This general was offering his own daughter up to be a concubine on a silver platter!
He humbly gestured to Bai Yiyi beside him. She truly had delicate looks worthy of a concubine as she bowed coyly and "bashfully" introduced herself, imperceptibly fluttering her lashes at Hua Shen.
"Yiyi, greets Your Majesty and Emperor Hua!"
Emperor Li tilts his head towards Hua Shen with a slight smile. If they had not discussed before regarding this matter then this could have been General Bai making things tough for both him and Hua Shen to decline even if Hua Shen didn't want to take in concubines at this moment (which he didn't).
After all, General Bai had used the reasoning that Li Feifei, his only daughter whom he doted so much on, would be all alone in a foreign place with no one to rely on. Even though it was obvious that with Bai Yiyi's intent on becoming Hua Shen's concubine was far from friendly and could even be regarded as hostile, but it was true that they were fellow countrywomen and from the common people's surface-limit point of view rejecting their offer could only be marring Li Feifei's reputation as lacking virtuosity and magnanimity.
Fortunately, they had already made countermeasures when Hua Shen had proposed to his daughter. So, without any hesitation Emperor Li threw this hot potato to Hua Shen to handle.
"What does Emperor Hua think?"
He didn't even bother hinting his standpoint on the matter.
Hua Shen's unruly hand caressed Li Feifei's thin waist as he didn't so much as glance towards the father-daughter pair below. His eyes remained fixed on his little wife who was intently appraising the girl with a faint light in her eyes.
Displeased as he knew she was up to no good right before him, Hua Shen's voice was laced with annoyance.
"Zhen will have to refuse General Bai's generous offer. Zhen can't afford to be wrapped around two foreign women's fingers. One is enough."
Though it was impossible to be wrapped around another woman's fingers as he'd told them but that was just a formality.
Hua shen continued with the promise he made with Emperor Li, "Furthermore, Zhen has promised father-in-law while making the alliance agreement, to never take in concubines. Is General Bai implying for Our two countries to war rather than allying by breaking this promise that was included within the marriage agreement?"
General Bai visibly paled, and Bai Yiyi who was about to cry fake tears at his earlier rejection immediately sucked up her tears and started trembling with her head bowed.
General Bai immediately denied. "That, that wasn't this General's intent at all! If this General were aware, then naturally this General never would have considered it!"
Hua Shen laughed but there was no mirth in those cold pair of red eyes that never even glimpsed at the two figures below, "Then General Bai must be blaming Zhen for not being generous enough to tell all of the details within Zhen's marriage agreement."
General Bai kowtowed profusely with cold sweat drenching his back, "This General wouldn't dare, wouldn't dare!"
As Hua Shen had only been paying attention to Li Feifei during the exchange of words, how could he not have noticed her eyes dimming in disappointment? In fact, she had stared back up at him with blame in her eyes as if asking him if he was sane.
Sure, in the previous world Li Feifei felt that all women were her enemies. It was reasonable as they were so very hateful and more annoying than pesky flies. The female lead was a literal enemy of humankind as well as her mission's assassination target, and her best friend was a blind follower. Handling her own sister was a part of her own task, and the female lead's sister was simply courting death by threatening their baby.
Li Feifei only had regret in her heart as this general's daughter was another woman offering herself so generously right onto his bed ah! Even though she knew well that Bai Yiyi was far from innocent as she bullied Bai Ping in the past, but their frequent trips to the brothels had awoken the lady-killers inside both of them.
Even Bai Ping had started treating those childish sisters of hers in a more gentlemanly manner as of late. In the past, the most they had done was that time when she was pushed into a pond. Other than that were just small tricks like tearing apart some of her clothes so she couldn't wear them, dirtying her meals, and showing off their own glamorous lifestyles. Nothing was particularly life-threatening.
Besides, even though she was currently in the body of a thirteen-year-old, Bai Ping was mentally much older. In her eyes, after all of the visits to the brothel, her two step-sisters suddenly appeared very soft and cute like those prostitutes that would get jealous of each other if she didn't give them her attention for a short while.
This Bai Yiyi had a voluptuous chest despite only being 15, and her lips were plump and juicy ready to be ravished by all men. Don't even mention those large doe eyes, especially when they were misted over with crystalline tears that refused to fall—didn't all men love this kind of gaze? Her voice was soft and could tickle one's ears and heart if used correctly, and Li Feifei had to rank her amongst the highest of all the women she had encountered in the brothel.
If Bai Yiyi knew Li Feifei and Bai Ping were comparing the nobly-birthed her to those lowly prostitutes in the brothels she would surely cough blood and die on the spot in anger.
But the blame in Li Feifei's eyes only drew more ire from Hua Shen, as he felt that she obviously held more interest for this unknown woman than she did for himself.
This only made him hate this general and his daughter more and more! They were obviously there to drive a wedge between their excruciatingly slowly blooming relationship ah!
When Li Feifei was about to look at the eyesore of a woman below again, Hua Shen deftly lifted his palm from her waist to her cheek and immediately drew her in to forcibly kiss her on her lips to prevent her sight from straying.
