Chapter 569: First battle, the price of a sharp tongue (1/2)

Chapter 569: First battle, the price of a sharp tongue

Long Feiye had stopped a huffy Han Yunxi from retorting against Duanmu Baiye. She assumed he was going to deal with the crown prince personally, but Long Feiye only remained silent. It was obvious he didn’t care about what Duanmu Baiye had said before, but what about now? Duanmu Baiye was bullying Han Yunxi, but he was still being mute?

Are we supposed to sit here and take it?

As foreign guests, they had to watch their words and actions, but it seemed out for character for Long Feiye to be so tolerant.

Is it because of Duanmu Yao? Thanks to incidents in the past, the thought rose automatically to Han Yunxi’s mind. Whatever the reason, there was no need for Long Feiye to endure Duanmu Baiye’s words this time!

The crown prince was waiting for Long Feiye’s response as well. When he didn’t speak, he grew more aggressive. “Duke of Qin, the last time you came to White City must have been seven or eight years ago, right? You’ve sent Yao Yao home a few times. Actually, my father had already settled on you as a match back then…I never expected a mere daughter of the Han Clan to become your official consort instead.”

Duanmu Baiye ended up thinking out loud. “It’s a pity that Yao Yao was tricked by that Jun Yixie fellow. Now she can’t even go back to her own home. Otherwise, she’d definitely be the one to welcome you today. Perhaps the Duke of Qin could even renew your ties of marriage to her this time.”

Duanmu Baiye had had even sharper tongue than his sister! Han Yunxi’s expression had completely fell, her hands forming into fists. Long Feiye could clearly feel her growing wrath, but only tightened his hand on hers as he kept silent. Han Yunxi had already given up any ideas of retorting because it was pointless to do so without Long Feiye speaking up as well. She lowered her head sadly.

Seeing this, Duanmu Baiye grew gleeful and kept talking on and on. Before long, he’d already said the ‘Duke of Qin’ ten times. The entire room—nay, the entire Court of Dependencies—was absolutely silent, leaving him to prattle on as he will. Gradually, Han Yunxi lifted her head again. At first, she’d been feeling depressed, but Duanmu Baiye’s repeated parrotings of ‘Duke of Qin, Duke of Qin’ began to sound like a joke without a single reaction from the man in question. Long Feiye was sitting there like a master of the house, one leg crossed over the other. One of his hands clasped Han Yunxi’s own, while the other cradled a cup of tea. As he slowly sipped the liquid, Duanmu Baiye stood rattling off before him. But he resembled more like a lackey trying to to curry favor than a prince looking down on them.

Duanmu Baiye himself began to grow uneasy. He unconsciously rubbed his hands, but didn’t know where to put them afterwards, and ended up forming them into fists to hang by his sides in an effort to hide his own awkwardness. He cleared his throat a few times before continuing where he’d left off. “Duke of Qin, is this crown prince right or what?”

Long Feiye just ignored him. The temple grounds were still enough to hear a needle drop on the ground. Duanmu Baiye found himself stuck and subconsciously cast a glance towards Chief Minister Lin, who was looking at him with an ignorant expression. But once he met gazes with Duanmu Baiye, Chief Minister Lin quickly withdrew his eyes. This only made Duanmu Baiye more embarrassed and convinced that Chief Minister Lin saw him as a fool.

Since when has a proper and upright crown prince been so thoroughly ignored? Moreover, it was in the presence of another high official at court. Duanmu Baiye finally lost his temper and raged, “Long Feiye, what do you mean by this? Why are you still putting on airs after coming to our Western Zhou?”

At those words, Long Feiye slowly let go of Han Yunxi and slammed the tea table with enough force to make the cups and teapot clatter. In a cold tone, he remarked, “Chief Minister Lin, I’ll have to trouble you to give Emperor Kang Cheng a word. Your lordship is going to put on his airs and go back!”

As soon as he finished, he rose to his feet and took Han Yunxi along to leave again. Han Yunxi finally realized that Long Feiye had been inciting Duanmu Baiye’s temper on purpose. That dolt’s so stupid, it’s no wonder Chu Tianyin could run circles around him. In fact, the crown prince’s support was one of the main reasons that the Chu Clan had passed through the years in Western Zhou so smoothly.

Long Feiye and Han Yunxi had already vanished through the doors before Chief Minister Lin recovered his wits enough to chase after them with a shout. “Your Highness Duke of Qin, there’s been a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!”

“Your Highness Duke of Qin, please wait! Don’t leave!”

“Your Highness Duke of Qin, please listen to the crown prince’s explanation! His Highness Crown Prince didn’t mean it that way, the crown prince was only…”

Duanmu Baiye gave a start as he finally came to his senses. Heavens, what did I just say?

In the past, he could say whatever he liked to Long Feiye since they were enemies, but now the man had come of his own accord to their country. Moreover, his father had been looking forward to the visit. For the sake of meeting Long Feiye properly, father had spent days in closed-door meetings with his officials to discuss the matter. No matter how unwilling he was to see the man, or how much his heart ached for Yao Yao’s sake, he had to endure! There were plenty of ways to cause trouble on the sly for the duo while they were on his turf. Whatever the case, he couldn’t afford to rip into them in public!

Duanmu Baiye wished he could box his own ears. He…

He….

…how was he supposed to explain himself to imperial father now?!

He was screwed!

Chief Minister Li quickly ran back, his face ashen white with fright as he said desperately, “Your Highness Crown Prince, please listen to this official’s entreaties. Hurry and go apologize, quick! If the Duke of Qin really leaves, it’ll be hard for both of us to explain to His Majesty.”

Duanmu Baiye was panicking like ants on a hot pan, but he couldn’t lower his dignity like that!

“Your Highness Crown Prince, hurry and go. It’ll be too late once the Duke of Qin leaves the city!”

After some hesitation, Duanmu Baiye murmured, “Chief Minister Lin, do you think this crown prince can get them back if I chase after them?” With a temper like Long Feiye’s, it was impossible to change a mountain back into a molehill.