The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity-Chapter 539 - 506: Poor Beyond Redemption (First Update)
Song Yuanbao hadn’t noticed anything unusual on Zhao Xi’s face earlier, thinking this person must have good endurance to withstand Xu Dengke, he even felt a bit of admiration.
Only when Zhao Xi started speaking did he realize something was amiss.
Zhao Xi’s tone carried a hint of gritted teeth.
Song Yuanbao had known him for so long, and due to his own impulsiveness, he’d caused Zhao Xi to furrow his brows many times, but he’d never seen Zhao Xi lose composure like this.
For Zhao Xi, gritting his teeth was already a severe sign of losing composure.
Song Yuanbao was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that Zhao Xi had a slight OCD, evident from his frightening self-discipline, despair-inducing daily schedule, the arrangement of his bedroom and study, and his clean and orderly attire; he couldn’t accept anything imperfect, just like he couldn’t accept his own messy sleeping posture, and at this moment, Zhao Xi couldn’t tolerate an incredibly slow presence in front of him.
Earlier, Song Yuanbao felt that maybe Zhao Xi wasn’t recommending someone to Song Wei, but rather sulking.
Because Zhao Xi had initially recommended a learned scholar from the Cabinet to nurture Jinbao, but Song Wei didn’t want him, yet invited such a person afterwards.
No doubt Zhao Xi had some thoughts about this.
Song Yuanbao’s reason for bringing Xu Dengke was actually simple, young people inevitably get curious about new things, and someone like Xu Dengke is one of a kind; he wanted Zhao Xi to see how vast the world is.
But Song Yuanbao hadn’t expected Zhao Xi to be upset; he felt a bit guilty and secretly signaled to Ah Gui to hurry and take the master away, or else they’d all suffer soon.
Ah Gui swiftly hoisted Xu Dengke onto his back, said goodbye to Zhao Xi, and boarded the carriage, heading back to the Song Mansion.
Once the carriage drove far away, Song Yuanbao dared to speak up, "Your Highness, don’t you want to see the mansion? We’ve been here for quite a while, let’s go in."
Zhao Xi raised his hand, pressed two fingers at his temple, rubbed heavily, and didn’t plan to move forward, his voice tinged with coldness, "I’m not feeling well, I’ll head back to the palace first. If you want to look, do it yourself."
Eunuch Sanbao quickly stepped forward to offer a footstool and lift the curtain for his master.
Song Yuanbao pursed his lips and silently followed.
Inside the spacious and luxurious jeweled carriage, Zhao Xi was lightly asleep with his eyes closed.
Song Yuanbao, sitting beside, felt the need to explain a bit, "Your Highness, it’s not what you think, my father had no choice in adopting this measure to encourage Jinbao to study, he isn’t ungrateful to you but thought Mr. Xu better suits Jinbao’s personality."
"You don’t need to explain to me." Zhao Xi said, "I don’t have much interest in interfering with your family’s matters."
...
In another carriage returning to the Song family.
Xu Dengke slowly cast an inquisitive glance at Ah Gui, implying whether he had upset the Eldest Prince.
Ah Gui didn’t even look at his master, fiddling with a piece of broken silver he’d swiped from his master’s purse, bit it with his teeth, and gruffly said, "That’s right, young master, you offended His Highness the moment you opened your mouth; if I hadn’t run fast, you’d already be dead."
Xu Dengke, noticing Ah Gui’s money-grubbing look as he bit the silver, simply smiled, and slowly at that.
He’d been dragged onto the carriage by Song Yuanbao halfway through his lunch, now he’s a bit hungry, said to Ah Gui, "Hungry."
Ah Gui stretched his neck to look outside, saw there were folks selling pancakes, got the driver to stop by the roadside, went down to buy two hot pancakes, handed one to Xu Dengke, and kept one for himself.
After taking two bites, he remembered he used his own money to buy the pancakes, reached to take Xu Dengke’s purse from his waist, and fetched a piece of broken silver.
Xu Dengke glanced at it, it was at least a tael.
First time eating such an expensive pancake, he wanted to protest, but considering his painfully slow speaking pace, chose not to, sighed silently, and lowered his head to nibble on the pancake.
One pancake, he nibbled all the way from the street to the Song family, only managing three bites, the third still being chewed in his mouth.
Ah Gui saw his neck lengthening in supplication, lamented, "I should’ve bought young master a bowl of meat porridge, expensive, sure, but porridge doesn’t need chewing, goes down fast."
Xu Dengke shook his head, indicating he could only afford pancakes worth one tael of silver.
Song Yuanbao quickly came back and took Xu Dengke away, Jinbao’s afternoon class had yet to start, Wen Wan sat in the front hall of the outer courtyard, saw Xu Dengke return while nibbling a pancake, frowned, "That brat Yuanbao, takes people out and doesn’t get them something nice to eat, Yun Cai, quickly get the kitchen to make some dishes."
