CH 82.1

Yuan Ci Xian was really annoyed by his trick to deliberately delay their wedding consummation. She thought she would see him handle it with ease and maybe it would be over soon. But she didn’t expect him to be all show and no go. He put up a strong front at first, but as soon as they got to the main event, he surrendered immediately with a loud “bang”, leaving her with nothing but pain and no honey feeling.

She bitterly called Shi Cui and Jian Zhi, who came over as her dowry-maids, to clean up the mess. Lu Shi Qing wanted to speak but couldn’t get a word in and was ignored from beginning to end. He had to hide in his robe until she finished the arrangements and he was finally able to go to the vacated clean room. When he came out, he saw her lying in the middle of the bed, her arms stretched out to both sides, as if she was ready to occupy the whole bed by herself.

She seemed to hear the movement of him coming out, and knew that he was looking at her, she didn’t even open her eyelids, just pointed out to the foot of the bed.

Lu Shi Qing cleared his throat, hugged the quilt and returned to the place that should belong to him.

Now he very much hoped that everything just now was just an imagination he woke up from in the middle of his sleep. But the infinite spring dream he had in Shangzhou last time was clearly not like this.

He frowned, and after lying down, he began to seriously recall and compare the dream and reality to see which step went wrong.

Early the next morning, Lu Shi Qing woke up from the footstool, thinking that Yuan Ci Xian’s anger should probably subside, and was about to get up to see if she was awake, when he saw a pair of pretty feet swinging towards his face, almost stepping on his nose.

In the blink of an eye, he suddenly thought of the word “inauspicious” calculated by the divination.

His face changed, and he instinctively lifted his hand, grabbed her ankles. He looked at the white and tender soles of her feet, which were just an inch away from his face, and swallowed a mouthful of saliva in fear. This surprise on the day after their wedding was truly astonishing.

Yuan Ci Xian also let out an “oops”, as if taken aback, quickly withdrew her feet, and then looked down at him in horror.

She was still groggy from sleep. This big wedding originally was like driving a duck onto a perch, and she had been in a trance for a few days. With the overwhelming amount of information she had learned last night, she couldn’t really get a grip on things. In her drowsiness, she even mistook her surroundings for the Yuan Mansion and forgot that Lu Shi Qing was sleeping on the footstool.

But when she thought of his relentless tricks last night, she felt that he deserved it, and regretted not stepping harder on him. She took a look and landed in an open space without saying a word, and then went outside to call for Shi Cui and Jian Zhi to help her dress up.

Lu Shi Qing steadied his mind, cleared his throat and got up calmly, and asked her while putting on a posture: “Is the bedding warm enough?”

She couldn’t help but sneer inside. He had nothing to say and was just trying to make small talk. His attitude was quite upright when he asked for forgiveness and for them to consummate the marriage, but now that he had gotten what he wanted, he was back to his usual nonchalant self.

She glanced at him, and said angrily: “It’s summer, and you ask me if my bedding is warm! If you think it’s cold, then take all my quilt tonight and cover it up tightly!”

Lu Shi Qing choked and said in his heart that he was already extremely hot from being close to her, where’s the need to cover him with another quilt. Seeing her annoyed, he softened his tone a bit: “You didn’t eat anything last night, how about…”

“Who said I didn’t eat anything? I’m so full of anger!” Yuan Ci Xian interrupted him, then turned around and headed to the clean room.

Lu Shi Qing no longer dared to act tough, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his embrace from behind, whispering in her ear, “Let’s forget the first two sentences I said. Tell me, does it still hurt?”

He shouldn’t have brought it up again. As soon as he did, Yuan Ci Xian remembered again, then she turned around to complain, “It didn’t hurt until you brought it up!”

“….” It’s his fault.

Lu Shi Qing frowned and pondered how to make amends to avoid sleeping on the footstool again tonight. However, he suddenly heard a knock on the door, probably Shi Cui and Jian Zhi coming to bring her clothes and jewelry, so he reluctantly let go of her.

He was really not used to outsiders coming in and out of his bedroom. Especially after what happened last night, he would rather tidy up the bedding himself. But now that it’s a crisis period, he had to put aside his pickiness and didn’t say anything. He got dressed and left by himself, saying he would wait for her outside.

