How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

"I am indeed Mr. Shen's childhood friend."

Su Qinghe tensed his body and stood up slowly, wondering secretly in his heart: Why did the Second Prince mention Brother Shen?

Behind the curtain, Xie Chengze secretly lifted a corner of the bed curtain and looked closely at Su Qinghe who was standing with his eyes lowered.

Su Qinghe's mother is the most beautiful woman in Jiangnan. Although she is a concubine, she is extremely favored by Su Zhongyue, the current head of the Su family. Su Qinghe inherited his mother's beauty, with gentle and elegant facial features, and his eyebrows and eyes are as soft and handsome as the breeze blowing through willow leaves. Just looking at them makes people feel refreshed and happy, as if bathed in the spring breeze.

And his temperament is gentle and amiable. He speaks softly and slowly, like a docile sheep with no temper. Although I don't know how many friends he has, I think people with gentle personalities are not difficult to get along with. By starting a conversation with Shen Yuan, I should be able to successfully make friends with him.

Xie Chengze thought so, and then asked him, "Then do you have a good relationship with Lord Shen?"

Hearing this, Su Qinghe clenched his sleeves slightly.

He didn't know how to answer because he didn't know what the relationship between the Second Prince and Brother Shen was.

Brother Shen has a straightforward character and is clear about gratitude and resentment, which can easily displease the powerful. If the Second Prince bears a grudge against Brother Shen during his conquest of Yizhou and wants to find Brother Shen's weakness and kick him out of office, then he is very likely trying to find out information from his side.

But what if the Second Prince doesn’t hold a grudge, but instead… likes her?

Su Qinghe still remembered that when he was young, Shen Yuan went to the palace once. After coming back, he told him excitedly how good the Second Prince in the palace was. He said that he was the best-looking, gentlest and most intelligent brother he had ever seen. He also said that the Second Prince liked him very much and hoped that he could come to the palace often to play with him in the future.

At that time, he only had Shen Yuan as his friend, and he became quite jealous of this. Later, for some unknown reason, Master Shen suddenly resigned from his post, saying that he wanted to take Brother Shen on a trip. As a result, Brother Shen had no chance to enter the palace again.

Over the years, he had also secretly inquired about the Second Prince's situation, and all he heard were derogatory comments such as "mediocre and incompetent" and "brutal and willful". The most serious one was probably the case of the third place winner in the Qionglin Banquet two years ago, which gave rise to rumors that the Second Prince hated male homosexuality.

Su Qinghe disagreed with the latter and felt it was an exaggeration. He had read the poem and found that it did have a lot of ripples of drunkenness. Even if the Second Prince was homosexual, it was normal for him to be angry about such speculation. It was not enough to prove that the Second Prince hated homosexuality.

When Brother Shen just returned to the capital, he was teased by the Second Prince, whom he had not seen for a long time, using the Longyang Script. Perhaps the Second Prince not only does not dislike male beauty, but may even have other thoughts about Brother Shen.

Otherwise, why would the Second Prince, who had never left the capital for work, suddenly abandon the glory and wealth of the capital and accompany Brother Shen to the difficult Yizhou?

But perhaps the process was not smooth, so he took another approach and found his childhood friend himself, in order to find out what Brother Shen liked.

The Second Prince...if he is coveting Brother Shen, what should he do?

Su Qinghe pursed his lips. He didn't want to make things difficult for Xie Chengze, nor did he want to deny his close relationship with Shen Yuan. He was very conflicted and didn't know how to answer. But he was afraid that his silence would anger the Second Prince. Finally, he clenched his fists and said:

"Although, although we haven't seen each other for many years, our relationship is still as close as when we were children."

We are indeed very close, but if you ask me about his preferences, he doesn’t know because we haven’t seen each other for many years!

"Really? That's great~"

Xie Chengze's voice behind the curtain seemed very happy. He said, "I have a very good relationship with Lord Shen. I often hear Lord Shen mention that Brother Su is gentle, friendly, kind and generous. When I met him today, it was indeed true."

