Phoniex Requiem
Chapter 77: An Antidote in the Greenhouse

Chapter 77: An Antidote in the Greenhouse

Li Xiu could not help but think back to fifteen years ago. Back then, the previous emperor was still alive, and he was still the crown prince.

One day, he brought back to the palace a seven or eight year old boy, whom he declared to be his son who had lived with commoners. He will be restored with his rightful title, the fourth prince of the Li kingdom, Li Mo.

Originally, Li Xiu believed his father's words, but as time went on, he became increasingly suspicious. This child was unlike him or his siblings, and was unrivalled in both appearance and talent.

Li Mo's personality was eccentric and reclusive, during the first three years of living in the palace, he had not spoken a word to anyone. Regardless of his age, he was already as cold as a block of ice. Although he never reprimanded any of his servants, neither the palace nor the eunuchs were afraid of him. Even Li Xiu's children, who were younger than Li Mo, did not dare to provoke their uncle.

The emperor's attitude towards Li Mo was also quite curious. Although he would give her all sorts of antiques and treasures, she never expressed fatherly love of any size. Instead, he even seemed to respect his supposed son.

Under the veil of mystery, Li Mo entered the army at the age of ten, became a general at the age of fifteen, and slaughtered the beastkin at the age of seventeen.

There was a long time where Li Xiu was so afraid of Li Mo, afraid that he would take over his position as crown prince. However, after a while, the fear disappeared, replaced by the certainty that the reason Li Mo did not take over his position was because he did not care about it.

Li Xiu was brought to this somewhat outrageous conclusion by Li Mo's eyes. In those dark balls there was only contempt for him, his father, and even the entire Li kingdom.

When his father finally died, Li Mo did not seize the throne. Instead, he handed over the authority to Li Xiu to lead tens of thousands of soldiers and even help him ascend the throne smoothly.

Even now, Li Xiu could remember the words his late father had spoken to him on his deathbed, "Xiu'er, as long as you didn't offend Li Mo and treat him with respect, the Li Kingdom will prosper for thousands of years."

"Emperor, do you think Mei'er's dance has improved?" The empress's voice suddenly filled her ears, interrupting Li Xiu's daydream. He looked towards one of the beautiful girls dancing in the garden, his eldest daughter, Li Mei'er.

"Yes, Mei'er's dance is getting better day by day!" he praised excessively before seeing his heirs sitting by his side.

Except for the second prince Li Qianyuan, who was out on official affairs, the fourth prince Li Qianyue, who was often far away from the palace, and several other princesses who had been engaged and were waiting to get married, were the only ones who had been married, his other heirs appear to be present.

No, one's missing!

Li Xiu's smile shrank. "Where is the crown prince?"

Empress coughs. “Maybe some urgent matters. I've sent some waiters for him.”

“Hal urges? Horse racing, maybe, or playing with eagles?” Li Xiu's smile vanished entirely.

The empress had sent people to search for the crown prince as soon as she realized his absence. His servants had explored the eastern wing of the palace, as well as the vast central part, without success.

Seeing her empress's face getting worse, she asked her servant to search once more.

It was no wonder that the maids and eunuchs could not find Li Qianxiao, after all, he was busy working hard in the greenhouse in the back garden.

“Sister Ziao, help me, help me! Oh, I feel so uncomfortable!” The aphrodisiac had completely invaded Yi Qianying's senses. Unable to control himself, he wriggled and twisted his body as he lay with the man next to him in a bent pile.

The man started moving faster. With one final push and a satisfied snort, he turned around and lay in the middle of the fresh flower bed.

After finally breaking free from the aphrodisiac, Yi Qianying fainted, her vitality drained.

The man rested for a moment before returning wearing his golden robe and purple. He looked at the girl on the ground with a somewhat disdainful expression.

This man was none other than the crown prince, Li Qianxiao.

In fact, he was the first to arrive at the inner garden. However, since there was no one there yet, he just went for a walk and enjoyed the flowers.

But suddenly, he heard a voice haunting his dream. Poking his head forward, he received a huge fear, the ugly girl from the Yun family was here, dressed to nine! Was he planning on scaring everyone once more?! How is he here, anyway? He must not have invited her!

He even laughed and chatted with his third brother, Li Qianhan. Clearly, her foolish brother was fooled by her beautiful outer appearance, just like before.

He wanted to jump out and expose her. Once he thought back to how ridiculous he had appeared that day when he turned around and ran away, however, he decided against it. Exposing Yun Ruoyan would make him a fool as well. In addition, he is interested to see how his carefree and unhindered third brother reacts when he discovers that the beautiful woman next to him is actually an ugly witch.

