I'm competing with the male lead for a woman (GL) - Chapter 7

Hearing that the Crown Prince requested an audience, Emperor Qi’s angry expression softened slightly, and he didn’t continue to make things difficult for the small eunuch.

He touched the dragon-eye bodhi beads on his wrist, then waved his hand and said in a deep voice, “Invite the Crown Prince in.”

The small eunuch was granted amnesty and quickly kowtowed, “Yes.”

Xiao Jin was actually a little curious about what the male lead wanted to do in the Imperial Study.

After all, with the male lead’s perfect persona, except for politely refusing Emperor Qi’s marriage proposal at the beginning, he had always been flawless in his dealings with people.

On one hand, the male lead was accustomed to being praised by the people, and even a character as unruly as the original owner was willing to be his wingman.

On the other hand, he secretly suppressed the fourth prince’s power, removing the annoying thorns without leaving a trace.

However, there was one unfortunate thing.

Due to the old-fashioned dog-bl00d nature of this novel, the author later let herself go, causing the male lead’s persona to collapse, and his pursuit of his wife was very dog-like, with scenes of forced possession being staged.

Ignoring this, the male lead’s IQ was still consistently online.

The dragon saliva scent drifted from the incense burner.

Xiao Jin leaned back in the wheelchair, not showing much expression on her face, just quietly listening to the footsteps.

In fact, she was glancing at Chu Shao out of the corner of her eye, observing her reaction.

Ever since Chu Shao pushed her back to the original owner’s room last night, Xiao Jin had been suspecting that Chu Shao knew something.

Based on her years of reading web novels, she wouldn’t be surprised to encounter a reborn female lead in the novel world.

However, what was strange was that from the moment the male lead stepped into the Imperial Study to when he bowed to Emperor Qi, Chu Shao’s expression didn’t change at all, and she still had a faint smile on her face.

By observing expressions, one could see a person’s subconscious reactions. These reactions were often beyond thought and difficult to hide.

It seemed that Chu Shao really didn’t care.

So Xiao Jin found it even stranger.

If the female lead wasn’t reborn, how could her persona collapse like this? But if she was really reborn, she should have had some reaction when she saw the male lead and the second male lead.

Just as Xiao Jin was carefully observing Chu Shao, Crown Prince Xiao Yu had already finished bowing to Emperor Qi.

Then he turned around in surprise and looked at everyone present, “What a coincidence, I came today for the disaster relief in Xunzhou, but I didn’t expect third brother and fourth brother to be here too.”

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, you care about the common people, I am truly ashamed.”

The fourth prince said he was ashamed, but he sneered in his heart.

Why didn’t he come earlier or later, but had to come at this time, pretending to be a coincidence, putting on a hypocritical act, for whom?

The Crown Prince wore a python robe and a jade belt, showing a gentle and elegant demeanor.

Faced with the fourth prince’s insincere flattery, he just smiled, “Fourth brother, you’re joking. I’m just doing my duty as a subject.”

“You are still young, although you have not entered the court to serve as an official, it is good to come to the palace often to greet and show filial piety to Father Emperor.”

Hearing this, Xiao Jin almost laughed.

Still young? Greet and show filial piety? Was the male lead joking?

A dignified seven-foot man, bringing two pipa girls to the Imperial Study to show filial piety, it was truly moving, a model of fatherly love and filial piety.

The fourth prince looked at the pipa girls trembling on the ground, his face livid, and he responded with a forced smile, “Your Highness, you’re too polite.”

Emperor Qi’s face was also not very good.

After all, the Crown Prince’s words had hidden meanings, targeting more than just the fourth prince.

However, the Crown Prince still looked calm, turned to look at Xiao Jin sitting in the wheelchair, and even smiled slightly.

But when he saw Chu Shao, his gaze seemed to pause for a moment.

Chu Shao didn’t react, looked directly at the Crown Prince, and her smile didn’t diminish, “Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

The Crown Prince came back to his senses and said with a smile, “Princess Consort, you are too polite.”

Seeing this scene, Xiao Jin almost rolled her eyes.

Here it came, the famous scene of love at first sight.

You were the one who refused the marriage proposal, and now you are the one who is absent-minded, male lead, you are really a dog.

However, although the Crown Prince loved beauty, he obviously loved the country more.

