After disembarking from the starship, the guests from the Glorious Autonomous Dominion were taken away by the waiting ministers. Jiang Jianming completed his task and returned in a flying vehicle.
The flying vehicle became a small dot in the blue sky above Star City. With the window half down, Jiang Jianming held his military cap in his hand and leaned against the window to look down.
There was a commotion in Star City.
At the street corner, a group of young people were holding up projection boards and shouting something, attracting many people. The words on the projection board were large, and even from a distance, Jiang Jianming could make out most of it. They were opposing the advancing faction of Silver Big Dipper.
Bei Man’er stretched her arm to lower the window. “Don’t look.”
Soon, patrol officers with electric batons and handcuffs arrived and took away the young men. Only then did Jiang Jianming withdraw his gaze, “Is it so strict? Is it the emperor’s order or the military’s?”
“Don’t you know? It’s His Highness Ryann,” Zheng Yue, who was driving the flying vehicle in front, turned his head and said, “Now in Star City, civilians are not allowed to discuss military affairs rashly. Those who violate the ban are thrown into prison.”
“…”
Jiang Jianming was silent for a few seconds before he said lightly, “It doesn’t have to be like this, I’ll go back and persuade him.”
Bei Man’er and Zheng Yue exchanged worried glances.
Both of them knew that the situation of Silver Big Dipper was not optimistic at the moment, and they vaguely noticed that Colonel Jiang seemed a bit different since he returned from the starship of the Crystal Cult.
They didn’t dare to ask too much, but the signs of a storm were already pressing on their hearts.
“Zheng Yue.”
After getting off the flying vehicle in front of the White Jade Palace, Jiang Jianming suddenly said, “I remember you’re a shrinking faction, right? Is it uncomfortable to be with me?”
Zheng Yue was stunned. That was something from last year when they first went to the Golden Sun Wheel Building. At that time, Jiang Jianming casually mentioned it, and he just casually answered. He didn’t expect the Little Excellency to still remember.
He saluted and said seriously, “You saved my life.”
Jiang Jianming replied, “Your life was almost lost for your faith. For you, faith should be more important than life, right?”
Zheng Yue smiled awkwardly, “Well, faith can change too.”
Jiang Jianming also curved his lips, made a fist with his hand, and lightly hammered Zheng Yue’s chest, “Don’t be slick.”
“Then you guys go back, I’m going in.”
Passing Bei Man’er and Zheng Yue, Colonel Jiang walked through the palace path where golden roses bloomed. The breeze brought fresh air, and small robots flew around in the clear sky. One of them, a cute little round thing, brought a stack of formal wear to him.
[Beep beep, Your Highness the Crown Princess]
The little robot made electronic sounds, [Please remember to attend the banquet tonight, the location is…]
Jiang Jianming turned off the voice, then looked up at the sky. A few distant sparrows were reflected in his deep, dark eyes. He sighed silently, feeling a bit frustrated.
Unconsciously, it had been quite a while since the empire was attacked and the Battle of Lan Xishi. His patience and composure, which he had always been proud of, had recently begun to fail.
During this period, everything had been calm. He had been left aside, leisurely recovering from his injuries in the palace as the Crown Princess. The emperor didn’t seem to worry at all that he would do something out of line, like revealing the truth about the interstellar racial war to the public.
The last time they talked about this, Ryann had said that he was too patient and too cautious, which made it easy for people to take advantage of him.
“You need to learn to be a bit fiercer, look at me,” the Crown Prince lazily squinted his green eyes, like a proud lion, “Who dares to take advantage of me?”
At that time, the afternoon sun made people feel bone-soft. Jiang Jianming lay in front of the table, reached out and pinched the noble face in front of him, “I dare.”
Ryann: “You don’t count, this is an exception.”
The spring breeze brought the same rose fragrance as that day, and Jiang Jianming withdrew his gaze and thoughts.
He said to himself: Just wait a little longer. Perhaps this visit from the Glorious Autonomous Dominion is the opportunity for change?
…….
At night, the thin clouds dispersed, and the silver moon was like a plate. It was a very refreshing spring night.
Jiang Jianming changed into formal wear to attend the banquet. The royal luxury car stopped at the entrance of the East Hall, which was also the largest banquet hall in the White Jade Palace.
The car door was opened from the outside, and a hand reached out to help him get out of the car. Jiang Jianming was lost in thought and thought it was a servant. He was helped out of the car, and when he looked up, he was dazzled—
The Crown Prince’s emerald eyes were deep, his face had an icy sharpness, his platinum curls were tied into a ponytail falling behind him, and he was wearing a deep red formal wear adorned with golden tassel chains. The collar was turned out to reveal layers of white silk scarves.
“Did you go on a mecha during the day?” His Highness leaned over to ask. In the light of the early evening, this face seemed like the son of the moon god descending to the world.
Jiang Jianming was forced to take another beauty blow and immediately shook his head, “No, you can check the startup record of Snow Dove.”
