CH 64

Villainous Prince (6)

The first beautiful youth showed his big white teeth to Song Xu Yi, claiming to be from a family of martial generals, listing the merits of his ancestors for 18 generations, and finally standing on the ground with a steel spear to shock Song Xu Yi, who then spoke in a loud voice, “I swear to be loyal to the Wang Clan for life.”

The second beautiful youth, a deadly warrior of the Wang Clan, was also fair-skinned and fair-eyed, and he told Song Xu Yi straight away, “My deed of sale is with the Wang Clan. I was born a member of the Wang family, and I will die a ghost of the Wang family!”

……

At this point in time, having listened to such lengthy speeches, even if Song Xu Yi was slow, she knew what her grandfather had arranged.

For a moment, Song Xu Yi’s heart cried out in disbelief: these youths were indeed all well-born and diverse, and it must have taken Grandfather a lot of effort to find so many beautiful youths, so if she were to reject them outright, she might break the old man’s heart.

But it would be unacceptable for Song Xu Yi to accept this frankly.

These beautiful youths were like half grown children in Song Xu Yi’s mind, although marriage was early in this era, these youths were almost at the age to get married, but they looked at Song Xu Yi without a hint of adoration, and what they said to Song Xu Yi was more like an initiation briefing than a self-introduction.

Song Xu Yi was a little fretful and sighed in an elderly manner, waving her hand and letting these beautiful youths live in various corners of the courtyard: she had originally lamented earlier that there was no need to arrange such a large courtyard for her group, but now she realised that her grandfather, the old man, had made the arrangements long ago.

“Congratulations, Princess!”

Only after the youths had retired did Nie Qian Yu step forward and walk up to Song Xu Yi, tugging on his lips and speaking slowly, “The whole courtyard is full of people, so I’m sure it will be especially lively afterwards…”

The Wang Clan was built on a lake, and the summer breeze gently caressed Nie Qian Yu’s scent——unlike the smell of sweat and incense on the youths, Nie Qian Yu’s scent was extremely clean and fresh, like a fresh citrus orange in the afternoon.

Song Xu Yi’s spirits were lifted, and she found her own jade-like villain more agreeable. Not noticing Nie Qian Yu’s eerie tone, she sighed again, “I don’t know how to accommodate these boys.”

“How about,” Song Xu Yi’s mind suddenly flashed with an idea, and her eyes were as brilliant as stars as she raised her eyes to Nie Qian Yu and smiled, “I’ll send these young boys to you as your servants!”

The more Song Xu Yi thought about it, the more she thought it would work.

Nie Qian Yu was still young and had no power at hand, and Song Xu Yi had thought of clipping his wings so that he could stay in Lishui and not go anywhere, but after spending so much time with him, Song Xu Yi felt that she had already formed an initial friendship with him. Rather than trapping Nie Qian Yu, Song Xu Yi felt that it would be better to help him. After all, Nie Qian Yu did not seem to be an ungrateful person, so if he wanted to attack the Lishui Empire, it would not be difficult for Song Xu Yi to persuade him to leave the lives of the male and female protagonists alive because of their friendship.

Nie Qian Yu seemed to have not expected such a reply from Song Xu Yi and froze in place.

This was another expression that had never appeared on Nie Qian Yu’s face before.

“You’re the most important person.” Song Xu Yi spoke with a smile, starting the sweet talk mode again.

Nie Qian Yu met Song Xu Yi’s gaze, Song Xu Yi smiled and looked back at him, Nie Qian Yu pursed his lips, and seemed to think of something, his eyes involuntarily curved up, the corners of his lips slowly rose…

Did he… want to smile?

The light in Nie Qian Yu’s eyes darkened immediately afterwards, and Song Xu Yi, sensing Nie Qian Yu’s habit of trying to suppress a smile, made a face at Nie Qian Yu on the spot——

The smile was as brief as a fleeting flower, but Song Xu Yi felt as if a hundred flowers were blooming in front of her eyes, which was indescribably beautiful.

“Brother Nie should smile more often.” Song Xu Yi sincerely suggested to Nie Qian Yu.

“Princess, do you know what you will get if you do that?” Nie Qian Yu, however, did not listen to Song Xu Yi’s advice, he seemed a little annoyed at the change in his expression, dropping his head awkwardly and pursing his lips again as he looked at Song Xu Yi with a complicated gaze, “Aren’t you worried…”

“But you’re happy!” Song Xu Yi interrupted Nie Qian Yu’s words and stood up with a yawn, once again walking towards the main house where Wang Mian lived: “If you are happy, I am also happy in my heart——”

Nie Qian Yu did not follow Song Xu Yi’s pace.

Song Xu Yi walked a long way before she realised that Nie Qian Yu was still watching her back from afar, so she turned around and waved her hand, gesturing for Nie Qian Yu to return to the house.

Nie Qian Yu lowered his head, he seemed to be thinking about something and didn’t move his feet.

