Chapter 22
"My name is Tingwei, and I'm here to pay my respects to His Majesty the King Xuan." Tingwei knelt down and bowed to Song Yanting with a shy look on her face.
Song Yan listened thoughtfully, his inquiring gaze fixed on her eyes.
A laugh escaped from his nose, and a hint of imperceptible coldness flashed across his eyes.
He propped up his chin, pointed at the veil on Tingwei's face from a distance and said jokingly, "Your mother Zhang has been making so many stunts and being so mysterious this year. This prince wants to see what kind of stunning beauty you are."
"If this prince is not satisfied, I will definitely turn this place upside down and make life miserable for all of you."
Song Yan understood clearly the unreasonable nature of this playboy.
Tingwei's smile under her veil froze for a moment.
"Your Highness is such a joker."
As she spoke, she raised her hand to untie the silver hook hanging behind her ear and took off the veil covering her face.
"She is a rare beauty." Song Yanting's sharp eyes swept across Tingwei's gentle face.
What kind of appearance could make Song Yan hear such a picky and poisonous mouth speak such compliments.
Youyang looked at Tingwei curiously through the screen.
She looks different from him, completely opposite to him.
She is not aggressive at all, with a hint of sadness between her brows and a gentle smile that makes people feel good about her and want to get close to her.
This kind of appearance often attracts the most love from men.
Tingwei smiled broadly upon hearing this. She had been a little afraid of Song Yanting's identity, but that fear disappeared completely at this moment.
She walked up to Song Yanting, placed her hands on his broad shoulders and gently pushed him, saying softly, "...Let me serve Your Highness..."
Song Yanting looked away and grasped her wrist through her gauze sleeve, pushing her away. He stood up, looked at the wooden box not far away, and asked, "What is that?"
Tingwei followed his gaze and stopped her eyes on the wooden box, introducing it to him with a smile.
"I am the first one chosen by His Highness tonight, and what is inside is His Highness's second gift."
Song Yan raised his eyebrows: "Oh?"
"This is something we haven't seen in previous years. Why did Mother Zhang suddenly come up with this idea this year?"
"Interesting."
Tingwei followed.
Song Yan glanced at her indifferently.
"Open."
Ting Wei didn't dare to disobey Song Yan's words, and opened the heavy lid of the wooden box with both hands.
What caught my eye was a pretty little girl lying on her back in a wooden box with her hair tied into two buns.
Song Yanting realized something, and his brows were instantly twisted into a knot.
Tingwei listened with her back to Song Yan and didn't notice his furrowed brows. She only felt that he was stunned for a moment.
She seemed to have experienced this many times and was used to it. She explained aloud, "These are the six flowers on the sky lantern."
"Sister..." The little girl woke up after staying in the box for too long. Her eyes were sleepy, her cheeks were flushed, and her hair was stuck to her forehead due to sweat.
Tingwei stood condescendingly beside the box and said with a wry smile, "Grandma taught you what to do, right?"
The little girl nodded vigorously, "Yeah."
She used her hands and feet to try to get out of the box on her own.
Song Yanting's five fingers hidden in his sleeves turned white and clenched tightly together.
He was furious and grabbed Tingwei's neck with his big hand the moment she turned around.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he questioned her angrily: "Who allowed you to do this?!"
"Ahem... Your Highness... What are you talking about..."
"Uncle..." The little girl clutched the hem of her skirt in her hand. She was frightened by what Song Yan heard. She pouted and her eyes were filled with tears, but she didn't dare to cry out loud.
She sobbed softly, and Song Yan felt a splitting headache when he heard it.
His face turned ashen, he let go of his hands and angrily waved his sleeves, then sat back on the couch, his lips pursed into a straight line, his eyes were gloomy, and his cold words were filled with anger.
He said angrily, "Do it."
Tingwei fell to the ground weakly, breathing heavily, and then she felt a little relieved that she had survived the disaster. However, she was shocked by Song Yan's sudden words.
Almost at the same moment, she didn't have a chance to react at all, and something cold pressed against the side of her neck, so fast that she forgot even to scream.
Tingwei's whole body tensed up, and her legs went weak from fear.
She turned her head tremblingly, and saw You Yang, wearing a veil and the same gorgeous clothes as Song Yanting, standing behind her with a sword in her hand.
When their eyes met, You Yang gave her a strange smile.
"I have long wanted to try this sword. It will be your honor to sacrifice your blood to this sword and die for it."
Tingwei's legs were trembling. When she heard Youyang's words, her eyes went dark and she almost fainted. She was awakened by Youyang who pinched her acupoints.
She felt a chill run down her spine, her voice trembling uncontrollably. "Your Highness... Your Highness... What do you mean?"
"Tell the truth or die. Choose one."
"Your Highness, what are you saying? I don't understand." Tingwei looked panicked, and because of the soft sword on her neck, she didn't dare to act rashly.
She tried to ask You Yang for help, "Madam, aren't you the Madam? Please, Madam, let me go. I really don't know anything."
