XH 51

 

With the Third Prince staring at her with eyes that were waiting for an answer, Xiao Hua was unable to find a way to escape from answering him.

 

But her answer might shock him! People from olden times have no such things as homosexuals! Le XiaoTing had learned the term 'cut sleeves' from historical BL novels, but she was not sure if it was a true fact or not!

 

So she just settled for a simple explanation. "Girlfriend is a term for a man calling the girl he's courting but are not promised to marry each other yet. Heise bends his girlfriend because he's just being cruel."

 

"Hey!"

 

"Everyone died," Xiao Hua changed the subject, not wanting the Third Prince to find out more. "Ah Lian, the crown prince, the Emperor, and the Empress were dead because of the Second Prince."

 

Sorry Second Prince, but this young lady decided to pour oil on you to distract the Third Prince.

 

She was unwilling to corrupt the lovable Third Prince! Xiao Hua was also afraid that she might accidentally bend the Third Prince, drowning herself in her tears of regret!

 

Goodbye, Fujoshi life! This young lady will return to the straight path and promote boy and girl love!

 

"You will die too because of the Second Prince and Liu Chu Chu." Xiao Hua was such a hardworking employee, continuously pouring oil onto the golden couple. The Third Prince needs more material to ignite his flames of vengeance!

 

Le XiaoTing had never admitted that she was a nice person.

 

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Stop bad mouthing my male lead!"

 

"I'm just saying what I've read from your novel, so the one that actually bad mouths your darling male lead is you. You are the one that makes us, the readers, hate your characters."

 

The Eighth Prince could not refute that. When his girlfriend read his novel just for the sake of appeasing Heise despite having zero interest in it, he turned black and killed off many of his characters just to get his girlfriend’s attention. His fans blow their tops but his girlfriend did not even react, too busy sending love emails to Bai Gongzi!

 

"The male lead has a reason for doing that," The Eighth Prince reasoned, but it sounded weak to their ears. He just argued for the sake of arguing!

 

What a Tsundere!!!

 

"He did that for revenge!" The Eighth Prince snapped when he noticed the two of them were staring at him with skepticism. "It's your father's fault! He saw a beauty and kidnaps her even though she was already engaged to someone else!"

 

"As an Emperor, he can do so," the Third Prince answered indifferently and continues peeling the skin of the mandarin oranges. "That lady is just engaged, not married."

 

"That's still a wrong thing to do! It's like a flower thief stealing a bride!"

 

"Father Emperor had publically offered a proposal to her family, even gave them ten chests filled with gold and treasures. The He Patriarch agreed and let his daughter enter the palace.” The Third Prince raised an eyebrow at the Eighth Prince as if asking, 'So where did the act of stealing come from?'

 

"A low ranked minister would never defy the Emperor!" The Eighth Prince argued, refused to 'die' so easily. "The Emperor knowingly breaks up the loving couple just for his lust! Using money to pressure them, it’s disgusting!"

 

"Father Emperor is famous for that," the Third Prince nodded in agreement. "Many ministers fears that their wives or daughters would be picked up by the Emperor. It is only now that Father Emperor’s attention is focused on Concubine He did they dare to ease their guard."

 

He waited until the Eighth Prince's face revealed satisfaction before counter-attacking. "What do you think? Which is the worst offender, a lustful man that picks up beautiful women or a man that murdered a whole family just for a man's sin?"

 

That question rendered the Eighth Prince into silence. He had broken his moral just to justify his male lead's cruelty in the novel, but he could not justify the male lead's cruelty from his own mouth.

 

"You...You knew why the Second Prince killed..." Xiao Hua asked hesitantly.

 

The Third Prince's eyes darkened with wrath. "Yes."

 

"Argh! Fine, you win!" The Eighth Prince sulked, his cheeks bulge adorably. Xiao Hua wishes to pull his dough-like cheeks.

 

The Third Prince chuckled; the rage in his eyes disappeared and reached out to rub the Eighth Prince's head. "Good boy."

 

"Hey, I'm older than you!" He might have said that but he did not avoid the touch. Tsundere boy!

 

"What do you plan to do, Third Prince?" Xiao Hua asked worriedly.

 

The Third Prince reached out his other hand to rub Xiao Hua's head. "No need to worry. I have plans to stop him from succeeding."

 

"I'm older than you too..." Xiao Hua said weakly but did not avoid his touch, even if she knew that his hands were stained from the mandarin orange’s juices. "Third Prince, you need to know that Liu Chu Chu is also a transmigrated soul."

 

"...I see. That might explain why she suddenly becomes a talented person with a different personality." The Third Prince had his people investigated into Liu Chu Chu's background and was confused when the report was not consistent with what he had seen.

 

Liu Chu Chu was born weak and untalented, often bullied by her own family and leading the servants to treat her badly. One day, her personality changed from night to day, skillfully defended herself from the abuse and displayed her own intelligence and talent. It was only because there was no problem in her memories without any signs of her being an imposter that everyone around her accepted her changes reluctantly.

