Chapter 3: Apology

Chapter 3: An Apology

"I've said what I needed to say, so I won't overstay my welcome. Tutor, no need to see me off." Yuan Rang gave a slight bow, stepped past Chen Shuoan, and made his way out of the hall.

Chen Jingxian snapped back to reality, his expression complicated 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 like he was in a real bind. "Fourteen. Though young in years, he's formidable. Now that the Crown Prince has all the power and the other princes are a bunch of mediocre no-names, if the Sixth Prince were to strive a bit harder, whether Yuan Qi can hold onto his position as Crown Prince is uncertain."

So he's a young prodigy.

Chen Shuoan, upon hearing this, thought that if Yuan Qi could be the protagonist, his abilities must be genuine.

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

But judging by his father's intentions, he seemed to want to side with 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 at all.

His dad could be a nuisance, but usually not a major one.

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, turn over a new leaf, and throw himself 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 across his face.

His father was exchanging pleasantries with Prime Minister Su.

"Like father, like son. Shuo'an is indeed a fine-looking..." Su Zheng tried to steer the conversation toward Chen Shuoan, intending to engage in some collegial mutual flattery, but when he looked up and caught sight of Chen Shuoan's hair—all wild and frizzy, like he'd been struck by lightning and it had bloomed into a crazy flower—he stammered 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, seriously my bad."

"..." Chen Jingxian had always thought his son merely had a bad temper, never imagining he wasn't right in the head. Now he needed to reassess him.

Seeing the tension escalating between father and son, Su Zheng quickly interjected to smooth things over, "It was just a bit of youthful mischief, nothing to take seriously. Tutor, there's no need to go to such lengths bringing your son here to apologize to my daughter."

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

Is that the attitude when your own daughter gets bullied? Just wait until your little sweetheart turns against you.

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

If this were the old Chen Shuoan, he'd have been hooked like a fish.

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 approve of the match.

Chen Shuoan was so moved he almost cried, feeling like his dad was radiating holy priest energy right now.

As a cannon fodder character, he'd sunk so low he wanted to tattoo "I'm not worthy" onto his DNA.

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

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

"Old pal, this is a cloud-pattern urn carved from Hetian jade. You're just giving this to me?" Su Zheng held the jade up for closer inspection, showing off as he spoke, "I've already got a few of these."

Chen Shuoan was still stewing over Su Zheng's earlier remarks.

Thinking this old geezer was getting a steal and still showing off, just to get under his skin, he shamelessly spoke up, "Then can I have it? I'm seventeen, and I've got zero shame."

"..." It was dead silent, like an ancestral hall at two in the morning.

Only Su Qingwan, who'd just shown up after hearing the ruckus, let out a stifled laugh before covering her mouth and going quiet.

"You good-for-nothing brat!" Chen Jingxian angrily kicked Chen Shuoan's ass, sending him stumbling right in front of Su Qingwan. "Apologize properly to the young lady! You're always up to no good!"

Chen Shuoan dared not be careless with the female lead. He dropped his goofy act and spoke in a tone so textbook it could be used in a Beijing Film Academy lecture.

"I'm really sorry, Fourth Miss. A few days ago, I was truly blinded by greed. I shouldn't have deliberately teased you, shouldn't have paid off your servants to rob you, shouldn't have hurt your feelings so badly. I shouldn't have..."

Su Qingwan was shocked he'd just confess his crimes in front of everyone, and couldn't help but feel embarrassed on his behalf. She quickly said, "Please, Young Master Chen, enough. I forgave you ages ago. I just hope you won't do stuff like this again."

Chen Shuoan naturally agreed right away, thinking to himself that the female lead really had a heart of gold.

————

On the way home, Dad started laying into his son. He thought Chen Shuoan had done a terrible job—worse than the neighbor Old Wang's three-year-old.

Chen Shuoan tuned out his dad's nasty comments, fully embracing the "in one ear, out the other" approach, and sticking to the "you talk, I sleep" policy of mutual non-interference, leaving his dad with nothing to do but rage-spit all over his face.

Hahahaha, was he actually a genius or what?

Chen Shuoan closed his eyes, pretending to sleep, feeling pretty smug about himself.