The Emperor of Xiyun felt even more aggrieved, "Don’t think I can’t see why you suddenly stopped talking to me; it really wasn’t my fault, it was all Chengyu. If you’re angry, you should be angry at Chengyu alone. I was just going with the flow—"
Xiao Changyi gave him a chilly look, which made the Emperor of Xiyun immediately clam up. No, rather he immediately changed his tune, "Alright, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have promoted Jingjing without saying a word to you. I apologize to you, I promise there won’t be a next time, okay?"
Xiao Changyi didn’t answer, he just drank his tea.
The Emperor of Xiyun watched for a while, then let his shoulders slump in defeat, "Fine, continue to be angry then, but just tell me, how long do you plan to be angry with me? Give me a deadline, so at least I have something to look forward to."
Xiao Changyi didn’t speak, but he did hold up three fingers.
The Emperor of Xiyun frowned, "Three days huh? But it seems like it’s been more than three days since you’ve spoken to me, hasn’t it?"
Xiao Changyi knew the Emperor of Xiyun was playing dumb and couldn’t be bothered with him.
The Emperor of Xiyun continued as if talking to himself, "Could it be thirty days?"
Immediately, the Emperor of Xiyun burst out wailing, "No! Yi Er, you can’t be so cruel. Thirty days is really too long; please shorten it to thirteen days, won’t you?"
Xiao Changyi continued to ignore the Emperor of Xiyun.
An Jing hesitated for a moment, then said, "Father, Changyi told me he won’t talk to you or Chengyu for three months, not just thirty days."
"Three months?!!!" The Emperor of Xiyun couldn’t stay seated any longer, he leapt up, looking utterly unable to accept this.
Just when An Jing thought the Emperor of Xiyun was about to wail again, the Emperor approached Xiao Changyi with a face full of flattery, "Changyi, each month I coax Jing’er and the others to stay a few days in the palace, at least four days a month. Look, can you shorten this anger period to half a month instead?"
Xiao Changyi spoke right away, "Deal."
But the Emperor of Xiyun was especially cheerful, "You haven’t spoken to me for eleven days already, so with half a month, that means you only need to go another four days before you can speak to me again."
An Jing, "..." Father, is that all you aspire to?
However, the Emperor of Xiyun had suddenly realized something, "That means the day after tomorrow when I come to visit your house, Yi Er, you still won’t talk to me? No!!! Yi Er, let’s negotiate once more, just shorten your anger period to twelve days, then the day after tomorrow, I won’t be talking to a wall."
Xiao Changyi stood up and left with the children.
As An Jing followed Xiao Changyi, she looked back at the Emperor of Xiyun with a smile, "Father, we’ll wait for your visit the day after tomorrow. I’ve come up with a new dish I’ll make for you then."
As for Xiao Changyi still not speaking to him the day after tomorrow, the Emperor of Xiyun felt a slight sadness, but still responded to An Jing with a smile, "That’s wonderful, when the time comes, I will certainly give it a good taste."
An Jing considered it carefully; just making bamboo-tube rice was too simple, so she had Meng Zhuqing go out early in the morning on the day the Emperor of Xiyun was coming to visit to buy a freshly slaughtered sheep, planning to roast a whole lamb to entertain the guests from Xiyun.
The Emperor of Xiyun, Su Chengyu, and Ning Wenxian came together, and not only did they arrive together, but they also brought Su Muchen with them, and as soon as Su Muchen arrived, the four little ones clung to Su Muchen, insisting he play with them.
Then, Su Muchen went off to play with the four kids.