Favoring Qie Over Wife (25)

Seeing her lively eyes become a bit desolate, Wen Heng Zhi also became unhappy as well, "My words were thoughtless. Furen, please forgive this one's presumptions. A woman's feelings, I myself seemed to have been blind towards them."

Song Jia didn't refute him. "As long as Wen daifu knows."

He smiled at her with some helplessness, "Furen is right."

The waiter arrived at that moment to deliver their dishes, and the two of them became silent as they watched plate after plate being set on the round table between them. When the waiter left, Wen Heng Zhi said as a light-hearted joke, "Because of his Highness' blindness, this one had the fortune to sit with a beauty."

Song Jia picked up a teacup of longjing tea with both hands and calmly said, "Wen daifu's unparalleled eloquence truly makes this one speechless with awe."

Wen Heng Zhi: "..."

Where could he find a single trace of awe on that calm face? He was still a bachelor, but being around Zhao Cheng for as long as he had, Wen Heng Zhi also learned a few things about women. His Third Highness was excellent both in looks, temperament, and status, so he could be considered to be a typical magnet for flowers. Especially in the capital, even if Zhao Cheng was a piece of wood, women still flocked to him. Wen Heng Zhi had been his study companion when they they were little, and his right-hand man when they became older. Because of this, he had shared a piece of the limelight with Zhao Cheng. Although Wen Heng Zhi didn't indulge, he still flirted here and there.

But in front of Li Jia, he seemed to return back to being a boy on the verge of puberty and making his first pass at a beautiful woman.

Seeing that she teased him enough, Song Jia finally began her mission of paving a good future for Li Jia. She cupped her cheek with one hand as her eyes curved, "Actually, I'm still not yet hungry and just wanted to escape the crowd. To pass away the time, why don't I show Wen daifu a skill of mine that not many people know?"

Wen Heng Zhi thought that her mischievous expression was quite cute and said with amusement, "How could this lowly one reject furen's generous offer?"

Successfully hooking him up with the bait, Song Jia patted the seat next to her.

"It would be better if Wen daifu could come nearer to the window to see."

At this, Wen Heng Zhi hesitated. Being inside the same room as someone else's wife was already making him feel uncomfortable. If he moved even closer to her...wasn't this making the third prince wear a green hat?

"What is Wen daifu thinking?" Song Jia's voice with a hint of scorn in it broke his thoughts. "Could it be that Wen daifu thinks I am a starving wolf and he is the cute rabbit that I am about to eat?"

Wen Heng Zhi felt embarrassed hearing her words. He was not thinking that, rather it was just quite the opposite. Looking at the slender figure of the woman in front of him whose head only reached up to his chest, how could she be in any way thought of as a starving wolf by a man? Her skin like glistening snow, her eyelashes long and thick, the locks of hair that flowed to her shoulders the color of ink. And that red lotus flower in the middle of her forehead...okay, great aunt, this one apologizes for apparently thinking too much. But not knowing your own charms, aren't you at fault here too?

Wen Heng Zhi sat next to Song Jia, but he made sure to position himself at the opposite edge of the window. This way, they aren't too close.

Song Jia ignored his attempts at keeping propriety and pointed her finger at a couple whispering on a restaurant adjacent to them. Their figures could be seen on the window, but they were too far away for them to hear their conversation.

"Look there. The lady is saying, 'Yan-gege, I don't want to intrude,' and the man is reassuring her, 'Don't worry, I won't let her bully you. In this lifetime, I will only cherish you and our child.' He is caressing her hands in reassurance, but his eyes are lowered, not showing his thoughts. And this woman isn't someone simple either. She is leaning towards him, but her wrists are angled down. This means she doesn't trust him, not completely."

Wen Heng Zhi was stunned. He could not believe a lady of the boudoir could judge the body language of people so accurately, much less to be able to read their lips. He did not doubt her, because he knew those two people. The man was a marquis who already had a wife and several children, while that lady was supposedly his sweetheart who returned from the countryside two weeks ago. Not many people knew this, but Zhao Cheng's network of information of what was going on in the capital could not be underestimated. It was impossible for him to tell trivial gossip like this to his wife, so it could only mean that she really knew how to lip-read.

"When did you learn how to do this?" he asked. From his short interaction with her, he already deduced that this blind third prince, Zhao Cheng, had indeed exchanged a pearl for fish eyes.

"Bored one day, so practiced observing people for a bit."

Song Jia's title as 'jack of all trades' was very well deserved. She had varied interests, and whatever she was interested at that particular moment, she would wholeheartedly learn for a while. In the modern age where the availability of information was limitless, no matter how obscure and pointless the skill, if you want to learn, then just search it up.

How could the ancient people of an era three thousand years in the past compare?

Song Jia didn't hesitate to show off her talents, because she knew, scheming was practically a past time of ambitious men in this time period. Zhao Cheng was ambitious, naturally, his friend would be ambitious too. Birds of the same feather flock together. If she showed Wen Heng Zhi that she was quick-witted and sly as a fox, he would not think she was a sociopath, but intelligent and clever.

Just as Song Jia had expected. The two of them got along with each other harmoniously, and the stiff manner of Wen Heng Zhi towards her status and position quickly disappeared. They ate while engaging in happy conversation, and a man's laughter could occasionally be heard.

Song Jia had to say, those female magazines she read before about how to flirt with a man were very effective.