Chapter 73 Chapter 73

"Isn't it a bit too boring?" Xiao Jingzhao stopped introducing, his voice a little melancholy.

He wanted Jiang Huai to get to know him better, but the more he talked, the more he felt like there was nothing more to say. He had originally planned to take Jiang Huai to other places to have a look, but now...

There was nothing worth talking about in his childhood, and it seemed that there was nothing worth talking about in his youth either. He just followed the rules to be an heir who could satisfy others. After entering the palace, he became a prince who could satisfy the emperor, empress and ministers. Although he didn't feel the same way in his heart, there was really nothing worth talking about in his life.

However, after so many years, Xiao Jingzhao's heart is not actually fragile. If it weren't for Jiang Huai, he would have buried all of this in his heart. No one would know that he still had such thoughts, and he would not show this vulnerability to anyone. Even Wei Xuan, his uncle who took him outside when he was a child, could not see this side of him after he decided to take revenge.

But in front of Jiang Huai, he wanted to reveal another side of himself.

But now I feel that this side of me has nothing exciting enough to attract Jiang Huai.

"It's not boring!" Jiang Huai shook his head. He was a little curious about the life of young children in ancient times. After all, in his memory, Jiang Huai had been weak since childhood, so he almost always stayed in the house and rarely came out. He hardly even went out to the yard, let alone study. His childhood memories were almost all about the house, which was even more boring than Xiao Jingzhao's.

What's more, perhaps because of his feelings for Xiao Jingzhao, Jiang Huai found that he quite liked listening to Xiao Jingzhao talk about his childhood, as if he was hallucinating his childhood growth.

"Is there a portrait of you as a child here?" Jiang Huai asked.

Although it was clear from Xiao Jingzhao's appearance that he was also a handsome child when he was young, Jiang Huai was still a little curious about what he looked like. If he remembered correctly, there was such a custom in the Great Zhou Dynasty, but most people were reluctant to hire painters to paint their portraits. Some slightly wealthier families would only leave a portrait when their children were one year old.

However, for the class of kings, princes, generals and ministers, leaving a portrait a year is considered a small number. However, after hearing Xiao Jingzhao talk about the relationship between Wei Shu and Xiao Hong, Jiang Huai was not sure whether Wei Shu would let the painter paint his portrait.

"...Of course there is." Xiao Jingzhao was stunned for a moment before answering. Realizing that Jiang Huai seemed to be interested in his childhood, the loss he had just felt disappeared.

Jiang Huai might have been trying to comfort him by saying it wasn't boring just now, but wanting to see a portrait of him as a child showed that he was really interested, not trying to comfort him.

Xiao Jingzhao clearly remembered that he had his portrait taken, especially when he was young. Even though Xiao Hong had concubines at that time, he was still nice to Wei Shu on the surface. It was just that compared with his previous indifference to women, Wei Shu could not accept it. But compared with other men, he was still pretty good.

So he painted a lot of portraits at that time. Now when he talked about it, Xiao Jingzhao felt a little fortunate that so many portraits were left behind.

Xiao Jingzhao remembered that when he entered the palace, these portraits were not brought into the palace with him, but were kept by him.

After all, at that time, these portraits were still beautiful memories for him, and he would rather these portraits remain in the palace, as if these beautiful memories could remain unchanged forever, rather than gradually fade away with the passage of time.

Xiao Jingzhao led Jiang Huai into the study. The door of the study had not been opened for a while, but fortunately it had been cleaned very well before and did not have any dilapidated atmosphere. Xiao Jingzhao took out some framed scrolls from a cabinet with familiarity.

"This is probably a portrait of a full moon." Xiao Jingzhao took out a scroll, opened it and said.

"When the baby is one month old?" Jiang Huai frowned unconsciously. Few people would ask painters to paint portraits of their children when the baby is one month old, because the baby is too young to meet outsiders or go outdoors. And the portrait usually requires the painter to look at it for a while when the light is good, otherwise there will not be enough light in the house.

If he remembered correctly, Xiao Jingzhao's birthday was in winter, and according to Xiao Jingzhao's previous explanation, Wei Shu was injured during childbirth, and Xiao Jingzhao was actually also affected. His body was also a little weak in his childhood, but fortunately he recovered later.

The baby's health might not be very good when it's one month old. After all, all medicines are toxic. If there is no serious problem, even a royal physician would not dare to prescribe medicine for a baby. The baby cannot bear it.

"Yes, at that time it was said that the late emperor wanted to see me, but I was a weak child and couldn't go out, so Xiao Hong asked someone to draw a portrait of me." Xiao Jingzhao said in a flat tone.

Jiang Huai understood the meaning. At that time, Xiao Jingzhao was like a rare treasure that Xiao Hong had obtained with great difficulty. He was used to please people, and the person being pleased wanted to see what this rare treasure looked like. Although for the sake of the future, Xiao Hong did not want to damage the body of this rare treasure too much, he also used other methods to show it. As for whether this method would hurt Xiao Jingzhao, he didn't care too much about it. After all, this was already the method with the least damage.

