Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 611 - 608

Chapter 611: Chapter 608

Zichen Palace

The Emperor sat next to a top-grade table made of Phoebe zhennan wood inlaid with natural white jade dragon patterns, carefully peeling green skin walnuts.

Last night, Shangguan Xuanyi, that mischievous one, didn’t deliver the bag full of green skin walnuts unto him until it was dark. He suggested the Emperor to take his time peeling them, saying that it would be a good pastime. The Emperor was so irritated he almost threw the walnuts in Xuanyi’s face.

He did this on purpose! He knew very well that the Emperor was ’sick’ and supposedly should be going to bed early. Still, he brought the walnuts after dark. Peeling walnuts in the dead of night... ridiculous!

Lately, he has been turning off the lights and ’going to bed’ less than an hour after sunset.

He definitely could not waste his time with these green-skinned walnuts that he had been longing for over half a year.

So the emperor, who held the power of life and death over all people, was kept awake most of the night by a bag of walnuts.

He cursed Shangguan Xuanyi from the top of his head to the tip of his toes.

The undutiful son, wasn’t his point to get the Emperor to rest more so he could do more work? Couldn’t he find a better excuse than saying he was too busy, which is why he only brought the walnuts so late?

He definitely did this on purpose! A tiny bag of walnuts, anyone could have brought them. There was no need for him to do it personally!

Crowned by two large dark circles under his eyes, the Emperor, while eagerly peeling the walnuts, thought to himself.

At this moment, the voice of the old eunuch outside the door resounded, "Your Majesty, the Third Prince requests an audience!"

Upon hearing these words, the Emperor, in a fluster, dropped the small knife and walnut from his hand and quickly laid back down on his bed.

He commanded the eunuch standing by to clear the table quickly!

"Hurry ~ hurry ~" He whispered as he waved his hand.

The eunuch hurriedly cleaned up the table and the floor, making sure all traces of the green peels were gone and hidden.

Once the eunuch finished, the Emperor answered weakly, "Let him in."

With this single word, he seemed to have exhausted all his strength.

Upon entering, the Third Prince saw his ailing father. His face had grown utterly haggard, and the dark circles under his eyes were severe.

The Third Prince’s heart twisted slightly in discomfort. Was his father genuinely ill? But didn’t Shangguan Xuanyi have a type of medicine that could cure all ailments? His advisors had cautioned him against acting rashly, suggesting that perhaps the Emperor was merely pretending to be ill. After all, Li Mingjun had survived a death sentence thanks to that medicine, even after a bomb had left him severely mutilated and all the imperial doctors had given up hope.

Why was his father looking increasingly depleted day by day?

Wait, he shouldn’t be hoping for his father to recover, should he? Nor should any of his other brothers! Only when their father is dead can the throne be vacant!

A cold smile tugged on the corners of his mouth at this thought. All those portraits of paternal love and filial piety were nothing but false pretenses! In a royal family, genuine love between a father and son is non-existent!

He pushed these thoughts aside and asked with a concerned expression, "How has your majesty’s health been? You look even more haggard than before?"

"I am fine, I will be back in court soon." The Emperor rushed his response, but spoke too quickly and ended up choking on his own saliva, which set him off on a severe coughing fit. When he finally caught his breath, his complexion had worsened.

The Third Prince was even more convinced that the Emperor was genuinely ill.

"Your highness, what prompts your visit?"

Upon hearing this, the Third Prince carefully pulled out a pair of green-skinned walnuts from his sleeve, "I’ve heard that playing with walnuts is very beneficial for health. The protrusions on the walnuts can stimulate the acupoints in the hands, thus promoting blood circulation and easing tension in the muscles. I spent two days on Wenwan Street just to get this king of green-skinned walnuts so the Emperor could exercise."

Upon seeing the two walnuts, the Emperor couldn’t hide his delighted smile, "Your highness is too kind. But I am currently unable to move freely, can you help me peel the skin?"

Upon hearing this, the Third Prince hurriedly agreed and asked the eunuch to bring him the tool, and then he carefully began to peel the green skin in front of the Emperor.

When Shangguan Xuanyi arrived, the Third Prince was already at the final step - carefully removing the leftover skin with a crochet needle.

This pair of walnuts truly deserved the title of "Walnut King", they turned out to be a pair of perfectly identical Qilin lion walnut king.

The sheer sight of them caused the Emperor to sit up straight.

"Your highness chose well, you must have put a considerable effort into this?"

"As long as the Emperor is pleased and it contributes to his health, no amount of hardship is too much!" The Third Prince said smugly, he cast a sidelong glance at Shangguan Xuanyi to gauge his reaction.

Shangguan Xuanyi still held a neutral expression, pretending to not care! The Third Prince thought, scoffing in his mind.

"Good, good, good!" The emperor uttered ’good’ three times in a row, "Bring it here so I can try it!"

The Third Prince quickly placed the walnuts in the Emperor’s hand.

The Emperor tried to suppress his excitement, reminding himself that he was supposed to be ill, his hands and feet were supposed to be uncoordinated, he couldn’t let the walnuts glide too smoothly in his hands.

But his emotional conflict and excitement caused the Emperor to fumble with the walnuts and made it seem like his hands and feet were genuinely uncoordinated.

The Third Prince stole another glance at Shangguan Xuanyi. The Emperor was so fond of him, and yet now that his father was sick, he could be so ruthless as to withhold his medicine for the sake of the throne!

He could be this ruthless to his father now, then he could be just as ruthless to his brothers in the future...

Just when the Third Prince was lost in thought, a crisp snap echoed from the walnut in the Emperor’s hand as it split in two.

It turns out that the walnut has been ridden with worms right from the beginning.

The Emperor returned from his surprise, "What a pity, such a perfect pair of walnuts. They would have made a great collection piece once fully peeled."

Shangguan Xuanyi once again remained expressionless, not showing any concern or delight.

However, the Third Prince’s face turned beet red, with a mix of embarrassment and rage!

He had spent over three hundred taels of silver to buy this Walnut King!

And one of them turned out to be worm-infested!

"I beg your forgiveness, father. I did not mean to. I had no idea that the walnut was worm-eaten, otherwise I would definitely not have brought it to you, causing this unnecessary disappointment!" The Third Prince quickly stood up, bowed and saluted.

The Emperor discarded the broken walnut and placed his hand into the copper basin that the senior eunuch had brought to wash it clean. Then he took a towel from another eunuch to dry his hands, "Never mind, we can never understand what’s going through the mind of another person. Just like this walnut, who would have known that beneath its skin, it was already rotten to the core."

The Third Prince suddenly felt wronged in his heart. This pair of walnuts was something he bid over three hundred taels against Shangguan Xuanyi! But when he found out the truth, he was nearly sick with rage. Recently, he was strapped for cash, three hundred taels could buy him many things!

But upon considering that these walnuts could win the Emperor’s favor, he decided to let it go.

He never would have expected that the three hundred taels would turn out to be a rotten walnut! In return, he received the condemnation of "people’s heart is separated by their bellies, gold and jade are on the outside and the inner is filled with rotten straw!"

"Third brother, is this the walnut king?" Xuanyi finally spoke.

"Yi’er, do you know these walnuts?" The Emperor asked, turning to look at him.

"I originally wanted to buy this walnut king as a gift for you, father. But on my way, Xiao Fuzi and I were outbid by someone who raised the price of the walnuts to over three hundred taels. Adhering to our father’s principle of frugality, I stopped bidding. I never thought that the person competing with me for the walnuts was Third Brother’s man. Had I known this earlier, I would not have competed."