Consort of a Thousand Faces

Su Xi-er was bewildered. This happened too suddenly, I can’t ‘escape responsibility’ for this matter either. The waiter saw me, but I didn’t kill the Miss’ from the Wei Family.

 

Who on earth was it? Suddenly, Su Xi-er thought of the mysterious blue figure on the second floor of the teahouse. Could it be him? Why did he want to kill the Miss’ from the Wei Family?

 

As she was lost in thought, a horse carriage came, with an imperial guard from Prince Hao’s Residence as the driver. When the imperial guard saw Su Xi-er, his eyes lit up in hope and immediately yelled, “You really did sneak out! Hurry and come back with me!”

 

His voice was loud, and immediately pulled Su Xi-er out of her thoughts. His statement made her realise that Pei Qianhao had noticed her disappearance.

 

I didn’t think that he would return to the posthouse so soon.

 

Su Xi-er nodded to the imperial guard and swiftly got on the horse carriage.

 

The imperial guard shook his head. “You really did it this time. You could have just asked Prince Hao if you wanted to come out, and nothing would have happened.  Instead, you were missing when Prince Hao returned after drinking wine and asked for you to serve him. Either way, you should be more careful later.”

 

The imperial guard raised his horse whip once he finished, urging the carriage along the street that was now void of pedestrians. It wasn’t long before they arrived at the posthouse.

 

When the imperial guards on duty saw Su Xi-er, they let out a sigh of relief. One of them carefully examined her clothes and immediately understood.

 

It turns out that she wore Madam Cook’s coarse clothes and sneaked out. It’s my fault for not checking carefully.

 

Su Xi-er walked into the posthouse and received distressed looks from many of Prince Hao’s imperial guards. The closer she was to the hall, the more solemn their expressions were. She could already feel the chills ahead of her before she stepped in.

 

“This servant pays her respect to Prince Hao.” She respectfully bowed in greeting

 

Sitting in the main seat, Pei Qianhao was slowly turning two small luminous pearls around his hand, ignoring Su Xi-er.

 

After a while, he finally looked at her. “Where did you sneak out to?” His voice was low and deep, giving off a feeling of danger.

 

Su Xi-er replied, “I was just casually strolling outside.”

 

“Did you finish chopping all the firewood?”

 

Su Xi-er nodded and didn’t speak.

 

Pei Qianhao laughed. “You chopped that firewood so well. All of it was in different sizes and scattered messily around.”

 

“Many thanks for your compliment, Prince Hao.”

 

Pei Qianhao stopped playing with the pearls in his hand and walked over. “Raise your head and look at this Prince.”

 

Complying, Su Xi-er raised her head to look at him.

 

“You wore the female cook’s clothes and spread ash on your face; it is clear that you have made some effort for the sake of sneaking out.” Pei Qianhao spoke slowly as he raised his hand to wipe off the ash for her. 

 

“Casually strolling, where did you stroll to?” Pei Qianhao’s voice was calm as he continued to help her to wipe off the ash from the tip of her nose to the sides of her cheeks.

 

“A bustling place,” Su Xi-er answered vaguely.

 

“Did you bring money with you?” Pei Qianhao’s hands stopped moving, his gaze landing casually on her coarse clothes.

 

Su Xi-er shook her head. “I didn’t bring any silvers with me as I was only strolling.”

 

“You didn’t bring any money?” Pei Qianhao’s tone was raised. He then suddenly lowered his head and scooted closer to her.

 

This is too close. Su Xi-er could smell the strong scent of wine. It contains the fine scent of nectar dew,which means that it’s Nanzhao’s national wine. Unless there is a major event, it will never be brought out.

 

Nanzhao’s State Banquet wasn’t held tonight, but he still managed to drink it.

 

“You’re brave enough to go out for a stroll without any money. Aren’t you afraid that you will be abducted and sold off?” Pei Qianhao spoke in a low voice before taking a few steps backwards, continuing to play with the pearls in his hand.