Chapter 148: A Ridiculous Feast

No matter how fiercely anger raged within her heart, Weishao Qianyu's expression remained completely undisturbed, as though the matter spoken of by Xuanyuan Ran had nothing to do with her whatsoever.

Xuanyuan Ran looked Weishao Qianyu up and down. It was fine if she did not resist and obediently complied; otherwise, she would certainly burn the Changle Palace to the ground with a single fire, and keeping her alive alone would be threat enough against Feng Jinye...

Furthermore, if Weishao Qianyu were to betray Feng Jinye, Feng Jinye would inevitably be utterly defeated.

With a profound look in her eyes as she gazed at Weishao Qianyu and Huangfu Chen, Xuanyuan Ran suddenly spoke as if struck by a sudden thought: "In this Grand Preceptor's view, the Heavenly Maiden and my unworthy son are truly a match made in heaven. Why not ask His Majesty to bestow a marriage upon them?"

Xuanyuan Ran's use of the words "unworthy son" exploded thunderously among the civil and military officials.

Was not the person sitting beside the former Prince Zhan's Consort the eldest young master Huangfu? Could the Grand Preceptor Xuanyuan be the biological mother of that pair of twin brothers from the Marquis Dingyuan's estate?

"Taking advantage of today's grand banquet celebrating the return of the Heavenly Maiden, this Grand Preceptor solemnly introduces to you all that this Huangfu Young Master beside the Heavenly Maiden is none other than my eldest son, Huangfu Chen."

Xuanyuan Ran's words stirred wave after wave of turbulence, yet Huangfu Chen looked at Xuanyuan Ran's act with utter disdain...

The officials, who had been quite silent, all lost their composure...

If Huangfu Chen and Huangfu Xi were the sons of Grand Preceptor Xuanyuan, wouldn't they be the twins mentioned in the prophecy—the twins of "Twin Dominance over the Realm"? And since the Grand Preceptor intended to betroth Weishao Qianyu to Huangfu Chen, wouldn't that make Huangfu Chen the future Son of Heaven?

Yet...

The veteran officials of Liyue stared eagerly at Huangfu Xi sitting in the high seat—this veteran official whom they had foolishly believed to be the former Second Prince they had watched grow up since childhood...

Hanging onto a final hope, they prayed their Emperor and Sovereign would muster some backbone and not lose the realm of Liyue!

Under the expectant gazes of the veteran officials, the Emperor spoke, yet his words were astonishing: "I also believe the Heavenly Maiden and Young Master Huangfu are a match made in heaven and a pair set by earth."

"Someone come, draft an imperial decree for the marriage!" Huangfu Xi struck the gavel with finality, sealing the marriage between the Heavenly Maiden Weishao and Huangfu Chen.

An uproar filled the entire hall, save for the two people directly involved, Weishao Qianyu and Huangfu Chen, whose expressions remained calm as if nothing had happened at all.

"Why on earth did you say you wanted to attend this ghostly banquet?" Huangfu Chen actually began to complain.

Weishao Qianyu glared fiercely at Huangfu Chen and said, "Go and offer the wine already!"

Huangfu Chen looked at Weishao Qianyu in astonishment. Asking him to go and toast the Marquis of Dingyuan and serve him food at a time like this showed that this was no trivial matter, and Weishao Qianyu certainly wouldn't stir up trouble for no reason.

Steeling himself, Huangfu Chen walked toward the Marquis of Dingyuan opposite him, cast a cold glance at the Marquis, grabbed the wine bottle in front of the Marquis to pour a cup of wine, and said sternly, "Drink."

Everyone around simply assumed Huangfu Chen was drunk...

The Marquis of Dingyuan looked at Huangfu Chen in bewilderment; his eldest son had always been distant from him, so why was he suddenly pouring him wine today?

Seeing the Marquis staring at him, Huangfu Chen immediately lost his remaining patience and snapped angrily, "Are you going to drink it or not!"

The Marquis of Qinbo suddenly felt that Huangfu Chen must be drunk as well. Seeing that Huangfu Chen was unlikely to commit patricide, and knowing that making a scene would only humiliate the Marquis of Qinbo's estate, he decided to pick up the wine cup and drain it...

Seeing the Marquis of Qinbo obediently drain the wine, Huangfu Chen curled his lips into a smile, turned, and sat down right beside the Marquis, beginning to serve him food...

