Chapter 103: Heart-to-Heart Talk

  Xu Xiujing suddenly realized, "So that's how it is! The current prosperity of Jian'an Marquis Manor is actually built on such a despicable thing, it's really nauseating!"

  Xiao Xi sneered, "I'm afraid Lin Chen still doesn't know, and thinks that his mother and elder brother are being kind and gracious to him!"

  Xu Xiujin let out two soft "tsks", "Pitiful, a pair of mandarin ducks with hard lives."

  "It's probably Lin Si who is more pitiful." Xiao Qi added a sentence with an expressionless face, but in his heart, he thought that Lin Si was quite capable, wasn't she? If she were to know the truth, he wondered what her reaction would be. Would she still maintain her aloof attitude as if it had nothing to do with her?

  Xu Xiujin saw Xiao Fei's lips curl up slightly and knew he was up to no good again. This time, he didn't feel excited, but rather a bit uneasy. "Hey, you won't think of doing anything to Lin Si, will you? She's just a little girl, and I still want to marry her in the future!"

  Xiao Xi hooked up the corner of her lips and said, "You're telling me all this just to get me to gossip with you?"

  Xu Xiuren: "......"

  "The Emperor forcibly takes the wife of a court official, and drives a virtuous minister and general to death. This will be a very lively topic." Xiao Qi continued to smile, but that smile was too cold, causing Xu Xiujian to involuntarily shiver.

  "Hey, let His Majesty lose face if he wants, but you'd better be careful and don't hurt my wife!"

  "Don't worry, she won't die at least for three years." How could someone so valuable be allowed to die easily?

  The Emperor may have successfully struck at the He family through Consort Wan, but he has also left himself vulnerable to a considerable extent!

  So sometimes "a beauty is a calamity" is not unjustified.

  He would rather die than be ruined by a woman!

  "Three years later, if she is still alive, you can marry her if you want!"

  "...Xu Xiujin always felt like he had said something wrong."

  "Lin Wu's plan is temporarily withdrawn. Lin Si has a severe case of paranoia. If I were to make a move against Lin Wu, she would find it hard to trust me again."

  "What do you want to do with Lin Si?"

  "First, I'll ruin her engagement with Prince Duan's son. As for the rest, there won't be any action taken for now." Xiao Qi replied indifferently, without a hint of guilt.

  In his mind, anyone and anything is inferior to the "benefit" he pursues, let alone just an insignificant person.

  "It's settled then. Compared to Lin Si, the most important thing for now is still to go to Lin'an and find Xue Shen Zhi. I always feel that Lu Yan Zhi is not simple." Xiao Qi raised his hand to indicate that Xu Xiuren could leave.

  Xu Xiujin took a look at the sky and indeed it was getting late. He let out a sigh, nodded, and stood up.

  He wasn't actually worried that Xiao Qi would be unfavorable to Lin Si, after several years of alliance, if he still didn't understand Xiao Qi's true face then he had mixed for nothing.

  Xiao Xi seems to be gentle and weak, but in reality is sharp and intimidating. He thinks of himself as aloof and emotionless, but actually... he's just a wounded child who can only disguise himself with indifference.

  I truly hope that one day, there will be someone who can help him shed his disguise and live a simpler, happier life.

  Sighing like this, he had just walked to the door when Xiao Qi suddenly spoke up behind him: "To devote oneself but have nowhere to report."

  "What?" Xu Xiuzhen was taken aback, bewildered.

  "The most tragic thing in the world." Xiao Qi replied calmly.

  Xu Xiujin was alone and disheveled in the wind.

  Xu Xiujin walked away, and Xiao Qi also gathered his thoughts, coldly saying towards the outside of the door: "Come out!"

  Before long, a figure with a bamboo hat and a veil appeared at the door. It was Xiao Ming.

  "Big brother, how did you know I was here? Has your internal power become this strong?"

  Xiao Xi gave him a cold glance, "Why did you sneak out today?" thinking to herself that if he couldn't even detect this, then she didn't know how many times he would have to die.

  He was somewhat relieved that Xiao Ming had arrived late and hadn't heard the things he shouldn't have, such as the Empress Dowager's plan to sacrifice him.

  Xiao Ming stepped a few steps into the house, walking towards Xiao Qi while speaking in a light and casual tone, "I want to go to Zui Hua Lou."

  Completely different from what he said in front of Xiao Wangfei earlier, but this is the truth. He wants to go to Zuihuatang, the Zuihuatang that Xiao Qi often goes to.

  Xiao Xi's eyebrows immediately furrowed, "What did you go to Zui Hua Lou for?" His tone was quite serious.

  Xiao Ming tilted his head, walked to the position in front of Xu Xiuren and sat down. "Can you go but I can't? The book says that men and women ** is the happiest thing in this world, I want to try it out."

  He said it with a straight face, without realizing how provocative his topic was.

  Xiao Xi was choked and a rare blush appeared on her pale face, "Nonsense!"

  "I'm not messing around, why can't you be serious for once?" Xiao Ming still looked very serious, and his tone didn't sound like he was joking at all.

  Xiao Xi's face turned even redder, although he was known to be a ladies' man and had indeed been intimate with women before, but if you asked him to discuss this topic with his own brother, it was really...

  "What's written in books is deceiving. Men and women are only for procreation, nothing else." Xiao Qi explained somewhat stiffly.

  Actually, he didn't lie, he really didn't think that thing could bring any happiness, it was just to satisfy his physical needs.

