CH 17

Gu Yan coughed and asked: “Who did you hear that from?”

“Naturally from the maids in your courtyard.” Great Princess Rui scolded, “I heard that you guys slept in separate beds last night, how is that appropriate? It’s your wedding night, if this gets out, people will gossip about it.”

“Those chatterboxes……” Gu Yan closed his eyes, he could feel a headache forming, “Why are you asking around about this?”

“Look at what you’re saying. As a mother, is it wrong to care about my own son?” Great Princess Rui glared at him before turning her head to Ye Zi and saying in a warm voice, “You’re probably unaware, but this is how he is. He’s like a piece of wood and doesn’t know anything about love.”

Ye Zi held back a laugh: “I don’t think His Majesty is that ignorant……”

“How so?” Great Princess Rui rolled her eyes and was unhesitant in talking bad about her son, “In the early years, I had arranged a candidate for him and talks about marriage were happening so I told the brat to take her out for some fun. I don’t know what he said to her, but when the young lady came back, she was crying and refused to marry him.” 

Great Princess Rui sighed: “I thought at that time, this brat would end up alone. I didn’t expect the Heavens would bless him and let him find a good Princess Consort like you.”

Ye Zi choked for a moment and didn’t reply.

Back to the main topic, Great Princess Rui turned her head and said to Gu Yan: “Anyway, since he is willing to marry into the Prince Rui Manor, you can’t treat him badly. You’ll consummate your marriage tonight, don’t shirk anymore.”

Gu Yan was about to say something when Great Princess Rui interrupted: “If you try to make any more excuses, believe it or not, I will get a servant to keep an eye on you tonight.”

“……”

Before Gu Yan could respond, Ye Zi got anxious first and blurted out: “No!”

In a flash, ten pairs of eyes in the room fell on him.

Ye Zi was so anxious that his palms were sweating and Great Princess Rui’s face sank: “Why not?”

“Because……” Ye Zi glanced at Gu Yan. In front of everyone, he summoned up his courage, “Because……His Majesty can’t get it up. “

Gu Yan: “……”

Great Princess Rui: “……”

A room full of maids and servants: “……”

Gu Yan’s temples throbbed as he gritted his teeth: “When have I——”

Before he could finish his sentence, his line of sight met Ye Zi’s pitiful gaze.

If they don’t get past this today, Great Princess Rui might really find a servant to pressure them into consummating their marriage. 

When that time came, things would only become more difficult.

Gu Yan took a deep breath, and under Great Princess Rui’s discerning gaze, he nodded slowly: “Mnn, it’s as he says.”

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.

Great Princess Rui’s face stiffened. She collected her aggressive aura and said in a warm voice: “I didn’t……know. I am at fault for not caring more about you.”  

She seemed to be afraid of hurting Gu Yan’s self-esteem and remedied: “No matter……it’s a minor problem……There are so many doctors in the Capital, tomorrow I will send someone to find a doctor……it can definitely be cured.” 

The veins on the back of Gu Yan’s hands were bulging as he responded with difficulty: “…..Of course, everything will be done as you said.”

It was getting late, and Gu Yan and Ye Zi left the front room.

On their way back, Ye Zi kept his head down and said nothing, only his shoulders shook imperceptibly. Gu Yan’s face became increasingly sullen as he sent away the servant girl following them. As soon as he entered the room, he pulled him over and pressed him against the wall.

Ye Zi lifted his head, his face red from holding back his laughter.

Gu Yan smiled in anger: “Laugh, continue laughing.”

After hearing this, Ye Zi laughed even more wantonly.

Probably because Gu Yan had been too kind to him these past two days, not only was Ye Zi not afraid of him, but he also tried pushing his luck even more. He tried to force back his laughter: “Sorry, Your Majesty, but……hahaha, don’t be angry, I-I-I’ll h-hold back……”

Gu Yan was so angry that his hands trembled. No longer caring whether he would scare him or not, he grabbed his arm, threw him onto the bed, and got on top of him.

Gu Yan got closer to Ye Zi’s ear and viciously threatened: “If you laugh again, I’ll show you whether I truly am impotent.”

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Ye Zi was taken aback and immediately covered his lips with both hands, not daring to make any more noise.

The corner of Gu Yan’s lips curved up: “That’s a good boy.”

After a simple wash-up, Ye Zi began to worry about how he was going to sleep tonight. He thought nothing of it when he was still a plant, but now that there was a warm bed and soft pillows, he didn’t want to sleep in that cold and damp flower pot at all.

But it wasn’t appropriate to continue to sleep on this bed.

Although the bed was big enough to accommodate two grown men, there was no guarantee that Gu Yan wouldn’t do anything to him.

After all, he was still brooding over the fact that Gu Yan took advantage of him today.

All that was left was the small couch in the outer room.

When Gu Yan left the washroom, he immediately saw Ye Zi hugging his quilt and lying on the small couch in the outer room.

The small couch was not designed to be slept on. It wasn’t soft or long enough so Ye Zi couldn’t even stretch his feet on it and could only curl up on it.

Gu Yan cried and laughed as he went up to him: “What are you doing?”

Ye Zi said in a muffled voice: “Sleeping.”

“Why not use the bed?” 

Ye Zi froze before telling Gu Yan about his analysis just now.

“Wait,” Gu Yan interrupted him with a headache, “What do you take me for? Do I look like the kind of person who takes advantage of people when there’s an opportunity?”

Ye Zi blinked and nodded carefully.

Gu Yan sighed and compromised, “You go inside, I’ll stay here.”

“No can do.” Ye Zi said seriously, “You have a precious body, how can you be allowed to sleep here?”

