[Chapter 401 Chapter 401 The Vicious Fake Goddess (12)]
Yan Qing, who was staying in the village waiting for prey to come, had no idea that her sister-in-law had sneaked out to find her, nor did she know that Qiang Zhi had taken the herdsmen to the Thirteen Tribes.
After calculating the time, the deadline she left for Cheng Xu was approaching.
Cheng Xu was not her only choice. She chose him just to make the Beiyou royal family more chaotic.
Someone wanted to stir up trouble in secret, waiting for the opportunity to make a splash, but she refused to let him do so.
"Qingmei... cough... Miss, people are coming." Tusan carried Ge An's homemade bow and quiver on his back.
After someone tried to force his way in, he never put down his weapon and stood guard outside the Yanqing Gate day and night, taking on the responsibility of guarding the place.
Yan Qing nodded: "Let the villagers let him in."
Seeing a large number of evil people entering the village, the people who had received her favor spontaneously blocked outside the courtyard, fearing that someone would dare to harm the goddess.
Cheng Xu got off the carriage outside the village and walked in. Apart from Qi Heng, he had no guards with him.
He did not rush to see Yan Qing, but first went to pay his respects to his two royal brothers.
"My dear third brother, why are you so late?" Cheng Su hugged the woman in his arms and pinched her chin like teasing a little bird. He didn't even look at others while speaking.
If Yan Qing and the other two were here, they would discover that the person in his arms was the girl in the camp who was proud of her beauty but was not selected that day.
The girl had a smile on her face, but her eyes were dull and numb.
After Cheng Su's second brother was bitten by a snake, he was only half saved despite timely treatment. He could no longer satisfy his animal desires, so he developed some vicious habits.
When he spoke his voice was higher and sharper than before, and more sarcastic.
Cheng Xu was helpless: "Father ordered to find someone. If I stay in the mansion all the time, wouldn't it be disrespectful to the emperor's will?"
"I heard that my elder and second brothers were here, so I wanted to take advantage of the east wind and show my face so that the emperor would know that I did not disobey the emperor's order."
He looked humble, hunched over in front of his two brothers. All his noble airs were gone, only a hint of cowardice remained.
Cheng Jiang had a gloomy face and exuded an uncomfortable, sticky and depressed aura, like a person who had practiced some evil skill and gone astray.
He laughed grimly, "Third brother's east wind has set the fire on our heads, why do we need to borrow money again?"
He glanced at Qi Heng meaningfully, his gaze seemed to be poisoned.
Cheng Xu smiled awkwardly, "What are you talking about, second brother? Qi Heng acted rashly and trespassed into the village, which offended the goddess. In order to prevent the blame from affecting the goddess' impression of Beiyou, I came here to apologize."
He sighed, stated his difficulties, and then lifted up his robe to reveal his bare feet without socks.
It really is an apologetic gesture that lowers one's status.
Cheng Su was confident that he had caught him, and smiled with a slightly evil look on his face: "Third brother, this action has damaged the reputation of the royal family. If it gets to the ears of the emperor, I'm afraid..."
He and Cheng Jiang looked at each other, and the vigilance and suspicion in their eyes dissipated a little.
"If the emperor is angry, I hope my elder and second brothers can say a few good words for me." Cheng Xu bowed, with a hunched back and slumped shoulders, which looked very flattering.
Qi Heng, who had been keeping his head down and keeping silent, clenched the sword at his waist, feeling sorry for his master.
It is obvious that the Third Prince is talented and the most suitable candidate for the crown prince, but he has to humble himself just because of his disadvantaged background.
In order to rescue him, Your Highness was willing to exchange the job awarded by the Emperor for the approval of His Majesty.
Thinking of this, the scar on his face felt slightly spicy.
Suddenly he sensed a hint of murderous intent. He looked up and saw an arrow shooting towards Cheng Xu. He drew his sword out of its sheath, leaped forward and swung the blade, cutting the arrow into two pieces.
The woman in Cheng Su's arms screamed. He steadied himself from staggering and slapped her: "Why are you screaming? You scared me."
It was as if the cowardice and fear of death just now was not caused by the arrow that broke through the air.
Cheng Xu looked towards the place where the sharp arrow came from, and saw a masked young man standing with a bow. After a moment, he put away the bow and disappeared from the eaves.
If he was not mistaken, this man was the male servant beside the goddess.
Qi Heng swung his sword to block it in time, but the broken arrowhead's force cut off a strand of his hair at the temple and penetrated deeply into the ground.
This is enough to show that his archery skills are superb.
If he could recruit him under his command, he would have another powerful general.
The other party's move in public made his previous statement that Qi Heng had offended the goddess more convincing, but he was unable to fathom the deeper meaning behind it.
Only then did he truly develop a strong interest in the so-called goddess.
When Qi Heng pulled out the arrow, he found a note wrapped around it.