Xu Dengke wanted to say it wasn’t necessary, but just as the word "no" came out, he heard Wen Wan say, "Yuanbao must’ve had his reasons, slighted Mr. Xu, I hope you don’t mind, food will be ready soon, please wait a little longer."
Ah Gui whispered beside him, "Young master, you’re so poor, having something to eat is good enough, why the fuss?"
Xu Dengke sighed silently, he was not originally poor, helpless against a domineering and difficult servant who snatched silver from him every now and then, he’d long forgotten when he fell into such unmanageable poverty.
Ah Gui saw through his thoughts, grinned, "Madam said the young master has an eighty percent chance of not marrying or having children in this lifetime, even if you had a lot of silver, you can’t spend it all, better leave it to me, I’ll spend it for you."
Xu Dengke asked with his eyes: There’s still a 20% chance, right?
Ah Gui said, "One of those chances is that you meet an untimely death before marrying, closing your eyes forever; the other is, I guess, marrying in a dream."
Xu Dengke continued to sigh.
Wen Wan wasn’t sure what the two were muttering about, only felt that the master-servant relationship was truly good.
It seemed no matter how bad the servant’s attitude was, the master always maintained a kind and tolerant demeanor.
——
Zhao Xi said he wasn’t angry, but he ignored Yuanbao for several days after returning until the final exam ended.
Zhao Xi packed his things and stood up, leaving the Study Room.
Yuanbao followed behind him, calling out, "Your Highness!"
Zhao Xi acted as if he didn’t hear him, stepping forward on the bluestone bricks with his Sunrise Boots.
Yuanbao sighed, "We’re already adults, still playing the silent treatment, how childish?"
Hearing this, Zhao Xi suddenly stopped, turned around, and extended his hand, "Give it to me."
"What?" Yuanbao was a bit bewildered.
"The mechanical beast blueprints," Zhao Xi said coldly.
Yuanbao remembered that, to prevent Zhao Xi from making a fool of himself by submitting the blueprints early to Emperor Guangxi, he once secretly hid the blueprints when Zhao Xi wasn’t paying attention.
Always thought Zhao Xi didn’t know, but now directly caught as a thief, Yuanbao calmly admitted, "I’ll give you the blueprints, but you have to promise not to be mad at me."
"Childish!" Zhao Xi turned his eyes away, "My mother has been busy preparing for Father’s Longevity Festival recently, I’ve merely been occupied helping her with strategies. How could you see that I’m angry?"
"Really not angry?" Yuanbao still didn’t believe it; no matter how busy one is, can’t be too busy to speak a word for several days, right? 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
Zhao Xi slightly furrowed his brow, "Blueprints."
"I don’t have them on me, I’ll give them to you when I return to the palace later," Yuanbao remembered the Longevity Festival, which happened to be Emperor Guangxi’s birthday, "Do you plan to give the blueprints as a birthday gift to the Emperor?"
"No." Zhao Xi quickly denied it.
"Why not give?" Yuanbao said, "On the day of the Longevity Festival, it’s a rare good opportunity. You hand over the blueprints, the achievements of your capabilities will be seen by the entire court, and surely someone will suggest nominating the Crown Prince. Would the Emperor refuse in front of so many people?"
Zhao Xi put his hands behind his back, looking at him, "Did you forget? The Divine Soldier Bureau conceals all information about the mechanical beast. Do you think Father would truly be delighted to crown me as Crown Prince upon seeing the blueprints at the Longevity Festival?"
"Ah, I forgot about that!" Yuanbao slapped his forehead, "If you hadn’t reminded me today, maybe I would have submitted them for you during the Longevity Festival."
Zhao Xi said, "Give me back the blueprints later, they’re not safe with you."
Yuanbao pressed his lips together, "Then what gift are you preparing for the Emperor?"
"Haven’t thought of one yet."
"Need my help to think of one?"
"No need." Yuanbao’s mind was full of crooked ideas; Zhao Xi couldn’t trust him.
"Give me some face, don’t reject so straightforwardly!" Yuanbao complained, "How could you know I won’t have a good idea without even trying?"
Zhao Xi: "Then why don’t you tell me, given my current status, what would be an appropriate gift to give?"
Yuanbao’s eyes turned, "Let me ask you, what is the Emperor most concerned about right now?"
"The war with West Yue."
"Isn’t that it!" Yuanbao snapped his fingers, smiling mysteriously, "If there were some auspicious signs from heaven now, indicating that we in Great Chu would win this war, do you think he would be happy?"
Zhao Xi directly frowned, "Do you want me to fabricate auspicious signs to deceive Father?"
"It’s just providing the Emperor with some emotional support, it can’t be considered deceiving the ruler, right?"
"Nonsense!"