Gu Yan’s eyes twitched.

This person probably didn’t even know that he was the one who kicked him out of bed last night, causing him to spend the night here.

Gu Yan said: “No worries, just do as I say.”

Ye Zi said rebelliously: “No, I want to stay here——”

Before he could finish his sentence, Gu Yan lost his patience and picked him up along with the quilt.

Gu Yan picked up Ye Zi and threw him onto the bed, not giving him room to argue, “If you keep talking, I’ll consummate our marriage today so people won’t misunderstand……that.”

Ye Zi was wrapped up in the quilt and unable to move his body so he nodded obediently.

Just as Gu Yan was about to leave, Ye Zi suddenly reached out and pulled him: “How about……you sleep here.”

Gu Yan smiled: “Why? You’re not afraid that I will take advantage of you?”

“Not afraid.” As soon as Ye Zi finished speaking, a white light flashed in the room. A small green plant then crawled out from underneath the clothes and proudly said, “This way I won’t be afraid.”

Gu Yan pinched the bridge of his nose and said helplessly: “Even if you stayed in your human form, I wouldn’t have taken advantage of you.”

“I don’t believe you. In the morning, you clearly——” Ye Zi felt a little embarrassed when he mentioned what happened in the morning. He kicked his clothes off the bed and rolled to the inside, “Anyway, I have decided, as long as the two of us are here in the future, I will do this.”

“You——” Gu Yan gritted his teeth, but couldn’t do anything with him.

He put out the light, lowered the bedside curtains, and lay down on the bed without any words. The room was quiet, but Ye Zi wasn’t sleepy at all. He moved the tip of his leaf and then wiggled his flower bud before rolling into Gu Yan’s arms.

Ye Zi rested on Gu Yan’s wrist and asked in a soft voice: “Your Majesty, are you asleep?”

Gu Yan opened his eyes: “What’s wrong?”

Ye Zi said, “Nothing. I couldn’t sleep so I wanted to talk to you.”

“I’m……actually a little happy today.” Ye Zi stared at the wooden beam above his head and said softly, “Great Princess Rui is really nice, she reminds me of my family.”

Gu Yan frowned lightly: “Your family?”

Ye Zi softly responded: “I haven’t seen them for a long time and sometimes, I can’t even remember what they look like anymore.”

“I really haven’t experienced the feeling of home for a long time, thank you.”

Gu Yan inclined his head to look at him, and by the moonlight, the tiny plant curled up beside him looked just like how he did many years ago, when that person mentioned his family to him.

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“Little Highness, I really envy you.” The man curled his legs as he rested his chin on his knees with a look of sadness that was never there before, “I have never experienced the feeling of home.”

Ever since he was a child, he was brought into the palace, taught martial arts, and trained as an assassin. He couldn’t even remember the names or appearances of his own parents and close relatives.

Ye Zi soon grew quiet and it seemed that he had fallen asleep.

Gu Yan reached out and gathered the little green plant in his palm, murmuring: “Silly, I promised you that I would give you a home.”

At the other end of the Prince Rui Manor, Great Princess Rui sent away the maidservants in the room, leaving only the old housekeeper. She had an extra bracelet on her wrist, it was a gift from Ye Zi.

The Prince Rui Manor had practically everything anyone could ever need. This bracelet wasn’t rare, but the art was exquisite and it happened to be the style she liked.

It was specially bought by Ye Zi when he was shopping in the afternoon.

Great Princess Rui played with the bracelet on her wrist and pondered: “Housekeeper, do you think that child, Ye Zi, is sincere toward Yan’er?”

“It’s clearly our first meeting, but he seems to know all my preferences so I can’t find anything wrong with him. Say, do you think there could be such a person?”

The housekeeper poured a cup of tea and presented it to her: “Your Highness, this servant knows you are worried that the Prince is playing around with his marriage and that is why you are testing them. Although this servant doesn’t know if the Princess Consort is sincere or not, this servant thinks that the Prince really likes the Princess Consort.”

Great Princess Rui paused: “Is that so?”

The housekeeper smiled: “You should understand, affection can’t be faked. The way the Prince looks at the Princess Consort is very special. This servant has never seen the Prince look at others with those kinds of eyes—they can’t be faked.”

Great Princess Rui sipped her tea and didn’t say a word.

The housekeeper continued: “Back to the Princess Consort, you deliberately spread rumors outside, saying that the Prince didn’t dare show off the Princess Consort because of his ugly appearance and lowly origin. And then you said that there was no affection between the Prince and the Princess Consort, only a relationship of convenience. You wanted to test whether the Princess Consort would regret the marriage due to the gossip, but now it seems that he has passed your test.”

“There has never been a precedent for a male consort in this dynasty and that child is facing unimaginable pressure. Even if he really did make some deliberate preparations to please you, from this servant’s point of view, it is understandable.”

“You’re right, I was worrying too much earlier.” Great Princess Rui sighed lightly and murmured, “Moreover, even though Yan’er is like that……he doesn’t mind. If that isn’t sincerity, what else could it be?”

“Housekeeper, you will search for a doctor tomorrow. If the ones in the Capital are no good, find one outside the city. No matter how much it costs, we must cure Yan’er.”

Great Princess Rui said despondently, “Yan’er has a hard life. He lost his father when he was young and grew up under His Holiness and the Imperial Princes’ suspicions and now……if he is disliked by the person he loves because of this, how hard it will be for him.”

The housekeeper also showed dismay as he answered in a low voice, “Yes.”

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The author has something to say:

Great Princess Rui: He doesn’t even mind if my son is impotent, he must truly love my son.

Gu Yan: ……..