CH 13

After Gu Yan went to the palace, Ye Zi didn’t let anyone wait on him and shut himself in the room to daze.

The cool and fresh breeze with the scent of grass blew in through the window and dispersed the heat on Ye Zi’s face.

The burning and warm touch still remained on the back of his hand. When Gu Yan kissed it a while ago, Ye Zi’s mind was blank and he even forgot to resist. When he came back to his senses, the man had already left with his attendant.

That was just a farewell action, but the strong emotion in it was too natural, so natural that Ye Zi couldn’t feel a hint of disgust. 

On the contrary, there were a few hidden and imperceptible sweetnesses.

Aware of his thoughts, Ye Zi shook his head and drove those ramblings out of his mind.

He was only acting with Gu Yan. Once the limelight passed and Gu Yan found a reason to divorce him, he would be able to leave freely.

Frankly speaking, Gu Yan’s face was indeed to his liking, but that was all.

Ye Zi never thought they would have anything between them. 

They were people of two different worlds.

The sun was gradually rising and the warm sunlight shone into the room. Ye Zi lazily stretched and took a deep breath. 

Perhaps it was because he had been used to being a plant for a decade, Ye Zi subconsciously felt that absorbing nutrients from the soil, stretching his branches and leaves freely, and basking in the sun was more comfortable than being a human being

Ye Zi turned his head and ran back to the inner room, rummaging around before finding his small flower pot. 

Naturally, they couldn’t tell anyone that the little green plant had turned into a person and Gu Yan also never explained the little green plant’s whereabouts to the servants. 

At first, when the maidservants couldn’t find the little green plant, Gu Yan only pretended to send a few people to look for it and then nothing happened.

All the servants in the manor guessed that maybe the old cat had finally gotten his wish after ten years and ate the little green plant. And why the Prince didn’t get angry this time was probably attributed to the fact that his marriage was approaching and he was in a good mood.

Ye Zi put the flower pot on the balcony with the best sunlight and covered it with a layer of fertile and moist soil. He stripped himself naked, a white light flashed in the room, and a small green plant stepped out of the light.

The little green plant jumped into a small pit dug out in advance and skillfully buried itself. The tips of its tender green leaves quivered and stretched out comfortably towards the sunlight.

Ye Zi was drowsy from the sun until the sound of footsteps woke him up.

It was the manor’s old housekeeper.

At this time Gu Yan had not yet returned from morning court. The old housekeeper naturally knew of this so it meant that he was looking for Ye Zi. 

Ye Zi was about to pull himself out of the flower pot when the old housekeeper had already knocked on the door.

The housekeeper said, “Your Highness, Great Princess wants to invite you over for a chat.”

Ye Zi’s movements stopped abruptly.

Great Princess was from a famous family and had a pure heart full of elegance. If not for the short life of the former Crown Prince, she would be the current Empress right now. She became a widow at a young age and was very demanding of her only son, almost to the point of harshness.

In the end, she still held a grudge in her heart.

If it wasn’t for the accident back then, the person sitting on the throne now should be her husband and son.

And Gu Yan’s road to seize power in the future was most likely related to Great Princess Rui’s teachings. 

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But that was all in the novel.

The current Gu Yan didn’t have big ambitions and was unmoved by force or persuasion. In the early years, Great Princess Rui would try to fight wits and courage with him, but over the years, Great Princess Rui was worn out by him and finally accepted the fact that her son was incompetent.

As long as this person didn’t invite trouble, she would burn incense, worship Buddha, and thank God. She no longer had much extravagant hope for the fight for power.

But this didn’t mean she could tolerate her son marrying a man as his consort.

Great Princess Rui had impeccable timing and decided to choose a time when Gu Yan was not in the manor to look for him. It was clear that she did it with ill intentions. 

But of course he won’t avoid it. Since he agreed to pretend to be the Princess Consort, he couldn’t avoid these things.

