Chapter 3: Apology

Chapter 3: Apology

"The message has been delivered, and I must not overstay my welcome. Tutor, no need to see me off." Yuan Rang gave a slight bow, stepped past Chen Shuoan with his long legs, and walked out of the hall.

Chen Jingxian snapped back to reality, his expression complex as he said, "I bid you farewell, Your Highness."

Chen Shuoan watched the slender figure disappear at the end of the corridor, then couldn't help asking his father, "How old is the Sixth Prince this year?"

Chen Jingxian looked up at the sky, feeling his current predicament was dire and bitter: "Fourteen. He looks young, but he's formidable. Now that the Crown Prince dominates alone and the other princes are mediocre and incompetent, if the Sixth Prince were to strive a bit more, whether Yuan Qi can hold onto his position as Crown Prince is uncertain."

Turns out he's just a young lad.

Chen Shuoan, upon hearing Chen Jingxian's words, thought that if Yuan Qi could be the protagonist, his skills must be the real deal.

In the original book, Yuan Qi had always held the position of Crown Prince steadily. If Yuan Rang wanted to seize power, it would be difficult.

But judging by his father's intentions, he seemed to want to back the Sixth Prince, yet was troubled by Yuan Rang's youth and lack of favor from the Emperor, so he hadn't made any major moves.

Heh.

In the eyes of the protagonist group: Chen Jingxian's major moves = no moves.

His father could cause trouble for people, but usually not too much trouble.

Chen Shuoan had received years of quality education and knew well that opposing the protagonist never ends well.

He needed to persuade his father to abandon the idea of undermining Yuan Qi, mend his ways, and pour his heart into building a prosperous, strong, beautiful, and harmonious Great Rong Dynasty.

————

Chen Shuoan stood with his back to the still-chilly spring breeze, his hair blown into a mess all over his face.

His father was exchanging pleasantries with Prime Minister Su.

"Like father, like son. Shuo'an is indeed a fine figure of a..." Su Zheng tried to steer the conversation toward Chen Shuoan, about to engage in the usual mutual flattery between colleagues, when he looked up and caught sight of Chen Shuoan's hair, which looked like he'd stuck his finger in a socket, exploding like a dandelion in full bloom. He exclaimed in shock, "...young man."

Chen Shuoan quickly brushed the hair from his face, revealing his fair, lively features, and gave an awkward smile: "My bad, really my bad."

"..." Chen Jingxian had always thought his son merely had a bad temper, never imagining he was a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Now he needed to reassess him.

Seeing the tension escalating between father and son, Su Zheng quickly interjected to smooth things over: "It's just kids being kids, nothing to take seriously. Tutor, you didn't have to go through all this trouble to bring your son here to apologize to my daughter."

Chen Shuoan frowned at this, thinking Su Zheng was a terribly inadequate father.

That's the attitude you have when your own daughter gets bullied? Wait till your little princess turns into a pain in the neck.

Seeing his agitated expression, Su Zheng misinterpreted it: "If your son truly admires my daughter, I could make the decision to betroth her to your Chen family."

Had this been the old Chen Shuoan, he'd have taken the bait hook, line, and sinker.

But now he just wanted to kneel down and kowtow to Su Zheng twice.

Uncle, please, for the love of God, shut up!

"Hey, look at him—he's not good enough for her." Chen Jingxian cut in promptly, making it clear he didn't agree to the match.

Chen Shuoan was moved to tears, feeling that at this moment his father glowed like a saint.

As a throwaway character, he'd now reached the point of wanting to tattoo "I'm not worthy" on his forehead.

"It's my daughter who's not good enough for your son," Su Zheng said with a hearty laugh. Seeing no one responding, he dropped the subject.

Su Zheng picked up the gift box on the table, opened it, and laughed even louder.

"Old friend, this is a cloud-pattern urn carved from Hetian jade. You're just giving this to me?" Su Zheng held up the jade to examine it closely, bragging as he said, "I've already got a few like this."

Chen Shuoan was still pissed about Su Zheng running his mouth.

Thinking this old fellow was getting a steal and still acting smug, just to get under his skin, he shamelessly spoke up: "Then can I have it? I'm seventeen this year, and I'm shameless like that."

"..." Silence fell all around. You could hear a pin drop.

Only Su Qingwan, who had just arrived upon hearing the commotion, let out a snort before covering her mouth and going quiet.

"You good-for-nothing!" Chen Jingxian angrily kicked Chen Shuoan in the rear, sending him stumbling to stand before Su Qingwan. "Apologize to the young lady properly! Always up to no good!"

Chen Shuoan wasn't about to mess with the female lead. He dropped the goofball act and spoke in a tone so textbook it could be used as a demo reel at film school.

"I truly apologize, Fourth Miss. A few days ago, I was straight-up blinded by greed. I shouldn't have deliberately teased you, shouldn't have paid off your servants to rob you, shouldn't have hurt you so badly. I shouldn't have..."

Su Qingwan was shocked he'd just lay it all out like that in front of so many people, and couldn't help but cringe for him. She quickly said, "Young Master Chen, please, enough. I forgave you ages ago. I only hope you won't do such things in the future."

Chen Shuoan naturally agreed immediately, thinking the female lead really was a saint.

————

On the way back to the residence, Father Chen started laying into his son, personally believing that Chen Shuoan had performed terribly, not even as well-behaved as Old Wang's three-year-old next door.

Chen Shuoan turned a deaf ear to his father's malicious comments, fully implementing the "in one ear, out the other" philosophy of not listening, and thoroughly carrying out the "you talk, I sleep" policy of mutual non-interference, leaving his dad with nothing to do but fume and spit in his face.

Hahahaha, could he really be a genius?

Chen Shuoan closed his eyes, feigning sleep, thinking smugly.