Coming Kingly Son-in-Law: Don't Provoke the First Daughter - Chapter 21

Chapter 21 Your Royal Highness, Do You Fall in Love with Me?
Shen Qianshan was deeply confused. However, when he gazed at Gu Qiang’s scrunched face, he couldn’t help stretching out his hand and hoped to soothe her from all pain and difficulties.

“Um…”

The two servant girls both held their breath. Just before Shen Qianshan’s finger touched Gu Qiang’s cheek, a swift figure flew over and landed on the ground at an appropriate speed. He saluted to Shen Qianshan in a low but clear voice, “Your Royal Highness! I’ve got the ginseng lotus!”

It was a long way from the Duke’s House to Gu Mansion. Only An Ye could fly so fast.

He thought that he could make up for not taking good care of Miss Gu in this way.

An Ye felt excited to think that. But when looking up, he was greeted with his master’s face as dark as the bottom of a pan, and got startled.

Before An Ye said anything, Shen Qianshan had returned to his expressionless state. He glanced at the body on the ground and took the pill case while ordering coldly, “Dispose of the body.”

Then An Ye noticed that Miss Gu was in his master’s arms. When he saw the two servant girls swallow back words on the tip of their tongues, his heart jolted, as he had a sense of foreboding:

Did he come at an awkward time?

What the Ninth Duke said next confirmed it. Shen Qianshan looked at the two servant girls and said coldly, “He will help you. Dispose of the body as your master instructed.”

“Your Royal Highness, please allow us to explain!”

The two servant girls exchanged their glances tacitly and then bowed to Shen Qianshan, “The evil guy of Song Family broke into Lady’s room. She was forced to…”

“I don’t want to hear your explanation.”

Glancing at the pale-faced girl who closed her eyes in his arms, Shen Qianshan stood up and interrupted drily, “If I want to hear the explanation, I will ask your master to tell me.”

He paused and then ordered with a murderous look, “You mustn’t tell what happened tonight to anyone else, or…”

He didn’t complete his sentence, but the coldness in his eyes made the two servant girls shudder. An Ye became clever. He picked up the body on the ground. Though shocked by Gu Qiang’s cruelty in the heart, he didn’t show his feeling and just gesticulated to the two servant girls, “Please.”

After the two servant girls went far, Shen Qianshan turned around, looked with a faint smile at the girl who still flushed in his arms, and asked slowly,

“Miss Gu, how long are you going to pretend to sleep?”

Gu Qiang’s eyelashes fluttered suddenly. She had come around indeed. After taking the pill, she came to her senses slowly. But she was unclear about what was going on, so she pretended to sleep and waited to see what Shen Qianshan would do.

Unexpectedly, it had been found by him.

Since she had been seen through, she couldn’t continue to pretend. She opened her eyes quickly and struggled to break free from his arms. She was still limp but managed to give a salute to Shen Qianshan, “My Royal Highness, I’m grateful for your rescue.”

“You’re not panicky at all.”

Shen Qianshan looked at her with great interest and finally fixed his impenetrable eyes on her cloak, “Scheme against your stepmother, set a trap with Changning’s help, turn down your arranged marriage in public and even murder a person. Gu Qiang, since you dropped into the water on the Lantern Festival, I’ve looked at you with new eyes.”

All her schemes were listed clearly and lightly. She froze, “Your Royal Highness, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t you know?”

Her chin was lifted suddenly. She raised her head subconsciously and just met Shen Qianshan’s meaningful and inquisitive eyes. He said word by word, “Tell me. What do you want on earth?”

She was a teenager but dared to scheme and kill a man. However, according to his investigations, Gu Qiang used to be subservient and uncalculating. Why did she have so many grievances and schemes?

“Who are you? Why did you do those things?”

“Your Royal Highness, what’s the relationship with you?”

Contrasted with his anxiety, Gu Qiang’s tone was calm. She mentioned it lightly as if she was talking about something unrelated to her, “I’m a member of Gu Family. These affairs are about Gu Family. Your Royal Highness, you are well-known for your coldness in the capital. Why are you so concerned about my business? Is it because…”

“Is it because you fall in love with me?”

Though Shen Qianshan was of cold personality, he was choked by Gu Qiang’s question.

