Chapter 3

 

Chen Jingzong walked up to Hua Yang.

The height difference meant that Hua Yang’s face was facing his chest, which was exuding waves of warmth.

Even though this toned body belonged to her husband, Hua Yang still couldn’t watch it openly. Like the guards in her aunt’s house, she had to hang up a layer of thin veil to see.

She looked away, still holding the thin quilt wrapped around her body in one hand.

The quilt was white and embroidered with delicate dark patterns of peonies. When she wrapped it casually, it still conveyed the coolness and refinement of a fairy descending to earth.

Only her cheeks were still red, and a strand of hair on her temples was wet with sweat, slightly curled against her cheeks.

Chen Jingzong thought that this was when she was at her most delicate and approachable, like an ordinary girl instead of an arrogant princess.

“Why did you run down? You’re not afraid of the cold.”

His gaze swept across her pair of delicate white feet, and Chen Jingzong suddenly bent down and hugged her into his arms.

The way husband and wife get along, Chen Jingzong had always acted based on her face. If she didn’t want to see him, Chen Jingzong would never get close to her. If she showed a little bit of good face, Chen Jingzong would dare to push people to the bed. In short, he would not force her to have sex, but when he could take advantage, Chen Jingzong wouldn’t hold it in.

He was a mortal, not a monk.

Before falling asleep last night, she was angry because she bumped into a small snake, so Chen Jingzong took the initiative to sleep on the bed floor.

At night, she took the initiative to hug him, touched his face, and cooperated obediently. Chen Jingzong, who felt comfortable physically and mentally, was not willing to let the person next to his pillow catch a cold.

Hua Yang was in turmoil, sensing that Chen Jingzong was about to hug her back, she struggled slightly, supported his chest with one hand, and pointed out the window with the other: “It’s dawn.”

Chen Jingzong turned his head, his handsome face completely illuminated by the sunlight.

Misunderstood what she meant, Chen Jingzong chuckled and said, “I just carried you back, not come at you again.”

Hua Yang tried not to be distracted by him and looked at him inquiringly: “Aren’t you afraid?”

Chen Jingzong: “Afraid of what?”

Hua Yang was about to reveal his “ghost” identity when a sneeze suddenly came from the garden. Hua Yang looked over and saw the little maid Zhen’er standing outside the kitchen nervously covering her mouth. The senior maid Chao Yue, who had her back to her, it seemed that she was teaching Zhen’er a lesson.

Before they noticed this side, Hua Yang quickly raised her right leg and pressed her toes against the window to avoid exposing the indecent scene between herself and Chen Jingzong.

The fair and slender calves flashed before his eyes, and Chen Jingzong’s eyes darkened again.

It’s a pity that he really can’t do anything more.

Putting her on the Babu bed, he noticed the small movement of her quickly retracting her feet into the quilt, as if she didn’t want him to see it anymore. Chen Jingzong smiled and asked, “Should I help you change, or should I call the maids to come in?”

Hua Yang looked at him steadily: “If the maids come in, will you leave?”

Chen Jingzong looked strange: “You want me to stay?”

He used to go out because he didn’t want to see her cold face.

Hua Yang was about to nod when she suddenly remembered the dirty clothes he had thrown to the ground.

“Stay, but don’t let the maids see. Also, take your clothes away.”

She was bold, but the maids must be afraid of ghosts.

Chen Jingzong just thought that she was too embarrassed to let the maids guess the intimacy last night, so he agreed without thinking.

After there was no trace of him in her field of vision, Hua Yang put on the middle coat scattered beside the bed, pretended to have just woken up, and shook the golden bell that she always placed next to her pillow.

Chao Yun, who was in charge of the night watch, walked in and raised the gauze curtain.

Hua Yang noticed that she was dressed extraordinarily plainly, in a green top and green skirt, with only a wooden hairpin in her hair.

Hua Yang loved beauty so much and never allowed her makeup to have any flaws. She also had high requirements for the maids around her. Like Chao Yun and Chao Yue, their daily dressing was no different from ladies from wealthy family.

She looked at Chao Yun steadily. In her memory, Chao Yun seemed to have dressed like this once, and it was when…

“Princess, where’s Prince Consort?”

Chao Yun glanced in the direction of the clean room and asked warily.

The prince consort was a big and rough man, and the princess was very particular. She had always disliked the prince consort for rushing to use the clean room before her.

