Chapter 255

After the ceremony, envoys from three kingdoms and various officials all directly went to the Palace for banquet, State Teacher and Moran Hall’s disciples were amongst them, sitting on the upper seat.

The old monarch wanted State Teacher to sit alone according to old rules, and State Teacher probably thought so too because his movement of pushing his robe simply didn’t think that there would be people sitting beside him, his white robe almost covered the whole soft bench.

It’s just that, just as State Teacher sat down on the right seat prepared for him, that beautiful woman who followed him like a shadow immediately put her butt down too.

Emperor and officials: …

Gong Moran: …

Gong Moran paused, slightly tilting his head to look at Nan Xun.

Nan Xun looked back at him with innocent eyes, asking with a smile, “My Lord, what’s the matter? You have allowed this disciple to follow you since you got off the palanquin earlier, this disciple is being obedient and following Lord’s every step of the way. This disciple is so happy ah, this is the first time for this disciple to attend such a grand banquet.”

Gong Moran pursed his thin lips slightly, saying with a light tone, “No problem.” After a pause, he glanced down and reminded her, “Duoduo ah, you’re sitting on this Lord’s robe.”

Nan Xun let out an ‘ah’, raised her little buttocks, very quickly dragged out the robe that she just sat on, then set it up nicely on Gong Moran’s side.

Gong Moran shifted slightly, giving her half of the bench.

What the two said, people who sat far away naturally couldn’t hear clearly, but Qi Hengqing who wasn’t far away heard it.

His eyes moved slightly, staring at the woman in white for a long time, doubts arose in his heart.

Is this woman really miss Qiangwei? Why did she feel so strange to him this time?

But he can’t be wrong, Madam Zhang had shown him miss Qiangwei’s portrait, and even if the painter’s craftmanship wasn’t that good with only three points of her charm was drawn, but those two enchanting eyes and her oriole-like voice was the same as miss Qiangwei.

On the high seat, Nanyun Kingdom’s old monarch gave a light cough before those gazes on State Teacher and Nan Xun turned away.

Today’s ceremony obviously played a role in deterring the other three kingdoms, the old monarch looked at the envoys who behaved even more respectful, he felt extremely contented.

“Envoys, you all saw my Nanyun Kingdom’s State Teacher offering sacrifice and praying for blessing ceremony with your own eyes today, what do you think?” The old monarch asked with a smile.

Ximo Kingdom’s envoy replied with awe, “This official was petrified, didn’t expect that Lord State Teacher has this kind of sky-reaching skill, today is really broadening one’s horizons.”

The envoy from Beiwu Kingdom still felt a lingering fear, he looked once at Gong Moran before quickly retracting his gaze, saying, “State Teacher is really a celestial being, this official had his vision opened wide today.”

Qi Hengqing smiled slightly as he chimed in, “State Teacher is really great, with State Teacher, Nanyun Kingdom will only grow more prosperous and stronger every day.”

There seemed to be nothing wrong with this sentence, but the old monarch was a bit unhappy.

Could it be that if there’s no State Teacher, his Nanyun Kingdom wouldn’t prosper anymore?

“Alright, all the envoys and our beloved ministers have been tired for a day, and State Teacher also spent a lot of energy for this ceremony, let the banquet start!” The old monarch clapped his hands and beautiful maids immediately presented a variety of delicacies.

Stringed and woodwind instruments were played as dancers wearing beautiful skirts moved up and down, dancing the water-sleeves dance. The long sleeves moved like running water, skirts scattered like flowers and their slender waist agilely moved in rhytm.

While eating and watching, Nan Xun gave her comments to Gong Moran from time to time, “My Lord, that beauty is fair-skinned and beautiful, she also has a soft figure, I’m guessing that she had practiced this dance for a hundred times with a foundation that was built for no less than ten years. And there’s also that accompanying dancer, I think that she actually dances better than the lead dancer, but she doesn’t look as beautiful as her ah, humph, I reckon the two beauties must have fight and scheme against each other in secret.”

Gong Moran was drinking tea by himself; he had no interest in these things, but when he saw his little disciple’s interest, he followed her gaze and looked for a while, only to feel bored and went back to sipping his tea.

“My Lord, why don’t you look at them? Their dance is really beautiful.” Nan Xun gently pulled on Gong Moran’s sleeve. Because she was looking at the dancers without noticing that the other party was drinking tea, when she shook Gong Moran’s hand, all the tea in the small cup spilled out.

He can’t help but patted the girl’s small hand, motioning to her to let go of her naughty little paw, “Duoduo, you can watch them yourself, this Lord isn’t good with these things.”

Nan Xun let out an ‘ah’ before she let go of her hand to look at him, “But this banquet won’t end for a long time, if my Lord doesn’t appreciate this song and dance, then my Lord will just sit like this? Won’t you get bored?”

Gong Moran looked at her little curious face, and a smile flicked across his lips, “I won’t be bored, all the civil and military officials are here, and there are even envoys from the three kingdoms. This Lord can guess what they’re thinking by reading their expressions on certain moments.”

Nan Xun’s eyes lit up, she exclaimed, “My Lord is this amazing?”

She was obviously interested as she immediately pointed to the beautiful dancer in the stage, asking with a smile, “My Lord, what’s that dancer thinking at this moment?”

Gong Moran glanced slightly and said faintly, “This dancer is looking forward for her success. She’s making an appearance today, it’s inevitable that some nobles would be attracted to her, when the time comes, if she’s brought into a noble’s courtyard, then she can make rapid advances in her life and she wouldn’t need to suffer days of hardship like before. There’s a moment when she thought bigger, that if she was lucky enough to be favored by the emperor, then she could enter the palace as a concubine.”

Nan Xun chuckled lightly, shook her head and said, “It doesn’t count, it doesn’t count, I can guess that too, let me try again.”

Nan Xun glanced at the line of princes, “My Lord, I see that the youngest fifth prince is very worried, guess what he’s thinking?”

Gong Moran said, “The fifth prince has no interest in the performance this time. The emperor was seriously ill a few days ago when he fought openly with the second prince. The emperor’s recovery disrupted his plans, and he’s now thinking about his next move.”

Nan Xun was stunned, she continued to act shamelessly and said, “My Lord, how can it be mind-reading ah, everything you said is already a known-matter to everyone, the rest is just your prediction right?”

Gong Moran looked at her with an imperceptible pampering in his eyes, “Then, according to Duoduo, how does this Lord prove that this Lord can really read mind?”

The corner of Nan Xun’s mouth curled up, after looking a whole cycle up, her eyes fell on Qi Hengqing. She squinted slightly and asked, “Let’s talk about the envoy from Donglin Kingdom; I heard that he’s not just acting as Donglin’s envoy, he’s also Donglin’s seventh prince. He’s enjoying the performance on the surface, but I see that his eyes are deep and his mind isn’t on the performance at all. Guess what he’s thinking right now, my Lord?”

Gong Moran didn’t even look at Qi Hengqing, he dropped his gaze into the teacup in his hand, and after taking a sip, he said without hesitation, “This person is gentle on the surface but actually containing evil inside. He’s extremely ambitious, and starting from the ceremony to now, he has looked at you no less than seven times. His gazes are different every time: attracted, surprised, doubtful, measuring, considering and certain at last. And now, his gaze contains a hint of calculation, he must be… your old acquaintance.”

When Nan Xun heard this, the tea that just came inside almost came out in a burst.