213.1 – Imperial Selection
The inn, inside the courtyard house’s room, Qi Qiqi’s hand with chopsticks froze mid action, and she looked up at Xue Qilin, flabbergasted.
“Imperial struggle –? Do you mean the imperial selection?”
After Qi Qiqi calmed down, the two instructed a maid to prepare dinner and send it to their room.
At first, they planned to wait for Shui Yun’er to come back and eat together. But, after a long time, Shui Yun’er still hadn’t come back. Furthermore, they didn’t know when she would come back. They could only enjoy their meal first. After all, Qi Qiqi slept all day, while Xue Qilin hadn’t eaten since last night — both of them were hungry.
To be able to eat a bowl of hot rice is a kind of pleasure.
When eating — especially when dining with others — there are always all kinds of topics to talk about. Since Xue Qilin and Qi Qiqi do not observe “don’t talk while speaking”, they naturally need topics to talk about, and the first choice of topic was Gong Tianqing.
When Qi Qiqi asked about Gong Tianqing’s situation, Xue Qilin hesitated, not knowing whether she should answer or not. She was afraid that Qi Qiqi would be distressed when she learns about the situation.
Upon seeing the wavering in Xue Qilin’s eyes, Qi Qiqi roughly understood Xue Qilin’s concern.
In this regard, she only said one sentence, which was enough to prompt Xue Qilin to stop hesitating, saying, “– Qilin, tell me, I have to know.”
In addition to the words she spoke, Qi Qiqi also cast Xue Qilin a firm look.
Little Seven must really want to know.
Xue Qilin thinks that instead of making the other party feel uneasy, she should tell her — everything she knows, tell her what happened in the Gong Clan and what happened when she went out with Gong Tianyang.
As expected, when Xue Qilin said that the Second Prince is the backstage manipulator and Gong Tianyang judged that the Second Prince’s kidnapping of Gong Tianqing is related to the imperial selection, Qi Qiqi was quite shocked.
“Yes, that’s what that brat Gong Tianyang said. I don’t think that he was trying to deceive me…
As she spoke, Xue Qilin picked up a piece of meat and threw it into her mouth, and then stuffed some rice into her mouth.
When the tender flavor of meat erupted in her mouth, her eyes lit up. In line with the principle that good things should be shared, she excitedly picked up another piece of meat and put it into Xue Qilin’s bowl — or in other words, onto the white mountain made of rice.
“Hey, the meat is delicious! Little Seven, have some, too.”
Qi Qiqi, who had her head drooping, thinking who knows what, raised her head and responded.
“Really, I can take it myself!”
Qi Qiqi looked at the lass askance. Nevertheless, she could not hide the smile playing at the corners on her mouth. Perhaps because she realized that her words were incongruent with the expression on her face, she blushed abruptly.
“Why did you suddenly turn red?” Upon noticing the state of the girl’s face, Xue Qilin asked strangely, “Little Seven, are you thinking about something indecent?”
“Who’s thinking about indecent things!”
Like a kitten whose tail was stepped on, Qi Qiqi shouted back emotionally. It appears that she is angry from embarrassment.
“And don’t put the chopsticks in your mouth when eating! That’s impolite, disgraceful! Since you are the Merak Temple’s Young Ancestor, you should pay more attention to your manners. After all, as the saying goes, “like grasshoppers tied to one rope”… look, there is a grain of rice sticking to your mouth.”
Qi Qiqi extended two delicate fingers and grabbed the grain of rice sticking to Xue Qilin’s mouth, and then put it into her own mouth.
Fully aware that the other party cannot bare to see food being wasted, Xue Qilin is not surprised by Qi Qiqi’s behavior. Instead, she licked her mouth, leaving a glistening shade. As a result, Qi Qiqi stared at her, then took out a handkerchief and wiped the other party’s mouth.
“That said, what’s the deal with this imperial selection? Is the Emperor old, so his descendants are getting restless?”
With the handkerchief blocking her mouth, Xue Qilin voice sounded muffled.
When she heard the question, Qi Qiqi’s hand movement stopped, and she sighed.
“If I remember correctly, His Majesty should be pushing sixty.”
“What realm is he in?”
Recalling that Qi Qiqi once mentioned that the Hua Dynasty’s royal family used to be a Wulin clan, Xue Qilin reckons that the royal family should also practice martial arts. After all, it’s quite common for a clan to pass down their martial arts.
On this premise, in order to be able to judge whether the Emperor is advanced in age or not, Xue Qilin has to know the realm he is in first. Otherwise, it is hard to tell whether he is “old” or not.
Take Xia Xue as example. Although she doesn’t look a day over twenty, but in fact, she is actually in her forties. Ye Zhen, on the other hand, is pushing ninety. Even more extreme is the case of Beiming Youyu, who is said to be pushing one hundred and fifty.
However —
“No, His Majesty doesn’t practice martial arts.”
When she heard that, Xue Qilin, who was just about to put some vegetables into her mouth, stopped mid-action. She put the vegetables into her bowl and asked, puzzled, “Doesn’t practice martial arts? Really?”
“Yes, His Majesty loves literature since he was young and doesn’t like to practice martial arts. He is the only one among the former Emperor’s children who doesn’t practice martial arts.”
Er, what clan doesn’t have one or two outliers! Xue Qilin scratched her head.
“So, our Emperor is almost done for.”
The degree of lifespan is largely controlled by the degree of development of a civilization. In the Hua Dynasty, the average life expectancy of ordinary people is sixty to seventy years. Very few people live to eighty years old.
Because of this, there is not a small number of people who practice martial arts to extend their lifespan.
Qi Qiqi pinched her chopsticks dissatisfiedly.
“Although the way you put it is unpleasant, what’s with that ‘almost done for’… but it’s certainly the case.”
As if afraid of someone eavesdropping, Qi Qiqi looked around for several times, and then leaned forward and said in a low voice, “However, His Highness is actually quite lucky… the former Emperor was in the Earth Realm. Therefore, according to reason, it should not be a problem for him to live for a hundred years. But, he died abruptly of a sudden illness about ten years ago. He died at the age of seventy eight.”
After a pause, Qi Qiqi carried on, “And the Crown Prince, who originally occupied the position of Crown Prince, died under dubious circumstances. He was also in the Earth Realm! When he was going to ascend the throne, he was less than sixty years old, and in fact, was about forty years old.
Assuming the tone of a storyteller to create suspense, Qi Qiqi uttered a little mischievously, “What’s more, the then Second Prince died on the battlefield, which enabled the Third Prince to ascend the throne.”