  Xiao Ming didn't believe him, "Then why do you always run to Zui Hua Lou?"

  "...He must have something on his mind or perhaps he went somewhere else and didn't want Xiao Ming to know, that's why he said it like that."

  Xiao Xi thought for a moment and felt that Xiao Ming was already sixteen years old. Although he had always been naive like a child, it seemed that he should also have that kind of need now.

  They have always treated him like a child and ignored this point.

  "If you really want to experience it, let the queen mother choose a concubine for you. You can't go to places like Drunken Flower House." Xiao Qi's voice was severe and left no room for doubt.

  Xiao Ming hung his head in distress, "But I still want to go out, I want to personally go and have another taste of the rouge cake at Zhenyuan Pavilion."

  Xiao Ming Xi loved sweets, his favorite was the rouge cake from a small pastry shop in Chengxi. Before the accident, he would personally go to the store to eat it, after the accident, someone would buy it back for him.

  He said that when eating common food, one must blend in with the common people, only then can one appreciate the subtlety of the food.

  "The queen mother must have agreed to your request." Xiao Qi replied calmly, he didn't believe that Xiao Ming wouldn't take the opportunity to make a request to Queen Xiao, and if Queen Xiao hadn't agreed, Xiao Ming wouldn't be here.

  Xiao Ming was not surprised at all about what had just happened in Xiao Wangfei's place. This big brother, looking like a useless and incompetent rich young master, actually had a clear mirror in his heart, and nothing could escape from him.

  "The empress dowager agreed, but does the empress dowager's agreement count as an agreement?" Xiao Ming said, and perhaps feeling a bit thirsty, he leaned forward to take the tea cup that Xiao Qi had placed on the desk, tilted his head back, and drank the tea water in one gulp.

  Xiao Xi furrowed his brow at the intimate gesture, stood up and took out a clean tea cup from the black gold nanmu cabinet beside him, personally pouring tea for him, "It's not like there aren't other cups."

  "I don't despise you." Xiao Ming shrugged indifferently, but still returned Xiao Qi's teacup to him.

  Xiao Qi: "......" But does he dislike it?

  He put down the teacup and said, "So you've come to find me, wanting me to help you get out?"

  "Brilliant!" Xiao Ming nodded vigorously, his voice turning into a childlike plea, "Big brother, you're the most awesome! I know you can definitely help me get out of here. Can you please help me? I really don't want those attendants to ruin my mood."

  Xiao Xi remained unmoved, "If Mother Empress finds out, you know what will happen."

  "It won't work, big brother, you must have a way to prevent the empress from finding out. Big brother, I'm begging you." Xiao Ming even reached out and tugged on Xiao Qi's sleeve.

  Xiao Qi couldn't stand being nagged to death, if it was someone insignificant, he would directly get rid of them, but if it was someone close to him...

  "Alright, alright, I'll do it." Xiao Qi sighed helplessly, unable to kill him, and naturally could only agree.

  Xiao Ming cheered, even though he was separated by a bamboo hat, he could feel his smile all over his face.

  Xiao Xi gazed at his happy appearance, though her face didn't show much expression, in her heart joy was slowly rising.

  In the entire Xiao Wang Fu, perhaps only Xiao Ming truly regarded him as a family member from the bottom of his heart.

  Xiao Ming again said a few words of flattery and thanks to Xiao Qi, then suddenly said: "By the way, I just heard you guys talking about the Fourth Miss of Jian'an Marquis's manor outside the door. Is she the sister-in-law that big brother told me about before?"

  "No." Xiao Qi denied without thinking, Lin Si had utilitarian value, but she was not easy to deceive, marrying her back to the mansion would only bring trouble to herself.

  "Oh." Xiao Ming didn't think much of it and muttered to himself: "Actually, my real intention for going to Zui Hua Lou is to see Mo Feng. She's the only woman that Big Brother has mentioned in front of me, so she must be special somehow."

  Xiao Xi smiled slightly.

  Mò Fēng, she was indeed a very special woman.

  "Is Mo Fang very pretty?" Xiao Ming's eyes widened in curiosity as he looked at Xiao Qi.

  Xiao Qi nodded slightly without saying yes or no.

  "More beautiful than the queen mother?"

  "I suppose so!"

  "Is she prettier than Lin Si?"

  "There is no comparison."

  "Oh, have you been with her before?"

  "Cough...cough...cough."

  "Didn't you drink tea carefully and got choked? But did it really happen?"

  "Xiao Ming!" The voice was gritted with anger, "If you ask again, don't leave the house!"

  "It seems so."

  “……”

  The night deepens, the bright moon hangs in the sky, a gentle summer breeze stirs, and a patch of lotus leaves rises with a clear fragrance. The beautiful hydrangea flowers burst forth in the quiet night, fragrant and intoxicating, filling the nostrils with scent.

  It was a quiet and beautiful night, but in a certain courtyard of the Xiao Wang Fu, a shrill scream like killing pigs came out.

  It turned out that Curious Baby was asked to collapse and someone ruthlessly threw it away.

  Thank you for the rewards from Tiankongyimianlan, Re'ai, Qixiang, aki10086 and Dongyeyuzhongmanbu!

  Suddenly I have a wicked idea, I really want to give away Zhao Yan's first kiss! I've already thought about who to give it to, the key is that I haven't figured out how to do it in a way that's both beautiful and harmonious, yet also funny... [Forcing a kiss is impossible...]