Prince’s Mansion.
Tang Yu knelt on the ground and said in a low voice to Xiao Shuang in front of her: “I am incompetent and did not catch the thief. Please punish me, Your Highness!”
Xiao Shuang knew that Tang Yu was probably even angrier than her for not catching the black-clothed person.
So she said lightly to Tang Yu, “Since the person was not caught, punishing you won’t do any good. Get up.”
However, Tang Yu bit her lip and insisted on not getting up.
Xiao Shuang said, “I have no intention of punishing you…I just didn’t expect that there would be someone in the capital that even you couldn’t catch. Before this, I had never heard of such a person in the capital. So this is a mistake of the intelligence department and has little to do with you.”
“But you have been a bit restless and too arrogant lately, so you need to be more humble.”
Tang Yu thought of the elegant figure that disappeared into the night and realized that there were always people more capable than her.
She had indeed relied too much on her own strength.
So Tang Yu whispered, “Yes.”
Xiao Shuang looked at Tang Yu and continued, “Later, the Prince’s Mansion will give you a new task, and you will have to work hard to hone your skills.”
Although she said it was to hone her skills, she actually wanted to temper Tang Yu’s sharpness.
Although she didn’t say it clearly, it was still a punishment.
Only then did Tang Yu slowly get up and bow in thanks.
But she knew that with such a big incident happening, Xiao Shuang would not easily let it go. Even if they had to dig three feet into the ground in the capital, they would find that person.
At this time, the fourth prince standing beside them looked at the moonlight on the ground and said thoughtfully, “Looking at the back of that black-clothed person, I suddenly remembered someone.”
Xiao Shuang frowned slightly, “Who?”
The corners of the fourth prince’s mouth curved up into a smile as he replied, “The Prince of Yan wife, Chu Shao.”
…
The next morning.
The news of the assassination attempt at the Prince’s Mansion last night spread throughout the capital.
Although the fourth prince himself was unharmed, his steward died in a strange fire.
It was said that the fire was suspicious and seemed to have been deliberately set.
The steward’s hands were also cut off and his kneecap was broken, making his death extremely tragic.
If it had been the steward of an ordinary family, it would have been understandable, but it happened in the Prince’s Mansion. Moreover, the deceased steward was also a distant relative of the Empress Mu.
Coupled with the fact that the assassination case of the Crown Prince a few days ago still had no clear explanation, the Emperor was angry and ordered the Ministry of Justice to investigate these two cases thoroughly.
Also, the case of the Prince Yan being assassinated a few days ago has yet to be solved, and the emperor was furious. He ordered the Ministry of Justice to thoroughly investigate both cases.
The Minister of Justice reluctantly took on the order, knowing that these two cases were not trivial and likely involved many struggles and conflicts among the nobles.
However, since the emperor had issued the decree, the Ministry of Justice had no choice but to investigate under pressure.
Even if it was destined to find nothing, they had to at least appear busy on the surface.
At this moment, it wasn’t just the innocent Ministry of Justice that was busy.
Early in the morning, the system gave Xiao Jin a new round of additional tasks: “Accompany the female lead to breakfast.”
“……”
Hearing this task, Xiao Jin slowly typed a question mark in her mind: “Can the task be any weirder?”
The system explained, “Host, these tasks are randomly generated from the database, with the difficulty and reward proportional. Moreover, all additional tasks are essentially meant to add to your lifespan.”
Xiao Jin sneered, “But I’m dressed as the Prince Yan, not a character who accompanies eating, drinking, and sleeping.”
The system kindly said, “The essence of additional tasks is that they are randomly generated from the database, and the system is only responsible for issuing instructions to you. So please continue to work hard and strive for excellence!”
……
Because the system issued this bizarre task, the breakfast scene at the Yan Mansion was quite strange today.
Usually, Xiao Jin adhered to the philosophy that paper people don’t need to eat breakfast, and had never interfered with Chu Shao’s freedom to eat breakfast.
Besides, she didn’t want to feel the oppression from the yandere early in the morning. So since their marriage, she had never eaten breakfast with Chu Shao.
Of course, there was also the factor that she liked to sleep in and didn’t want to eat breakfast.
At this moment, the palace maid brought out a few small dishes, placing the jade plate on the table while stealing a glance at Chu Shao.
