Chu Xuanzhen set down the medicine box. "Who is it?"
"Your Highness, it is the Eighth Prince."
The Eighth Prince?
Shen Yangge was wondering what he had come for-whether he wanted to play chess with Chu Xuanzhen again-when someone walked through the palace doors.
The Eighth Prince wore a bamboo-green robe, his warm, breezy smile positively radiant. If not for his hands clasped behind his back...
Give him a fan, and he would turn into a foppish young noble in an instant.
"Ahem. Have you eaten?"
Chu Xuanzhen glanced at him. "Little Eight."
His tone was distinctly displeased.
"Well, um, greetings, Imperial Brother."
He offered a perfunctory bow, then walked up to Shen Yangge and studied him from every angle. Still, he dared not get too carried away. After all, this was a dragon of legend.
Chu Xuanzhen said, "A newly appointed county magistrate is being sent to Lingnan. You will accompany him."
"What?!"
The Eighth Prince had never imagined that simply coming to take a look at the dragon child would bring disaster down on his own head. Naturally, he refused. Had he been sent anywhere else, he might not have resisted so fiercely.
But this was Lingnan! It had suffered a plague and a terrible famine. Who would ever want to visit such a destitute place a second time after going there once?
"Imperial Brother, I have been terribly busy lately. I'm afraid I cannot go to Lingnan."
Chu Xuanzhen lifted his eyelids, his impassive gaze seeming to say, Do you think I am that easy to fool?
Having witnessed the Eighth Prince's entire performance, Shen Yangge suddenly wanted to laugh. Not for any other reason, but because Chu Xuanzhen had the Eighth Prince firmly under his thumb, just like him.
*Help! If I'd known, I would never