As for asking the late emperor to come to the Third Prince's residence to see Xiao Jingzhao, even if the late emperor had this idea, he probably would not have acted like this at the time. Jiang Huai remembered that Taifu Jiang had mentioned the matter of the succession struggle that year. Before Xiao Hong married Wei Shu, he did not have the upper hand and was even ignored by other princes. It was only after he married Wei Shu that he gradually caught the attention of the late emperor.

If the late emperor had come to the Third Prince's residence at that time, it would have caused too much noise.

The original text did not mention so much, and before knowing Xiao Jingzhao's identity, although Jiang Huai knew this, he didn't feel anything.

In his opinion, although the prince's affairs were quite tragic from a child's perspective, there were more tragic things in the world. The prince was at most emotionally unsatisfied. He was regarded as a tool by his father to fight for the throne and a qualified heir to the Great Zhou by the late emperor. As for Wei Shu, he might have some love for her, but he might more likely regard her as a tool to win favor.

But these are very far away from him, and it is not easy for people to resonate with the emotional tragedy of an unfamiliar person.

But this stranger turned out to be Xiao Jingzhao, and Jiang Huai felt that he could no longer think deeply about it.

"Let me take a look at this portrait." Jiang Huai changed the subject. After all, he could think of so much, and Xiao Jingzhao might think of even more. He didn't want the other party to think too much.

Xiao Jingzhao was extremely attentive, and his attention was now completely focused on Jiang Huai. How could he not see that he was trying to divert his attention? The melancholy that had been evoked by these things was swept away, and he opened the scroll completely to make it easier for Jiang Huai to see.

He knew that what he said seemed like a self-torture tactic, but these things were not made up by him. He just exposed his vulnerability in front of Jiang Huai.

If Jiang Huai is ruthless to him, then it is naturally useless. If the other party still has feelings for him, then what's wrong with arousing Jiang Huai's sympathy for him?

It's better than hiding everything and letting Jiang Huai become completely cold towards him.

Xiao Jingzhao lowered his eyes slightly, with a hint of coldness in his eyes, but when he looked at Jiang Huai, the coldness faded away, revealing a bit of sincerity.

Jiang Huai looked at the portrait carefully and found that it was the same as he had imagined. The one-month-old Xiao Jingzhao was a beautiful baby. Even though he was born weak, he didn't look as fat as the children in Jiang Huai's memory, but his face still had baby fat. His eyes were staring straight ahead, with curved eyebrows and upturned corners of his lips. He was so cute.

The painter's painting skills are not bad. He captured the features of Xiao Jingzhao's face accurately and painted it vividly. Especially when Jiang Huai looked up at Xiao Jingzhao and then looked at the portrait, he inexplicably felt like traveling through time and space, as if in the blink of an eye, the child in the portrait had grown up.

His body has grown, but his bright eyes have not changed much.

Jiang Huai couldn't help but take a few more glances. He couldn't say that he hadn't changed at all. At least when he looked at the eyes of the young Xiao Jingzhao, he felt that they were innocent, cute, and full of intelligence. But the Xiao Jingzhao now...

Jiang Huai's fingers trembled, and he unconsciously avoided the other party's sincere gaze. Under such a gaze, he could no longer maintain his previous anger, and even wanted to find excuses for the other party.

Because after all, it was normal for Xiao Jingzhao to conceal his identity. At the beginning, it was impossible for him to reveal his identity. Even though Jiang Huai was the grandson of Master Jiang, Xiao Jingzhao's identity was of great importance. Telling Jiang Huai would be equivalent to leaving hidden dangers.

Later, Jiang Huai recalled the past again, and looking back with the answer, he found that there were many times when Xiao Jingzhao seemed to be hesitant to speak, but he didn't pay attention at that time, and just let it be misunderstood as something else, so that in the end he didn't say it.

Jiang Huai's actions were somewhat obvious, and Xiao Jingzhao naturally noticed it, but he didn't think too much about it. After all, he didn't dare to think too much about it. What if he was thinking too much? He just thought that Jiang Huai still liked his looks, but the two were so close, Xiao Jingzhao didn't dare to show too much joy, for fear that Jiang Huai would get angry and embarrassed.

But when she showed other portraits to Jiang Huai, she tried even harder to show off the advantages of her appearance.

Even if Jiang Huai didn't notice this kind of peacock-spreading show at first, after watching it a few more times, he found that no matter from what angle he looked at Xiao Jingzhao, the other party showed his face at the best angle, which made it difficult for Jiang Huai to miss it.

Jiang Huai took a deep breath. He was a little conflicted about what to do next, but no matter what the decision would be, he would just eat the sugar-coated food first.

After Jiang Huai made up his mind, he no longer avoided looking at Xiao Jingzhao. After all, he couldn't look at Xiao Jingzhao so directly in the past. Whether it was out of etiquette or something else, staring at someone so directly was a bit impolite. But now, Xiao Jingzhao asked him to look at him more.

Although Xiao Jingzhao was trying to seduce Jiang Huai, he didn't expect Jiang Huai's reaction to be like this. After being stared at for a while, a blush appeared on his face.