Yuan Ci Xian, as the new wife of the Lu family, offered tea to Xuan shi, and followed her to the ancestral hall of the mansion to pay homage to Lu Shi Qing’s father who passed away four years ago and several other ancestors.

Lu Shi Qing heard her calling “Mother” sweetly from her mouth, and he felt a little satisfied, thinking that even though she was angry, she still have a sense of propriety. She acted like a little ancestor in front of him, but she restrained herself in time when she went outside, which really suited him. Thinking about it this way, he subconsciously felt that there was nothing wrong with her being a little aggressive in private.

At lunchtime, Xuan shi took the opportunity when Yuan Ci Xian went to wash her hands to pulled his son to whisper, saying that the husband and wife seemed to not be in good spirits, and reminded him to control himself and not mess around too much at night as they had just gotten married

Lu Shi Qing thought that he wanted to mess around, but the situation didn’t allow it, if he dared to try again like last night, Yuan Ci Xian might be angry enough to take out a machete.

He obviously didn’t succeed but was mistaken for being addicted to the bed sport. He couldn’t tell the truth, so he just silently acquiesced, saying that he would pay attention to it in the future.

Xuan shi nodded with satisfaction, and said with emotion: “Mother has been looking forward to a grandchild for so many years, but I won’t be anxious in these one month or two. You need to be mindful and not tire out Ci Xian so that you can catch a big fish.” She gestured with her hands, “It would be best to catch a pair at once.”

Liu Shi Qing sighed in his heart. He hadn’t enjoyed anything yet, and his mother had already urged him to catch a big fish. If the big fish really came, wouldn’t he live like a widower for half a year?

Although Liu Shi Qing had been granted nine days of marriage leave by the court, he couldn’t be completely idle and ignore everything. After finishing lunch, he went to the study to handle his official business, and before leaving, he told Yuan Ci Xian to find him if she had any problems. Seeing her unhappy expression, he swallowed the sentence “You can come even if there is nothing.”

Yuan Ci Xian went back to her room and summoned Shi Cui, asking her about the task she had secretly assigned her in the morning.

Shi Cui hurriedly replied: “Young lady, this maid has checked the medical books. The stab wound on Mr. Xu was dangerous at the beginning, and whether it would cause the root cause of the disease is still uncertain, we still need to invite a doctor to see how he is recuperating recently. It’s really hard to say for sure just by looking at the medical book.”

Yuan Ci Xian frowned and nodded.

After last night, she already knew that Lu Shi Qing lied to her last time when he said that he was injured in the most important place, and then recalled all the strange things that happened in the first few days when he was assassinated, and concluded that the “injury” Shaohe mentioned must refer to the knife would on his chest.

She had witnessed the danger that day, even if Shaohe didn’t tell her, she would pay attention to it after she got the truth. But after this reminder, she couldn’t help adding a layer of worry, fearing that the so-called “causing the root of the disease” happened in her previous life.

Before this, she didn’t know how serious the injury was. Seeing Shaohe’s situation, and the emperor ironically asking them to get married on the same day, she felt that it was inappropriate for her to come to ask Shaohe about the details of her past life. But now that she knew the truth, she wanted to ask about it without hesitation, but Shaohe had already married far away, and she couldn’t chase her anymore, so she could only take care of Lu Shi Qing for the time being and prevented any future problem.

Seeing her in a trance, Shi Cui continued, “Young lady, since you’re already married to Master, don’t worry too much about Mr. Xu. This maid thinks that Sixth Highness will take good care of him.”

Yuan Ci Xian paused at her words.

She didn’t reveal Lu Shi Qing’s double identity to anyone, she even didn’t intend to reveal it to her brother. The stakes were high in choosing sides, and the more people knew, the more dangerous it became. The danger would be faced by both those who knew and the Lu family, and it even involved the lives of Zheng Zhuo and a group of government officials.

After a momentary pause, she nodded to conceal her thoughts and quickly got up to find Lu Shi Qing. Shi Cui was right, it was useless for her to worry secretly by herself, and finding a reliable doctor for him was essential. Although she was angry at him, she couldn’t just ignore his life and death.