Only after a long minute of such a passionate and lascivious kiss did he let her go with a thin string of silver still connecting their red, swollen lips.
Li Feifei had yet to catch her breath when Hua Shen lowly declared loud enough for all in the grand hall to hear, "Zhen doesn't disagree with this arrangement at all. Fei-er belongs to Zhen, and in turn, Zhen belongs solely to Fei-er."
In fact, he was very pleased with this promise of theirs. In this way, they were both securely tied to each other in this life. All under the heavens now and in the future would know that the Princess of Li and Emperor Hua Shen of Hua were deeply in love.
Yep, he still had a trauma over what had happened in the first world.
Even if he told her that he'd let her go if she truly no longer wanted him, how could Hua Shen really do that so easily? Before then, he'd try any means to keep her to himself.
Only after he could be sure of her own devotion to himself would he allow her to mess around with the bees and butterflies. However, with the shallow depth of their current relationship how could he allow her to become distracted? What if one day he let her play around only for her to be whisked away without any protest from himself?
By that time, Hua Shen could only regret.
His statement was to firmly crush the hopes of all the women present that he had only reluctantly acquiesced to the promise of not taking in any concubines. Hua Shen wasn't reluctant at all!
More importantly, he was reminding his own wife that even if she strongly desired for such an outcome, he would not be involved with anyone else in the present or the future.
And, Hua Shen couldn't deny it. There was also a hint of resentment that she wasn't paying attention to him...
Li Feifei had been with him for years, so how could she not detect it? She simply rolled her eyes at his silliness.
They had already been reunited in this world, so all they needed now was time for her to be of age so that they could be with their little baby again. During this time, she was bound to become bored to death even while they were conquering the other two kingdoms.
Take the current situation for example. They had practically just arrived at the farewell party and she was already ready to challenge someone to a duel to pass the time ah! What talking, laughing, and spending time with family?
Let's just head on to Hua already and have an adventure along the way with assassins and bandits jumping in every once in a while, to liven things up!
Hua Shen should have already known that before they did the deed, Li Feifei would never leave him so why was he feeling all insecure for?
Furthermore, the one she was eyeing was another girl, and though Li Feifei felt that girls were truly soft and comfortable, but a man was certainly better to have in bed. She truly did not understand his worries.
If only she knew that it was because Hua Shen was worried Li Feifei would one day no longer desire men, she would probably burst into laughter and pat his shoulder as she consoled him, "Don't worry, I'm not you."
How could she not have assumed that this thousand-year-old husband of hers had willingly had sex with another man before? In fact, in the second world even when he had transmigrated right at that unfortunate moment after she walked in on his host body fucking another boy, she only felt more confident that there could be a possibility of such an act having happened in the past.
But she really wasn't like him in that aspect. Sure, one thousand void years was plenty enough time to occasionally grow bored of women and there was even the possibility of being sent into worlds that only had one gender. However, Li Feifei knew herself well enough to confidently declare that she would never pounce on another woman if men existed to fulfill her sexual desires.
The crowd below had long since ceased all noise before Hua Shen and Li Feifei had even arrived at Emperor Li and the Empress's table. They all clearly heard and saw the entire exchange that had happened.
When the young Emperor of Hua had so shamelessly kissed their princess, everyone in the room did not know whether or not they should continue watching. It went without saying that the innocent maidens who hadn't even had their coming of age ceremonies were blushing so hard, but even the older women were flushed at how openly this couple behaved!
Disregarding that awkward moment due to Hua Shen's subsequent words, the officials smirked at General Bai's failure to climb the political and social ladder, while the women were seething in jealousy as their own spouses had countless other concubines and favored them more than themselves.
Li Yun, as always, let out a slight sigh in resignation but his eyes were helpless and still full of doting and love for his little sister. Towards that shameless brother-in-law of his, if Li Feifei didn't mind, where would he have room to care?
The Empress and Emperor Li were seated right next to them so they heard even the sounds they were better off not hearing. But as dignified monarchs, the two tacitly agreed to remain stoic and act as if the dirt of the world could never taint them.
Li Hao wanted to stand up and clap at how brazen this new brother-on-law of his was! He immediately wanted to kiss his Ping-er but he wasn't as brave as Hua Shen...
The smile in Hua Shen's eyes deepened when Long Zheng finally showed some reaction for the first time today. He didn't even have to look to know that Long Zheng's eyes were boring straight through his body. If looks could kill, perhaps he would have been stabbed countless times already.
It seemed that only especially intimate acts were enough to trigger that general.
Li Feifei had somewhat expected that from Hua Shen, that devil. But so as to not go out of character, she had to blush and hide herself in his rock-hard chest out of embarrassment. After all, it was still ancient times and even if Li Feifei was adventurous as of late she was still a princess with a strong sense of modesty.
The most this princess had ever interacted with men were with her brothers and father—and that only consisted of holding hands, hugging, and receiving frequent pats on her head.
Kissing in public, how could she maintain her dignity even if the soul was different and used to it?
Truthfully, it wasn't the act that had raised adanger flag in Long Zheng's mind. It was Li Feifei's reaction to Hua Shen's kiss.