"Eat."

Huangfu Chen vented all his pent-up frustration on the Marquis of Qinbo, continuously serving him food and forcing the Marquis to clean up every single dish on the table...

Everyone watched in dumbfounded silence.

Until finally, the Marquis of Qinbo could eat no more and hiccuped incessantly, prompting Huangfu Chen to angrily toss his chopsticks down, causing them to clatter right onto the table in front of Xuanyuan Ran...

"This young master is simply taking revenge on you for finding me such a sickening mother!"

The hall erupted once more into an uproar. Weishao Qianyu almost burst out laughing, silently giving Huangfu Chen a thumbs-up in her heart.

"Dismissed!" Xuanyuan Ran commanded with furious rage, and the officials scattered like birds and beasts.

The ridiculous banquet came to an end.

Weishao Qianyu immediately stood up, grabbed Huangfu Chen, and hurried back toward the Changle Palace without a moment's pause.

With things ending this way, that madwoman Xuanyuan Ran might just set Changle Palace on fire out of dissatisfaction, and Yunming and Lu Yanran were still locked inside...

"You jerk, what if you push Xuanyuan Ran too far and she burns down Changle Palace?"

Though Huangfu Chen had caused Xuanyuan Ran to lose face and felt satisfying at the time, thinking of Yunming and Lu Yanran inside Changle Palace made Weishao Qianyu uneasy.

Huangfu Chen couldn't fathom why such an astute woman could never quite see the direction or figure out the path.

Xuanyuan Ran had used Changle Palace as a threat; if Changle Palace caught fire, it would be clearly visible from the eastern city gate tower. Since the palace hadn't been burning just now, and they could rush back at top speed now that the banquet was over, unless Xuanyuan Ran went to set the fire herself, there was little chance Changle Palace would burn down. Even if it did catch fire, they still had time to rescue the people inside!

"Burn..." Huangfu Chen originally wanted to say it wouldn't burn, but hesitating for a moment, he changed his tune and said instead, "Why don't we go back and burn Changle Palace ourselves?"

Weishao Qianyu paused in her hurried footsteps, looking at Huangfu Chen who was acting the utter mischief-maker. Was this the aftereffect of losing the favor contest to Huangfu Xi?

Remembering how Huangfu Chen had served food to the Marquis of Qinbo earlier—the Marquis had indeed eaten everything without being picky at all—and how Huangfu Chen sat with the Marquis without the slightest semblance of a father-son relationship, she felt a complex mix of emotions.

Even though Huangfu Chen said Changle Palace wouldn't easily burn down, Weishao Qianyu still rushed back to Changle Palace at top speed.

She kicked open the gates of Changle Palace only to find Lu Yanran and Yunming both knocked unconscious on the ground. Weishao Qianyu knew it wouldn't be as simple as just a locked door—that lock wouldn't hold Lu Yanran and Yunming anyway. Sure enough, sleeping incense had been burned inside the room.

"They're unharmed," Huangfu Chen said immediately after checking Yunming's pulse, promptly hoisting Yunming onto his back.

Seeing Huangfu Chen carry Yunming, Weishao Qianyu hoisted Lu Yanran onto her back as well. If Huangfu Chen wanted to burn Changle Palace, let him burn it; lingering around in a palace soaked in lamp oil was far too dangerous...

Once out of Changle Palace, Huangfu Chen handed Yunming over to Ye Shiyi, turned around and kicked over barrels of lamp oil at every corner of the palace walls, darted over to a nearby corridor, plucked a corridor lantern, and within a short while, Changle Palace was engulfed in roaring flames.

Weishao Qianyu disliked seeing raging fires. Her former home had once been swallowed by such flames, and the late-falling snow had once been burned by fire too—all courtesy of Xuanyuan Ran. Weishao Qianyu clenched her fists tightly. Just endure a little longer; after enduring a little longer, it would be time to settle accounts with Xuanyuan Ran once and for all!

"Tell me, now that Changle Palace is burned down, where are we going to live?" Weishao Qianyu looked up at the sky in speechlessness, instantly regretting that she shouldn't have indulged Huangfu Chen's childishness.

"To the Changming Palace," Huangfu Chen said with an insincere smile, his malicious intentions obvious.

