The Foolish Agent

Chapter 44

Then the early risers startled the dogs, causing them to bark. I've never liked the sound of dogs barking as much as I do now.

Listening to the melodious crowing of roosters and barking of dogs, Leng Jie couldn't help but let out a long sigh:

"Phew! I finally made it through the night!"

"It's alright, we'll stay with you today and try our best not to let you fall asleep. That way, I can sleep soundly until tomorrow morning," Qingfeng comforted him.

Xuanyuan stood up and replied:

"Don't worry, we'll be with you these next few days. Now that the King's curse has been lifted, we just need to wait to participate in the martial arts tournament."

Before Xuanyuan could finish speaking, a deep, magnetic baritone voice came from the doorway.

"Yes, leave the rest to me!"

With the sound, a tall, slender, mature, and composed figure walked in from outside the door. The newcomer wore a silver-gray brocade scholar's robe, with a jade pendant of a qilin hanging from his waist. His jet-black hair was casually tied back with a ribbon matching his robe, the ribbon and the smooth strands falling naturally over his shoulders, giving him an elegant and profound air. A single strand of hair falling across his forehead added a touch of fierceness. His brows exuded unparalleled arrogance. Beneath his thick, bushy eyebrows were a pair of deep, dark eyes like a cold pool, a high-bridged nose, and slightly full lips set in a well-defined, square face. He was both aloof and resolute. A truly cool and handsome man!

"Little Shi Yu?" Leng Jie blurted out in surprise. The change was too drastic! Apart from the faint resemblance in his eyes, he was completely unrecognizable as a child. No wonder his personal maid didn't recognize his miniature form.

Shi Yu wasn't surprised by their expressions at all, because after he shrunk, he hadn't even recognized himself. Then, when he left the palace, the servants and maids teased him. But the most outrageous one was Leng Jie; knowing who he was, she still treated him like a child. Now, the first thing he wanted to do was to get revenge and reclaim his masculine dignity.

"Please drop the 'little' part. Now you should call me Brother Xiuyu!"

The witty remark, delivered in a deep baritone voice, was utterly unappealing. It immediately sent shivers down the spine. Leng Jie was clearly uncomfortable lying on her back, otherwise she would have thrown up already. Right now, all she could do was roll her eyes.

"Xiao Jie calls you brother? Give me a break!" Qingfeng sneered at Shi Yu, "She calls the Emperor by his full name. Do you think you can suppress her just because you're a prince now?"

Because laughing would aggravate the wound. Leng Jie suppressed her laughter so hard her intestines felt like they were about to tie themselves in knots before she finally stopped, and then said in a serious tone:

"Haven't you heard the saying 'A teacher for a day is a father for life'? Similarly, I've been your older brother for a month, so I'll be your older brother for life! Even if you suddenly become a hundred years old, in my eyes you will always be that good younger brother who calls me older brother."

"Hmph!" Shi Yu snorted coldly, abandoning any semblance of humor. He said seriously, "That was just to cover things up. How can you take a performance seriously? I'm much older than you, so why can't I call you my older brother?"

Seeing that Shi Yu was serious, Xuanyuan worried that he might say something that would anger Leng Jie and cause her wound to hurt again. So he quickly smoothed things over, saying:

"Doesn't Xiu Yu want to know who broke the curse for you?"

"Isn't it Your Majesty? I was just about to thank you!" Shi Yu paused for a moment, then asked in return.

"I am truly ashamed. I only just heard about this from Qingfeng. The method to break the curse was Xiaojie's idea, and Qingfeng helped you break the curse. So we should all thank them," Xuanyuan said sincerely.

Shi Yu suddenly lowered his head. A fiery gaze from his deep eyes shot directly at Leng Jie on the bed. Looking into her clear eyes, it seemed he wanted to melt her, to draw her into his soul. Focused and affectionate. His clear, magnetic voice slowly emanated:

"You went to the Prince's mansion alone just to break the curse on me, right?"

A question posed with certainty. Leng Jie had to admire his shrewdness; he had immediately connected the dots. She couldn't help but tease him:

"Yeah! Touched, aren't you? I'm definitely going to be your older sister this time!"

