After picking up the White Cut Black Prince

Song Yusheng strode into the house and first bowed to the old lady and the first lady.

The old lady waved her hand and asked with a smile, "Qian came quite often today. He came to my place right after his shift. Why is that?"

Song Yusheng did not shy away from the question and said directly, "I heard from people in the courtyard that grandma called this disobedient maid over. I was afraid that she would offend you, so I didn't dare to delay."

His tone was gentle and his voice was flat, without any other emotion. But when he said this, Wen Chu always felt that he was glancing at her intentionally or unintentionally, and this look made her feel uneasy.

Thinking of this, she didn't dare to sit any longer, so she stood up and walked behind him.

Song Yusheng's words apparently meant that he was afraid that Wen Chu had done something to offend them, but no matter what, everyone present, except Song Liqing, was a smart person, so how could they not understand the meaning behind Song Yusheng's words?

Isn't it because he was afraid that Wen Chu would be bullied in Rong'an Hall? Otherwise, why would he rush here in such a hurry?

Thinking of this, Madam Song's heart sank to the bottom. Didn't Wen Chu just save him once? Why did she treat her like this? People who didn't know her would think she was a rare treasure that a bunch of people were trying to rob.

Old Madam Song had no expression on her face. She said cheerfully, "Is that so? You don't come to my place often. Since you are here, why don't you stay in Rong'an Hall and have dinner with me, an old woman, tonight?"

Since Old Madam Song said so, those people naturally would not refuse.

Huang Ruotang stood up and walked to Song Yusheng, saying softly, "I didn't see my cousin when I came to the Duke's Mansion some time ago, and I was worried. Today, I see that my cousin is fine, so I feel relieved."

Huang Ruotang's voice is like the chirping of an oriole, melodious and beautiful.

Song Yusheng raised his eyes and looked at her, with a faint smile on his face, and replied in a gentle voice: "Thank you for your concern, cousin."

When Huang Ruotang heard this, her earlobes turned slightly red and she lowered her head in shame.

Wen Chu was behind Song Yusheng and saw Huang Ruotang's expression clearly. Are these two really just cousins?
Looks like they have a very good relationship.

Song Liqing huddled aside and watched the two of them flirting with each other, rolling his eyes almost to the sky. He also hid beside them and said sarcastically, silently imitating Song Yusheng's speech, grinning and saying, "Thank you for your concern, cousin."

She didn't like Huang Ruotang. After all, her mother had always compared herself to her since she was a child. How could she feel comfortable? Seeing Song Yusheng like this, she naturally felt unhappy.

Song Yusheng saw Song Liqing's expression, but ignored her.

There was still some time before dinner time, so Song Yusheng went into the main room and sat for a while.

Madam Song said to Song Yusheng, "Do you have any good friends coming back tomorrow? Your sister is almost at the right age to get married. Do you have anyone you can trust to see?"

Song Yusheng is such a person, so it seems that the people who are on good terms with him must be good people.

Before Song Yusheng could open his mouth, he heard Madam Song, who was sitting above him, suddenly say, "Hasn't General Xiao Qi been in Kyoto all these years? I remember that he passed the imperial examination in the same year as Qi'an, but he passed the imperial examination as a military scholar. He just had his capping ceremony a few days ago, so he was only eighteen when he passed the imperial examination. This kid is not bad. Qi'an was twenty when he passed the imperial examination."

When the eldest lady heard this, she disagreed and said, "Mother, what are you talking about? How can this military scholar be compared with the top scholar in literature? Our Qi'an was born with a strange sign in the sky, and he is a gifted man. Master Huikong said that he has a promising future. How can this man be compared?"

Madam Song glanced at her calmly and said, "Qian didn't start learning until he was seven years old. He couldn't even speak before. Why didn't you say anything? How can you be so proud?"

The eldest lady was stunned by this. Before Song Yu was seven years old, he could not speak. Everyone in the Song family knew this.

Ordinary children can speak at the age of three, but cannot speak at the age of seven. Isn't there something wrong with their brains? Although there are such people, they are rare. It's okay if it's someone else who can't speak, but this person is Song Yusheng, the Song Yusheng who was born with a vision, and the Song Yusheng who was praised by the master.

Everyone expected him to grow up to be a child prodigy, composing poems at the age of three and essays at the age of five, and to be the reincarnation of a god or the God of Literature. But in the end, when he was seven years old, he was still just a fool who could only eat and sleep.

Who can accept such a gap? It is really too disappointing.

