The Tang Family’s Seven Os - Chapter 182

After the family dinner, Empress Xia was busy with the matter of introducing Tang Qi Yuan to someone. She carefully selected a lot of Alpha photos for Sheng Cen to choose from, but none of them satisfied Sheng Cen.

Some of them were rejected by Sheng Cen just by looking at the photos, while others were rejected after investigation. He either felt that the other party had problems with their three views or that they were not of good character. After finding one with good character and three views with difficulty, but just because his father is balding, he was rejected, saying that the man would go bald after reaching middle age and was not good enough for Tang Qi Yuan.

Empress Xia didn’t know if the man would go bald, but she knew that if she went on like this, she wouldn’t be far from going bald! When Sheng Cen once again found all sorts of reasons to reject her choice of candidate, she finally couldn’t stand it anymore and slammed the photo in her hand.

She looked at Sheng Cen angrily and asked: “Are you sincere in finding a match for Xiao Qi or not! If not then there’s no need to waste time.”

“I am.” Sheng Cen leaned back on the sofa and reached out to rub his forehead, looking a little tired.

He did want to be serious about choosing a future partner for Tang Qi Yuan, but he couldn’t help but feel that no one was fit to stand beside the little nerd, and he was afraid that the little nerd would be bullied, and also afraid that he would live unhappily, as if he could not relax leaving the little nerd in anyone’s hands.

When Empress Xia saw how tired he was, she was a bit soft-hearted and didn’t say anything else, but pondered for a moment, secretly deciding that she couldn’t listen to her son anymore and that she would have to let Tang Qi Yuan choose himself!

When Tang Qi Yuan received the call from Empress Xia, he was helping Yuan Qiu arrange flowers. When he saw the phone light up, he wiped his hands and picked it up, calling out obediently: “Auntie.”

“Xiao Qi, Auntie has a good candidate here, he has time today, do you want to meet up? Auntie will arrange a time and place for you.”

Tang Qi Yuan froze for a moment, put a white rose in the vase, gently pursed his lips and asked: “Did Sheng Cen agree?”

“Don’t care about him.” Empress Xia smiled and said: “It’s up to you to decide your own affairs.”

Tang Qi Yuan was silent for a moment, then nodded and said in as happy a voice as he could: “Ok, Auntie.”

After hanging up the phone, he looked at the flowers in the vase, his gaze slightly straight and slightly lost in thought.

Tang Bo Te was at the side sweeping up the leaves that had fallen on the floor for him and Yuan Qiu, and seeing that he hadn’t moved for half a day, he asked with concern: “Xiao Qi, who called, did something happen?”

Tang Qi Yuan came back to his senses, looked at his Big Dad and smiled: “Nothing is wrong, it’s just that Auntie Xia wants to introduce me to someone.”

Upon hearing this, Tang Bo Te’s eyes widened and he threw away the broom in his hand, thinking angrily, is this Empress Xia too idle!

Her own son hadn’t even gotten married yet, so how come she is minding other people’s son instead!

Yuan Qiu looked at the broom he had thrown away, raised his head and lightly swept his eyes at him, and said indifferently: “Pick it up.”

“……” Tang Bo Te bent down and picked up the broom, and honestly continued to sweep the floor with his head down, just that his expression was extremely aggrieved.

Yuan Qiu stroked the top of Tang Qi Yuan’s head, smiled gently and said: “We respect your choice.”

“En.” Tang Qi Yuan ignored the pained eyes of his Big Dad and petulantly rubbed against his Daddy’s palm, “Thank you guys.”

At two o’clock in the afternoon, Sheng Xi knocked on the door of Sheng Cen’s study and brought in a cup of coffee, he had moved back to live in Orchid Palace the day before yesterday, leaving the Yan family for the time being.

Sheng Cen was reading a document, when he saw him enter, he looked up and put down the document, took the coffee, smiled a little and said:”Thank you Ge.”

“No need to thank.” Sheng Xi smiled and looked at the papers piled up on his desk and asked: “Very busy?”

Sheng Cen rubbed his brow tiredly, picked up a cigarette and lit it, held it his his finger and said: “Still ok.”

He had just taken up his post and had many issues left behind by his father to deal with, so he would inevitably be busy for a while.

Sheng Xi nodded gently, looked at the cigarette in his hand, and suddenly said: “Xiao Qi just called to say that he would come over immediately.”

When Sheng Cen heard his words, his face changed and he immediately put out his cigarette and threw it into the ashtray, then moved the ashtray behind the window sill and blocked it with the curtain, finally reaching out to fan the air, shaking his clothes to disperse the smell of smoke on it, a series of actions done in one go, very skilfully.

