The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 819 - 819 Warmth (1st Update)

Chapter 819: Warmth (1st Update) Chapter 819: Warmth (1st Update) Prince Ning was pondering whether he should raise the bid or not.

Why was he still thinking about it? It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford the price, but rather because the young man didn’t play by the rules, he felt it was pointless to continue the negotiation.

Although he was considering not increasing the bid for this reason, it was inevitable that some might suspect he was too stingy to raise the bid, and the embarrassing feeling of being dominated by the phrase “Are you going to buy me a mansion?” crept up on him again.

It was their first meeting, and the young boy’s demonstrated abilities and the mutual trust they had didn’t justify the price of a mansion, yet in the end, it always seemed to give the wrong impression that Prince Ning himself was too miserly to afford the mansion.

Prince Ning, who had lived for more than twenty years, was experiencing this situation of reluctance to move forward but feeling frustrated to back down for the first time.

Prince Ning took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and was just about to speak.

Gu Jiao coldly raised her small hand and made a ‘that’s enough, no need to speak’ gesture at him, then wrote on her little notebook, “Consideration time is over, until next time!”

Prince Ning was taken aback, what did she mean by consideration time was over? He had only hesitated for a moment, how did the right to choose get terminated already?

It had always been him who stopped others, never the other way around.

The impact of this statement was indeed more terrifying than “Are you going to buy me a mansion?” or “If you continue to listen to him talk, the price will increase!”

Originally, he planned to ignore Gu Jiao to dampen her spirit, so that the next time they talked, they wouldn’t end up in such a passive situation, but who could have expected that she wouldn’t even give him a chance to raise the bid!

Prince Ning felt as if he had been struck in the chest by a cudgel, a thought floating through his mind—he should have raised the bid earlier!

True to her word, Gu Jiao packed up her little notebook after writing that sentence and left without looking back.

No matter how the guards tried to detain her, she wouldn’t change her mind.

It was highly unlikely for Prince Ning to get rough with her; he clenched his fist, suppressed the slight tremor in his body, and finally asked her, “When will Hero Xiong visit again next time?”

Gu Jiao didn’t answer; she had already walked away.

Prince Ning leaned heavily against the back of the chair and gasped for air. It wasn’t that he was too angry—after all, Jianghu youths tend to be a bit arrogant, and Prince Ning wasn’t as narrow-minded as the Crown Prince, who felt offended if someone disrespected him.

He had always been quite tolerant of these talented staff members and Jianghu warriors.

But today… this…

Prince Ning wanted to say he wasn’t angry, it was just as if someone had stabbed him in the heart with one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight knives!

How could there be… such an eccentric person!

He hadn’t revealed his identity, so the boldness of the other party wasn’t surprising; what was surprising was the choking method… it was truly unheard of!

“Water!” Prince Ning said.

The guard hurriedly brought him some tea, and Prince Ning drank half a pot in one go, which finally helped to dissipate some of the stuffiness in his heart. He said to the guard, “Go find out who introduced this Hero Xiong.”

The Martial Arts Arena’s location was hidden, and it was hard for ordinary people to find the place; they mainly relied on introductions by acquaintances or the people from the arena scouting around.

Finding out this was not difficult; the guard quickly returned and reported, “Answering young master, it was a sub-shopkeeper named Old He.”

Sub-shopkeeper was a polite term—for it was actually someone the Martial Arts Arena employed to pull in people. They often loitered around the many Martial Arts Academies of Capital City, looking for novices with exceptional martial arts skills to bring to the underground arena.

For every person they brought in, they would get a cut of the profits from the arena matches.

Prince Ning gave the guard a bag of silver, “Go and tell him, next time Hero Xiong comes, have him come to my residence to inform me.”

“Yes,” the guard replied.

The residence Prince Ning mentioned was naturally not his own Prince Residence, but another residence. Prince Ning would not easily expose his identity.

As the guard went to find Old He, he couldn’t help thinking that this Hero Xiong was quite a tough nut to crack. Having followed the young master so long, he hadn’t seen anyone give him such a hard time before.

Among the many princes, Prince Ning was the most outstanding and composed, intelligent and brave, highly talented, and a role model for the other princes. Today’s performance was indeed a bit unexpected.

He would have to reflect carefully once he got back so as not to be so passive next time.

Gu Jiao emerged from the Embroidery Building, hired a carriage, and headed to the Guozijian.

The timing was just right. Little monk Jingkong, drenched in sweat, ran out of school.

The students had picked up on his patterns—usually colder than the teacher, but a young child’s innocence returned whenever his elder sister visited.

Gu Jiao was standing under a big tree by the roadside, pondering how much to charge Prince Ning when he came looking for her next time.