Chapter 63

When Yue Qingning felt better, Que Ming told her what happened that day.

That day he broke into the dilapidated temple and first killed the leader who was caught off guard and was busy covering his crotch with a knife. Then he saw the two villains just turned around to look, so he stabbed the man who had injured her with the knife in the stomach with a knife.

The remaining person saw this and saw him rushing towards him like a demon, so scared that he ignored the rules and could only try to stop him randomly. In a panic, he was pinned to the ground and his neck was cut.

At this point, none of the three had escaped, and their master probably had no idea what had happened.

However, the prince will definitely clean up the scene afterwards. Even if she points out that one of them is related to the Yao family, without physical evidence, the emperor will not ask her to go out and spread rumors about the Yao family's relatives.

Yue Qingning sat at the head of the bed and thought carefully.

"To be able to enter the palace amidst His Highness Prince Shou's heavy guards, there must be an insider. We must quickly inform His Highness Prince Shou that there is a hidden spy among his entourage."

When Prince Shou was mentioned, Que Ming avoided her gaze very deliberately, but he did not completely ignore her words. He just agreed reluctantly.

Yue Qingning found it funny and pulled him to the head of the bed. Looking at his handsome face which was hurt by jealousy, she felt a sense of pleasure for no reason.

I think beauty is good, but beauty who is anxious about love is even better. Even she doesn't often see such a rich and vivid face.

"Queming, your exam is almost up, right? Why are you still hanging around here?"

She didn't mean to chase him away, but she had been preparing for so long, and if he failed because of her, she would rather not bear such a heavy responsibility.

His willingness to stay here and by her side was good, but she couldn't just take the benefits without considering him.

Que Ming stuttered for a rare moment. He blinked and looked left and right, trying to find an excuse to stay, but in the end he could not find any excuse. He could only look up at her and beg her. His peach blossom eyes shrank slightly, which made people feel distressed.

But he had misjudged his young lady. Yue Qingning was not the kind of person who would be obsessed with appearance.

She pulled his pale fingers away, then intertwined them with hers, whispering, "I'll be waiting for you at home after the exam."

Que Ming looked deeply into her eyes, as if he saw some hidden meaning in them that even the person who said it had not expected.

He thought for a long time, and then smiled heartily, a smile that made everything around him pale in comparison.

He said, "Wait until I come back!"

That was the last time Yue Qingning saw him before the palace examination. They had agreed to see each other again in mid-February, but this man understood her words and was sensible enough not to come once.

He didn't come, but Prince Shou came back from the suburbs, exhausted. He didn't even have time to go back to his house to wash up. His precious clothes were covered with a layer of light yellow sand, which fell down like a layer of golden light as he walked.

"Is Your Highness injured?"

Now she was able to get out of bed, and when she saw him coming, she quickly asked someone to help her put on her coat and bowed.

Like a gust of warm wind passing by, Prince Shou quickly walked over to her and took her hands to help her up. He stood in front of her, his face a little thinner due to the bumpy journey, making him look even more pure and aloof like the person in the painting.

Seeing that she was still in a trance, Prince Shou smiled and led her to sit down, jokingly saying, "It's only been a short time since we last met, and you don't recognize your uncle anymore?"

Being laughed at by him, Yue Qingning couldn't help laughing, but her chest hurt when she laughed. Prince Shou immediately supported her and said with concern.

"It was my negligence. I didn't check myself because there was a mole in my life, and I almost killed you!"

Yue Qingning didn't dare to ask him to blame himself. "A traitor wouldn't be so powerful. I was just thinking about everyone's happiness and sent a lot of people away, which gave him the opportunity. I'm lucky enough to save my life, but I also rely on you. Your Highness is the key, and your safety is the most important thing."

Hearing that she was concerned about his safety again, the thorn in Prince Shou's heart seemed to take root and gradually spread throughout his heart.

He wants to say, don't take care of others, don't worry about others, think more about yourself, okay?

But he also knew that it was precisely because of her character and her selfless frankness that he felt moved by her.

There are countless wise and intelligent people, but there are not many who have both wisdom and a kind heart to navigate this troubled world and save drowning people.

The light from her was not so bright but warm enough to make everyone who saw her want to possess her for themselves.

Even he is one of them.

He knew that he could not monopolize the moonlight, but he selfishly wanted the moonlight to shine on me alone.

Seeing him lower his eyes and stop talking, Yue Qingning thought he had encountered some difficulties and asked him hurriedly.

"Did something happen during the suppression of bandits?"

Prince Shou looked embarrassed, a little embarrassed to mention such things to her, but he couldn't resist the fact that they had already agreed to be allies and he couldn't hide anything from her.

Then, Prince Shou cleared his throat and said, "In a small village in the southeast, we rescued a young man. When we asked him where he lived and how old he was, he just shook his head."

"Later, I asked him to do odd jobs with me and then return to Beijing. As time went on, this kid actually became quite ambiguous towards me. After I questioned him strictly, I learned that he was kidnapped as a child because of his good looks. Later, he accidentally entered the bandit camp and became the entertainment of those bastards. He thought I was the same, so he saved him and took him away."