Shi Yu didn't answer, but stared intently at Leng Jie for a moment with burning eyes. Suddenly, he turned around, bent his knees, and knelt down before Xuan Yuan with a thud. He solemnly and earnestly prostrated himself and said:

"Your Majesty, I humbly request that you grant me this marriage!"

Shi Yu's kneeling proposal was swift and seamless, leaving the other three people in the room completely stunned.

Xuanyuan reached out to stop Shi Yu from kneeling. But his hand froze halfway through when he heard Shi Yu's words. His heart skipped a beat. He didn't want to marry Xiao Jie, did he?!

Qingfeng stared at Shiyu in astonishment. He had better not be talking about Xiaojie!

Leng Jie lowered her eyelids in surprise, glancing at Shi Yu's head. (Because she was lying down, she could only see his head.) She thought to herself, "Please, please don't say you're going to give him to me!"

Ignoring the stunned expressions of the three, Shi Yu continued his thunderous speech:

"When I was in the capital with Miss Leng Jie, we shared a room and a bed and lived like husband and wife for half a month. We also went through several trials of life and death together..."

These words immediately triggered a series of earth-shattering consequences.

Xuanyuan jumped up from the chair as if he had been pricked in the butt with a needle.

Then, with a "bang!", Qingfeng's buttocks tilted, and he fell to the ground along with the chair.

"Ugh!" Leng Jie closed her eyes and let out a sigh! She simply couldn't bear to watch. "Married life"—how could he even think of that? A six-year-old brat and a sixteen-year-old girl sleeping in the same bed—that's husband and wife? And he actually dared to formally request the Emperor to bestow a marriage upon them. He must be out of his mind, spouting nonsense. If it were just a game of make-believe, it might be more like marriage. Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind.

Leng Jie suddenly opened her eyes, turned her head towards Shi Yu, and asked in surprise:

"Shi Yu, you didn't recover physically, but your IQ has shrunk again, did you?"

All three turned their gazes to Leng Jie. Shi Yu's face darkened abruptly, and he asked in a cold voice:

"What do you mean? Are you saying I'm naive?"

Leng Jie said seriously, "Uh, I'm worried that the spell might leave you with some aftereffects."

Seeing the concern and sincerity overflowing in Leng Jie's clear, cold eyes, devoid of her usual teasing demeanor, Shi Yu's facial features immediately softened. His icy voice returned to its magnetic baritone tone. His affectionate gaze fixed on Leng Jie as he said:

"Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine now!"

Leng Jie shivered involuntarily under his burning gaze. She finally realized, belatedly, that he was serious!

Seeing that Leng Jie remained silent, Shi Yu turned to Xuan Yuan and continued his plea:

"Please grant me permission, Your Majesty!"

Xuanyuan unconsciously took two steps back, then looked at Leng Jie and said:

"You'll have to ask Xiaojie for her opinion on this. I can't make the decision myself!"

"Xiao Jie already promised me. You are the Emperor and also her sect leader. As long as you give your approval, we will get married as soon as Xiao Jie recovers."

Before Shi Yu could finish her sentence, Leng Jie already felt two pairs of sharp, icy gazes directed at her. But she had no time to pay them any attention. She was confused by the phrase, "Xiao Jie already promised me." Interrupting Shi Yu, she asked疑惑地问道:

"When did I promise you anything? Can you be more specific?"

Four cold, sharp gazes simultaneously turned to Shi Yu.

Shi Yu turned back to look at Leng Jie and said:

"That day on the city wall of the capital, you said that men and women should be different and you didn't want to hug me. Then I promised you that once my curse was lifted, I would marry you. You laughed and said then, 'Wait until my curse is lifted before you hug me.' You haven't forgotten that, have you?"

Good heavens, for a grown man to say something like that, hugging and cuddling, is incredibly ambiguous and leaves much to the imagination. Sure enough, two exclamations of surprise, anger, doubt, and disbelief rang out simultaneously:

Is he telling the truth?

Leng Jie quickly explained, "That was a joke, you didn't take it seriously, did you? He was only six years old then." She held back the last part of her sentence, not daring to say it aloud.