Ye Zi sighed and jumped out of the flower pot. He was just about to change back to his human form when the housekeeper, who had waited for a long time without hearing a response, spoke again, “Your Highness, are you there?”

Saying that, he gently pushed open the door of the room.

Ye Zi: “……”

On the other hand, morning court finally ended as Gu Yan pressed his brow tiredly.

The court was once again arguing over the matter of disaster relief.

From last year to now, Jiangnan had been hit by floods several times and the people have suffered heavy losses. The capital had allocated disaster relief funds many times, but the number of victims was huge and the disasters in Jiangnan were frequent so the relief funds were not nearly enough to cover the shortfall.

In the past two years, the border hadn’t been very stable. There have been frequent frictions and coupled with the Imperial family’s profligacy, the treasury had long been overwhelmed.

Without money, how could they provide disaster relief?

But if there was no disaster relief, the people would complain and that wasn’t a good sign.

The court wasn’t able to come up with a solution. In just a few months, more than a dozen disaster relief officials, large and small, were beheaded. Every time this matter was brought up, there was inevitably a debate.

Gu Yan stood by and listened silently, not taking a side or taking a stand. He boredly played with the tied pendant around his waist as he thought about his little Princess Consort back at home.

After morning court was finally over, Gu Yan saw his attendant welcoming him from a distance right as he left the palace.

The attendant lowered his voice and said: “Your Majesty, the Princess Consort is missing.”

The carriage stopped in front of the Prince Rui Manor as Gu Yan pushed away the attendant who tried to help him and hurriedly entered the manor. The old housekeeper had been waiting for a long time at the entrance of the Prince’s manor.

Gu Yan asked with a gloomy face: “Have you searched everywhere?”

“Yes.” The housekeeper answered, “This morning, the Great Princess wanted to visit the Princess Consort so this old servant went to look for him. However, I found no one in the room. But the strange thing is, no one saw the Princess Consort leave the courtyard or go out of the manor.”

Hearing these words, Gu Yan’s footsteps slightly paused and he vaguely had a little guess in his heart. 

The courtyard was full of people kneeling, both inside and outside. Gu Yan didn’t even look as he stepped straight into the room.

There was already a person in the room.

Gu Yan bowed properly: “Mother.”

Great Princess Rui was surrounded by a crowd as she sat in the main seat with a cold expression: “Yan’er, so this is what the Princess Consort you married is like?” 

Gu Yan didn’t answer but looked around the room out of the corner of his eyes.

The room was furnished as it was before he left. The clothes Ye Zi wore were folded on the table and there was a small flower pot on the windowsill with the soil messily scattered.  

Gu Yan frowned and glanced at the bed. A slender stem was exposed from the edge of the quilt and it was shaking restlessly.

Gu Yan: “……”

Gu Yan took several deep breaths before he barely suppressed the fire in his heart.

Great Princess Rui said coldly: “My daughter-in-law sure puts on airs. I can forget about the fact that I wasn’t able to see him before he got married, but now that he’s married, why is it still difficult for me to see him? Could it be that he is hiding from me on purpose?”

“Naturally not.” Gu Yan thought for a moment, “I am to blame for this. This morning he said to me that the manor was too boring and wanted to go out to have fun, I have already promised to do so.”

Great Princess Rui was skeptical and asked: “I heard that he wanted to escape from the manor last night as well, was that also so he could go out to play?” 

Gu Yan was silent for a moment: “……Yes.”

“Nonsense.” Great Princess Rui showed a sullen expression on her face, “He is a Princess Consort now, does he still think he is a commoner and can go around as he pleases? If he doesn’t understand the rules, how can he be worthy of entering my Prince Rui Manor?

“Mother.” Gu Yan interrupted her and said leisurely, “Today is Zicheng’s fault. Wait until he comes back tonight, I will personally let him make amends to you, okay?”

Great Princess Rui looked at him and didn’t say anything.