After all, she was just too good-looking. Who wouldn’t want to see a beautiful person in this world?
Of course, most importantly, they had never seen the prince pay so much attention to anyone before.
Since their marriage, the prince had really changed from the inside out.
Not only had her temper improved, but also the prince who had never been close to women before actually wanted to have breakfast with the princess.
The palace maids couldn’t help but feel emotional. It was truly difficult for a hero to resist a beauty.
Xiao Jin knew that the original owner was a straight woman.
But she didn’t know that the original owner didn’t like crowds and would always have the palace maids leave during meals, often eating alone in the dining room.
Now she saw the maidservants stealing glances at Chu Shao intentionally or unintentionally, and Xiao Jin thought to herself: ‘A dog’s nature is indeed inescapable, even a paper person cannot avoid it.’
Chu Shao sat aside and didn’t think much of Xiao Jin’s behavior. After all, in her eyes, everything Xiao Jin did was unusual, so being unusual was actually normal for Xiao Jin.
If one day Xiao Jin became too normal, it would make her feel confused and abnormal.
For example, at this moment, Chu Shao watched as Xiao Jin naturally picked up the bowl of bird’s nest soup with rock sugar and scooped a spoonful.
She furrowed her brows imperceptibly and stopped the other’s next move.
“Your Highness, please wait a moment.”
Xiao Jin’s spoon stopped in mid-air.
Because Chu Shao grabbed her wrist while speaking, her movement was forced to stop.
Chu Shao’s fingers were beautiful and slender, seemingly more crystal-clear and soft than the winter bamboo shoots and magnolia petals on the table.
It wasn’t a big deal, but when Xiao Jin inexplicably linked the other’s fingers with the food, she suddenly realized that this idea was extremely unusual.
To see someone’s fingers and think of edible food.
She was afraid she had become perverted.
Xiao Jin looked up at Chu Shao. Considering the other’s potential attributes, she did not immediately remove her hand, but asked slowly, “Is there something wrong, Princess?”
Chu Shao still had a smile on her lips and did not answer Xiao Jin’s question.
After a moment, she took out a silver needle from her sleeve, wiped it carefully with the silk cloth on the dining table, and then dipped the needle into the bird’s nest soup.
Even after the needle had been in the bird’s nest for a while, there was no change in color. Chu Shao was satisfied and took the needle back, saying to Xiao Jin, “Your Highness, you can continue with your breakfast now.”
This series of actions was done smoothly and seamlessly.
Clearly, she was an old hand at testing poison before meals.
Xiao Jin fell silent.
Why did she feel like she was the fake Prince Yan and Chu Shao was the real one?
Xiao Jin was not the only one lost in thought. Old Zhang, who was standing by serving, was also shocked and couldn’t help but whisper, “Your Highness, these dishes were all tested by the Yan Mansion u’s people before being presented. They should not have any problems.”
However, Chu Shao seemed to not have heard him and continued to “needle” every dish.
After tasting each dish, she smiled and said, “Oh? Is that so? But the Prince’s body is worth millions of gold, trying a little more is always good.”
Listening to Chu Shao’s tone, Xiao Jin inexplicably had a feeling that Chu Shao seemed to be testing the poison for herself.
Because Xiao Jin’s intuition told her that Chu Shao herself should not be afraid of death or poison.
Earlier, when they were in the prince’s residence, the effect of the Hehuan Powder was so strong, but Chu Shao did not seem to be affected.
So Xiao Jin speculated in secret that the other party might have some special physique. However, in the original work, it seemed that Chu Shao’s “golden finger” had never been mentioned.
If it weren’t for reincarnation, could it be that she really took over someone else’s body?
While Xiao Jin was lost in thought, Chu Shao had already picked up another pair of clean chopsticks and started to happily serve Xiao Jin dishes.
One chopstick was for the spicy beef tripe, and the other was for the ginger cabbage.
When Xiao Jin came back to her senses, she looked at the food in her bowl and couldn’t help but frown.
…What kind of dark cuisine is this?
She felt it was necessary to ask Old Zhang to find some cooks with normal taste buds.
However, the tighter Xiao Jin’s brows furrowed, the more Chu Shao picked out dishes that made her frown.
As she served the food, Chu Shao even smiled gently and said to Xiao Jin, “Your highness has just recovered from a serious illness and needs to eat more to improve her health.”