He quickly became immune to Chu Shao’s beauty attack, moved his gaze to Xiao Jin, and asked with concern, “Third brother, is your cough any better?”

The real Xiao Jin had of course coughed to death, but the Crown Prince’s words were obviously just polite remarks.

After all, the original owner had been a member of the Crown Prince’s camp, and as the heir apparent, it was necessary to give some false concern to a seriously ill loyal fan.

Xiao Jin understood all this.

So she coughed twice and responded indifferently, “Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince, I’m much better.”

Xiao Jin didn’t know if it was her illusion, but when she said this, she felt that the Crown Prince seemed to frown imperceptibly.

Xiao Jin immediately became alert. She had only said one sentence, would she be exposed?

Facts proved that this was impossible, because the Crown Prince then withdrew his gaze and nodded with relief, “That’s good.”

As for what was good, Xiao Jin didn’t know.

She just sat in the wheelchair, watching the male lead seemingly casually dismiss the pipa girls in the room, and began to discuss state affairs with Emperor Qi.

This discussion lasted for a long time.

So long that Chu Shao was bored and began to examine Xiao Jin’s fingers.

The more she observed, the more interesting Chu Shao found it.

Xiao Jin’s hands weren’t small, pale and slender, with distinct knuckles, but compared to a man’s, her finger bones were a bit too thin.

Chu Shao smiled as she thought about what she hadn’t thought of.

But every time she thought of the key point, she couldn’t remember what she was thinking about just now.

Strange, very strange indeed.

Xiao Jin didn’t find it strange at all, because the system had already told her the truth:

“To maintain the normal development of the book world, the system will, according to the logic of the book’s author, carry out a ‘dumb down’ operation on all characters regarding the original owner’s gender.”

“…”

Amazing, truly amazing.

To cover up the logical loopholes of the old-fashioned dog-bl00d novel author, the system was also making great efforts.

After the discussion of state affairs, the Crown Prince picked up the memorial that had fallen on the ground, handed it to Emperor Qi, and asked with a smile, “I wonder what Father Emperor was troubled by just now?”

It was fine if he didn’t mention it, but when he did, Emperor Qi’s action of taking the memorial paused.

He threw the memorial on the table and said in a deep voice, “It’s all because of your third brother. He’s always been unruly, but yesterday he did something so disgraceful.”

“He publicly snatched your fourth brother’s princess consort, losing all the face of the imperial family in front of the people!”

Xiao Jin felt that Emperor Qi was really a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Although you were set as an incompetent emperor, even if you were an incompetent emperor, listening to pipa music with your son in the Imperial Study was also quite disgraceful, right?

Xiao Jin was too lazy to pay attention to Emperor Qi, but Chu Shao spoke.

“Your Majesty, I don’t think that’s right.”

Hearing Chu Shao’s gentle voice, Xiao Jin suddenly had an ominous premonition.

Emperor Qi was puzzled. How dare Chu Shao, a mere princess of a fallen country, openly challenge him and say he was wrong?

But because the princes were still here, he just frowned and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Chu Shao said with a smile, “Although I was sitting in the bridal sedan yesterday, I could hear the sound of weapons clashing outside. The people didn’t react much, but instead clapped and cheered, and placed bets.”

As soon as these words came out, the Imperial Study fell into silence for the third time.

Xiao Jin kept her face calm, but she had begun to suspect that Chu Shao was a spy sent by the other side.

Sure enough, Emperor Qi was angry, extremely angry.

At first, he thought that Xiao Jin had only snatched Xiao Yi’s princess consort, but he didn’t expect that his two good sons would actually fight in front of everyone!

As for who won and who lost, the result was obvious.

What a joke, a complete joke. Xiao Jin had almost lost all the face of the Xiao family.

But it was hateful that Xiao Jin was now disabled and seriously sick, so he couldn’t drag this rebellious son out and beat him with fifty strokes.

In his rage, Emperor Qi could only point at Xiao Jin and scold, “Xiao Jin, if you don’t send the Yao Country princess back to your fourth brother’s mansion today, I will pretend I never had you as a son!”

Xiao Jin was amused.

The original owner was a daughter, so Emperor Qi never had her as a son anyway.

Moreover, the original owner was a Lord Yan, and even without the identity of the third prince, she would still be a big shot in her fiefdom.

