Chapter 15 Everyone has their own preferences, I just love Shen Xiao…

"Eat my ass!"

The emperor cursed irritably, then frowned upon seeing the boy's swollen cheek and said, "Miss Chen hit you."

"No, no," Qi Jingxuan hurriedly said, "Miss Shen is gentle, virtuous, and well-educated; how could she hit me?"

"That's because his parents hit you."

The emperor asked again.

Qi Jingxuan ruined Shen Yan's reputation. As parents, it's not impossible that Shen Mingshan and Madam Su would resort to violence in a fit of anger. If it were his daughter being bullied, he might not just slap her, he might even break the man's legs.

The emperor understood this principle and knew that his son was indeed in the wrong today, but seeing his son's face swollen like this, he was still somewhat unhappy.

Fearing that he would cause trouble for the Shen family, Qi Jingxuan quickly shook his head and repeated the same explanation he had given to Shen Mingshan at the Shen family.

The emperor's brows relaxed slightly upon hearing this, but then furrowed even more, looking at him with disappointment and frustration.

"You are, after all, my son, a prince of the dragon! To marry a woman, you not only committed such a disgraceful act, but also relentlessly pursued her to her home. What has become of my dignity? What has become of the imperial family's dignity? I heard that you just publicly stated that if the Shen family was unwilling to marry their daughter to you, you would have to marry into their family."

Qi Jingxuan had died eight times already, so he no longer cared about saving face. He wasn't ashamed at all, nodding and saying, "Yes, Your Majesty, I have chosen Miss Shen, and I will marry no one but her in this lifetime!"

"If Lord Shen truly refuses to marry her to me, then I will marry into the Shen family. As long as I can be with Miss Shen, I'll do anything!"

Although the emperor had many descendants, Qi Jingxuan was the one he favored the most. Seeing him shamelessly say such things, the emperor was so angry that he couldn't help but raise his hand.

But seeing Qi Jingxuan's swollen cheeks, the slap finally stopped, hovering in mid-air for a long time before falling.

Unexpectedly, Qi Jingxuan leaned forward and took his hand to pat his uninjured cheek, saying, "Father, hit me as you please. As long as you allow me to be with Miss Shen, I'll hit you however you want."

Seeing his behavior, the emperor was even more furious. He withdrew his hand and turned to look at Consort Shu, who had remained silent.

"You see? This isn't me wronging him; he clearly did it himself!"

Consort Shu ignored him and looked only at Qi Jingxuan, asking, "Did you really take advantage of Miss Chen while drunk?"

Qi Jingxuan nodded: "Yes."

Consort Shu then asked, "You have long harbored feelings for Miss Chen?"

Qi Jingxuan nodded again: "My son will marry no one but her, and he will be with her for the rest of his life."

When did you start liking her?

Consort Shu asked.

Qi Jingxuan stammered, "Well... well, I met Miss Shen by chance once before, and I fell in love with her at first sight."

Consort Shu nodded: "But as far as I know, the Shen family has only been in the capital for half a year, and Miss Shen rarely goes out. When did you meet her? Why have I never heard you mention her before?"

Qi Jingxuan pursed his lips, clenching the egg in his hand. Whether it was because of nervousness or because the egg was still warm from being held all the way to the palace, his palms were covered in a thin layer of sweat.

He wanted to give a vague answer to get away with it, so he said, "My son doesn't remember, but we met by chance when we went out for a trip."

"I see," Consort Shu nodded in agreement, saying, "You're often out and about, so it's normal that you can't remember which day you met her. But since you fell in love with Miss Shen at first sight, you should remember where you met her, right?"

"What color clothes was she wearing? What kind of jewelry was she wearing? What was she doing when you met her? Who was with her? Since you fell in love at first sight, you must remember something, right? You can't be completely speechless, can you?"

Qi Jingxuan really couldn't say, because he had never seen Shen Yan before. Even if he had met her, he had no recollection of her at all, so it would be a miracle if he could describe her clothes and appearance.

After thinking it over, he decided to just make up a few random lines.

He had just come from the Shen family and knew that they didn't even have a servant. Even if Shen Yan didn't like to go out on weekdays, she still had to go out to buy things, so it was definitely not wrong to say that the place where they met was near her alley.

As for clothing and accessories... just say some common colors and styles of women's clothing. It's impossible for Mother Consort to go to the Shen family and check each item against Miss Shen's wardrobe and dressing table. Even if she did go, as long as the styles he mentioned are common enough, she should be able to find one or two that match.

Qi Jingxuan's mind raced, and just as he was about to speak, he heard Consort Shu say, "Don't try to fool me with a few made-up stories. I will verify this after I have asked you. No matter when or where you met Miss Shen, it's impossible that you were the only one who saw her on the whole street."

"If what others say doesn't match yours, then either you're lying, or you and Miss Shen have been in contact for a long time and met in private, which is why no one saw it."

If they had prior contact and were meeting secretly, then the two would be suspected of having an affair, and Shen Yan would inevitably be accused of deliberately seducing him.

Shen Yan had been driven to her death by such words in her previous lives, so Qi Jingxuan dared not let her suffer such guilt again. He waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "No, no, we have never met in private. She didn't even know me before today!"

But if he hadn't met Shen Yan in private, he would have to explain exactly when and where he had met her.

Qi Jingxuan was at a loss for words and racked his brains but could not come up with a suitable explanation.

Having listened for so long, the Emperor finally sensed something amiss and tentatively asked, "Have you never seen Miss Shen before? Were all those things you told me in the Imperial Study just now false?"

Qi Jingxuan's lips twitched, his mouth opening and closing for a long time, but he couldn't utter a coherent sentence. Finally, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to say, "Your subject... Your subject did indeed lie!"