Sheng Xi laughed derisively and spoke: “I lied to you, Xiao Qi didn’t call.”

He couldn’t help but snicker in his heart, how could his brother not care about Xiao Qi with this look on his face, clearly the tension in his eyes was overflowing, his mother was just too anxious, that’s why she didn’t notice.

Sheng Cen paused in his movements at his words, then let out a sigh of relief and sat down in his chair, calling out in chagrin: “Ge!”

He frowned a little in embarrassment and threw the cigarette case into the drawer.

Sheng Xi smiled and asked: “You’ve been so busy lately that you haven’t gone fishing with Xiao Qi for a while, have you?”

“I haven’t.” Sheng Cen picked up his coffee and took a sip, remembering that it had indeed been a long time since he had gone fishing with the little nerd, he couldn’t help but smile and said: “Wait until I can spare some time to go fishing with him in the next few days.”

“Xiao Qi may not have the time.” Sheng Xi looked at him and said: “I just heard from Mum that she gave Xiao Qi a blind date today, and Xiao Qi should be meeting the young master of the Wu family right now.”

“A blind date?” Sheng Cen’s face suddenly changed and his eyebrows wrinkled, “Didn’t Mum already promise me that she would let me pick a partner for Xiao Qi?”

Sheng Xi hooked his lips slightly, “Mum saw that you haven’t been able pick a suitable candidate for a long time, so she was a bit anxious and wanted to let Xiao Qi pick his own.”

Sheng Cen was silent for a moment and asked, somewhat exasperated: “……What time is the appointment today?”

“Two o’clock.”

Sheng Cen looked up at the antique clock hanging on the wall, it was already two fifteen, and Tang Qi Yuan and that young master of the Wu family should have already met.

His face sank, and he pursed his lips for half a day without speaking.

Sheng Xi smiled, deliberately not leaving, staying here to chat with him for a few moments, he replied absentmindedly, his frown growing tighter and tighter.

Sheng Xi inclined his head and snickered, watching his face getting worse and worse before finally saying: “You get busy, I’ll go out first.”

“En.” Sheng Cen didn’t even raise his head as he replied.

After Sheng Xi left, he stood up and walked back and forth in the room a few times before he finally couldn’t resist the urge to pick up his mobile phone and call Tang Qi Yuan.

“What are you doing?” Sheng Cen asked with a frown when the call was answered.

“Having coffee at a cafe.”

“With who?”

“……A new friend I met.” Tang Qi Yuan lowered his voice and looked at the person on the other side, blushing and a little embarrassed.

Sheng Cen’s face went cold, he didn’t need to think about it to know that the young master of the Wu family should be sitting across from Tang Qi Yuan right now, and might still be appreciating Tang Qi Yuan’s blushing appearance right now.

Tang Qi Yuan held the phone and asked in a whisper: “You’re calling, is there something wrong?”

Sheng Cen was silent for a while and said: “Where did you put that document you put away for me last time? I can’t find it, and I need it urgently now, come over and help me find it.”

Tang Qi Yuan thought about it, he had indeed helped Sheng Cen sort out a document when he went to Orchid Palace last time, Sheng Cen never hid these matters from him, and never guarded against him on official documents and such. Sheng Cen did not like outsiders entering his study, so when Tang Qi Yuan was free, he would occasionally help him sort out the stuff in his his study.

Tang Qi Yuan looked down and recalled where he had put the document that day, then said: “I remember that document is in the seventh compartment on the second level of the bookcase, you look for it.”

Sheng Cen walked over to the bookcase and without blushing, he switched that document around and then said: “Not here, come over and help me find it.”

Tang Qi Yuan frowned, a little surprised. His memory was always very good, it was impossible for him to remember wrongly.

“You look for it again.”

Sheng Cen pursed his lips and bluffed: “Can I still lie to you? You hurry over.”

Tang Qi Yuan frowned slightly, looked across at the man and hesitating for a moment, but still refused. Empress Xia had personally helped date the person out, and it was really rude of him to leave so soon.

He spoke up and said: “That document must be in your study, look for it yourself, I have things to do here, so I won’t be going over.”

After hanging up the phone, Sheng Cen froze as he listened to the disconnect tone on the phone. Tang Qi Yuan had never rejected him like this before, if he had any urgent matters, Tang Qi Yuan had always been the first to rush to his side.

Now he had not only rejected him, but also hung up on him, is it ok to continue like this?

If Tang Qi Yuan ignored him now, when he got married, he would put his partner and children first, and he would then be relegated to second place.

