Bai Lianyun sat back down, but Xi Qiulin’s facial expression wasn’t good at all. He’ll let the fact that Baili Yu didn’t show enough respect for him go, but an insignificant daughter of the Prime Minister also dared to shout and roar in front of him without any trace of etiquette? And she even said that she wanted to discipline someone that belonged to Resplendent Imperial Uncle? How exactly does the Prime Minister teach his children?

  As he thought about this, he looked towards the Prime Minister da ren on his right with some complaints. After giving a cold humph, he said in a displeased tone, “Do you all even wish for this competition to continue!? After zhen finally managed to head out, was it just for the sake of watching all of you voice complaints?”


  The dragon countenance was so enraged that everyone hastily knelt down, panic-stricken. The Prime Minister was so terrified his face paled. With a ‘putong’ he knelt down in front of Xi Qiulin and said, “Your Majesty, please forgive me. It’s all this old subject’s uselessness for not teaching his daughter well, causing Your Majesty’s mood to be disrupted. Your Majesty, please declare a punishment!”


  “Yes, there should be a punishment!” Xi Qiulin stood up. However, without paying attention to the Prime Minister kneeling on the ground, he walked towards Tang Doudou.

  Da fudge? What was he about to do now?

  It is said that the emperor was a very frightening lifeform ah. Accompanying one’s sovereign is said to be like accompanying a tiger. One little slip-up could make you lose your head!

  “Answer zhen, what’s your name?” Xi Qiulin walked till he was about five steps away from Tang Doudou and stopped to size Tang Doudou up before asking her a question.

  This time, Tang Doudou didn’t dare to speak any more nonsense. She fell to a kneel with a ‘putong’ and timidly replied, “Re-replying Your Majesty, this servant, this servant’s surname is Tang, name is Doudou…… Tang Doudou’s tang, red beans and green beans’ dou……”


  “Tang Doudou?” Xi Qiulin repeated it once before sizing her up again. She was rather clever, just a little timid. As for her status……

  “Where does your family live? Are your parents still living?”


  Once he asked this, Tang Doudou was stunned again.

  Jesus ah. This doesn’t feel like a registered residence check anymore. It actually seems like an arranged marriage interview!

  F*ck! Did they misunderstand something?

  “What? It’s hard to say?” Xi Qiulin asked.

  There was a limit to an emperor’s patience, so Tang Doudou hastily replied, “This servant has no father or mother and is an orphan. Right now, this servant stays in Plum Garden.”


  She actually wasn’t too timid. When Xi Qiulin saw that Tang Doudou started speaking nimbly, he nodded in his heart. As long as Imperial Uncle likes her, nothing else really matters. Earlier, he had already discovered that Imperial Uncle was restless in his seat. He never expected Imperial Uncle would be impatient to the point that he seized the girl the moment she stepped up to present her dish and questioned her nonstop. It would be strange if this didn’t end up scaring the girl away.

  Looks like he must step out for Imperial Uncle after all. The competition was a small matter, Imperial Uncle’s big matter of a lifetime was much more important.

  Bai Lianhua’s family background and accomplishments weren’t bad, so she can be the main consort. Since Imperial Uncle likes this Tang Doudou and she’s lovable and adorable enough, she can just be a concubine attendant. This way, the whole set’s complete. That’s not bad!

  After thinking all this through, Xi Qiulin’s expression relaxed a little. He lifted his hand towards Tang Doudou. “You may rise!”


  “All of you, don’t kneel anymore, rise!”


  After he finished speaking, he went back to his seat. “Prime Minister, disperse this audience. I think this competition should just be the Heng Xuan Chamber of Commerce’s win!”


  The championship is decided just like this? Isn’t that too careless!?

  However, this person was the emperor, so who would dare to stand up and try to refute?

  Tang Doudou was pretty discontent with this as well. She wanted to obtain it with her own power. Winning like this wasn’t satisfying at all, alright?

  She then glanced at Baili Yu. From the start, this guy had sat there silently and acted as a backdrop. Even now that the flames had almost spread to his own house, he still didn’t send any signals. Tang Doudou was seriously at a loss.

  Just as she was about to shift her line of sight, she saw Baili Yu nod towards her out of the corners of her eyes.

  Hell, I freaking pei! What could he possibly mean by nodding now?

  However, she soon realized what it meant and gulped. Freaking damned fox, you better not be trolling me!

  She closed her eyes and toughened her heart, then opened her mouth to cry, “Your Majesty! You must not ah! Your Majesty!”


  “Your Majesty! Please reconsider!”