“Haha!” Satisfied with his choked expression, Gu Qiang pushed away his hand from her chin with a smile, “Of course, it’s impossible. Do you have your eyes on something else?”

She wore a smile, but she was nervous actually. She knew it was offensive to Shen Qianshan, but now she had no choice.

What happened tonight made her realize that even she had the diary, there were few people she could command and few things she could do in Gu Family.

She needed allies and help.

Shen Qianshan was the best choice.

But Shen Qianshan laughed, “What if I fall in love with you?”

She turned around to look at him with faint eyes and pressed her lips lightly. Her luminous eyes showed that she thought it unbelievable.

She wanted an ally rather than a man. Now she even couldn’t dominate her own fate. How could she put what he said on her mind?

But she felt clearly that her heart was moved. Everything developed too fast. When he said it, she even felt that time flied before her.

“My Royal Highness, you must be joking.” She sniffed and moved her stiff body away from him so that she didn’t look so embarrassed.

He kept staring attentively at her. His eyes were so sincere that she was absent-minded for a moment. They looked like a bottomless pool.

But he had a joking expression. The smile at his lips was faint but couldn’t be ignored.

“Are you really unaware of it?” Though he knew she didn’t want to be close to him, he walked two steps forward. She was greeted with his faint smell of perfume in surprise.

Unaware of what? Gu Qiang became restless instantly. The Ninth Duck had no relationship with her at all. Though they had met several times, they were not acquainted, and it was still far away from opening their hearts to each other.

She felt strange but still kept her countenance. He stopped smiling and said after a short silence, “I didn’t see what happened today.”

His voice was clear and pleasant to hear. She looked up and moved close to him. Without caring about the etiquette, she asked quietly and excitedly, “My Royal Highness, do you mean you will keep it secret for me?”

He nodded. His handsome face seemed delicate, cold and a little amorous.

Before she expressed her gratitude, he had flown away over the wall. His breath flashed across her face and disappeared immediately.

She bit her lips. Though he didn’t seem to be a bad guy and even always came to protect her when she was in danger, she couldn’t let down her guard. Even her family couldn’t be trusted. How could she be so stupid as to believe an outsider?

When Ting Feng and Chui Xue came back, they saw their Lady standing on the open ground. It was dark around and nothing could be seen clearly. But Gu Qiang seemed to be shining and could be seen instantly in the dark.

They came to Gu Qiang and found that her arm was not swollen anymore. Though she was in a trance, she looked much better. It meant the duke appearing suddenly rescued the poisoned Lady.

“My Lady, it’s windy. Why not return to the yard?” Ting Feng asked.

Chui Xue looked down, found her hands stained with Song Yun’s blood, and felt nervous at once.

Honestly speaking, though Ting Feng and Chui Xue had served Gu Qiang in the Prime Minister Mansion for so many years, they had never experienced so many things. Their Lady had changed her personality and even killed a person…with ease.

The two servant girls felt that life became exciting and meanwhile they had to burden great mental stress.

Gu Qiang came to her sense and asked them, “Have you taken Song Yun away?”

Ting Feng nodded. Scared by the Ninth Duke, they had to deal with it perfectly.

At midnight, moonlight filtered into the small and rough room through the window. Gu Qiang was sitting before the window. Her arm had almost recovered after being poisoned. Though she nearly lost her life, she had got a kind of poison by the chance. No pains, no gains.

She opened the diary and it was blank. She felt down. What was written in it had disappeared without a trace.

She kept silent for a while and then wrote, “At the spring feast today, Ye failed to scheme against me and got her daughter in trouble instead…”

Then she felt relieved. Gu Zhihua was usually mindless. She was not only stupid but always had evil intentions. If she didn’t have such a mother unluckily, she might not live such a muddled life.

Now, it’s the 7th year of Jianyuan. Gu Qiang walked around confusedly in the palace. It was too large. Since becoming the Empress, she had always thought the palace was hers. But now standing on the main hall, she found the palace was too large to see its bound.

Just like human’s heart, seeing was not necessarily believing.

She took out her diary and opened it. Today, she always took it out and had a look whenever and wherever possible to see what she did on the day fifteen years ago.

By the moonlight, words emerged one by one on the second page of the diary. She read them and couldn’t help crying.

She wept silently. When tears dropped onto the diary, they disappeared instantly.