Chapter 46
An evening breeze drifted in through the window, gently stirring the curtains, and the soft chirping of crickets added to the quiet of the room.
Chi Jun was stunned for a moment, staring blankly at Xu Qingzhou.
The little girl's wisps of hair were blown by the wind, brushing against her eyes, but they couldn't hide her sweet, bewildered eyes gazing at him.
After a long while, Chi Jun pressed his tongue against his cheek, turned his head, and his Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.
“Xu Qingzhou,” he glanced at him quickly, then looked away and asked in a cold voice, “Do you know what you’re doing?”
Xu Qingzhou scratched his temple with his fingers and nodded in a rather cute way.
No waste
"..."
They took advantage of the situation and acted completely innocent, as if it were perfectly natural.
Chi Jun was so angry he laughed.
Her fair, rosy face was so close, it looked so soft and easy to pinch.
For some reason, Chi Jun stared at it for a while, then suddenly reached out, his thumb and forefinger forming an "X" shape, and pinched Xu Qingzhou's face from under his chin.
—It really feels great.
This sentence popped into Chi Jun's mind.
But the next second, his expression turned serious again, and he corrected me, word by word, with righteous indignation:
"You're taking advantage of me, groping me, and harassing me, do you understand?"
Xu Qingzhou frowned, his head still spinning from the alcohol, and he didn't seem to understand how "not wasting" could turn into "groping, harassing, and taking advantage."
But because her face was being pinched, her mouth was pouting like a chicken's beak, which must have looked really ugly.
She nodded, though not entirely sincerely.
Then, in the next moment, Chi Jun withdrew his hand.
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and his fingers unconsciously twirled together.
"If you're worried about wasting food, just eat it. Why are you trying to lick other people's boots?"
He muttered something under his breath.
To prevent Xu Qingzhou from taking the opportunity to do something to him, Chi Jun got up and went to the pool outside to wash his face.
As I passed the rabbit cage, I heard a series of laughs, followed by the rabbit's voice, as if it were enjoying the spectacle even more:
"Ugly fox, you're blushing!"
Chi Jun didn't even turn his head, simply throwing out a sentence:
"Are you blind?"
"Hahahaha, still refusing to admit it."
The rabbit excitedly gripped the edge of the cage with both hands, peering at Chi Jun washing his face outside: "Hey ugly fox, let me ask you, if a pretty girl licking your face is harassment, what's wrong with you pinching her face?"
"Are you using your position for personal gain?"
"You just like pretty girls, don't you?"
"you--"
Before he could finish speaking, the rabbit suddenly felt a lump in his throat and couldn't speak again.
"..."
Ugly fox! Dead fox!
He felt guilty!
It must be!
*
After Chi Jun washed his face and came back, Xu Qingzhou actually sat down at the dining table and started simmering meat in the pot, one piece after another.
"They've actually started eating it again?" He leaned against the door, finding it amusing.
Xu Qingzhou glanced at him, then turned away, picked up the beer and poured it into the small paper cup in front of her.
Chi Jun mocked:
"He's addicted to vegetables. Even in this state, he's still drinking?"
Xu Qingzhou ignored him, filled her own small paper cup, and began pouring it into Chi Jun's paper cup.
Finally, she held two small glasses of beer and looked longingly at Chi Jun.
Chi Jun was stunned for a moment.
Immediately realizing what she was about to do, the smile on her face faded slightly, and she took the paper cup.
Xu Qingzhou gently tapped the two cups together and mouthed the words silently:
Happy Birthday, Ji Jun!
Two seconds later—
Happy birthday to you too.
After a pause, Chi Jun added another name: "Xu Qingzhou".
Chi Jun downed his beer in one gulp, while Xu Qingzhou still managed to drink half a glass. Then, she picked up her chopsticks and pointed to the many dishes still left on the table.
Chi Jun knew that she was saying:
Many dishes cannot and are not worth saving for tomorrow, so let's just eat them to avoid waste.
Chi Jun didn't eat much tonight.
After thinking for a moment, he sat down at the table again.
The room was quiet, and the crescent moon hung high in the night sky, seemingly exceptionally bright and clear tonight.
The two of them ate quietly and unhurriedly in the gentle night breeze.
Crayfish, cold dishes, hot pot...
Even though he was already quite drunk, Xu Qingzhou still took care of Chi Jun, constantly piling meat into Chi Jun's bowl and urging him to eat more.
Chi Jun crossed his arms and watched her movements.
