The Tang Family’s Seven Os - Chapter 164

Looking at Sheng Xi in the sunlight, Tang Qi Yuan unconsciously recalled a painting he had just seen in the hall of the Orchid Palace, he heard from the housekeeper that it was painted by Sheng Xi.

The colour of the painting is bold and exquisite, and the composition is ingenious. Although Tang Qi Yuan did not know how to paint, he could see that Sheng Xi is very talented in painting, but unfortunately, His Majesty did not allow him to show his face these years, so not many people had seen his works.

He originally wanted to leave quietly and not go over and disturb Sheng Xi, but Sheng Xi turned his head and saw him, smiling softly at him, “Xiao Qi, why are you awake so early?”

“Da Ge, good morning.” Tang Qi Yuan smiled and walked over to help Sheng Xi cover the thin blanket over his body, “I’m used to getting up at this time.”

Sheng Xi found it a bit strange, “I thought students of your age usually wakes up late, Cen Cen always likes to laze in bed and is often late.”

“Going to bed early and rising early is good for your health.” Tang Qi Yuan looked down at him and asked: “Da Ge, do you have a good relationship with Sheng Cen?”

“Why do you ask that? Cen Cen is my younger brother, of course we are close.” Sheng Xi smiled slightly and replied in a soft voice.

Tang Qi Yuan said, as if inadvertently, “I thought your relationship was as bad as the rumours outside.”

“Rumours?” Sheng Xi tilted his head to look at him.

“Yeah, everyone says that Sheng Cen not only kicked Sheng Lian down the stairs, but also wouldn’t be in the same frame with you because of your leg injury, so everyone is somewhat afraid of him.”

Sheng Xi frowned and whispered angrily: “It’s obviously because I’m afraid of embarrassing Cen Cen that I don’t want to be in the same frame with him, how can everyone think that?”

Tang Qi Yuan slowly squatted down in front of Sheng Xi, tilted his head to look at him and asked in a deep voice: “Da Ge, do you think Sheng Cen would think that you embarrass him?”

“Of course not.” Sheng Xi shook his head, his face a little white, “Cen Cen often advised me to go out more often, it was me who was afraid of affecting Imperial Father and Cen Cen’s image, that’s why I tried not to go out, I obviously didn’t want them to be criticised, so how could it backfire.”

Tang Qi Yuan understood that His Majesty must have deliberately kept Sheng Xi from going out all these years, because the more people saw Sheng Xi, the more curious they would become about the cause of his leg injury.

Tang Qi Yuan did not know if His Majesty knew about the incident back then, but that car accident must have had something to do with Madam Zhen Wei, and he would have tried to reduce Sheng Xi’s presence as much as possible in order to protect Madam Zhen Wei and Sheng Lian and keep the matter from being exposed.

Tang Qi Yuan thought for a moment and spoke slowly, “Not only does the outside world say this about Sheng Cen, but there are also rumours that you are gloomy, sickly and unpredictable in your moods. His Majesty may not think anything of it when he hears about it, but I feel that Sheng Cen and Aunty will definitely be heartbroken if they hear about it.”

Sheng Xi’s eyelashes fluttered and his hands clenched in his lap, “I don’t know, they haven’t told me……”

Tang Qi Yuan said in a soft voice: “They don’t want to tell you about the gossip in order to protect you, and you’ve confined yourself to this Orchid Palace in order to protect them, if this continues, neither of you will be able to truly walk out.”

Sheng Xi looked at Tang Qi Yuan, slightly stunned, his eyes gradually widening.

The sun rose gradually through the thick clouds, and Sheng Xi was silent for a long time before turning his head to look at Tang Qi Yuan and saying softly: “Xiao Qi, I understand, thank you.”

“En.” Tang Qi Yuan stood up and said as if nothing had happened: “Da Ge, let me push you back, the morning weather is a bit cold, staying outside for a long time is not good for your health.”

“Ok, I’ll trouble you, Xiao Qi.” Sheng Xi nodded and looked at Tang Qi Yuan with a smile on his face.

When the two returned to the house, both Empress Xia and Sheng Cen were already up.

Sheng Cen was sitting on the sofa, his morning wake-up temper had not yet passed, and when he saw Tang Qi Yuan, he frowned and said: “Why did you come out without a word this morning?”

“I saw that you were sleeping soundly, so I didn’t wake you up.”

“I thought you were sleepwalking last night, don’t know where you’d gone.”

Tang Qi Yuan looked at his table mate and felt that he was a bit unreasonable and childish just like a small child.

“Xiao Qi, don’t mind him, he’s always like this every morning when he wakes up, just let him stay by himself.” Empress Xia smiled and beckoned to Tang Qi Yuan, “Come and eat.”

“Auntie, good morning.” Tang Qi Yuan pushed Sheng Xi over and sat down obediently, not paying any more attention to the table mate who was having a childish tantrum for no reason.

After a while, Sheng Cen himself dawdled over and sat down, taking a slice of bread and putting it in his mouth as Empress Xia handed him the milk, before the look on his face became a little better.

Today is Saturday, so they didn’t have to rush to school. After breakfast, Tang Qi Yuan accompanied Empress Xia for a while before getting up and saying goodbye to everyone.

Sheng Cen took the car keys and headed for the car park, “I’ll send you back.”

Tang Qi Yuan hurriedly followed him, looking at the keys in his hand with some surprise, “You’re not going to drive me back yourself, are you?”

“En.” Sheng Cen nodded indifferently, taking the car keys and casually tossing them into the air, where it drew an arc and fell back into his hand.

“You’re still underage, how can you drive?” Tang Qi Yuan asked as he stopped and looked at him.

