Chapter 290 Royal Palace
290 Palace
"But he will marry her eventually, won't he? Who can defy the emperor's orders?"
"Maybe Xu Junying can?" Lin Runan made a sword flower: "Even if he marries her, so what? It's just another concubine. From the looks of Xu Junying, he doesn't like her. He can just live with you!"
"No! I will never allow my husband to take a concubine. If he marries A Yao, our marriage will end. I won't accept that!"
Lin Runan looked at her sideways: "I thought you were joking, but I didn't expect you to be a jealous woman. If the Queen Mother knew about this, she would call you into the palace and scold you! I think it's better to forget it. It's good to have a concubine to quarrel with. Look at me, I can't even find a concubine to scold, and I get goose bumps when those male favorites approach me."
Meimei was amused by Lin Runan's black humor and whispered, "Don't be impatient, take your time. The King of Qi needs patience. He no longer rejects you, which is good. You should follow his lead in whatever he does. If it were me, I would try to play with those beauties..."
"Oh my God, Qin Meiniang, you, you actually have that kind of thought!"
Lin Runan gasped and slapped her with his hand: "No wonder he likes you, you two are just like birds of a feather!"
"You're not serious, can't you just pretend? You're such a jerk, you're so carefree, and you think you're a heroine."
"I'm not a heroine, I can't do the kind of things you do!"
Lin Runan walked to the center of the field angrily and hooked his finger at Meimei: "Come here, your chain kicks are great, let me play with you!"
"No! If you don't tell me what happened that day, I won't bother to play with you. Now my legs and feet are strong, and you are no match for me!"
Lin Runan stared and said, "You are becoming more and more like him, so arrogant!"
"Who looks like who? Who is arrogant?"
The Prince of Qi stood tall and graceful. He stood with his hands behind his back under the wisteria trellis, his handsome face showing a rare warm smile. Lin Runan was stunned: "When did the prince come? The maids didn't even announce it, so I was unable to greet him!"
When Meimei heard her say this, she remembered that this was the palace of a king and that some rules had to be followed. She quickly put down the teacup she was playing with, stood up from the stone bench and saluted the King of Qi:
"Greetings, Your Majesty!"
"Never mind. I was busy and couldn't come along. What are you talking about?"
"Nothing, but we're talking about boxing and kicking. The princess taught me a few moves before, and later I learned some from the guards around me. She wanted to see if I had made any progress!"
Meimei saw him sitting down at the stone table. She stepped forward and poured him a cup of tea, then filled Lin Runan's cup, smiling and calling to her, "Princess, please take a seat!"
The King of Qi drank a sip of tea and looked at her: "Take off the mask, this is not your Xianmen, you are not allowed to wear this in my palace!"
Meimei thought about it and felt that it was not very polite, so she said, "Then I'll go wash my face."
“No need!”
The King of Qi shouted, "Someone come!"
Two maids came over immediately. One was holding a basin of water, and the other was holding a tray with folded towels. Meimei was a little uncomfortable. It didn't look good to peel off a layer of skin from her face in front of so many people, right?
Lin Runan was curious, so he stood up and said, "I'll help you."
"I'll do it!"
The King of Qi was one step faster than her. He quickly turned around the stone table and dipped his hand into the basin. He then gently stroked Meimei's face, and saw a layer of jelly as thin as a cicada's wing curling slightly in his hand. Everyone knew what kind of person the King of Qi was, and ignored his unexpected behavior. Lin Runan reached out and took the mask in his hand, turning it over and over, and exclaimed:
"It's great! It feels like silk and cool to the touch. Where did you buy it? I want one too!"
Meimei coaxed her: "It's made of human skin, do you dare to wear it?"
"If you dare to do that, what should I be afraid of?"
Meimei smiled and put away the mask, saying: "I was kidding you, isn't human skin disgusting? This is..."
Before it was made up, King Qi said, "It was made of silk spun by an ice spider. It was either given by Zhang Jingyun or Lingxuzi, right?"
Meimei was stunned for a moment: "How do you know?"
"I know it, why are you asking so many questions?"
The King of Qi looked her up and down with satisfaction: "That's about right! From now on, when you come to the King of Qi's mansion, you are not allowed to wear a mask, or it will be confiscated and given to the Princess. It's a generous gift that you can't buy anywhere else!"
Lin Runan was a little surprised and said to Meimei with a smile: "Did you hear it?"
Meimei curled her lips and said, "You two team up to bully outsiders. What can I do? I have to be careful!"
King Qi stared at her and snorted. Meimei saw that he was just sitting there drinking tea and had no intention of leaving. If this continued, she would have no chance to talk to Lin Runan. She thought about it and suddenly smiled:
"I heard that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi and the palace guards are good at playing polo. No matter who they play against, they always win. They are well-known. Are you going to play today? I want to see!"
King Qi narrowed his eyes and scanned her face: "Do you really want to see it?"
"Of course! I've wanted to see it for a long time, but I just didn't have the chance."
The King of Qi became interested, and said with bright eyes: "It will take a long time to play several games of polo. Let's have dinner first, so that they can prepare. It's boring to play against each other. I will ask Shan Yong to go outside the palace to find some experts to play a wonderful game for you to watch!"
"Okay, okay!"
Meimei clapped her hands happily, watching King Qi walk out of the courtyard, then turned around and glared at Lin Runan: "Will you tell me or not? Even if you don't, I'll still have most of the day to pester you!"
