Underneath A Thousand Skies ✔️

25 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 said calmly, "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 Wen daifu mistakes me for a hungry wolf...and himself for the helpless rabbit I've cornered?"

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 cautious posture and pointed toward a couple whispering in the restaurant across the street. Their shadows swayed against a paper window, the man's sleeve brushing the woman's hand as they leaned close.

"Look there," she said lightly. "The lady is saying, 'Yan-gege, I don't wish to intrude.' The man replies, 'Don't worry, I won't let her bully you. In this life, I will only cherish you and our child.' See how he strokes her hand? Yet his eyes stay lowered. His words are tender, but his heart is elsewhere. And the lady—she leans close, but her wrists tilt downward. That means she doesn't trust him... not completely."

The afternoon light slipped through the lattice window, touching her cheek in fragments of gold. Wen Heng Zhi found himself watching the calm precision of her lips rather than the couple she pointed at.

How could a woman, cloistered in the inner court, read human nature so sharply? Her tone was matter-of-fact, almost playful, yet her gaze missed nothing.

He knew those two people—one was a titled lord, already with a wife and several children, the other his newly returned sweetheart. Song Jia couldn't have known. 

So she truly can read lips, he thought, astonished.

"When did furen learn such a skill?" he asked at last. From his short interaction with her, he already deduced that this blind third prince, Zhao Cheng, had indeed exchanged a pearl for fish eyes.

She smiled faintly. "I found the world too quiet and got bored one day. So I learned to listen with my eyes."

Her answer lingered in the air like the fading scent of tea. 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.

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?

Of course, she wasn't really that good at reading lips. It was a hard skill to pick up, and it needed a long time of practice. But she knew well enough to be able to impress Wen Heng Zhi.

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.