After brushing off the dust on the paper, he handed the thing to Cheng Xu.
Cheng Xu's breathing paused, and just as he was about to take it, his second brother Cheng Jiang had already snatched it away with quick eyes and hands.
His eyelids trembled slightly, and the note was crumpled into a ball and thrown at his face.
"It turns out that if you offend the goddess, you can become the chosen one." Cheng Jiang snorted, "Third brother, you have good tricks."
Qi Heng frowned, picked up the note and spread it out. What appeared in front of Cheng Xu were only four powerful words: "Please find the right person".
Cheng Xu glanced at the words above indifferently, still with that timid look on his face, and touched the broken hair beside his temples in panic.
"Brother, stop joking. I almost had my head chopped off just now."
He patted his chest nervously, looking extremely uneasy.
Cheng Jiang and Cheng Su looked at each other, half believing and half doubting his current performance.
After all, they had been waiting here for a few days, but the goddess had no intention of meeting them. Instead, Cheng Xu, a guy who usually kept a low profile, was defined as the "destined one" as soon as he arrived.
No matter whether it was a real fate or a false one, they only knew that from now on they could no longer ignore this seemingly mediocre third brother.
"Third brother, don't keep the goddess waiting." Cheng Su said in a shrill and sarcastic voice.
Cheng Xu bowed to the two of them and then walked towards the courtyard. His face was pale and his body was trembling slightly, as if every step was walking on a knife edge.
With the help of Qi Heng, he barely made it into the house.
When he reached a place where his two brothers could not see him, he suddenly straightened up, as if he had become a different person, without any trace of his previous humility and cowardice.
His handsome face was dressed in an elegant smile, with a bit of the graceful demeanor of a jade tree.
Qi Heng was stopped outside the door by Tusang. He slowed down his pace and paused for a moment before crossing the threshold.
The door closed behind him, and his eyelids closed with it.
"Why doesn't your Highness dare to come closer?" Yan Qing raised his eyes and looked at him, smiling, "Are you afraid of a little girl like me?"
Cheng Xu stood ten steps away and looked at her, and the smile on his lips changed slightly.
The person in front of him had bright features and a hint of inexperienced charm. If one did not know her identity in advance, it would be difficult to associate her with the high and mighty goddess in the rumors.
He felt an indescribable feeling in his heart, mostly disappointment.
It was as if someone was playing a joke on him, but because he trusted the joke too much, he exposed himself to the sunlight instead of hiding in the dark.
He strode towards the girl and curled his lips sarcastically: "Goddess?"
Yan Qing leaned back and responded with a sneer: "I thought that the Third Prince, who is deeply loved by the people, would be different from ordinary people, but it turns out that he is just a lowly person who judges people by their appearance."
The little girl is very sharp-tongued and always has a childish air when she mocks others.
Cheng Xu stood straight, with an air of dignity. He raised his lips gently and looked at her straight, without responding and without any intention of leaving.
Yan Qing looked lazy and let him look at him.
The man obviously had doubts about her after seeing her, but he was a guy who would not do anything without profit, and there was no reason for him to leave easily after investing the sunk costs.
So he was waiting, waiting for her to open the window and speak frankly.
Yan Qing pretended to calculate: "The Third Prince was born with a mother who killed him. He was considered unlucky and was imprisoned in the cold palace. When he was six years old, he was rescued from the hands of a rebellious palace maid by Qi Heng, the son of a second-rank official at the time, and became friends with him."
"When I was eight years old, I was summoned by His Majesty because of a hairpin I left on the road that the Emperor had to pass by."
"With her facial features resembling those of her biological mother, she regained the emperor's favor and was listed in the imperial royal book."
She wanted to continue, but was interrupted by Cheng Xu: "These are things that everyone knows. I don't want to hear it a second time."
Yan Qing raised his eyes and looked at him with a slanted eyebrow, put away his fingers that were counting on him, stood up, and stopped two steps away from him.
"Then is it also known that when His Highness was young, he recognized the nanny as his mother and the eunuch as his father?"
She boldly looked him in the eye, not fearing at all even though she knew that such a private matter would anger the other person.
A dark color flashed across Cheng Xu's eyes, and murderous intent emerged instantly. He clenched the hands hanging by his side, and the veins on his wrists bulged.
It was as if he would strangle her neck without hesitation if she dared to take another step forward.
He would only occasionally recall the humiliation he had suffered in the past in his dreams. Now that it was brought up so clearly, the blood in his body seemed to freeze.
He spared no one who should be killed, so there was no way there could be anyone who knew about this.
He retracted his gaze from the girl's face and suppressed his initial disdain and suspicion.
Now, he believed that she was not sent by his royal brother or the Tantric sect.
Because if those people knew this, they would have been able to capture him long ago without having to spend any other effort.
