was really ingenious. He could not only crush the Shen family, the main pillar in the Prime Minister's Mansion, but also take this opportunity to make Lu Yan, who had the royal blood, behave. By the way, he could also use Qi Mengmeng as a lure to depose Xia Chuli and make someone else the crown prince. It was really a good plan.
It was a pity that King Xia Jie had calculated Shen Qingfeng and Lu Yan accurately but failed to calculate Xia Chuli.
From being the apple of everyone's eye as a child to being marginalized after Princess Liuli's death, no one knew what Xia Chuli had actually experienced alone in the palace. Now that he thought about it, when Shen Qingfeng entered the Eastern Palace as a companion reader that year and saw the little boy wrapped in a tattered quilt on the bed, smiling at him, he should have realized that Xia Chuli's true face might not be what he saw.
For so many years, Xia Chuli had been living behind a mask. Shen Qingfeng remembered very clearly that when Xia Chuli sent someone to inform him to go to the Shanhe Hall that year, the strange smile on Xia Chuli's lips when he looked at the dying King Xia Jie on the dragon throne.
“May I sit here?” A clear male voice interrupted Shen Qingfeng's train of thought. Shen Qingfeng looked up and saw that there was a man in green clothes standing beside him, smiling at him.
Shen Qingfeng was taken aback and didn't recognize who this person was for a moment. It was not until he caught a glimpse of the jade plaque on the man's waist that he recognized him.
The jade plaque was exquisitely crafted, with two big characters carved on it: Xiqin.
The person who came was Chen Luo, the Marquis of Southwest in Xiqin.
Shen Qingfeng stood up and bowed to Chen Luo. “So it's the Marquis of Southwest. I'm disrespectful. But this seat of mine is for the disciples of the Lixia aristocratic families. Your status is so noble, and you should sit at the foot of the Son of Heaven.”
“Eh?” Chen Luo seemed to be in a very good mood. He curved his eyebrows and eyes and smiled. “Hasn't Young Master Shen noticed that the seat you're sitting in is actually quite far forward?”
Shen Qingfeng was stunned. He looked around and found that the seat he had just been sitting in was actually beyond the area where the aristocratic families should be. He had been thinking about something just now and had just followed the guiding maid. He didn't expect that he had walked a bit too far forward. Some young masters from the aristocratic families were chatting not far away, but there was already some distance between them.
“Sorry. It seems that I walked to the wrong place.” Shen Qingfeng smiled at him and bowed. “I'll change my seat now.”
“This is exactly your seat.” Chen Luo smiled mysteriously. He pressed one hand on Shen Qingfeng's shoulder and leaned close to his ear. “After all, you're the prospective male wife of the Marquis of Dingbei.”
“!” Shen Qingfeng slapped his hand away and took a few steps back to put some distance between them. “What do you mean by that, Marquis of Southwest?”
“I'm just telling the truth.” Chen Luo raised his hands, with a smile in his eyes. He tilted his chin towards behind Shen Qingfeng. “Look, speak of the devil. Here comes the Marquis of Dingbei.”