Chapter 283: Illicit Relations
However, this rich person’s daughter was known to be very reckless, so nobody really cared what in the world she’d been through. The only person that truly grieved over her death was probably just her father. However, this man was quick to get over his grief because his new wife, twenty years younger than him, had just given birth to a son. Before long, he was too busy playing with his young son.
Bai Xiangxiu placed her hand on her forehead when she woke up. Su Yun’s entire life had rendered her quite speechless. Even though everyone had received news of her death, she had been very quickly forgotten by everyone, including her ex-boyfriends and the men chasing after her. Realizing that she was probably going to be forgotten when she died too, Bai Xiangxiu held her hands over her face and bawled her eyes out in the middle of the night.
Xiaoshi had no idea what was going on. Frightened, she quickly ran to her side. “Princess Consort! What’s wrong? Does it hurt somewhere? Should I summon the doctor?”
“No need. I’m not feeling pain anywhere. I just felt like crying, that’s all. Ignore me.” Bai Xiangxiu waved her hands to chase Xiaoshi out, which caused Xiaoshi to worry even more. She doesn’t seem to be injured anywhere though. Could she be crying because His Highness has angered her?
A black silhouette slipped into the room while Xiaoshi was still caught up in her thoughts. Thankfully, she’d gotten used to that by now. She knew that this man was none other than the prince himself. She lit the candles and looked at Long Heng, dressed entirely in black. “You’ve returned, Your Highness. The princess consort has been crying a lot for some reason. Maybe you should go see…”
Long Heng had entered the bedroom before Xiaoshi was even finished talking. His young wife was sitting on the bed, bawling her eyes out while wiping her tears with a handkerchief. Her posture looked so beautiful that it almost seemed like she was doing it on purpose. She looked like a cherry blossom after the rain.
“What’s wrong?” Long Heng furrowed his brows and sat down beside her, comforting her patiently. Men could unleash their bad temper when they were outside, but there was no way Long Heng would scream and shout at his little wife. Due to Bai Xiangxiu’s weak and fragile body, he likely believed that Bai Xiangxiu would die of shock if he even raised his voice at her.
“Nothing’s wrong. I just felt like crying.” Bai Xiangxiu continued to weep and sniffle, causing a helpless look to surface on Long Heng’s face. He was actually quite skeptical of the saying that women could weep over anything, even over the passing of spring or the advent of autumn. However, he had no choice but to believe this as fact after his experience today. Why else would she cry so much right after waking up?
“It’s alright. You can stop crying now.” Long Heng took off his coat and sat down on the bed without taking a bath. He didn’t have the time to take a bath, since he’d been out till late and had to set out early the next day. He decided that it’d be better to spend whatever time he had left with his wife, so that she’d stop crying. After all, she seemed incredibly heartbroken right now, and that was more painful than a couple of hours of missed sleep.
“You… must be tired. Come, lie down and rest.”
Long Heng hesitated for a moment. He wanted to go to bed immediately after arriving home, but he’d been walking for the entire day. The smell from his body was probably still bearable, but his feet must stink up to the high heavens! Seeing how frail Bai Xiangxiu was looking right now, he really didn’t want to add to her misery with his stinking feet. So, he turned around and said, “You should go to sleep. I’ll go take a bath.”
Bai Xiangxiu could see the exhaustion in Long Heng’s eyes, even though her eyes were swollen from all the crying. She quickly grabbed his hand. “Forget it. You still have to wake up early tomorrow even though you’re so tired. You don’t have to take a bath, just come to sleep.”
Long Heng felt warm inside. “I just hope the smell won’t make you cry again.”
Bai Xiangxiu replied, “I’m not that finicky, alright?” She jumped out of bed and pushed Long Heng to a sitting position on the bed and took off his shoes for him.
“Don’t. It’s dirty.”
“It does smell quite bad, but the smell isn’t going to kill me. Lie down now” Bai Xiangxiu got him to lie down and covered him with a blanket. She then laid down on the outer side of the bed and nestled her head against his body. It didn’t take long before Long Heng fell asleep, his chest rising and falling gently as he breathed deeply.
