The bridal chamber was illuminated by flickering red candles, the bed frame creaking out a shy melody.
Li Yang, puzzled, propped up his chin. "That shouldn't be! We all know the Prince agreed to marry the Princess only to avoid troubling His Majesty. How could that be?"
Li Jin chuckled. "Listen to that sound. Are you not afraid the Prince's face will hurt tomorrow morning when he hears you speak such words?"
Li Yang: ...
Doctor Shen, stroking his chin, said leisurely, "Li Yang, don't struggle. Go and beg for forgiveness at the Princess's feet tomorrow morning. Our Princess is the daughter of a general, and she surely won't quibble with you!"
Though these words were spoken, the underlying meaning was clearly the opposite. Li Yang was on the verge of tears.
The next morning.
Lu Qingwan woke up, habitually wanting to stretch. This movement made her seriously doubt she was crippled. Her body from the chest down to above the knees felt as if it had been smashed and reshaped, the pain so intense it distorted her.
Fragments of the previous night, like a dream and not a dream, flooded her mind. She struggled to sit up and met Feng Xiwu's gaze as he lay beside her.
Silence was the order of the morning for Lu Qingwan and Feng Xiwu.
Adhering to the principle of "if I'm not embarrassed, then the embarrassment belongs to others," Lu Qingwan's lips twitched. "How rare, you're still alive!" *You dog of a man, with only half your life left, you still have the gall to be lustful. Why didn't you get yourself worked to death?*
" Didn't this Prince say, 'To die under a peony is to be a romantic ghost'? It's a shame, this Prince is still alive."
As he finished speaking, he moved his hand. The smooth, tender touch of his fingertips was clearly not his own. Looking at their current posture, Feng Xiwu belatedly sensed danger.
Lu Qingwan shoved him away. "Old lecher!"
Ignoring the soreness in her waist and legs, Lu Qingwan, wrapped in the quilt, rolled to the inner side of the bed. "Close your eyes, I need to get dressed!"
Despite the fierce tone of her voice, the blush on her face betrayed her completely.
Feng Xiwu, also mindful of her words, didn't argue for once. "There's a hot spring behind the screen. You go and bathe first, this Prince will have clothes sent over."
Neither of them had anticipated that they would actually consummate their marriage last night, and there were no clean clothes prepared in the room. Although clothes could be sent over now, even if Lu Qingwan wasn't shy, Feng Xiwu didn't want anyone to see her in her alluring state. Saying this, he turned his head away cooperatively.
Lu Qingwan gave him a wary glance before cautiously getting out of bed, supporting her waist. The moment her feet touched the ground, her legs weakened, and she almost knelt. She glared fiercely at Feng Xiwu, cursing, "Beast!" Then, holding her waist, she shuffled towards the screen.
Little did she know, Feng Xiwu had already seen her every self-perceived subtle move through the night-shining pearls in the corner of the room. Watching Lu Qingwan, clad only in a bodice and panties, stand there trembling, Feng Xiwu licked his lips unnaturally. Seeing her curse as her legs quivered, he felt inexplicably guilty yet found it amusing. If he hadn't known for sure that turning around now would result in a beating, he would have been inclined to help Lu Qingwan, but he dismissed the thought.
He glanced back in the direction of the screen and called out, "Someone."
The door opened, and Li Jin entered. Upon seeing the marks on Feng Xiwu's chest, he quickly lowered his head. "Your Highness, what are your orders?"
"Have someone send a set of brand-new clothes for this Prince and the Princess. Also, have someone inform my imperial brother that the Princess is unwell, and this Prince will pay his respects and thank him tomorrow."
With a "swish," Li Jin instinctively looked in the direction of the sound and felt as if he had been slapped across the face. Before he could grasp the situation, he heard Lu Qingwan's gritted teeth. "No. I am not unwell. My health is perfectly fine, and I will be able to enter the palace to pay my respects and thank His Majesty later." *What unwell? If this gets out, how will Lu the little demoness ever face anyone again?*
Li Jin finally understood why he had just been slapped for no reason. He felt a pang of sympathy for himself and looked up at Feng Xiwu without looking aside. "Your Highness?"
"Forget it, we'll do as she says." Feng Xiwu's lips curved slightly. "Have someone prepare some breakfast. One bowl of plain noodles, and you arrange the rest."
Li Jin stared in horror at the almost doting smile on his Prince's lips, and walked out in a daze. He had actually seen his Prince smiling, not a cold smile, but a real smile. The Princess is truly amazing!
In the dining room, Doctor Shen finished taking Feng Xiwu's pulse and said with a rather awkward expression, "Apart from some unstable qi and blood, there are no other abnormalities. It's likely that the medicine the Princess gave you yesterday is taking effect." *Only that consummating the marriage would make him vomit blood, though. Our Prince doesn't seem like such a lustful person!*
Feng Xiwu's expression darkened. "See what's strange about this." If he remembered correctly, his little Princess had already glared at this red candle more than once this morning.
Just as Doctor Shen was about to take it, a maidservant nearby suddenly interjected, "Your Highness, this servant might know what's going on."
Feng Xiwu's eyes flicked, conveying "Speak."
"This servant heard that some newlyweds, having not experienced intimacy before marriage, might feel awkward. Some merchants who make wedding candles add aphrodisiacs to them..." The maidservant stopped there, but everyone understood. A group of grown men looked awkwardly at the sky. Doctor Shen, however, remained calm. He knew it; his Prince wasn't the type to be so lustful.
But the maidservant hesitated to speak further.
Feng Xiwu coughed lightly. "Speak freely."
Upon hearing this, the maidservant knelt on the ground with a thud, her expression like that of someone making a grave decision. "Reporting to Your Highness, the Princess did not bleed yesterday. Someone from the palace is asking, how should this servant respond?"
At these words, everyone's expression changed. Li Jin sternly reminded, "Li Su, have you confirmed? You can't just say such things!" They all understood what it meant not to bleed. The esteemed Regent's Princess, defiled before marriage, was a capital offense. Marquis Lu couldn't protect her. Setting that aside, anyone who dared insult their Prince in such a way was also unforgivable.
Li Su was also anxious. "How could I joke about such a thing? Am I that careless?"
"Your Highness?" Li Jin felt sorry for his Prince, who had sacrificed his marriage to avoid troubling His Majesty, only to encounter an impure woman. It was simply too unfair.
Feng Xiwu, however, remained calm. "It doesn't matter, no one from the palace will come." His legs were crippled, and his imperial brother, to spare his feelings, had not brought up such matters.
Li Jin was indignant. "Your Highness, how could the Princess treat you like this? If you report the truth to His Majesty, he will certainly not make you suffer such injustice!" The deep affection and trust Emperor Jingyou had for Feng Xiwu were clear to these close subordinates. Li Jin believed that as long as Emperor Jingyou knew about the Princess's premarital defilement, he would never allow his Prince to be cuckolded.
Feng Xiwu, however, simply smiled. "It's useless. If I report the truth to my imperial brother, he will only think that he bestowed the marriage correctly, and that this Prince and the Princess are a match made in heaven."
"Your Highness!" Li Jin jumped up in anger. *It's over. Has my Prince gone mad from anger? He's starting to talk nonsense!*