 

"Wait, there's something I need to know!" The Eighth Prince exclaimed. "Third Prince, shouldn't you fall for Liu Chu Chu at first sight?"

 

Since he said he was the real Third Prince, then he should have fallen for Liu Chu Chu just like how he had written in his novel!

 

The Third Prince's smile suddenly looked scary. "This prince is not interested in someone that has a terrible judgment with shady principles."

 

"Eh?" Team Transmigrated echoed.

 

The Third Prince eyed the door for a moment before he said, "Just know this, Heise, that if you choose to help your 'hero' and 'heroine', you have a hand in destroying the Four Kingdoms."

 

Four Kingdoms? That was the second time Xiao Hua heard of it.

 

"What's 'Four Kingdom'?" the Eighth Prince stared at the Third Prince in confusion.

 

The Third Prince looked startled. "You don't know the Four Kingdoms?"

 

"No. Is that a place?"

 

"Four Kingdoms were created in respect for the four great Celestial Beasts. Our Guilin Kingdom represents Azure Dragon."

 

"I have heard about the four celestial beasts, but I never include it in my novel."

 

"What about demon invasion?"

 

"No. What's that?"

 

The Third Prince chuckled as if the Eighth Prince's answer amused him. "I see. Your novel is all about the Second Prince and Liu Chu Chu, isn't it?"

 

"Yeah, what's wrong with it?" the Eighth Prince grew frustrated from the lack of answers.

 

"Nothing's wrong if you stay away from them." The Third Prince stood up and passed Xiao Hua the mandarin oranges that he had peeled. "I do not want to harm you when this prince crushes them."

 

Xiao Hua stared down at the mandarin oranges on her hand, wondering what she should do with these. She stared at the Third Prince as she slowly stuffed one of the oranges into her mouth, but the Third Prince did not do anything to stop her.

 

Could it be he wanted her to eat these?

 

"Don't be so confident. It's best not to underestimate them!" The Eighth Prince warned. The Third Prince just smiled and walked towards the door.

 

"Wait, you did not say what changed you!" the Eighth Prince suddenly remembered to ask the very important question.

 

The Third Prince let out a sinister laugh. "After experiencing your life once, surely you will change too."

 

He opened the door just as Long Lian arrived, huffing in dissatisfaction at Eunuch Heng that tried to block her way. Because Eunuch Heng was not allowed to touch the princess, he could not stop her when she used her body to make way for herself.

 

"Third brother, what are you all discussing?" Long Lian immediately demanded, irked that she was not involved. She knew they must be interrogating the Eighth brother! She wants to know too!

 

"What had Mother Empress decided on your 15th birthday celebration?"

 

Seeing that her Third brother did not answer her, she knew she would not get any answer she wanted from him.

"It's the same as every year. You know that." Long Lian tried to slip past the Third Prince to get into the study room where Xiao Hua and Eighth Prince were in. The Third Prince grabbed Long Lian's arm, pulling her along as he started walking in the opposite direction.

 

Xiao Hua could hear Long Lian making a ruckus about something but her mind was busy matching all the clues in her head.

 

"He's transmigrated just like us!" The Eighth Prince exclaimed confidently.

 

"He's a reincarnate," Xiao Hua contradicted. "More specifically, he traveled back to his past, judging from the way he seems to know things that have not happened yet."

 

"He might have read my novel too," the Eighth Prince denied. "That also explains why he knows things."

 

"No. Did you forget what he said earlier? ‘After experiencing your life once’ is the keyword! And he does not even know what 'girlfriend' means. How can he be a transmigrator if he does not know that?”

 

"He can. Not everyone knows what 'girlfriend' means."

 

Xiao Hua smacked the Eighth Prince's back. "Stop arguing would you! Do you love to win so much? Did you bend a straight guy just for the sake of winning? You are so weird!"

 

The Eighth Prince was shocked at the sudden physical smack and the continued verbal smack. This two-faced girl! Just wait until this big brother unravels your disguise to your beloved Third Prince!

 

"Third brother! Why can't I know about it?" Long Lian asked in frustration. The Third Prince had gotten brought them to a living room reserved for guest in the Summer Courtyard that Long Lian had half claimed as her property.

 

"If you ask Xiao Hua about it, you are no longer welcome here," the Third Prince said.

 

Long Lian gaped in disbelief. No matter what she did to annoy her third brother, never once did he threaten her like this. He usually just punished her to copy books or learn new things such as cooking. It must be something dangerous if her Third brother does not want her to know about it.

 

"It's very dangerous?"

 

"I will not put Xiao Hua in danger." The Third Prince said that with the purpose of calming his sister's fear for her friend's safety.

 

However, the Princess takes his explanation as a confession of his feelings for Xiao Hua.

 

Xiao Hua as a sister, Get!