Wu Linxuan's face turned green with anger.
In his concept, women were just accessories to men. The reason why he was vying with the Fourth Prince, Wu Lincheng, for this concubine was not even the fear that the useless Vice Minister of Revenue, the father of this concubine, would ally with Wu Lincheng.
Rather, he was afraid that the second legitimate daughter of the Vice Minister of Revenue would help Wu Lincheng by making connections with her brother - in - law, the current General of the South. How could Wu Linxuan allow Wu Lincheng to get hold of military power?
Moreover, even if the General of the South didn't give Wu Lincheng any face, the Cen family in the Ministry of Justice in the court was the maternal family of this concubine's mother.
The Cen family and the Vice Minister of Revenue had severed their relationship because of the early death of the Cen woman.
However, once Zhangsun Lumeng got married, the Cen family, out of consideration for their early - deceased daughter, would take extra care of this second legitimate daughter and even the eldest legitimate daughter, Zhangsun Xianyun.
The Cen family dominated the Ministry of Justice and were loyal subjects of Emperor Yan'an. They didn't give any prince face. Anyone who entered the Ministry of Justice would come out skinned.
If he could use Zhangsun Lumeng to establish a connection with the Cen family in the Ministry of Justice, it would be a brilliant move in Wu Linxuan's calculation. Deliberately preventing his concubine from taking back the return - visit gifts before was to test the Cen family's attitude.
The inner courtyard and the court, the harem and the front court, all were intricately connected.
Wu Linxuan had been well - versed in these subtleties since childhood, but he didn't expect that his concubine, this woman who had grown up unnoticed in the inner courtyard, was no easy target.
Seeing Wu Linxuan looking like a rabid dog, Lu Meng knew that things had gone wrong.
It must be that the young servant had told the truth. Some of these male protagonists in early - ancient - style novels were like male dogs with a strong sense of territory. They could mark numerous women as their own, but these women were never allowed to take an extra look at a male supporting character behind their backs, or else they would go crazy and bite.
Although Lu Meng positioned herself as an employee of Wu Linxuan, she was also nominally his woman, and currently the only woman of this would - be all - powerful hero.
Now that his woman had the scent of another "dog" on her, he was bound to go mad!
Wu Linxuan sneered repeatedly and was breathing heavily, looking as if he was about to have a full - blown rabies attack.
Lu Meng's palms were sweating nervously, and her scalp was tingling.
No, she had to come up with a plan! She needed to divert Wu Linxuan's attention!
As nice as Yuehui was, as big as his pectoral muscles were, and as cute as his rabbit teeth were, he was not someone she could get involved with.
Lu Meng really wanted to swear in front of Wu Linxuan that she only loved money in this lifetime!
But this plan wouldn't work either. People in these early - ancient - style novels couldn't understand the pure hearts of modern socialist girls.
Just as Wu Linxuan circled around her for the second time, not knowing what to do to her and even raising his hand, Lu Meng had a flash of inspiration. She squatted on the ground and hugged one of Wu Linxuan's legs tightly.
It was such a tight hug that it looked as if she was kneeling before Wu Linxuan.
Wu Linxuan froze. He raised his finger at Lu Meng, and the hurtful words he was about to say got stuck in his throat.
Chen Yuan was so shocked that he jumped backward. Their prince had always disliked people getting too close! This Lady Meng was really too bold!
Lu Meng pressed her head against Wu Linxuan's belt buckle and deliberately spoke in a high - pitched voice, "Your Highness, actually, I came here today to discuss other matters with you."
"Your Highness, when will you come and stay with me for a night? Your Highness hasn't seen me for several days. I miss you so much..."
As she said that, she rubbed her face against Wu Linxuan's abdomen.
Wu Linxuan stood there like a puppet. Suddenly, the image of this woman in a charming state hugging him that night flashed through his mind.
His senses seemed to be separated from his body. A tingling sensation spread from the sole of the foot of the hugged leg all the way to his abdomen, internal organs, and straight to the top of his head.