The Beiyou royal family would not want a lowly prince who had been a son to a servant as the crown prince.
The murderous aura around him completely dissipated, and he humbly bent his straight waist and said, "The Third Prince of Beiyou has made his promise, and respectfully invites the goddess to enter the palace."
Yan Qing admired him a little bit. His emotions came and went at will. If he were put in modern times, he would definitely be a potential movie emperor.
"It is my duty to assist the one chosen by the Beast God to unify the grassland."
She lazily took out a small milky white ball from her arms and placed it in the man's palm. The ball suddenly burst into dazzling light.
Cheng Xu watched as she took it back and the light ball returned to its dim state. His expression became much more serious.
"I apologize for the offense just now." He bent even lower.
Just like a master who takes advantage of the wind to steer the boat.
Yan Qing clasped his hands in front of his chest, closed his eyes and frowned: "May the glory of my god illuminate every corner of the grassland."
No matter how much or how little a man believes in her, she has to pretend to be satisfied.
The ball she just took out was the one she asked Xiao Ba to ask Tian Dao for in advance. It was a rubber ball with an LED light installed in it, which would light up if you squeezed it with a little force.
Pinch it again and the light will go out.
If the space had not been abnormally closed due to insufficient merit when it was expanding into a boundary, she would have wanted to summon her Phoenix Mecha to show off at some point.
She certainly didn't have the ability to predict the future, and the secrets she knew were only revealed by Cheng Xu in the later part of the plot in order to pretend to be vulnerable in front of the heroine to gain sympathy.
Cheng Xu looked up at her again, and caught a glimpse of holiness in her cold face, and his eyes couldn't help but flash.
"Please come back to the city with me, goddess." He bowed slightly.
His eyes swept across Yan Qing's serious face, and he caught a hint of displeasure in it.
Being good at judging the situation, he immediately changed his words, "Please ask Rong Chengxu to go back and prepare. We will definitely welcome the goddess with the highest standards of Beiyou."
Yan Qing raised his lips slightly: "Your Highness, don't you want to have a cup of tea before leaving?"
She sat back in her seat, picked up the teacup and took a sip, glancing sideways in the direction of the man.
Cheng Xu didn't even look at the tea on the table, and bowed: "It is more important to arrange for the goddess to enter the city."
Yan Qing said calmly: "Back off."
Cheng Xu smiled, nodded, and left.
As soon as he reached the door, he heard a cold sigh behind him: "What a waste of a good cup of tea."
His body paused slightly, his expression did not change at all, and he looked timid again when he left the courtyard.
In front of members of the royal family, he always acted timid and fearful. Even the old emperor scolded him in public, saying that he did not have any of the charm of his youth.
In fact, he was secretly planning his growth so that others could not guard against it.
Yan Qing looked at the tea on the table and let out a light sigh.
Cheng Xu was a man who spoke sweet words but had a sharp tongue. He seemed to believe in her identity as a goddess, but he still remained vigilant.
Even if he accepted the olive branch she offered, he still didn't really regard her as a partner worthy of close friendship.
What made her feel strange was that Qi Heng knew him when he was young, and even had a saving grace towards him when he was still a nobody.
But why can't I get his relative trust?
If he really regarded Qi Heng as a brother, he would not have considered it for several days before appearing in front of her, the goddess.
Is this because he is cold-hearted by nature, or is it because -
Is there a crack in the brotherhood between the two?
Seeing Qi Heng's loyal look as if he was willing to give his heart to someone else, Yan Qing guessed that the problem was most likely with Cheng Xu.
It was mentioned in the plot that Qi Heng swore to follow Yu Cheng Xu until death because Cheng Xu rescued him from the Criminal Slave Bureau.
So, is there any hidden secret behind this?
With an entry point, she can determine the direction of the investigation, which is better than flying around like a headless fly.
Summoning Tusang and Lan Yin, she said, "Please collect the visiting cards from other prefectures and arrange for them to be received tomorrow morning."
“And inform the villagers that the free clinic will resume the day after tomorrow, increasing the number of patients from three to six per day.”
Lan Yin looked puzzled: "Miss, aren't we going into the city?"
"Welcoming the goddess into the city is a big deal. Do you think Cheng Xu dares to send a car to pick her up in the name of the Third Prince's Mansion?" Yan Qing asked back.
Cheng Xu Ke was a shrewd man. If she was willing to follow him into the city, he would only let others know that she was only a backup candidate for the goddess.
But her request was to make her identity public.
Therefore, in order to avoid overstepping the boundaries and being criticized, he would have to ask the old emperor for instructions first out of his caution.
After she made the promise, she saw the strength of the other parties, which just suited the man's reluctance to be too high-profile. It could be regarded as a small gesture of goodwill after the cooperation was reached.
The extra days are used to diagnose the villagers, as a way of repaying them for their fearlessness and guarding outside the hospital over the past few days.
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