"This is the first time I have met Miss Shen. I was drunk and lustful, so I kidnapped her to the front yard of the Marquis's mansion."

"I was afraid it would sound bad if I told others, so I lied and said that I had long been in love with Miss Chen and that I did this on impulse."

Although both stories involve forcibly ruining a young woman's reputation, it sounds slightly better to say that she was already in love with the man after drinking than that she was lustful at first sight.

Upon hearing this, the emperor's forehead veins throbbed, and he pointed at him, his voice trembling, "You...you bastard! How could you..."

He stood up and raised his hand to strike, but Consort Shu glanced at him from the side. The emperor suddenly felt a pang of guilt under her gaze, his raised hand paused, and he slowly sat back down, head bowed, not daring to say another word.

Consort Shu withdrew her gaze and said to Qi Jingxuan, "You said you were attracted to her at first sight, but there were so many beautiful women in the Cheng'an Marquis's residence today. I heard that although Miss Shen is pretty, she's not the most outstanding among them. How come you only chose her out of so many beautiful women your age?"

Qi Jingxuan muttered under his breath, "To each their own, I just like Miss Shen."

The emperor, sitting to the side with his eyes lowered, secretly curled his lip, thinking to himself: "Does he think the Marquis of An's mansion specially picked out a vegetable garden for you to pick whichever one you like?"

But he only thought these words to himself and didn't dare to say them aloud.

Seeing that Qi Jingxuan's words were not reliable, Consort Shu clenched her fist and suppressed her anger, saying, "If you were lustful at first sight, it means you weren't too drunk at the time and could still distinguish which one you liked and which one you didn't."

"Then let me ask you, how did you sneak into the backyard, bypassing all the servants of the Marquis of Cheng'an's mansion? Where did you meet Miss Shen? And how did you kidnap her?"

"I heard from the people in the Marquis's mansion that Miss Shen wanted to commit suicide after she woke up. It was you who desperately stopped her and prevented her from dying on the spot. So she probably didn't go with you willingly. You must have knocked her unconscious and taken her there. Otherwise, if she had made even the slightest sound on the way, it would have alerted the servants of the Marquis's mansion, and you wouldn't have been able to get away with it so easily."

"But she's a grown woman; knocking her unconscious without attracting attention isn't easy. There are essentially only two methods: either knock her out when she's not looking, or prepare a sleeping potion beforehand. Which method did you use?"

"If someone was knocked unconscious, what weapon was used, where was Miss Chen hit, and what are her injuries? If a sleeping potion was used, when was it prepared, and who prepared it for you?"

"Furthermore, it wasn't easy for you to evade the eyes and ears of the Marquis of Cheng'an's residence all by yourself, so how did you manage to sneak back to the front courtyard with her?"

“Tell me all of this clearly so I can verify it with the Marquis of Cheng’an’s residence and the Shen family to see if there are any discrepancies.”

"If the Marquis's mansion was completely unaware of your plans, and allowed you to enter and leave the inner quarters as if they were your own, based solely on your familiarity with their residence, then they have failed in their duties and should be severely punished. If they knew of your plans beforehand, and not only did they not stop you but they also deliberately sent their servants away to allow you to act as you pleased, then they have condoned your violation of the law, making them accomplices and deserving even greater punishment!"

Upon hearing this, Qi Jingxuan shook his head repeatedly in fright, and blurted out, "No, the Marquis's mansion did not condone or protect me; they were also framed!"

He was harmed

Too

These words finally eased the tension in Consort Shu's back, and the last vestige of doubt in her heart completely dissipated.

Upon hearing about the Cheng'an Marquis's residence, her first reaction was that it was impossible; even if her son were absurd, he would never do such a thing.

But it was a fact that Qi Jingxuan had drunk too much. What if? What if he really did take advantage of Miss Shen while drunk?

She wanted to get to the bottom of things, but for some reason Qi Jingxuan took all the blame at the Cheng'an Marquis's residence, and then went to the Shen family and publicly said that he wanted to marry Miss Shen.

Consort Shu was puzzled, so when Qi Jingxuan arrived at Zhaohua Palace, she did not rush to speak, but first observed his attitude.

Seeing his resolute attitude and his insistence on taking the blame upon himself, she knew that she wouldn't get anything out of him through ordinary questioning, and that Qi Jingxuan would definitely not tell the truth.

Fortunately, she knew her son well enough to know that although he often caused trouble, he never liked to implicate others because of his mistakes.

Sure enough, he panicked when she dragged the Marquis of Cheng'an's mansion and Miss Shen into the mess.

But what exactly made him willing to take the blame rather than tell the truth? Did he know what bearing such a responsibility meant? Why couldn't he come to the palace to discuss things with her, instead of making decisions on his own?

Consort Shu grew angrier the more she thought about it. She slammed her pale hand on the kang table and snapped, "Kneel down!"

The medicine bowl that hadn't been taken off the kang table trembled, startling the emperor who was sitting beside it, shrugging his neck and not daring to utter a sound. He jumped up and bent his knees, about to kneel down.

Qi Jingxuan, who was about to kneel down as if he knew the ropes, suddenly froze, looking at his father standing face to face with a puzzled expression: "Father, what are you doing?"

The emperor snapped out of his daze, his bent knees suddenly straightening. He awkwardly dusted off non-existent dust from his robes and sat back down.

After settling down, he noticed Qi Jingxuan still looking at him suspiciously. His face flushed red, and he roared, "What are you looking at! Didn't you hear what your mother said?! Kneel down!"

A note from the author:

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Don't worry about whether the emperor would actually kneel before his concubines, it's just a silly story, written for fun~ Just enjoy reading it~