Chapter 43 - Catching Your Eyes
Chapter 43: Catching Your Eyes
The Great Zhou Royal Palace, Essence Containment Hall, was filled with guests. This was the place where the Emperor often invited distinguished guests for events.
However, this time, it was different from the court officials that were usually invited. The people who came were all young and influential people.
Compared to the elderly courtiers, these youths, no matter how they usually were, were all rather nervous at this moment. All of them sat upright and looked straight ahead. This was the first time many of them had attended such an occasion.
It was also Su Wen’s first time, but compared to others, he looked much more relaxed. Everyone else was kneeling down, but this fellow seemed to be sitting cross-legged, as though he was in his own room. He took the apple from the plate in front of him and started munching on it, looking around from time to time.
There was a young lady sitting opposite Su Wen. She had a pretty face and was about 15 or 16 years old.
She was quickly attracted by Su Wen’s actions.
After all, compared to the stiff etiquette the rest were showing, Su Wen appeared impudent.
Su Wen was munching on an apple. When he looked up, he suddenly realized that the girl opposite him was looking at him. He opened his mouth, revealing his teeth as he politely smiled.
The little girl’s face instantly turned red like a ripe apple. She immediately lowered her head and avoided Su Wen’s gaze.
“His Majesty has arrived!”
As the eunuch called out, the Zhou Emperor walked in with a face full of smiles.
Accompanying him were a group of princes and princesses!
As everyone took their seats, the Zhou Emperor said with a smile, “Everyone, today, I took advantage of Wanrou’s birthday to gather all of you together because all of you are the future of Great Zhou. We need to get to know each other better.”
After saying that, the Zhou Emperor requested for the youths present to introduce themselves.
From the princess to the prince, including Su Wen and the girl opposite Su Wen, they gave a brief introduction.
As for the main character today, Seventh Princess Zhao Wanrou, she was an extremely beautiful lady. This was in part due to the excellent genes of the royal family. With the Zhou Emperor himself being handsome, and he chose naturally being all beauties, the children he sired were blessed in the looks department.
The Seventh Princess’s lips were plump and her facial features were well-defined. If compared to the modern world, she would look somewhat like Angelina Jolie, but with more gentle facial features, which suited her oriental character.
(TL: Author’s having some weird fantasies…)
Her appearance made Su Wen’s eyes light up.
The surrounding people also started discussing fervently.
“This Seventh Princess doesn’t look like someone from Great Zhou.”
“I heard that his mother is a foreigner who doesn’t have any interactions with people from the imperial court. She lives deep inside the palace, and no one has seen her before.”
“No wonder I’ve never heard of her before.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. This Seventh Princess indeed looks nothing like the people in Great Zhou.”
Hearing all the discussions, Su Wen had a brief idea about the Seventh Princess’s background.
At this moment, Su Wen belatedly realized that ever since he finished introducing himself, there was another guy sitting opposite him that had been staring at him with his eyes wide open.
Su Wen felt uncomfortable being stared at, thus, he also widened his eyes and glared back at the other party!
The two of them seemed to be competing with each other to see who could glare more and better!
It was to the point that Su Wen did not even bother to pay attention to the self-introductions of the people around him.
That person was the same.
Unknowingly, it was that unknown guy’s turn to introduce himself.
“Wu Lie! Wu Lie, it’s your turn!” Someone beside him quickly reminded him. Only then did Wu Lie react!
That’s right, the person staring at Su Wen was Wu Lie.
He looked at Su Wen with a furious expression.
When Wu Lie heard Su Wen’s name earlier on, the anger in his heart was ignited.
He wished he could kill Su Wen.
However, he did not expect Su Wen to glare at him provocatively when he saw the other party’s murderous gaze!
How could he stand this? Hence, he began to compete in staring.
It was to the point he did not notice that it was his turn to make introductions.
He quickly stood up and said, “I am the son of Grand General Wu Kunhu, who serves as the Commander of the Royal Guards.”
After he sat down, he glared at Su Wen fiercely once more.
However, this time, Su Wen could not be bothered with him. Why would he be interested in staring at a man unless he was into him?
Su Wen instead placed his attention on the girl opposite him.
“What’s your name again? I didn’t hear it just now,” Su Wen asked with a smile.
The girl blushed and said in a low voice, “My name is Wu Muyu.”
“Muyu, ignore him. He’s not a good person!” Wu Lie exclaimed.
Su Wen could not take it anymore. He looked at Wu Lie and said angrily, “Are you crazy? You have been staring at me with your bull-like eyes for quite a while now. What does it have to do with you if I talk to someone else now? Do you believe that I will dig out your eyeballs and step on them like bubbles?”
Wu Muyu burst into laughter at his words.
Wu Lie glared at Wu Muyu in response, causing her to quickly duck her head down.
At this moment, the people in the hall had already finished their introductions. Wu Lie was just about to speak to Su Wen when the Zhou Emperor announced, “You young talents should be more familiar with each other. I’m a little tired, so I’ll take my leave first.” He then looked at the crown prince and said, “I’ll leave this place to you.”
After he left, the atmosphere became much more relaxed.
Wu Lie also relaxed a lot. He looked at Su Wen and sneered. “Brat, do you dare to repeat what you just said?”
How could Su Wen be afraid of him? He rolled his eyes and said in disdain, “What? Are you suffering from Alzheimer’s disease? Did you forget so quickly after I said that? I pity you today, so I’ll repeat myself. Do you believe that I will dig out your bull-eye like eyeballs and step on it like bubbles?”
Wu Lie stood up angrily and pointed at Su Wen. “Brat, I think you’re courting death!”
With that said, he prepared to lunge forward. At the front, the Crown Prince was alarmed upon hearing this, hurriedly standing up and rushed over. He grabbed onto Wu Lie as he spoke, “Misunderstanding, this is all a misunderstanding. What’s going on? Why are you arguing? Brother Wu, tell me.”
The Emperor had just handed the banquet over to him and there was already a fight about to happen here. How was he going to explain himself when he returned?
Moreover, one was the son of the Prime Minister, while the other was the son of the Great General. Neither of them were people worth offending.
The Crown Prince pulled Wu Lie to the side. Wu Lie was angry, but he had to give the Crown Prince some respect, hence he could not forcibly pull himself off.
He could only let himself be dragged away.
When Su Wen saw that the Emperor had also left, he became even more unrestrained. He stood up and ran to Wu Muyu’s side, saying with a smile, “Do you know that big dumb cow from earlier? Stay away from him in the future. You will be infected if you stay with stupid people.”
Wu Muyu had never met a man like this before. She gripped the hem of her tunic nervously, not daring to look up. “He’s… he’s not stupid,” she whispered.
Su Wen smiled and said, “How is he not stupid? One look and I can tell that his mind is only filled with True Qi from practicing martial arts. He can become a jet aircraft just by inserting a tube into his brain.”
“A jet aircraft? What’s that?”
The young lady looked at Su Wen blankly.
Su Wen smiled. “It’s a big plane!”
“Big plane? What is it?”
“A big, big, big, big plane!”
Wu Muyu was completely stunned by Su Wen’s words and did not know how to respond.
However, she felt very happy chatting with someone like him.
Right at this moment, a voice sounded from behind Su Wen. “Wanrou greets Young Master Su. Thank you for attending Wanrou’s birthday celebration. Wanrou would like to have a toast with you.”