“Underage?” Sheng Cen hooked his lips, seemed to find the word interesting, couldn’t help but come closer to Tang Qi Yuan’s ear, deliberately teasing him, lowered his voice and asked: “Hey, you say, last night……the two of us who are underage, does it count as having slept together?”

Tang Qi Yuan raised his eyes and glanced at him. There was no embarrassment on his face, but he analysed it seriously like he was solving a problem: “It depends on what you mean by ‘sleep’, the word “sleep” generally refers to sleeping, and sleeping is a physiological sleep phenomenon of human beings, then we have indeed slept, but if you mean another meaning……”

Sheng Cen’s face darkened as he lifted his feet and continued walking forward, “Stop, stop, stop, just pretend I didn’t ask anything just now.”

Although Tang Qi Yuan wanted to continue explaining to his table mate, but seeing that his table mate had no desire to continue to seek knowledge, he thought better of it and hurriedly lifted his feet to follow his table mate’s footsteps.

The two of them walked to the car park, Tang Qi Yuan looked at a car parked not far away and frowned: “You can’t drive, according to interstellar traffic regulations, underage people are not allowed to drive.”

“I’ve been driving for two years, so don’t worry.” Sheng Cen opened the car door and was making a gesture of invitation.

“No.” Tang Qi Yuan reached out and closed the car door, pretending to take out his mobile phone, threatening: “If you insist on driving, then I’ll call the police.”

Sheng Cen gave a low laugh and raised his eyebrows without fear, “Which police officer in the empire do you think would dare to arrest me?”

Tang Qi Yuan pursed his lips, Sheng Cen was the second prince, indeed no one would dare to arrest him, he frowned and looked at Sheng Cen, saying seriously: “You can’t joke with your life!”

“Get in the car, I promise to get you home safely and soundly.” Sheng Cen looked a little helpless, his driving skills were taught to him by the best driver in the army, better than even the average adult’s driving skills.

Tang Qi Yuan was unmoved and insisted on this matter, “If you must drive me yourself, I will walk back by myself, I don’t need you to send me anymore.”

Sheng Cen laughed in exasperation, “How are you going to walk? Around this area is the palace’s important grounds, no taxis can drive in, your feet will be worn out if you try to walk out.”

Tang Qi Yuan didn’t say anything else, turned around and left, his back with his school bag looking extremely stubborn.

“This little nerd……” Sheng Cen let out a low curse, angry and turned away from him, not wanting to care about him, after a while, could not help but chase after him again, holding Tang Qi Yuan’s hand with one hand to keep him from going any further, and taking out his mobile phone with the other to call the driver.

He gave Tang Qi Yuan an annoyed look and said in a deep voice, “Uncle Wang, come and pick me up now, I want to go out.”

After hanging up the phone, he reached out and pinched Tang Qi Yuan’s face and asked: “Is it alright now?”

“Yes.” Tang Qi Yuan nodded, not forgetting to admonish: “Sheng Cen, you can’t drive out by yourself in the future either, it’s not right, although your driving skills may be good, you are still young after all, do you know that according to the interstellar traffic law……”

Sheng Cen impatiently scratched his ears, thinking that he should have just let the old-fashioned little nerd go on his own, exhausting him as he deserved, saving himself from inviting trouble for himself here.

Halfway through Tang Qi Yuan’s sentence, the sound of footsteps came from not far away, and he stopped and looked towards the source of the sound.

A woman dressed in glamorous clothes came over, followed by two security guards, all following her submissively and servile. Although she was already middle-aged, her charm remained undiminished. The corners of the eyebrows had an elegant demeanour, the expression on her face looks like a beautiful scenery, very arrogant.

Tang Qi Yuan could recognise her as Madam Zhen Wei, who often appeared in the news.

She saw Sheng Cen stop in his tracks, smiled languidly, stroked her hair in triumph, got into the limousine and took off.

Sheng Cen’s face sank sharply, his eyes narrowing dangerously, his face so dark and heavy that water could drip out of it.

Tang Qi Yuan looked at Madam Zhen Wei as she walked away, his heart secretly amazed that the Emperor was only rumoured to be doting on Madam Zhen Wei, but he had no idea that she could already stay in the palace in such an open manner. It seemed that she and the Emperor no longer had any regard for Empress Xia.

On the way home, Sheng Cen did not speak throughout the journey, looking out of the window with a dark tide in his eyes, not sure what he was thinking.

Tang Qi Yuan opened his mouth several times, wanting to speak up to persuade him, but he felt as if there was no way to persuade him about such a matter, so he didn’t say anything more in the end, and just got out of the car without saying a word.

He turned around to say goodbye to Sheng Cen, who had already closed the car door as soon as he could. Sheng Cen’s face was ugly as he told the driver to drive away, his heart raging with anger since yesterday and eager to vent it.

Tang Qi Yuan looked at the distant car, his eyes slightly downcast. Sheng Xi’s leg injury could not be cured, Sheng Cen was the only one who could possibly inherit the throne, if he was robbed of the throne by Sheng Lian, Madam Zhen Wei would only become more arrogant, the three of them and the Xia family would not end up well. Tang Qi Yuan could imagine the pressure on Sheng Cen and could feel his extreme disgust towards the Emperor and Madam Zhen Wei.

Tang Qi Yuan turned around and headed upstairs, but in his heart he couldn’t help but worry, the way Sheng Cen had just looked was a bit frightening, and he was worried that Sheng Cen might have caused some trouble.

After thinking about it, he called Sheng Cen. The phone rang for a long time, but Sheng Cen did not answer.

He hesitated for a moment and dialled Empress Xia’s number that he had just saved this morning. He asked Empress Xia for the driver’s number and in order to prevent her from worrying, he just said that he had left something in the car.

After hanging up the phone, he called the driver again in a hurry, and after asking for Sheng Cen’s current location, he immediately hailed a taxi to go there.