Sheng Cen’s face sank completely, and the thought of this possibility made his chest flip-flop, sore and aching.

He sat in his study all afternoon, gripping his phone tightly until strangulation marks appeared on his palms, and didn’t move a muscle.

It wasn’t until nightfall that he dialled again, pretending as if nothing was wrong, and asked: “How was the blind date today?”

“……Not so good.” Tang Qi Yuan’s voice was a bit low.

Sheng Cen was happy to hear this, and his body, which had been stiff all afternoon, seemed to come alive. He barely suppressed the smile at the corner of his mouth and asked in as calm a voice as possible: “What’s wrong?”

“He doesn’t go to bed on time, and that’s not right.”

For the first time, Sheng Cen was very much in favour of the little nerd and immediately said without hesitation: “Yes! Such a person is resolutely unacceptable!”

“But he even asked me out to dinner tomorrow.”

“Refuse immediately!”

“……Is that good?” Tang Qi Yuan was a little hesitant.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, I’ll call and tell him for you, you can just delete his number directly.”

“……Ok then.”

Sheng Cen let out a sigh of relief and continued to comfort Tang Qi Yuan for a few more words until Tang Qi Yuan completely gave up on this person, and only then did he hang up the phone with a sense of satisfaction.

After hanging up the phone, he pursed his dry lips, only then did he realise that he had forgotten to drink water all afternoon and was now so thirsty that he couldn’t help but pick up his glass of water and take a few more sips, his mouth moistened and his heart, which had been dull all afternoon, became clear.

Unfortunately he was not happy for long. The next day, Sheng Xi came knocking on his door again and then told him as if nothing had happened that Tang Qi Yuan had gone on another blind date!

Sheng Cen was furious, where did his mother find so many blind dates, one after another!

Sheng Xi had deliberately told him about this at night, so when he found out, Tang Qi Yuan had already finished his blind date for the day.

This time, he didn’t care that Sheng Xi was still in the room and immediately called his phone.

When Sheng Xi saw this look on his face, he couldn’t help but smile and turned to leave, even closing the door of his room for him in a very considerate manner. It would be a bit humiliating if His Majesty the Emperor’s jealous look was seen by others.

Tang Qi Yuan was lying on his bed, dazed, when he heard his mobile phone ringing, he came back to his senses, reached out to pick up the phone and put it to his ear, lazily sounding a ‘hello’.

“You’ve gone on another blind date?”

“En.” Tang Qi Yuan replied in a low voice.

“……How does this one feel?” Sheng Cen was silent for a moment, his voice a little strained as he asked.

“Pretty good.” Tang Qi Yuan tugged a soft pillow and pressed it under his head.

When Sheng Cen heard his answer, he stood up from the sofa at once, gripped the phone tightly, and asked in a somewhat gloomy voice: “Good in what way?”

Tang Qi Yuan thought for a moment and commented: “Righteous Three views, well-developed morals, intellect, physical and aesthetic aspects.”

Sheng Cen’s breath hitched, this was the first time he had ever heard the little nerd praise someone like that, the little nerd had never praised him like that before!

His face sank so deep in an instant that water could drip out of it, and he didn’t say anything for half a day.

Unfortunately, Tang Qi Yuan could not see his expression through the microphone and could only hear his breathing suddenly become thick and heavy, he froze for a moment and asked: “What’s wrong?”

Sheng Cen gritted his teeth and said: “Nothing……”

“Oh.” Tang Qi Yuan nodded in disbelief, then continued: “It’s a pity he already has a lover.”

Sheng Cen suddenly let out a sigh of relief, the heart that had been raised to his chest was put back into his stomach.

He reached out and tugged on his tie, sat down on the sofa, and after a moment of silence, he spoke comfortingly, “There’s no pity. Don’t think that just because he seems to have ‘righteous three views and a well-developed moral, intellect, physical and aesthetic’ means he’s really good. ”

Sheng Cen repeated the words ‘righteous three views and a well-developed moral, intellect, physical and aesthetic’ means he’s really good’ clearly and took them firmly to heart.

In the years that followed, he repeated these words countless times, intentionally or unintentionally, in front of Tang Qi Yuan. Every time he said this, he gritted his teeth and wished he could express his anger with every hair on his body, and he would not give up until Tang Qi Yuan praised him with these words over and over again, and he would also ask Tang Qi Yuan for a small reward, such as a kiss.

But that is something in the future, Tang Qi Yuan didn’t know at this time that his table mate is so petty, so he just nodded and said, rather agreeably: “What you say is also right.”