Seeing Yun Ruoyan's presence completely dampened her spirit, and she no longer wanted to attend the flower viewing party. After all, the only reason he did so was to see its beauty. With an unattractive girl like Yun Ruoyan around him, he was being unwilling to see anyone else.

The party usually begins at night, when the moon rocks shine brightest. Back then, it was a new day of the afternoon, so Li Qianxiao continued to wander around the park.

As the crown prince, Li Qianxiao had been quite busy lately. Not only did he have to go to the Yue kingdom to console the Yue emperor, then climb the Minghuang mountain to hunt with his father, then make house visits to every high-ranking official's house.

It was only in the last few days that he finally had the freedom to race horses and play with eagles, and it had been quite a while since he returned to the garden.

He saw an extremely beautiful magnolia tree at the end of one of the huts, shining with a golden light amidst the afternoon sun and forcing it forward.

He was right by the tree when he heard some secret whispers from the bushes next to him.

“Sister Ziao, give it to me, quickly.!” Yi Qianying pleaded impatiently.

“I can't! This is his palace, we can't do it here!” Pei Ziao refused.

“I can't take it anymore, oh, oh..” Yi Qianying almost cried.

Pei Ziao realized something was wrong with Yi Qianying, in the inner garden, when he dueled with the others, Yi Qianying suddenly called him away, he said he had something important to tell her.

So Pei Ziao followed him to this remote location, only to find Yi Qianying pouncing on him. For a moment, Pei Ziao was stunned. She knew that Yi Qianying liked her, but it was always her who started their intimacy, and it was always nothing more than a hug or a kiss. They have never crossed the line before.

"Qianying, what's wrong?" He secured the hands of Yi Qianying, who was wandering around in her robe, and asked.

At that moment, Yi Qianying still had the slightest bit of rationality left in her mind. His clothes were in a mess as he lay on Pei Ziao's lap, breathing deeply, hot pants. “I, I think.. I've been sedated with an aphrodisiac. Save me!"

After that, Yi Qianying started removing Pei Ziao's robes.

Pei Ziao's mind was in a mess.

Li Qianxiao's face looked disgusted as he looked towards the couple hiding in the bushes. He was somewhat impressed by their bravery, even he, the crown prince, had only ever dared to think of the thrill-seeking idea in the garden behind the palace. But they really did!

He was about to call some eunuchs to catch the couple when he suddenly realized that they were people he knew.

Pei Ziao, he knows very well. The first time Li Qianxiao went to the brothel was with Pei Ziao. He was being ruled too strictly in the palace, so he would find a way to sneak into Pei's household. Waiting for him there was always a lot of alcohol and beautiful girls, almost like heaven.

Li Qianxiao was not stupid, there was only one thing Pei wanted from him. Over the years since they knew each other, he had leaked quite a lot of secrets while half drunk and gave Pei a reason to continue their lavish treatment.

As for Yi Qianying, Li Qianxiao only knew that she was the daughter of the Yi family who lived with the Yun family. She had been a cute little girl since her youth, but she had no idea how crazy she was!

Li Qianxiao narrowed his eyes when he saw Yi Qianying's pink skin. Not only did they hold a forbidden meeting in the palace garden itself, he even consumed stimulants.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, an evil desire captivates him. As the crown prince, he was naturally familiar with the layout of the palace garden, and he knew that there was a greenhouse nearby. Right now, it's going to be empty.

Checking once again that there was no one else around, he stepped forward and dropped Pei Ziao with a punch to the back of his head, then carried Yi Qianying into the greenhouse.

Li Qianxiao glanced at Yi Qianying, who was still slumped on the ground. He grinned and then turned to leave.

Because of his kindness, Li Qianxiao had freed Yi Qianying from the effects of the aphrodisiac. He started whistling as he walked, praising himself for his good deeds.

"Geez, Crown Prince, here we go!" Eunuch Chang, the maid near the empress, had heard Li Qianxiao's humming from afar and immediately ran over.

"Eunuch Chang, what's wrong?" Li Qianxiao smiled, his heart still floating in the clouds.

“Crown Prince, flower viewing party has started. The Emperor is very disappointed that you are not present!” Eunuch Chang could not help but continue anxiously, “The Empress sent everyone to look for you. We have passed through the entire east wing of the palace, but have you been in the park all this time?!”

As soon as he heard that his father was looking for him, Li Qianxiao sank, and his spirit quickly fell into the sea. He was not afraid at all, none other than his father's smile. Fortunately, the queen was there to save him.

No longer caring if Yun Ruoyan was present, he immediately followed Eunuch Chang into the inner garden.