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nShi Qingshan shuddered at what Long Xiaoyuan said.

nShi Qingzhou tightly pursed his lips and kept silent.

nLong Xiaoyuan felt strange. “Qingzhou?”

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nShi Qingzhou slightly bowed his head and said, “Lian Qingyang is indeed capable of this.”

n“Oh, that’s good.” Though Long Xiaoyuan still found his empress odd, he didn’t ask Shi Qingzhou anything, for his father-in-law was there. Thus, he turned around to see Shi Qingshan.

n“Since so, let’s call it a deal. I’ll order someone to pass an imperial edict along. But, Lian Qingyang is young, so if you want to tell him something, please do it.”

n“I understand,” said Shi Qingshan immediately.

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n“Eh. Minister Shi, you can go,” said Long Xiaoyuan.

n“Yes, Your Majesty.” Shi Qingshan glanced at Shi Qingzhou with concerns but still lowered his eyelids and left quickly…

nSubsequently, Long Xiaoyuan stood up and drafted an imperial edict.

nA few moments later, he walked out of the study and gave the imperial edict to Zhou Qing who was ordered to announce it together with two eunuchs. Zhou Qing left quickly, too.

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nNot until now did he find out that Shi Qingzhou didn’t follow him to the study. Additionally, Shi Qingzhou still sat on the chair with his eyelid lowered and was thinking of something…but, the breath of Shi Qingzhou was dark.

nLong Xiaoyuan didn’t know what was wrong with Shi Qingzhou. Did he do something wrong or say something wrong?

nHe wasn’t sure of it after pondering over it carefully.

nHe stopped thinking since he was uncertain about it and decided to ask Shi Qingzhou directly.

nHe walked over to Shi Qingzhou, squatted down before the latter, and lifted the latter’s chin with his fingers. However, his hand was slapped away by the latter.

nLong Xiaoyuan was astounded that Shi Qingzhou slapped his hand.

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nNot until now did the latter realize what he did. The latter immediately knelt on the ground with his expression slightly changed. “Your Majesty, please punish me.”

nLong Xiaoyuan was stunned without understanding why this happened…

nWasn’t the atmosphere good over breakfast? Why was Shi Qingzhou suddenly angry? Shi Qingzhou was angry, wasn’t him?

nShi Qingzhou hadn’t rejected his approaching before. Besides, he felt the distance between them had enlarged again…

nHe was in a loss and confused but quickly held Shi Qingzho up. “Qingzhou? What’s up? Why are you unhappy?”

nAfter being pulled up, Shi Qingzhou said in a tense tone, “Your Majesty, you’re over-worried. I’m not unhappy.”

nHearing this, Long Xiaoyuan tightly frowned. “Aren’t you unhappy? If you’re not unhappy, why do you use such a tone? Qingzhou, what did I do wrong?”

nQing Qingzhou said in a more tense voice, “No, Your Majesty. How could you do anything wrong?” Long Xiaoyuan didn’t trust him! That was all!

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nIn the instant, Shi Qingzhou’s whole body was tense, and he said those in a depressing tone.

nLong Xiaoyuan had his heart ached when seeing the enlarged distance between them and Shi Qingzhou turn more rejected to him. “Qingzhou…”

nShi Qingzhou said lightly, “Your Majesty, if you want to know something, you can ask me directly, and I’ll tell you everything that I know. You tested me like this…It’s my fault. I should tell you first.”

nLong Xiaoyuan felt puzzled. “What are you saying? What test? What do you want to tell me?”

nHearing this, Shi Qingzhou directly raised his head and looked at Long Xiaoyuan with a trace of surprise, indignation, and disappointment in his eyes.

nLong Xiaoyuan was startled at Shi Qingzhou’s eyes and but had no idea about what Shi was saying, so he felt agitated. “Qingzhou, I don’t know what you are talking about. What are you referring to? Can you be clearer?”

nHearing this, Shi Qingzhou pursed his lips more tightly and stared at Long Xiaoyuan without blinks as if to see Long Xiaoyuan through.

nLong Xiaoyuan allowed Shi Qingzhou to look at himself in this way, disclosing his confusion. “Qingzhou, I don’t understand what you’re saying. Please be clearer, will you?”

nLooking at Long Xiaoyuan, Shi Qingzhou said in a drier voice, “Your Majesty…don’t you know Lian Qingyang and I were colleagues?”

n“Colleagues?” Long Xiaoyuan was stunned and then recalled that Shi Qingzhou seemed to serve in the army.

n“Ah.” He added, “You and he were colleagues?”

nShi Qingzhou pursed his lips and spoke nothing.

nLong Xiaoyuan turned more confused. “It’s okay you were colleagues. What are you worried about? Are you concerned that I appoint someone close to you? Is the relationship between you two good or bad?”

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nShi Qingzhou, “…”

nShi Qingzhou was speechless, for he found that Long Xiaoyuan didn’t know Lian Qingyuan, so Long Xiaoyua didn’t test him!

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