  Unexpectedly, when she cried out, another voice had appeared at the same time. Tang Doudou looked over, surprised, and discovered that it had actually been San Yu.

  On second thought, this was quite reasonable. From the looks of San Yu, she seemed to be a girl that was quite arrogant. Having such accomplished culinary skills, how could she be willing to lose before she even competed?

  She actually had the same kind of thoughts as Tang Doudou, which was why that incident of them crying out at the same time occurred.

  How could Xi Qiulin not be aware of how these two people felt? However, he didn’t want to waste time here anymore. He came to watch this competition purely for the sake of using up some time. However, there was a more important affair now, so naturally he would choose to attend to the more important affair.

  Not to mention, he, the grand majestic Emperor had made a decision. Even the Prime Minister and his Imperial Uncles didn’t dare to harbor objections. Are these two yatous planning to revolt?

  “You two have objections towards zhen’s decision?”


  Da fudge? Tang Doudou inwardly rolled her eyes in a huge circle. Is this a freaking muddle-headed rulerT/N?

  “Your Majesty is clear-sighted and wise. This servant dares not have an objection to Your Majesty’s decision. However, this decision is indeed way too unfair towards this servant and Lady San Yu!” Tang Doudou gritted her teeth and snatched the chance to speak before San Yu could after seeing the trace of fierce resolution and melancholy on San Yu’s face.

  Even though she didn’t want to be kindhearted like Mary Sue, but for some unknown reason, when she saw San Yu’s expression, her heart quivered like it had been stabbed. She felt that San Yu must have gone through quite a lot in the past and this culinary competition may mean more than just an ordinary competition to her.

  Tang Doudou didn’t know where this intuition came from. In any case, by the time all these thoughts occurred to her, she had already acted.

  She was lifting her nose and giving him an attitude right after he acted a little amiable towards her?

  Xi Qiulin’s facial color darkened and he didn’t reply to Tang Doudou.

  Seeing this, San Yu shot a grateful glance towards Tang Doudou, then knelt in front of His Majesty and spoke earnestly, “Perhaps from Your Majesty’s point of view, our culinary competition is nothing but an amusing pastime. However, for us servants, it’s as important as our lives! Winning or losing does not matter to this servant, but to lose before even competing? This servant, this servant cannot accept it! Even if this servant may be facing a charge of the greatest crime under heavens, this servant still wishes to ask Your Majesty to continue this competition!”


  After hearing this and seeing San Yu’s unyielding expression, everyone present was rather moved. Although His Majesty might not know about this, they were all from residences that were competing and had used a lot of time and effort to prepare for this competition. They truly felt that a careless decision like this wasn’t appropriate.

  Bang!

  Xi Qiulin smashed the wine cup in his hand towards the ground as he said in a cold infuriated tone, “Are you trying to pressure zhen?”


  San Yu’s face turned pale. “This servant dares not!”


  “Dares not! Dares not! What a great ‘dares not’!” Xi Qiulin was so angry his chest was heaving rapidly. The attendant next to him hastily helped to calm his circulation as he sent a meaningful look towards Xi Qiuyue.

  This matter was something he started. If it weren’t for that ‘wait’ he said, why would so many troubles have popped up afterwards?

  Xi Qiuyue was also aware. After seeing that attendant’s look, he gave a light cough and said, “Your Majesty, please quell your anger. They’re just anxious about the competition and do not mean to disrespect Your Majesty. Rather, it’s this competition! From what I see, the food has already cooled, so why not fix a date for a rematch?”


  With this, it also gave His Majesty face and didn’t neglect the competition. It satisfied both, no, all three sides wonderfully. Some other day he has to go figure out what exactly Tang Doudou was doing here.

  Xi Qiuyue thought his suggestion would definitely be accepted, yet unexpectedly, right after he finished speaking, San Yu strongly opposed it. “This competition was set since ten years earlier. The culinary arts world had been waiting for the result of this competition since long ago. This servant hopes Your Majesty and wang ye will reconsider!”


  Now what she said was a little abnormal. Even if they were all waiting for the results of the competition, it was nothing but one sentence from His Majesty. To insist on getting the results now, could it be that she was rushing to make it in time for some matter?

  San Yu was participating in the competition as the representative of Bai Residence. Today, firstly the Bai family's Miss came out with an arrogant burst of words without paying attention to her status, then the Bai family’s kitchen maid contradicted His Majesty’s words. If it weren’t for the fact that the Emperor kept the Prime Minister’s hard work and great accomplishments in mind, he would have already called for someone to drag this audacious kitchen maid out and execute her!