So Xiao Jin looked at Emperor Qi and said with a smile, “Father Emperor, the princess has already performed the marriage bow with your son and entered the bridal chamber. There is no reason to send her back to fourth brother’s mansion.”

With the previous three silences, the fourth silence seemed natural.

Even the Crown Prince frowned slightly, feeling that Xiao Jin’s words were too absurd.

Given Xiao Jin’s current situation in a wheelchair, how could she perform the marriage bow with Chu Shao, and how could she consummate the marriage?

No one knew, including Xiao Jin herself.

But no one dared to point at Lord Yan’s nose and scold, “You’re a cripple, how can you consummate a marriage!”

Thinking of this, Xiao Jin very naturally began to talk nonsense, “Moreover, your son fell in love with the princess at first sight, and will not marry anyone else in this life.”

Except for Chu Shao, who wasn’t surprised and stood beside Xiao Jin with a smile, everyone in the Imperial Study was silent.

Because once they accepted Xiao Jin’s logic, they couldn’t find any major flaws for a while.

At this time, only the Crown Prince remained clear-headed, saying to Xiao Jin earnestly, “Third brother, don’t make trouble.”

Xiao Jin was a little surprised. She thought that since the original owner was a member of the Crown Prince’s party, the male lead had come to support the original owner.

Now it seemed that this wasn’t the case.

The Crown Prince glanced at Chu Shao, then shifted his gaze back to Xiao Jin and sighed, “Third brother, taking another man’s wife is not the behavior of a gentleman.”

Ironically, she wasn’t a gentleman, just a woman.

If it were the original owner, she would probably have followed the male lead’s lead at this time, but unfortunately, the person inside this shell had changed.

The Crown Prince smiled slightly, perhaps thinking that no matter how unruly Xiao Jin was, she would still listen to a few words of his advice.

Xiao Jin met the Crown Prince’s gaze and returned a polite smile.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, your brother has already done the act of taking another man’s wife, and doesn’t expect to be a gentleman in the future.”

“Moreover, the so-called gentleman is not something someone like your brother can be. Now, your brother is a cripple, so I would rather be a villain, enjoy the moment, and win the beauty. Your Highness the Crown Prince, do you think what your brother said is right?”

It was unclear whether it was because Xiao Jin dared to defy his will, or because Xiao Jin’s words were sharp and meaningful.

In short, the Crown Prince’s expression was very unpredictable, and after a long silence, he didn’t say anything.

The Crown Prince didn’t speak, but Emperor Qi was furious.

In the past, the Crown Prince could control Xiao Jin, but now this fellow had directly rebelled, even ignoring the heir apparent’s advice.

It was truly rebellious!

In extreme anger, Emperor Qi became calm and said to the trembling eunuch beside him, “Go get the imperial family register.”

But before the eunuch could accept the order, a clear voice rang out outside the Imperial Study, “Wait!”

Everyone present, except Xiao Jin and Chu Shao, was stunned when they heard this voice.

The person who came in had fluttering sleeves and walked straight into the Imperial Study, but no one dared to stop her.

When the person reached the center, Xiao Jin saw her face clearly.

The woman was wearing a brocade robe, looking no more than twenty years old, but her eyes revealed a hint of inviolable majesty.

Xiao Jin instantly knew who she was.

Princess Zhaohua glanced at the eunuch and said coldly, “You dog slaves really don’t know how to understand the emperor’s intentions. How could my imperial brother abolish his own son?”

“Yes, Your Highness, this servant… this servant deserves to die!”

The eunuch was so frightened that his face was ashen, feeling that no matter whose orders he followed today, he would die.

Emperor Qi looked at the Princess Zhaohua, his face livid, “Imperial sister, I was the one who told the eunuch to get the imperial family register.”

“I know.”

Princess Zhaohua smiled, first bowing respectfully to Emperor Qi, “Imperial brother, before Sister Zhaoyang went to the Baima Temple to pray for blessings, she specifically told me to take good care of Jin’er, so…”

Then she turned around, her smile fading.

Princess Zhaohua looked at the kneeling eunuchs and palace servants, her words cold and sharp, “I will stand here today. If anyone wants to touch Jin’er, they will have to step over my dead body first!”