Black Bellied Prince’s Stunning Abandoned Consort Chapter 77

Chapter 77: It's Just a Shame

The Jasper Flower Banquet had already gone on for five days. The audience grew by the day and their interest only intensified.

Their initial antic.i.p.ation towards the winner of the Jasper Flower Banquet had now turned into antic.i.p.ation for Xiao Susu's next performance.

Her every movement caught people's hearts, regardless of whether the person was male or female.

They all wanted to know how strong she was and what shocking surprise she would show them next.

Before, only the people of Hundred Flowers Nation knew that Xiao Susu was once intellectually disabled, but through the Jasper Flower Banquet, that information had spread through all three nations.

It transformed her into a nearly legendary topic.

Some said that she was possessed by a celestial, others said that it was a demon.

Of course, these things were only discussed in private.

The last compet.i.tion was on poetry.

Since she had lost to Hua Qianzi yesterday, Hua Qianzi also managed to become famous in one night. A lot of people were making guesses at her ident.i.ty.

She was different from Xiao Susu. Xiao Susu had a naturally lofty aura, but she was purposefully looking down on everyone like she was oh so n.o.ble and virtuous.

Her appearance immediately stopped all the rumors that Hundred Flowers Nation would not have a successor.

Of course, Hua Qianzi was also aware that Hua Ruxue had her come back only to rea.s.sure the citizens that the Hua family did have a descendant.

However, the true successor hadn't been decided yet.

Hua Qianzi's presence here was only a pretense. No one could guess Hua Ruxue's true intentions.

Hua Qianzi, who had thought that she would be able to become emperor, was also furious. Who wouldn't want this power? However, since she had been living away from the palace this entire time, though she had methods, she didn't have strong support.

Even the adopted princesses in the palace had more influence than her.

She could only rely on herself.

There was also the fact that Hua Qianye was eyeing her like she was prey.

Although they were twins, they weren't close at all. Even if there had been some sibling affection once, it was so overpowered by the allure of power that it hardly even existed anymore.

All that was left were their respective schemes and plans.

“Little Sis, good luck.” Xiao En had watched at Hua Qianzi walked on stage. He couldn't help but feel annoyed when he saw how she looked down on everyone. Although she was someone of the imperial household, he didn't respect her.

After all, she was just a princess without any background. No matter how haughty she was, she was still nothing.

Xiao Susu nodded with a warm smile.

She had long gotten over the meaning of victory and defeat. She no longer viewed it as important.

At the beginning, she had just wanted to make the ninth prince regret asking for an imperial decree to force her to partic.i.p.ate in the Jasper Flower Banquet. As of now, she was just going with the flow and challenging these tasks to the best of her ability.

She didn't like standing out so much, but she also didn't want to repeat her last lifetime.

Poetry actually wasn't her strong suit, but she also wasn't worried.

There were several dozen verses on stage to couple. Hua Qianzi's alluring figure moved gracefully, and after a moment, she had finished her answer to one verse.

Several daughters of officials also gave their replies to their chosen verses and left the stage.

Xiao En and Xiao Susu walked onstage together and looked through all the available verses. They shared a glance, then gave each other an encouraging smile.

Following that, they lifted their brushes and wrote their replies in one stroke.

Everyone looked over as soon as the siblings left the stage.

It turned out that Xiao Susu had chosen one of the hardest verses to match. The previous verse was: Qin, Se, and Pipa, eight great kings, all kings rising above.

The verse that Xiao Susu followed with was: Demons and monsters, four little demons, all demons infringing the border.

(These verses are said to be made during the time of the Eight-Nation Alliance. The first part of the first verse, – 琴瑟琵琶 – Qin, Se, and Pipa which are instruments, have two – 王 – king characters on top of each letter. It represents the Eight-Nation Alliance and how they are strong. The second verse, – 魅魑魍魉 – demons and monsters, each character starts with a – 鬼 – demon character on the left side. By demon, they are referring to the ‘foreign demons' aka the foreigners that were trying to infringe on the nation's border.)

It was a very neat match and caused another large stir in the audience.

In reality, although it was called a poetry compet.i.tion, it was more like just matching rhyming couplets. The Jasper Flower Banquet was just making it sound more elegant.

This rhyming couplet was a very ancient verse. It had stumped many valiant young men and talented beauties.

