☆, Chapter 133 What else do you have besides this mouth?
The sixteenth prince picked up the milk tea on the left and took a small sip. The unfamiliar yet sweet and refreshing taste made his eyes light up, and he couldn't help but take two more sips.
Then I picked up the milk tea on the right and took a sip.
Something didn't feel right after that first sip.
Although the Sixteenth Prince was not the most favored prince, he had tasted most of the good things in the world, and thus developed a very sensitive palate. He could distinguish between dishes made by different chefs with just one bite, or sometimes just by smelling them.
Therefore, he could immediately distinguish the taste of the two cups of milk tea.
However, the first two sips he drank were from his first time drinking it, and he had a good first impression, so the second cup seemed to lack flavor in every way.
So he rinsed his mouth again, took a sip, rinsed his mouth again, drank another cup, and tasted it again. He began to doubt his own tongue.
He clearly thought the first cup was delicious when he drank it, but now he thinks the second cup tastes purer and is sweeter. What does it mean to be sweet but not cloying? That's probably what the second cup tastes like.
The Sixteenth Prince sipped the second cup slowly, without touching the first one.
"Which cup was made by Miss Zhou?"
Zhou Mujiao spoke up: "The one that the Sixteenth Prince drank was made by my own hands."
The prince remained silent.
"With the same ingredients and the same preparation methods, the quality and taste of the drink can indeed be affected by the skill and dedication of the person making it. This milk tea was created by me, and I'm not just boasting, but if I'm around, all the customers who come here for milk tea will specifically ask me to make it."
Young Master Zhu then realized: "So Your Highness thinks I flirted with Miss Zhou just because I said Miss Zhou's milk tea tastes better than others?"
The Sixteenth Prince snorted.
Young Master Zhu cried out his innocence, hugging Zhao Yunjing and saying, "Brother Zhao, Brother Zhao, I really only meant to say that Miss Zhou's milk tea was delicious! You must believe me!"
Zhao Yunjing cupped his hands to the Sixteenth Prince: "Your Highness, first of all, I am very grateful for your enthusiasm and righteousness. Your Highness respects women so much and hates evil so much. I am sure that you will be fair and just in your fiefdom in the future. If every prince in the palace had Your Highness's kind heart, it would be a blessing for the people of our Great Liang."
However, the same words will convey different meanings depending on the context, tone of voice, and the audience. If Young Master Zhu had spoken those words in a lewd and cowardly manner, then even if Your Highness had already taken his life, I would still exhume his corpse and whip it repeatedly.
Zhou Mujiao said, "I will also dislocate his jaw and pull out his teeth immediately."
As she spoke, she swiftly dislocated the jaw of one of the guards beside the Sixteenth Prince, and then snapped both of his arms with two more cracks.
The speed of their movements made the Sixteenth Prince's eyes widen in astonishment.
He is twenty-two years old this year. When he was ten, the emperor established the crown prince and he moved out of the palace to establish his own residence. The emperor was afraid that he was too young and would be targeted by some 'malicious people', so he assigned two imperial guards to him and gave him a squad of soldiers. The one whose arms were just dislocated by Zhou Mujiao was one of the imperial guards.
A girl from a small county town, yet she is so fast and skilled that she even managed to ambush his guards!
The guards rushed forward, ready to seize Zhou Mujiao, but the Sixteenth Prince shouted, "Enough! A bunch of people trying to grab a girl? Aren't you ashamed? Miss Zhou! Two more cups of milk tea, please!"
Zhou Mujiao smiled slightly: "Your Highness, milk tea is delicious, but don't overindulge. One more cup is enough. If you want more, you can come back tonight. Our milk tea shop closes when the city gates close."
"Alright. Let's have another drink then. Give everyone one, because there won't be any more after we go back to Beijing!"
Young Master Zhu couldn't help but speak up: "Who said we won't be able to drink anything when we go back to the capital? Sister Hu's milk tea shop is opening in the capital next month. When we go to the capital for the imperial examinations next spring, we'll have whatever flavor we want!"
The Sixteenth Prince twitched the corner of his mouth, and Young Master Zhu wished he could sew his mouth shut. The prince might have already forgotten about him, but he had jumped out again. Wasn't this just reminding the Sixteenth Prince that he should be killed?
As expected, the Sixteenth Prince's face darkened.
Zhao Yunjing cupped his hands again: "When Lord Tang returned from the capital, he told us that the court had sent the Sixteenth Prince to investigate the case of Prefect Feng's mistreatment of students. Originally, I was thinking of waiting until I passed the imperial examination in the capital before finding an opportunity to thank the Prince. I didn't expect to meet the Prince here now."
Your Highness has the world in your heart and cares for all students. We thank Your Highness and the Emperor for their concern, and we will certainly study hard every day to strive for success in the imperial examinations and serve the Emperor and the people.
The Sixteenth Prince, who had been staring at Zhou Mujiao, glanced at her sideways upon hearing this: "You used your silver tongue to coax Lord Fang into becoming your sworn brother and making him utter the boast that you are the 'first scholar in history to achieve the highest rank in the imperial examinations'?"
"Your Highness, besides my words, I also rely on my strength."
"How dare you be so arrogant! You only topped the county exam, do you really think the top scholar is your vegetable that you can pick whenever you want? Where do you put all the scholars in the world?"
"Keep it in mind and use it to constantly encourage yourself to work harder and work even harder in order to achieve the grand goals you have set for yourself."
Zhao Yunjing said as he walked into the shop, "Your Highness, please wait a moment, the milk tea will be here shortly."
When Zhao Yunjing entered the shop, Young Master Zhu's confidence waned. He had lost half of his front tooth and was still bleeding from his mouth. He wanted to hurry to Huichuntang to ask if there was any way to fix it, but unexpectedly, the Sixteenth Prince wouldn't let him leave and instead asked him to sit down next to him at the same table as the prince.
For the son of a mere landlord to be able to dine at the same table as true royalty would be a legacy passed down through the Zhu family for generations, but the young master Zhu himself did not desire such an honor.
Scholars' pride and dignity are both precious and cheap. Young Master Zhu's refusal to bow his head just now was merely a momentary surge of hot blood. If someone were to put a knife to his neck, he would probably kneel down immediately.
Young Master Zhu drank a cup of milk tea that was the hardest to swallow, but what made his heart ache even more was that while he was nervously dealing with the Sixteenth Prince, his sweetheart was also trying to curry favor with him. Without a doubt, that girl wanted to become the prince's woman.
However, as the daughter of a merchant, and only a small merchant at that, even if the prince took a liking to her and wanted to promote her, she could only be a concubine in the prince's mansion, not even a secondary consort.
Fortunately, Zhao Yunjing finished his work and sat down with Zhou Mujiao. The two of them handled the situation in front of the Sixteenth Prince with ease, especially Zhou Mujiao. Her composure and calmness were something that others could not imitate; it was a genuine fearlessness of power that came from the bottom of her heart.
If Zhou Mujiao could hear Zhu Gongzi's inner thoughts, she would definitely deny it.
She fears power, and it is precisely because of this fear that she is more composed—power will not stop pressing down on you just because you fear it, but it will respect you more because you have a bit of pride.
The Sixteenth Prince stayed in Peach Blossom County for three days before leaving. On the day he left, everyone from Lord Tang to the old lady selling pancakes on the street breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the look in the Sixteenth Prince's eyes when he left was slightly unsettling.
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