Chapter 325: The Banquet, Gold Thread Armor

「 An ordinary and unassuming carriage, no longer the one with the luxurious roof and curtains that, at a glance, was the mark of Prince Yi’s journeys, but compared to ordinary carriages, it was still much wider. The carriage was spread with thick blankets, and at the innermost part was a couch. Ao Chenyi leaned on the couch, one hand naturally supporting Ning Xueyan’s chin, looked left and right, squinting slightly, his eyes languid.

「 Ning Xueyan didn’t know what he was looking for on her face; her long eyelashes blinked, and she raised her ink-jade-like watery eyes to meet Ao Chenyi’s handsome eyes. At such a close distance, one could clearly see that exquisite and handsome face. Although it didn’t have its usual coldness, it still had a kind of wicked charm.

「 Warm breath was right in front of her face, even with Ning Xueyan’s composure, being faced so closely by such a handsome and outstanding face, her complexion couldn’t help but flush slightly.

「 “The wound here is gone? How did you get it last time?” Ao Chenyi asked casually, as if casually reaching out and stroking her fair and sharp chin.

「 “It was nothing, someone sent me petals with ‘ingredients’ added, deliberately making me have pustules all over my body, so I borrowed their plot and deliberately escaped,” Ning Xueyan subconsciously wanted to avoid his face, and at such a close distance with a man, she really felt uneasy. In her previous life, even though she and Xia Yuhang were engaged, they had never been this close.

「 The blush on her face was even more intense.

「 Ao Chenyi looked at her, and suddenly the corner of his mouth slightly moved, hooking a touch of evil smile, in his black eyes, flashed a wisp of lustrous eeriness: “Do you want revenge?”

「 “Prince, I didn’t suffer losses,” Ning Xueyan said gently, staring at Ao Chenyi steadily, not avoiding this time.

「 Moreover, she didn’t feel that it was a good time to take revenge now. After rebirth, she knew that what she lacked the least was patience.

「 “Good, not bad, worthy of being This King’s person,” Ao Chenyi suddenly released her jaw, leaned back, smiled, and then looked at the calm Ning Xueyan, the corners of his thin lips slightly hooked, “Rest assured, This King will not let people bully my people.”

「 His people? Ning Xueyan was speechless.

「 “The dowry can be prepared!” Ao Chenyi smiled with a very good mood, and the smile in his deep black eyes, for the first time, made Ning Xueyan feel that his mood was indeed joyful.

「 “The Emperor’s Imperial Edict hasn’t been issued yet, it’s always… not very good!” Ning Xueyan hesitated for a moment and said, she was really not in a hurry to get married in her heart!

「 “It’s a matter of time, you can prepare first, lest you don’t even have the dowry ready by then.” Ao Chenyi’s face sank, and his slender fingers tapped on the tabletop, displeased.

「 “Dowry, Prince, don’t expect too much from me, my identity is there, and I’m a concubine…” Ning Xueyan gave a bitter smile, although she didn’t know why Ao Chenyi mentioned the matter of the dowry, but she still felt that she had to give him a bottom line, lest her dowry disappoint him at that time.

「 Although the dowry of the family had been taken from Madam Ling and the Old Madam, and it seemed like there was still quite a bit on the surface, but after getting it, Ning Xueyan also carefully checked it, and found that it was not what it seemed on the surface, the valuable parts, most of them were gone, the rest were the large items, the value wasn’t very high, carefully calculating the value, it was actually not even one-fifth of Madam Ming’s back then.

「 Of course, if she were to marry, the Duke’s Mansion would also add some dowry for her on the surface, but it would never be much.

「 “This King will go and inform the Duke’s Mansion later, and have them prepare more dowry for you,” Ao Chenyi said as a matter of course.

「 This person is really…

「 Ning Xueyan really felt speechless, she had only heard of people demanding debts, she had never heard of demanding dowry, especially when this person was still acting as if it was a matter of course, those eyes, gloomy with coldness, actually revealed a few more points of playfulness, which really made people uncomfortable.

「 However, this was indeed the simplest and most rude method. With what he said, neither Ning Zuan nor the Old Madam would dare to touch her dowry.

「 “Prince, where are we going?” Continuing to talk like this, he was very smooth, but Ning Xueyan felt quite a bit unable to keep up, so she deliberately turned her head, looked at the slightly raised curtain, the curtain wasn’t raised very high, she really couldn’t see the scenery outside from here, only vaguely saw the scenery in the distance.

「 “I heard that This King is getting married this time, my nephew must see This King, and This King’s, it is said, beautiful and favored concubine.” Ao Chenyi said casually, his slender eyes flashed a trace of gloominess, his long eyelashes like black feathers, flickered, and fell on his fair and jade-like face, forming two uneven shadows.

「 “Third Prince?” Ning Xueyan asked hesitantly, seeing Ao Chenyi slightly curl the corner of his mouth, she knew she was right, and asked with confusion, “Prince, with the Third Prince’s identity, wanting to see the ‘favored concubine’, isn’t he afraid of lowering his status?”

「 One is the Royal Family, the Prince who is very likely to inherit the throne, and is also the highest-ranking person in the Palace now, the other is Prince Yi’s nameless concubine, the distance between the two is enough to be differentiated by the vastness of the sky and the thickness of the earth. She really didn’t understand why Ao Mingyu wanted to see “herself” again and again.

「 “What he wants to see is only This King’s favored concubine.” Ao Chenyi’s eyes, with a slight smile, fell on Ning Xueyan’s snowy and tender face.