Gu Yan hurriedly ordered someone to help Great Princess Rui back.

After dismissing all the servants, Gu Yan closed the door, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. He walked over to the bed and sat down, whispering, “Are you going to suffocate yourself in there?”

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The tender green stems parted the quilt and the small pom pom-like bud was exposed.

Ye Zi asked in a low voice: “……How did you know I was here?”

Gu Yan gently grabbed his stem and hooked it around his fingers twice, revealing a faint smile: “Your stem was exposed, little fool.”  

Ye Zi didn’t reply and Gu Yan asked another question, “Why did you hide? Were you afraid that my mother would give you a hard time?”

“No……”

This hadn’t been Ye Zi’s original intent. At that time, the old housekeeper entered the room too quickly. Coupled with the fact that he wasn’t skilled in changing back into a human and it was too late anyway, he could only find a random place to hide.

But who knew that when the old housekeeper found him missing, he immediately called over all the servants, and that alerted Great Princess Rui. 

The news spread one by one and several people entered the room. Even if Ye Zi wanted to change back, he didn’t have any chance. As a result, he could only hide under the covers and that ended up lasting a few hours.

“……I was about to suffocate to death.” Ye Zi told everything to Gu Yan in an aggrieved manner.

“You really …..” Gu Yan cried and laughed as he whispered, “How did I end up falling for a little dummy like you?”

Ye Zi didn’t hear him properly: “What?”

Gu Yan let out a shallow sigh: “……Nothing.”

When he learned that Ye Zi was missing outside the palace gate earlier, Gu Yan was so anxious that he even thought that this person had left him again.

Knowing the truth at this moment, Gu Yan felt relieved, but he still felt a little scared.

If this person really left, what should he do?

Was it necessary to find a rope and tie this person to the bed so that he wouldn’t be able to escape?

Gu Yan played with Ye Zi’s stem as he thought endlessly.

If he still was disobedient, then he would just make it so that he wouldn’t be able to get out of bed. He wouldn’t give him clothes and would make it so that he was unable to go anywhere. When they bathe and eat, he must be held by him so that he could only turn to him for help……

Ye Zi uncomfortably moved his stem and called out in a low voice: “Your Majesty……”

Was he imagining things?

Gu Yan looked at him as if he wanted to eat him up.

The doctor who treated him didn’t come up with another bad idea to make him eat a spiritual plant, right?

Gu Yan came back to his senses. He suppressed the evil fire in his heart and said in a soft hoarse voice compulsively, “My dear Ye Zi, change back.”

Ye Zi seriously thought about it. He also thought that changing back to human form would be safer and immediately nodded. The small plant then shrank back into the quilt. 

A white light flashed beneath the thin quilt. The spot beside Gu Yan sank with weight and a humanoid silhouette emerged from beneath the quilt.

“Your Majesty, can you pass me some clothes?” Ye Zi’s voice came from beneath the quilt. His voice was low and muffled, somewhat indistinct.

Then, an arm stretched out from the quilt unguardedly.

That wrist was slender and fragile and it was covered with delicate skin. If it was rubbed by the coarse rope, it would definitely flush with a nice red color.

Gu Yan’s eyes darkened. Indulging in an unspeakable fantasy, he unconsciously reached out to grasp his pale wrist.

He leaned forward slightly and a drop of bright red liquid fell onto Ye Zi’s palm.

Gu Yan: “……”

Ye Zi was startled. Without care for anything else, he lifted the quilt and was just in time to see a few drops of blood flowing out of Gu Yan’s nose.

Ye Zi was shocked: “Your Majesty, what happened to you? Were you poisoned? Or has your illness worsened? I’ll go call for a doctor immediately!”

Gu Yan: “……”

********

The author has something to say:

Ye Zi: To get a nosebleed without rhyme or reason, you really are a small sickly child, tsk.

Gu Yan: ……[Humiliated to the Point of Not Wanting to talk.jpg]