「The next day, at 3:00 PM.」
When Shen Lang arrived at the teahouse, leisurely carrying a wine jar, the Little Emperor was, as expected, already waiting.
Upon seeing her, his vibrant crimson lips curved into a wide smile.
"Over here."
Shen Lang's gaze swept across the room. Noticing a subtle, unusual tension in the air, her brow twitched slightly. She smiled and said, "So you really came, sir. See? This is the wine my grandmother brewed."
[System: Host, please refrain from deceiving the male lead. The system has detected that this jar contains vinegar diluted with water.]
'Nonsense,' Shen Lang thought.
'She knew the Little Emperor was a dandy who adored fine wine, which was precisely why she had pulled yesterday's stunt.'
'Otherwise, if the Little Emperor hadn't taken the bait, wouldn't she have put on a show for nothing?'
'As for today... the main event had nothing to do with this so-called fine wine.'
Jiang Yu was indeed overjoyed. He hurriedly took the wine jar, but just as he was about to open it for a sniff, a somewhat coarse hand grabbed his sleeve.
A low cough came from the rather short man.
Jiang Yu looked over, thoroughly puzzled.
"Um… Sir…" The man's face flushed red.
"What is it?" Jiang Yu's voice was exceptionally pleasant, carrying the crisp, bright energy of a boy, yet touched with the magnetism of a young man. Even such a simple question was enough to make one's ears melt.
A bewitching glint flashed in Shen Lang's eyes, but her face was a picture of embarrassment. She boldly lifted her head, stared at the young man for a long moment, and finally managed to squeeze out a single word, "…Money."
Jiang Yu's cheeks flushed crimson.
"My apologies." He then shot a look at Eunuch Zhang, who stood beside him.
Eunuch Zhang understood. Though deeply suspicious of this person's origins, he still stepped forward with a small pouch, bowed, and said, "Sir, here are fifty taels."
Shen Lang took the pouch. A hint of a smile flashed in her eyes, but her expression was one of suspicion. "This… doesn't look like fifty taels."
A flash of contempt crossed Eunuch Zhang's eyes, gone in an instant. He beamed and said, "What's inside is a silver note."
Shen Lang put on the air of a country bumpkin, her eyes sparkling. She nodded and smiled. "Thank you for your generosity, sir."
Jiang Yu was taken aback, not understanding why the man would say such a thing.
'It was a simple transaction—goods for payment. What was so generous about it?'
But he would understand soon enough.
After Shen Lang departed with a flourish, striking a pose as if she were a floating immortal, Jiang Yu opened the wine jar.
Instantly, an overwhelming stench of vinegar shot into the air.
It was so pungent it nearly brought tears to his eyes.
He lost his grip on the jar. With a CRASH, it fell to the floor and shattered.
Its contents spilled all over the floor.
Eunuch Zhang's face fell. He rushed forward to help soothe Jiang Yu. "Your Majesty, the sheer audacity of that person!"
Jiang Yu stared fixedly at the "wine" on the floor, his normally enchanting, soulful eyes now wide with disbelief.
"…Vinegar?"
Eunuch Zhang silently said a prayer for the swindler.
'This swindler was unbelievably bold, and their acting was superb,' he thought. 'To think they managed to run circles around the reigning Emperor himself.'
'Then again, if the swindler knew this was His Majesty the Emperor, they wouldn't have dared to pull such a stunt, not even if they had ten thousand times the nerve.'
At this moment, Jiang Yu was seething with a murderous rage.
'I am the supreme ruler! If word of this gets out, what would become of my imperial dignity?'
After a long moment, he spoke in a chilling voice, "Issue a secret decree: capture this person alive. I shall reward the captor handsomely!"
*
*
The net had been cast.
All that was left was to wait for the fish to swim into it.
Shen Lang calmly calculated that in about fifty days, the Little Emperor wouldn't be able to live without her.
'Before that, though, I should take the chance to relax and have some fun. Maybe flirt with some handsome men, find a little official to pass the time…'