Lord Seventh Volume 1 Chapter 9

Jing Qi had always been the kind of person who knew how to take advantage of his inherently charming appearance. Particularly, everytime he met someone, he would always smile to some extent. When he laughed, the corners of his eyes and brows curved lightly, exuding a sense of sincerity, extremely likable.

As Wuxi was half-heartedly listening to Chen Yuanshan's ceremonious pleasantries, he simply felt that when people here met someone else, whether it was sincere or not, and regardless of how much they hated the other party, they would always don their face with a smile and warmly inquire about the person's well-being. It was awfully boring and hypocritical.

As if he was able to sense something similar, he turned his head around and happened to see the Nan Ning Wang that the emperor had just mentioned walking towards him. 

Without knowing why, when Wu Xi's eyes swept over Jing Qi, the latter immediately failed to keep that smiling face intact.

Everyone had said that South Xinjiang was the land of barbarians, where people were uncultured and no different from untamed beasts, living the primitive life of a savage. The moment the South Xinjiang child saw him approach, his body became evidently alert, and his muscles tensed up. He took a half step aside, appraising the other one as if all he needed was a glance to see through that this person was not as kind and harmless as how he appeared. 

Jing Qi realized that this child did not only look like a little wild beast but also possessed a beast-like intuition, capable of distinguishing the good people from the superficial and malice ones.

He touched his nose, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Then he faced Chen Yuanshan, cupping one fist in the other hand to pay respect, and said: "These days, Beiyuan I have much troubled Master Chen with my father's funeral arrangements, yet I did not have an opportunity to express my gratitude in person. I feel very ashamed."

"His Majesty missed His Highness the late Prince. This lowly official only wished to share the burdens with His Majesty, I would not dare to mention any merit. Still, I beg Your Highness to restrain your grief." Chen Yuanshan half lowered his head, "Both of you, this way, please." 

When it came to dealing with people, the Minister of Court of State Ceremonial Chen Yuanshan was smooth and clever like an egg without any crack. He kept a perfect distance from everyone, neither too far nor too close. Those under the First and Second Princes had been like swarms of flies waiting to bite hard at His Majesty's favorite aide. Unfortunately, even until now, they had not got a single chance to strike their attack. During later years, even the Crown Prince He Lianyi would also vaguely express his thoughts on soliciting support from the man.

Even Jing Qi's sweet talks and subtle befriending attempts were thwarted and countered with just a few words; the other party even reasserted his reputation for unyielding patriotism, loyalty to the throne, and awe-inspiring righteousness. Still, Jing Qi was not upset about this; he felt like he actually understood a few things about this Minister of Court of State Ceremonial.

Wiping the fake smile off his face, he turned to Wu Xi and said: "You gentlemen have just arrived to the capital, there are many trivial things like food, clothes, lodging, and transportation that will have to trouble Master Chen to help arranging. I am overstepping my authority as I carry out His Majesty's Order to entertain our honored guests and properly fulfill the host's roles."

When this person no longer wore a smiling face, he suddenly seemed to have a special kind of calm and reliable disposition. For an unexpected moment, Wu Xi felt that that this young man and the Great Sorcerer from the faraway South Xinjiang were somewhat alike. He could not help but feeling stunned a little, his slightly hostile attitude from earlier withered away considerably.

Following after what Chen Yuanshan had said, he asked in the most natural way: "Did your father die?"

The word "die" itself was already a bad omen and a taboo subject, let alone the person mentioned here was the late Nan Ning Wang, making it even more disrespectful. Chen Yuanshan paused for a moment and warily studied the look in Jing Qi's eyes, afraid that this loose-tongued, tactless South Xinjiang Sorcerer had offended the little lord. 

Chen Yuanshan thought, although Nan Ning Wang was still young, he had been raised in the palace since childhood, and grown up alongside with the princes --  whether it was due to the emperor's beautiful friendship with the late Prince, or due to the love affairs involved these noble men in the first place that made one half laugh half cry, what happened happened. Anyway, people with eyes would be able realize that despite his current lack of power and status, he had a special place in His Majesty He Lianpei's heart and was favored slightly more compared to his own three sons.

With his identity as the hostage, the South Xinjiang Sorcerer had already been in an awkward situation; additionally, his temperament did not seem like the type that one could easily deal with. Not too long after his arrival, he had already provoked the First Prince faction, if this time even Nan Ning Wang was also involved, Chen Yuanshan thought, it would truly be "too many lices to itch, too many enemies to bother."

Just when he finally came up with a few words to help them reconcile, he saw Jing Qi nonchalantly nodded his head and said: "It has already been over a year."

"Oh, so it has been ages." Wuxi looked at him as if he had understood everything clearly, and said, "No wonder when your father's death was brought up, I noticed you didn't look very sad. That's because it has been so long."

Chen Yuanshan immediately piped down. He felt that this sorcerer youth from South Xinjiang was like a baby who was not only too curious but also completely unaware of the immensity of heaven and earth, so he just went ahead and reached out to pat the tiger's butt. This tiger was only half awake, thus it was too lazy to even bother about the child. He even thought there was no problem about that, so he continued and lifted up its face to twist the whiskers. 

Chen Yuanshan firmly believed that if someone like this sorcerer youth could live a safe and stable life at this place in the future, it would be considered a great miracle. 

As expected, Jing Qi slightly frowned and countered back with a question: "The three-year mourning period has not ended yet, and Young Sorcerer is already implying that I am an unfilial son?"

Look, even a clay statue had three parts of its temperament, let alone his royal highness, a kid who hadn't fully grown up. Chen Yuanshan could not tell which part the emperor did not properly think through that he had to go find a child to babysit another child. Is he afraid that these two will not fight each other or what? 

The minister felt obliged to offer an apologetic smile and said: "Father and son are naturally connected by flesh and blood, and the bond they share is strong. Why would His Little Royal Highness have any reason to not feel sorrow? It is just that the wounds in a person's heart are not the same as the body wounds; they cannot be seen with just one glance. The heart wounds always stay hidden inside one's chest. With what Young Sorcerer just said, wouldn't that belittle His Little Royal Highness's wish to fulfill his filial piety?"

Wuxi was speechless for a moment, "I… didn't mean it that way. I didn't say you were bad." He glanced at Jing Qi once, contemplated about it for a while, and explained, "A Xin Lai's father died while fighting in the war. He went to retrieve his father's body from the battlefield and carried it home. Both of his sister and mother wept and cried out loud. Although he didn't cry, we were still able to tell that he was in agony -- the look that you have is not the same as his."

Chapter end