“WHAT?!”
“WHAT?!”
Two shouts of surprise occurred after Lu Xue Feng’s words echoed out.
One was from Xi Shen, who had snapped his head up and was wide-eyed with a disbelieving look on his face.
And then…
*Slap!*
He felt a burning sensation on his cheek, as this sudden development came from right around the corner to smack him right across the face.
The other shout was from someone unexpected, it was from the little brother of Lu Xue Feng.
His expression mirrored Xi Shen’s own as they both stared at Lu Xue Feng in shock.
They both suddenly glanced at each other when they saw each other's reactions.
The hall was silent at this moment as everyone was busy reeling back in shock at what they just heard.
Some of the youths in the hall looked between Xi Shen and Lu Yue. They can’t understand what the hell the Profound Sword Sect was thinking to betrothed her to him.
Lu Xue Feng hearing his little brother’s sudden shout frowned before turning to look at him.
His gaze showed signs that say he should keep quiet. However, his little brother only looked back at him unblinkingly and raised his voice as he said, “What the hell are you talking about?! How can you betroth Yue'er to that cripple?! Are you out of your mind?!”
The silence became even more palpable at hearing those words from the youth.
All eyes turn to the Emperor and most people gulp down a lump of saliva when they saw his dark expression.
‘Is this youth crazy? How did he think it was a good idea to insult the second prince in this situation, right to the Emperor’s face at that.’
Hearing his brother’s words, Lu Xue Feng’s eyes widen in utter disbelief but soon it turned grim and he immediately turned to Li Shu and said quickly, “Emperor Shu, please forgive my brother for his foolish words. He-”
“Foolish? I speak the truth, the rumors of him not being able to cultivate, even with his Supreme grade soul and comprehension have reached our Star Bound Continent. He’s been turned into a complete joke over there, but now you want to marry Yue’er to this person? If I had known that we came here to give Yue’er over to some handicap of a prince, I would-”
Lu Xue Feng could no longer restrain himself and he finally snapped.
“ENOUGH SHIN!!”
“This is a decision made by father, you have no say in it whatsoever. If you don’t shut up now don’t blame me for what will happen next.”
Lu Xue Feng’s eyes were threatening as he stared at his brother.
However, at this moment his heart was secretly beating rapidly.
‘This little bastard, is he trying to kick start a war between our two continents? Why did I even think to bring him here, he just can’t keep his mouth shut.’
Lu Xue Feng thought to himself, but as soon as his words left his mouth they seemed to fall on deaf ears and his brother, who was named Shin, retorted, “No, Yue’er might not be our sister by blood but to use her like this. Does mother know of this?”
‘This bastard, he doesn’t even know why we have to do this for Yue’er but here he is just causing troubles. Stupid brat, you’re going to be the death of me.’
Everyone in the hall was soaking up this sudden debacle. A lot of information was spilled in this one interaction, and they quickly began piecing everything together to better understand what was going on.
Lu Xue Feng was about to say something, but Xi Shen’s voice suddenly sounded out.
“I agree.”
Hearing this, his mother who was at the table looked in his direction, and with a complicated expression on his face she said, “Shen’er…”
But she couldn’t say any more than that.
Turning to look at his mother, Xi Shen’s expression was torn.
“You knew about this?”
He realized that all his mother’s words previously about getting married were a prelude to this marriage proposal.
He looked at his father as well, it was obvious he had known about it but pretended not to.
Xi Shen gritted his teeth before he got up.
He was ready to leave, he can’t believe this situation was happening and refused to accept it.
Seeing Xi Shen turning to leave, Li Shu calmly said, “Where are you going Shen’er, sit back down.”
Xi Shen paused before he turned to meet his father’s gaze, and said, “Are you going to approve of this marriage alliance?”
Li Shu looked at his youngest son for a short moment, before he open his mouth and said, “Yes.”
Shin’s face instantly turned ugly upon hearing that, and he turned to his sister, Lu Yue, before he clenched his fists.
‘This isn’t fair to Yue’er.’
Meanwhile, after Xi Shen heard his father’s confirmation of the marriage alliance he smiled loosely before he said, “If it was any other person in this world I could have compromised with you father, but if it’s her I will never be able to marry her.”
Xi Shen then turned away to leave once more.
Lu Xue Feng upon seeing this frowned a bit.
Everyone in the crowd was wondering what Xi Shen meant by his words. Did he dislike that girl for some reason? How can he not be elated to have her as his Dao Partner with her looks?
