CH 12

Ye Zi slept in a daze and unknowingly fell back into that odd dream.

He dreamed that he was leaning on the old Japanese pagoda tree in the front yard of the Prince’s manor, dangling a leg that mingled with his outfit. His gaze passed through the overlapping layers of leaves, staring at the figure not far away.

A noise came from the distance, but he couldn’t really hear it. 

A short while later, a young man walked over quickly, his face still full of anger.

Ye Zi smiled: “Little Highness, who are you angry with?”

The teenage Gu Yan said in a cold voice: “It has nothing to do with you.”

“Even if you don’t tell me, I already know. It’s the matter regarding the marriage with Commandery Princess Changning.” Ye Zi did a flip and sat up, his two long and slender legs swaying leisurely against the tree.

He gazed at the teenage Gu Yan for a long time: “Your Highness, let me give you an idea.”

He lightly leaped down, landed next to the teenage Gu Yan, and whispered into his ear, “Go and tell them that your heart already belongs to someone else and that you are in love with a man. Besides him, you won’t marry anyone else in your life.”  

“Nonsense!” The teenage Gu Yan pushed him away. He was so angry that his ears turned red, “Simply nonsense! How can this Prince say such things? Such unseemly and unorthodox words, that is simply——”

Disgusting.

Ye Zi finished the word that the other party didn’t say in his heart.

He heard himself laughing lightly, with a little carelessness in his tone: “It’s just a joke. Don’t take it to heart, Your Highness.”

……

Ye Zi woke up from his dream.

He rubbed his temples with a frown only to feel a headache. A hand reached over and lifted him up, handing him a cup of hangover tea. Ye Zi took a sip of tea from the person’s hand before his consciousness gradually returned.

He blinked his eyes and saw a handsome face in front of him.

“Ah!” Ye Zi instinctively shrank back and hit the back of his head hard on the bed frame, causing stars to dance around his head. 

Ye Zi covered his head and rolled on the bed.

He had almost forgotten that he had agreed to marry this man last night.

From today onwards, he would be Princess Consort Rui. 

Albeit a fake.

Gu Yan raised his eyebrows: “Am I that scary?”

Gu Yan’s body was covered with warm water vapor, as if he had just finished taking a bath. He had not yet had time to tie up his hair as his waterfall-like hair scattered down behind him. He wore a plain white midcoat that was casually tied on and didn’t even put on an outer robe as he revealed a small piece of firm and delicate skin on his chest.

This scene was quite pleasing to the eye.

——If he didn’t have a gloomy face, as if someone owed him millions of taels.

Ye Zi withdrew his gaze and nodded honestly.

Gu Yan gently ground his teeth.

This little brat……

After Ye Zi drank that glass of wine last night, he was so drunk that he muttered and scolded Gu Yan for a while whilst kicking the quilt threateningly. Gu Yan fought with him for most of the night before being kicked out of bed by him. In the end, he could only take a quilt and spend his night on the sofa in the outer room.

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Gu Yan was a shallow sleeper and someone who could only sleep on familiar beds. After being tossed around by Ye Zi, he wasn’t able to sleep at all. It would be strange if his complexion was perfectly fine.

Knowing what this person’s drunkenness was like, Gu Yan pretended to be annoyed: “You don’t remember anything that happened last night?”

What happened last night?

Ye Zi sipped on the tea and his mind raced with thoughts.

Although he was a poor drinker, he thought his behavior after drinking was quite decent. He would sleep like a dead pig after drinking, what else could have happened?

But looking at Gu Yan’s face, he felt that things weren’t that simple.

Ye Zi cast a glance at the messy bed and looked at the other party’s slightly haggard look. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.

He couldn’t have done that to Gu Yan…..after getting drunk, right? 

Ye Zi was horrified. This sickly child’s complexion was so pale, he might have been tossing him around all night.

No wonder he got up early in the morning to bathe. This person was prideful and certainly wouldn’t have let the servants see this. 

Truly, a different personality would be one’s downfall. 

The more Ye Zi thought about it, the more he felt that he wasn’t a man. He put the tea cup down and carefully asked, “Does it……still hurt.”

Gu Yan frowned. He didn’t understand his unclear sentence.

“I’m really sorry, I……I will take responsibility.” Ye Zi scratched his hair and said sincerely, “Although you’re usually a bit domineering and like to pull a long face at me, but now that it has been done, let’s just settle the past grudges.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let you suffer if you follow me in the future.” 

“And don’t take things too hard. We are both men, it’s not like you will get pregnant after doing it.”

As Ye Zi said this, he suddenly paused for a moment and questioned with uncertainty: “……Can you get pregnant?” 

After all, this was a world in a novel. What if there was a setting that allowed for pregnancy, he had to be prepared in advance.

Gu Yan: “……”

Gu Yan finally realized what he meant and glared at him, “……Where exactly are your thoughts going?”

Ye Zi cowered from his glare and shrank back. However, he still tried to coax him warmly: “You don’t need to be shy. If you do get pregnant, that is quite good too. We can have two kids in three years; a son and a daughter and we can still……”

Ye Zi was too into the scene and had even begun to consider how to raise the child after birth. If the conversation were to continue, he might even come up with names for the children. 