Song Xu Yi didn’t look at him again either, and turned around to go to Wang Mian’s main room.

When he heard that Song Xu Yi wanted to send several youths under Nie Qian Yu’s command, Wang Mian’s expression instantly became extremely shocked. He gave Song Xu Yi an obscure look and sighed, “My Wang Clan has always produced infatuated people, but I didn’t expect you to be so infatuated at such a young age. My dear granddaughter, you must understand that your status is extremely noble and you can have anyone in this world, but you cannot spoil your other half, especially when the Prince of Wu is attracting butterflies like this…”

He seemed to want to say something else, but Song Xu Yi had long been prepared and sent a maid to call her grandmother over. Looking at his wife who was staring at him, Wang Mian’s words afterwards were all blocked in his throat.

Everyone knew that Wang Mian, the head of the Wang Clan, was not afraid of the world, but only of his wife.

The little old man’s beard curled in anger, obviously not expecting Song Xu Yi to bring up his wife to pressure him as soon as she arrived, but he was extremely protective and did not blame Song Xu Yi, instead he blamed everything on Nie Qian Yu: it was all because the damned Crown Prince of Wu had bewitched his good granddaughter, and that was why she had turned her elbow to the outside!

In the end, when he met his wife’s narrowed gaze, Wang Mian could only grunt reluctantly and waved his hand, “It’s just that, whatever you want.” As if remembering something else, Wang Mian smiled narrowly as he stroked his beard, “Anyway, your Prince of Wu may not be able to hold down those boys I sent over there——”

But Song Xu Yi didn’t continue with the conversation. After the matter was finalised, Song Xu Yi asked Wang Mian for some more land, saying that she wanted to stay here for a longer period of time to work on the plants. He said ‘yes’ several times and finally sent a letter to Empress Wang in front of Song Xu Yi, saying that Song Xu Yi would be staying in Zhongzhou for a year or two.

The Empress was worried and looking forward to her daughter’s return, but she did not expect her father to interfere with her, so she tore up the letter sent by Wang Mian…

All this is an afterthought.

Now that Song Xu Yi has the land, she plants the sweet potatoes she has collected, which can be grown twice a year, and now it is the season to plant them. After teaching a few servants how to make them sprout, how to grow sweet potato vines to harvest more sweet potatoes, and how to deal with pests and diseases, Song Xu Yi sets off for the area.

The vast area of Zhongzhou is rich in produce, so there might be other staple foods to be found.

During this time, Song Xu Yi discovered that people in this era had discovered many foods that grew on the ground, such as rice, wheat and soybeans, but had not explored those that grew under the ground.

As luck would have it, after exploring the woods for a while, Song Xu Yi discovered the wild potatoes and peanuts of this world, as well as spices such as star anise, cinnamon and pepper.

Wang Mian originally thought that Song Xu Yi wanted the plots of land as a joke, but to his surprise, his granddaughter actually planted something in them and planted them in a seemingly unconventional way. But the plants did not grow tall, the flowers were sparse and unattractive, and they did not even bear fruit after flowering.

Wang Mian didn’t know what use Song Xu Yi had for them, but as his granddaughter liked them, Wang Mian indulged her, only to be distressed that his snow-white and soft granddaughter would often go into the woods and into the fields herself, and every time she returned, she would be covered in mosquito bites…

Nie Qian Yu was always by Song Xu Yi’s side as she searched for food with great enthusiasm. Strangely enough, with Nie Qian Yu by her side, Song Xu Yi’s chances of finding food were much higher and the number of biting mosquitoes around her seemed to be reduced.

As for the beautiful youths that Song Xu Yi had sent under his command, Nie Qian Yu seemed to have no intention of taking care of them, only instructing them not to set foot outside the courtyard and to stay there.

However, while Nie Qian Yu left the youths alone, the youths began to make trouble. The youths were constantly looking for Song Xu Yi, and with the help of Wang Mian, they started to form a group against Nie Qian Yu. They are determined to make the Princess realise that Nie Qian Yu is a mere figurehead and that the men of Lishui are the best.

However, when the martial arts practitioner intended to put tickling powder in Nie Qian Yu’s bath, he was suddenly mobbed by a swarm of bees, stinging his face for many days and not daring to appear in front of Song Xu Yi for nearly a month;

The civil servant’s son sought out Nie Qian Yu for a debate and was so irritated by Nie Qian Yu’s brief words that he cried under the covers for days;

The deadly warrior points his sword at Nie Qian Yu and threatens him to stay away from the princess, but he is caught by Song Xu Yi who is following a beautiful butterfly…

……

It would be strange if one or two people were defeated, but several were unable to win against Nie Qian Yu.

At first, Wang Mian thought Nie Qian Yu was a mere figurehead, but after this test, he felt that Nie Qian Yu had a dark heart and was not a good match. With the sensitive nature of Nie Qian Yu’s identity, Wang Mian made up his mind that he would not allow Nie Qian Yu to stay with his simple and virtuous granddaughter.

And the opportunity soon came.