"Didn't I say that I'm afraid of getting fat from eating too much meat and becoming unpopular with girls?"
Xu Qingzhou shook his head.
It's okay, I'll always love you.
When Xu Qingzhou was drunk, he was really emotional and dared to say anything.
Chi Jun chuckled, his tone tinged with amusement.
"Who cares?"
Despite saying that, he still picked up his chopsticks and stuffed the meat into his mouth.
Xu Qingzhou rested her chin on her hands, her face rosy, and watched him eat with a smile, her eyes bright.
Chi Jun: "What, trying to take advantage of me again?"
Xu Qingzhou pouted but didn't respond. Instead, she lowered her head and began writing.
After a while, Chi Jun saw a sentence written on the paper—
[Chi Jun, why are you unhappy tonight?]
Chi Jun stopped eating the meat abruptly.
He looked at Xu Qingzhou.
The little girl's brows furrowed into a small V-shape, and her eyes, brimming with tears, were filled with sadness and worry as she looked at him.
It seemed she was grieving for him.
But no one else noticed his emotions, so how did she notice them?
Perhaps people are more prone to emotional expression after drinking, or perhaps the little girl's eyes, filled with sadness and concern, unwittingly acted as an emotional catalyst.
Some things that were unwilling to be spoken and wanted to be buried deep in the heart finally broke out at this moment, creating a tiny emotional crack.
Chi Jun gazed at Xu Qingzhou for a long time—
“I thought of my brother,” he said.
The little girl looked at him with a hint of doubt in her eyes.
Chi Jun turned his head, his long, well-defined fingers casually fiddling with the chopsticks on the table.
With her eyelashes drooping and her gaze unfocused on the front, it seemed to penetrate the table and look towards another world, very, very far away.
"My half-brother."
Just like in the human world, wherever there are people, there will always be intrigue and power struggles. The imperial harem, because it involves the security of future lives and the transfer and change of power, is an even more concentrated place for women to scheme and plot against each other.
In Chi Jun's memory, his father was a king with great prestige, and both ministers and members of the nobility bowed down to him.
However, he was not a good father.
He was very biased, not only towards his woman but also towards his children.
He did not love the Queen, and his excessive favoritism towards Consort Li even led to speculation that he would depose his eldest son and install his second son, Chi Jun, as the Crown Prince. After the Queen died in despair, these rumors intensified.
And that tragic, cannon fodder eldest son was Chi Jun's half-brother, Chi Lian.
In Chi Jun's memory, everything he ate, wore, and used, as well as the several tutors his father had assigned him, was the best. He was truly the most pampered person in the world.
Chi Lian, the fox prince, completely lacked the dignity and demeanor expected of a prince. He seemed to have suffered greatly, and his daily speech and actions were so humble and silent that it was heartbreaking.
On one occasion, Chi Jun even saw Chi Lian being teased and bullied by the servants. Chi Jun was furious and exposed the matter. He then began to actively approach Chi Lian, taking him out to play and read together on a daily basis.
Chi Lian is gentle and kind, always trying her best to be obedient and do her best in everything she does. Chi Jun, on the other hand, is lively and active, often sneaking out to climb trees, fish, drink, and party, making him a headache for the teachers and a complete playboy.
However, no one knew that this playboy was just pretending.
Chi Jun simply did not want to take away, or be forced to take away, his brother Chi Lian's position as heir.
Chi Lian was already in a terrible situation. He lost his mother, the respect of others, and the love of his father. Even one of his uncle's teachers never showed him any care.
He only has the title of Fox Prince left.
If this is also gone, Chi Jun doesn't know what will become of him.
Looking at myself, I have everything.
The Fox Prince?
He doesn't care.
He goes out to have fun every day, and Chi Lian can't persuade him otherwise, so she can only cover for him time and time again.
Chi Jun remembered one time, on his birthday, he went out and had too much fun with his friends, and when he came back, he hadn't even finished the homework that his father had personally assigned.
His father was so angry that he personally whipped him with a rattan cane.
His older brother couldn't bear it and carried half of the rattan cane for him.
Afterwards, the two brothers limped back into the house, their buttocks so sore they couldn't sit down, so they could only lie on the bed, hungry.
Because their father had specifically instructed them to go hungry for a day, Chi Jun was prepared to go to sleep hungry. But just then, his older brother, Chi Lian, took out a small, delicate pastry from his pocket and handed it to him.
"Brother, I didn't know you dared to do this. If Father finds out, you'll definitely get another beating."