Wasn't the Changming Palace where Huangfu Xi lived? Weishao Qianyu suddenly realized that Huangfu Chen held grudges deeply. Since Huangfu Xi had disguised himself as him and done all sorts of wicked things, Huangfu Chen was bound to exact revenge!

Yet Huangfu Chen's method of revenge was inevitably a bit too childish.

"Do you remember what that palace maid said when Huangfu Xi summoned you earlier?" Huangfu Chen asked with a hooked smile.

Weishao Qianyu said indifferently, "His Majesty is gravely ill, and summons the Heavenly Maiden Weishao to tend to his illness."

"Right, you're going to take us there right now to tend to his illness!" Huangfu Chen declared.

Weishao Qianyu was helpless, but they needed a place to stay anyway: "Don't you find it sickening to see Huangfu Xi every day?"

Weishao Qianyu felt as though Huangfu Chen was taking revenge on her instead.

Not expecting Weishao Qianyu to be so repulsed by Huangfu Xi, Huangfu Chen smiled insincerely and asked, "Did something unspeakable happen between you and Huangfu Xi?"

Weishao Qianyu stopped in her tracks, thought for a moment, and murmured, "Sometimes I can't even tell whether you disgust me more or he does!"

"Your tongue is truly venomous." Huangfu Chen didn't mind at all being indirectly scolded by her.

Between that kiss in the Twilight Pavilion and the shoulder throw, Weishao Qianyu truly couldn't tell whether it was Huangfu Chen or Huangfu Xi.

"Take the antidote first. I guarantee it won't disgust you!" Huangfu Chen handed Weishao Qianyu a pill.

Weishao Qianyu lifted her eyes to look at Huangfu Chen, then swallowed the pill without hesitation. She could hardly imagine what state Huangfu Xi would be driven into by Huangfu Chen.

Huangfu Chen then fed antidotes to Yunming and Lu Yanran respectively, and the two of them had just slowly regained consciousness when they were dragged along toward the Changming Palace...

Upon arriving at the Changming Palace, they were naturally stopped by the palace guards. The one blocking them turned out to be none other than the palace maid who had read the imperial decree earlier. With a sweep of his long sleeves, Huangfu Chen deflected the guards with his sword, and a gust of wind carrying powder from Huangfu Chen's sleeve blew toward the group of maids...

Weishao Qianyu knew Huangfu Chen had drugged them.

As the maids were pushed aside, Huangfu Chen grandly led the group into the Changming Palace. Weishao Qianyu asked with a faint smile, "What kind of drug did you use?"

Huangfu Chen couldn't help curving his lips into a smile: "A drug that will ensure Huangfu Xi never feels the slightest bit of interest in women for the rest of his life!"

Weishao Qianyu burst out laughing with a "pfft."

Truly vicious.

"I say, Weishao Qianyu, what woman would laugh out loud like this upon hearing such a thing? Can't you act like a normal woman? Look at your cousin, learn a thing or two from her!" Huangfu Chen pointed at Lu Yanran, lecturing Weishao Qianyu in a scolding tone.

Weishao Qianyu looked in the direction Huangfu Chen was pointing and saw Lu Yanran's face burning red.

"Oh, so the Young Pavilion Master fancies my cousin then?"

"Even if it's not the mandate of parents or the arrangement of matchmakers, I at least hold the status of Prince Zhan's Consort. Making the decision to betroth my cousin to you is well within my power!" Weishao Qianyu didn't mind Huangfu Chen's sarcasm about her lack of modesty, blurting out words that were truly startling.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the smile remained fixed on Weishao Qianyu's face, but her heart grew half cold. Remembering that imperial decree that had forcibly announced the annulment of her marriage to Feng Jinye, her palms clenched a little tighter.

"Weishao Qianyu, shut your mouth!" Lu Yanran shouted sharply, her shrill voice startling everyone.

Weishao Qianyu also realized she had gone too far, hitting a raw nerve for Lu Yanran.

"I was wrong."

Those three words from Weishao Qianyu shocked Lu Yanran even more than her previous remark. She was actually apologizing to her?

How proud a person was Weishao Qianyu, yet she was apologizing to her?

Not only was Lu Yanran startled, but Yunming and Huangfu Chen were even more profoundly shocked. Prior to this, both Yunming and Huangfu Chen had believed that apart from Feng Jinye, absolutely no one in this world could ever make Weishao Qianyu utter these three words in a pleading manner.