Chapter 12

Chapter 12

These words sounded familiar, like he'd heard them in some past life. He remembered how he'd desperately explained back then that he was no longer the old Lu Yunqi, that he had reformed and only wanted to get along with him.

But things rarely went the way he wanted. Murong Jie's gaze was so cold it was scary, like he was doomed to die.

In this life, he'd given up trying. He grabbed Murong Jie's chin and said, "What? Got a grudge in your gut?"

Murong Jie said coldly, "How could I possibly hold a grudge against Young Lord Lu?"

Lu Yunqi let out a light chuckle: "You'd better not. I don't even take your brothers seriously, let alone a pretty boy like you. But there's one thing you've got that your brothers don't. After all, you've got the best face in the whole Murong family."

With that, he yanked Murong Jie close and planted one on his lips.

Passersby on the street couldn't help but gasp, but didn't dare say a word and hurried off.

Lu Yunqi felt secretly smug, thinking: Perfect, Murong Jie, even if you do kill me someday, you'll be charged with murdering your own husband.

Heh heh, just watch me gross you out.

They arrived at the Second Prince's Cheng Manor, where Prince Cheng himself was standing at the gate to welcome him.

Seeing Lu Yunqi approach, he hurried forward with clasped hands: "Young Lord Lu's presence truly brings honor to my humble manor!"

Lu Yunqi staggered as he got down from the carriage: "Greetings, Prince Cheng. Since it's your birthday today, I had to come in person to congratulate you. Just a small gift, hardly worth mentioning."

With a wave of his hand, several servants came forward carrying gifts.

He added pointedly: "And those two are from His Highness Prince Cang."

The Second Prince glanced at his rather pathetic sixth brother and said with a fake smile: "Young Lord Lu flatters him. It's thanks to you that he got the title of Prince Cang. Otherwise, Father would never have remembered him in a million years."

The dog emperor hated Murong Jie not just because of his foreign blood, but also because of the shady stuff he himself had done in his youth.

Consort Rui of the Yuezi tribe had originally been the queen of the Yuezi King. When the Yuezi came to pay tribute, the dog emperor, drunk, harassed her and that very night snuck into the queen's tent and raped her.

Two months later, when the Yuezi King and Queen were about to head home, it turned out the queen was pregnant.

The Yuezi King had planned to just swallow this bitter pill, but when the emperor found out, he forced the queen to become his consort, claiming royal blood couldn't be left outside the palace. Later, afraid of getting exposed, he ordered Lu Tong to march on the Yuezi and wipe them out.

Maybe that's when the grudge between Murong Jie and the Lu family started.

When Consort Rui found out the truth, she went to confront the emperor while heavily pregnant, which caused her to go into early labor. The emperor punished her by demoting her to a lower rank.

Later, unable to bear the guilt, Consort Rui hanged herself.

This was why Murong Jie lived like a ghost in the palace—because whenever the emperor saw him, he was reminded of his own past sins and would never willingly see this son.

Lu Yunqi glanced at the Second Prince and said, "Prince Cheng, Prince Cang is my man now. You better watch your mouth! Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude."

Prince Cheng knew Lu Yunqi was quite into this barbarian bastard, so he immediately put on a smile and gestured for him to come in: "Young Lord speaks truly. Please, right this way."

Lu Yunqi snorted coldly, thinking: These people all bow to his father's authority, so of course they have to treat him like a god.

Murong Jie followed behind him, his fiery red robes even more striking under the blazing sun, making his face stunningly beautiful but his expression even colder and scarier.

Lu Yunqi thought: Go ahead and be mad! Die of anger, for all I care. That gloomy ghost doesn't deserve any sympathy.

Prince Cheng escorted Lu Yunqi to his seat. The First and Third Princes were already there. When they saw him come in, everyone stood up to pay their respects.

Lu Yunqi waved casually and sat in the seat of honor, saying, "Quite lively today, huh? The three princes really are brothers from the same mother—so united."

You gotta admit, the Empress knew how to raise her kids. These three princes were as tight as an iron barrel. In the previous nine lifetimes, besides his father Lu Tong, these three were the toughest for Murong Jie to deal with.

They were all united in pushing their eldest brother onto the throne, which made it super hard to pick them off one by one.

Especially since the emperor doted on these three sons, plus the prestige of the Empress's family's Civil Official Bloc, Murong Jie's path to rebellion was long and tough.

The gloomy ghost sat there motionless beside him, looking like he was doing nothing but definitely plotting something in his head.

You gotta admit, these legitimate princes were favored by the Civil Official Bloc—over half the court officials showed up.

And every single one of these civil officials hated Lu Yunqi.

Especially after word got around that he'd asked the emperor to betroth him to the Sixth Prince, and Lu Tong not only didn't stop it but actually forced the emperor to agree—their disgust for him hit new heights.

Now at the banquet, their faces soured at the sight of Lu Yunqi. When they looked further and saw Murong Jie, their faces got even uglier.

Prime Minister Li, a veteran of three reigns, snorted in disdain and went to sit at the upper right.

