Chapter 285 Such a similar situation
Perhaps out of consideration for the phrase "perfect match," Li Jin merely gave a cold snort and said nothing more.
The two people who were originally heading towards Manager Xiao suddenly became four.
Before they had even finished walking along the lantern festival route, as if by divine intervention, a very familiar figure appeared, rushing towards them in a panic. Without a word, the figure hid behind Li Jin and Jin Shu.
Before anyone could react, they saw the Prince of Pingyang chasing after them from the same direction, lifting the hem of his robe.
He was stunned when he saw Li Jin.
His gaze darted back and forth between the door god lantern in his hand and the gold ingot lantern in Jin Shu's hand, his expression one of utter astonishment.
"This... is Prince Jing going to visit Lord Yan?"
With a "pfft," Li Qian burst out laughing. She raised her hand to cover her mouth, her shoulders shaking.
Li Jin looked at Prince Pingyang expressionlessly and nonchalantly: "Why is Imperial Uncle here?"
Prince Pingyang was stunned for a moment, then quickly asked, "Did Prince Jing see my worthless son? He just ran from that direction!"
At this point, Prince Pingyang, Li Ying, was heartbroken and clutched his chest, exclaiming, "Oh dear! That bastard! Such an important matter as a blind date, and he actually left the girl there and ran away through the window!"
He clapped his hands, pounded his chest, and stamped his feet: "I'm so angry!"
Seeing the Prince of Pingyang's anxious look, Li Jin frowned slightly, and pointed to the roof without changing his expression or skipping a beat: "He just went up there."
As soon as he finished speaking, a dozen or so henchmen wearing half-masks appeared behind the Prince of Pingyang, leaping across rooftops and chasing after him in the direction Li Jin had pointed.
"Oh dear! Thank you, Prince Jing, thank you!" Prince Pingyang lifted the hem of his robe, not caring about anything else, turned around and took a shortcut, plunging into a nearby alley to chase after him.
Seeing that he had walked away and disappeared from sight, Li Jin turned around and looked at "Bai Yu" who was hiding in the middle of the crowd and dared not utter a sound. He snorted coldly, "My cousin is good at hiding his true colors."
Li Su stood up awkwardly, grinning, "...That's a long story."
Li Jin glanced at his face, but considering the crowds at the lantern festival, she changed her tone: "It's not right for you to leave the girl there alone."
Upon hearing this, Li Su looked terrified and waved his hands repeatedly: "It's not just one person! There have been at least a dozen since this morning. I couldn't take it anymore, so I climbed out the window and ran out."
As he spoke, he pointed to the restaurant next door, where matchmakers lined up at the entrance, holding invitations with birth dates and times.
He raised his hand to cover half of his cheek, his voice filled with grief and indignation: "Ugh, don't even mention it." His brow furrowed as he looked at Li Jin, pleadingly murmuring, "Tonight, um, could you...?"
"No." Li Jin interrupted him decisively, "If you were in the Prince's mansion, the Imperial Uncle might not necessarily do anything."
Seeing that Li Jin remained silent, Jin Shu asked as she walked, "Why are you in such a hurry to get you married?"
When this matter was mentioned, Li Su looked helpless: "Back then, I didn't want to inherit the family business, so I made a bet with my father." He clicked his tongue, "I said I would make my own way in the world, with a six-year deadline. If I made a name for myself and became the head of a sect, my father would have to figure out the family business himself, and I wouldn't take it over."
Hearing him say that, Li Jin turned her head away and chuckled softly.
"...Then how did you end up in the Six Doors?" Jin Shu asked, even more surprised.
“Tsk…” Li Su sighed, “That’s all because of him. In the freezing cold, he stood pitifully under the city gate, looking all compassionate and saying he needed me.”
He crossed his arms, looking quite melancholy: "Back then, I was young and couldn't believe such words. I was filled with enthusiasm and immediately changed my goals. I didn't even look at the Six Doors' recruitment notice and signed a 'contract of servitude'."
Jin Shu stared at his face in shock. After a long while, she nodded in deep agreement: "So it turns out that you and I have such similar circumstances."
Li Su was surprised.
Jin Shu sighed deeply, "We all made a mistake in choosing our friends."
Li Jin heard these words, smiled, and did not refute them.
Back then, he heard Zhang Xin say that a very capable and talented young man was going to leave the capital under cover of night, and that if he could get Zhang Xin's help, he could set up his own intelligence network in the capital.
Looking back now, it was clearly the Prince of Pingyang who intentionally stopped it.
As the fireworks burst forth, the atmosphere of the lantern festival in the alley reached its climax.
As the melodious sounds of string and wind instruments filled the air inside the winding building, Zhou Zheng, whom he hadn't seen for many days, handed out wedding invitations to the people in front of him with a stern face.
When it was Li Su's turn, he was taken aback.
The man, who usually wore the same coarse cloth as him, was suddenly dressed in priceless ice silk fabric. Almost instinctively, he asked, "Don't you have anything to say?"
Zhou Zheng was unaware of the matter that occurred in front of the palace.
After listening to the whole story, he looked at Li Su, with whom he had worked for six years, in surprise, and immediately picked up a whole jar of fine wine: "Thank you for your help, Your Highness!"