When Yue Qingning heard this, he couldn't help but think of Que Ming. He was also helpless because of his appearance. If he hadn't extended that hand at that time, would he be the next to be played with?

Seeing her stern expression, Prince Shou knew that she would most likely not agree to the next plan.

But this is a crucial step, to prevent the prince from losing his composure. The people around him are too strong and have already prepared a set of excuses. The subordinates sent out cannot find any flaws no matter how hard they try.

Among the three, the Crown Prince, the Marquis of Qingyuan, and the Queen, the Crown Prince is the easiest to attack. How can we attack him if we don’t take advantage of his lack of experience?

"I want him to enter the East Palace."

Just these words were like a stone that caused a thousand ripples. Yue Qingning moved faster than her words. She hurriedly grabbed the corner of his clothes and shouted.

"No! Not to mention that he just escaped from a wolf's den and entered a tiger's den. How can he be so easily dealt with by the Crown Prince? If he is still young and his flaws are found, what awaits him will be worse than death!"

As if Prince Shou anticipated her objection, he did not struggle but sat quietly beside the bed and smoothed down her hand.

"He's not young, but he looks young. He's actually three years older than you."

Yue Qingning was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect him to interrupt her here. It took her a long time to remember her own idea.

"It's not a matter of age. He shouldn't be asked to do it again if he doesn't want to."

"If he didn't want to, he wouldn't have taken the initiative to bring it up with me."

Prince Shou's cold words fell on her head like a thick layer of frost. At this moment, she couldn't tell him whether it was voluntary or forced. In short, for her, no one should be treated as a tool for entertainment and ignored their will.

But Prince Shou said, "I never forced him. He said, 'I have the honor of serving the Crown Prince. This humble life has not been lived in vain!'"

As a result, Yue Qingning was even more speechless. The sobs stuck in her throat were meant to explain to him that no one would willingly lower themselves to be a slave to others.

But in fact, she didn't have the courage to say that to him.

She was also one of the common people, and she didn't dare to have any dispute with him, a royal descendant. He had taught her a lesson long ago, a profound and everlasting memory. Yue Qingning was very obedient, and since she had been hurt once, she would never try to do it a second time.

"Qingning will listen to you."

When Prince Shou heard her acting out of character, he suddenly lost his temper and became as obedient as a puppet, instead of being in a state of anger and determination to win a name for himself.

He was a little surprised and was about to ask when Wang Xuan suddenly came from outside the door to announce the good news.

"This year's top scorer has been announced! He has won three first prizes in a row. His Majesty will personally meet with him tomorrow and has also stated that he will personally attend the Qujiang Banquet. It seems he is going to show some favor to the top scorer!"

Prince Shou didn't really care about this matter. The top scholar selected every three years had great ambitions at the beginning, but later they were all smoothed out and became ordinary people.

Besides, there is no princess in the royal family, so even if the marriage is granted, it has nothing to do with them.

His eyes were stern, and he stared at Wang Xuan until she fell to her knees. He asked in a chilling tone.

"What's your name?"

"Your Highness, the top scholar is named Yue Lingshuang, a student of Lord Xu Weiming, the governor of Luoyang."

Prince Shou was surprised and froze for a moment. "Also surnamed Yue?"

Wang Xuan replied, "That's right. It's really a coincidence. Who knows, this person might be a talent worthy of our Highness's use."

Yue Qingning, who was standing in the back, wanted to laugh after hearing this. She covered her mouth and smiled quietly so that only she could see it. She congratulated him, but was also moved that he would remember what she had said that day.

That day, when he was about to leave, she gave him a piece of advice after she broke off all ties with him.

"Who can bear the stature of soaring clouds and reaching the sun, or the bones of snow and frost? Ling family has come here, I hope you will not forget who you are."

It was originally a sentence that mocked him, but he remembered it for so long that he even made up a pseudonym for himself to suit the meaning.

Judging from his personality, he must have said this countless times at night!

Thinking that he had never forgotten her for a moment, even though he was not there, Yue Qingning blushed even more than when he was there.

Prince Shou said a few words and turned to her, only to see that her face was flushed, as if she was really moved by the words "Three Top Prizes and One Di".

As a prince, he is more likely to become the emperor in the future, but now he is not even as good as the top scholar.

A feeling of frustration suddenly rose in his heart.

Because of the excruciating pain, he suddenly stood up and walked out as if he could no longer sit still.

Yue Qingning naturally didn't dare to stay behind him for long, and told him to walk slowly. But lo and behold, his already brisk steps seemed to have even quickened.

Prince Shou gritted his teeth. He was already disgusted with the new number one scholar before he even met him. He thought it would be better to just get the job done so that he wouldn't have to be jealous and make things difficult for himself.

How difficult would it be to ask the emperor for permission to have a girl? The emperor just disliked the prince and had handed over most of the official business to him these days. It was obvious that he wanted him to compete with Xiao Yan.

At this juncture, it would be safer to keep Qingning in Prince Shou's Mansion. After so many days and seeing all the splendors that ordinary people have never heard of, can she still keep her heart of stone forever?

Thinking about this, Prince Shou became more and more indifferent to this little incident that happened today.

But the next day, he couldn't laugh anymore.