“Shut up.” Gu Yan was so angry with him that he started spouting nonsense, “If you want a child, you can give birth to one yourself, why should I be the one giving birth?!” 

Ye Zi: “……”

The servant girls who came in to serve their meal: “……”

Wow, there could still be a negotiation about who gives birth?    

The Prince and Princess Consort sure are different.

The maidservants were waved away by Gu Yan after setting down breakfast. The two of them washed up and began to have breakfast.

Ye Zi had something in his heart and ate the food without any expression. After deliberating for a while, he came close to Gu Yan: “Should I get you a soft cushion?”

“……”

Gu Yan was so angry that he almost broke his chopsticks. Holding back his fury, he said: “We didn’t do anything, don’t think too much about it.”

Ye Zi didn’t believe him: “Really?”

Gu Yan couldn’t stand it: “How capable do you think you are, huh? You were so drunk that even if you really want to do something, I should be the one doing——”

Gu Yan didn’t finish his sentence.

He suddenly regretted how he didn’t take advantage of the situation last night when this person was so drunk that he pestered him in every possible way

It was rare to be able to do whatever he wanted with this little plant, but Prince Rui chose to be a decent human.

After figuring out what was going on, Ye Zi’s face turned bright red. He kept silent throughout the entire breakfast and wished he could bury his face in his bowl. After the two finished their breakfast, Gu Yan had to go to the palace for morning court.

Prince Rui, Gu Yan, was relatively leisurely. In the capital, he was a perfunctory civil servant and didn’t have much real power. But even so, he still had to be on time for the morning court so that Emperor Jinghe could see him.

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That person wanted to make sure that he was still honestly being his idle Prince and not doing anything extra in secret.

When he thought of how Emperor Jinghe treated him, Gu Yan couldn’t help but mockingly sneer.

Emperor Jinghe was extremely good to Gu Yan and the favorability was even a little too much.

Whenever there was something new and rare, Emperor Jinghe would always gift it to Gu Yan first. And if Gu Yan ever made a mistake, Emperor Jinghe was also completely indulgent towards him.

Because of this, he allowed Gu Yan to marry a man as his consort.

Under this indulgence, Gu Yan was raised to be more and more arrogant and debauched, spending his days at leisure and indulging in sensuality.

The once stunning talent and sharpness had been completely worn away under Emperor Jinghe’s indulgence.

This was exactly what Emperor Jinghe wanted.

Emperor Jinghe’s throne was not justly earned. To this day, there were still old ministers in the court secretly lamenting that if the late Emperor had not passed away early and His Highness Prince Rui hadn’t been too young, the current dynasty would probably not be what it was now.

After all, everyone felt that with Prince Rui’s talent, he should be the deserving Crown Prince.

The more out of character Gu Yan’s words and actions were, the more at ease Emperor Jinghe was.

Gu Yan put on the official uniform with the help from the maidservants and looked at Ye Zi, who was doing nothing on the side, out of the corner of his eyes: “Is the Princess Consort not going to learn?” 

Ye Zi didn’t dare to make mistakes in front of others and obediently answered: “Learn what?”

“Changing my clothes.” Once the official uniform was put on, Gu Yan waved away the servant girl who wanted to help him tie his pendant. He walked to Ye Zi and said with downcast eyes, “In the future, you should be the one to do these things.”

He took Ye Zi’s hand and placed the jade pendant in his hand.

“Here, help me tie it on.”

Several servant girls were still waiting inside the room and there were several pairs of eyes staring at them, causing Ye Zi’s face to inexplicably burn.

Wasn’t this a bit too intimate for everyone to watch?

Seeing that he was slow to move, Gu Yan leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Hurry up, do you want to be suspected that soon?”

He naturally didn’t want to.

Ye Zi pursed his lips, took the jade pendant in Gu Yan’s hand, and quickly and haphazardly tied it on his belt. He was about to let go, but Gu Yan stretched out his hand to hold it.

Gu Yan’s palm was warm and he wrapped Ye Zi’s hand in it with ease.

Ye Zi subconsciously struggled a little.

Gu Yan cast him a glance and said in a low voice: “Don’t move.”

Ye Zi immediately stopped moving.

“It’s not tied like this.” Gu Yan’s voice was slightly raised as he reproached, “Little fool, how can you not be able to do this?”

Although it was a reproach, the tone of his words were full of helplessness and doting.

Under the watchful eyes of the maidservants, he held Ye Zi’s hand, patiently took off the jade pendant, and taught him how to re-tie it.

Gu Yan’s movements were very slow, as if he was really just teaching him how to tie the pendant.

Ye Zi looked up at him. The other party’s long, slender eyelashes drooped down, covering his focused and soft eyes.

The place where their hands met became hot, so hot that Ye Zi almost lost the ability to think. He was like a string puppet, being led by the other party and acting according to the other party’s wishes.

Once the jade pendant was tied, Gu Yan asked in a warm voice: “Do you know how to do it now?”  

Ye Zi didn’t remember anything at all. He pursed his lips and didn’t answer.

Gu Yan sighed: “No matter, I will teach you slowly when I have the chance later.”

“I’ll be leaving first.”

Afterwards, he lowered his head and gently kissed the back of Ye Zi’s hand.

Ye Zi’s brain buzzed and his eyes widened abruptly.