East Palace Melon Eating Handbook - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I heard it. I heard it with both ears!

But today, even if the King of Heaven himself descended, I still wouldn’t dare say I heard a thing.

I gave the Crown Prince a bewildered, blank look and stood there uneasily, then lightly tugged at his sleeve.

The Crown Prince stroked my face and smiled. “I also hope my beloved consort truly cannot hear. Otherwise, knowing so many secrets, I would have no choice but to kill you with a heavy heart.”

What the actual hell.

Was I the one who wanted to know so many secrets? A grand Crown Prince bullying a deaf-mute-how shameless could he get?

In my heart, I had already killed the Crown Prince a thousand times over, but my expression did not change in the slightest.

The Crown Prince returned to the room and picked up the Buddhist scripture I had been copying earlier.

My heart lurched.

“They say one can tell a person’s mood while writing from their handwriting. If my beloved consort’s deafness is an act, then surely your brushstrokes would have been unsettled.”

I watched helplessly as the Crown Prince carefully examined every single page, then revealed an expression that could have been disappointment or relief.

“My beloved consort’s state of mind… is far too calm. Even with me beside you, your handwriting is no different from usual.”

Because the one you’re holding is the copy I usually work on, you dumbass!

Xu Ning was right. The Crown Prince really was pretty useless. He hadn’t even noticed that I had switched the positions of the two books earlier.

The Crown Prince believed I was truly deaf, and this time, he finally left.

I casually picked up the Buddhist scripture I had just been copying and found that my handwriting was wild and chaotic, riddled with mistakes. I had even poked a hole through one of the pages.

The original text read, “whether there is form or no form.” I had written, “Father is lustful, son is lustful.”

I turned another page. The original said, “The Tathagata speaks of the foremost paramita.” I had filled the entire page with, “I really want to eat jackfruit.”

That was close. I nearly died.

This scripture had to be burned!

After three months of being tormented in turns by the Crown Prince and Xu Ning, I forced myself to learn sign language!

On this day, a handsome and refined young gentleman arrived at the East Palace.

His surname was Ning, his given name Zuoguan. He was the only son of Princess Ningyuan and Marquis Yong’an, and the Crown Prince’s younger cousin.

It was said that because the princess was currently choosing an Heir’s wife for him and had summoned a whole mansion’s worth of twittering young ladies, he found it too noisy and hid at the Crown Prince’s place to clear his head. He was staying next door to me in Fuhua Pavilion.

The first time I met this new neighbor, we stared at each other in disbelief. Neither of us could believe there could be such a coincidence under heaven.

Because this Ning Shizi was blind.

Just by standing together, the two of us completed the set: deaf, mute, and blind.

It made one unable to resist questioning whether this was the collapse of morality or the distortion of human nature.

In theory, he couldn’t see my sign language, and I couldn’t hear his voice.

So to him, what was the difference between me and thin air?

Though Ning Zuoguan was blind, he was disabled in body but strong in will. He refused the maidservants’ support and the help of a cane, insisting on familiarizing himself with the path on his own.

In the few steps it took to reach Fuhua Pavilion, he fell seventeen times.

His knees were bruised black, and both legs were swollen.

Originally, judging others by my own situation, I suspected he was faking it too.

But after seeing this, I couldn’t bear it. I silently threw that thought out of my mind and walked over to help him up.

Ning Zuoguan’s dark eyes stared blankly ahead, empty and unfocused. His long lashes trembled a few times, enough to make one’s heart itch.

Gently but firmly, he declined my help. “No need. Please allow me to walk on my own.”

I was deaf. I couldn’t hear him.

I grabbed his arm and strode forward at lightning speed, forcibly dragging him into Fuhua Pavilion. Then I signed, “No need to thank me.”

I didn’t know if it was my imagination, but I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. The smile on his face didn’t seem quite so gentle anymore either.

Ning Zuoguan hesitated before asking, “This… young lady is?”

“…”

I stood before him with my hands on my hips and said nothing.

The silence seemed to stretch on for an entire century.

Ning Zuoguan asked, “Have I gone deaf?”

I nearly pinched my own thigh bloody before I managed to hold back my laughter.

Receiving no response, Ning Zuoguan lowered his head and said dejectedly, “Since the young lady is unwilling to speak with me, then so be it. I am Ning Zuoguan. I imagine there will be more chances to meet you in the future.”

I watched his stumbling figure gradually disappear and sank into thought.

This Ning Zuoguan-was he faking it or not?

Based on my past few months of gossip-hunting experience, I had a feeling there was a huge piece of drama hidden on him.