Of course, these words were all formulaic nonsense. When chatting, one must find a familiar person and topic as a springboard, otherwise how can one bring the two closer together?

Sure enough, in his sight, the corners of Su Qinghe's lips quickly raised into an arc, and he was obviously happy about what was said, and even the tense aura in his body relaxed a lot.

But after a few seconds, Su Qinghe straightened his lips again and looked very uncomfortable.

As the favored son of Su Zhongyue, Su Qinghe had met many dignitaries of the same age who wanted to make friends with him. They often said that he was gentle and friendly when they first met, but after spending a few days together, they would say that he was really mediocre and that his good looks and the celebrity status of the Su family were wasted.

The second prince first said that he had a very good relationship with Shen Yuan, and then used this statement to criticize himself. Was it a demonstration or a sarcasm?

Maybe I want to talk about poetry and painting with him later, and want to see him make a fool of himself...

Su Qinghe bit his lip slightly, and his whole body began to exude an aura of sadness and self-mockery.

Noticing that the atmosphere seemed a little off, Xie Chengze couldn't help but wonder, did we talk about the wrong topic?

Think about it again, what topics might Su Qinghe be interested in... Since he is a member of the Su family, it should be okay to talk about something elegant, right?

So he said, "The Su family is a famous family, so Mr. Su must be very talented, right? I have always admired people who can play the piano and compose poems. I wonder if you will be lucky enough to enjoy my presence?"

Su Qinghe's face suddenly turned pale.

As expected, the Second Prince came here to humiliate me today!

Who doesn't know that the second son of the Su family is mediocre in talent, and he only has a comfortable life in the Su family by relying on his mother's concubine's favor and his mother's good looks, and he can even be childhood sweethearts with Sheng Yiran, the daughter of the Minister of Rites, and Shen Yuan, the grandson of Master Shen?

Everyone in the Su family held an official position in the palace, except him, who had no official position at all, and became a laughing stock among the literary circles in the capital!

The Second Prince is trying to make him realize his own identity, so that he won't let his despicable reputation drag down Big Brother Shen, who is now at the peak of his career in the court!

His fingertips clenched into his palms, Su Qinghe felt desolate and ashamed. He suddenly bent his legs and knelt on the ground, bowing heavily towards the bed. "I am a humble person with limited knowledge and I am ashamed to accept this. I am afraid that I may humiliate Your Highness' ears. I hope Your Highness will forgive me!"

Xie Chengze:?

No? Why are you kneeling?

What did he say wrong? Didn't he just want Su Qinghe to write a poem? Everyone in the capital knew that the Second Prince was illiterate. Even if Su Qinghe wrote a poem, he wouldn't be able to tell whether it was good or bad, right?

Or is it that these literati are so pure and proud that they disdain to discuss poetry and prose with an uneducated person like him?

Are you so arrogant?

Xie Chengze couldn't help but feel a little depressed and sad. He never expected that he would be discriminated against by someone, and the other person was someone he wanted to make friends with. He began to doubt his life for a moment.

What should I do? I thought I could get in touch with Su Qinghe by using Shen Yuan's name, but in the end I died before I could accomplish anything. People simply look down on me.

Alas, Shen Yuan, you are so useless.

Xie Chengze didn't want to admit that he was useless at all. He secretly thought, why not secretly use Li Bai's poems to surprise Su Qinghe a little?

But this kind of poet-immortal persona is easy to collapse! It also makes him seem insincere!

Xie Chengze held his head and shouted silently for a while, and finally decided to break the jar and yelled at Su Qinghe, "Su Qinghe! I command you! Today you must--"

Become sworn brothers with His Highness!

Unexpectedly, before he could finish his words, a loud and urgent voice suddenly came from outside the door, "Second Prince, I, Shen Yuan, request to see you!"

Shen Yuan?

Why is he here?