In the banquet hall, many high-ranking officials were looking at them from a distance. Further down the steps was a crowd of people. Outside the cordon set up by the royal guards, the lights of the cameras flashed into a piece.
Tonight was a big event.
Jiang Jianming remembered that his status was different now. In such an occasion, he should do some business, at least…..smile and wave or something.
But Ryann didn’t care about the gazes around him, holding Jiang Jianming’s hand, leading him inside.
As the two passed a carved pillar, taking advantage of the fleeting shadow, Ryann quickly kissed him.
“The other party is the envoy of the Autonomous Dominion, you can show your face at the door to give them face.”
His Highness lowered his voice and said, “Go in and find a quiet place to eat. I’m here, no one dares to say anything to you.”
Jiang Jianming gave a cautious and skeptical look, “Isn’t it too much to mooch off a state banquet, Your Highness?”
Ryann replied, “It’s okay, there’s more than one state banquet, tonight is just for show. The main event is the day after tomorrow, when there will be fewer miscellaneous people and it won’t be tiring, you can choose to appear then if you wish.”
Because he was worried about his poor health, and because his race and background made him prone to discrimination, Ryann didn’t let him get involved in too many political affairs.
This time, Jiang Jianming didn’t refuse. But his thoughts were different from Ryann’s: if he really wanted to rule the country alongside Ryann as the queen in the future, of course he would need to socialize among the nobles and high officials. But in fact, he was a chronic crystal disorder patient who didn’t know how many years he had left to live, so it wasn’t bad to hide.
The state banquet was brilliantly lit.
After parting with His Highness, Jiang Jianming sat down at his seat and looked at the center from a distance.
The Emperor, dressed in a dignified black silk dress, stood under the lights of the banquet hall, her shawl full of pearls. Ryann walked to her side, followed by several high-ranking ministers of the empire.
The Emperor and the Crown Prince whispered a few words, and then they saw the envoy delegation coming in from the door. The envoys bowed respectfully, and Ms. Lopez bent over to kiss Lin Ge’s hand.
Jiang Jianming’s gaze fell on the youngest man in the envoy delegation. He was indeed very handsome, always looking at the Crown Prince with bright eyes. When the latter turned his eyes because of that gaze, he smiled.
His eyebrows and eyes were relaxed, the corners of his lips were gentle and polite, a perfect smile.
Needless to say, this must be the original little Young Master Yuan.
The dazzling lights made him sleepy, and Jiang Jianming quickly lost his appetite after eating a few bites. He took a bottle of red wine and poured himself a drink in a secluded corner.
He knew that according to traditional aesthetics, the existence of the original little young master was the most fitting template for a “perfect disabled human”.
Delicate and literary, soft and beautiful, gentle and friendly…..able to make disabled humans admire and worship, and also arouse the protective desire of new humans.
Unfortunately, His Highness’s memory had been wiped clean now.
Perhaps it was the result of the past few days of frustration, or perhaps it was because of the fragrant wine.
As time passed, when Jiang Jianming came back to his senses, the long hand of the classical clock in the hall had gone around once, and the night was darker. He lazily put down his wine glass, squinted at the half-empty bottle of red wine.
Oops, it seemed he had been a bit greedy.
Not to the point of being drunk, but he couldn’t drink any more. Jiang Jianming slowly stood up, took a look at the center, the guests from the Autonomous Dominion and the high-ranking officials of the empire had already dispersed.
Lopez was smiling and chatting with several nobles. The Lance family had an accident, and she needed to find new partners for trade between the Autonomous Dominion and the empire.
The noble Emperor was engrossed in eating meat with a knife and fork. Seeing the Emperor enjoying her meal, Jiang Jianming’s guilt for mooching off the state banquet instantly evaporated.
…It seemed that His Highness hadn’t fooled him, tonight was indeed not a serious occasion.
Jiang Jianming reluctantly decided to go wash his face and come back to eat some desserts.
………
“Can…can this really work?”
At this moment, in a dim corner next to the washroom of the East Hall. Yuan Changze’s expression was subtle, his face full of indescribable words, “Too…cough, I mean, isn’t this too stupid?”
“Little Young Master, rest assured, it will definitely work!”
The man standing next to Yuan Changze was a man with a gaunt face, who was now full of energy and spoke quickly in a low voice, “Don’t think it’s vulgar, sometimes the simplest methods can be the most effective.”
“You are now a distinguished guest of the empire, and you have old ties with His Highness the Crown Prince. Both publicly and privately, His Highness Ryann cannot ignore you.”
In this dimly lit place, the man gestured wildly, saliva flying, “When the time comes, I’ll take a wine glass and give you a push, hey, you’ll fall. Since His Highness Ryann is a crystal human who has been on the battlefield for a long time, his reaction speed is needless to say, he will definitely catch you, and then you can ask His Highness to take you to change your clothes that have been splashed with wine…”
“Enough, Larry, stop talking!” Yuan Changze blushed and said irritably, “I…I need to think about it.”
The man called Larry chuckled, “Don’t be shy, this isn’t something harmful, even if it doesn’t succeed, it’s not a mistake.”