Xiao Jin fell silent.
Recovering from a serious illness?
Wasn’t that just getting poisoned by the Hehuan Powder? What kind of serious illness was that?
Xiao Jin looked at Chu Shao, who was strangely joyful, and felt that this person really had some kind of illness.
However, even if the dishes didn’t suit her taste, Xiao Jin didn’t dare to say directly, “I don’t like it,” while looking at Chu Shao’s smiling face.
Between not liking the food and saving her life, Xiao Jin ultimately chose the latter.
So she frowned, endured the strong ginger flavor, and slowly chewed on the piece of ginger cabbage, enduring the strong smell of ginger that assaulted her nose with every bite. Each swallow was a great challenge to her taste buds.
Xiao Jin persevered and finished the dish before putting down her chopsticks and calmly telling Old Zhang, the steward, “This dish is well done.”
Old Zhang was secretly pleased, but he didn’t show it on his face. “As long as the prince likes it, it’s all thanks to the kitchen…”
Xiao Jin continued expressionlessly, “It’s well done, but don’t let them make it again next time.”
Old Zhang was embarrassed.
Chu Shao, watching Xiao Jin’s expression of disgust, smiled even deeper.
Although this kind of pleasure was completely different from the thrill of a sword cutting through flesh, Chu Shao still propped her chin with interest and said to Xiao Jin, “Hurry up and eat, or the food will get cold and won’t taste good.”
Xiao Jin looked up at Chu Shao.
What difference did it make if the food was cold or not? Cold or hot, it still tasted bad.
Thinking this way, Xiao Jin wanted to refuse to eat.
However, when she saw the anticipation in Chu Shao’s eyes and the bright mole on her face that looked like a tear, she reluctantly picked up her chopsticks.
She didn’t know how heavy the previous owner’s taste buds were.
Eating the plate of spicy tripe, Xiao Jin’s eyebrows were furrowed from the heat. She picked up the tea next to her and took several sips, but her mouth was still filled with a pungent taste.
From the beginning until now, Chu Shao’s face had been smiling all along, and she had been sitting quietly next to Xiao Jin, watching her eat without touching her chopsticks.
But when she saw Xiao Jin’s lips turning red from eating spicy food, Chu Shao was first slightly surprised, then earnestly admired the scene.
Chu Shao thought Xiao Jin looked beautiful when her thin lips opened, and the rouge-like color made her even more stunning.
She just didn’t know what kind of scene it would be when she bit her lips.
When Chu Shao snapped out of her thoughts, Xiao Jin had already given up and put down her chopsticks, saying seriously, “I can’t eat anymore.”
Chu Shao looked at the few bites of food in Xiao Jin’s bowl and thought of her too light body weight, feeling a little regretful.
She should have picked up more normal food earlier.
But once Xiao Jin made up her mind to give up, there was no turning back.
She drank her tea, thinking that her task was completed and was about to ask Chu Shao what she did at the prince’s mansion last night in a roundabout way.
But when she looked up, she realized that Chu Shao had not even touched her chopsticks.
Therefore, Xiao Jin’s task was not completed because the condition of “having a meal together” was missing.
Chu Shao didn’t give her any face.
From beginning to end, she was the only one eating.
After a moment of silence, Xiao Jin decided to combine the roundabout questioning and completing the task together.
So she said meaningfully to Chu Shao, “Princess, why don’t you use your chopsticks to have some dishes? This prince also wants to ask you some questions.”
“Some… questions about last night’s matter.”
She spoke in a very profound manner, making Chu Shao’s smile deepen.
Just as Chu Shao was about to answer, a little maid suddenly ran in.
She first saluted the two of them, then said, “Your highness, a woman has come to the Yan Mansion claiming to have been sent by Princess Zhao Yang to see you.”
Sent by Xiao Shuang?
Xiao Jin suddenly had a very bad feeling. “Did that woman give her name?”
The maid replied, “She claimed to be the daughter of the Minister of War, Shen Shuang.”
“…”
Okay, her bad feeling became a reality.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author’s note: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution between 23:55:25~23:58:30 on 2022-03-03 to 2022-03-04.
Translator’s note: Chu Shao’s love rival radar has been activated!. Nah~~~~ She can’t detect it!. She’s a lunatic Haha~~~~
TO BE CONTINUE…
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