Huh? The Tyrant Cries After My Inner Thoughts Were Exposed!-Chapter 39 - 38: Probably Won’t Be Able to Eat Anymore in the Future
Duke Ping had not felt such warmth in a long time. He picked up the bowl and chopsticks and served Su Juan a bowl of porridge.
"Eat up. It’s tiring for someone so young to be in court every day with us old men. Look at you, you’ve lost weight from hunger."
Su Juan felt moved; finally, someone understood her struggles during this time. [Yes! It’s exhausting!]
[That old Emperor finds new ways to torment us every day! Life is tough!]
Duke Ping laughed. He liked this girl, it was a pity she wasn’t part of the Xie Family.
Even though Xie Xun found Su Juan interesting and occasionally liked to tease her, hearing his old man speak so insincerely was hard to watch.
"Father, your eyesight must be failing again; just look at Su Juan’s chubby face... ouch!"
Xie Xun grimaced in pain, glaring indignantly, "Why did you kick me?!"
The Duke gave his son a glance. The more he liked Su Juan, the more he found this troublesome son of his annoying.
"What do you know?"
Turning back to Su Juan, he spoke warmly, "Don’t listen to this boy’s nonsense. You’re still young and growing, you should eat more."
His rapid change of tone was unparalleled.
Amusement flickered in Su Juan’s eyes, "Thank you, Lord Duke."
Besides amusement, there was a hint of envy.
[Truly envious, having a father and a home must be wonderful.]
Both Duke Ping and Xie Xun froze momentarily, only then recalling some of the rumors in the capital about her.
It was said that her birth mother passed away early, and her biological father married a new wife, sending her off to an estate to fend for herself. When she grew up, she was brought back, just to win over some official.
Unexpectedly, she was granted a marriage by the Emperor and ended up in Prince Jing Mansion.
But the Prince Jing Mansion wasn’t a nice place to be either. From Song Qianfan’s attitude towards her, it was clear her life there wasn’t easy.
Duke Ping sighed, what a pitiful child. He said softly, "In this Duke Mansion, it’s just us two, me and my son. It’s usually very quiet here."
Su Juan, hearing this, lifted her gaze from her bowl to look at Duke Ping.
Duke Ping: "If you don’t mind, consider this your home, come by anytime. Just don’t mind my noisy son."
Xie Xun: "How am I noisy and annoying?"
Su Juan was touched, "Alright, as long as the Lord Duke doesn’t find me annoying, I’ll definitely come often."
Duke Ping served her more food.
Xie Xun suddenly felt a bit overlooked, "Listen to my old man’s words, but don’t take them too seriously. He fooled many girls in his youth, don’t get too touched..."
Before he could finish, Duke Ping smacked him on the head.
"Eating doesn’t shut you up!"
The father and son bickered constantly, but it wasn’t nearly as quiet as Duke Ping claimed.
Watching them, Su Juan knew Duke Ping meant what he said.
She was familiar with this Duke Mansion. After all, everything from the last restart was still vivid in her mind.
Originally, she was an orphan, growing up in a welfare house. She always wanted a home, so after graduation, she worked hard to buy a house, thinking a house would mean having a home.
Until the second restart, when she was bestowed in marriage to Song Qianfan, and met Duke Ping’s family. Duke Ping was kind to her, and Xie Xun was decent enough, it was the first time she felt a sense of home.
Duke Ping even cleaned out a courtyard for her and told her to consider it her home, although she didn’t understand why he was so good to her.
That’s why she immediately recognized Xie Xun.
That’s why during court, just hearing a voice, she knew it was Duke Ping.
Su Juan tightened her grip on the chopsticks. But everything would eventually be destroyed by Song Qianfan. No one had defeated Song Qianfan in the last two times. Would this time be any different?
Though this bastard was thoughtless, he was ruthless, indifferent even to the lives of his own parents, and he would even harm his own brother...
The thought of the Duke Mansion being raided and the family exiled made her curse Song Qianfan again. [That bastard Song Qianfan!]
[One day, I’ll kill him!]
The sudden curse startled the father and son, and they both looked at Su Juan in surprise. Why was she suddenly cursing?
...
That night, upon returning to the Prince Mansion, Su Juan learned that Song Qianfan had been punished again by Prince Jing, kneeling in the Buddhist hall with no dinner and no one allowed near, guards watching closely.
"Sister-in-law, you don’t know, Father was so angry!" Song Qianhang shook his head while playing cards. He’d never seen his father this angry.
"There are people watching outside the hall, not even allowed to send dinner. Liang Yin tried to go in but was punished by Mother to copy sutras in the courtyard for disrespecting Buddha and would face retribution."
Su Juan glanced at her cards but was preoccupied, thinking, [If Buddha were truly enlightened, it should send a few lightning bolts to strike Song Qianfan dead, save us all the trouble.]
"No worries, one night of hunger won’t kill him."
Song Qianhang paused, let out a dry laugh, "Sister-in-law, you sure are... humorous."
Although his brother was a bit of a scoundrel, a lightning strike seemed a bit much. This sister-in-law was quite ruthless.
Su Juan: "Right? I think I’m quite funny too."
[Who’s joking? If he could really starve to death, it would save me the trouble.]
Song Qianhang furrowed his brows. Although his brother wasn’t to die for, was there something worse he’d done in the future to make her hold such a grudge?
He couldn’t help but probe, "Sister-in-law, do you not like Brother?"
Su Juan raised her eyes to Song Qianhang, smiling, "What are you talking about? How could I not like your brother?"
[Was I that obvious?]
"He’s good-looking, rich, generous. Who wouldn’t like him?"
[Ugh... I can’t say anymore, I’m nauseating myself.]
Song Qianhang had a complicated expression but it didn’t affect his mood for playing cards.
Su Juan didn’t want to dwell on the topic of liking Song Qianfan, fearing she couldn’t keep up the act and might end up feeling sick.
So she shifted the focus, "You seem very concerned about your brother, seems you quite like him as an elder brother."
Song Qianhang contemplated his cards, "He’s alright. Brother was good to me when we were young, always covering for me when I caused trouble."
"Although we don’t talk much now, I still respect him. He’s talented and valued by the Imperial Uncle..."
[Poor kid, if you knew your respected brother would one day poison you for the throne, you probably wouldn’t be able to eat in the future.]
With a few clicks, Song Qianhang’s cards fell to the ground, his expression frozen, staring at Su Juan in disbelief.
Suddenly, he had no more interest in playing cards.