This happened a long time ago, and only the two older people present knew about it. As for the others, even Song Yusheng's younger sister Song Liqing, did not know about it.

Talking about the past, the smile on Song Yusheng's face faded, and he picked up the teacup and drank water to hide his emotions.

Madam Song quietly looked at Song Yusheng's expression and saw that he no longer had a smile on his face. She also knew that she had mentioned something that he didn't like.

Song Yusheng couldn't speak when he was seven years old. How did he turn around and become like this now? Madam Song really didn't want to recall this matter. She quickly changed the subject and said, "It's my daughter-in-law's fault. She shouldn't say such things. But what happened in the past is in the past. Why does mother keep bringing it up again and again?"

Old Madam Song didn't want to continue to embarrass them, and after a while of silence, they got up and went to the dining hall to eat. After the meal, they each went back to their own places.

*
Song Yusheng and Wen Chu walked one after the other on the way back to Chunhui Hall.

The night was quiet. The weather was close to June, and the evening breeze brought a bit of heat. The sound of cicadas chirping in the trees and grass was noisy. The moonlight was all over the gravel road, which was shattered into pieces by the two people's footsteps.

Wen Chu discovered that Song Yusheng seemed to be in a bad mood. Normally, even when he was angry, he would always have a smile on his face, but after coming out of Rong'an Hall, he had a cold face.

When Song Yusheng wasn't smiling, he always looked like he wanted to keep strangers away, and wearing the official uniform of the Left Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, he looked even more frightening.

Maybe it was because Old Madam Song told him about the embarrassing things that happened in his childhood today that made him unhappy?

Most likely, it was a bit embarrassing to not be able to speak at the age of seven.

But, Wen Chu thought, if Song Yusheng was unhappy, he would probably take it out on her, and he might even remember to slap her on the hand when he got back.

She was considering whether to speak up and comfort him, but Song Yusheng spoke before her.

"Wen Chu, you said bad things about me again today."

When he returned to Yuhui Hall today, the secret guards had already told him about this.

His voice sounded even colder and more certain in the night. Even though his back was to Wen Chu, she could imagine the look on his face when he said this.

Wen Chu said immediately: "I know I was wrong, I won't dare to do it again next time! I even swept the yard for you today, isn't that a good deed? How about we not give you the punishment?"

Song Yusheng sneered and said sarcastically, "Who is following you?"

Wen Chu saw that Song Yusheng was still unwilling to let her go, so she had no choice but to give him ten strokes. She said, "That makes a hundred and ten strokes. I remember them all."

"Who told you that speaking ill of me only requires ten strokes of the cane?"

I thought accepting these ten boards was already a huge concession, but who would have thought that this man would keep pressing me. Wen Chu asked, "How much is that?" "Fifty."

Wen Chu was anxious, "What? Fifty strokes? How can there be such a person as you? Are you angry and you are taking it out on me?"

Song Yusheng, who was still walking, suddenly stopped. Wen Chu had the experience of being hit last time, so she followed behind Song Yusheng and kept alert at all times. She immediately stopped as well.

She looked at Song Yusheng's unfriendly expression and asked tremblingly, "What are you doing?"

She was not wrong. Wasn't Song Yusheng just taking his anger out on her?
"Is this what I call taking my anger out on you?"

If Song Yusheng really wanted to take his anger out on her, would she still be saying these sarcastic words here?

Wen Chu knew she was in the wrong, and she also understood that people like Song Yusheng, who were in high positions, were the most concerned about appearances. She said, "Being unable to speak at the age of seven is not a big deal. When I was eight, I couldn't even say my own name. Besides, now that you are so powerful, few people will remember your past."

"It's not a big deal?"

Wen Chu nodded wildly.

Song Yusheng sneered with an ambiguous tone, "No, this is a big deal."

In the moonlight, his face looked even colder than usual, his body was covered in silver-gray, and he carried an indescribable loneliness.

*
Soon it was the next day, the morning sun was shining brightly, and the air was filled with a fresh scent. Old Madam Song's sixtieth birthday was on May 20th, which was a day off, and anyone who was well-known in Kyoto would give some face to the Song family and send some gifts and visit.

Sixtieth is a critical moment, so the banquet was grand. Fortunately, the main hall in Rong'an Hall was big enough, otherwise it would have been difficult to accommodate so many people.

As the prince of the Duke's Mansion, Song Yusheng naturally had to go out early to meet guests, so Wen Chu also got up early. Chenxiang was afraid that Wen Chu would get up late today and delay things, so he specially went to call her to get up.