  Thus, Xi Qiulin didn’t continue to speak and just swept his glance towards the Prime Minister da ren who was continuously wiping his sweat.

  The Prime Minister was seriously panic-stricken ah. Normally, this San Yu was very obedient. How did she end up so thoughtless today?

  He naturally couldn’t understand what San Yu was thinking in her heart.

  When he felt Xi Qiulin’s gaze, he could only toughen the skin of his scalp to say, “San Yu, don’t mess around anymore. Hurry and tidy up to prepare for the rematch!”


  “No, Prime Minister da ren, you’ve promised. As long as this servant wins this competition, you’ll grant one of this servant’s wishes. The time limit falls right on this day. If it’s a different day, wouldn’t it no longer be valid!?” When she got to the very end, this tough and obstinate yatou actually seemed on the verge of crying.

  It looks like what she said earlier about being unconcerned with victory was nothing but empty fart.

  “Aiyoh, I was just saying it casually child, how did you end up treating it seriously!?” The Prime Minister didn’t expect for San Yu to mention this matter right here. Wasn’t that demanding his old life!?

  After finding out that this incident originated due to the Prime Minister's, Xi Qiulin’s facial color became even uglier.

  “Since San Yu needs to win, then why not give the victory to San Yu? After all, from what ben wang sees, their culinary skills were both pretty good……” Xi Qiuyue gave a forced laugh, trying to loosen the tension of the atmosphere.

  Originally, Tang Doudou had the same idea. However, it occurred to her that doing this might make San Yu feel even more insulted and unwilling to accept.

  Tang Doudou could also understand what she meant. She didn’t place importance on victories, but some matters required absolute victory.

  In any case, it was a very complicated matter.

  Xi Qiulin’s entire belly was filled with anger, but he didn’t want to explode in front of Baili Yu and be laughed at.

  From the start, Baili Yu acted as if this competition had nothing to do with him. The only time he was a little strange was when he stared at that kitchen maid, Tang Doudou. However, he must have decided it was boring after all afterwards and stopped paying attention. Currently, he seemed like he was almost about to fall asleep.

  Xi Qiulin had no idea what exactly he came here today for!

  But it didn’t matter. In any case, he wanted to set up an engagement for Imperial Uncle today so he’ll set everything else aside. Once he finish setting up the engagement, he’ll just head back to the palace. He didn’t want to bother dealing with this pile of trifles anyways.

  As his thoughts got to here, Xi Qiulin waved his hand. “Then so be it, you may discuss this amongst yourselves afterwards. Zhen will be returning to the palace!”


  After hearing this, quite a few people loosened breaths of relief. They had even left out many of the competition procedures for fear of boring and, in consequence, angering him. Unexpectedly, he was still angered in the end.

  Even as they thought about this, they knelt down to respectfully send off Xi Qiulin.

  However, he waved his hand again. “Before returning to the palace, zhen still has one matter zhen wishes to make clear.”


  “We ask Your Majesty to please enlighten us!”


  “Imperial Uncle, zhen sees that you’ve already gotten to an age when you should settle down and get married. The looks of this lady, Tang Doudou, is not bad and she matches you quite well. What does Sangfroid Imperial Uncle think about zhen making the decision for you and bestowing her to you to be your wife?”


  Tang Doudou instantly turned to stone. This Emperor wasn’t only muddleheaded, he also seems to love creating messes as well ah. Da fudge? What was he bringing up marriage for while they were in the middle of a normal competition!?

  And he’s planning to betroth her to Xi Qiuyue. The hole in his brain sure was big enough!

  As for Xi Qiuyue, he was so shocked that his mouth dropped big enough for a chicken egg to be stuffed inside. Did his family’s nephew turn muddle-headed from being emperor too long? This Tang Doudou was, w-was a man ah!

  And he’s the man that’s about to take Baili Yu as a bride!

  When this was brought up, Xi Qiuyue shuddered as if he sensed a not very pleased gaze. He nervously lifted his eyes to look towards Baili Yu.

  That person had, at some unknown time, started looking down at everyone with an expression that almost but didn’t quite seem to be a smile. His lips formed a few seemingly casual words. “Your Majesty wishes to betroth my wife to the Sangfroid Prince. Before you do so, shouldn’t you ask for my opinion first?”


  __________

  Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Edited by ed.L

  [Chiyomira's Corner]

  T/N - In Chinese, there’s a term for incapable rulers which kind of literally translates to ‘muddleheaded’ ‘monarch’.