Chapter 23: “Father!”

Translator: 安贝-Peggyan

Standing outside of the Qiankun Palace, Shi Qingshan felt excited and complex.

Having not spotted the complex feelings of his father-in-law, Long Xiaoyuan said naturally, “Qingzhou hasn’t had breakfast yet. Minister Shi, you haven’t eaten it, have you? You can eat it here before leaving.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Thanks for your mercy,” said Shi Qingshan seriously after leaving his complex thoughts behind.

They walked inside. Shi Qingshan couldn’t help furrowing his brows while seeing the palace maids and eunuchs greet them along the road, for he didn’t see his son show up.

When His Majesty was about to arrive, all imperial concubines including the empress should wait for him outside of their palaces. Otherwise, they would commit a crime of disrespecting His Majesty!

Shi Qingshan got his heart jolted and wanted to say something. However, he spoke nothing upon seeing Long Xiaoyuan wholeheartedly walked inside. Forgot it! If His Majesty scolded his son for this, he would beg His Majesty for mercy even if he would be laid off.

He knew clearly that His Majesty had long been worried about the military leadership of the Shi family. If His Majesty took this chance to rebuke the empress, he would surrender his military power to protect his son!

After walking inside, Shi Qingshan didn’t see the scene which made him concerned. Long Xiaoyuan naturally walked toward his son who was reading and said while pulling out the book in his son’s hand, “You’re reading again.”

Shi Qingzhou said with a smile, “I have nothing to do.”

Long Xiaoyuan said, “It’ll be bad for your eyes if you read too much…alas, your father is here. We’ll have breakfast together.”

“My father…” Shi Qingzhou felt stunned first and then quickly looked outside, seeing Shi Qingshan watching them in surprise.

Shi Qingzhou felt warm and involuntarily walked over to Shi Qingshan. “Father…”

“Your Grace, greetings. May you long live!” Shi Qingshan hurriedly paid respects to him after waking up from the shock for fear that he would cause troubles for his son.

Shi Qingzhou held him up. “Stand up, Minister Shi.”

Long Xiaoyuan slightly frowned, wondering that there were so many rules in the imperial palace so that a father had to pay respect to his son.

Shi Qingshan sneakily kept an eye on Long Xiaoyuan and thereby said after thinking that Long Xiaoyuan disliked seeing Shi Qingzhou get close to him upon seeing Long Xiaoyuan frown, “Your Grace, it’s the rule, the rule.”

Long Xiaoyuan waved his hand at Zhou Qing who understood him and then asked all the palace maids and eunuchs to withdraw.

Long Xiaoyuan walked over to Shi Qingshan. “Well, father, Qingzhou is right. Since we’re a family, you don’t need to be so polite.”

He naturally called Shi Qingshan “father”, which, however, greatly startled Shi Qingshan and Shi Qingzhou.

The former was even frightened, let alone the latter.

Long Xiaoyuan asked with confusions while winking, “What’s up?”

Shi Qingzhou coughed twice to clear his throat. “Your Majesty, it’s okay that you call my father by Minister Shi.”

Shi Qingshan echoed Shi Qingzhou in a hurry after turning calm and expressed his terror. Long Xiaoyuan said with his lips curled, “You’re my wife, so why can I not call your father by father? What’s more, there is no outsider.”

Shi Qingzhou felt warm and slightly curled his lips, speaking nothing.

Shi Qingshan was startled again. Looking at Shi Qingshan’s reaction, Long Xiaoyuan knew that he should take time to achieve his goal and said, “Forget it! Don’t mention it! I’m hungry, and let’s eat first.”

“Okay, I’ll order breakfast to be served,” said Shi Qingzhou right away.

Consequentially, delicate breakfast was served on the table when Shi Qingshan was in a daze.

However, Shi Qingshan almost had his eyeballs come out of his eyes while seeing that Long Xiaoyuan naturally put different kinds of food into Shi Qingzhou’s bowl.

Shi Qingzhou felt flushed and glared at Long Xiaoyuan. The latter winked his eyes and stopped doing that. Alas, he forgot his father-in-law was beside them.