The feeling of that night resurfaced. Before he had an uncontrollable reaction, Wu Linxuan pressed Lu Meng's head and pushed her hard -
Lu Meng had long expected that Wu Linxuan would push her. She directly grabbed the inside of his thigh so that she wouldn't be pushed away!
This was a reverse operation.
After all, the best way to attract the attention of these early - ancient male protagonists was to get involved with other men.
But the way to make them feel at ease and avoid them like snakes and scorpions was to cling to them and say they loved them!
Lu Meng really didn't expect that in order to save herself, to clear up the misunderstanding of her having an affair with the male supporting character in the eyes of the male protagonist, and even to make him annoyed and stay away from her, she had walked on the path of the female protagonist, Zhangsun Lumeng.
However, Zhangsun Lumeng always showed her love in a lingering way but failed to win the male protagonist's heart. Lu Meng was holding the male protagonist's leg, looking up at him with a feigned shy look, and directly asking, "Your Highness, when will you consummate the marriage with me?"
Chen Yuan felt as if he had gone deaf.
He turned around and walked out. If he listened any further, even if he didn't go deaf, the prince would make him deaf tomorrow.
He almost bumped into the door but managed to stagger out of the room.
Wu Linxuan, with a pained grimace from the pinched leg, heard his concubine ask him, "When... will we consummate the marriage?"
"What did you say?" Wu Linxuan thought he was having an auditory hallucination.
How could there be such a licentious person in the world?
Women were always supposed to follow the three obediences and four virtues and regard chastity as their life. Even women in the brothels mainly played hard - to - get. Being too forward - going would make them worthless.
Many women in the inner courtyard, even if their husbands were impotent, didn't dare to say a word to outsiders. They would put on an act of a harmonious couple in public.
But Wu Linxuan had married a concubine who was chasing after him to ask when they would consummate the marriage?
For a moment, he even forgot to struggle, and half of his body went numb.
His expression was a mixture of various colors - green, red, black, and blue, looking extremely comical.
"Your Highness... you're so naughty. Why do you make me say it again? It's so embarrassing." Lu Meng said she was embarrassed, but her face remained unchanged.
She just wanted to use a strong - handed approach to make Wu Linxuan not only stop suspecting her of having an affair with the male supporting character but also avoid her from then on.
Moreover, in a way, if it broke the character - set, so be it. She wasn't afraid because Wu Linxuan would never tell others that his concubine had asked him when they would consummate the marriage.
Wouldn't that be like telling others that he was impotent?
Besides, this could only be considered that she was being bold, not that she was lacking in the qualities of a "gentlewoman". Anyway, her character - set was that she had never studied since childhood, and it was normal for a wife to talk about bedroom matters with her husband. Who could use this as a handle against her?
Even in the seven reasons for a husband to divorce his wife, there was no such reason.
As long as Wu Linxuan was afraid of her, she could lie comfortably in the inner courtyard and avoid any troubles.
The veins on Wu Linxuan's forehead popped out, and he looked at Lu Meng as if she were a flood or a fierce beast.
He started to struggle frantically. Taking the opportunity, Lu Meng twisted his thigh half a circle, taking revenge for the time when he deliberately let Xin Ya humiliate her during the return - visit.
If the return - visit gifts had been more generous, would she only have four boxes of gold and silver treasures now?!
Wu Linxuan was so flustered that he didn't even notice the pain. With great difficulty, he tore Lu Meng, who was like a "leech", off his leg.
He took several steps back and stared at her, shouting, "How can you be so shameless!"
Lu Meng was dragged by his leg and lay prone on the ground. After a moment of gathering herself, she raised her head, her eyes rimmed red as she looked at Wu Linxuan.
She said, "Wu Linxuan, you're so heartless!"
A "ding" sound rang in her mind.
The system, as if coming back from the dead, said, "The task is completed. Host, you're awesome this time. There are even some details in it."
After Lu Meng finished speaking, she lay on the ground pretending to cry, without even a hint of sincerity.
It was as if she had suffered a great deal of injustice for not being able to consummate the marriage with Wu Linxuan. Wu Linxuan was almost driven to jump onto the stool to avoid her.
Lu Meng tried hard not to burst out laughing. She thought to herself that after this, Wu Linxuan would surely have no mood to care about the incident of her falling with Yuehui.
