Chapter 389: Paying a Visit 2
"Yes, Your Highness." The guard stepped out.
Mo Geluo was confused. "Your Highness, I thought you disliked interacting with the Nanyuan envoys."
The last time you happened to run into them, that Nanyuan envoy was so thick-skinned, sitting right across from you. Weren’t you very unhappy the whole time?
Xiliu Yuan merely gazed down below.
Mo Geluo rubbed his nose, took the hint, and shut his mouth. He followed his prince’s gaze and looked down as well.
A guard blocked Prince Yu’s path and said something. When Prince Yu looked up and saw who was above, his face immediately broke into a wide smile. He then led Helian Chen into Chunfeng Lou.
"I truly never expected to meet the young Crown Prince here." Prince Yu’s voice preceded him.
Helian Chen rolled his eyes. ’We’re Nanyuan royalty, after all,’ he thought. ’But the moment Uncle sees the Crown Prince of Xi Yan, he acts like we’re completely worthless. This is so embarrassing.’
"Prince Yu, you’ve bought so many things. Don’t tell me you’re preparing to head back to Nanyuan already," Mo Geluo taunted.
Prince Yu was a master of social graces. He knew a backhanded comment when he heard one, but he paid it no mind, simply smiling as he said, "One does indeed need to buy a few extra things before returning to Nanyuan. Beili has many goods that one simply can’t find back home."
"Come, let this General see what precious things Prince Yu has with him." Mo Geluo rose to his feet, clearly intending to humiliate him then and there.
As Mo Geluo went to pass by Prince Yu, the prince reached out and blocked his path.
"What’s this? Are the things Prince Yu has purchased not fit to be seen?" Mo Geluo asked, raising an eyebrow.
Helian Chen’s young face flushed with anger. "For a great General, you are surprisingly brutish."
"Brutish? Little whelp, do you want this General to show you what *real* brutishness looks like?" Mo Geluo said, looking down his nose at him, completely disregarding the people of Nanyuan.
"You..."
Before Helian Chen could finish, he met Prince Yu’s gaze and resentfully shut his mouth.
"General Mo, it is not that I am unwilling to let you inspect them," Prince Yu said with a smile. "It is simply that these are gifts I intend to deliver to the General’s manor, and it would be most inconvenient to open them now."
"Surely gifts for the General’s manor contain nothing that cannot be seen."
"There is a matter of propriety in all things. These gifts are all exquisitely wrapped. As long as General Mo can restore them to their original state after opening them, I certainly will not stand in your way," Prince Yu said, gesturing to the men outside the door.
Four guards carrying gifts entered and presented them to Mo Geluo with both hands.
Mo Geluo hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand to tear one open.
"General Mo, do not be rude," Xiliu Yuan said, his voice cold.
Mo Geluo’s raised hand froze for a second before he lowered it.
"Now, apologize to Prince Yu."
Without a moment’s hesitation, Mo Geluo clasped his hands and bowed. "I was just having a bit of fun with Prince Yu. I hope you won’t take offense."
"It was nothing serious, General Mo. There’s no need for such formality." Prince Yu smiled, but he couldn’t help thinking, ’So young, yet what a commanding presence. He’s truly worthy of being the one Xi Yan cherishes above all else.’
’At only thirteen, he can already command the nation’s affairs. Even a fierce general like Mo Geluo doesn’t dare defy him in the slightest. In the future, Xi Yan will surely rise to dominate the other kingdoms.’
"Ha, Prince Yu is truly magnanimous." Mo Geluo straightened up, his usual boisterous self again.
Prince Yu simply played along with a smile.
Helian Chen curled his lip. ’He’s built like a bear,’ he thought disdainfully. ’He probably just scares the enemy to death on the battlefield.’
"Prince Yu, you’re taking such generous gifts to the General’s manor?" Xiliu Yuan asked.
"Strictly speaking, the gifts are not for the General’s manor, but for Dean Chen. As the Crown Prince may know, my nephew here has long admired Dean Chen’s great learning and wishes to study under him at Lou Mountain. We heard the Dean was temporarily residing at the General’s manor, so I thought I would bring my nephew to pay him a visit."
"I, too, hold Dean Chen in high regard. Since there’s no time like the present, I shall accompany Prince Yu to the General’s manor to pay him a visit as well," Xiliu Yuan announced as he rose to his feet.