Lin Runan drank tea, squinted at her and said calmly: "Didn't I tell you? Every time the Qi Wangfu plays polo, the Queen Mother will come to watch. Sometimes the Emperor will come, and Princess Su De will come too. They all love polo. You will wear this dress in a while, so you can pay your respects to the Emperor! It's difficult to sit with me! Maybe Su De will like you and invite you to sit with her."
Meimei was dumbfounded, while Lin Runan laughed out loud: "Is this what they call being too clever for one's own good? Ah! This is so funny!"
Meimei stood up angrily and said, "I'm leaving! Is that okay? My stomach suddenly hurts, and there's something wrong with your tea..."
"you!"
Lin Runan stepped forward and held her back, her face turning red: "I've never seen anyone as shameless as you! If you walk away, he'll come and kill me!"
"That's so horrible!"
"Not scary at all!" Lin Runan pushed Meimei back to the stone bench and said coldly:
"He has put a knife on my neck so many times that I'm numb to it. I hope he can really kill me with one blow, but he won't do that. He said..."
"say what?"
"He said that if I dare to anger him again, he will find someone to spend my wedding night with me, and then he will execute my entire Lin family for adultery!"
Meimei stared at Lin Runan in a daze. She tried to put on a smile: "He won't, he..."
“That’s enough!”
Lin Runan's bright eyes darkened, tears dripping down: "Don't tell me how pitiful he is, how he has lost his nature - he is just a willful, arrogant and domineering vicious man! I didn't have any expectations for him. Now I am even more disappointed. I will just live like this, listen to the Queen and stay by his side, often go to the palace to serve the Queen Mother, and try to learn as much as possible about things that the Queen wants to know... I am the eldest daughter, and I only hope that with my efforts, I can continue the wealth of the Lin family and let my mother sit firmly in the position of the mistress. I won't be despised by my grandfather and ignored by my father just because I gave birth to a daughter!"
Seeing the usually bright and strong Lin Runan crying, Meimei felt sad. She walked over to hug her and let her lean on her shoulder: "I'm sorry, Runan, I... I only cared about myself and didn't think about you. I was too much!"
Lin Runan leaned on her shoulder, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, raised his head, and said resolutely: "I will tell you everything you want to know!"
"No, I don't want to know!"
Lin Runan was surprised: "Why?"
"Compared to you, my little problem is nothing. Xu Junying has already made his heart clear. He will never get involved in other things and will only stay with me. If you look closely, it's not his fault. Why should I hold on to it and make things difficult for myself and others? Don't worry. Everything depends on human efforts. We will always find another solution!"
Lin Runan nodded gently, with a complicated look in her eyes: "Actually... the King of Qi is really good to you. I don't know if he wants to see Xu Junying's sincerity towards you, or what he wants. Anyway, he may use those three conditions, so you should be prepared!"
Meimei held Lin Runan's hand and looked at her: "Do you think the King of Qi and I have a secret relationship?"
Lin Runan said calmly: "You already have it!"
"Hmm?" Meimei felt a black line hanging on her forehead.
Lin Runan chuckled: "You two will never be able to get rid of each other in this life! He can't let you go. If you want, he can cause a disaster for you. Your care and understanding for him are unmatched by anyone - only I know this. Sometimes I feel like a puppet, manipulated by the Queen and you!"
Meimei shook her head: "No, you are yourself, you have to have your own thoughts and decisions! The feelings between me, the King of Qi and you are the same, but you and the King of Qi will be different in the end. You will become inseparable lovers. You must believe in me and believe in yourself. Don't give up on him, never!"
As expected of a royal palace, the vast area was beyond comparison. Meimei was amazed by the majestic and exquisite buildings and the strange flowers and trees that could not be named everywhere in the courtyard. She saw a four-story red pavilion by the lake, which was made entirely of mahogany with only a layer of varnish on the surface. The flowers and trees carved on the plaques around the pavilion were exquisite and lifelike. Meimei looked up from afar and almost stumbled. Lin Runan pulled her up, and the King of Qi sneered:
"You are so good at wearing this kind of clothes. If people find out that you are a woman, they will laugh at your improper manners. Don't look at it! Walk properly. There is no time for you to look at this yard. People are waiting outside!"
Meimei thought of Lin Runan's words and asked tentatively, "Will there be many people coming to see it?"
"Of course. Polo requires encouragement and cheering. The women's seats are separate from those of other people!"
Meimei breathed a sigh of relief first, then asked, "Is there anyone else? Is the emperor coming?"
"You want him to come?"
"No!"
The words had already come out of her mouth, but Lin Runan pinched them hard. Meimei took a breath and turned back to kill her with her eyes: The dead girl misled her first, and now she knows how to stop her from talking nonsense, it's too late! Even if the emperor was in front of her, she would have bumped into him!
The King of Qi took in all the little movements of the two and raised his lips slightly: "You are dressed like this today, you can't sit with the princess. The princess has someone to accompany her!"
"What should I do? I can't sit with the men!"
"Don't worry, we've prepared a separate seat for you."
"Watching football alone? What's the point? It's so boring!"
"Just watch, I'm going to go down and fight, and come back to accompany you!"
Meimei opened her mouth and looked at Lin Runan. She almost fainted and shouted in her heart: I will never come to Prince Qi's Mansion again!
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