Chapter 16 - 13

'If I can't love you as a woman, I'll try to love you as a man.'

With that said, their night ended with the both of them having 2 different thoughts.

...

Yu Yingyi woke up early with a start, she felt more energized than usual, but that was probably because of the leftover adrenaline she hasn't released yet from yesterday.

Glancing at the spot next to her, Song Liya was still sleeping soundlessly. Somehow, she looked so vulnerable yet pretty at the same time. Yu Yingyi reached out her hand and brushed a few pieces of hair away from her face.

*THUMP* *THUMP*

Yu Yingyi's other hand went towards where her heart was placed and felt the rapid heartbeat. Feeling it, Yu Yingyi let out a short, small sad chuckle.

This was similar to those romance novels Yu Yingyi has read before, the protagonist couldn't fall in love with the female lead as their true self so they became someone else to fall in love with them.

And Yu Yingyi was doing the exact same thing those protagonists were doing, even though she didn't want to do it, she didn't have much of a choice due to Song Zihan's deal.

"Well, at least the empress listened." Yu Yingyi muttered.

Climbing out of the bed, she made her way towards the kitchen. Pouring a cup of cold water for herself, she gulped it all down without any breaks in between.

Somehow, Yu Yingyi felt a bit..sad, but she didn't know why. Perhaps it's because she isn't able to love Song Liya as herself? Whatever it was, Yu Yingyi didn't care about it anymore and focused on her agenda for today.

The first thing was to dress up as a man, Yu Yingyi was already an expert at this, she's been doing this since she entered the world to sell jades and hiding her identity. With a few ribbons and hair adjustments, she already looked like a man.

A very handsome one at that.

"I'm surprisingly talented at this..." Yu Yingyi was amazed at herself too.

However, dressing up as a man wasn't half bad, she could sell her jades again. Since almost everyone knew who she was, the profit she would make would be incomparable to the profit she made in the past.

Dollar signs were appearing in Yu Yingyi's eyes as she started coming up with several marketing sche - plans. If she didn't have the equipment to make jades, she could always ask Song Liya for the materials so that was already covered.

Now, what was there to do with all this energy left inside her?

Looking out the window, the weather seemed nice for a walk. Now that she thought about it, she hasn't gone outside in a while, maybe she should refresh herself by exploring the city.

It was also necessary to greet the citizens to build her reputation, if she managed to do that, a lot of things would become favorable for her.

She decided to turn this deal with Song Zihan more advantageous to her since being a "male" was much easier than being a woman in this era, of course, the females of the imperial family were exceptions.

"I've decided, I'm going to go out today, to explore Huang Tian City." Yu Yingyi stated.

****

Even after all this time in the palace, Yu Yingyi still couldn't properly find her way to the exit, moreover, she was also trying to avoid the guards or anyone since she wasn't supposed to go out during this time.

Normally, right after marriage, the married couple should spend a day together indoors to discuss future plans, but she was an exception since their relationship was bound by a contract.

When she finally found the exit, a warm breeze hit her face as she opened the door. The clear sky could be seen along with the shining sun that's coming up.

Since it was still early, the streets would only be filled with citizens who were going to work.

Yu Yingyi felt a bit excited, it would be the first time she interacted with other people outside of the palace in a long time.

As she was walking around, she could see a few glances towards her and the surprise in their eyes, it was quite amusing.

"Hey, isn't that the man who married the princess Song Liya?"

Yu Yingyi's ears perked up when she heard it, she walked a bit slower to hear what they were going to say.

"His name was Yu Yingyi, right? Oh. My. God. Look how handsome he is! The feminine looks were only adding on to it, isn't he the perfect man?" Yu Yingyi heard a woman say.

Yu Yingyi felt cold sweat on the back of her neck, she knew she was handsome but wasn't this exaggerating it?

That's when she felt a sudden tug from her sleeve. Looking down, there was a little kid with ragged clothes with their palms out.

"Excuse me, can I have some money? I'm hungry." the kid said.

Right as Yu Yingyi was about to reply, another voice came in.

"Sorry about my child! He's still young and his manners aren't proper yet, sorry!' said the woman.

Yu Yingyi analyzed the woman, she had similar ragged clothes to the little kid, it didn't take a genius to realize that she was the mother of the kid. Moreover, the woman seemed to know who she was.

With a single glance, Yu Yingyi could tell they were poor, the environment they lived in wasn't well, after all, she was once like that before.

"It's fine, I was once just like your kid." Yu Yingyi said to the woman, this was also practiced to get used to her "manly" voice.

Turning over to the kid, Yu Yingyi took out a few gold coins from her pocket and gave them to the kid.

"Here you go, with the coins, why don't you buy you and your mother some clothes and food to eat?" asked Yu Yingyi.

The mother had tears swelling up in her eyes and said, "We are eternally grateful for your generosity Prince Yingyi!" before taking off.

'Hmm? Prince Yingyi?' thought Yu Yingyi.

That was when she remembered the name the empress gave her, it was severely embarrassing.

After the interaction, Yu Yingyi felt a bit better.

*GRRR*

That was when her stomach growled.

'Perhaps I should find a place to eat quickly before it grumbles any louder....'