"Sister... why did you put that soft patch on that sister's neck?" The little girl who was originally in the box crawled out at some point. She bit her finger and walked to Youyang's legs, pointing at the soft sword in her hand and asked her curiously.
You Yang couldn't bear to look at the poor little girl.
She explained to her gently: "My sister is playing a game with this sister."
The little girl was delighted when she heard about the game. "Game? Can I play with me?"
"Little one, hurry up and save me..."
"Shut up!"
"ah!"
Tingwei tried to ask the little girl for help, but Youyang twisted her wrist and the sharp blade cut her shoulder.
The sword was very handy, and Youyang controlled it with just the right strength. A pool of blood appeared on her shoulder, but the wound was not big and not much bleeding occurred.
Tingwei pressed the wound in pain, then thought of something. She pretended to be calm and grabbed Youyang's skirt.
"You can't kill me. Those people outside are arranged by Mother Zhang. If you do this, you won't be able to escape!"
"The people you arranged?" Song Yanting sneered, "If you die now, you might not even meet them in the underworld."
In an instant, the light in Tingwei's eyes disappeared and became empty, and the hand that was pulling Youyang fell down weakly.
Suddenly, she realized something and looked at Song Yanting in horror with her eyes wide open.
"Your dandyism is just superficial, right?"
Song Yan listened with no reply, a faint smile without any warmth floating on his lips.
Youyang thought Tingwei's voice was too loud and would scare the children, so he glared at her.
She immediately turned around and said to the little girl gently, "No, this is for two people only. Let me play with her first, and then I'll play with you later, okay?"
You Yang pointed at Song Yanting.
"Why don't you stay with that uncle for a while?"
The little girl was very obedient, "Yes!"
She ran to Song Yanting panting, seeing his cold expression and thinking of how he felt guilty just now, she felt a little scared.
"uncle..."
The little girl clutched her sleeves timidly, inadvertently revealing the dark blue scars on her arms.
Song Yan's face turned even darker when he heard and saw this.
He said coldly, "Come here."
The little girl was so frightened that her eyes were filled with tears. She bit her lips to hold back the tears.
Song Yan sighed helplessly, suppressed the anger in his heart, changed his expression, and raised the corners of his lips stiffly. If he used the word "gentle" to describe him now, it would be really awkward.
"Be good and come to your brother."
This time, although the little girl was hesitant, she moved towards him and called him obediently, "Uncle."
Song Yanting asked her: "Brother asks you, where did the injury on your arm come from?"
The little girl's face changed instantly when she heard this. Her face turned pale with fear, her eyes widened in horror, her mouth tightly shut and she said nothing.
She wasn't in a good mood, so Song Yanting didn't dare to push her anymore. He changed the subject and asked, "Are you sleepy? Uncle has something to talk to that sister about. Do you want to take a nap on the couch next to you?"
The little girl's complexion looked better. She blinked her big eyes, shook her head, and finally was willing to speak.
"Not sleepy."
Then, as if he had thought of something, he smiled sheepishly and scratched his red cheeks with his nails. "I accidentally overslept in the box just now... Hehe..."
Song Yan's sharp eyes turned and he asked again, "Then do you want to play games with your brother?"
"Okay, okay, I want to play." The little girl's eyes lit up.
Song Yanting rubbed her little head and said, "How about we play hide-and-seek? You go hide and I'll come find you."
"Yeah!" The little girl jumped up excitedly when someone was playing with her, "Uncle, you are not allowed to peek."
"Okay, I won't peek." Song Yanting closed his eyes as agreed, "Go hide quickly."
The little girl looked around the luxuriously decorated interior with curiosity with her innocent eyes, and finally opened the wardrobe and crawled in to hide.
A childish voice came from the closet: "Uncle, I'm hiding, come find me."
"Okay, I'm coming to find you, hide well."
After hearing the comforting voice, Song Yan opened his eyes and glanced towards the wardrobe, then his gaze returned to Tingwei.
"What? This little pain isn't enough to make you speak?"
Tingwei looked a little strange. She pressed the wound on her shoulder and refused to speak.
"I...I really don't know anything. I was just following orders. Your Highness, I am wrongly accusing you."
"Since you don't want to talk, there's no need to save your life." Song Yanting looked at You Yang, "Then kill me."
"Okay." Youyang slowly placed the blade against Tingwei's neck, letting her feel the fear of death.
"I've been displeased with you for a long time."
"But how can I let you die so easily?"
These words were like a heavy blow to Tingwei's shattered spirit.
As expected, she was drenched in sweat and couldn't last more than a quarter of an hour.
She almost roared, "Your Highness, I'll tell you! I'll tell you!"
Song Yanting waved his hand, You Yang put away his sword, folded his arms and stood to the side.
He smiled sinisterly, "Tell me, if you tell even one lie, I'll have her cut off a piece of your flesh and feed it to the fish in the river. Two pieces for every two lies."
"The night is long, and I have plenty of time to wait for you to tell the truth."
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