Anyone else would've ignored him, but not Lu Yunqi. He muttered "old geezer" under his breath and said with heavy sarcasm: "Oh, isn't this Prime Minister Li? I heard you recently took a ninth concubine? Two years younger than your granddaughter, isn't she? Tsk tsk tsk, you're truly... vigorous in old age!"

Prime Minister Li glared furiously: "You—!"

Lu Yunqi, unafraid, bounced his leg: "Me what? Am I not speaking the truth? A man with hairy legs sees everyone else as demons. For a literary titan like you, you really have no shame at your age!"

Prime Minister Li cursed: "How dare you, you snot-nosed brat!"

Lu Yunqi grinned: "Dare? Why wouldn't I dare? Think I didn't hear you snort at me just now? I've never taken crap from anyone in my life. Even the emperor was willing to marry his son off to me—what right does an old fool like you have to speak?"

With that, he pulled Murong Jie close and planted a kiss on his lips: "So what? I'm marrying him, I'm marrying him! Not only am I marrying him, I'm showing him off everywhere! Last night we were at it till the wee hours—I wonder if you, Prime Minister Li, can even last half a cup of tea anymore?"

Prime Minister Li was about to vomit blood from rage. Just as the two sides were about to come to blows, the First Prince stepped in to mediate: "Teacher, Young Lord Lu, please both calm down. Today is my second brother's birthday. Do it for his sake—let's keep the peace, keep the peace."

This First Prince was a master of smoothing things over, having inherited his emperor father's talent for playing dumb and feigning weakness, calling it the doctrine of the mean.

That wasn't the doctrine of the mean—that was spinelessness!

But Lu Yunqi hadn't come looking for trouble anyway. He collapsed bonelessly into Murong Jie's arms and said lazily: "Since the First Prince has spoken, what more can I say? My beauty, feed me some wine."

He opened his mouth, and Murong Jie, without a word, cooperatively poured wine and fed it to him.

The court officials couldn't bear to watch, all pursing their lips in silence.

The three princes could only laugh awkwardly, until finally a servant broke the tense atmosphere: "Prince Cheng, Miss Xie Lianyi has arrived and is preparing in the back. Shall I have her come perform her dance?"

Prince Cheng immediately said: "Oh? Is that so? Then please, invite Miss Xie to come dance!"

A young scholar perked up: "Miss Xie? You mean the top courtesan of Tianhuan Tower, Miss Xie Lianyi?"

Prince Cheng replied: "Indeed! Today I'm honored to have Miss Xie perform for us. You gentlemen are in for a treat."

The scholar's expression filled with longing: "I've heard Miss Xie is a disciple of the Poetry Immortal, Fairy Liuyi. She performs only to seek out talents across the realm, and all her earnings go to the poor and to orphanages. Even when the emperor summons her, he must first send a formal request, and she even has the right to refuse. For the Second Prince to earn Miss Xie's favor, you must have some remarkable credentials!"

Prince Cheng smiled modestly: "Nothing much. I happened to compose a poem the other day that was collected by Miss Xie into the Poetry Anthology's Colorful Edition. I simply had the nerve to invite the Poetry Immortal's disciple here to grace us with a dance."

Lu Yunqi furrowed his brow and whispered to Murong Jie: "Have you ever heard of this Poetry Immortal?"

Murong Jie nodded: "Fairy Liuyi, the Poetry Immortal, once saved the Emperor's life and was gifted a brocade-and-jade imperial decree. Later, she traveled to the Jin State, rescued them from a great drought, and was made a Lady of the Highest Order by the Jin Emperor. She also tutored the Prince of Yan in his studies and was honored as the Imperial Tutor. Her brilliance has long been held in high esteem across the Central Plains."

Lu Yunqi let out an "Oh" and thought to himself, damn, this new character just unlocked is a beast—he'd never seen anything like this in his past nine lives, and now, in his last one, the game was cranking up the difficulty?

A lady scholar of that caliber—now that's interesting.

But the disciple of a great scholar is hanging out in brothels and dancing for a prince—what the hell is that about?

Lu Yunqi flicked his fan open and gave it a few showy waves, figuring today's show was gonna be a real treat.

At that moment, a massive drum was carried into the venue, its surface carved with blooming peonies, surrounded by seven smaller drums, each as white as pearls.

A lilting, murmuring melody started up, and two lines of dancers holding crimson silk scarves encircled the drums. They tossed the scarves high into the air, and as they descended, a woman as beautiful as a swallow revealed herself.

Man, she was a knockout!

Even Lu Yunqi was momentarily dazzled, thinking to himself, was this a real-life Zhao Feiyan?

The woman stepped barefoot onto the drum, golden bells tied at her ankles, producing a rhythmic thumping sound. With the beat, her waist twisted and flowed like moving clouds and running water.

For the first time, Lu Yunqi understood what it meant to be "graceful as a light cloud veiling the moon, drifting like snow caught in the wind."

==========Author's Note:==========

Note: "Graceful as a light cloud veiling the moon, drifting like snow caught in the wind" — from Cao Zhi's "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River."