As expected, Wen Chuzhen had forgotten that there was going to be a banquet at the mansion today. If Chenxiang hadn't called her, she would have been scolded by Song Yusheng again. She got up in a hurry, put on her clothes, washed up, and rushed to Song Yusheng's place.

Fortunately, when they arrived, Song Yusheng had just gotten up from the bed, and Wen Chu walked up to him and helped him put on his clothes.

Because it was Old Madam Song's birthday today, he didn't wear white clothes anymore, and chose a dark blue round-necked long gown with cloud patterns. Song Yusheng's clothes were always complicated, and Wen Chu finally figured out how to wear the brocade clothes he wore a few days ago. But today, after changing into a long gown, he didn't know how to tie the belt around his waist.

The more difficult it was to tie the thing, the more anxious Wen Chu became. The more anxious he became, the harder it was to tie it. He was so anxious that beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

The two stood very close to each other. Song Yusheng lowered his head and just happened to meet her watery almond eyes. Looking down again, he saw her slender hands tying her belt. He couldn't help but find it funny to see the woman in front of him who was so flustered, but surprisingly he didn't say anything sarcastic.

There was a tenderness in Song Yusheng's eyes that he himself had not noticed. If Wen Chu looked up at this moment, he would be frightened by the look in his eyes and would surely be so frightened that he would not be able to sleep at night.

Fortunately, she was only concerned with tying the things on her hands that she couldn't tie properly.

Wen Chu couldn't figure out how to tie it, so she just gave up and said, "No, I really can't do it. It will waste time. I'd better go call Chenxiang."

Song Yusheng held her down before she turned to leave. He seemed to be in a good mood. He was not angry even though her clothes were wrinkled around his waist. He said, "Watch it yourself. I will only teach you once. If you can't learn it, you know what to do."

After saying that, he started to tie it himself.

Wen Chu watched his long fingers twisting here and there, and the belt looked even more luxurious in his slender hands. The thing that she couldn't fix in her hands just now was fixed in his hands in just a few strokes.

His movements were so fast that Wen Chu couldn't even see clearly before it was already finished. After tying it, he hooked his long fingers and untied the belt that had just been tied.

Wen Chu was dazzled. He could only see his long fingers twisting and turning, and then the belt that was tied was untied again.

She cursed in her heart, just tie it, who can tie it better than you?

She didn't dare to say the four words "do it again" under Song Yusheng's gaze. She could only keep recalling Song Yusheng's actions just now and reach out to tie it again.

At first there was nothing wrong, but as it was tied, things started to go wrong again, and soon it started to go off the track again.

Wen Chu heard Song Yusheng let out a deep breath, and she could feel that Song Yusheng wanted to scold her without even looking up.

Just before she was about to tie it wrong, Song Yusheng grabbed her fingers, held her fingertips and began to teach her how to tie it step by step.

His fingers were as cold as ever, just like him.

But even with such an icy hand, Wen Chu felt as if she had touched molten lava. Before she could even open her mouth, she heard Song Yusheng say, "What maid can be as stupid as you? You are lazy and inactive. You still can't do it even after I've taught you once."

Wen Chu: Was she scolded again?

Song Yusheng would belittle her whenever he got the chance, right?

Just at this moment, Chenxiang saw that the two men had not come out yet, so he wanted to come in to see what had happened, and he happened to see this scene.

No, was she dreaming? How could she see the prince holding Wen Chu's hand? !
Wen Chu noticed the movement there and tried to pull his hand away to explain something, but Song Yusheng grabbed him and held him still. "What are you doing? Is it necessary to make such a fuss about tying a belt?"

His tone was normal, as if the two of them were thinking about something dirty in their minds.

Chenxiang didn't dare to stay here any longer, so he quickly took his leave and warned himself in his heart that he must never rashly enter like this again next time.

This time he grabbed the hand, what will he grab next time?
The two people in the room came out after a while. Wen Chu looked a little unnatural, but Song Yusheng was the same as usual.

Song Yusheng walked directly outside of Yuhui Hall, apparently going directly to Rong'an Hall to celebrate Old Madam Song's birthday. He took a few steps, but did not hear Wen Chu's footsteps following him.

As soon as I turned around, I heard her say: "I'd better not go. Don't you think I'm stupid? It would be bad if I embarrass you in front of so many people here today."

When Song Yusheng heard this, he asked, "Are you still thinking about running away?"

Although there was a smile on his lips, his eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of frost when he looked at Wen Chu.

There's a banquet at home today, so she wants to run away when there are many people around, right?

(End of this chapter)