Hua Yang looked at her in astonishment: “Prince Consort?”

Chao Yun lowered her voice: “Yes, I was outside all the time and didn’t see Prince Consort go out.”

Hua Yang only felt a “buzz” in her head, and all her doubts were finally answered at this moment.

Chen Jingzong’s warm body, the familiar simple house, the simple dress of the maid…

It turned out that it wasn’t Chen Jingzong’s ghost who came back to see her, but she was the one who go back to a few years ago!

Chao Yun thought that the princess was shocked that “prince consort had robbed the clean room”, her mind turned and deliberately shouted to the other side of the clean room: “Prince Consort, come out quickly. Princess has something to ask you!”

Chen Jingzong did not doubt that her, but before coming out, he put the middle coat stained with “evidence” into the bucket provided in the clean room, rubbed it a few times and then wrung it dry.

When he finally came out, Hua Yang’s master and servant all turned their attention to him.

Chen Jingzong was still bare-chested, holding a middle coat twisted into a twine in his hand.

The master and servant both lowered their eyes.

Chen Jingzong glanced at Hua Yang a few more times, then went to the closet to find a middle coat and quickly put it on.

“Why do you call me?”

Walking outside Babu bed, Chen Jingzong asked suspiciously. She had clearly told him to hide well just a moment ago.

Chao Yun secretly made a look at her master.

Hua Yang paused and said, “I want to take a bath, you go out first.”

Chen Jingzong:…

Why does it feel like she turn her face as soon as she gets out of bed?

But he left obediently.

The couple lived in Siyi Hall.

Although it was only one-entrance courtyard, it was the largest courtyard in the entire Chen House, built specifically for her.

The eldest brother and the third brother lived in front of them respectively, and theirs were also one-entrance courtyard with the east and west wing, but theirs didn’t have the ear room or small kitchen, they had to send their maids to collect water and daily meals from the main house. And the so-called main house was just a small house with three entrances, not as good as the big house given to the Chen family in the capital.

The wing rooms on the brother and sister-in-law’s side were all occupied by the children. On their side, the west wing was converted into a study and a warehouse by the princess, and the east wing…

Chen Jingzong twitched his lips.

She disliked him, and as soon as she moved into the old house, she said that since the husband and wife was going to mourn, in order to avoid suspicion, it was better for him to live in the wing room.

Therefore, Chen Jingzong slept alone in the wing room on the first night.

The next day she found a big black slippery insect and was so frightened that her face turned pale. Because Chao Yun and Chao Yue were also afraid, she called him back again.

But it was only at night. During the day, the couple basically stayed in separate rooms, and most of his clothes and belongings were placed in the east wing.

Instead of calling the maids she brought, Chen Jingzong went to the water room to fetch a bucket of water by himself.

After rinsing his mouth and face, Chen Jingzong squatted on the ground and washed his middle coat again with bath beans to completely remove the smell of his emission.

When he went out to dry his clothes, he found Zhen’er and Zhu’er struggling to carry hot water to the upper room.

The courtyard was small, and Hua Yang didn’t like servants from the Chen family coming to her territory, so there were only four maids in Siyi Hall: Chao Yun, Chao Yue, Zhen’er, and Zhu’er.

In fact, it was enough, but the four maids have to do more menial work than when they were in the capital.

After hanging up his clothes, Chen Jingzong turned around and saw smoke coming out of the chimney in the small kitchen.

Chen Jingzong thought about last night again.

He never blamed her for complaining, the journey from the capital was too much for a grown man like him. The delicate princess couldn’t eat well or sleep well, so she lost a lot of weight.

With great difficulty they reached here, but because they were in mourning, they couldn’t eat meat. Only drank porridge and vegetables every day, how could people have good mood. When could she get the meat back?

For her sake and for his own sake, Chen Jingzong couldn’t just sit idly by.

While it was still early, Chen Jingzong walked around to the side of west wing, climbed up the wall skillfully, and jumped down.

Shiqiao Town was surrounded by mountains and rivers. Coincidentally, Chen House was located in the northwest corner of the town. Half a mile back was a creek. Cross the creek and walk half a mile further, there was a low but continuous mountain.

.

After the warm water was mixed, Hua Yang went to take a bath first, deliberately not letting the maid follow her to serve.

Last night Chen Jingzong looked like a very hungry wolf, but she was stupid and thought he was a ghost who had been homeless for three years and finally came back to see her, so she didn’t want to scold him.

