Chapter 407: Going to the Jia Residence
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
When Song Rui arrived outside Minister Shen’s study, before anyone could go in to report, Minister Shen had already called out to let him in.
Song Rui entered and saw Minister Shen sitting behind the desk. He went forward and bowed to the older man.
“Greetings, my lord!”
Minister Shen’s expression did not look very pleasant. He gestured with his hand at Song Rui with some annoyance.
“No need for formalities,” he said before giving a sigh.
“Thank you, my lord,” Song Rui straightened up.
“My lord, is something troubling you?” Song Rui asked tentatively.
Minister Shen then raised his head and looked at Song Rui.
After looking at Song Rui for a while, he narrowed his eyes and asked, “Did the Jia family look for you?”
Song Rui looked baffled.
“No. Why do you ask, my lord?” he asked.
Minister Shen frowned and continued to stare at Song Rui.
“The Jia family has already decided on the woman to marry you as a concubine. Do you know who it is?” he asked.
Song Rui’s heart skipped a beat.
Could it be that Mrs. Shen had already convinced Jia Kun?
Even though he already had some guesses in his heart, Song Rui still maintained a puzzled expression on his face.
“I don’t know. Please enlighten me, my lord,” he said to Minister Shen.
“The person the Jia family is giving you is Jia Qi,” said Minister Shen. His gaze was still fixed on Song Rui.
Song Rui looked surprised.
“Is there something special about this Jia family’s young miss?” Song Rui continued to pretend that he was totally unaware.
Only then did Minister Shen withdraw his probing gaze.
“Although Jia Qi is the daughter of a concubine, her mother, Madam Wu, is very favored. Her status in the Jia family’s residence is actually not lower than that of a legitimate daughter,” he said.
Song Rui was shocked. His eyes flickered, and then a hint of panic flashed across them.
“My lord, I really don’t know anything about this.
“Your lordship has already betrothed Miss Lian’er to me. How can 1 be ungrateful and still try to curry favor with the Jia family?”
Minister Shen stared straight at Song Rui. Song Rui kept his head lowered and didn’t dare to move.
After a long while, Minister Shen finally spoke and asked Song Rui to straighten up.
After Song Rui straightened up, he still didn’t dare to look at Minister Shen. He seemed terrified.
“Since you didn’t ask for Jia Qi, then go to the Jia family’s residence and break off the betrothal with Jia Qi,” Minister Shen finally said.
He didn’t want to work hard to promote someone, only to end up helping other people achieve their aspirations without gaining any benefits for himself
Of course, he could also come forward and discuss this matter with the Jia family and the Empress.
However, the effect of him making an appearance was not as good as Song Rui making an appearance.
He wanted Song Rui to personally go to the Jia family to get rid of Jia Qi and offend the Jia family.
This was the only way to eliminate all chances for Song Rui to rely on the Jia family and make Song Rui work for him wholeheartedly. At the same time, it would also stop the Jia family from trying to win Song Rui over.
“Let the caretaker go with you,” Minister Shen added.
Not surprisingly, this arrangement was to ensure that Song Rui could not cause any trouble behind his back.
Song Rui lowered his head and an icy glint flashed across his eyes.
“Yes, Sir,” he quickly answered.
Only then did Minister Shen’s expression become more relaxed.
“There’s no time to lose. You can set off now. The caretaker has already prepared a horse carriage and is waiting for you at the entrance of the residence,” he said.
“Yes, Sir,” Song Rui responded again.
After bowing to Minister Shen, he turned around and left.
Following that, he went out of the Prime Minister’s residence without stopping.
As he walked out of the entrance, the caretaker of the Prime Minister’s residence was already waiting for him.
Upon seeing Song Rui come out, the caretaker quickly came forward and bowed to Song Rui.
“Lord Song.”
“Mm-hmm,” Song Rui responded.
He looked at the horse carriage not far away.
Then, he walked towards the horse carriage.
The caretaker quickly followed.
After getting into the horse carriage, Song Rui didn’t say anything and closed his eyes.
The caretaker sitting opposite him did not dare to say anything.