“Come on, let’s rehearse once and see how it goes.”
“But…” Yuan Changze swallowed, looking nervous, “Alright, let’s just rehearse once then.”
“Alright, little young master.” Larry rubbed his hands together and took a few steps back. He comically made the gesture of holding a non-existent wine glass and quickly walked towards Yuan Changze!
Faced with such an enthusiastic attendant, Yuan Changze had no choice but to cooperate. He pretended to be unaware, half-raised his face, and was bumped by Larry who rushed over, stumbling backwards.
Larry exaggeratedly cried out, “Oh my!”
“Shut up, Larry! You’ll be heard!” Yuan Changze closed his eyes in despair, thinking to himself that this was too stupid…
Suddenly, a cold voice cut through the dim space.
“Who!”
“Ah!?” Yuan Changze was startled, his ankle twisted, and his pretend fall turned into a real one.
Regret surged in his mind, and the little young master was mortified: it was over, his bright, elegant, gentle, and beautiful image that he had maintained for twenty years was about to collapse—
Yuan Changze felt a sense of tragic determination, resigned to fall backwards, but suddenly a steady arm hooked around his waist!
A faint scent came over, not a deliberately sprayed perfume, but the aroma of golden roses and red wine.
The voice was still clear and light, “What are you doing?”
Yuan Changze’s heart pounded, his face flushed red, “I…I…”
The light here was too dim, he bumped into the man’s chest, and could only vaguely see the man’s pure black formal wear, his pale and tight jaw, and his light pink lips when he opened his mouth.
This man held the little young master in his right hand, his movements were very smooth, Yuan Changze didn’t even see clearly how he moved, poor Larry had already been pinned against the wall by this man’s other hand!
“Ouch! It hurts, it hurts!!” Larry cried out in pain, “Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, sir, this sir, we are envoys from the Autonomous Dominion…..The one you’re holding is our little young master Yuan, I’m Larry, the little young master’s attendant, we were just fooling around…”
“Fooling around?” The man chuckled lightly, his voice seemed quite young.
He just pressed Larry, circled Yuan Changze, and took a few steps back, so the light was slightly brighter.
“I’m sorry…sir, you are…” Yuan Changze looked up anxiously, meeting a pair of deep, inscrutable black eyes, his heart rate skyrocketed.
Half of Jiang Jianming’s face was still buried in the dim light, only the other half of his eyebrows and eyes could make out the outline and his seemingly smiling expression. He looked down at Yuan Changze, then at Larry, and slowly released his hand.
“Ah, so the guests were ‘fooling around’. I thought the little young master Yuan would be a more serious type, turns out he’s still a child at heart.”
Jiang Jianming casually adjusted Yuan Changze’s collar, clearly having guessed what these two were up to, “I’m sorry for interrupting, please carry on.”
“But from my personal perspective, I wouldn’t recommend you provoke the Crown Prince. His Highness Ryann has a bad temper, you’d better be careful.”
“…” Yuan Changze buried his head like a quail.
“Sir, hey sir, wait a minute!”
Larry broke out in a cold sweat, hurriedly took off the gold brooch from his chest, and stuffed it into Jiang Jianming’s hand without a second thought.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, this is all…all my instigation, my little young master didn’t do anything—oh no, we haven’t done anything yet! This is a small apology, please don’t tell anyone…”
“…”
His Highness the Crown Princess was stunned as he was bribed by the envoy of the Autonomous Dominion, his expression strange, “Ah, okay, I won’t say anything.”
These two clowns, they’re really naive…he thought to himself.
Before this, his enemies were those mad and inscrutable Crystal Cult bishops. And those who were probing him were the inhuman Black Shark leader, the cold-blooded old fox Marshal Chen, and the Emperor who didn’t know what she was thinking every day.
Now looking at the childish tricks of the little young master and his servant, it was as if he had returned to the human world from the fog of mystery. He surprisingly didn’t get angry.
And the little young master Yuan, perhaps out of embarrassment, his face was as red as a freshly steamed crab, and he didn’t dare to look up at him.
Jiang Jianming found it amusing, casually ruffled the young man’s hair…and then put the gold brooch back into Yuan Changze’s jacket pocket.
He couldn’t just take other people’s things, in case His Highness gets jealous, it would be hard to appease him.
…….
Soon, Yuan Changze and Larry watched as Jiang Jianming’s figure disappeared from their sight.
Larry muttered, “Strange, why does this person look familiar?….The light isn’t very good, I didn’t see clearly, has the empire ever had such a young noble?”
“Larry.”
Yuan Changze suddenly covered his burning face.
“What’s wrong, little young master?”
Larry turned around, “Hey, don’t worry, even if he wants to complain, he has no evidence.”
“No, it’s not…just now that gentleman…”
The little young master Yuan looked dazed, “Do you think, if I were to fall in love now… pursuing a young nobleman from the empire would be…easier than pursuing the Crown Prince, right?”
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 target’s change? 😂😂😂😂