The two circles of red marks on her wrist were caused by his pinching.

On her body…

Hua Yang didn’t even want to look.

After took a bath, Hua Yang put on her clothes and called Chao Yun to come in and wipe her hair.

She was leaning on the recliner with her eyes closed, her face was flushed, really good-looking.

Chao Yun thought of the noise she heard last night. The prince consort was so strong that he could shake such a heavy bed.

It’s just that the princess was trying to hide it, so naturally she had to pretend she doesn’t know anything.

“How long have we lived here?”

Hua Yang asked casually.

Chao Yun did the math and said, “We arrived on the third day, today is the twenty-fifth. Only about twenty days have passed.”

Hua Yang understood. This year was the 20th year of Jingshun, and it was the first year that she followed the Chen family to Lingzhou to mourn.

Why come back?

Hua Yang didn’t know, but if she could really live again, she would be very happy.

Her father-in-law had made great contributions for the country and should not be slandered after his death. His wife, children and grandchildren should not end up like that.

Including her younger brother, he was obviously smart, sensible and cute when he was young, so why did he become a confuse ruler when he grew up? She must pull her brother back from the wrong path!

And Chen Jingzong.

Even though he was a stinky person, he was a general and hero who was loyal to the emperor and loved the people. Hua Yang would try her best to save his life.

After combing her hair, another senior maid, Chao Yue, also prepared breakfast.

Hua Yang glanced into the garden: “Where is Prince Consort?”

Chao Yue shook her head. She had been busy in the kitchen and didn’t pay attention to the outside.

Chao Yun stayed by her master’s side and also didn’t know.

Zhen’er: “We saw Prince Consort when we were carrying water. He seemed to be going to dry clothes, but then he disappeared.”

Hua Yang frowned.

Fortunately, she quickly remembered that in her previous life, Chen Jingzong was not very honest during mourning. He often climbed over the wall secretly to go hunting, and a few times he even brought roasted chicken and fish back for her. Hua Yang was tempted in her heart, but refused to let him laugh at her. She would rather not eat, but also insist on her dignity as a princess, and satirize him for his unfilial piety and disrespect towards his own grandmother.

Chen Jingzong didn’t take it seriously. While sitting in front of her and eating meat, he scoffed: “Grandma loves me. She loved to watch me eat when I was little. The more I ate, the happier she got. Grandma’s spirit is in heaven, if she sees me starving because of mourning, Grandma will be the first to feel sorry for me.”

Hua Yang didn’t want to listen to his crooked reasoning and drove the person out, leaving only the smell of roasted meat in the house.

“Princess, please eat first. If you wait any longer, the noodles will become sticky.”

Chao Yue, who was in charge of the kitchen, advised softly.

Hua Yang nodded, picked up the chopsticks, and looked at the noodle bowl on the table.

Chao Yue made egg noodles with vegetables this morning. The vegetables were delivered from the main house. They were just picked from the Chen family’s vegetable field early in the morning, so it was very fresh.

The noodles were smooth and shiny, and looked delicious.

Chao Yue was a good cook, but in her previous life Hua Yang was in a bad mood because of mourning and had no appetite for anything. When she returned to the capital, her face looked haggard and her body was thin, which made her mother cry and her younger brother was also very angry, believing that the Chen family had treated her harshly……

Hua Yang suddenly startled. Could it be that some of her brother’s overwhelming resentment towards the Chen family was because of her?

It shouldn’t be. She had never complained about anything to her brother. Whenever her brother asked how everyone in the Chen family, she would always praise them and hid all her dissatisfaction in her heart.

Forget it, she couldn’t change her past life. This time, she wanted to avoid anything that might make her brother resent the Chen family.

With the Chen family’s merits in the front and her efforts in the back, she didn’t believe that her younger brother could still become a confuse monarch?

With change of mood, Hua Yang felt that this bowl of plain noodles was very fragrant. She ate all the noodles and drank half a bowl of soup.

Chao Yue looked on the side, wanting to cry with joy. The princess had a bad appetite in the past three months. She had been thinking of ways to make delicious food day and night, and she was so worried that she was almost gone bald!

Chao Yun also had red eyes. The Chen family’s old house was shabby and simple. The princess was not happy living there. If she still couldn’t eat, how would she survive the next two years?

Fortunately! Fortunately!

Previous     TOC     Next