Qingfeng glared fiercely at Leng Jie and asked sharply, "You said you'd wait until he broke the curse before hugging him? Doesn't that mean you already knew he was a twenty-six-year-old adult, and yet you still... you still..." and slept in the same bed with him? These words were like a fishbone stuck in his throat, impossible to spit out or swallow. Qingfeng felt extremely uncomfortable.

Xuanyuan stared at Leng Jie with disappointment, his eyes filled with an indescribable mix of emotions—regret, resentment, and reluctance…

“But he was only six years old at the time!” Leng Jie emphasized innocently and helplessly. “You wouldn’t take a six-year-old’s marriage proposal seriously, would you? That’s just childhood banter at most!”

“But I’m twenty-six years old, and you didn’t object when I made that promise to you,” Shi Yu kindly reminded her. “That’s why I didn’t object when we slept together later.”

Leng Jie felt a chill run down her spine. What did he mean by "no objection to sharing a bed"? It was as if he'd been taken advantage of. She quickly spoke up to stop him:

"Please, you're a grown man now, not a six-year-old. Stop using those ambiguous terms like 'sharing a bed' and 'hugging' with me, okay? People who don't know the context will definitely misunderstand. They'll think I did something to you!"

“I’ve always been a man, and we’ve always had this ambiguous relationship. So you have no choice but to marry me,” Shi Yu said with a hint of smugness.

Leng Jie was furious. She really wanted to kick that utterly unlovable and detestable Da Shi Yu away. Her body moved as she wished; she had only thought about it, but unexpectedly, her foot actually moved.

"Ouch!" A piercing pain immediately struck his brain, and he couldn't help but let out a painful groan!

"Xiao Jie!" Shi Yu, who was kneeling on the ground, cried out and tried to rush over, but Qing Feng jumped over and slapped him on the back, striking his pressure point.

"Does it hurt again?" Xuan Yuan asked worriedly as he leaned down. He saw that she was covered in sweat, her face was pale, and her teeth were grinding together. Fearing that she would bite her tongue again, Xuan Yuan pressed her pressure point to put her to sleep.

"Did you aggravate the wound again?" Qingfeng immediately checked her wound. Seeing that the wound on her leg was bleeding again, he carefully re-bandaged it.

Now Leng Jie didn't need to kick Shi Yu out. Annoyed, Qingfeng tossed the already acupunctured Shi Yu out of the room like a package. He then added, "You'd better not say those things that slander Xiao Jie's innocence again. Xiao Jie can't marry you anyway; she's already betrothed."

"Really? Xiao Jie is really engaged?" Xuan Yuan asked incredulously.

Qingfeng glanced at the anxious Xuanyuan, a glint of surprise flashing in his eyes. He nodded and replied:

"When she was thirteen, her master arranged a marriage for her. But the man disliked Xiaojie because she was forced upon him by his elders. Not only did he dislike her, he even wanted to cook and eat her. After she found out, she secretly conceived before the wedding. Do you think if that man found out that Xiaojie was having an affair with another man, he would kill her?"

Having broken free of his acupoints, Shi Yu scrambled to his feet from the snow. He brushed the snowflakes off his clothes and walked back in as if nothing had happened. Just then, he overheard Qingfeng's words, his face darkening instantly, and he said coldly:

"He wouldn't dare! That kind of man is not good enough for Xiaojie. Let him break off the engagement as soon as possible. Who is he? What's his name? Where does he live? Anyway, he doesn't want to, so I'll go and make him break off the engagement."

Xuanyuan also said fiercely, "Yes, how can such a person be worthy of Xiaojie! Xiaojie was right to elope. If the groom causes trouble for her elopement, I will take the blame for her."

A glint flashed in Qingfeng's eyes, and he pressed on with the question:

"Are you really going to take the blame for her? This charge of running away from marriage is no small matter!"

Why do I feel like I've been tricked?

Xuanyuan glanced at Qingfeng unconsciously, noticing his serious expression. Was he being paranoid?