‘This second prince is a complete fool.’
This one sentence passed through everyone’s minds in the large hall.
In the midst of walking away, someone of importance who had been silent all this while spoke up.
“What insolence!”
“To think you would speak to your father like this. Is this how your mother raised you, to disobey your father's commands? He told you to sit, sit.”
Xi Shen’s footsteps froze, and he slowly turned to look at the Empress. His face was expressionless but that alone could tell he didn’t have a favorable impression of her.
The crowd stared at this Royal Family drama with wrapped attention. They had no idea Xi Shen was this rebellious, true they’ve heard of the many rumors going around about his past antics. But to outright defy his father and show such detest for the Empress, he really was living up to his name of a no-good prince.
“Shen’er.”
Xi Shen was snapped out of his staring when he heard his mother’s voice.
He saw her sad expression, and he realized his actions must have reflected badly on her. This caused him to let out a sigh in his heart.
It was never his intention to disappoint his mother. But thinking about being forced together with that girl name Lu Yue just made him completely unwilling.
However, he eventually strutted back to his seat and sat down.
His expression returned to its neutral look, not giving away what he was thinking.
The Empress could be heard snorting.
Her face which looked like the definition of perfect, return to a calm expression after looking away from Xi Shen
Her light makeup highlighted her best features causing her to look immaculate. From how she was dressed and carried herself, one could come to the conclusion that she was fixated on appearance and how she presented herself.
Not one loose thread could be found in her flowing golden dress. Neither were there any loose strands of her hair hanging from her neatly made ponytail, which was held by a phoenix-shaped pin.
“Lu Xue Feng was it?”
“Yes?”
Lu Xue Feng who was looking at Xi Shen quickly turn to Li Shu and answered.
“I had already spoken with your father, I have accepted the marriage proposal. In the future, my son will visit the Profound Sword Sect to formally ask for her hand in marriage.”
Xi Shen hearing this slowly closed his eyes with a calm expression on his face, but his grip on his zither tighten.
“Huh?” Lu Xue Feng said rather taken aback by Li Shu’s words.
His father didn’t tell him that he had spoken with Li Shu before. He was only given the task of formally asking Li Shu for the marriage alliance.
Now, he figure that maybe his request today was only for show, with these leaders of their respective clans having already concluded everything behind the scenes.
After his initial surprise, Lu Xue Feng said, “Then if that’s the case, we won’t hold up the second prince’s celebration anymore.”
Li Shu nodded before he turned to Xi Shen and said, “Shen’er, continue to play your song.”
Lu Xue Feng turned to look at Xi Shen and saw the zither on his lap, and along with hearing Li Shu’s words, he suddenly had an idea.
“Emperor Shu, my sister is also proficient in the zither. How about you allow the Second Prince to perform along with her.”
Xi Shen’s face immediately twitched.
“Oh?”
“If she can keep up with my son, then she can play alongside him.”
Lu Xue Feng chuckled and replied, “Emperor Shu, I assure you Lu Yue is quite talented in the zither. She has surpassed all of the masters in the Profound Sword Sect, no one is her match.”
A servant brought out another chair and placed it next to Xi Shen.
All eyes followed Lu Yue as she calmly walked over and sat beside Xi Shen, her face still expressionless.
Being so close to her, Xi Shen let out an exhausted sigh in his heart.
Looking at his small five strings zither qin in his hand, Xi Shen placed it back into his storage ring before he turned to Lu Yue and asked, “Can you play a seven-string guqin?”
Xi Shen waited for a response but nothing came. Lu Yue only stared back at him with a detached look.
‘Is she a mute?’
Frowning, Xi Shen addressed a servant off to the side.
“Get us a large seven-string guqin.”
The servant bowed his head before he hurried off.
After a moment, he returned hefting a rather large zither guqin in his arms.
“Here you go, Second Prince.” The servant said as he place the instrument in front of Xi Shen and Lu Yue.
“Thank you.”
Xi Shen thank the servant before he laid the guqin flat on his and Lu Yue’s laps.
Li Shu along with everyone in the hall was watching on in silence.
For some reason, seeing Xi Shen sitting together with Lu Yue made them start to have this sense that they were looking at a scene straight out of a fairy tale.
They couldn’t see it before, but now that they were side by side some kind of puzzle seemed to have been completed.
The crowd in the hall was shocked by this sudden feeling they were getting.
“Hey, am I the only one who’s feeling like these two meshed well together?”
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