Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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It wasn’t time for the Imperial Palace Banquet yet, but Su Xi couldn’t help but check on what the cub was doing. She flipped open her reference book and started playing the game while doing her homework.
The servants in Ning Wang’s mansion were busy preparing for the Old Lady and Ning Wang’s wife to go to the palace for a banquet today. Women, no matter what dynasty, had to bathe, change clothes and dress up for several hours before attending the night banquet.
As for the cub, although the old lady also sent people to change his clothes, he drove the servants and maids away and did everything by himself.
Su Xi couldn’t help laughing when she saw the cub’s serious face and the look of being uninterested in women from outside the screen.
How adorable are those sweet, soft, and gentle girls! Hasn’t the kid grown up yet? The way he looks at those maids is no different from the way he looks at stones on the side of the road?!
…But it’s better to concentrate on your career now. When the plot progresses to the point where he restores his identity as the Ninth Prince, won’t he be able to have as many beauties as he wants?
At that time, she will make careful comparisons and pick more beauties. In addition to those from Yan State, she will also select some beauties from foreign countries!
Su Xi had previously seen Gu Qin play a game called “Concubine Selection Plan.” She’d watched from behind, completely fretting. Her favorite beauty, the one with the gold foil on her forehead, hadn’t even been accepted into her harem! Who could stand that?! The beauties in this game were only going to be more numerous than in that one, not less. She’d probably be spoiled for choice!
Su Xi got a little excited just thinking about it, her blood was boiling, and she couldn’t wait for the plot to progress to that point.
But for now, I’d better stay at home and watch my son grow up. First, he’ll build a career, then start a family. For the time being, I won’t consider finding a wife for him.
Seeing that the cub was busy, she didn’t disturb him for the time being. Instead, she did her homework while playing the game aside, looking up at him from time to time.
The game time shifted to the afternoon.
Three sedan chairs arrived. Two with red satin tassels carried the old lady and Ning Wang’s wife. The next one, a thick blue woolen one, came to the cub’s yard and took him into the palace.
Su Xi originally wanted to lift the curtain of the cub’s sedan chair, tell him that she was here, and go into the palace with him, but at this moment, she suddenly remembered something –
She hadn’t unlocked the map of the palace!
The current points total was 32. The game’s unlocking rules were that you unlock a new tile every 2, 5, 7, 8, and 10 seconds. Tiles were divided by size, and to unlock a tile as large as the palace, you’ll definitely need at least 6 more points— that is, 38 points.
But how can I complete the task and get 6 points in this short time?
However, logically speaking, according to the game settings, the unlocking of each section should follow the tasks. Could it be that she had failed to complete some tasks?
She couldn’t help but ask the system: “Did I make a wrong move? Or is there a bug in the game?”
System: “The problem lies with Main Mission 3.”
“The third main quest is ‘The protagonist befriends the Second Prince during the Qiuyan Mountain Hunting Tour and enters the Imperial Academy.’ This rewards a total of 12 points. If the protagonist can just strike up a conversation with the Second Prince on Qiuyan Mountain, they’ll complete half of the quest and receive 6 points. However, for some reason, the protagonist spoke to the Fifth Prince on Qiuyan Mountain but was very repulsive to the Second Prince. Therefore, this half of the main quest is considered a failure.”
The system prompted again: “And the protagonist’s favorability towards the Second Prince is -60.”
Su Xi: …???
Su Xi was stunned. She didn’t expect it to be like this.
Why, why did the cub hate the Second Prince? In her impression, the Second Prince was quite low-key and hadn’t done anything to make people dislike him?!
Could it be that the cub was unhappy because she saved the second prince?
So, doesn’t this mean that she accidentally affected the main storyline by doing the side quest?
Su Xi asked: “What if we didn’t save the Second Prince that day? What would the plot be like?”
The system said, “The Second Prince must be saved. There are no ifs or buts. The only way for the protagonist to enter the Imperial Academy is to become a prince’s companion. After saving the Second Prince, there will be a vacancy for a companion among the princes. And the protagonist may not necessarily become his companion but may become another prince’s.”
Su Xi understood that the cub hated the Second Prince, so he did not take the initiative to make friends with him – the mission to make friends thus failed.
But the Second Prince did not dislike the baby. On the contrary, because of the baby’s outstanding performance in Qiuyan Mountain, the Second Prince and several other princes had an impression of the baby – becoming a companion student should thus be successful, and the mission to enter the Imperial Academy should also be successful.
But now, due to my own mistake, I can’t unlock the palace section for the time being, so I can’t follow my baby into the palace.
….
Su Xi felt a little sorry, so she stopped lifting the curtain of the sedan chair to avoid letting the cub know that she had come, but she couldn’t follow him into the palace, lest his joy be in vain.
She kept walking on the long street, watching the cub’s sedan chair enter the palace gate.
The sky in the game was gloomy, and the palace was magnificent. The crimson walls and glazed eaves looked like a lion entrenched in the darkness, majestic and solemn. The cub’s sedan slowly disappeared through the palace gates, as if he had finally stepped into the vortex of the capital.
In this huge vortex, a bast**d from a declining royal family seemed so insignificant.
….
At the same time, Lu Huan also lifted a corner of the sedan chair curtain as they walked into the palace. The walls on both sides were high and deep, and he could only see a narrow strip of dark night sky when he looked up.