However, Xiao Susu had been able to match it without even needing time to think. The people present couldn't help but be impressed.

They found her a marvel.

Regardless of the final result, Xiao Susu had already won the admiration and respect of everyone present.

“Very nice.” Xu Weiran also expressed his praise. His interest in Xiao Susu was intensifying.

“It truly was meticulously done.” He Yitian didn't understand poetry that much, so this was the only remark he could give. He watched as Xiao Susu walked slowly back to her seat. “It's just a pity that she's a woman of Hundred Flowers Nation.”

“Hm? Brother He is interested?” Xu Weiran smiled slightly as he looked towards He Yitian.

He Yitian was only thirty. If one looked past his baleful aura and that valiant air brought about by life on the Jianghu, they'd see that he was also a very handsome man.

It was just that he had been on the Jianghu for many years and no longer cared much about having children. All he wanted was to make a name for himself in the a.s.sa.s.sination world, but it was to no avail. His reputation had ended up being destroyed in one night.

At this time, when Xu Weiran asked this question, his face actually flushed.

A person like him didn't have that many schemes. His thoughts were pretty straightforward, if he liked, he liked. It was much better to entrust one's heart to this kind of man rather to someone like Xu Weiran who made countless women's hearts flutter.

However, in this world, he and Xiao Susu would never have a chance.

He Yitian tried to calm his flush down, but it was no use. He scratched his head in embarra.s.sment. “It's just a shame she's someone of Hundred Flowers Nation.”

This remark caused Xu Weiran to laugh loudly. “That's right, it truly is a bit of a pity.”

It must be known that except for peace marriages decreed by the imperial household, all the women of Hundred Flowers Nation only took men as groom and did not marry over as a bride.

Men from Serene Chaste Nation and Unyielding Clouds Nation usually didn't marry women of Hundred Flowers Nation.

He was also interested in Xiao Susu, but it was purely just interest.

He would never give a woman his true heart, he'd only used them.

“This prince regrets,” said Baili Mo softly as he stared at the verse that Xiao Susu had easily composed. He didn't look at Nangong Mo, but it was clear that these words were directed towards him.

Nangong Mo was also stunned. Someone as haughty as Baili Mo had actually said something like this.

It seemed that he really was enchanted by Xiao Susu.

Of course, he had also been enchanted. Who could resist the charm of such a talented and beautiful young girl?

Baili Mo's face was a little pale as he squeezed his engraved phoenix pendant.

“What do you plan to do?” Nangong Mo saw his gesture and asked this quietly.

“I'm going to made Xiao Susu take back her decision to break off the engagement,” said Baili Mo as he stared at Xiao Susu who was currently talking to Xiao En with a smile.

He was a shallow person from the start.

Nangong Mo stiffened. He never thought that Baili Mo would say something like this. “But…”

“This prince knows. I was the one that decided to break off the engagement back then. However, now I want to make the emperor revoke that decision.” Baili Mo's face was filled with determination.

He didn't want to miss this opportunity of a lifetime just because of one wrong move.

Baili Mo was aware of what Hua Ruxue's personality was like.

The situation between the three nations was currently very unstable. The situation would only change if two of the nations linked hands.

Xiao Susu would definitely become one of Hua Ruxue's chess pieces.

In this case, he would just have to s.n.a.t.c.h this chess piece first.

He was just a first rank official, so he didn't have the right to fight over power with the other princes. He could only stare at the distant Xiao Susu that seemed to glow with the radiance of the world.

“Baili Mo definitely wouldn't drop things just like this, so we have to make our move now as well.” Xu Weiran suddenly stopped teasing He Yitian and started talking seriously.

“What?” He Yitian was caught off guard.

“Did you forget our motive in coming here?” Xu Weiran's eyes revealed a bit of darkness.

“To make sure that Hundred Flowers Nation's alliance with Unyielding Clouds Nation fails.” He Yitian's expression became serious as well. Back then, when someone secretly told Baili Mo that the youngest miss of the Xiao family was a fool, that wasn't an accident. It had been Xu Weiran's doing.

Their initial motive was to make sure that Hundred Flowers Nation and Unyielding Clouds Nation couldn't successfully form a hundred year alliance.

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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira

[Chiyomira's Corner]
Enjoy~