The Master had asked him to watch over Lord Song and record everything that happened to Lord Song on the way to the Jia residence and the aftermath. Afterward, he was to go back and report to the Master.
He would just do as he was told.
The horse carriage swayed as it traveled and it soon arrived at the Jia family’s residence.
The voice of a servant from the Jia family rang out from outside the horse carriage.
However, Song Rui remained seated with his eyes closed and did not move.
After a while, the servants of the Jia family were already asking what was going on, but Song Rui still did not move.
“Lord Song…” The caretaker finally spoke up to wake Song Rui.
Song Rui then opened her eyes.
When he looked at the caretaker, he appeared extremely displeased.
Fear rose in the caretaker’s heart and he quickly lowered his head.
However, he still mustered his courage to remind Song Rui. “Lord Song, we’ve arrived.”
Song Rui frowned and got up. He lifted the curtain and got off the horse carriage.
Outside the horse carriage, the servants of the Jia family saw Song Rui and hurriedly bowed.
“Greetings, Lord Song!”
They had never met Song Rui before, but they had heard of his deeds.
It was said that Lord Song had the talent of a poet and was also extremely handsome without equal.
Now that they had seen him in person, they felt that the rumors were not exaggerated at all.
“Mm-hmm,” Song Rui responded.
“Please go and inform Lord Jia that I, Song Rui, wish to request a meeting with him,” he continued.
“Yes, Sir!” a servant hurriedly replied.
With that, he turned around and entered the Jia family’s residence.
Song Rui didn’t wait long outside the Jia family’s residence.
The caretaker of the Jia family’s residence came out and personally led Song Rui and the caretaker from the Shen family’s residence inside.
After passing through the front courtyard of the Jia family’s residence, Song Rui and his companion were quickly led to the front hall of the Jia family’s residence.
At this moment, Jia Kun was already waiting in the front hall.
When he saw Song Rui, his eyes almost popped out.
At the same time, he stood rooted to the spot in shock.
There was actually such a beautiful man in this world?
Furthermore, this fellow Song Rui looked too similar to Liu Ling from Cloud Scent Court.
As he tried to suppress the furious thumping in his heart, Jia Kun only roused himself from his reverie after Song Rui stepped forward and bowed.
“Lord Song, no need for formalities.” He quickly smiled and gestured with his hand at Song Rui.
At the same time, he kept staring at Song Rui.
Previously, Jia Kun had heard from his second younger sister, the Empress, that this guy Lord Song was unparalleled in the world, but he did not quite believe it.
After all, he had seen many beautiful men and women. Among the men, only Liu Ling’s appearance and bearing could be said to be stunning.
It was hard for him to believe that there was someone better than Liu Ling.
To his surprise, Song Rui was actually more attractive-looking in person than Liu Ling.
He remembered that he had promised his first younger sister that he would let Qi’er marry Song Rui.
In the future, this guy Song Rui would be his son-in-law.
Jia Kun felt somewhat delighted.
If this future son-in-law of his really had the interests of the Jia family at heart, he would definitely do his best to help him replace that ungrateful Shen Hongyu as soon as possible.
“Have a seat.”
“Serve the tea.” Jia Kun turned his head to the outside.
Then, his gaze returned to Song Rui and he stared at him brazenly.
“Thank you, Lord Jia.” Suppressing the disgust in his heart, Song Rui cupped his fists and bowed to Jia Kun.
Following that, he went to the chair and sat down.
The caretaker of the Shen family’s residence followed and stood behind Song Rui.
The servants quickly served tea.
Song Rui only glanced at the tea but did not touch it.
At this moment, Jia Kun finally realized that it was quite rude of him to keep staring at others.
“Ahem… is there some matter that Lord Song wishes to discuss?” he asked.
“Yes,” Song Rui replied solemnly.
“Oh?” Jia Kun became interested.
“What is it?” he asked.
Song Rui frowned. After hesitating for a moment, he finally stood up and cupped his fists at Jia Kun.
“The rank of my post is low and I’m not worthy of Miss Qi’er..”