Chi Lian laughed and said, "You should eat it before anyone notices, then I won't get beaten up."
But Chi Jun did not keep it all for himself.
He broke the pastry in half and coaxed Chi Lian into eating it with him.
Chi Lian had no choice but to accept the half-piece of pastry.
In my memory, it was just an ordinary pastry.
But when the two brothers lay on the bed sharing the food, they found it incredibly sweet and delicious, and even their buttocks, which had been beaten until they were bruised and bleeding, didn't seem to hurt as much anymore.
Xu Qingzhou has no siblings, and her only cousin, Xu Linlin, with whom she shares some blood relation, does not have a harmonious relationship.
Hearing this, she felt a pang of envy.
Your brother is so good to you.
No wonder Chi Jun was so down on his birthday; he must be missing his brother.
Chi Jun glanced at her.
"Okay?"
He chuckled, a mocking laugh: "That's what I thought at first too, until—"
Until his father's untimely death, his beloved and cherished older brother suddenly changed his attitude.
To this day, Chi Jun still clearly remembers the night before the coronation ceremony. When he climbed out of the window to look for Chi Lian as usual, he heard his respected and relied-upon masters, whom he regarded as kind fathers, chatting with Chi Lian.
They talked for a long time, and somehow, they ended up talking about Chi Jun again.
Chi Jun never imagined that he was such a despicable person in the eyes of his master and brother.
They used extremely disdainful and mocking words to describe him. Chi Jun knew that he was indeed not a pillar of society. He walked away in silence, feeling a little sad because they looked down on him.
However, what he couldn't bear was a sentence he overheard from Chi Lian as he left—
"I've suffered for hundreds of years for a good-for-nothing, and now I've finally made it to the end."
Chi Jun's steps froze instantly.
So... all the kindness he showed him before was just Chi Lian being humiliated and forbearing?
Chi Jun clenched his fist, trying to hold back, but finally couldn't resist and turned back to push open the door.
The people inside looked surprised, but under his intense gaze, they quickly regained their indifferent, even disgusted, expressions.
Chi Jun still remembers asking a very stupid question back then—
"Brother, so were you ever truly sincere towards me?"
What was his brother's return again?
Never.
Chi Lian not only gave him a cruel answer, but also brought up Chi Jun's mother, who had just passed away a few years ago, and mocked them for being just as stupid as each other, being used by others, and foolishly treating others as brothers and sons.
Chi Jun can accept being betrayed, but he cannot accept his mother being insulted.
He charged forward in a rage, and the result of that outburst was that several masters, together with his brother, personally struck him back to his original form and threw him into the human world.
Of course, Chi Jun didn't mention a word about using a spell to trap Xu Qingzhou.
Time seems to pass exceptionally quickly when recounting past events.
After a long silence, Chi Jun's voice faded, and only the ticking of the clock hands remained in the room.
A peaceful and quiet place.
Xu Qingzhou kept his head down silently and did not speak.
After a while, Chi Jun's expression returned to normal.
He fiddled with his chopsticks, a mocking smile playing on his lips: "After hearing the story, you don't have any thoughts? Like, 'I'm stupid' or something."
As soon as she finished speaking, two tears slid down the little girl's cheeks and fell to the ground.
Chi Jun was slightly taken aback.
He stared at Xu Qingzhou for a long while, then smiled.
"It's not like you were doubly betrayed, so why are you crying?"
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt a gust of wind rush towards him.
Before Chi Jun could react, Xu Qingzhou wrapped his arms around his neck.
She seemed genuinely concerned for him, hugging him tightly and gently nuzzling her cheek against his.
The soft, delicate touch spread across his face, and for some reason, Chi Jun suddenly felt a surge of bittersweet emotion welling up inside him.
After a long while, he turned his head, glanced at the little girl, and his voice was somewhat stiff.
"Xu Qingzhou, why do you always try to take advantage of others?"
Xu Qingzhou refused to let go.
Chi Jun paused for a moment, then simply pulled her off him, pressed her head down with his hand, and ruthlessly pushed her away inch by inch.
"Let's talk this out, don't resort to violence."
He resumed his usual nonchalant tone.
Xu Qingzhou sniffed, then started to speak properly and continued writing on the paper.
Chi Jun, I will always, always, always be good to you, and I will never betray you.
Chi Jun glanced at it, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly, but he remained silent.
After a long while, he said "Oh," but didn't comment on it. He just got up and said, "I'm going to the restroom."
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