Unexpected Encounter

A guest? Zhao Xing wondered who it could be.

They soon came with tea, Zhao Xing felt it was time to sit down and try to act more 'of this world' he arranged her clothes and took her seat. Xiao Chen stood at the door keeping guard, so they were the only ones in the room. Zhao Xing wasn't over the view as her eyes drifted outside the windows once again.

Soon a young man came into the room. Drawing the attention of the two.

"Crown Prince" The man greeted, humbly.

The prince nodded and gestured for him to take a seat.

The man sat down as he turned to stare at Zhao Xing. The later also stared back at him. He gave her a familiar feel. The young man gave her a small smile, to which Zhao Xing responded with the same. She then looked towards Zhang Zhengyang.

Zhang Zhengyang was busy enjoying his tea, didn't seem to mind the awkwardness in the air. The young man bowed his head, there was a sense of inferiority in his posture.

"Cheng Yi, if you want to be the next heir you can't have that posture."

The voice of the crown prince must have scared the poor thing as he instantly sat up straight. "Yes your highness!" his voice was a bit loud, Zhao Xing almost couldn't take the density of the atmosphere.

Wth was going on. What heir?

Zhang Zhengyang sighed and said nothing. Another wave of silence hit them making Zhao Xing's head hurt.

"Aren't we going to order?" She said in attempt to end the silence. Just then, attendants came in with food and filled the room with a delicious scent.

Heh, she was some poor kid in her world, and never been to any fancy restaurant, who would have thought the first time she'd do so it would actually be in another world. Zhao Xing sighed inwardly, life was really...unexpected.

The table was set, the food was here, Zhao Xing no longer had the mind to care about the two who were playing 'mute'.

"Crown Prince, will you eat?" She asked a stupid question, but she just had to. If this guy wasn't eating she wasn't going to wait for him. She really wanted to try out the food here.

Zhang Zhengyang turned her way and smiled, "Go ahead, suit yourself."

He had said so, she wasn't going to be courteous. She picked her chopsticks, in front of the wide eyes of the youth, she began to dig in.

Zhang Zhengyang watched her eat and began a conversation with her. "What does Grand Tutor think?"

Zhao Xing nodded her head. 'It was so good!'

She smiled at the prince and continued to eat. "This is the second son of Duke Ming." he said, "Look at him, do you see him being anything in the future?"

Zhao Xing heard this and glared at Zhang Zhengyang, was his hobby to insult and look down on people? But with Zhang Zhengyang's expression, he didn't seem be fooling around like he usually did with her.

Who does that? Ask these type of questions in front the person, asking her to judge a book by it's cover?

But how could she know what he was up to? The Crown Prince stared straight at her as her eyes drifted from him to the man seated next to her.

She scrutinized him, till the boy broke into cold sweat.

She still stuffed food in her mouth as she did so. After a while she turned to Zhang Zhengyang, and swallowed her food before asking, "You want him to succeed his father?"

Zhang Zhengyang said nothing.

"He seems to be an honest child, that's a good point, but I guess it's dangerous for him to have such weak personality, he might not go that far..." Zhao Xing said surprisingly very honestly.

When Cheng yi heard this his eyes darted in Zhao Xing's direction, then at Zhang Zhengyang, "Crown Prince...you must believe in me, I believe I can make it."

The Crown Prince didn't seem to have heard him and turned to Zhao Xing, picking food and sending it to her plate.

"I remember when you came asking me for help, that day I didn't chase you away because of the determination I saw in your eyes. You are a brilliant person, you have potential, but time is pressing, your personality is truly a problem, if you can't sort this out, others would ride over you. I told someone today that I didn't mind keeping someone with no apparent use to me, in the premises that they one day become useful."

Zhao Xing almost choked on her food when she heard him mention what they talked about a while ago. In the end she chose to act dead and not intervene.

Cheng Yi kept silent, as he mulled over what the crown prince had said.

The Crown Prince said a few more words and soon Cheng Yi left, leaving only the two once again. The prince turned to Zhao Xing and smiled, "You did a good job today, turns out you're not that brainless."

"Of course I'm not! You just didn't see it, ok?"

"Is that so? Then wouldn't that mean I don't need to take you out anymore to broaden your horizon." He retorted, with a sly smile.

Zhao Xing almost dropped her chopsticks as she suddenly panicked. She couldn't shoot herself in the foot!

With a big fawning smile, she quickly explained, "Heh, Zhang Zhengyang, how could that be, I still have a lot to learn. Besides no matter how much one studies, it would never be enough."

"Shameless" The Crown Prince mocked shaking his head.

That was her life philosophy, she lives by it! Zhao Xing laughed foolishly then proceeded to fawn on the crown prince. "Crown Prince here, you can't order so much food and not eat, you need to replenish your strength, don't mind me, besides, I can't finish it all!"

When they were done it was time to return to the manor. On their way down the stairs they met with someone unexpected.

"Second brother." the person greeted.

"Fourth brother." The crown prince nodded at him.

Zhao Xing who was behind him along with Xiao Chen, felt the pressure in the air.

'the fourth prince??'

"It's been a while since I last saw second brother."

"It has been indeed"