He glanced at everyone and said, "Today is the happiest day of my life! Let's drink until we drop!"
That being said, only Bai Shui was in front of Jin Shu.
As night deepened, Chang'an fell asleep.
The street, which was bustling just a few hours ago, is now deserted with only a handful of people.
While complaining, Jin Shu supported the swaying Li Jin and walked back towards the Prince's Mansion, grumbling on and on.
"I thought you could drink a lot!" she said with a smirk. "Drinking like this, aren't you afraid of harming your health?"
Li Jin chuckled, looked up, and whispered sweetly in her ear, "I'm injured, I need your care to get better."
"Stop fooling around." Jin Shu frowned even more. "He's a prince, after all. Be careful!"
He heard a soft laugh beside his ear, and suddenly raised his arm, pressing half of his body against Jin Shu's back: "I don't care, if you don't take care of me, I'll just rely on you to take care of me."
Seeing his half-dead, drunken state, Jin Shu replied dismissively, "I'll take care of him, I'll take care of him, okay?"
On the roof, Li Su and Zhou Zheng watched the two men's backs, exchanging no words.
Only Shen Wen clicked his tongue and said, "You can make such a difference from just a jar of water. Your Highness has really gone to great lengths."
Zhou Zheng chuckled dryly, "When you guys showed up, I thought something big was going to happen." He glanced at Li Su, "You were just drinking water, why didn't you ask anything?"
"It's not like we've only been following the prince for a day. This is clearly part of the plan."
At this point, Li Su pursed his lips slightly, raised his arm and nudged Shen Wen: "Hey, by the way, what happened when the Prince came back so mysteriously?"
Shen Wen paused for a moment, then awkwardly wiped the tip of his nose: "We ran into a drug dealer."
The group paused, exchanging bewildered glances, completely baffled.
Shen Wen didn't know what had happened either. At that time, the celebratory wine had just begun to be drunk when the Prince of Pingyang searched around the neighborhood but couldn't find Li Su. He knew he had been tricked by Li Jin and immediately turned back.
He waited at the back door of the winding building, and had Shen Wen, who had been secretly protecting him on the roof, call Li Jin out. Li Jin mysteriously took out a small bottle from his pocket.
"Sigh, I've searched everywhere but I still can't find it." Prince Pingyang shook his head as he weighed the bottle in his hand. "I bought this thing at a high price, thinking I'd definitely be able to hold my grandson by the end of the year."
Li Jin frowned, wondering what he was up to.
Then the Prince of Pingyang chuckled and asked, "Does Prince Jing know what this is?" He leaned closer mysteriously, covered half of his mouth with his hand, and whispered, "Aphrodisiac Powder."
Li Jin paused, subconsciously taking half a step back: "Uncle, you really have extraordinary abilities, how can you so openly possess forbidden drugs?"
To his surprise, Li Ying wasn't buying it and gestured with her hand: "Fifty taels, for my nephew."
Extremely quiet.
Li Jin looked at him incredulously: "What kind of person does Imperial Uncle take Li Jin for?"
Li Ying then said with a crooked mouth, "Forty taels, no less than that."
There was a moment of silence between the two. Seeing that Li Jin did not speak, the Prince of Pingyang clicked his tongue, put the bag back in his arms, said "Never mind if you don't want it," and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Li Jin said coldly.
Li Ying turned her head and saw him looking dissatisfied, reaching out to ask for it.
"The Imperial Uncle is possessing forbidden drugs; according to the law..."
"Hey, if you don't want it, then forget it. Stop talking nonsense!" Li Ying waved her hand and took two steps out.
“However!” Li Jin’s voice rose a few decibels, “Considering that this is the first offense by the Imperial Uncle and that it has not caused any adverse effects, this will not be allowed to happen again.”
Li Ying stopped in her tracks, a sly smile playing on her lips as she turned her back to him.
He turned his head and, as expected, saw the fifty taels of silver ingot in Li Jin's palm.
He took the silver and placed the small bottle in Li Jin's hand: "Keep the change for the remaining ten taels, I'll keep it."
After saying that, he turned around with a cheerful smile and swaggered away, disappearing from Li Jin's sight.
Only after they left the alley did the shadowy figure beside him speak with some concern: "What if Prince Jing finds out?"
Then the Prince of Pingyang laughed and said, "He tricked me once, making me go through all this trouble. I made fifty taels of silver from him with half a bottle of flour, so I tricked him back once. That's even."
"This..." Shadow pursed his lips, looking at the King of Pingyang's cheerful appearance, and ultimately did not say the rest of his words.
The key issue here isn't how much money is involved, the key issue is... what if Prince Jing gets carried away and actually uses it?
At this moment, his worries have come true.
It took Jin Shu a great deal of effort to carry the "drunk" Li Jin back to the palace.
While she went to get water, his gaze fell on the bottle in her hand.
[Author's Note]
Dear readers, there are only about 20,000 words left until the end of the main story.
[In addition to the confirmed spin-offs featuring Jin Shu and Li Jin, there are also spin-offs featuring Song Zhen and He Lin.]
[Are there any other side stories you'd like to see? Leave a comment below, and I'll arrange them if they're suitable.]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