「 “Then what if the Prince doesn’t meet?” But Ning Xueyan still didn’t understand. The reason why Ao Chenyi had brought her out of the mansion, with his identity, refusing Ao Mingyu, wasn’t it just a matter of a word? Her watery eyes blinked twice, revealing a little daze, looking a little stunned, completely different from her usual coldness, unconsciously bringing a touch of the young girl’s charm.

「 “Why wouldn’t This King let him see, This King’s favored concubine isn’t someone who can’t be seen.” Ao Chenyi suddenly reached out, and on a wisp of jet-black hair at Ning Xueyan’s ear, gently pulled it, and laughed softly. Having seen her cold and sharp appearance, the young girl’s constraint and shyness in front of him made him extremely satisfied.

「 Her appearance was more delicate and weak than ordinary women, her snowy and tender skin, without a single flaw, a pair of beautiful eyes, like the morning dew, revealed a hazy freshness, faint lip color, exquisite facial features, long jet-black eyelashes blinked, all of which were telling of her delicate and weak charm.

「 But unfortunately, such a young girl was sharp and resilient.

「 It was the first time he saw her, that made him feel surprised, such a woman. Was she really that supposedly weak Fifth Miss who could only hide in a corner of the Duke’s Mansion?

「 That feeling, completely opposite to her appearance, made him want to explore her involuntarily, to see her extend her sharp claws, giving a very sharp blow to those who peeped at her, and then decisively retreated, re-entering the darkness, it was really hard to believe that there would be such a woman in this world.

「 Decisive in killing and punishment, cold and resilient.

「 What kind of experience made a woman in the deep chamber even more sharp than the secret guards he had cultivated? Thinking like this, it inexplicably made him feel uncomfortable again, he snorted coldly in his heart, the corner of his eye jumped, and a trace of coldness flashed in his eyes.

「 “If someone asks you to do this, or do that later, just agree.” His languid tone carried some gentleness, but his eyes became cold and faint.

「 “The Prince means that the Third Prince will persuade me later to give you trouble?” Ning Xueyan was originally intelligent, connecting the dots, she immediately connected them, but in order to know Ao Chenyi’s meaning more clearly, she simply asked frankly.

「 Ao Chenyi was going to marry a consort, although the formal Imperial Edict hadn’t come down, but listening to his meaning just now, the candidate had already been decided. Originally, this kind of thing had nothing to do with “herself”, this nameless favored concubine, but Ao Mingyu had asked for her, and the goal was obvious.

「 “No matter what they say, you should respond.” Ao Chenyi snorted coldly, the corner of his mouth slightly revealing a touch of evil and bloodthirsty, his gaze fell on Ning Xueyan’s delicate face, squinting his slender eyes, only to see Ning Xueyan turned her head with a bit of unease, and the corner of her mouth slightly curved.

】 Ning Xueyan fully understood Ao Chenyi’s meaning at this time, and nodded: “Prince, rest assured, I will definitely not disappoint your expectations.”

】 “Wear this inside.” Seeing that she completely understood his meaning, Ao Chenyi pulled out a small bundle from the side, pushed it in front of Ning Xueyan, and gave a slight indication.

】 “What is it?” Ning Xueyan asked with confusion, looking up.

】 “Open it and see.” Ao Chenyi wickedly raised his chin.

】 Opening the bundle, it was a small vest-like garment, shimmering, it was impossible to tell what it was, Ning Xueyan touched it with her hand, it was a bit hard, but overall it gave a feeling of softness.

】 “Prince, this is…” Ning Xueyan really couldn’t tell what it was, and asked with confusion.

】 “Gold thread soft armor, you can wear it inside,” Ao Chenyi said with a somewhat languid meaning.

】 “Why?” Ning Xueyan was speechless, she didn’t feel that she needed to wear this kind of thing, it was just a simple banquet, could it be that Ao Mingyu really dared to murder her at the banquet.

】 The gold thread soft armor, it was said, was composed of extremely precious materials, the gold thread silk woven on it was a legendary thing, it had long been extinct, Ning Xueyan had always thought that the gold thread soft armor didn’t even exist, unexpectedly, now there was one in front of her.

】 “Who knows, maybe Ao Mingyu wants to play some tricks.” Ao Chenyi smiled gloomily, the handsome corner of his mouth hooking a bloodthirsty eeriness, Ao Mingyu of course, wasn’t just simply for the sake of making someone give him trouble, that’s why he set up this banquet, just to provoke the concubines around him, and cry to him, this was too… naive.

】 Being stimulated by Ao Chenyi’s smile, Ning Xueyan’s mind immediately became alert, blinked her watery eyes, thought about it, and asked solemnly: “Prince, is there going to be an assassination?”

】 “Maybe, who knows!” Ao Chenyi said casually, reached out and naturally touched Ning Xueyan’s head, and took out a simple hairpin from her hair, “Change to a hair bun, can you comb your hair?”

】 “Yes… simple, right!” Ning Xueyan looked at the side uneasily.

】 “If you can’t, This King will help you!” Ao Chenyi didn’t seem to notice Ning Xueyan’s embarrassment, and reached out with a bit of interest, and pulled at a wisp of Ning Xueyan’s fallen hair.

】 “No need, I can do it.” Seeing the interest flashing in his handsome eyes, Ning Xueyan instinctively shook her head to refuse, she didn’t know how Ao Chenyi got this wicked interest, if this Prince could comb a woman’s long hair, it was estimated that the sow could also climb a tree, she didn’t want her long hair to become someone else’s experimental subject.

】