"Get out of here!" Wu Linxuan raised his hand and slapped his unruly thigh, then pointed at the door and said angrily, "Without my permission, you're not allowed to step out of Lishu Courtyard from now on!"
Lishu Courtyard was the courtyard where Lu Meng was currently living.
Lu Meng was overjoyed. Her goal was achieved!
She covered her face as if "unable to bear the humiliation", got up with tears in her eyes and ran towards the door. When passing by Wu Linxuan, she even pretended to be in a hurry and stepped hard on his foot.
A big black mark was left on his white shoes.
Lu Meng rushed out of the room, wailing and running towards the outside of the courtyard. Chen Yuan, who was standing at the door, almost had his teeth knocked out by the suddenly opened door panel. Fortunately, he dodged in time.
After Lu Meng ran out of the door, she led a group of servants and left in a rush, successfully returning Yuehui to the hero.
Back in Lishu Courtyard, she pretended to be sad for a while under the pretext of taking a nap.
Xin Ya quickly learned the whole story through the people in Prince Jian'an's courtyard and was extremely shocked.
What? They still hadn't consummated the marriage?
Then... had they just failed in their attempts before? Did it leave a shadow on the prince?
Now that she was under house arrest, what should they do?
Different from Xin Ya's worry and Lu Meng's relief, Wu Linxuan was so annoyed that he was almost going crazy.
After Lu Meng left, he was so angry that he smashed a lot of things. After kicking the food box that Lu Meng had brought, the sticky red bean porridge inside spilled on the ground.
It was like a mockery of Wu Linxuan.
This woman... What was she trying to imply by sending the red bean porridge? What on earth did she want to do!
Wishful thinking!
Wu Linxuan couldn't handle his official business all afternoon. Sitting at the table, his face kept changing like a chameleon.
Then, when he finally calmed down a bit in the afternoon and was changing clothes and washing up, he found that his thigh was bruised from being pinched.
He sneered and stared at the bruise that no one else knew about. He almost kicked the bathtub to pieces.
She did it on purpose!
Wu Linxuan's mind was full of Lu Meng. He thought she was vicious, scheming, lewd, shameless! And now she was also venomous, taking the opportunity to pinch his flesh!
He even regretted marrying her as his concubine. From the test that day, it seemed that the Cen family didn't intend to care about her at all.
How could such a woman be worthy of being his woman?
Let her fend for herself in the back house!
Then Lu Meng settled down as she wished. Wu Linxuan not only didn't have time to investigate the matter between her and Yuehui, but also didn't notice that she had directly called his name when speaking the lines.
Moreover, as a man, Wu Linxuan's idea of "letting her fend for herself" didn't include treating her harshly.
Lu Meng completely lived a life like a parasite, not getting up until the sun was high and just eating, drinking and sleeping all day.
It didn't matter that she was under house arrest. Xin Ya could go out and bring her all kinds of delicious food. She also comforted her from time to time, saying that the prince was just angry for the moment and would forgive her soon.
Occasionally, when Lu Meng was so full that she was in a daze, she would act as if she was sad.
She would shed two "crocodile tears" of drowsiness in the direction of Prince Jian'an's courtyard.
Then she would continue to be a parasite.
For a month, from early summer to midsummer, Lu Meng gained several pounds during the house arrest. Her once thin and pitiful face was no longer so gaunt. It was now chubby and pink, and it seemed that she had even grown taller!
Lu Meng now had an air of delicate beauty. Her words and deeds were calm and composed. She didn't look like a married woman at all, but more like a young lady raised in a boudoir.
In the end, even Xin Ya thought that actually this kind of life without the prince's favor... wasn't so bad.
During this month, the unhappy one was Prince Jian'an, Wu Linxuan.
This self - disciplined young man's mind was forcibly shaken by Lu Meng's "bomb". Even though he knew from the bottom of his heart that he should hate and stay away from her, he couldn't control his body's honest reaction.
One day, after working on official business until late at night, he fell asleep but woke up from a dream not long after. When he found that his quilt was wet, he realized that things were serious.