There was a hint of solemnity in his expression.
….
Su Xi did not follow the cub into the palace, and for the time being she did not know what happened in the palace, but she played the game and waited and continued to do her homework.
In the plot of tonight’s banquet, there was a scene where General Zhenyuan made things difficult for the cub. She couldn’t follow it, so she couldn’t help him.
However, Su Xi felt that with the cub’s intelligence, he could handle it, so she didn’t need to worry too much.
She spent more than 40 minutes writing a test paper here, and two hours passed in the game.
As night fell, the palace gates finally opened and sedan chairs carrying people to the night banquet came out one after another.
Su Xi spotted the cub’s sedan chair at a glance, and at this moment, the general plot of the previous scene popped up on the screen –
At the evening banquet, General Zhenyuan gave the old lady a mocking look, expressing disdain for her persistent attempts to curry favor with the Second Prince and place her grandson in his care. If the men in Ning Wang’s mansion had any promise, he would have looked up to them. But the Ning Palace, from Ning Wang to those two boys, Lu Yu’an and Lu Wenxiu, were all hopeless and now nothing more than useless pieces of shit.
He had heard that a bast**d from Ning Wang’s mansion had won first prize at the Qiuyan Mountain Hunt, but he didn’t take it seriously. He was accustomed to the old lady’s tactics and thought she was just trying to sabotage her grandson, trying to get him to lose. Consequently, he had a bad impression of the protagonist. During the banquet, he repeatedly ignored the protagonist’s toasts, which was embarrassing.
Su Xi held her pen tightly in her hand. Why is General Zhenyuan like this?!
After all, the cub is his distant relative, so why does he still look at him with prejudice?
Surprisingly, during the banquet, the Fifth Prince took the initiative to suggest that the Second Prince had never had a study companion, and that it was a big deal. He wanted to offer his study companion to the Second Prince. Then, while the Emperor was rewarding the protagonist with gold, silver, and jewelry, he asked the Emperor to let the protagonist become his study companion.
The Second Prince argued with him, but the Emperor, now suspicious that the Second Prince had staged the assassination on Qiuyan Mountain, became displeased with him and, thus favoring the Fifth Prince, unexpectedly agreed to his unreasonable request.
[The protagonist received two boxes of gold and silver as rewards at this banquet and will be able to become the fifth prince’s companion and enter the Imperial Academy from now on.]
System: “Congratulations on completing Main Mission Three (Elementary) (1/2): On Qiuyan Mountain, the protagonist failed to make friends with the Second Prince, so you received 0 points and 0 gold coins. However, he successfully entered the Imperial Academy, so you receive 6 points and 100 gold coins.”
Su Xi: …?
Su Xi was stunned by the silent confrontation at the night banquet.
She knew that the Fifth Prince valued the baby a lot, and his thoughts were revealed on Qiuyan Mountain.
The fifth prince had always been aggressive and not afraid of offending anyone. He wanted to get any talent he could get. Last time, when he heard that the Minister of Revenue was going to meet the miracle doctor, he hurried to meet him too – it was thus normal for him to behave like this.
But why does it seem like the Second Prince’s situation has become worse because of that side quest she completed?
If she hadn’t rescued him, he would have been bedridden for at least three months. With such severe injuries, the emperor wouldn’t easily suspect him.
However, he was suddenly injured and then suddenly cured. He then recovered in just ten days. He also claimed to be sick and did not attend court or go to the northern border, which made the emperor unhappy.
Su Xi: …I’m sorry, Second Prince.
But no matter what, in this way, the task of “entering Tai Academy” was successfully completed.
…However, because when completing the side quest, she failed to stop the Second Prince from shooting an arrow at himself and ended up waiting for him to stab himself before rescuing him, causing the main storyline to deviate a little, the cub became not the Second Prince’s study companion, but the Fifth Prince’s.
Su Xi didn’t know what the consequences would be if the main plot deviated in this direction, but no matter what happened, she would protect her cub well.
Thinking of this, Su Xi became a little more serious. She then pulled a pear blossom petal and went to greet the cub.
She first switched the view to the inside of the sedan chair. From the perspective of a stick figure, the baby’s short legs were not touching the ground, one of his short hands was rubbing his brow, his chubby face was wrinkled, and moonlight poured in from the curtain that was occasionally blown by the wind, occasionally sweeping across his face. She couldn’t tell what was wrong with him – had he been drinking during the banquet?
This was the first time Su Xi saw the cub drinking. She was a little curious about what he looked like after drinking and couldn’t help but spend a minute to buy it.
The screen switched to the original picture.
The young man sat leaning against a corner of the sedan chair, his eyes slightly lowered, his gaze cold and indifferent. The moonlight flickered on his face. He raised his hand and pressed his brows together, his eyebrows furrowed. A layer of crimson tinged his fair face, a color that also seemed cold.
After drinking, he became quieter than usual, his expression calm, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Su Xi thought, it seems that the cub has a good alcohol tolerance. He should drink a lot at this kind of palace banquet, but he doesn’t look drunk.
Just as she was thinking this, a cloud of mist on the screen suddenly changed. The mist dispersed and turned into a small ball with short arms and legs and an expressionless face.
Su Xi: …forced smile.jpg.
You’ll get used to it.
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