Looking again at Leng Jie, who was lying on the bed with her pressure points pressed to sleep, and imagining her tearful, pitiful appearance that night, Xuan Yuan felt a pang of unease. It's said that men fear choosing the wrong career, and women fear marrying the wrong man. If Xiao Jie marries someone who hates her, her later life will likely be filled with tears. The thought of the lively, cheerful, and clever Xiao Jie becoming a woman who cries all day long made Xuan Yuan's heart tighten involuntarily. He solemnly promised:

"I'm making this clear today: Xiao Jie's marriage is her own decision. No one can force her, including her parents and brothers." His gaze swept over Shi Yu, and a sudden thought struck him. Perhaps he could take this opportunity to dissuade him from requesting an imperial decree for the marriage. The royal family owed the Shi family too much; he simply couldn't refuse his request. But he also didn't want Xiao Jie to marry him. He always felt that Xiao Jie deserved a better man. So he added, "That includes me, of course."

Shi Yu and Qing Feng are both sensible people, so how could they not see through Xuan Yuan's intentions!

Qingfeng raised an eyebrow, pursed his lips, and revealed a meaningful smile.

Shi Yu thought to himself, as long as you don't use the emperor's or your elder brother's name to suppress him, then everyone has an equal opportunity, and he has absolute confidence in himself.

Qingfeng glanced at Leng Jie on the bed and said to the other two:

"Let Xiaojie sleep for half an hour first, then we'll go wash up and eat. We'll come back to talk to her later."

Xuanyuan nodded in agreement, then turned to Shi Yu and said:

"You should go back to the Prince's Mansion and take a look. As for the affairs of the Green Robe Sect and the Martial Arts Tournament, I'm entrusting them entirely to you."

Shi Yu glanced at Leng Jie on the bed, then turned back and replied, "Yes! Xiu Yu will certainly not fail in his mission!"

After saying that, the three of them left Leng Jie's room with peace of mind.

However, they didn't know that every word they said had reached the ears of Shi Fang next door.

Shi Fang woke up with a start the moment Shi Yu's voice came. At first, she thought she was dreaming! But then her lord's voice came from next door again. Excited, she jumped out of bed and rushed out, but the cold wind outside made her realize that she looked disheveled and untidy, making it unsuitable for her to appear before the lord. So, she suppressed her urge to see her lord immediately and went back inside to quickly wash and dress herself.

But she had just finished applying her makeup and dressing when she heard her lord's voice from next door, requesting a marriage decree. "Clang!" The wooden comb in her hand fell to the ground, and her heart plummeted from heaven to hell. Her worst fears had come true: her lord had truly fallen for that utterly unwomanly Third Master. And he was even requesting the Emperor's blessing for their marriage. The Emperor! Heavens! That Third Master, more beautiful than a woman, with a voice clearer than a nightingale's, was actually the Emperor! And the Third Master? Could she be a princess?

Hmph! So what if she's a princess? The prince is hers. The old princess promised her that if the prince didn't marry this year, she would be allowed to carry on the Shi family line. With the end of the year fast approaching, she couldn't let anyone steal her prince away. A smirk played on her lips, and a sinister glint appeared in her eyes, completely out of character.

She pressed her ear against the wall, listening to the sounds from next door. The more she listened, the uglier her face became. Her heart sank lower and lower. When she heard her master say that they had already slept together in the capital, she felt her heart break, her dreams shattered. She then directed all her anger at Leng Jie. Her face turned green with rage, and she gritted her teeth, cursing:

"What a shameless, slutty woman! So eager to get into a man's bed! Look at the way those men looked at her yesterday, every single one of them wanted to pounce on her! What a vixen, seducing men everywhere..."

Tired of cursing, she continued listening. When she heard Leng Jie's piercing scream, she felt as if she had come back to life. A sinister smile involuntarily crept onto her face. She refused to believe that she could be no match for a living dead person lying motionless in bed like a corpse.

Then, upon hearing Qingfeng say that the woman was already betrothed, and had run away because she was rejected, she realized she wasn't a princess at all. "Hmph, then you can forget about competing with me for the prince's position." A smirk played on her lips, a calculating glint in her eyes. Her smile deepened, and the gloom in her eyes grew heavier.