Bai Xiangxiu knew that Long Heng liked being clean, and that he would surely be uncomfortable if he slept in such a dirty state. So, she quietly ordered the servants to bring some hot water and dipped a towel in it. She then disrobed him and began to wipe his body, then his hands, and finally his feet. After she was done, she gently put him in his clothes again, and nestled up to him. She felt very content now that there was a man sleeping by her side. Surprisingly, she slept very well that night.
What she didn’t know was that after she fell asleep, Long Heng turned to look at her, drawing her close, and hugged her like she was a precious treasure. He even kissed her on her forehead with a very sweet looking smile on his face. What had he done in his previous life to warrant the luck to marry such a cute and gentle woman? Maybe Su Yun had been extremely likeable due to her many talents, and maybe Lin Qianzi was popular due to how much emotion she possessed. However, none of them were as understanding and compassionate as Bai Xiangxiu, nor were they as brave and decisive. Bai Xiangxiu had never once acted out of line, even though she might have seemed oblivious at times, and there were moments where she was a little too wilful. This only added to her charms and made her seem cute and gentle.
Long Heng felt that she alone made his current life worth living. The husband and wife slept in each other’s arms the entire night. Xiaoshi, standing outside the entire time, could finally breathe a sigh of relief. She exited the room while holding a lantern, but immediately realized that there was someone behind her when she was closing the doors.
“Ah!…” In a fit of panic, that man quickly covered her mouth with his hands and stuffed something into her hands. The man was gone before Xiaoshi even realized what was going on. Bewildered, she checked her hands and realized that someone had stuffed a hairpin into them. Isn’t this considered illicit relations? She blushed hard.
Xiaoshi quickly hid the hairpin, but continued to stare blankly into the night sky. She continued to do so for about an hour before she finally returned to her room, only to find that she couldn’t fall asleep no matter what.
The next day, Bai Xiangxiu was greeted by a national treasure, the panda. She nearly spat out her tea when she saw the sight. What in the world happened to Xiaoshi? She’s usually filled with so much energy that she could power three trains with her mind alone!
Xiaoshi made all sorts of mistakes that morning. The amount of cups that she broke was near uncountable. Even Xiaohuan, who usually had a good temper, was beginning to feel agitated. “What are you doing? Have you lost your mind? This is the princess consort’s favourite teacup set, and you’ve broken two of them!”
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Come here, Xiaoshi. I have something to ask you.”
“Understood.” The panic-stricken Xiaoshi went to Bai Xiangxiu as was asked. She blushed whenever her mind unwittingly wandered back to the events of last night.
Bai Xiangxiu instantly realized what was going on. After all, she was someone who’d gone through the same thing too! “Why does it seem like your soul has left your body?” Bai Xiangxiu asked after ordering Xiaohuan to leave the room.
“N-no. It hasn’t!” Xiaoshi kept glancing outside from time to time. She was thinking about Ah Song. This is all his fault! If the princess consort realizes that he’d given me something last night, she might sell me off!
“Is it because of Ah Song?”
“How do you know?!” Instantly realizing that she’d made a mistake, Xiaoshi clapped her hands to her mouth.
Bai Xiangxiu pulled her hands down. “Stop covering your mouth. I saw through the two of you a long time ago. That lad treats you very differently than anyone else. Even his expression when he looks at you is… different.”
“H-how did you know? N-no. I mean please forgive this servant, Princess Consort! This servant has no other intentions other than to serve you well.”
“Get up. I’ve already told you to stop kneeling for no reason.”
“Princess Consort… This servant…”
“That’s enough. It’s not a big deal. Isn’t it just a young lad who has fallen in love with you! Speaking of, that lad is actually quite handsome. He’s a good match with you. Tell him to come see me if he ever meets you again. If he’s not daring enough to do so, then we’ll forget about this.”
“Princess Consort, this servant will not meet him ever again.”
“Do you truly wish to not marry for the rest of your life? Silly girl. I’m being happy for you!”
Xiaoshi felt relieved when she noticed that Bai Xiangxiu didn’t blame her for anything. However, she began to fret when she imagined herself telling Ah Song about her mistress’ words. And yet, she felt incredibly disappointed when she thought about not telling him.